Author Archives: Keith West

Talbot Mundy

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Today, April 23, is the birthday of Talbot Mundy (1879-1940). It’s been a hectic week, and I haven’t had a chance to read anything by him. (I did manage to remotely attend a few panels at the Jack Williamson Lectureship today, though.)

I read the first of the Zebra editions of the Tros of Samothrace books last summer. I started the second but got bogged down. I’m going to try to at least finish that one once the semester ends.

Even though I didn’t manage to read anything by Mundy for today, I didn’t want to let the occasion pass without acknowledging it. Mundy was an influential writer and deserves to be remembered.

When the Magic is Wet

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Henry Kuttner

Today, April 7, is the birthday of one of my favorite writers, Henry Kuttner (1915-1958). For today’s post, I’ve inadvertently broken my informal rule about only reviewing works that are easily available.Today’s post is a review of “Wet Magic”. It had been a number of years since I read the story, and most of the details had faded from my memory.

I  knew I had at least three copies of it. The original issue of Unknown Worlds (February 1943), an electronic copy of that same issue, and a copy in Echoes of Valor, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was in the latter where I had originally read it, and that was where I reread it. Then I went to find where else the story had been reprinted.

It hasn’t been. I was a little surprised, because “Wet Magic” is an excellent story. Kuttner had a dry sense of humor, and it shows here. John W. Campbell, Jr. wanted much of the fantasy he published in Unknown Worlds to be set in the modern world and not take itself too seriously. “Wet Magic” was a perfect fit. Continue reading →

Gothic Bloch

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Today, April 5, is the birthday of Robert Bloch (1917-1994). Bloch was one of the best writers of horror, suspense, crime, fantasy, and science fiction of the 20th Century. Sadly, his excellent body of work will probably always be overshadowed by his most famous novel, and the basis of the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name, Psycho. And if you’re only  familiar with Psycho from the movie, there are some differences between the film and the book.

Bloch took the story of real-life killer Ed Gein and turned it into the source of many people’s nightmares, and in the process made taking a shower an act of courage.

For today’s post I’m going to look at his fictionalization of another famous murderer, H. H. Holmes, who killed many people (the exact number is open to question) during the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. Like he did with Gein, Bloch fictionalized the events and changed the name of the character. Continue reading →

Two By Weinbaum

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Today, April 4, is the birthday of Stanley G. Weinbaum (1902-1935). Weinbaum had a very short career, only about 18 months or so, but he had a major impact on the science fiction field. He wrote about aliens that were truly alien, and his solar system was imaginative and full of whimsy.

Yes. I know. This is a fantasy blog.

But the two stories I want to look at today are a good fit for this blog because the first one reads like a fantasy for the most part and the second is very much a horror story. Continue reading →

Nominations for the Preliminary Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards for 2020 and 2021 are Now Open

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Preliminary nominations for the Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards are now open. Due to CoVid19 throwing everything into confusion last year, the 2020 Awards were not done. The Foundation now plans to remedy this by giving awards for 2020 and 2021 this year. This means that members can make nominations for articles, books, blogs, essays, art, etc. that came out in 2019, as well as for 2020, and there will be a set of awards given for each year. Members eligible to make nominations MUST have been REHF members in the calendar year of the nomination, i.e. you must have been an REHF member in 2019 to make nominations for the 2020 awards, and an REHF member in 2020 to make nominations for the 2021 awards. So get busy and think back to all of the Howard-related stuff that came out during the time of January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, for the 2020 awards, and from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 for the 2021 awards. Send all nominations to the following email address with the AT and DOT replaced by their respective symbols:

rehawardsjb(AT)gmail(DOT)com

If the article, essay, blog, art, audio-visual piece, etc. is available on the internet, please include the link to the work with your nomination. Also, please make sure that your nominations are identified by the year they are applicable to, i.e. 2019 items are tagged with 2020, and 2020 items are tagged with 2021. *You may nominate up to five candidates per award for each year (2019 and/or 2020) in which you were a member, e.g. up to 5 Atlantean nominations for 2019 and 5 Atlantean nominations for 2020 if you were a member for both years.

Preliminary nominations will be closed at 11:59 PM Central Daylight Saving Time (CDST), Monday, April 12, 2021. The top three nominees in each category will be selected by the Legacy Circle members of the Foundation, and the resulting final ballot will be voted on by all dues-paying (2019 and/or 2020) Foundation members. (Categories with more than 3 nominees represent a tie in the nomination voting). The list of nominees for Legacy Members to vote on to determine the final ballot list will go out *by* Tuesday, April 20, 2021, with the final date for Legacy Members to vote on the Legacy Ballot ending at 11:59 PM (CDST), Friday April 30, 2021. The final ballot of nominations taken from the Legacy Ballot will be posted online at the Foundation website and sent to members for voting *by* Thursday, May 6, 2021. The final vote on the REHF Awards for 2020 and 2021 will end at 11:59 PM (CDST) on Saturday May 15, 2021, with the winners announced at Howard Days 2021.

Here are the categories:

The Atlantean — Outstanding Achievement, Book (non-anthology/collection)
(Books may be print or digital, must be a minimum of 50,000 words, and must be substantively devoted to the life and/or work of REH. Reprinted works without significant revisions are not eligible.)

The Valusian — Outstanding Achievement, Book (anthology/collection)
(Books may be print or digital, must be a minimum of 50,000 words, and must be substantively devoted to the life and/or work of REH. Reprinted works without significant revisions are not eligible.)

The Hyrkanian—Outstanding Achievement, Essay (Print)
(Essays must have made their first public published appearance in the previous calendar year and be substantive scholarly essays on the life and/or work of REH. Short pieces, interviews, reviews, trip reports, and other minor works do not count.)

The Cimmerian—Outstanding Achievement, Essay (Online)
(Essays must have made their first public published appearance in the previous calendar year and be substantive scholarly essays on the life and/or work of REH. Short blog posts, speeches, reviews, trip reports, and other minor works do not count.)

The Venarium — Emerging Scholar
(Candidates will have recently begun making significant contributions to Howard scholarship through publications and/or presentations over the past few years. Previous winners are not eligible.)

Previous Venarium Winners:

2005 – Mark Finn
2006 – Rob Roehm
2007 – John Haefele
2008 – No Award
2009 – No Award
2010 – Barbara Barrett
2011 – No Award
2012 – Jeffrey Shanks
2013 – No Award
2014 – Patrick Burger
2015 – Karen Joan Kohoutek
2016 – Bobby Derie
2017 – Todd Vick
2018 – Dierk Guenther
2019 – Bob Byrne

The Stygian—Outstanding Achievement, Website or Periodical
(Eligible candidates are limited to print or digital magazines, journals, blogs, or internet sites with substantive material that is primarily devoted to scholarship on the life and works of Robert E. Howard. Websites must have been updated with new content at least once in the previous calendar year. Print periodicals must have had an issue published in the previous calendar year. Non-static social media like Facebook and Twitter would not be eligible.)

The Black Lotus – Outstanding Achievement, Multimedia
(Eligible candidates have produced a multimedia or audio/visual work or series of works, such as videos, documentaries, podcasts, animation, etc. related to the life and work of REH)

The Black River—Special Achievement
(Candidates will have produced or contributed something special that doesn’t fit into any other category: scholarly presentations, biographical discoveries, etc.)

The Rankin — Artistic achievement in the depiction of REH’s life and/or work
(Art must have made its first public published appearance in the previous calendar year.)

Black Circle Award – Lifetime Achievement
(Individuals who have made significant and long-lasting contributions to REH scholarship, publishing, or the promotion of Howard’s life and works. Eligible candidates must have been publicly involved in Howard-related activities for a minimum of two decades. Sixty percent of the vote is required for induction into the Black Circle)

Current Black Circle Members Living and Deceased:

2005 – Glenn Lord
2006 – No Award
2007 – Rusty Burke and Don Herron
2008 – Novalyne Price Ellis
2009 – No Award
2010 – No Award
2011 – Bill Cavalier
2012 – Dennis McHaney
2013 – Damon Sasser
2014 – Patrice Louinet
2015 – Karl Edward Wagner
2016 – Roy Thomas
2017 – No Award
2018 – No Award
2019 – No Award

**REMEMBER**Qualified Members can nominate up to 5 nominees in each category per year (i.e. 5 for 2020, and 5 for 2021) that they were a member in.

 

 

 

Robert E. Howard Days Are Back!

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Yes, it’s official! No, this is not an April Fool’s joke.

Earlier today the Robert E. Howard Foundation announced that Robert E. Howard Days 2021 will take place Cross Plains, TX, on June 11-12. Roy Thomas will be Guest of Honor.

Details of programming are still being worked out, and everything is subject to change, but as of now, Howard Days are back.

You can find out more details here.

Today, BTW, was Dr. Isaac M. Howard’s birthday (1872-1944), so this is an appropriate day to make this announcement.

When the Wind is From the South

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Dennis Etchison

Today, March 30, is the birthday of Dennis Etchison (1943-2019). Etchison was primarily a short fiction writer, but today’s story, “A Wind From the South”, was Chapter 2 in Etchison’s novel California Gothic. I liked it enough to want to read the novel.

A woman named Evie who lives in a California suburb is about to get in the shower when the doorbell rings. Her husband is out, and her son is visiting a friend, so she foolishly answers the door.

A young woman is standing there asking how to get to – no, not Sesame Street – the local elementary school. Evie invites her visitor in, her second mistake. The young woman begins to describe the life she hopes to have in the neighborhood. A life that sounds frighteningly like Evie’s.

I’ll refrain from saying any more about the story. Which may not be fair, since it isn’t currently in print. I read it in The Death Artist.

It tired some of Etchison’s work years ago. It didn’t seem to be my cup of tea at the time. But given the high regard in which he’s held by a number of authors who work and opinions I respect, even if I don’t always agree with, I’m going to give him another try.

 

Ruminations on William Morris

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William Morris

William Morris (1834-1896) was born today, March 24. Morris was active in a number of creative endeavors throughout his life, but the one that concerns us here is his writing.

Morris has a reputation today, when he’s remembered at all, of being difficult to read. And while there is some justification for that, I think it’s largely undeserved. I’ve read one of his novels, The Wood Beyond the World, which I reviewed some years ago at Black Gate, when I was reading through the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be. There’s a cadence to Morris’s work. Once I got into that rhythm, it was fairly easy going. Continue reading →

“There’s Nothing I Enjoy More Than Discussing These Old Scoundrels.” Robert E. Howard on Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, Two Texas Gunfighters

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Today’s guest post is by John Bullard. Take it away, John.

Robert E. Howard loved the history of the American Southwest, and greatly enjoyed talking about it with and teaching it to his famous Eastern writer friends. For a while there in his correspondences with Lovecraft and Derleth, Howard could barely let a letter go by without talking about Billy the Kid or John Wesley Hardin’s exploits. However, two famous Texan gunmen that Howard talked about have been all but forgotten today, and with the anniversary of their violent deaths having just passed, I thought it would be interesting to talk about them again, just as Howard did. Continue reading →

Remembering Novalyne Price Ellis

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Today, March 9, marks the birthday of Novalyne Price Ellis (1908-1999). She is remembered today for her memoir One Who Walked Alone. It was based on the diaries she kept while she dated Robert E. Howard during the final two years of his life.

One Who Walked Alone provides the best account of what Howard was like. She wrote the book, which was published by Donald M. Grant in 1986, in order to counter some of the things said in L. Sprague de Camp’s biography of Howard, Dark Valley Destiny.

If you are interested in Robert E. Howard, and really, who around this blog isn’t, then you should really read One Who Walked Alone.