Category Archives: Robert E. Howard

“Is That Robert E. Howard?”: A Look at Two Photographs Part 1

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A Guest Post by John Bullard and Bill “Indy” Cavalier

John Bullard: As was mentioned at Howard Days, the Robert E. Howard Foundation Press is going to publish a book containing all the known photographs of Robert E. Howard, his family, friends, places in his life, and photos he took. I “volunteered” to edit the book, and began working on it. I had an idea to take the handful of photos that REH scholars argue over whether that is indeed REH in the photo or not, and have the scholars present their arguments for the readers to decide. Bill Cavalier, whom I had ”volunteered” to write the introduction to the book as it was his idea to do it in the first place, heartily agreed, and we started working on the arguments for the two most contested photos in hopes of getting the other scholars ideas to argue from, and for and against.

Unfortunately, most of the other scholars were too busy with their own work to participate, so I took the following arguments out of the book for the two photos that Bill and I had written up so far, and with Bill’s kind permission, am presenting them here for interested folks to read. This will give readers an idea of what photos will be contained in the upcoming book, “This Isn’t to Flaunt My Homely Countenance”: The Robert E. Howard Photo Album, hopefully available sometime later this year, depending on finalizing the printing details.

Keith West: I’ll post an announcement when the book is available for sale. Back to John:

In presenting the arguments, I will first present the argument by the person who maintains that the photo is of Robert E. Howard, followed by the argument about why it is not Howard. Photo numbers mentioned in parentheses and under photos correspond to the number of the photos in the upcoming book. We hope you will enjoy this, and it will get you excited to buy a copy of the book. First up is the photo known as “Dude on a Rock”. Take it away, Bill: Continue reading →

Robert E. Howard Days, 2022

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So no sooner had I returned from the Dum Dum, than I was on the road again, this time to the 2022 Robert E. Howard Days. I wasn’t the only one who attended both.

Things didn’t officially kick off until Friday, but I went down on Wednesday for an unofficial excursion on Thursday.

Robert E. Howard was born in Peaster, Texas and spent his first years in Dark Valley. John Bullard put this excursion together. He and I were joined by Jason M. Waltz and James McGlothlin. We were all staying at the Flagship Inn on Lake Brownwood. Will Oliver met us in Peaster. Better traveling companions are hard to find. This is becoming an annual thing for us. I wonder where we’ll go next year. Maybe Lincoln, New Mexico? Continue reading →

Bob Howard Rides Again!: A Review of The Cowboy and the Conqueror by John Bullard

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So, if you remember my review of A Cowboy in Carpathia, written by Teel James Glenn, last December, I liked the book and its plot of Robert E. Howard not killing himself and going off to travel the world and have exciting exploits. I expressed a desire that the author of the book, Teel James Glenn, would continue writing the adventures of Bob Howard. Mr. Glenn has answered my wish and written the second in what looks like a continuing series of the exploits of Robert E. Howard—The Cowboy and the Conqueror, which was published a month ago. I ordered a copy and have just finished reading it. How is it, you ask? Well, read on. Continue reading →

2022 Robert E. Howard Awards List of Nominees

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The list of nominees for the 2022 Robert E. Howard Awards has been finalized by the Awards Committee. The Committee would like to thank everyone who sent in nominations for the various awards. We have worked our way through all of them, and have listed the most nominated works in each category. We congratulate everyone who was nominated whether you made the final cut or not, and wish good luck to the nominees.

Only current members of the Robert E. Howard Foundation can vote on the winners, and if you are a current member, you will be receiving an email with the link to the page where you can vote on the nominees. If you haven’t received an email with the link by Feb. 20, 2022, please send an email to rehawardsjbATgmailDOTcom (replace the at and dot with their symbols) so we can check your status and send you an email link. Voting by Foundation members ends at 11:59 PM, CST, March 1, 2022.

Here are the finalists for this year’s awards: Continue reading →

Another Brief Shoutout, Howard This Time

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January 22 is the birthday of one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, Robert E. Howard. Not only did he pen some of the best horror and fantasy stories of all time, he excelled in other genres as well, such as boxing, adventure and both humorous and serious westerns. And let’s not forget two literary categories, poetry and corresponding with H. P. Lovecraft.

I’m still trying to get a piece of fiction finished before a deadline, so I haven’t had a chance to read anything of Howard’s. I’d hoped to, but then one of our for-legged family members died suddenly. That’s thrown everything off.

But one thing that’s been at the back of my mind about Bob while I’ve been writing is what I mentioned in the first paragraph. He was a versatile writer. And he was not afraid to stretch himself and grow, to take chances. This can be seen in the works of a number of writers.  That’s the example I’m trying to follow.

A Cowboy in Carpathia: A Bob Howard Adventure: A Review by John Bullard

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As stated in the title, this is a guest review by John Bullard.

A Cowboy in Carpathia
Teel James Glenn
paperback $9.99
ebook $2,99

I found out about this book, A Cowboy in Carpathia: A Bob Howard Adventure by Teel James Glenn, from a post on “The Swords of Robert E. Howard” bulletin board, in the thread on books or stories with Howard as a protagonist (Howard as Protagonist | The Swords of Robert E. Howard (proboards.com) . It sounded interesting enough to check out, so I bought a copy and read it. I will breakdown my review into two parts: the story on its merits, and how it handles Robert E. Howard. Continue reading →

A Happy Howardian Halloween: A Guest Post by John Bullard

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It being that time of year when night starts coming earlier and earlier, ghoulies and ghosties start showing up in the stores, and Texas finally starts to receive cooler temperatures, I thought it would be fun to look at some of Robert E. Howard’s favorite supernatural and horror tales that he was told or learned about. Not horror fiction, but the “real” ghost tales and weird stuff that folks tell around a campfire. The old “a friend of a friend heard this” stuff. Of course, during Howard’s life, Halloween had not yet begun to develop its modern traditions of kids dressing up and going door to door begging for treats, or adults having parties. He never really wrote or told something as a “Halloween” story as it was just a day of the week to him. However, as most Howard fans know, he did write of “things that go bump in the night” in his correspondence with H.P. Lovecraft, trading tales and legends with each other in an unofficial “can-you-top-this” way. Most of us know that Howard’s “Pigeons From Hell” and “Black Canaan” yarns came from spooky stories he had been told as a child from relatives and family friends, but there are several other tales he talks about with Lovecraft that you may not know of, and which fit in perfectly in getting you ready for Halloween. Continue reading →

Catching Up I: Catching up on the Classics

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So lately I’ve been catching up on some of my TBR pile, or in many cases by TBRR (to be reread) pile. There’s not a huge amount of new fantasy and science fiction being published these days that appeals to me. There’s some, just not a lot. I went to B&N last night and left without buying anything.

I’ve been spending a good deal of this year trying to get caught up on books that fall into two broad (and occasionally overlapping) categories, classics of the field and series I’ve either started but not finished/series I’ve bought but not started at all. Many of the latter haven’t been finished because I started them when they were only one book and never worked later books in. Then there are the stand-alones I got distracted while reading and haven’t finished yet. So I guess there are three categories.

The focus of this post is what would be considered classics in both the science fiction and fantasy fields. Much of my catch-up reading has been science fiction the last half year or so.  Not all of it has been titles I’d not read. Some of it has been rereading things I read so long ago but have little to no memory of now. I’ll list a few things I’ve been reading and then solicit suggestions. Continue reading →

The Robert E. Howard Bran Mak Morn Sequel: Maker of Shadows by Jack Mann

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Today’s post is by Will Oliver.

“Bran eyed her somberly; he reached forth and gripped her arm in his iron fingers.  An involuntary shudder shook him at the feel of her sleek skin. He nodded slowly and drawing her close to him, forced his head down to meet her lifted lips.”

– Robert E. Howard
“Worms of the Earth”

As a fan of pulp magazines, I generally have in my reading pile or to-read bookshelf either reprints of pulp magazines or paperbacks of stories from the pulp era. A couple of years ago, I discovered the magazine dedicated to the old pulps, Blood ‘N’ Thunder, and wouldn’t you know it, just as I discovered it, it was no longer publishing on a regular basis. Ed Hulse, both editor and publisher, decided to step away from the quarterly publication to dedicate himself to other pulp magazine projects. No more deadline pressures for him—something we can all understand. Still, he has since published some additional issues and I was able to get several articles into the latest one.

One issue of Blood ‘N’ Thunder I recently read was the summer 2015 issue, featuring an article by Rick Lai titled, “The Secret Son of Bran Mak Morn” (pp. 36-41). The article explained that Jack Mann was a fan of Robert E. Howard and was so taken with his character Bran Mak Morn that he wrote a veiled sequel titled Maker of Shadows, published in 1938. Curious, I ordered a copy from Amazon that was published by Ramble House publishers in 2011 and, after reading it, I thought I would write a review for this blog. Continue reading →