Tag Archives: Robert E. Howard Foundation

Third Times the /charm Ballot

Corrected 2023 Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards Ballot

There was an error in the previous post. That post has been deleted. The correct ballot is below. Apologies for the error and any inconvenience.

The Atlantean—Outstanding Achievement, Book

Paul Herman (Ed.): The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, Vol. 1 (Robert E. Howard Foundation Press) – https://rehfpress.com/books/ultimate/tcp-vol1/

Dennis McHaney (Ed.): Robert E. Howard in the Pulps (Lulu.com) – https://www.lulu.com/shop/dennis-mchaney/robert-e-howard-in-the-pulps/paperback/product-zqrg68.html

The Valusian—Outstanding Achievement, Book (anthology/collection)

No Nominees

The Hyrkanian—Outstanding Achievement, Essay

Remco Van Straten: “Conan in Holland” – https://turniplanterns.wordpress.com/2022/03/05/conan-in-holland/

John Bullard & Bill Cavalier: “‘Is That Robert E. Howard?’: A Look At Two Photographs” – http://adventuresfantastic.com/is-that-robert-e-howard-a-look-at-two-photographs-part-1/

Nicole Emmelhainz: “Gender Performativity in Howard’s ‘Sword Woman'” – New Edge Sword & Sorcery #0 – https://www.amazon.com/New-Edge-Sword-Sorcery-Magazine/dp/B0BGSHT1G5

Willard M. Oliver: “Three Lost Interviews About Robert E. Howard” – http://adventuresfantastic.com/three-lost-interviews-about-robert-e-howard-part-1-by-will-oliver/

The Cimmerian—Outstanding Achievement, Scholarship

Anthony Conrad Chieffalo: “Gendered and Genrefied: Transgressive Heroism in Sword and Sorcery” in The Dark Man vol. 12, no. 2, Mar 2022 – https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Man-Journal-Robert-Studies/dp/B0B28FLBJ4/

Willard M. Oliver: “Howard and Strange Tales” in The Dark Man vol. 12, no. 2, Mar 2022 – https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Man-Journal-Robert-Studies/dp/B0B28FLBJ4/

The Venarium—Emerging Scholar

Anthony Conrad Chieffalo (“Gendered and Genrefied: Transgressive Heroism in Sword and Sorcery”)

Antonio Marco Collares (Brazilian scholar focusing on Robert E. Howard, involved in many projects)

Nicole Emmelhainz (Co-editor of The Dark Man, “Gender Performativity in Howard’s ‘Sword Woman'”)

The Black Lotus—Outstanding Achievement, Web-based

The Cromcast ( http://thecromcast.blogspot.com/ ): The Howard Days 2022 video recordings and the Cromcast Chronicle #3.

Ståle Gismervik: The REH World ( https://REH.world) website and associated articles, interviews, and resources hosted there.

Gary Romeo: The L. Sprague de Camp Fan ( https://spraguedecampfan.wordpress.com/ ) website and associated reviews and articles.

The Costigan—Literary achievement

Teel James Glenn (author): “The Cowboy and the Conqueror: A Bob Howard Adventure” – https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Conqueror-Bob-Howard-Adventure/dp/B09TRXHSWZ/

Steven Hubbard (author): A Conspiracy of Ravens – https://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Ravens-Codex-Wretches-Kings/dp/B0B3RC69WV/

Andrew Leman & Sean Branney (writers): Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Black Stone – https://www.hplhs.org/darttbs.php

David C. Smith (author): “Shadow of the Serpent” in Terra Incognita: Lost Worlds of Fantasy and Adventure – https://www.amazon.com/Terra-Incognita-Worlds-Fantasy-Adventure/dp/195617303X/

S. M. Stirling (author): Blood of the Serpent – https://www.amazon.com/Conan-Serpent-Chronicles-Greatest-Barbarian/dp/1803361832/

The Rankin—Artistic achievement

Mahmud Asrar – cover/page artist for King Conan #1-6 (Marvel) – https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/31981/king_conan_2021_-_2022

Rodney Buchemi – page artist for Bêlit & Valeria: Swords vs. Sorcery #1-5 (Ablaze) – https://www.ablaze.net/products?c=53

Gio Guimarães – cover artist for O Rebelde (Script Editora) – https://www.catarse.me/rebelde

Stevan Subic – artist for Conan le Cimmérien–Xuthal la Crépusculaire (Éditions Glénat) – https://amazon.com/Conan-Cimm%C3%A9rien-Xuthal-Cr%C3%A9pusculaire-French/dp/2344035818/

Darell Tuchton – cover artist for Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Black Stone – https://www.hplhs.org/darttbs.php

The Black River—Special Achievement

Jason Ray Carney – Editor of The Dark Man, organizer of SpiralCon and the Trigon Awards, promoted Robert E. Howard through a TED Talk and an article in the LA Review of Books – “Reading Sword-and-Sorcery to Make the Present Less Real”: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/reading-sword-and-sorcery-to-make-the-present-less-real/

Stephen Roelants, Alexis and Yannis Metzinger: “The Sources of Fantasy: Robert E. Howard” ( https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/098408-004-A/aux-sources-de-la-fantasy/ )

The Crom Award

Nominees will be made, (if there are any nominations for it) and voted on only by the REHF Board of Directors.

The Black Circle Award

Fred Blosser

L. Sprague De Camp (Posthumous)

Additional nominees may be made by the REHF Board, but the final list will only be voted on by the REHF Board of Directors

The link for members to vote is:

Robert E. Howard Awards 2023 Ballot (google.com)

Thanks again for your help in creating this year’s 2023 Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards.

The REHF Awards Committee

“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 →

Robert E. Howard Days, 2021

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(i. to r.) Your Intrepid Blogger, Jason M. Waltz, and James McGlothlin visit the Howard family plot.

This past weekend was the 2021 Robert E. Howard Days. After last year’s cancellation, it was a much needed gathering. And while many of the regulars weren’t able to attend, the number of first time attendees made up the difference. The gift shop sold out of almost all the books they had in stock.

Roy Thomas was the Guest of Honor. The schedule was a little different this year, with a fewer panels and later starting times.

Mark Finn did the Fists at the Ice House panel solo after the banquet on Friday night. That panel is different every year and depends on who is there. Mark listed his ten favorite Howard boxing stories and read excerpts of each one. If you’ve not read Howard’s boxing stories, you’ve missed a major portion of his output. Howard’s send of humor really comes through in his humorous boxing stories. The four volumes of the collected boxing stories are almost our of print, so move quickly if you want to get copies of the first printings. They are available from the Robert E.Howard Foundation Press. 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!

Brief Report on Howard Days 2019

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Robert E. Howard Days has come and gone for another year. This one was a little different, but it was very good.

I got there early. Jason M. Waltz and I shared a room in Eastland, which is about half an hour from Cross Plains. (Most people don’t stay in Cross Plains. There simply aren’t enough rooms.) We got there Wednesday afternoon. Those who arrived on Wednesday were invite to a fajita dinner at the home of Jack and Barbara Baum. It was a great evening of food and fellowship, and I’d like to thank the Baums for their hospitality.

(r. to l.) James McGlothlin, Jason M. Waltz, Your Intrepid Blogger

Thursday morning we helped set up for the banquet on Friday then headed for the Pavilion to help set up there. That was where I met Black Gate blogger James McGlothlin for the first time. He and I and James Reasoner went to the local Mexican food restaurant for lunch and ended up talking for a couple of hours (in the air conditioning). That evening a large number of us skipped the fish fry and the parade and went to Cisco for drinks and dinner.

Friday I went on the first part of the tour, but I jumped ship when the second part, to the nearby towns of Burkett and Crosscut, where the Howards lived before moving to Cross Plains. I had an opportunity to join a group hitting a used book store in Abilene. I came back with a grocery sack of paperbacks for $15. Sadly, the owner of the store died last month, and her husband is trying to sell the store.

Baseball signed by Babe Ruth.

After we got back, I skipped the panels and went to the Post Office to get this year’s cancellation. There is a new museum in Cross Plains that has a number of classic cars and baseball memorabilia. Also good air conditioning. I joined friends over there, then went back to the Pavilion and hung out with friends.

The Guest of Honor was David C. Smith, who spoke at the banquet. As usual The Staghorn Cafe catered the meal (chicken fired steak), and as usual it was delicious.

Saturday morning John Bullard joined me in Eastland for an excursion to the local cemetery. Doc Scurlock rode with Billy the Kid during the Lincoln County War. After it was over, he decided he was tired of being shot at and moved to Eastland to open a candy store. He died there in 1929. John wanted to see the grave, and since I had visited it a few years ago, I showed him where it was.

John and I hit the morning panel (which character of Howard’s was the first sword and sorcery hero), then joined his sister, her husband, and James McGlothlin for lunch. Mexican food again. Good chili rellenos are hard to find, and I eat them every chance I get.

(l. to r.) Shanks, Louinet, Gruber

There were two afternoon panels. The first was a celebration of Sailor Steve Costigan, hero of a series of boxing stories. Jeff Shanks, Patrice Louinet, and Chris Gruber led the discussion. Chris presented a championship belt to the Howard house to put on display.

The second panel was what is coming in Howardiana. The Dark Man journal is being revived. The Foundation Press will be republishing some OOP titles, starting with the poetry and letters, then moving on to some of the collected fiction, such as the weird menace and spicies. These will be POD trade paperbacks. The first will be available sometime during the next year. A representative from the company that owns the rights (the name has changed and I don’t recall what it is now) talked about the comics. (Conan a part of the regular Marvel universe and a member of the Avengers? Shoot me now.) He wouldn’t say much about any film projects.

The day ended with the barbeque at the Pavilion followed by poetry reading on the steps of the Howard House, including the poem “Cimmeria” in eight languages.

My father had had a kidney stone flair-up while I was there, so I skipped the informal breakfast Sunday morning and went and had breakfast with my parents.

I enjoyed the weekend a lot, and I think that was more because I was reconnecting with friends more than anything. There were some good books there. Jason M. Waltz, publisher of Rogue Blades, had a number of his books available, including his latest, Crossbones and Crosses. David C. Smith signed my copies of his Red Sonja novels as well as copies of some of his other books. The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press had their collection of Howard’s autobiographical writings, Post Oaks and Sand Roughs, for sale. I picked up a copy for me. I also bought a few items for friends, which I will be getting in the mail later this week.

Howard Days 2019 might be over, but I had a great time and am looking forward to next year. Attendance was down a bit, and some of the regulars weren’t able to make it. Guys, you were missed. Hopefully, I’ll see you next year, along with some others who have been trying to make it for a while.

An Important Message Regarding the Robert E. Howard Foundation and Amazon Smile

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The Amazon Smile program is a way to donate to your favorite charities when purchasing items from Amazon. The Robert E. Howard Foundation is now one of the available charities to which you can contribute. All you have to do is add it to you list of charities. It only takes a couple of clicks. You can access smile from your Amazon account. I’ve added the Foundation to my account.

A Belated Report on the 2017 World Fantasy Convention

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The 2017 World Fantasy Convention ended a week ago as I write this. It was in San Antonio, which is a 6 hour drive from where I live. I got back Sunday night and returned to San Antonio Tuesday morning for another event, which is why I’m a little late in writing this report. WFC started on Thursday and ran through Sunday, making it an excellent weekend.

I’ll give a brief overview of some of the panels I attended, then make some general statements. Continue reading →

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