Author Archives: Keith West

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 →

A Visit to the 2022 ERB Dum Dum

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The first weekend of the month, I traveled to San Antonio to attend the 2022 Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum. This convention moves around the country, but this year it was in Texas and didn’t conflict with Robert E. Howard Days like it’s done in the past. I’d like to thank John Bullard for letting me know about it and graciously allowing me to crash at his house. Continue reading →

Recent Travels

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I’ve been on the road quite a bit lately and will be at least once more before the end of the month. Some of the travel is family related (no issues, just visits), but I just returned from Howard Days 2022 today. I was in San Antonio for the 2022 Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum-Dum the weekend before.

Look for trip reports on both of those later this week, once everything settles down and I get caught up on chores and dayjobbery..

Kardios Slaughters the Gods

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Today, May 21, is the birthday of Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986). Although best known for his tales of Jon the Balladeer, Wellman also wrote a number of stories in a variety of subgenres, including sword and sorcery. These stories aren’t as well-known as his Appalachian tales. They are still worth reading.

One of the sword and sorcery characters he wrote about was a chap named Kardios, the sole survivor of Atlantis. The reason Atlantis sunk is that Kardios did something he shouldn’t have. By kissing the queen, he institutes the curse that causes the island to sink. Now he wanders the world having adventures. Continue reading →

Rest in Peace, Patricia A. McKillip (1948-2022)

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I saw on Twitter today that Patricia A. McKillip has died. She was one of the best stylisits in the fantasy field. I had the pleasure of meeting her at the 2000 World Fantasy Convention and again at the 2006 World Fantasy Convention

McKillip won a World Fantasy Award for her first adult novel, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld in 1974. She followed it up with the Riddlemaster Trilogy. This was the first thing I read by her in the SFBC omnibus edition.

I was hooked.

Over the years McKillip only got better. Most of her novels were stand-alones. Beginning in the late 1990’s, McKillip began publishing a series of novels through Ace books with the most gorgeous covers. I’ve got all of them, although I’ve not read all of them yet.

If you’ve not read her work, give it a try. It’s not sword and sorcery, but it is some of the best fantasy written in the last half century. I’m going to try to work more of her books into the reading schedule. I think I’ll give the Riddlemaster trilogy another read. It’s been long enough that a lot of the details have faded.

A Tribute to James Bama, Pulp Reprint Artist Extraordinaire by John Bullard

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James Bama

I received word from my friend Tony Tollin Sunday night that the artist James Bama passed away in his sleep. I never got a chance to meet him, although when I was going to be up in Wyoming in 2018, Tony offered to put me in contact with him to see if I could meet him in person, but I felt I would be too busy with other things, and mainly, I felt that I would be imposing on him, so I declined.

James Bama was a highly successful commercial artist, painting covers for magazines and paperback books from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. When he decided to retire, he moved to Wyoming and began painting incredible portraits of American West subjects. His style is of the school of photo realism. 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 →

A Belated Report on the 2022 Jack Williamson Lectureship

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Things have been crazy this past month, and I’ve been too busy with other projects and/or just wiped out to get this up sooner.

COVID killed the lectureship in 2020. Last year’s was all online. That was better than nothing, but everyone agreed it was less than satisfactory. Fortunately, this year’s event was held in person. It was good to be back in Portales again. I’d attended in 2018 and 2019 and had a fantastic time. Continue reading →

Kuttner’s “Line to Tomorrow”

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One of the things Henry Kuttner excelled at was the dark, sardonic twist at the end of many of his stories. Another thing he excelled at was time travel stories. Often in the same story. We’ll look at one of these today that he wrote in collaboration with his wife C. L. Moore that was published under their pen name Lewis Padgett.

Speaking of today, it’s Kuttner’s birthday, April 7, as this post goes live. I wasn’t able to read something for the birthday of Kuttner’s friend Robert Bloch. I wasn’t going to make that mistake for Kuttner.

“Line to Tomorrow” begins with Jerry Fletcher answering the phone way too early in the morning. He can only hear one voice. It seems to be a call between two people, but much of what they’re talking about doesn’t make sense. Continue reading →

I Didn’t Forget Bloch’s Birthday…

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…not exactly. I’ve been swamped with other things.

Robert Bloch, one of the best short fiction writers of the weird and fantastic was born today, April 5, 1917. Hey, it’s still the 5th where and when I’m writing this.

I’ve not read any of his work in observance of his birthday yet, but I’ll try to fit something in over the next few days. Sadly, much of his work is currently out of print. There are a few things  up on Amazon, but they look sketchy.

What short story of Bloch’s would  you suggest I read (or reread)?