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Robert E. Howard in Lincoln County

In June of 1935, Robert E. Howard and his friend Truett Vinson took a road trip through New Mexico, and on the way stopped in the town of Lincoln. Howard was fascinated by the Lincoln County War. It’s easy to understand why. It was a horrible, senseless conflict fueled by greed and pride from which no one came out looking good.

A friend and I took a similar trip this past June. We’d been talking about this trip for over a year. Family considerations required him to move back to Kansas, so we knew we had to go or the trip would never happen. We managed to find a couple of days when we could both get free and headed west.

After hiking in the mountains we made our way to Lincoln, where we stayed the night at the Wortley Hotel (Where No Guest Has Been Gunned Down in Over 100 Years). The next morning, we toured the town before heading home.

Howard described his impressions of Lincoln in a letter to H. P. Lovecraft in a letter circa July 1935. My intention of this post is to comment on some of the things Howard wrote about, supplemented with my own photos from the trip. I didn’t know much about the Lincoln County War before we went, but I’ve learned a lot since then. (I hadn’t read that portion of Howard’s correspondence at the time.) Had I known more, I would taken some additional pictures.

While it’s not the most famous picture of Howard, the photo on the left has been fairly widely disseminated. It was taken in front of the Lincoln County Courthouse. Click to enlarge the image. The sign says “The house from which Billy the Kid made his fast escape after killing his two guards Bell and Ollinger before ? 1881 being later killed by Sherriff Pat Garrett. Visitors Welcome.”

I’m not sure who the person on the left is. It could be Vinson, but I have a vague memory of reading somewhere that it’s one of the locals. I just can’t remember where I read it. If I really did.

If that is one of the locals, it would most likely be Ramon Maes, who was the grandson of Lucio Montoya, one of the participants on the Murphy-Dolan side of the conflict. (Billy the Kid fought for the McSween-Tunstall faction.) Maes regaled the Texans with tales of the fighting and gave them the key to the building. At one time it was the Murphy-Dolan store and bank, and after the Lincoln County War ended, it became the courthouse and jail. When Howard was there, it was a storage building. Continue reading →

Why We Need More Heroic Fantasy…

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…with the emphasis on the heroic.

This is going to be a strange rant, and in some ways, it’s going to be vague. I’ll explain why below. Continue reading →

In the Merry Month of May

A Look at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly 19

Again? Really!?

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You may remember the controversy last summer over the SFWA bulletin, which encompassed, among other things, people being offended by some things said by Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg, some other articles deemed sexist, and of course, the cover you see on the left. I discussed the situation in this post.

Well, now there’s another controversy brewing. Steve Davidson of Amazing Stories does a fine job of summarizing it here.

I’ll hit the high points, but you’ll have to track down some of the details on your own. During last summer’s fiasco, publication of the Bulletin was suspended. Plans are for it to resume. A few things need to happen first, like a new editor has to be hired. And there’s some sort of oversight committee that will be put in place to see to it that the Bulletin doesn’t publish anything that isn’t up to SFWA standards.

And that’s got some people upset. Continue reading →

In Which I Discuss Thor (and his Deplorable Taste in Women)

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So I took my son to see Thor: The Dark World over the weekend. He really liked it. I mostly really liked it.

The basic plot is that before there was light, the universe was in darkness and inhabited by the Dark Elves. In an epic battle between Odin’s father and the Dark Elves, Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves sacrifices most of his people in an attempt to use aether, a primordial substance. The aether is lost, and the Dark Elves are defeated, with Malekith (incorrectly) believed to be dead.

The story jumps to the present day, where Jane Foster is pining for Thor, who is in Asgard. Meanwhile Malekith is preparing to make a comeback. The Nine Worlds are aligning, which is allowing travel between the worlds. (Don’t ask, it really doesn’t make any sense when you think about it. Just like the scene with Eric Selvig streaking at Stonehenge makes no sense.)

Jaimie Alexander as Sif

Jane falls through one of the passages and is contaminated by aether. So she travels with Thor to Asgard, which comes under attack by Malekith. This leads to a sequence of chases and subterfuges that drive the second half of the movie. The character of Loki is well used, and his relationship with Thor is one of the strong parts of the movie.

There are some great visual effects. The movie isn’t so much a superhero tale as it is science fantasy. And reasonably well done science fantasy at that. The cast works well for the most part. Renee Russo shows she can handle a sword quite well. I think she’s been in the wrong movies.

Dude, really. Look over your shoulder.
You can do better.

The only real problem I had with the show was Thor’s love life. The filmmakers went out of their way to indicate that Sif is interested in Thor. Yet he chooses Jane Foster. The former is a kick-butt warrior woman, while the latter barely rises to the level of a damsel in distress, one who only takes an active, as opposed to passive, role in events near the end. Sticking stakes in the ground is hardly exciting, even if they are high tech stakes designed to prevent the end of the world.

Yes, I realize the story is probably following the basic story arc in the comics. I say “probably” because of the Marvel movies of recent years, Thor is the only one I never read. If there had been any real chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, maybe I could have bought it. I just didn’t see any sparks there. In the few scenes between Sif and Thor, there was plenty of chemistry between Jaimie Alexander and Chris Hemsworth. Personally, I think he should have chosen her. I certainly would have. She can more than handle herself in a fight. Thor wouldn’t have to constantly be running off to save her.

jaimie-alexander-in-thor-wide-movies-1185346630

My kind of independent woman

These gripes aside, I was surprised at how good Thor: The Dark World turned out. The Marvel adaptations are setting a high standard for superhero movies. I hope DC can come close. Given how underwhelmed I was with Man of Steel, I’m not holding out much hope, especially with Ben Affleck cast as Batman.

State of the Blogs

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Okay, so it’s been what, about six weeks since I launched four blogs, two new and two that had been hosted at another site? Something like that.

Time to take a look at how things are going. Traffic is down somewhat but holding fairly steady, all things considered. Of course, that’s for Adventures Fantastic and Futures Past and Present at the old site. The traffic for the new posts is pretty slim, as is the traffic on the two new blogs.

None of which surprises me. I knew the old sites would continue to attract hits. Unless I’d posted something new that either someone at a high traffic site linked to or was pretty controversial, most of the pageviews on any given day were older posts, usually ones someone had linked to at a high traffic forum. I’m surprised and pleased that I’m still getting that many hits there.

I knew it would take a while for traffic to pick up here, and I’m not too worried about it. I had my hands full with getting the semester off the ground after the new site went live, so there wasn’t much new content the first couple of weeks.

I’ve gotten dozens of comments here, but almost all of them have been spam, including something like half a dozen in Japanese. (I’m too lazy tonight to go back and count.) That has surprised me a little because I haven’t heard from one or two of the regulars who would comment frequently. I’m wondering what’s up with that, although I’m not taking it personally. Probably something about how things changed over.

I have gotten a couple of new comments on the other site. One was from Henry Kuttner’s great niece, which I posted about here.

The other comment was from William Jordan on One Fearful Yellow Eye:

Great review. My first McGee was the “Green Ripper”. I was hooked, would stay up most of the night reading McGee. Then I read them in order. I love them all, but my three favorites are: A Purple Place For Dying, Nightmare In Pink, Bright Orange For the Shroud, The Green Ripper. Also in the non McGee, The Drowners-1963, Where is Janice Gantry-1962, and April Evil-1956 are great, they all are. Boo Waxwell from Bright Orange For The Shroud, will get your attention.

So things aren’t going too badly at the moment, although I wouldn’t complain if traffic and comments picked up some. I’m going to try to post between the three fiction blogs more regularly, with at least one post on the science fiction and noir blogs every couple of weeks. I’ll still try to post here every few days. Dispatches should get a new post every second month or so, since those will involve some research and probably travel.

So what’s in the queue? I finished reading and sent a review of a first novel by an Australian author to the David Gemmell Awards. It’s a bit late, so I’m not sure if they will even run it. (This is what happens when you have stacks on top of stacks.) This particular book didn’t make the short list and final voting closes tomorrow. The plus side is I won’t have to wait a couple of months to run a slightly longer version of the review here. I’m going to post some things related to Halloween. These will be different than the 6 Weeks of Scares posts I’m running at Amazing Stories. I’ve got a science fiction novel I’m trying to read in the next week to ten days, Joshua P. Simon’s latest novel is in the queue for later this month, I’m going to tackle at least one Heinlein, maybe two, plus some detective fiction and short stories. Plus one or two special topic posts are in the works. I also still need to write up the post on the Menger Hotel for Dispatches From the Lone Star Front. That will probably happen this week.

Plenty of things to keep me busy, in addition to taking my WordPress skills to the next level. And somewhere in there I’ve got a crime story to finish and some fantasy to write.

Worldcon Report, Part 2, Photos

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As promised, here is the second part of my Worldcon report, which will mostly consist of photos along with some commentary. I hate formatting a bunch of pictures, so I apologize for any sloppiness in the presentation.

Exhibit Hall

This picture shows the exhibit hall. The art show is on the left, the exhibits are on the right, and the dealers’ room is at the back. This was a very open space and well laid out. It was easy to navigate and find things.

Reception for James Gunn

The reception for James Gunn. Gunn is seated at the table in the middle of the picture. I don’t know who everyone is but John Kessel and Sheila Williams (editor of Asimov;s) are in the picture. Many of the people here had some personal connection to Gunn.

Brad Denton and Howard Waldrop

This picture is from the panel on Texas authors who have passed on, and shows Brad Denton on the left and Howard Waldrop on the right. Much of the discussion centered around Chad Oliver since he was about the only science fiction writer from Texas for a number of years. The conversation eventually shifted to Tom Reamy (to whom I have a small personal connection) and Steven Utley. The conversation never got around to Ardath Mayhar, which is unfortunate. Each of the authors mentioned were unique, and there was no one quite like them. If you haven’t read any of them, track down their works. The NESFA editions of Chad Oliver were being given away for free, and Utley’s two volume collection of Silurian Tales had just been published.

Bill Cavalier outside the Cavalier Room

The picture to the left is REHupa editor Bill Cavalier outside “his” room at the Menger Hotel. The bar in the Menger hotel is where Teddy Roosevelt recruited the Rough Riders. There are a number of pictures and displays about that. I’ll write up a post for Dispatches From the Lone Star Front and put the pictures I took of the bar in that one. Bill has been after me to join REHupa. I probably will, but I’ve got so much on my plate right now that I want to make sure I can handle the added commitment. (I said “probably”, Bill. That’s not a Yes, at least not yet.)

Damon Sasser, Rusty Burke, and Harry Turtledove are discussing Robert E. Howard’s horror stories. Turtledove was channeling L. Sprague de Camp at times.

Legacy Circle Dinner

This picture is the Robert E. Howard Legacy Circle Dinner that was held Saturday night. Clockwise starting on the left are Paul Herman, Bill Cavalier, Rusty Burke, Dave Hardy, Damon Sasser, Jeff Shanks, Patrice Louinet, Rob Rhoem, John Bullard, and Ben (whose last name I never caught). The place were tried to go to told us there would be over an hour wait, so we ended up eating at an Italian restaurant up the street. It was an interesting the experience. The food was good, although my lasagna wasn’t very hot. There was almost no one there, the manager seated us in front of the window and sent over three plates of calamari on the house, and they had just gotten their liquor license renewed and the wine list wasn’t up to date. I’m guessing there had been a change in management.

At the Buckhorn Bar

Afterwards, most of us ended up at the Buckhorn Bar, which Robert E. Howard visited. Still with us are Jeff, Bill, Rusty, Paul, Rob, Patrice, Ben, and Damon. They closed right after we got there (it was only 9:00 on a Saturday night for crying out loud); we moved on to the Menger Bar.

The Foundation booth. Good help is hard to find. I helped out when needed. On the table are all of the books from the Foundation that are currently in print.

Finally, two scenes from San Antonio. First, the most sacred plot of soil in Texas, the Alamo at sunset.

Second a street scene on the way to breakfast Monday morning, some kid doing the perp walk. I know the people in the background and ended up joining them for breakfast. They were so intent on the menu that they never saw the cops walk this kid by them.

Quick Update

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I met with a friend who is a web designer on Monday and will meet with him again tomorrow morning. Monday’s meeting was to discuss the situation with Google and what I’m wanting to do plus lay out a basic plan. The rest of the time we were playing catch up since we hadn’t seen each other in a few months. Tomorrow we’ll get the basics of the new web site set up. At this point I think I’m going to run with four blogs as part of the new site. One will continue the fantasy and heroic adventure along with a good deal of pulp and one will focus on science fiction. I’ll have a new one that will be noir and detective fiction, since it really doesn’t fit on either of the two current blogs. I’ll also run a fourth that will be Texas and Southwest history. I had a column at Jason Waltz’s Home of Heroics that ran under the title Dispatches From the Lone Star Front. I’ve done one or two since that venue folded, but they really don’t fit here all that well. I suspect a blog with a pure historical focus would be successful once it found its audience. I suspect the overlap of that audience with the audience of Adventures Fantastic would be rather small. If nothing else, I could reach a new group of readers.

What the new site won’t have for a couple of weeks, at least, is a store for original fiction. I want to get a new computer before I start to produce files that can be read on an ereader. The machine I’m writing this on is over a decade old. My son will start middle school in the fall, and my wife is pushing for a new computer he can use. It might be a few weeks before that purchase is made. I want to research what would be the best machine for our needs, and I don’t want to rush. I’ve got a jury summons for Monday, so if I get selected that will slow everything down.

I’m in the middle of reading all the short fiction nominees for the Hugos. There’s a week left to vote, so I probably won’t read all the novels by the deadline, not that I would try anyway. I’ve got some other novels I’m needing to get to soon. I’ll post my thoughts on those as I get them done. I’ve finished the short stories, so that post will go up by Saturday at the latest. Then the novellettes. The novellas are a bit longer, but I think I can get them done. We’ll see.

So that’s how things stand at the moment. I’ll let you know when the new site goes live.

Goals for 2013

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I’m not much for resolutions, but I do believe in setting goals. So I thought I’d set out a few goals for 2013.

First, I want to write more. And by that, I mean fiction. Blogging is fun, but if I’m not careful, it can take over all my time. So I want to write at least 1500 words of fiction a week. That’s a minimum, and if I see that I’m hitting that without breaking a sweat, I’ll probably up that amount. I’m looking into ways to keep documents in the cloud so I can work in multiple locations and not be constrained to a single computer. Or have to keep up with a flashdrive. I’m thinking about posting a weekly recap on what I’ve accomplished here. Maybe a little positive peer pressure will work in my favor.

Second, I want to post more often at Futures Past and Present. By more often I mean more frequently than once every few months. I’d like to post at least twice a month. We’ll see if that happens. I posted there earlier this evening, and the next several novel I’m planning on reviewing will be science fiction, so I should meet that goal at least one month.

Of course I want to keep posting regularly here. Since I’ve expanded my focus, I’ll be able to write about things other than just fantasy and historical fiction. I’m also going to look at more short fiction, which should make things easier.

I’d like to make all my deadlines at Amazing Stories. If I can stay ahead, then I should be able to do that.

One of the things I’m going to do to help manage my time is to not spend so much time on Twitter. I’ll still check in, but it may not be every day. Beyond that, I’ll tell myself that Free Cell is broken. It all comes down to time management, which is mainly self-discipline. Not one of my strong points. But I’m going to try. Not that I’ve said publicly what I hope to achieve, all the world will be watching if I fail. No pressure.