Since Fists of Iron Round 1, the first volume of the four-volume series of the Collected Boxing Fiction of Robert E. Howard  is now shipping, I thought it would be a good time to go 10 rounds (i.e. questions) with the three guys responsible for making this massive collection possible. If you have not already done so, be sure and order these volumes – with 200 copy print runs, they are sure to go fast.

I hear the first bell ringing, so it is time to climb through the ropes and get down to business with Mark Finn, Chris Gruber and Patrice Louinet.

Round 1: How was the title Fists of Iron arrived at?

Patrice: The original title was quite longer. It was actually so long that it would have taken the whole cover just by itself. So we had to come up with a new, shorter, and punchier title at the very last stages…

Chris: Actually, there might have been a third title! When Patrice first contacted me about the boxing project, around 2007 or 2008, he had already been pitching a project to the REH Foundation that would encompass everything Howard had written – a project he had tentatively called The Completists. The very first title for the boxing stuff might actually have been The Boxing Completist or something like that. Regardless, the Completists idea was real and eventually given the green light but the boxing tales would have to wait their turn in the genre list. We went with the super long cover-spanning title because it really connected Howard with boxing and Cross Plains but Rob Roehm insisted it was too long – and he should know as he was the one trying to squeeze it onto the cover. While I rather liked the super long cover-spanning title I have to admit that Fists of Iron packs considerably more punch as a title and fits quite nicely into the squared ring that is our cover.

Round 2: Considering the massive amount of material and all the different versions of the Steve Costigan and Dennis Dorgan yarns, how did you originally get your arms around the project?

Patrice: The number of projected volumes and how we would organize them was of course the very first thing we – meaning Chris, Mark and I – discussed. We knew we were embarking on a mammoth project, so the need to know what we were doing and where we were going was present from the very beginning.

Mark: The organization was borne out of a need to get a handle on so many stories. This project deviates from the usual format that the Del Rey books fall into, meaning, we had to make some concessions. So book one is all of the early stuff, plus fragments and notes. Books two and three—all Costigan, from start to finish. And book for is all of the other, non-Costigan stuff, like Kid Allison, and so forth. Patrice’s essay, running across all four books, shows the order of who and what and when and where. So, it works out pretty good, but for readers, it’s organized much better.

Chris: Originally, we had a more visual idea in mind. Patrice was really keen on including original scans of some of the primary material that we hoped would help create for the reader an experience of having read Howard’s work as it appeared on a carbon just pulled from his Underwood. In the end the idea was scrapped though I don’t know why. However, we were allowed to include all of that material cleanly retyped as part of the supplemental sections. So, thankfully, it’s all there.

Once we had a solid picture of what each volume would look like and contain we engaged in a series of discussions to determine whether or not we would include altered versions of already included stories, drafts, and other relevant texts. It was clear that we wanted to include everything. Patrice wanted the same thing I did – to include everything that had significant value to the scholar – and to his credit he was able to sell that idea to the folks who have to foot the printing bill. The result of this decision is that now a scholar can examine the creative genesis of well known stories and characters that differ significantly from the established canon, and I’m not just talking about the Dorgan/Costigan dilemma though that particular identity theft is finally, fully, addressed.

Round 3: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced putting this collection together?

Patrice: I’d say the biggest challenge was at the same time the biggest thrill: our constantly discovering new material: drafts, better texts, alternates, carbons, etc. in Glenn’s collection. It took us an awfully long time to get our final contents *really* final.

Chris: The biggest obstacle was easily time. If two of us were hopping along the productive trail you could bet your last dime that the third musketeer was sure to be mired in some personal, unavoidable, life time-suck. School, family, whatever – shit happens during collaborative efforts and it never at the same time. Next to that, I’d have to agree with Patrice – it seemed he couldn’t turn over a rock without finding yet another unearthed boxing gem in Glenn’s trunk. This happened several times throughout the production phase but each time we unanimously agreed to include each new find rather than rush to production. No dilemma at all, really. After all, when we said definitive we meant ‘definitive.’

Mark: To echo Grub, yeah, it was time. But those new finds coming out of the Glenn Lord Archive were happening for part of this, so yeah, it was bittersweet, to say the least.

Round 4: Some Costigan stories were hastily changed by Howard to Dorgan stories when a new market opened up for him. Are both versions included in the collection?

Patrice: The Dorgan/Costigan question had never been satisfactorily explained until the present collection. When you read volumes 2 and 3, you’ll understand that it’s not possible to answer that question… I want you to buy the books, so I am not telling, sorry.

Chris: I want to answer! But I’ll follow Patrice’s lead and not ruin the fun.

Mark: Suffice to say, it’s all in there. I don’t think there will be any more confusion after this. Well, I hope there won’t be.

Round 5: I imagine, after recent discoveries in Glenn Lord’s papers, it is impossible to say this collection includes everything, but was something found in those papers boxing related that was added at the last minute to the books?

Patrice: “Something?”; lots of things were included. Carbons, drafts, fragments, you name it, plenty of stuff turned up at what was supposed to be the very last stages of composition. I had been working on that material for over a decade, but every time we thought we had a volume finalized, something else turned up! Sure, we are thorough, sure we can be slow at times, but the constant addition of new material was the major reason we were so far behind on our projected deadlines for these series.

Chris: We had ‘finished’ at least three times that I could remember and each time I would get another wonderful email letting me know that there’s one more thing that might need to be included – and we’d mull over the pros and cons of adding it, vet the material to make sure it was new and boxing related , and ask ourselves if it should be included even though it would mean a new delay? And each time our response was the same – “Hell yes it should!”

Mark: I really think that everything found is in this book. It’s every scrap of boxing we could get our hands on.

Read the rest of this entry »

From Weird Tales, October, 1936

A year ago, I wrote a post, accompanied by the photo on the left, about Harold Preece and Winona Morris Nation. The photo and most of the content of that post was supplied to me by a close friend of Winona’s named Linda Jones.

While we know what happened to Winona after her passing, a mystery remains as to what became of Harold. And what of Harold’s papers – where are they?

These and several other mysteries were solved when John Nation, the eldest son of Winona Morris Nation (who is mentioned the original post) recently contacted me. John graciously shared some information on their relationship, much of it is recounted in this post. After Harold and Winona passed on in the fall of 1992, it fell to John and a lady known as “Tall Susan” (also mentioned in my original post) to wrap up their affairs and box up their belongings for storage. But before we get to the end, let’s start at the beginning.

Winona met Harold in 1978. They were introduced by a mutual friend, Dr. Howard Gaddis who taught Humanities at Winona’s college. One day Winona was visiting Dr. Gaddis in his apartment and the phone rang. Gaddis answered and spoke a few moments then turned to Winona and said, “Winona, its Harold Preece. I’ve long wanted the two of you to speak to each other.” He handed Winona the phone and they spoke for 45 minutes and made arrangements to meet a few days later for coffee. That was the beginning of their 14 years together. Harold told John a number of times, “If someone had said to me that when I turned 70 a beautiful intelligent woman would be waiting for me I would have told them they were insane.”

John also recalls Harold reminiscing about his youthful friendship with Howard, saying it was one of the proudest things of his young life to have known and been close friends with Robert E. Howard.

Before meeting Winona, Harold was married twice. His first wife died early in their marriage. His second marriage to wife, Cecilia didn’t work out and Harold had some unflattering things to say about her. He had an estranged son by her whom he had no idea where he was. One wonders how much of Harold’s early writings may have vanished with a vituperative ex-wife.

John spent six weeks at Winona’s house after she passed on October 30, 1992, packing into huge boxes everything she had written, which over the years amounted to slightly over 1,650 poems. Some of these were published in The New York Times and The Atlantic Monthly, the two most prestigious markets for poets in the USA.

But there is another source of information concerning Harold Preece and his life, particularly his later years that might be revealing. Winona was an inveterate letter writer and wrote John every week. Nearly all of what she wrote in her final decade was about her life with Harold — their domestic weekly and daily routine. John kept many of these letters, probably forty or more which are in storage and might fill in a lot of gaps.

Among the letters are some from Harold that go into great detail about what he thought and believed. He had an imaginary alter ego named J. Bixby Bobcat, who lived out in Arizona at Bobcat Creek with his cousin Billy Dee Bobcat. They spent their time outwitting the Tacky Bear Sheriff in hilarious adventures.

Late in his life, Harold was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had to go to a nursing home, some friends probably including Winona cleaned out his small apartment. His four drawer metal filing cabinet was in one of her bedrooms when she died. When John finished with Winona’s papers, he went through Harold’s papers in his cabinet. There wasn’t much to be found. About six inches of bills filed from recent years and some recent correspondence – mostly from magazine editors. His submissions naturally fell off in the later years and of course he stopped writing completely with his illness. John found some issues of the western magazines with Harold’s articles written under various pen names – Tex Shannon was one name that he used. He also found a paperback copy of Harold’s The Dalton Gang, which he later read.

Harold’s papers and other materials John saved are still with Winona’s things in huge boxes stored in North Carolina with a family friend. Plus, a great deal of Winonas original materials are in storage in the Archives Department at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Harold always planned to write an autobiography, but as far as anyone knows, he never penned a page of it. He wanted to call it The Legend and the Latigo, a sweeping title to say the least. Of course, he was also supposed to write a biography of Howard — perhaps he did at least start it – if he did, what he wrote might be in those boxes in North Carolina.

What is in those boxes may not be anything of commercial value, which would have meant little to either of them. Harold and Winona were purists and were going to do what they felt was right to do and would take their lumps as they came.

Understanding that Harold, as John recounts it, is a spur off the main REH rail line, but still it is a spur that should be fully investigated and preserved. He believes that whatever is not currently known about Harold is in those dozen or so boxes. In John’s mind reside memories that are waiting to be discovered and explored.

It’s been 20 years now since they departed and John feels while the memories and documents still survive, he must save as much as possible of their works and their lives for posterity. He believes theirs’ were important lives, and future readers would be grateful for the efforts to preserve the memories of Harold and Winona.

John is currently living abroad, but will be back in the USA this fall or winter and arrangements are being made for a Howard scholar to meet him in North Carolina to go through Harold and Winona’s papers see if there is anything of interest to Howard fans. My guess is there is — perhaps even enough material for a book.

When Harold succumbed to Alzheimer’s on November 24, 1992, he was cremated and his ashes scattered on Winona’s grave in the spring of 1993. She is buried at the Hillcrest Cemetery, which is on a hill overlooking Comanche, Oklahoma. Her stone of polished black marble is easy to find if anyone should wish to visit. Plans are in the works to place a stone at the foot of her grave inscribed with the following, which is the perfect epitaph for their romance:

Harold Preece, Beloved of Winona Morris Nation

This year, due to a family emergency, I’m once again sidelined at home instead of in Cross Plains. Everyone is okay, but it was quite a scare. Of course, last year it was a fractured hip that kept me from attending Howard Days.

The Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards Ceremony was this evening, and TGR contributor and guest blogger Jeff Shanks is once again supplying me with the names of the winners and a photo from the event (Thanks, Jeff!). These awards are for work created and published in 2012.

The Atlantean—Outstanding Achievement, Book

Winner: Mark Finn for Blood & Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard, 2nd edition (REH Foundation Press)

The Valusian—Outstanding Achievement, Anthology

Winner: Jonas Prida for Conan Meets the Academy (McFarland Publications)

The Hyrkanian—Outstanding Achievement, Essay

First Place: Winner: Jeffrey Shanks for “Hyborian Age Archeology: Unearthing Historical and Anthropological Foundations” (Conan Meets the Academy)

Second Place: Winner: Rob Roehm for “Robert E. Howard and the Lone Scouts: The Birth of The Junto” (REH: Two-Gun Raconteur #16)

Third Place: Winner: David Hardy for “When the Dam Breaks: Violence and Wild Water” (REH: Two-Gun Raconteur #16)

The Aquilonian—Outstanding Achievement, Periodical

Winner: Damon Sasser for REH: Two-Gun Raconteur #16

The Stygian—Outstanding Achievement, Website

Winner: Brian Leno, Patrice Louinet, Rob Roehm, Damon Sasser, Keith Taylor for REH: Two-Gun Raconteur

The Cimmerian—Outstanding Achievement, Blog Posts

First Place: Winner: Barbara Barrett for “Robert E. Howard and the Issue of Racism” in five parts (REH: Two-Gun Raconteur)

Second Place: Winner: Rob Roehm for “My Name is Earl” with two addendums (REH: Two-Gun Raconteur)

Third Place: Winner: Keith Taylor for “The Ring of … Set?” (REH: Two-Gun Raconteur)

The Venarium Award—Emerging Scholar

No Eligible Nominee

The Black River Award—Special Achievement

Winner: Patrice Louinet for sharing his discovery of new Robert E. Howard photos with Faustine and Leroy Butler, Howard’s neighbors in the mid-1920s.

The Rankin Award—Artistic Achievement in the depiction of REH’s life and/or work

Winner: Tomas Giorello for artwork  adapting  King Conan: “The Phoenix on the Sword”  issues 1-4 (Dark Horse)

The Black Circle Award—Lifetime Achievement

Winner: Damon Sasser

The Black Circle Award—Nominees for next year’s Award

 To be announced.

The Crom Award—Board of Directors’ choice

No award given this year.

Congratulations to all the winners.  Special thanks go to Barbara, Brian, Patrice, Rob and Keith for once again bringing home the bacon with their outstanding contributions to this blog and website. Of course, Rob and Dave came through like champs, garnering Hyrkanians for their essays in issue 16 of the print journal.

I am certainly both surprised and honored to join such a prestigious group of Howard scholars in the Black Circle. And receiving both The Aquilonian for Outstanding Achievement, Periodical and The Stygian Award for Outstanding Achievement, Website is just icing on the cake. I am very gratefully and blessed for all the support from Howard Fandom for the website and the journal. Thanks to all you that follow the blog and buy the print journal. Your continuing interest and enthusiasm for Howard is the fuel that drives us all and for that, we salute you!

Morning in Palo Pinto County! I’m taking a little time off from “The Business” this week to get to Howard Days, so I’ll try to post a few nuggets as I go along. We left Monday morning and drove through California, Arizona, and New Mexico. On Tuesday, we drove through West Texas and made a pit stop at Cisco (the swimming pool at the town’s dam is seen above).

In a letter postmarked September 5, 1928, Robert E. Howard told Harold Preece the following:

At the dam at Cisco, the largest of its kind in the world, we stopped awhile and watched the bathers and I mentally compared them with those I have seen at Corpus Christi and other like places. Skinny, stooped, or burdened with great folds of tallow which is much worse. But at Cisco — God, what a race of glorious young pagans is growing up in this country. Even the young boys and girls were splendidly built; the girls with fine flowing lines of young womanhood, the boys deep chested and finely muscled. I saw not one man, woman or child who was underdeveloped or much over-developed. Certainly West Texas is the cradle of a coming race of giants.

So, not having been to the dam before, we took the ten-minute tour from the freeway, through Cisco proper, and had a look.

After that, we headed further east to Mineral Wells. After grabbing a room for the night we went north to visit the several small—tiny is a better descriptor—towns where Doctor Howard practiced just before and early in his marriage. One of those towns, Christian, doesn’t even exist anymore. The only way to find it is by using old maps. Of course, a remnant of the place remains in the street name, “Old Christian Road.”

Another place, this one barely hanging on, is Oran. Several homes and an active Baptist Church are about all that’s left of this little community, but I did see at least one remnant of the old times.

More travelling today and tomorrow. I’ll try to post a few more updates on this year’s Howard Days experience. I’m off to the courthouse!

Just like it happened in 2006, this year there will be a “two’fer” in Texas for Howard fans. While everyone is focusing on Howard Days (and rightfully so), there is another venue where Howard will have a heavy presence waiting in the wings.

This year’s WorldCon (held in conjunction with LoneStarCon 3) will happen over Labor Day weekend in one of Howard’s old stomping grounds, San Antonio. The event runs August 29th through September 2nd and will be held in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. There are several membership options to fit your budget and schedule. With a membership, you are eligible to participate in the voting for the prestigious 2013 Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Howard scholar and biographer Mark Finn is spearheading the organization of the Howard themed panels, as well as other events. Needless to say, with Mark at the helm, you can be assured of a fantastic Howard experience.

Here is up-to-date information on the Howard activites from WorldCon’s most recent Progress Report:

Six Guns, Sorcery, and Serpents: the Many Worlds of Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) was a pioneer of both heroic fantasy and the weird western. His brief but influential career produced an array of colorful characters: Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Kull of Atlantis, El Borak, and many others, all from his home in rural Cross Plains, Texas. This exhibit features several special artifacts drawn from the Robert E. Howard House and Museum, as well as the Cross Plains Library. These special holdings are being exhibited for the first time ever outside of the Museum, especially for LoneStarCon 3!

Contributors to this unique and one of-a-kind exhibit include Dark Horse Comics (publishers of several REH comics lines), Paradox Entertainment (the rights holders of the Robert E. Howard literary estate) and several private collectors. Much of this material has never been seen before, and will be on display only for the duration of LoneStarCon 3. In addition, several noted REH experts will be on hand to talk more about the items on display, and to answer your questions about the Robert E. Howard House, Howard Days, and more!

Of course, as the convention nears, I’ll be posting the full slate of Howard events once everything is finalized. Here is the link to WorldCon’s website for all the information. If nothing else, it is a damn good excuse for coming to Texas twice this year!

[Part 6 is here.]

On February 4, 1957, agent for the Howard heirs Oscar J. Friend wrote to Glenn Lord, acknowledging “payment of the remaining balance” for use of Howard’s poems; this payment “cover[ed] in full the royalties due on a limited edition of 350 copies based on a retail price of $2.50 each.” The letter goes on to discuss the pitfalls of publishing, recognizing that “printing costs are very high and that no publisher is likely to bring down the price very handily based on so limited an edition.” Friend closes by offering some advice on who to contact regarding methods of distribution. On February 25th, the contract for “The Collected Poetical Works of Robert E. Howard” was prepared and a copy sent to Lord for signing.

Included with the contract was a letter of the same date, in which Friend tells Lord that he has “been unable to establish contact with the defunct Weird Tales and [editor] Mrs. McIlwraith. Further, I have had no reply from the Howard estate on possible old pictures of Howard or any existing and heretofore unpublished mss.” He closes by suggesting that Lord “send me a break-down of all your figures [. . .] and let me get bids for you from a couple of New York publishers before you commit yourself.”

Lord responded on February 28, saying that he “would be very glad to get any lower bids on the publishing of the collection; the prices in Houston are outrageous.” He provides Friend with his publishing specifications and the following:

Contract received and apparently all right, so am enclosing one copy and the due $100. I presume the title of the collection does not necessarily have to be “The Collected Poetical Works”—I plan to use “Always Comes Evening.” The same either way but the latter seems a better title. Also I plan to slightly change titles of 2 of the unpublished poems you sent—“Chant of the White Beard” to “Pagan Chant”; and “Rune of the Ancient One” to “Rune.” Mean about the same and a lot less cumbrous. If you should hear from the Howard Estate about a picture or unpublished MSS will include them if usable. If not, I’ll go ahead with what I have. I am still short a few poems—have promise of aid, but have not received any as yet.

The two unpublished poems Lord mentions are both from the then-unpublished “Men of the Shadows” which de Camp had found in the Agency files (see end of Part 4).

And the business of putting the poetry collection together continued. On March 4, 1957, Friend sent Kuykendall a royalty check for the poetry collection, saying that when “the book is ready I will see that you get author copies of same.” Meanwhile, Lord had contacted Frank Utpatel about doing the cover for the volume. Utpatel responded on March 14, explaining that he charged Arkhan House $35 for black and white work, and as “your jacket would be in somewhat the same vein the terms would be the same.” And on March 31, Glenn finally received copies of the poems from The Fantasy Fan from Larry Farsace.

Lord sent Friend a progress report on May 3, saying that he was “still short several poems.” He was also apparently tired of waiting around:

Did you ever hear from the Howard Estate? If not could you furnish me with the address as I have about decided to go out to Brownwood and Cross Plains in June. At Brownwood, I intend to look through the Memorial Library at Howard Payne College—that is, if the Library is still in the college library. May be able to find a picture of Howard there also.

Sometime before May 5, Lord had discovered Howard’s listing in Who’s Who Among North American Authors. On that day he wrote to the publishers of the Coleman Democrat-Voice, which was mentioned in Howard’s entry, asking about Howard-related items. The publishers responded, saying that “Many of the old files are in the back, and we would be glad for you to take a look at them.” Shortly after May 6, Lord received a note from Oscar Friend saying, “No, I have not had a word from Dr. P. M. Kuykendall, Ranger, Texas, administrator of the Howard estate. And no picture of Robert Howard. And, certainly, you may write to him and definitely look through the library at Brownwood. The best of luck to you.” As with so many things when researching Howard, Glenn discovered that you needed a man on the ground, or a large travel budget.

Also that May, some of his contacts finally started paying off. On the 28th, former editor of The Phantagraph Donald A. Wollheim responded to one of Lord’s inquiries: “I was pleased to receive your letter and to hear that you are going to do the Robert E. Howard poems in a single book. It has been long overdue! A good many years have passed since he died and I do not honestly believe I have encountered a writer since with his particular verve and vigor—certainly none who can manage to get it into poetic form as well as fictional style.” Included with his letter were typed copies of “Song at Midnight” and the verse heading from “Red Blades of Black Cathay.”

And on May 29, Sam Moskowitz wrote that he could type up the Weird Tales poems Glenn was lacking, if he still needed them, and gave him a new nugget of information:

A man who knew a great deal about Howard was E. Hoffmann Price, one of his closest friends. I am not completely sure, but I seem to remember reading something about Price dying recently. Derleth might conceivably know where to locate Price.

Lord received the same advice in a May 30 letter from Lee Baldwin: “Getting back to the verse book, have you tried E. Hoffmann Price, Redwood City, Calif?” In another letter (June 14), Baldwin suggests that Lord contact Thurston Torbett in Marlin, Texas, saying that “I wrote him about 10 or 11 years ago with relation to another matter. I was trying to establish some kind of coralation [sic.] with the death pattern of a lot of our best horror writers through a given period.” (Here’s one of Torbett’s letters from that exchange that Brian Leno posted a while ago.)

Glenn also received an offer of assistance from Dale Hart. Apparently at some earlier date, Glenn had asked for help from Hart. In a June 10, 1957 letter, Hart explains his reasons for not helping sooner, which included his doubts as to whether Glenn could “produce a worthy volume of verse to memorialize Robert E. Howard’s poetry” and the apathy toward the project he encountered at a New York convention, “Apathy—and, I might add, a little resentment toward you, an outsider in the clannish circles of old fans.” Despite these and other issues, Hart finally decided to offer his “whole-hearted support of the volume” and asked to accompany Glenn on his trip to the Post Oaks region. This request was too late, though, as by June 13, Glenn was already reporting what he had found in Cross Plains to Oscar Friend, which included the poem “The Tempter” and the location of a certain Trunk (see Glenn’s letter here).

Upon his return home, Glenn wrote to E. Hoffmann Price. Price replied on June 15:

Somewhere I have—or think I have!—a few feet of microfilm, from the effects of the late Robert H. Barlow, containing some Howard poems. I also have some tear sheets of magazine material, or think I have—the doubt arises because of a vague recollection of having loaned some material to Stuart W. Boland, of San Francisco.

Price goes on to say that he does have “a studio portrait of Howard” and “a studio shot of Howard as a small boy.”

While in Cross Plains, it appears that Lord heard about Norris Chambers, perhaps from Lindsey Tyson. Chambers was then living in Fort Worth, so Lord wrote to Hart over in Dallas to investigate. Hart told Lord in a June 15, 1957 note that he had spoken with Chambers and that he “has some poetry, mostly fragments from letters, which he is going to dig up for me.” On June 19, Lord sent the manuscript of Always Comes Evening to Oscar Friend for approval, but added that the contents might not be set: “There is a chance I might get something from a friend of Howard’s in Ft. Worth.”

On June 20, Dale Hart wrote to Glenn that “Norris Chambers is still digging up Howard stuff. I should be able to get a look at it this weekend.” Hart also suggests that the print-run for the poetry volume be increased and that he be allowed to write a Foreword or Introduction. Glenn agreed to this, and in a June 24 postcard Hart thanks him, and also says, “You may be sure that I shall annotate all material received from Chambers.”

In his June 25 letter to Friend, between talk of publishing details, Glenn informs the agent that he has “done everything possible to collect all of the Howard verse considering limited time (and finances).” And he was still looking. A July 9 postcard from Donald Wollheim shows that Lord had several irons in the fire: “Happening to be in the New York Public Library today, I took advantage of the occasion to look up a couple of your REH references. I found the volume Modern American Poetry: 1933 and the two poems therein,” which were “One Who Comes at Eventide” and “To a Woman.” Wollheim offers to copy them for Lord.

Meanwhile, Dale Hart had driven over to Fort Worth and met with Norris Chambers. He sent Glenn the results of that meeting on July 17: “I enclose five Robert Ervin Howard poems—‘Emancipation,’ ‘To a Woman,’ and three without titles, plus one fragment.” He also had more material, “written from margin to margin on some crumpled sheets,” and said that he would “have the devil’s own time copying it,” but would send along the results in a few days. He was “afraid to send the original through the mail” for obvious reasons. And on July 24 he sent “nine more Howard poems”: “A Song of the Don Cossacks,” “Babel,” “The Heart of the Sea’s Desire,” “Moon Shame,” “Niflheim,” “Laughter in the Gulfs,” and three untitled.

Throughout August Glenn was shopping around for printers and receiving advice from fans and professionals. On August 11, he sent Oscar Friend the mss., saying, “I believe that this will represent all material that will be in the book.” Lord worked with August Derleth to find a suitable printer and on September 1 informed Friend that due to costs, he was “forced to increase the price to $3 per copy and the edition to 500 copies.” Unfortunately, the printer Derleth had suggested, the George Banta Company, wrote to Lord on September 17, saying that they were “sorry to reply to your inquiry about the printing of Always Comes Evening in the negative.” And Glenn was still waiting for Dale Hart’s introduction.

For a while it looked like the only sort of Howard publishing that would occur in 1957 was the September issue of Fantastic Universe, which ran the first part of Nyberg and de Camp’s Return of Conan, published complete in Gnome Press’ book of the same title later that year. By November 21, even Dale Hart was wondering, “any news about the REH collection? Any delay, or is the book on schedule (as far as you know)?” But things had progressed and as early as December 10, copies of the book had been delivered to purchasers; on that day Larry Farsace wrote to Glenn: “what a pleasant surprise, the copy of the new book, Always Comes Evening, which arrived yesterday.”

In his Foreword to the volume, Glenn wrote the following:

I have included in this volume all verse by the late Robert Ervin Howard that could be located. However many of his poems were never published and it is highly probable that some were lost in the twenty-one years since his death.

Truer words were never spoken.

This is something I bought on eBay the other day, and I’ll explain the main reason why in a little bit.

It’s the Science Fiction Review from March-April 1979 and it’s turned out to be a pretty nifty little paper time machine of nostalgia.  Skimming the contents really took me back to my younger collecting days, when a trip to the mailbox was just about the only way to stay in touch with current news and publishing events.  There are many names in this magazine that should be familiar to Robert E. Howard fans—George H. Scithers, Michael Moorcock, Don Herron, Jonathan Bacon and W. Paul Ganley, to list just a few.  All Howard collectors should remember Bacon’s Fantasy Crossroads and Ganley’s Weirdbook; what a pleasure it was back then to receive the latest issue.  

Plus there’s lots of news tucked inside, including the scheduled dates of paperback publication for Howard’s The Gods of Bal-Zagoth (sic), Glenn Lord’s The Howard Collector and de Camp’s The Blade of Conan.  There’s also a review of Don Herron’s Echoes from the Vaults of Yoh-Vombis, a tribute to George F. Haas, an interesting man and a noteworthy collector.   Even George R. R. Martin, years before A Game of Thrones, makes an appearance.  This SF Review is a little gold mine for those who love remembering the great days of fandom.

But the main reason I bought this magazine is the cover—it’s a beautiful black and white by Stephen Fabian, illustrating David Gerrold’s “Hellhole” which later appeared in Asimov’s SF Adventure Magazine.  That drawing by Fabian is the first piece of original art I would ever own, and as such, it’s a very special part of my collection.

Back around 1978 or 1979 George T. Hamilton started up a Stephen E. Fabian fan club and I eagerly joined, thinking then, and now, that Fabian certainly qualifies as one of the best fantasy illustrators to ever put artistic pen to paper.  Fabian was everywhere back then, seemingly as prolific as Gustave Doré.  His paintings and drawings undoubtedly saved many a magazine from the trash can and gave some fanzines a touch of professionalism that they otherwise lacked.

I can’t remember how long this club lasted, but I do remember writing to Mr. Fabian with a request to buy some artwork and he obligingly sent me photos of what he had for sale, with the “Hellhole” illustration being one of those that caught my eye.  I eventually bought two other drawings and now I wish I’d have purchased more.

His black and white drawings have always captured my attention, but lately I’ve been thinking it would be nice to own a painting, but try to find that for the prices I paid in 1979; can’t be done.  But that’s part of nostalgia, not only remembering what you bought, but cursing yourself for what you didn’t buy.  I hope readers will forgive this trip down nostalgia lane, but if it brought back good memories for you, let me know, I’ve got a million of ‘em.

[Part 5 is here.]

With the Gnome Press series of Conan books winding down, Howard publishing looked pretty sparse as 1956 began. In his March 15, 1956 letter to P. M. Kuykendall, Oscar Friend says that after the Gnome Press Tales of Conan, “Then we will be definitely on some sort of an agreement with another author of Conan stories.” Shortly thereafter, L. Sprague de Camp’s “The Bloodstained God,” a rewrite of a Kirby O’Donnell story entitled “The Trail of the Blood-Stained God,” appeared in the April 1956 issue of Fantastic Universe.

Two other sales wrap up the year. A September 13, 1956 letter from Oscar Friend informs Doctor Kuykendall of the “one-time reprint sale of ‘Gods of the North,’ by Robert E. Howard, to King-Size Pubs.” The story appeared in the December 1956 issue of Fantastic Universe. Friend’s October 6, 1956 letter to Kuykendall has news of “the serial sale to December issue of Double-Action Western for world rights to ‘While the Smoke Rolled,’” a humorous western.

Perhaps spurred on the by the appearance of his friend’s Conan stories, in 1956 Tevis Clyde Smith published his first remembrance of Howard, “Adventurer in Pulp,” in Pecan Valley Days. This “volume of recollections and incidents in the history of Brown County, Texas,” was published as a souvenir for the county’s 100th anniversary. As such, few Howard fans were likely aware of its existence.

With the “suitable” new Howard material running out, a September 26, 1956 letter from L. Sprague de Camp to a fan discusses the future of the Conan series:

There are no more Howard mss suitable for use in the Conan series, as far as I am concerned. John Clark and I have been over all of them with a fine-tooth comb, and as you saw yourself we had gotten pretty far down in the barrel. However, a Lieutenant in the Swedish Air Force, Bjorn Nyberg (pronounced, I think, about like Newberry) has written a novel, The Return of Conan, which Marty [Greenberg] wants to bring out as a book and which Fantastic Universe is thinking of running some episodes from as shorts. But, as Lt. Nyberg’s English retains considerable Swedish flavor, the plan is for me to do some mild rewriting. Otherwise the guy has done a very creditable pastiche, with the original flavor and idiom.

De Camp closes with a brief mention of “vague talk, mostly on Marty’s part, of another novel to be written by me, or by Leigh Brackett, or by the two of us in collaboration.” De Camp is skeptical of this likelihood, though, saying, “There’s not enough money in sight, and Leigh and I are both pretty busy people.”

Meanwhile, over in Pasadena, Texas, a young man named Glenn Lord was searching for poetry written by Weird Tales writers. In June 1956 he had contacted Roy A. Squires about volumes by Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, and Frank Belknap Long. It is perhaps these collections by other authors that caused Lord to wonder why no such collection existed for Robert E. Howard. Squires and Lord began trading contact information of other fans and collectors, as well as bibliographic information on a variety of authors, including another of Lord’s favorites, David Henry Keller.

Whatever inspired Lord, by that fall he was looking for Howard’s poems in earnest. He wrote to de Camp about his plans, and de Camp responded on October 3, 1956:

I should be glad to see somebody publish a volume of Howard’s verse. I’d even promise to buy a copy. I should say that on the whole Howard was a mediocre poet, but that, like Lovecraft, he sometimes had a flash of the real thing.

De Camp goes on to suggest that Lord contact August Derleth, “for estimates of costs,” and Oscar J. Friend, “for the rights to the verse,” adding that Friend is “slow in answering correspondence, but not unreasonable in matters of terms.”

On October 7, Lord contacted Friend and discussed his plan for a “250 copy edition of all of Howard’s verse, in a volume similar to the Arkham House poetry volumes.” He then outlines his current understanding of what “all” meant:

Now as for the poems in mind: these are all that appeared in Weird Tales (with the exception of “Moonlight on a Skull,” which is a variant of “Futility”). There were 35 poems in WT if I count right, not counting aforementioned poem. Also “Solomon Kane’s Homecoming” from Fanciful Tales; “Always Comes Evening” from Stirring Science Stories; and “Song at Midnight” from The Phantagraph. Then too, I would like to include the bits of verse of his own that Howard used as chapter headings in some of his stories. Of course I would also want to know of any poems published in sources I did not mention and/or unpublished verse (except variants).

Friend replied on October 11, asking for more details on the publishing plan and providing various scenarios for obtaining the rights to publish Howard’s poems, but offering no help in finding other poems, saying that “Any further developments in this matter as to source material, etc. I will be most interested in. Gathering all material this late after the author’s death is quite an ambitious task. The best of luck to you!” On October 15, Lord wrote back to clarify his plans for publication:

What I have in mind is private publication of the volume of verse—tentative title to be Always Comes Evening from the poem of that title. In other words, I will attempt to underwrite the costs of rights, printing, binding, etc. Perhaps I stated that I intended to limit the edition to 250 copies, which is about all an individual could hope to finance and sell. [. . .] I am well aware that such a venture as I propose would not be financially rewarding, the fact is I would be lucky to come out even. You might call my venture a labor of love if you can believe such a reason.

While Lord and Friend went back and forth on the business of publishing, Glenn was busily looking for other sources for Howard’s poems. He contacted Larry Farsace, editor of The Golden Atom, who replied on October 30: “I’m rather interested in the volume of poems by Robert E. Howard which you mention; would they be reprints or, like a lucky find, original, never published before?”

On November 7, Friend told Lord that once the project went “beyond the initial ‘talk’ stage,” he would “go through all tear sheets and mss in my possession in an effort to supply you with all bits of Howard poetry so that you will have as complete a volume as it will ever be possible to obtain.” On November 15, Lord wrote back, asking for a photograph of Howard to include in his collection. Friend replied on the 27th that August Derleth “has the only surviving picture of Howard that I know of,” and included “seven pages of types poems which seems to be all the old Weird Tales tear sheets that I can find.”

On December 1, Lord wrote back with more business details and thanked Friend for the poems but added, “Am I to understand that there are no unpublished Howard poems extant? Or would the Robert E. Howard Memorial Library at Howard Payne College have anything you would not have?” He also tells Friend that he has written to “Sam Moskowitz in an effort to locate some of the more obscure Howard poems; any that might have appeared in the fan magazines for example.”

Friend tried to help Lord on December 3 by writing to P. M. Kuykendall and inquiring “about any poetry of Robert E. Howard’s that you may know of any place. A young enthusiast of Bob’s now is trying to gather up all possible poetry of his and publish in one volume.” But, of course, any material the Kuykendalls might have had was now in California.

Lord heard back from Moskowitz on December 5th. Moskowitz had “considerable interest” in Lord’s plan and said that he had “copies of the magazines containing all five of the poems” from Weird Tales that Glenn needed. He also said, “It is quite possible I can add to your list of Howard poems,” though he wouldn’t be able to look into it for a month or so.

Lord also heard from Larry Farsace, who had been “looking up all kinds of references to Robert E. Howard in [his] fanzine files.” Farsace’s search turned up Howard items in several fan publications, including Fanciful Tales, Marvel Tales, and The Ghost, but the big news for Lord was the two poems published in The Fantasy Fan. On January 5, 1957, he sent a postcard to Oscar Friend, saying, in part: “I have located 2 more Howard poems, “Babel” and “Voices in the Night” [i.e. “The Voices Waken Memory”]. These appeared in Hornig’s The Fantasy Fan. I have a couple of collectors on the lookout for any other material.”

And 1957 was just getting started.

[Part 7 is here.]