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!

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!

The long awaited and much anticpated four volume collection of Howard’s huge body of boxing material is finally ready for publication. These volumes, published by the REH Foundation Press, are in such demand the first editions are sure to sell out quicker than the first edition of The Early Adventures of El Borak, which went pretty darn fast. The first volume of Fists of Iron is due out in a few weeks and can be pre-ordered now; here is the complete list of contents for “Round 1″:

Introduction:

“The Brute Eternal” by Christopher Gruber

Stories:

“The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux”
“Double Cross”
“The Weeping Willow”
“The Right Hook”
“The Voice of Doom”
“Crowd Horror”
“Iron Men”
“The Mark of a Bloody Hand”
“They Always Come Back”
“The Trail of the Snake”

Poems:

“Kid Lavigne is Dead”
“Aw Come on and Fight!”
“The Cooling of Spike McRue”
“Fables for Little Folks”
“The Champ”
“Slugger’s Vow”
“In the Ring”
Untitled (“And Dempsey climbed into the ring”)
Untitled (“They matched me up that night”)
“Down the Ages”
“John L. Sullivan”
“Jack Dempsey”
Untitled (“We are the duckers of crosses”)
Untitled (“All the crowd”)
“When you Were a Set-up and I Was a Ham”

Early Tales, Variants and Fragments:

“The Spirit of Brian Boru”
“A Man of Peace”
“The Atavist” (unfinished)
“Cupid vs. Pollux”
“The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux” (alternate version)
Untitled fragment (“I had just hung…”)
“The Ferocious Ape” (fragment)
Untitled fragment (“Spike Morissey…”)
Untitled fragment (“The tale has always been…”)
“The Ghost Behind the Gloves” (fragment)
“Lobo Volante” (fragment)
“Night Encounter” (incomplete)
“The Folly of Concei” (unfinished)
“Iron Men” (first version)

Articles:

“Dula Due to be Champion”
“The Punch”
“Men of Iron”

Odds and Ends:

Untitled document, incomplete, perhaps from an essay
“Jeffries Versus Dempsey”
“Misto Dempsey”
‘The Funniest Bout”
Boxing material from Howard’s self-published The Right Hook

Appendix:

“The Lord of the Ring” (part 1), by Patrice Louinet

You can pre-order the first one or all four to ensure you get the complete set. Here are the blow-by-blow ordering details on the REHF website. So don’t just lie there on the canvas waiting for the 10 count to end — be a Champ and order all four today!

People with epic imaginations are rare; rarer still are those who can display that imagination in such an artistic way that it becomes captivating, turning us into life-long fans.  Frank Frazetta did it with brush and canvas, Robert E. Howard did it with words and a typewriter, and Ray Harryhausen dazzled us with his mastery of the cinematic art of animation.

I was in grade school when I encountered Harryhausen’s The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad at the local drive-in theater and it was the perfect place for an introduction.  To this anxious youngster night had finally fallen and my family was quietly watching the movie, listening to the voices coming from the speaker attached to the window of the car.  I was sitting in the back seat, probably busily eating an ice cream Dixie Cup and munching on a Seven-Up candy bar.

But then the magic happened.  First I saw bad guy Torin Thatcher fleeing from the cave of the Cyclops and then, hot on his heels, came the one-eyed monster itself, bellowing like only a Harryhausen monster could bellow and it scared the hell out of me.  I loved it!

More memories.  I recall sitting in a crowded theater, watching the eye-popping wizardry of the sword fight between Jason and the skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts and I couldn’t take my eyes away from the screen.  However, great as that scene was, my favorite moment from that movie had occurred earlier, when the giant Talos awakened into life and really beat the crap out of Jason and his men.

I could go on forever, all of us could.  Blessed with a special talent was Mr. Harryhausen, and blessed were we to be able to view all that artistry that could make us believe, perhaps just for a moment, that winged harpies could indeed exist, and that a creature from Venus could grow to staggering proportions and that oversized insect-like beings could live deep within the moon.

Luckily I have the day off, so tonight I’m going to voyaging once again with Sinbad and remember back to that time when my life really was changed, and I realized that the world of imagination was every bit as important as the world of reality.   I might even fix myself a bowl of ice cream—the helping, of course, will be somewhat larger than it was when I first watched that movie, all those years ago.

This rare Howard typescript for “A Witch Shall Be Born” recently sold at auction for $22,500. This is not the final version, as the description from the Heritage Auctions website (shown below) states, but rather the first draft of this famous Conan story.

A Complete Robert E. Howard Typescript of One of His Most Famous Conan Stories

Robert E. Howard. Original Typed Manuscript, Ribbon Copy, for the Conan Story, “A Witch Shall Be Born.” Forty-five pages (rectos only) on 8.5 x 11 inch typing paper. Originally published in Weird Tales in December, 1934 and later collected in the 1954 Gnome Press publication of Conan the Barbarian. Howard has inscribed and signed in pencil at the top of the first page of the typescript, “Best Regards, / Robert E. Howard.”

“A Witch Shall Be Born” is perhaps the best known Conan story of Howard’s career, particularly for the scene in which the mighty Cimmerian, after being beaten, tortured, crucified and left for dead, bites his way through the neck of an impatient vulture. Additionally, on the verso of fifteen pages of the manuscript, Howard re-used the paper to write another story, this one a western-themed thriller later published as “Knife River Prodigal” in the July, 1937 issue of Cowboy Stories. The pages are numbered sequentially 1-14, with an extra page 8, comprising fifteen pages of typescript.

The manuscript is quite clean, with errors corrected by erasure and retyping. Minor toning to the paper, with a few scattered, very occasional instances of thumb-soiling or spotting. Marginal perforations vertically along the left edge, likely as preparation for binding by its previous owner, and Lovecraft associate, Robert H. Barlow. A fine and unique Conan manuscript comprising two full Howard stories, with an inscription from the author on the first page (Howard signatures are quite rare in their own right), and likely the only time in a generation or two that one will be able to acquire such a treasure.

Accompanying the manuscript are several pages of provenance, comprised of the following: a four-page handwritten letter in pencil, presumably unsent, from Barlow to Robert E. Howard’s father, expressing his condolences on the author’s “shocking death”; a one-page handwritten copy (in Barlow’s hand) of a letter sent from Howard to Barlow, transmitting ownership of this very manuscript from the former to the latter (a photocopy of Howard’s original typed letter signed to Barlow is also included); photocopies of two other typed letters signed sent from Howard to Barlow; and a photocopy of a letter from Glenn Lord identifying the western story as “Knife River Prodigal.” From the John McLaughlin/Book Sail Collection.

McLaughlin was a world-renowned book collection who passed away in 2005. Fantasy author David C. Smith did a nice tribute to him here.

Some lucky Howard collector has added a magnificent item to his collection this month, but it cost him a whole passel of pazoors!

Artist Nathan Furman has rendered exclusively for the TGR blog the above illustration. The subject of this piece is Rann Njalsdaughter, a character from the L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter Conan pastiche, “Legions of the Dead.” Nathan has been wowing Howard fans with his art in the pages of the TGR print journal since 2009. Nathan’s work first appeared in issue number12 and he followed it up with the color cover for issue 13 (shown below).

The Rann illustration is mostly graphite pencil, with some charcoal and hyper realistic, which is the style Nathan is working in a lot these days. Nathan is currently under contract with Manticore Verlag, a German company, illustrating books 18 and 19 for Joe Dever’s fantasy adventure Lone Wolf novels and he has recently finished pencilling and inking a comic book first issue with Roy Thomas, which the duo is hoping to find a publisher for. He also accepts commissions and does portrait work. You can contract him directly via e-mail.

Be sure and check out Nathan’s website. He regularly posts new pieces there and has information on his upcoming projects. And I have no doubt you’ll see his art in the next issue of TGR.

Well, looks like it is time to geared up for Howard Days 2013. Hard to believe it is only two months from now that everyone will be gathering in Cross Plains for the two day celebration of the life and works of Robert E. Howard. The theme of this year’s Howard Days is “REH in the Comics.” To bolster that theme, REHupa OE Bill Cavalier posted recently on the REHupa website that TGR contributor Timothy Truman will be this year’s Guest of Honor. Truman is a Renaissance Man of many talents: writer, artist, musician, editor, etc. Currently, Truman is writing Dark Horse’s adaptation of The Hour of the Dragon.

Here is the preliminary schedule of events and activities:

2013 Howard Days Schedule (Summary Version)

Friday, June 7th:

8:30 – 9:00 am: Coffee and donuts at the Pavilion, compliments of Project Pride.

9:00 am – 4:00 pm: Robert E. Howard House Museum open to the public.

9:00 am – 4:00 pm: REH Postal Cancellation at Cross Plains Post Office.

9:00 am – 11:00 am: Bus Tour of Cross Plains and Surrounding Areas.

10:00 am – 5:00 pm: Cross Plains Public Library open.

11:00 am: PANEL: REH in the Comics.

Noon: Lunch hosted by Project Pride. Donations Welcome.

10:00 am – 4:00 pm: Pavilion available for REH items Swap Meet.

1:30 pm: PANEL: Tim Truman, Guest of Honor.

2:30 pm: PANEL: Travels with Bob, Rob and Bob

5:30 – 6:30 pm: Silent Auction items available for viewing and bidding at Banquet site.

6:30 pm: Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet and Silent Auction at the Cross Plains Community Center.

Following the Banquet and Silent Auction: The Fourth Annual Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards.

9:00 pm: PANEL: Fists at the Ice House (meet at the Pavilion and walk to the Ice House).

Afterward there will be some extemporaneous REH Poetry Reading at the Pavilion.

Saturday, June 8th

9 am – 4 pm: Robert E. Howard House Museum open to the public.

9:00 am – 4:00 pm: BARBARIAN FESTIVAL held this year at Treadway Park, 3 blocks west of REH House.

10:00 am – 3:00 pm: Cross Plains Public Library open.

10:30 am: PANEL: REH and Dark Horse Comics.

10:00 am – 4:00 pm: Pavilion available for REH items Swap Meet.

Noon: The Robert E. Howard Foundation Legacy Circle Members Luncheon.

Lunch and Festival Activities at your leisure during the day.

2:00 pm: PANEL: REH and Texas.

3:30 pm: PANEL: What’s Up with REH? (at the Pavilion).

5:00 pm: Sunset BBQ at the Caddo Peak Ranch.

Note: The Robert E. Howard House Museum will be open again this year on Thursday (June 6th) from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm. No docents on duty.

 Howard Days Pre-Registration

You do not have to pre-register to partake of the weekend’s festivities. All are welcome to attend, visit the House and enjoy all of the activities free of charge. Project Pride likes to pre-register folks primarily to get a head count of how many will be attending the Banquet on Friday night. All the panels, tours, Swap Meet, Pavilion activities e, etc.,are presented at no cost.

Your registration fee covers coffee & donuts Friday morning, lunch at the Pavilion at noon on Friday, the Friday Evening Banquet and the Saturday evening BBQ at Caddo Peak Ranch.

The cost for pre-registration this year is only $15.00 per person. Please send your name(s) and address with a check or money order:

Project Pride
Attn: REH Days 2013 Pre-Registration
P.O. Box 534
Cross Plains, TX 76443

Or you can or register via PayPal: ProjPride@yahoo.com.

Please pre-register before June 1, 2013.

As you can see, it will be a Howard Days to remember. So don’t procrastinate, sign up now — there are only 120 seats available for the banquet. Be sure and check back here, on the TGR Facebook page and the follow new TGR Twitter account for further details.

And for you Legacy Circle Members, if you have not done so, there are only a few days left to get your nominations for the REHF Awards submitted for awards that will be given out at this year’s Howard Days banquet.

It has been too long since we caught up with Charles Saunders. So let’s see what this longtime contributor to TGR has been up to recently.

Charles just put up a new blog post up on his website. It’s a reprint of an article called “Blacks in Wonderland,” which was first published in the October 1987 issue of American Visions of Afro-American Culture magazine. It was an overview of the situation of blacks in the science-fiction and fantasy genres at that time. Charles updates the article with a foreword and an afterword, reflecting how things have certainly changed for the better since then.

Per Charles, Griots II and Imaro V are on the horizon for this year. Griots II is subtitled “Sisters of the Spear,” so all the stories are about women warriors. Charles will also have a story in the forthcoming anthology Black Pulp. Currently, you can find an introduction by Charles to Ki-Khanga: The Anthology e-book available from Amazon.com. The stories are based on characters in the Ki Khanga Sword and Soul Role Playing Game.

Of course, next year he will mark the 40th anniversary of the publication of the very first Imaro story in Gene Day’s Dark Fantasy magazine by doing something special to commemorate the occasion.

And Charles has also posted the interview he did for The Cimmerian print journal in 2007. The interview was conducted by the late, great Howard scholar and TGR contributor Steve Tompkins.

September 6, 1917 — March 22, 2013

Howardom lost perhaps its last living link (there are a few elderly ladies who may still be living) to Robert E. Howard this past Friday when Norris Chambers left this mortal coil at the age of 95. To say he was a friend to Howard would be an understatement — he was a friend to all Howard’s fans as well. Despite his advanced age, Norris was always happy to hear from Howard Heads and always promptly replied to their inquiries. He was certainly very helpful to me by supplying a wealth of information on Howard I needed for several research projects. He was an oracle of sorts, a fount of knowledge with an amazing memory. He was also a raconteur himself, a musician, a Mason, a teacher and very active in various community organizations. We stayed in contact pretty regularly — I am going to miss corresponding with him.

Here is the Obituary for Norris from The Grizzly Detail newspaper:

Norris Roe Chambers, 95, of White Settlement, Texas passed away March 22, 2013. Visitation will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 26 at Baumgardner Funeral Chapel located at 3705 Highway 377 South, Fort Worth. Masonic graveside service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27 at Wolf Valley Cemetery in Brown County.

Norris graduated from Cross Cut High School and Fort Worth’s Brantley Draughon Business College. In his teens he put his skills as a typist to work for family friend and writer Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, and later worked for W. Lee O’Daniel as an engineer, recording transcriptions of The Hillbilly Boys radio shows for broadcast over Mexican radio station XEPN. Norris served briefly as a Merchant Marine during World War II. He owned and operated radio and television repair shops, operated a one-man printing shop for nearly 40 years, and retired from General Dynamics as an Electronic Technician after 28 years of service.

Norris served on the White Settlement ISD Board of Trustees for 13 years, and on the City of White Settlement Board of Adjustments and Appeals and Civil Service Commission. He was a member and past Secretary and Treasurer of the White Settlement Area Chamber of Commerce, a member and past president and vice president of the White Settlement Historical Society, and he helped establish the White Settlement Historical Museum and served as a curator and treasurer of the museum. Norris was also a member of the White Settlement Lions Club in the 70’s and 80’s, and worked for the city, school and county elections for 32 years.

With Clyde Morrow, Norris established the monthly White Settlement Musical Show, which ran for about 5 years in the 70s, and served as past president of the Texas Bluegrass Association. In the early 90’s Norris wrote a regular column appearing on Startext, an electronic information service. He maintained a website of his short stories and remembrances under his nom de plume “The Old Timer” at www.norrisc.com and wrote a weekly tale for local paper “The Grizzly Detail.” During the mid 1990’s until 2011 Norris was active in these musical groups at the White Settlement Senior Services; The Dukes of Ukes and the Ukeladies, The Modulators and The Golden Strings. Many video clips are posted on YouTube of The Modulators and The Golden Strings performances. For a few years he taught computer classes at the White Settlement Senior Services Center and filled in as an instructor in one guitar class.

Norris joined the Masonic Lodge (White Settlement Lodge No. 1372) in 1962, received the Golden Trowel award in 1991 and received his 50 year pin in 2012; he was active in the W. Steve Cooke Chapter of the Demolay for several years, was active in the Eastern Star Chapter No. 1053, and was a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge during the 1970s into the 1990s. Norris received the White Settlement Volunteer of the Year Award in 2000, was named an Honorary Brewer Ex in 2001, received the City of White Settlement Mayor’s Community Spirit Award in 2006 in recognition of his Old Timer Stories Series and White Settlement Historic Preservation. In 2012 the White Settlement City Council proclaimed September 6 to be Norris Roe Chambers Day. Norris was named a Director Emeritus by the White Settlement Area Chamber of Commerce in 2013 for his years of service and membership in the organization dating back to 1956.

The family would like to thank Vitas Hospice Care, Team 3 and volunteers for their care and assistance.

Norris was born in Cross Cut, Texas on September 6, 1917, to Martha and Dr. Solomon Roe Chambers. On May 16, 1939 he wed Ella Moselle Sudderth of May, Texas. Norris was preceded in death by his father, Dr. Solomon Roe Chambers, his mother, Martha Williams Chambers, his brother Thomas, sisters Deoma Morgan and Winnie Chambers. Survivors: Wife, Ella Chambers; children Dr. Dianne Blankenship and husband David, Patricia Chambers, Veronica Durnell and husband John, and Roger Chambers; grandchildren Sandie Dickens, Kathy Walters, Lisa Baker, Kelly Sustaire, Karli Sustaire; great grandchildren Zachary Swope, Christopher Baker, Jonathan Baker, Ella Sustaire, Martha Sustaire, Timothy Sustaire and Joseph Sustaire; nephew Rex Chambers and niece Marjorie Leeton.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the White Settlement Masonic Lodge No. 1372 (655 Mirike Drive, White Settlement, TX 76108) or the charity of your choice.

Leave a message and sign the online Guest Book for Norris.

Read an entry from Norris’ collection of Old Timer’s Tales about typing Conan stories for Howard.

Here are links to posts, tributes and articles about Norris:

“I Knew Robert E. Howard” by Damon C. Sasser

“Norris Chambers, 1917 — 2013” by Al Harron

“Norris Chambers Honored by City Leaders” from The Grizzly Detail

“Two-Gun Bob: Norris Chambers RIP” by Don Herron

Leo Grin and Don Herron published several pieces about Norris in the pages of The Cimmerian. Both were happy to share those with us. The first is a preface of sorts (that originally appeared in the June 2006 issue of The Cimmerian journal) to the lengthy interview with Norris. A link to the interview appears at the end of this short article:

COnun and TarZAN

by Don Herron

On the way back to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport after the Robert E. Howard Days for 2005, Leo Grin and I made a slight detour over to the pioneer enclave of White Settlement, Texas—that outpost in the vast rolling wilderness that predated the construction of the original fort at Fort Worth. Norris Chambers has been a resident of that community and a font of living history for its historical museum for many years now, and we wanted to set a tape recorder in front of him and let him talk Howard.

Born in 1917, Norris met the Howard family when his father operated a drugstore in the town of Cross Cut and Isaac Howard practiced medicine there. A frequent visitor after the Howards relocated to Cross Plains, Norris knew the family well and recalls doing clean typescripts for the increasingly busy son, who was splashing across the pulp marketplace, cracking both the Street & Smith and Munsey lines. After the deaths of Robert and Hester in June 1936 Norris stayed with Doc Howard for a couple of weeks, assisting in sorting through the author’s effects and keeping the grieving man company.

On Sunday June 12, 2005 we punched that Record button and the hours passed. Without question, the most startling moment came at us fairly early in the interview, as Norris was talking about how deeply occupied Robert E. Howard was in making a success at the writing game:

NORRIS: If he wasn’t out running around, he was home. Robert was always in there typing, but he would come in when we were there and visit with us. He had a pretty big library, oh. . . I guess as big as that cabinet, maybe bigger, full of books.

LEO: Was that in his bedroom or in the living room?

NORRIS: That was in the living room.

LEO: We were wondering where he kept all his books.

NORRIS: That’s where they were. And he would let me take them home and read them. I would read a lot of his books, because they were too expensive for me to buy back then. A book would cost you seventy-five cents, you know, even then.

Yeah, I read Tarzan of the Apes there, first time I ever read that. And Robert was pretty particular about that, too, when I was there. He would say, “It’s not supposed to be TAR-zun. It’s Tar-ZAN.” And he wrote to Edgar Rice Burroughs to get a confirmation on that, to be sure that he was right!

LEO: [laughter] Really? This is all news to me.

NORRIS: He’d say, “It’s Tar-ZAN! Not TAR-zun. Everyone’s always walkin’ around saying TAR-zun….”

LEO: So how did he say “Conan”? Was it Co-NAN or CO-nun or….

NORRIS: CO-nun I believe is the way he always said that. At least I never heard him correcting anyone for saying it like that. That’s what I always thought of when I was typing it, was CO-nun.

DON: Like Arthur CO-nun Doyle. I grew up in Tennessee, and everyone there was always saying, “Co-NAN.”

NORRIS: Yeah, there’s some kind of TV program on now that says “CO-nun,” but it’s not that Conan.

DON: Yeah, Conan O’Brien, Late Night.

NORRIS: I never looked at it, but it’s something.

LEO: So he wrote to Edgar Rice Burroughs? Wow.

Copyright © 2006 by Don Herron. All rights reserved.

And here is a link to the comprehensive interview Leo and Don conducted with Norris for The Cimmerian print journal.

Enjoy some YouTube videos of Norris showing off his musical talents.

This is the first post for 2013 of the online version of Nemedian Dispatches. This feature previously appeared in the print journal and is now on the blog. On roughly a quarterly basis, Nemedian Dispatches will highlight new and upcoming appearances of Howard’s fiction in print, as well as Howard in other types of media.

In Print:

Pirate Adventures
This collection of Howard’s pirate stories, verse and related material from the REH Foundation Press, is now available. In addition to great pirate adventures, the book features a fantastic pulpish cover by Tom Gianni and an Introduction by Rob Roehm.

The Dark Man Vol 7, No. 1
The new issue of TDM has arrived. Contents include: “The Writer’s Style: Sound and Syntax in Howard’s Sentences” by David C. Smith, “I and I Liberate Zimbabwe: Motifs of Africa and Freedom in Howard’s “The Grisly Horror” by Patrick R. Burger and “Robert E. Howard and the Lone Scouts” by Rob Roehm, plus reviews and more. The new TDM is available in electronic form as well as hard copy and can be ordered from Lulu.com. Also, TDM is in the process of making all back issues of the journal available free of charge in electronic form.

I Am Providence (Softcover Edition)
Published in 1996, S.T. Joshi’s award-winning biography H.P. Lovecraft: A Life provided the most detailed portrait of the life, work, and thought of the Old Gent from Providence ever published. While that book was massive, that edition was greatly abridged from Joshi’s original manuscript. This expanded and updated two volume edition restores the 150,000 words that Joshi omitted and, in addition, updates the texts with new findings. A must have for Howard fans, this reasonably priced softcover edition is the next best thing to owning a copy of the hardcover edition, which is now out-of-print and much sought after by collectors.

Conan Meets the Academy: Multidisciplinary Essays on the Enduring Barbarian
Editor Jonas’ anthology takes on Howard’s Conan as its only subject. Two TGR contributors, Frank Coffman and Jeff Shanks, are among the many contributors The collection of Conan essays focuses on the following topics: stylometry, archeology, cultural studies, folklore studies, and literary history, additionally the essays examine statistical analyses of Howard’s texts, as well as the literary genesis of Conan, later-day parodies, Conan video games, movies, and pop culture in general. By displaying the wide range of academic interest in Conan, this volume reveals the hidden scholarly depth of this seemingly unsophisticated fictional character. The volume is published by McFarland & Company, Inc.,

Coming Soon:

The Alluring Art of Margaret Brundage
Currently being printed and available soon, this volume is an extensive tribute to  Brundage  and her art. Her fantasy, science-fiction, and horror paintings graced the cover of many an issue of Weird Tales and other pulps during Howard’s lifetime. The sexy, alluring and sensationalistic Brundage covers even featured Conan nine times. She was the first female cover artist of the pulp era and her work was controversial for the day, often featuring bondage themes, with semi-nude young women bearing whips. The book comes in three editions, all with full color art. Visit the publisher’s website for more details and ordering information.

The REH Foundation Press
Four volumes of boxing stories are coming soon from the Foundation Press.  This will be a  comprehensive collection of REH’s humorous and straight boxing yarns. Needless to say, getting the volumes done was a massive undertaking by Patrice Louinet, Mark Finn, and Chris Gruber.

Also in the works for the near future is a volume of Howard’s straight western stories. One has to imagine the humorous yarns will get their own volumes a little later on. Additionally, the limited hardcover edition of Mark Finn’s Howard biography, Blood and Thunder is sold out and Rob is prepping it for the Foundation Press’ Lulu.com Storefront. So it will still be available for purchase via POD.