| PUBLISHER'S JOURNAL September 2007 |
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REH: Two-Gun Raconteur
The Definitive Howard Journal
The Definitive Howard Journal
The Last of the Trunk Coming Soon
The latest news on this book from Paul Herman:
Robert E. Howard generated an enormous volume of written works, around 3.5 million words.
In his tiny room in his house in Cross Plains, REH kept a trunk to hold all his output that was
still awaiting a sale, as well as works that were rejected, unfinished, something he especially
wanted to save, or simply copies of early drafts that he would reuse the back of in typing up
another story. At the time of his death, that trunk held literally tens of thousands of pages of
material, all hand-typed by REH.
In the early 1960s, Glenn Lord obtained the contents of REH’s trunk. He had the duty, pleasure,
and challenge of sorting it all out, and to begin sheparding those works into print. Hundreds of
stories and poems poured forth, to see print in assorted books, magazines, and fan
publications.
Ever since the publication of Glenn Lord’s The Last Celt in 1976, collectors of the works of REH
have been aware of, but unable to read, more than a hundred unpublished stories and
fragments. A few were published in the intervening years, but not many.
Finally, in this volume, The Last of the Trunk is being revealed. Virtually all the remaining
unpublished prose will be included. While this certainly is not his most memorable or
impressive work (those works are already in print), it does fill in lots of blank spaces for the
scholars and collectors, and perhaps yield a little more understanding of one of the greatest
pulp writers.
This will be the largest REHF publication to date, at 672 pages. Hardback with dust jacket by
Tom Foster. Edited and with an introduction by Patrice Louinet. Design by Dennis McHaney.
Many of the works are incomplete or unfinished. Many of the complete stories are either
boxing or high school papers.
Here is a detailed list of the contents:
Blue River Blues; The Battling Sailor; The Drawing Card; The Jinx; The Wildcat and the Star;
Fistic Psychology; Untitled (“Huh?” I was so dumbfounded . . .); Fighting Nerves; The Atavist; A
Man of Peace; The Weeping Willow; The Right Hook; A Tough Nut to Crack; The Trail of the
Snake; The Folly of Conceit; The Fighting Fury; Night Encounter; The Ferocious Ape; The Ghost
Behind the Gloves; Misto Dempsey; The Brand of Satan; Incongruity; The Slayer; The Man Who
Went Back; Untitled Synopsis (Hunwulf, an American . . .); Untitled (Thure Khan gazed out . . .);
Untitled (As he approached . . .); A Room in London (outline); The Shadow in the Well (draft);
Fate is the Killer; The Grove of Lovers; The Drifter; The Lion Gate; Untitled (Franey was a fool.);
The Ivory Camel; Wolves – and a Sword; Untitled (I’m a man of few words . . .); Untitled Synopsis
(First Draft: James Norris . . .); The Dominant Male; The Paradox; Untitled (Mike Costigan, writer
and self avowed futilist . . .); The Splendid Brute; Circus Charade; The Influence of the Movies;
Untitled (William Aloysius McGraw’s father . . .); A Man and a Brother; Man; Pigskin Scholar; The
Recalcitrant; Untitled (“Arrange, Madame, arrange!”); Untitled (“Yessah!” said Mrs. . . .); The
Question of the East; In His Own Image; The Punch; The Female of the Species; The Last Man;
The Treasure of Henry Morgan; Untitled (The lazy quiet of the mid-summer day . . .); Through
the Ages; The White Jade Ring; The Roving Boys on a Sandburg; Westward, Ho!; The Wild Man;
What the Deuce?; The Land of Forgotten Ages; The Funniest Bout; The Red Stone; A Unique
Hat; Untitled (“A man,” said my friend Larry Aloysius O’Leary . . .); Untitled (. . . that is, the
artistry is but a symbol . . .); Untitled (I met him first in the Paradise saloon . . .); Untitled (Maybe
it don’t seem like anything interesting . . .); Untitled (So there I was.); Untitled (Trail led through
dense jungle . . .); Untitled (Two men were standing in the bazaar at Delhi . . .); Untitled (When
Yar Ali Khan crept . . .); Untitled (Who I am it matters little . . .); A Twentieth Century Rip Van
Winkle; The Ghosts of Jacksonville; A Boy, a Beehive, and a Chinaman; Mr. Dowser Buys a Car;
A Faithful Servant; A South Sea Storm; The Ghost of Bald Rock Ranch; A Fishing Trip; Friends;
Ten Minutes on a Street Corner; The Wings of the Bat
The price will be $53 for REHF members, $59 for non-members. Shipping costs will be posted at
the website. The book should ship in November.
-- Posted by Damon C. Sasser on September 19, 2007
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Interview with the Number 1 Howard Fan, Glenn Lord
This past Summer's Pulp Con celebrated the 75th anniversary of the creation of Conan with
one of its Guests of Honor, Glenn Lord. He was already a longtime Howard fan before he
became the literary agent for the Howard heirs in the early 1960s, a position he held until the
late 1990s. Here is a link to an audio interview with Glenn conducted by Howard scholar and
editor Rusty Burke: http://thepulp.net/PulpCompanion/07summer/lord.html
-- Posted by Damon C. Sasser on September 12, 2007
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The Latest Offerings from the REH Foundation
Paul Herman provides some info on two new items from the Foundation:
Pre-ordering is now available for The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard, Volume 2: 1930-
1932. This volume has over 100 letters, and is well over 500 pages. This volume attempts to
collect all known REH letters written during this time span. Several of these letters have never
been published before, and many, many others have only been published in a redacted state,
missing poetry, fiction, or other content. All that has been restored for this volume.
For those wishing to learn about REH, this is one of the core collections to have. REH talks
politics, current events, and the occasional bohemian humor with his friends, rips into HPL
over civilization v. barbarism, swaps Texas folklore with August Derleth, chats it up with
editors and fans. A fascinating collection. It also includes another fine cover by Jim & Ruth
Keegan.
This volume is off at the printers, and is expected to ship in late October / early November.
Those who already have a copy of Volume 1, the same copy number in Volume 2 will be held for
you. And of course those who have already paid for all three don't have to do anything, we'll
ship as soon as they arrive.
Ordering information can be seen at:
http://www.rehfoundation.org/book-letters.php
The REH Foundation Press is proud to present a new series of REH postcards. These cards
were debuted at GenCon, and we believe are the first REH-specific postcards ever created.
The four cards in the series have full-sized, hi-resolution reproductions of actual photos of
REH on the front. The back is set up to use as a true postcard, and includes whatever quote
from REH may have appeared on the original photo. A second smaller photo also appears on
the back.
These cards are 4X6 inches, and of an appropriately heavy white stock.
The front photos on the four cards include:
Beachcomber's Argument (photo shown above)
REH at Fort McKavett
REH Under a Banana Tree
REH Drinking Beer
These cards are 50c each, with a minimum purchase quantity of four. They can be mixed or
matched as you please. US shipping costs are included in the price. Cards are shipped first
class in an oversized envelope. Please contact us at info@rehfoundation.org for pricing of
shipping to destinations outside the US, or if US shipping by other than first class is desired.
Payment can be either by check mailed to REH Foundation Press, PO Box 251242, Plano, TX,
75025, or via PayPal to paypal@rehfpress.com.
Special thanks to Leo Grin for the hi-resolution scans used to make the cards.
-- Posted by Damon C. Sasser on September 5, 2007
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