I came across Robert E. Howard’s writings during my early adolescence. Probably like many other readers, the barbarian with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth was first, but thanks to a public library shelving NéO books translated in French by François Truchaud (some Clark Ashton Smith volumes from the same collection were on the shelves too); I found out early that Howard had written in other genres. I read these books voraciously and was hooked. JRR Tolkien came next –The Silmarillion being my introduction to the professor’s œuvre. Also, like Howard, I ‘m fond of historical adventures. His vivid stories probably were a part in my early interest in history, which I studied later.

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Damon C. Sasser just picked up the latest issue of the Robert E. Howard: Two-Gun Raconteur journal from the printer. It will be available at Howard Days 2010 on June 11.

Since the announcement of the fourteenth issue of the TGR journal on TC last April, Damon has posted some updates on its contents, which will be detailed below.

Above, you can see Michael L. Peters’ cover featuring El Borak. Two of his drawings from a four-plate Solomon Kane portfolio based on “The Hills of the Dead” are also illustrating this blog entry.

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Last year, Bill Thom won the first Munsey Award, given “to a deserving person who has given of himself or herself for the betterment of the pulp community, be it through disseminating knowledge about the pulps or through publishing or other efforts to preserve and to foster interest in the pulp magazines we all love and enjoy” for his hard work on Coming Attractions, an indispensable resource on Pulp-related news that I peruse each week and where I found dozens of news items to announce on The Cimmerian these last six months. This year, essayist (and Cimmerian journal-contributor) Don Herron is nominated.  Don Herron authored several seminal pieces on Robert E. Howard –you can read Brian Murphy’s appreciation of Don’s “milestones in Howard studies” here on the Cimmerian blog.

Besides his literary criticism about the Bard of Cross Plains, Don Herron is also an authority on Dashiell Hammett, Charles Willeford, Philip K. Dick and the Emperor of Dreams, Clark Ashton Smith. He created the Dashiell Hammet Tour in 1977 and has lead Hammett aficionados through San Francisco every year since then.

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Since he seems to be too humble to mention it himself here, I will do it for him; our own Cimmerian blogger William Patrick Maynard has announced that he has fully-executed agreement from the Sax Rohmer Literary Estate to write a second novel featuring Rohmer’s evil doctor. It will be entitled The Destiny of Fu Manchu.

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I announced REHupan Charles Allen Gramlich’s upcoming Heroic Fantasy/Sword-and-Sorcery collection Bitter Steel last January here on The Cimmerian. It just came out this week and is now available through Amazon.

Here’s the back cover blurb for the book:

Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Achilles, Beowulf! Kull, Conan, Kane!

Heroes are born, but they never die. They become legends; they become myths. Bitter Steel is a collection of new myths, new heroic adventures told in the ancient tradition.

So come! Gather with me around the fire where the smoke stings our eyes. We’ll listen to the drums beat in time with our hearts. We’ll drink from the common bowl as it passes among us. The darkness whispers outside our camp, but we have no fear. There are heroes among us. Let us hear their tales.

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Rogue Blades Entertainment, publisher of the excellent fantasy anthologies Rage of the Behemoth and Return of the Sword, has announced by way of editor Jason M. Waltz the first annual RBE Challenge! fundraising Writing Contest. The fifteen top stories will be printed in Discovery, the competition anthology.

The cover art featured above is by V. Shane.

A few words by Jason Waltz:

[Discovery] is a competition anthology open to anyone who writes heroic action adventure of ANY genre! Using V Shane’s above artwork and the title Discovery as inspiration, pen me mighty and mysterious tales of action and adventure. Speculative fiction is NOT required for Challenge! themes! Sword & Sorcery, Sword & Planet, Soul & Sandal, Western, Mystery, Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Sci-Fi, even Horror and Romance! You name it, so long as it’s heroic fiction, you can submit it.

More details (including prizes, judges, submission guidelines, etc…) can be read on the official announcement page. Submissions will open on June 1st, 2010 and run till September 1st, 2010. Jason is expecting yarns between 3,000 and 9,000 words. The entry fee is a cheap $10, so if you’re an aspiring writer, this might be your chance to see your words printed in an anthology by a (good) professional publisher of heroic adventure.

Mythos Con, a new convention celebrating the life and works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, is scheduled for January 6 to 9, 2011, in Phoenix, Arizona. It will feature art, merchants, movies, panels and games. A large number of writers, artists and film makers will attend, including contributors to the Cimmerian print journal like Donald Sidney-Fryer and Chuck Hoffman.

You can find more details on the official website by clicking here.

Thanks to Grim Blogger for the heads-up.

Courtesy of the indispensable Coming Attractions website:

The shirt design above is by award winning artist David Burton. It is the art chosen by Project Pride –the Robert E. Howard Museum of Cross Plains, TX. — for the 2010 annual Robert E. Howard Days. Project Pride helps maintain the Robert E. Howard House and Museum.

The image is printed on a nice gray t-shirt and is now available. Shirts are eighteen dollars (this includes postage). They’ll ship the next day upon receiving payment. Shirts come in all ADULT sizes from S to 3X. Make the checks or money orders to: Project Pride and send to: PO Box 534, Cross Plains, TX 76443.

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Subterranean Press has just released the Science Fiction short stories collection The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition by Ray Bradbury.

With fiction stories, essays, introductions and two screenplays by Bradbury himself, it claims to be a definitive edition. Here is the table of contents and some additional information from SubPress:

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Just one month until Howard Days 2010, REH fans. REHupa and the REH Foundation are working with Project Pride to prepare for the most important annual gathering of REH fans in Cross Plains, Texas. Since 1986, people have come from all around the world on the second weekend in June to render homage to the life and writings of Texan author Robert E. Howard.

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