I admit I was a bit taken aback a few months ago when Deuce Richardson approached me about writing for The Cimmerian. My first impulse was to turn him down.

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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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Like many people who’ve been part of The Cimmerian weblog for longer than I, I’m saddened to the point at which it’s hard for me to find words at its closing.  It was a privilege to write and post on the same weblog as Steve Tompkins, Deuce Richardson, Brian Murphy, Al Harron, Barbara Barrett, Morgan Holmes, Miguel Martins and so many others.  I’ve learned a lot from their articles and enjoyed them all hugely; they were welcoming when I came aboard and helpful all the time I was part of the blog.

Robert E. Howard was always a favourite writer of mine and one of the world’s great story-tellers, but I didn’t realise how very little I really knew about him until I started following this website and other REH-oriented ones.  I’ve encountered more cogent thinking and perceptive criticism here than you’d be likely to find, I suspect, in the average university lit lecture room.  And a lot less academic pretentiousness.

I think I’ll take fresh insights away with me, and fresh motivation for my own writing.  That’s quite a bit more than I was able to give, but if people enjoyed my posts, I’m very glad.  And thank you.

And all I’ve done for want of wit, to memory now I cannot recall.
So fill to me the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all.

- Keith Taylor

The original Four Cimmerians: Mark Finn, Leo Grin, Steve Tompkins and Rob Roehm

“You are free to start whenever you want. No rules or regulations, just go for it. Any news items that crop up on the lists should be posted, as well as any new Howard projects or gossip. You can comment on your new REHupa, can muse a bit about some story or letter you’ve read recently, can review new books and products from others. Any other fantasy, Texan, or other related writers can be discussed, keeping in mind that Howard should at least ostensibly remain the focus of the blog.”

– Leo Grin, email, June 2006

Leo Grin set out the rules almost from the beginning. Though the Man from Cross Plains would remain “at least ostensibly” the focus, The Cimmerian web log was not only about Robert E. Howard. As early as the fourth post, signs of its broadening scope were appearing, and within its second year, it had truly become “A Website and Shieldwall for Robert E. Howard, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Best in Heroic Fantasy, Horror, and Historical Adventure.”

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The Cimmerian had lost many of its leading voices on the road to its final year. Rob Roehm & Mark Finn went on to pastures new, Steve Tompkins departed to the Worlds Beyond Death, and Leo Grin was fading ever quicker from the realm of Howardom. Deuce Richardson and the bloggers had a formidable legacy to live up to, and they were determined to carry on the tradition of those giants in Howard scholarship.

The Cimmerian blog’s final year boasted new faces and new ideas, but was ever conscious of its mission.

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As most of you probably know by now, The Cimmerian blog will be coming to an end on June 11. Both the original print journal and the blog version have been integral parts of Howard fandom and scholarship during this first decade of the twenty-first century and I am honored and humbled to have had a very tiny place in that legacy.

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Three blockbuster years, and The Cimmerian Blog was gaining its own momentum as a scholarly entity apart from the esteemed journal which spawned it: with the TC journal entering its final volume and two crises jeopardizing its continuing existence, the blog was going to either spreads its wings, or dwindle into some blood-hued, blogospheric sunset.

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Ouketi is the transliteration of the Greek word meaning “no longer” or “no more.” It suggests the end of the old ways and the beginning of something new. It means a change. When prior events have been painful, the change can be positive. However, a haunting lament echoes and goodbyes become painful when an enjoyable experience ends.

On June 11th, the death knell will sound for The Cimmerian Blog. Another blow to REH fandom that comes almost eighteen months after The Cimmerian published its last print issue.

While the word ouketi may apply to the future of The Cimmerian Blog, its past is rich with memories that will survive.  As his many fans well know, Robert E. Howard’s prose and poetry were filled with passion and depth. Many of the articles and essays that appeared on the TC Blog also reflected those qualities. They contributed to our knowledge of Bob Howard and explored questions about his life, his loves and who he was. They examined his words and looked at how and why he chose the ones he did. Some of the TC essays were thought provoking. Some of them were just plain provoking; so much so that at times I wished I could crawl through the electronic circuits and “strangle” the writer.

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With two World Fantasy Award nominations under the journal’s belt and some of its bloggers now displaying well-deserved awards, The Cimmerian Blog’s third year started off well.

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