Professor of psychology (and REHupan) Charles Allen Gramlich is also the author of several novels, short stories, as well as non-fiction and poetry. Last December he announced on RAZORED ZEN, his blog, that he was working on an anthology of his Sword-and-Sorcery short tales.

The provisional title of this upcoming volume is Bitter Steel. It will collect stories mostly published in the early ’90s and include both serious and humorous S&S yarns. A third of the anthology will feature the same character, Thal Kyrin. The earliest tales have been revised, some yarns will have alternate endings and notes were added. Charles Gramlich explained that the preface “focuses primarily on Robert E. Howard as the man who created the Sword & Sorcery genre. It doesn’t say too much about the stories in the collection, because I want them to stand on their own.” Then an opening poem written “on the same rhyme scheme and rhythm” as Robert E. Howard’s “Recompense” will follow. Mr Gramlich explains how he put this anthology together in several blogs which can be found here and here. It was very interesting to learn about his working process and I’m really looking forward to reading Bitter Steel.

 

 

Enter the OE, bookmarking his place in “The Black Stranger”:

Rather proclaim it, Doc Pod, online and off,
That he which hath no ideas for this Mailing,
Let him gafiate; his name from the roster stricken,
And dues refunded put into his man-purse;
We would not zine in that fan’s company
That spares not his weekend to zine with us.
This day is call’d the feast of [Tim] Marion,
He that outlives this day, and comes safe to #201,
Will stand a tip-toe when this Mailing is nam’d,
And rouse him at the thought of August of ‘06
He that shall zine this day, and live to look like Burl Ives,
Will quarterly one night neglect the remote,
And say ‘Twas not always but a single section.’
Then will he fetch his stacks and show his zines,
And say ‘These printing problems I had in Mailing #200.’
All shall be Mylared; or sold off on eBay,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What pages he filled that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as usual suspects —
Indy the OE, Rippke and Trout-in-the-Dark,
Richter and Gramlich, Romeo and Sea-Burke
Be in their flowing cups beerily remembered.
This story shall the good fan teach his son;
And deadlines shall ne’er force FedEx,
From this Mailing to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered —
We few, we serconn’d few, we apa of brothers;
For he today that sheds his ink with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so minacked,
This day shall excuse his reprint;
And gentlefans at innercircle now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap while any speaks
That zined with us for Mailing #200.

The above was penned by Steve Tompkins on July 25th, 2006, exhorting his REHupan brethren in Bard of Avonic fashion to make the heroic effort that culminated in REHupa Mailing #200.

It seems hard for me to believe that Tompk posted that tribute to King Harry’s pre-game speech as given on the morn of the Battle of Agincourt (as envisioned by Shakespeare) without being aware that he was doing so on the twenty-fifth of July. Steve Tompkins was nothing if not mindful of the passing of time and of the importance of observing anniversaries. He was certainly capable of seeing unlikely, but fitting, connections. (Continue reading this post)

  Karl Edward Wagner (1945 -1994) died fifteen years ago today. I never knew Karl. Nevertheless, his work as an author, essayist, editor and REH scholar has affected my views regarding the entire field of weird literature since I was barely a teenager. I believe that he should be remembered and due attention paid.

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My copy of REH: Two-Gun Raconteur #13 came in the post on the same day that a long-awaited guest arrived. Due to previously scheduled essays, I’m only now getting around to singing this issue’s praises. Morgan Holmes has already weighed in on the REHupa site, but I hope that this review will complement his.

I must admit that I never read the earlier issues of “TGR” when they were published back in the 1970s. I was but a wee lad back then. However, I have perused the “Out of Print” section on Damon C. Sasser’s website. REH: Two-Gun Raconteur has always been a worthy publication, mixing real Howardian scholarship, quality art and fannish fun. That was definitely my impression when I bought the first “relaunch” issue in 2003.

REH: Two-Gun Raconteur #13 greets you with a full-color cover depicting Kull and Brule whaling away at serpent-men. Sasser went with color covers (one of the advancements of civilization we can all be thankful for) a while back. That move got my unequivocal support at the time, and this cover changes that opinion not one whit.

(Continue reading this post)

The debate regarding Robert E. Howard’s literary worth is a battle which has raged for decades. Is he merely a boy’s writer, whose fiction is just good fun with no philosophical depths or commentary on the human condition, where men were men and women were women and never the roles shall reverse? Or is there much more to Howard than meets the eye, the powerful prose unveiling hidden depths and subtleties that challenge preconceptions of the genre and beyond? As the fight for literary acceptance has seen some impressive results in recent years, it’s extremely gratifying to look back on the naysayers and critics with dissenting opinions, and indulge in an infantile, spluttering, figurative raspberry in their general directions:

Because, in the end, The Conan Chronicles does give us the raw truth: that Robert E. Howard–a terribly unhappy, racist, mother-obsessed, fattish bodybuilder who wore silly hats and waddled down small-town Texas streets as though he were the reincarnation of Teddy Roosevelt though what he was the reincarnation of was in fact Tweedledum, and whose sexuality seems ambiguous now because he never had time in his short life to come out anywhere but in his writing …

- John Clute

If Howard’s later devotees would adhere to this view, they would make themselves a little less ridiculous in proclaiming vast profundity and originality for his work.

- S. T. Joshi

… while Robert certainly was a tremendously gifted storyteller with a wholly original voice, capable of spinning an exciting yarn in first draft that could capture his reader’s imagination… he simply wasn’t a great writer.

- Artie Fenner

No sooner do we see Penguin accept Conan and Kull into the legion of quality literature, that it seems the impossible has happened, something that I don’t think Messrs Clute, Joshi or Fenner ever expected to see: Howard has joined the great pantheon that is the Library of America. It may be only a single story–though “The Black Stone” is surely one hell of a tale to represent him with–but the foundations for a true and exclusive Howard volume in Penguin were predicated by the appearance of “Old Garfield’s Heart” in American Supernatural Tales. Though I can’t claim credit for the scoop–that honour goes to Bill Thom at his Coming Attractions site–and it has already been reported on this site by the astute Deuce Richardson, I feel strongly enough about it to comment. (Continue reading this post)

I have posted a large batch of REHupas on eBay, the last ones I will be selling in fact, save for some odds and ends and a few more recent issues that I’m not quite ready to part with yet. This current batch has some really neat associational items included with some of them, including some inter-a.p.a letters and a rare REH Days postcard. See the whole list here.

Each REHupa mailing is filled to the brim with rare Howardiana. Folks continue to score some incredible deals, getting large and notable mailings for a relative pittance. My personal view these days is that anything under $50 for an old REHupa, and anything under $30 for a newer one, is a good deal given their long-term rarity and the amount of collectability they have. For information on why REHupa mailings are rare, collectible, and an essential cornerstone of any good Howard collection, see here.

I discovered the following gem several years ago while reading through some old REHupas, and wonder if my fellow blogger Steve Trout remembers it. Steve is currently the longest serving REHupan, having been a member since 1976 with only a short gap of inactivity during all those years.

In his ‘zine Beltric Writes #10 for July 1979, Steve ran a copy of a Howard-related newspaper item he had come across. The funny thing from a modern perspective is the author of the piece. Steve wrote, “This here on the right is from the letters column of the Detroit News,” and then reproduced the following tidbit:

JUNE 11

There must be something special about the 11th of June. It was on June 11, 1936, that Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian, committed suicide. On June 11, 1979, the Detroit News decided to drop the Conan the Barbarian comic strip. And also on June 11, I decided to drop the News.

– Gary Romeo, Royal Oak

Back then, of course, Gary was unknown to Trout and the rest of REHupa, he was just a name in a newspaper. It would be almost two decades later, in October of 1997, when Gary would sign up with REHupa and formally “meet” Trout and the rest of the a.p.a.’s top-flight Howardists. I’m guessing Gary never knew that his first appearance in the pages of REHupa was actually in 1979! Earlier even than Rusty!

PS — June 11, 1979 has an even greater, non-REH resonance for me: that was the day John Wayne died. The thirtieth anniversary of the Duke’s death is this year.

Steve adds: Yes, I came across that some years ago. Gary actually visited my sf fan club during those years, but we didn’t meet. Obviously, a pastiche-lover even then.

“Before Conan, there was Kane, a Puritan swordsman on a restless search for justice.”

That’s the lead-in from Nick Owchar’s, “Man in black: Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane,” published this May 24th in his monthly column for the Los Angeles Times. Owchar, deputy book editor for the LA Times, turns in a quite respectable piece on the Man From Devonshire (and his creator). His column, “The Siren’s Call” (a title I truly dig), was a joy and revelation once I (very recently) discovered it. Dear readers, brethren, kindred and fellow travellers, Ol’ Nick is one of us. Peruse his previous columns (future blog-fodder, for me) and tell me it ain’t so. (Continue reading this post)

The latest batch includes one mailing from every group of ten stretching from the #90s to the #190s. See the whole list here. Each is filled to the brim with rare Howardiana. Some folks got some incredible deals in the last batch, scoring large and notable mailings for a relative pittance. #118 and #176 especially were great steals at those prices. The auction for #100 got a bit ridiculous price-wise, but it is indeed a rare-as-hell mailing and the biggest in the a.p.a.s history (plus it contains Don Herron’s infamous “I piss on you all from a considerable height” smackdown, a legendarily hilarious moment in the a.p.a.s history), so perhaps over the long-term such a buy will pay dividends. The winner now has a mailing that even several hardcore REHupa collectors still are dying to find, so they have that to weigh against the price-tag.

My personal view these days is that anything under $50 for an old REHupa, and anything under $30 for a new one, is a good deal given their long-term rarity and the amount of collectability they have. For information on why REHupa mailings are rare, collectible, and an essential cornerstone of any good Howard collection, see here.

Seven more mailings of REHupa are on eBay, filled to the brim with rare Howardiana. Only one day to go, no reserve, and some have no bids. Steal them if you can!

For information on why REHupa mailings are rare, collectible, and an essential cornerstone of any good Howard collection, see here.

UPDATE: A few people got some great deals in that last batch, especially for #162, which contained the full massive research piece I wrote on Howard’s favorite boxer, Joe Grim.

The next batch is now up, and includes some of the most memorable and collectible mailings ever to come out of REHupa. #118 — The 20th Anniversary Mailing. #176 — one of best Cross Plains/REH Days trip report mailings, with some great color covers. And #100, the biggest, baddest REHupa mailing of them all, jam-packed with multiple sections and extra booklets.