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.

Leo started off the Cimmerian year with another tip of the hat to Charles R. Saunders (one of many). Steve Tompkins followed up with a sombre assessment of the Battle of the Somme’s impact on Tolkien, a look at Scott Oden, a simply astounding joint comparison/appreciation of Moorcock’s Melnibonè with Howard’s Acheron, an ode to Edgar Allan Poe (again showing the bloggers’ divergent politics in the comments), with the first month culminating in a three part celebration of Karl Edward Wagner and Sergio Leone.

The hits kept coming with Tompkins: an argument for “Red Shadows” to be considered the true origin of Sword-and-Sorcery, looks at Joe Abercrombie and Donald Sidney-Fryer’s The Atlantis Fragments, a thorough thrashing of those who would claim Howard would be forgotten without the Lancers, and a collection of recommended Hallowe’en tales for Cimmerian readers. His “Lonely Mountains, Crowded Expectations” is one of the most insightful essays on The Hobbit’s relationship to The Lord of the Rings I’ve read.

Leo, though beginning to ease out of blog activity, contributed his share, including yet more Saunders hat-tips, some props to The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard, and his deteriorating patience with the Howard Wikipedia page. Of historical interest to the blog are some of the earliest hints of Leo’s eventual retirement from Howardom, which would have important consequences in the none-too-near future. However, his 2009 Hyrkanian Robert E. Howard Foundation Award-Nominated “In Defense of Hester Jane Howard” is a true highlight, and one of the best pieces to ever appear on the blog.

With the coming of winter, Steve Tompkins paid tribute to Armistice Day with thoughts on the Great War and Howard’s more horrific depictions of battle, and the tradition of honouring days of historical significance would continue on The Cimmerian. He also discussed a number of subjects, C.S. Lewis’ tribute to E.R. Eddison, and the many black swords in fantasy literature. Leo kept the Sword-and-Soul spears waving with more Saunders news, alerted readers to new Lovecraft e-zines, and paid tribute to Joan McCowen. Rob kept busy with REH material, such as when he discussed the impending release of The Collected Poetry of REH: this would be his final post on The Cimmerian. December saw the return of Steve’s traditional Christmas tale: this year, it was Dr. Seuss who got the Tompkins Treatment.

It was about this time that the first crisis of The Cimmerian blog happened. Without the print journal to justify its existence, and lacking the time, motivation and energy to devote himself to its upkeep, Leo could not continue as editor, and considered shutting the blog down. Luckily, Steve Tompkins offered to take his place, and became the new editor of The Cimmerian blog, which he aimed to bring to new heights.

2009 rang the bells on a sad note: Mark Finn made a eulogy to Donald Westlake. Steve added a new entry into The Cimmerian’s historical discussion with new discoveries from Germania, added to The Cimmerian’s Tolkien library with a look at Tollers’ Sigurd & Gudrun, expanded on other authors with a lengthy essay on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, a Bicentennial celebration of Edgar Allan Poe, and a three part extravaganza on S.T. Joshi’s Rise and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos. However, he did not forget Howard; “The Conscience, and Kisses, of a King” is about as concise (and thorough) an exploration of Atla from “Worms of the Earth” as you’re likely to find. Leo — once again — championed Saunders by cheering the arrival of The Trail of Bohu.

January and February saw some newcomers to the site, with Mark saying his farewells. One of Steve’s “linkage and thinkage” posts announced the coming of the other Steve of The Cimmerian, Steve Trout. Steve Trout first appeared as a guest blogger, where he effortlessly destroyed E. Randall Floyd’s pathetic assessment of Howard, making a strong debut. So too did Brian Murphy, though he started off with less blood-and-thunder, as he acknowledged the passing of Realms of Fantasy, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and The Cimmerian print journal. Steve Trout’s official debut would be a big ‘un in more ways than one — “They Found Howard’s Snake” has proved to be quite popular. A look at the site’s stats at the search terms used to find the site almost always has a few searching “titanoboa.”  Finally, Deuce Richardson — who would become Managing Editor before the end of the year – started a two part comparison of “The Call of Cthulhu” and “Skull-Face.” The final newcomer of February would be myself, again in an unofficial context — though my official debut would be a while yet.

The new bloggers quickly settled in under new editor Steve Tompkins’ guidance, who continued his appreciation of Joe Abercrombie, Charles R. Saunders, and Dan Simmons. Steve Trout wrote informative posts ranging from anger in Howard’s writing, to savaging of Uwe Boll films, and some fascinating looks at Howard through a Jungian lens. Brian was eclectic, with posts as disparate as a case for slow zombies, a look at Dunsany’s “The Sword of Welleran,” appreciation of Gary Gygax’s championing of fantasy fiction, a review of David Drake’s “The Barrow Troll,” and of course Howard, via a comparison with Hemingway. Deuce explored aspects of Hyborian scholarship regarding the Irish Nemedians, parallels of Howard to David Foster Wallace, and Howard’s ambivalence regarding his Celtic soul. Leo was largely inactive, but he still popped in from time to time to post blog entries.

In April, the Howard world was stunned by the loss of Steve Tompkins. Brian, Deuce, Steve Trout, and Leo shared their grief and tributes. The Cimmerian blog was in its second crisis. What would the TC blog do without its editor and primary contributor? Leo returned and contributed several Howard, Tolkien and Saunders-related entries, but it was only to be on a temporary basis. If The Cimmerian was to continue, somebody had to step up: that somebody was Deuce, who became Managing Editor in late October 2009. From the beginning, Deuce strove to continue Leo & Steve’s work on The Cimmerian, as a Shieldwall for Howard, Tolkien, and the Best in Heroic Fantasy, Horror and Historical Adventure.

TC‘s tagline (originated by Tompkins), would be the mantra which The Cimmerian bloggers stood by through 2009 and beyond. Leo remained for a while, writing of Howard, Saunders, and The Dark Man. Deuce himself continued with posts on Howard, Howard & Tolkien, Sword-and-Sorcery, Ghor Kin-Slayer, and a three part look at Tolkien’s ”Wanderings of Húrin.” Steve Trout discussed Breckinridge Elkins, horrible “satire,” “The Challenge from Beyond,” and Star Trek. Brian talked about Jack London and his influence on Howard, Don Herron’s assessment of Stephen King, Tolkien’s The Children of Húrin, and The Terminator. At the end of May, I joined the site with my first post (the one I’m still most proud of), “Nameless Tales.”

The final stretch of The Cimmerian blog’s fourth year would lead on to its last. In 2008, the site hovered around 9,000 – 14,0000 hits per month, but by March of 2009, that number rose to 20,000, and never looked back. One post by Deuce got the TC blog a mention in the Los Angeles Times, leading to further name-checks for The Cimmerian. Howardom rejoiced as news of Heroes in the Wind spread. There were plenty of Howard posts, Howard scholarship posts, Hyborian scholarship posts, Tolkien posts, historical posts, and general fantasy posts. At the tail-end of the year, Barbara Barrett made her official debut, picking up the ”REH Word of the Week” feature where Leo left off.

Thus starts the beginning of the end of The Cimmerian blog.