Monday, June 1, 2015

Howard Days is Next Week!


NEXT WEEK IS HOWARD DAYS!!!
Project Pride and Cross Plains are in the process of putting a final shine on both the town and the Robert E. Howard Museum. And there's still time for you to plan to attend!
If you're planning on coming down (or up) for all the festivities but still have not pre-registered for the Friday night Banquet, please do so right away. Project Pride needs a close head count so they know how many dinners to have ready. You certainly don't want to miss the great Texas chow or the bidding at the Silent Auction!
So, if you've procrastinated until now - there's still time. Banquet seats are $15.00 per person and you can still send it to Project Pride, POB 534, Cross Plains, TX 76443 or you can Pay Pal it to ProjPride@yahoo.com.
Howard Days is host to all things Howard! Panels, discussions, tours, awards, special guests, cookouts, an auction, a swap meet, a gift shop full of Howard stuff - all this and more can be found June 12-13 at the Robert E. Howard Museum in Cross Plains. Of course, even winning one of these coveted REH Foundation Awards can't compare to the Howard Fellowship you will find there.
Hope you see y'all there!

Monday, May 25, 2015

It Won't Be Long Now!

With a little over two weeks to go, it's time to make your checklist for Robert E. Howard Days

If you haven't already done so, it's not too late to send Howard items to the Silent Auction at the Friday night Banquet, c/o Project Pride, POB 534, Cross Plains, TX 76443. Or, if you're running a little late it would be ok to bring those items right to the House either on Thursday June 11 (when the House will be open 2-4) or Friday June 12th before noon.

Packing for Howard Days is pretty easy as the weather in Texas in June is nice & warm so plan accordingly. Don't forget to include sunscreen and bug spray - word has it the wet weather Cross Plains has experienced lately will bring the mosquitoes out in full force!

You could also throw in an extra Howard item or two to sell at the Swap Meet at the Pavilion. Skelos Press will have this nifty item available for the first time at Howard Days. We saw one of the originals at Windy City Pulp Con going for $3,750! Jeff Shanks promises this neat facsimile won't be quite that pricey!


STOP THE PRESSES! HOLD ONTO YOUR FEDORAS!

While the two-day schedule has remained pretty much the same, we do have one exciting change to mention. On Saturday afternoon the 2:30 "What's Up with REH?" panel has been scratched so that we may bring you an Interview with Brad and Jeff Howard, great grandsons of Dr. Howard's brother, David Terrell Howard! Well known Howard scholar and detective Patrice Louinet will be talking with Jeff and Brad about their fascinating family history. More surprises will ensue from this panel, so be sure to be there.

Of course, there will be other special neat things happening this year at Howard Days - someone unexpected always show up! For so many of us, Howard Days is a great place to re-establish old friendships and make many new ones. There's plenty of room in Texas, so if you're still on the fence, come to Cross Plains and see why Howard Days is The Best Two Days in Howard Fandom!

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Six Weeks until Howard Days!



With six weeks to go until Howard Days happens (!) we'd like to ask for your help. Project Pride is the Cross Plains civic organization that does all the work in setting up The Best Two Days in Howard Fandom and they are strictly an all-volunteer group of folks! Consequently, funds are always tight and the maintenance of the Robert E. Howard Museum is an ongoing project for them.
One of their biggest fund-raisers is the Silent Auction held at the Friday night Banquet at Howard Days. All types of REH items are offered on-site at this auction: books, comics, magazines and fanzines, t-shirts, metal, glass and wood 3-d art (see the photo), original artwork and many other items directly related to Ol' Two-Gun Bob Howard.
Project Pride relies on the donations of the many generous fans of REH to help with this auction, so we're asking that you please check over your "Howard stuff" and send along any duplicates or any REH item that you know would help Project Pride further the Legacy of Robert E. Howard. You can mail your items to: Project Pride, POB 534, Cross Plains, Texas 76443.
And, of course, it's still not too late to make plans to come to Cross Plains and enjoy the fellowship of Howard fans from (literally) all over the world. We've got great guests and panels and many activities that can make being a fan of REH even more enjoyable. (Check the schedule in a previous post here or at www.rehupa.com). 
Hope to see you there!
And thanks for your support!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The Official REH Days Flyer!



Project Pride has sent out the official REH Days flyers to all corners of the globe, so we know it won't be long until we'll all be basking in the warmth of the Texas sun!

The Friday night Celebration Banquet is the only cost for this two-day Howard Extravaganza and as seating is limited, you'll want to be sure to register early. All the info you need is shown above, along with some suggestions for accommodations.

Hope to see y'all there - it's just a couple of months away!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Robert E. Howard Days Info Page Up and Running!

The Howard Days Information Page is currently up and running over at www.rehupa.com. We'll be posting it in segments here just to keep interest going!

You will see all of the familiar activities are still in place, including the very nifty Postal Cancellation Stamp shown above, designed by our Guest of Honor, Mark Schultz. This is always one of the neater souvenirs from any given Howard Days, because each one is unique and you really need to be at Howard Days to get this cancellation done at the Cross Plains Post Office.

This year we've added a Bus Trip to Howard's grave site in the Greenleaf Cemetery in Brownwood. That will happen on Friday afternoon and we promise to have you back in time for the Celebration Banquet!

So check out the info page and hopefully it will entice you to come to Howard Days! It truly is The Best Two Days in Howard Fandom!

Thursday, February 19, 2015

REH Days 2015 Panel Schedule


While the cold winds of February continue to blow across most us, here's something to warm the scabbards of our hearts; the panel schedule for Howard Days in the WARM month of June in Texas!

Rest assured that all of the usual activities remain in place for The Best Two Days in Howard Fandom - we'll be posting a complete list soon. In the meantime, get your engines warmed up to come on down to Howard Days to enjoy a really good panel schedule this year. Make your plans now and we'll see you then!

REH Days 2015 Panel Schedule

FRIDAY June 12
11 am: Conan Vs. Cthulhu. Join us for an enlightening discussion of Howard’s writing in the Cthulhu Mythos and Lovecraft’s writing in the Howard Mythos. Panelists: Mark Finn and Jeff Shanks. At the Cross Plains Library.

1:30 pm: The Mark Schultz Hour. Our artist/writer Guest of Honor talks about his great career in an interview-style setting. At the Cross Plains Library.

2:30 pm: The Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards. Find out who won the REHF Awards for 2014, presented by Rusty Burke, Bill Cavalier and a cast of dozens. At the Cross Plains Library. This is a 30 minute panel.

9:00 pm: Fists at the Ice House. A perennial favorite is back! Presented on the very spot where REH actually boxed, come celebrate the completion of the four-volume Boxing series from the REHF Press. Presented on site behind the Texas Taxidermy building on Main Street by Mark Finn, Chris Gruber, Jeff Shanks and Patrice Louinet.

SATURDAY June 13

10:30 am: A Means to Freedom. The two-volume set of the letters between Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft are discussed. Panelists include Rusty Burke, one of the editors. At the Cross Plains Library.

1:30 pm: Robert E. Howard and Fantasy Gaming. 2015 will be THE year of REH and fantasy gaming with a new Conan board game AND a Conan role-playing game both coming out! We’ll also discuss Howard’s influence on the creation of fantasy role-playing games. There’ll be a bunch of panelists on this one: Patrice Louinet, Tim Brown, Jeff Shanks, Mark Finn, Mark Schultz - all refereed by Bill Cavalier. At the Cross Plains Library.

2:30pm: STOP THE PRESSES! HOLD ONTO YOUR FEDORAS!

The 2:30 "What's Up with REH?" panel has been scratched so that we may bring you an Interview with Brad and Jeff Howard, great grandsons of Dr. Howard's brother, David Terrell Howard! Well known Howard scholar and detective Patrice Louinet will be talking with Jeff and Brad about their fascinating family history. More surprises will ensue from this panel, so be sure to be there. At the Library.




Wednesday, January 21, 2015

January 22nd is Howard's Birthday!



Hope you all will enjoy January 22nd, the 109th anniversary of Bob's birthday and honor his legacy by reading a favorite Howard story. It will be your choice of libation when you raise your glass to his memory.

And for a lot of us right now, thinking of the warm days in June at Robert E. Howard Days will go a long ways towards erasing the doldrums of winter.

We'll be firing up the REH DAYS machine real soon - plans are underway and this will definitely be a good one. Hope y'all can make it!

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Nice Banner, Jeff!

While we're in the process of getting Howard Days panels, programming and activities shaped up, thanks go to Jeff Shanks for whipping up a fabulous new header!

Feel free to share it all around and check back here, on Facebook and at the rehupa.com and rehfoundation.org sites for all the additional Howard Days information.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Mark Schultz is Howard Days 2015 Guest of Honor


The Robert E. Howard Foundation is pleased to announce that artist Mark Schultz will be the Guest of Honor at Howard Days, June 12-13, 2015. Sponsored by the REH Foundation and Project Pride and held annually at the REH Museum in Cross Plains, Texas, Howard Days is a two-day celebration of the life and works of author Robert E. Howard.

Mark is well-known as the illustrator for the first Wandering Star pure REH text Conan edition, The Coming of Conan. His paintings, full-page drawings, chapter headings and spot illustrations fill this volume with a clean, energetic and stylistic imagery. Other Howard work that Mark has done include the covers to Worms of the Earth (Cross Plains Comics), The Colossal Conan (Dark Horse Comics) and the Adventures in Science Fantasy volume for the REHF Press. One of Mark’s designs is used on the REH Museum t-shirt. And, as it turns out, his very first professional comics work was inking the pencils of Val Semeik’s Kull story in the Savage Sword of Conan #132. Mark will also be doing the artwork for the special souvenir postal cancellation stamp for Howard Days this year.

The annual Robert E. Howard Days celebration will take place at the REH Museum in Cross Plains, Texas, on June 12th & 13th, 2015. Sponsored by Project Pride of Cross Plains and the Robert E. Howard Foundation, the two-day event promises once again to be THE place to be for fans of REH.
All of the activities associated with Howard Days are in place: tours of the REH Museum & Grounds, the Celebration Banquet and Silent Auction, the Bus Tour of Cross Plains, the REHF Awards presentation, panel s of REH interest and the many extemporaneous discussions and poetry readings among Howard fans and scholars, the Caddo Ranch Barbeque, the Swap Meet at the Pavilion, the special Postal Cancellation souvenir – all this and more await you at Howard Days. We’re also in discussion about some new events: an organized tour to Howard’s gravesite in Brownwood, a REH trivia contest (with prizes!), plus a more “formal” program booklet to have for another nice souvenir.


For those of you interested in getting on the Howard Days/Project Pride mailing list, please write to Project Pride, POB 534, Cross Plains, TX 76443, e-mail: Projpride@aol.com, or check the internet: www.rehfoundation.org, www.rehupa.com or the Robert E. Howard Days Facebook page for additional information.