Thursday, January 21, 2016

Happy Birthday, Two-Gun Bob Howard!



January 22nd marks the 110th birthday of The One and Only Robert E. Howard! Everybody blaze your pistolas and brandish your Bowies in his honor! And a little nip of your favorite beverage certainly is in order, too.

For some time, there was a discrepancy in Howard's birthdate. While Howard himself always celebrated it on the 22nd, on the birth registrar for Palo Pinto County where he was born, the date is listed as January 24th. We mostly figured that there was a two day delay in filing the paperwork (hey, it was 1906!) and the hard core Howard Heads have always used January 22nd.

Last year at Howard Days, REH's distant Howard cousins brought in (among other things like a tattered copy of a Jenkins' Gent from Bear Creek) the Howard Family Bible. Sure enough, Bob's birthday is listed as January 22, 1906. Score for the hard core!

Neat little surprises like this are always showing up at Howard Days. Along with all the great activities already planned, we're hoping something like this might intice you to come to Texas this June and join the fellowship for Ol' Two-Gun. We'll be looking for you!

Happy Birthday, Bob Howard!


Thanks for the photo go out to Todd Vick and his blog, On an Underwood No. 5.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Robert E. Howard Days 2016 is June 10th & 11th



Welcome back to the official Robert E. Howard Days website! As the cold winds of January blow, what better way to get warm than thinking about Howard Days in Cross Plains in June? We're starting to sweat already!

One thing we aren't sweating is the great line-up and all the activities we have planned for the 2016 version of The Best Two Days in Howard Fandom! This year we've got a pile of anniversaries to celebrate, so the "theme" for Howard Days is...wait for it...Anniversaries!

Looking at our spiffy new logo banner at the top of this page will give you an idea of three of the anniversaries we'll be celebrating. But here's a list of them all:

  • 110 years since Howard's birth
  • 80 years since his death
  • 70 years since the publication of Skull Face and Others from Arkham House
  • 50 years since the publication of Conan the Adventurer from Lancer Books
  • 40 years since the publication of The Last Celt by Glenn Lord from Don Grant Books
  • 40 years since the first appearance of Damon Sasser's Two-Gun Raconteur magazine
  • 30 years since the very first Robert E. Howard Days
  • 30 years since the publication of One Who Walked Alone by Novalyne Price Ellis
  • 20 years since the film The Whole Wide World
  • 10 years since the creation of the Robert E. Howard Foundation
Quite an impressive list - each anniversary has major significance in Howard Fandom. Howard Days can only give you a small taste of each anniversary, but we're hoping you can join us in Cross Plains in June to partake in the celebration and fellowship involved with every Howard Days.

We're proud to announce that the Guest of Honor for Howard Days 2016 is Michael Scott Myers, the screenwriter for the movie The Whole Wide World. Michael's importance as our GOH is double good for all of us, as he was also a student of Novalyne Price Ellis. Here's hoping you'll be amongst us to hear not only Michael's revelations about TWWW but also his reminisces of Novalyne and her magnificent memoir of her relationship with Robert E. Howard.

All of the usual activities connected with Howard Days are in place: the Robert E. Howard Museum and Gift Shop are open to all, the adjacent Alla Ray Morris Pavilion is availble for the Swap Meet, extemporaneous activities and a couple of genuine Texas cook-outs, the Bus Tour of Cross Plains and surrounding environs, a special Postal Cancellation souvenir, the Celebration Banquet and Silent Auction, interesting panels on Howard and related topics, the Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards - all this plus much more that we can't think of right now! We'll be posting detailed information over the course of the next month.

One of several special events that will happen this year is a showing of the movie The Whole Wide World, with commentary from Michael Scott Myers.

We're in the process of firming up the scheduling for Howard Days - but it's never too early to start to plan on joining us in Cross Plains in June. Hey, air fares are cheap(er) right now and gas is at a 20 year low so you've got no excuse this year! Y'all come!

Needless to say, keep this website and the Howard Days Facebook page bookmarked and check back frequently for all the information you'll need for a fantastic Howard Days!