The Howard Days 2017 Schedule (updated)

The panels are set and now the waiting begins. Only 3 and a half months to Robert E. Howard Days!

2017 HOWARD DAYS SCHEDULE

THURSDAY JUNE 8

The Robert E. Howard House and Museum is open to the public from 2 to 4 pm. There are no docents on duty but the Gift Shop will be open.

FRIDAY JUNE 9

8:30 – 9 am: Coffee and donuts at the Pavilion, compliments of Project Pride

9 am – 4 pm: Robert E. Howard House Museum open to the public. The adjacent Alla Ray Morris Pavilion will be open from Thursday to Sunday.

9 am – 4 pm: REH Postal Cancellation at Cross Plains Post Office. Friday Only.

9 am – 11 am: Bus Tour of Cross Plains & Surrounding Areas. Friday Only.

10:00 am to 4 pm: Pavilion available for REH items Swap Meet

10 am – 5 pm: Cross Plains Public Library open. Original Robert E. Howard typescripts available for viewing. The Conan Board Game and the Conan Role-playing Game will be presented also.

11:00: PANEL: The Glenn Lord Collection. Come hear the story of the Original Howard Detective and how he assembled the world's number one collection of Howard typescripts, pulps and memorabilia. Panelists: Paul Herman, Rob Roehm, Patrice Louinet.

Noon: Lunch hosted by Project Pride at the Pavilion.

1:30 pm: PANEL:  Collecting REH: What makes for a core Howard collection? How can you assemble one? We'll also discuss the good Howard collections in the world. Panelists: Jeff Shanks, Lee Breakiron, Patrice Louinet, Bobby Derie

2:30 pm: PANEL: Travels with Ol' Two-Gun. Panelists Rob Roehm, Bob Roehm and Todd Vick will discuss the detective travels they've made in the name of Howard history, genealogy and minutia.

Following this panel will be the presentations of the 2016 Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards.

5:30 – 6:30: Silent Auction items available for viewing & bidding at Banquet site

6:30: Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet & Silent Auction at the Cross Plains Community Center. Speaker: Paul Herman.

9:00 pm PANEL: Fists at the Ice House (behind the old Texas Taxidermy building on Main St.) Mark Finn, Chris Gruber, and Jeff Shanks discuss Howard's pugilistic prose in this perennial favorite.

Afterward there will be Howard Fellowship at the Pavilion


SATURDAY JUNE 10

9 am – 4 pm: Robert E. Howard House Museum open to the public. The adjacent Alla Ray Morris Pavilion will be open from Thursday to Sunday.

9 am – 4 pm: BARBARIAN FESTIVAL at Treadway Park, 3 blocks west of REH House

10 am – 3 pm: Cross Plains Public Library open. Original Robert E. Howard typescripts available for viewing. The Conan Board Game and the Conan Role-playing Game will be presented also.

10 a.m. to 4 pm: Pavilion available for REH items Swap Meet

11 a.m. PANEL: Paul Herman 2017 Guest of Honor. Mark Finn will conduct an interview style panel with our shy and retiring Guest of Honor.

Lunch & Festival Activities at your leisure during the day

1:30 pm PANEL: Pictures of Howard. For a long time we only had 29 photos of Bob Howard. Come and see what photo detective work has produced in the last 12 years! Panelists: Rusty Burke, Paul Herman, Patrice Louinet.

2:30 pm PANEL: The Second Annual Glenn Lord Symposium. Howard scholars will present papers discussing the life and works of Robert E. Howard. Panelists: To Be Announced.

5:00 to 8:00 pm: Sunset BBQ at the Pavilion

We hope to have some Special Announcements at the Pavilion prior to or during the BBQ,
 
Porch Light Poetry returns with audience participation readings of Howard's Poetry directly off his porch. And we plan on adding more languages to our multi-language presentation of Howard's epic poem "Cimmeria".

Afterward there will be Howard Fellowship at the Pavilion.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL PANELS LAST ONE HOUR AND WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 1000 N. MAIN ST. IN CROSS PLAINS.

Howard Days 2017 Schedule is Underway!

The schedule for Howard Days 2017 is posted under the Events headings on this page, but to save you a click, here it is. We're in the process of firming up the panels this year and we should have that up later this week, along with our new spiffy header.

A few changes of note: we've moved all the panels to the First United Methodist Church at 1000 Main Street, where we'll utilize their spacious and wired-for-presentations Fellowship Hall.

2017 HOWARD DAYS SCHEDULE

THURSDAY JUNE 8

The Robert E. Howard House and Museum is open to the public from 2 to 4 pm. There are no docents on duty but the Gift Shop will be open.

FRIDAY JUNE 9

8:30 – 9 am: Coffee and donuts at the Pavilion, compliments of Project Pride

9 am – 4 pm: Robert E. Howard House Museum open to the public. The adjacent Alla Ray Morris Pavilion will be open from Thursday to Sunday.

9 am – 4 pm: REH Postal Cancellation at Cross Plains Post Office. Friday Only.

9 am – 11 am: Bus Tour of Cross Plains & Surrounding Areas. Friday Only.

10:00 am to 4 pm: Pavilion available for REH items Swap Meet

10 am – 5 pm: Cross Plains Public Library open. Original Robert E. Howard typescripts available for viewing. The Conan Board Game and the Conan Role-playing Game will be presented also.

11:00: PANEL: The Glenn Lord Collection. Come hear the story of the Original Howard Detective and how he assembled the world's number one collection of Howard typescripts, pulps and memorabilia. Panelists: Paul Herman, Rob Roehm, Patrice Louinet.

Noon: Lunch hosted by Project Pride at the Pavilion.

1:30 pm: PANEL:  Collecting REH: What makes for a core Howard collection? How can you assemble one? We'll also discuss the good Howard collections in the world. Panelists: Jeff Shanks, Lee Breakiron, Patrice Louinet, Bobby Derie

2:30 pm: PANEL: Travels with Ol' Two-Gun. Panelists Rob Roehm, Bob Roehm and Todd Vick will discuss the detective travels they've made in the name of Howard history, genealogy and minutia.

Following this panel will be the presentations of the 2016 Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards.

5:30 – 6:30: Silent Auction items available for viewing & bidding at Banquet site

6:30: Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet & Silent Auction at the Cross Plains Community Center. Speaker: Paul Herman.

9:00 pm PANEL: Fists at the Ice House (behind the old Texas Taxidermy building on Main St.) Mark Finn, Chris Gruber, and Jeff Shanks discuss Howard's pugilistic prose in this perennial favorite.

Afterward there will be Howard Fellowship at the Pavilion


SATURDAY JUNE 10

9 am – 4 pm: Robert E. Howard House Museum open to the public. The adjacent Alla Ray Morris Pavilion will be open from Thursday to Sunday.

9 am – 4 pm: BARBARIAN FESTIVAL at Treadway Park, 3 blocks west of REH House

10 am – 3 pm: Cross Plains Public Library open. Original Robert E. Howard typescripts available for viewing. The Conan Board Game and the Conan Role-playing Game will be presented also.

10 a.m. to 4 pm: Pavilion available for REH items Swap Meet

11 a.m. PANEL: Paul Herman 2017 Guest of Honor. Mark Finn will conduct an interview style panel with our shy and retiring Guest of Honor.

Lunch & Festival Activities at your leisure during the day

1:30 pm PANEL: Pictures of Howard. For a long time we only had 29 photos of Bob Howard. Come and see what photo detective work has produced in the last 12 years! Panelists: Rusty Burke, Paul Herman, Patrice Louinet.

2:30 pm PANEL: The Second Annual Glenn Lord Symposium. Howard scholars will present papers discussing the life and works of Robert E. Howard. Panelists: To Be Announced.

5:00 to 8:00 pm: Sunset BBQ at the Pavilion

There will be some extemporaneous panel-like events this year: Special Announcements at the Pavilion prior to the BBQ, Conan Board Game and Role-playing game demonstrations and participation at the Library and Poetry Readings on Howard's Porch.

Afterward there will be Howard Fellowship at the Pavilion.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL PANELS LAST ONE HOUR AND WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 1000 N. MAIN ST. IN CROSS PLAINS.

Howard Days 2017 Guest of Honor is Paul Herman

The unofficial "theme" for Howard Days 2017 is The Howard Detectives, so we are happy to announce that Paul Herman is this year's Guest of Honor.

There is little doubt that Paul is the King of the Howard Detectives today. His exhaustive and dedicated work with the Glenn Lord papers (Glenn, of course, was the Original Howard Detective) has brought Paul to the forefront of hard core Howard Fandom. Paul's bio below explains quite a lot as to why he's the 2017 Guest of Honor.

Y'all come and meet our most erudite of Guests June 9th and 10th at the Robert E. Howard Museum in Cross Plains, Texas.

Paul Herman was handed a copy of a Lancer Conan when a teenager in the mid-70s, and the epiphany truly changed his life. Paul’s fandom went from Conan to REH’s other works when he met Glenn Lord in the early-80s. 40 years of fandom later, he has delved into a multitude of aspects of fandom and beyond. He published his first REH collection, The Complete Yellow Jacket, in 1999. Since then he had edited more than 30 volumes of REH material for publication, done original research tracking down rare or lost items, been a speaker at numerous events, and compiled and published the current REH bibliography, The Neverending Hunt, as well as starting its online brethren, Howardworks. Paul has more lists, spreadsheets and scans than any person really needs. Paul is a founding member of the Board of the Robert E. Howard Foundation, has won numerous awards, occasionally experts on copyright matters, and handled more than $24M in REH typescripts. Currently projects include the continued sorting of the Glenn Lord Collection, finalizing the REH Typescript Index, preparation of two more REHFP volumes for publication, and titles projects for both the prose and poetry.

In his spare time, Paul is an Intellectual Property attorney of 25 years, that following almost a decade of traveling the world as an oilfield chemist. His experience includes three kidnapping attempts, two explosions, and having a rattlesnake thrown at him, which isn’t nearly as funny as it sounds. Paul has also driven fast cars on numerous tracks on three continents, and perhaps went off more tracks than he has managed to stay on. His 700hp faithful steed is never far from hand. And the important part of his life, Paul’s wife of more than 30 years (and faithful research assistant), Denna, continues to tolerate his little hobby. The two grown boys just shrug. Who knew the wheezy little poor kid from the inner city could change so much? Bob knew.