We're in the home stretch for Howard Days! In what has now become a 3 day event, the city of Cross Plains, Texas is all spiffed up for the gathering of Robert E. Howard fans from all over the world on June 11th-12th-13th! While the programming is set and plans are made, there is still enough of an extemporaneous air about Howard Days that it's totally ok to show up on a whim! Who would think that such a tiny house could be such a huge Museum!
2026 finds us celebrating a number of decades-anniversaries (scroll down) and heading up all the festivities is our Guest of Honor, Rusty Burke! He is the ideal GOH for the 40th Anniversary of Howard Days, as it is because of Rusty there IS a Howard Days! And because there was a first Howard Days, "Indy" Bill Cavalier gets to side-kick along as the Special Guest this year.
In 1985, Rusty and his friend Vern Clark made an impromptu trip from Houston to Cross Plains, just to check out where Robert E. Howard lived. Rusty's wheels started turning and he (correctly) surmised that other Howard Fans might want to make the same journey - and the game was afoot!
Come March of 1986, Rusty made a second trip to Cross Plains on his own, to set plans in motion for a small group of fellow REHupa (The Robert E. Howard United Press Association) members to join him for a Howard celebration weekend in June. Rusty may be the luckiest boy in Puppetland, because on this second trip he stopped in at the Library on a whim and met the Librarian Billie Ruth Loving and Library Board member Joan McCowen. These two fine women were exactly who Rusty needed to meet - and the very first Howard Days was set in motion.
Over the last 40 years, Rusty Burke has acquired more Howard creds than anyone: Founder of Howard Days, a 45 year member of REHupa, founder and first editor of The Dark Man scholarly REH journal, Series Editor for the Wandering Star and Del Rey definitive editions of REH, author of A Short Biography of Robert E. Howard and countless published REH essays, introductions, forewords, guidebooks and mentor and advisors for each and every REH biography that is available today. And, he is the co-founder and only President of the 20 year old Robert E. Howard Foundation, along with being the recipient of numerous Cimmerian and REH Foundation Awards. Without a doubt, Rusty Burke is the Godfather of Robert E. Howard Studies.
As one of the original 10 attendees to that first Howard Days in 1986, "Indy" Bill Cavalier joins us as the 2026 Special Guest. He met Rusty through REHupa and joined everyone June 13-14-15 in Texas to celebrate Ol' Two-Gun Bob Howard. "Indy" has written that while his first trip to Texas changed his life through the involvement with Robert E. Howard, he says that it was really Rusty Burke who enabled that life-changing occurrence. A Fan of Howard Fans, Indy is now the Fan Liaison with Project Pride in organizing the yearly event. He has a 40 year continuous streak of producing his Cold Steel fanzine in each REHupa, has written numerous articles, introductions and forewords for Howard publications, drawn a ton of REH art (including the cover for Pictures in the Fire) and takes pride in being part of the world-wide Robert E. Howard community.
Rusty and Indy will be regaling everyone at HD 2026 with stories of "the good ol' days" of Howard Fandom and that first Howard Days, so visit with them and together you can marvel at how great Robert E. Howard fandom has become!
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