Howard Days 2014 was Howard-tastic!

Robert E. Howard Days 2014 was so great I barely know where to begin in telling you about it! As I've finally recovered from two days driving home and another of unpacking loot, let's give it a try. More than one post will be needed, especially going through hundreds of photos!

Both Friday and Saturday featured some of the best weather ever seen for Howard Days. The upper 80's in mid-June in west Texas is about as good as it gets. Blue skies and lots of wind really kept us comfortable.

Project Pride, Cross Plains' wonderful civic organization, had everything ready for Howard fans. Fine hospitality is a watchword from these great folks and they welcomed Howard Fans from all over the world with open arms. This year featured guests from all over the U.S. plus fans from France, Germany, Scotland and Japan. REH is truly world-wide! Attendance seemed to be up a little from previous years. (I'll let you know some figures when I get them.)

The Robert E. Howard Museum was certainly all slicked up to receive guests! Thanks to the generosity of Howard fans earlier this year, some window and plumbing issues were repaired and a coat of gleaming white paint had been applied. The Museum looked fantastic!

House tours were conducted, the Gift Shop was soon depleted (almost), the Bus was filled and the Postal Cancellation was as popular as ever! The panels went off without a hitch and were extremely well attended (my un-official average was 45 per!) Plus, the panelists were all top-notch and their presentations were wonderfully interesting. The Friday night Banquet was again filled to capacity and the Silent Auction raised over $1,500 for Project Pride's maintenance of the REH Museum!

Patrice Louinet was a wonderful and witty Guest of Honor and amused the Banquet crowd with anecdotes of his Howard career and stories of a Frenchman in America. Tom Gianni as our Special Guest was honored to receive the Rankin Award for artistic achievement and gave a nice presentation of his working methods. The rest of the Featured Attendees were on their best behavior and hardly any gun or knife fights broke out at this Howard Days! (Y'all know I'm joking about that, right?)

The Saturday night Barbeque out the Caddo Peak Ranch was as delicious as ever, but also bittersweet, seeing as how it signals the end to Howard Days.

But the fellowship and friendship of the entire weekend was what shone like the sun in the Texas sky. New friends were made, old friendships continued and everyone came away with that warm feeling you get from seeing everyone at a family reunion. A year will go by quickly and we'll be in Cross Plains again. For now however, the glowing memories of Howard Days 2014 will carry us through. Happy trails, y'all!

REH Days Overview Part 10 - Checklist

We're saddling up and getting the wagons ready for the trek to Cross Plains, so here's a checklist for us to go over once we get to Howard Days. Everything on here is easy enough to do...well, with the exception of that last one.

Hope y'all have safe travels! We might be off the grid for a day or two but we'll try to get back on the air soon. Hopefully we can do some updates from Howard Days, but we are going to be a little busy!

Hope to see you there!

REH Days Overview Part 9 - Guests Galore!

One of the metaphorical phrases I like to use when celebrating something connected with Robert E. Howard is "Blaze your pistolas and brandish your Bowies!" It would serve very well if you would all do so (metaphorically speaking, of course) regarding the Featured Guests and Attendees that you see here!

Patrice Louinet is our 2014 Guest of Honor and we are honored that he could come in from France this year. (We've been trying to get him for awhile now). In addition to being one of the biggest Robert E. Howard scholars in the world, he is one of the nicest guys you'll want to meet - we're glad that you'll be able to do so this year! I just have to figure out a way to get some Chicago-style pizza to him in Cross Plains!

Tom Gianni is our Special Guest - his cover paintings for Western Tales. Pirate Adventures and the four volume Fists of Iron Boxing stories (all from the REHF Press) capture the spirit of Howard's words so perfectly! Tom has been nominated for the REHF Rankin Award for Artistic Achievement, so fingers crossed for him! (Hmmm...Tom is from Chicago, so maybe he can bring that pizza...)

The 16 other folks shown on this poster (thanks, Jeff Shanks!) add up to several hundred years worth of involvement with Howard Fandom, but the older I get the less I feel like adding that up! Suffice to say this is one of the most erudite, eclectic groups that you'll ever meet in any walk of life. I'm proud to call them all my friends and it just goes to show you the far-reaching impact that Robert E. Howard has had on all of us here!

They'll each be wearing a special name badge at Howard Days and are ready, willing and able to engage in the wonderful Howard Fellowship we all will embrace in Cross Plains this week on June 13th & 14th.

Hope to see you there! In the words of the late Billie Ruth Loving, one of the founders of Howard Days,"Y'all come!"

Featured Attendee - BEN FRIBERG

Videographer Ben Friberg first discovered Howard's amazing work not long after college when he found the Baen edition of Solomon Kane at an Abilene bookstore and the rest was downhill from there. He attended his first Howard Days in 2005 and has been an attendee at every Howard Days since. After trying his hand at gathering material for a Howard Days documentary, he decided he could best serve Howard Fandom by recording all the panels presented over the two day event and posting them for free on Youtube. For the past few years he's been honored to be the unofficial Howard Days videographer, doing his best to make sure that each Howard Days is saved for future generations of Howard Fandom. In recognition of this work he has been nominated for the 2014 Black River award for outstanding achievement by the Robert E. howard Foundation

Just this year he also became a member of REHupa and is looking forward to exploring the brave new world of fanzines. If you see him at Howard days, you will probably have to say hello to him first, as he's kinda shy -- he's the big guy with the huge sombrero he wears to keep off the brutal Texas summer sun.

REH Days Overview Part 8 - The Pavilion

In 1994 a small tornado hit the town of Cross Plains. Because of the damage it caused to the roof of the Howard House, Howard Days was cancelled for that year. The storm also destroyed the Butler house located next door to the Howard place and because of that, Project Pride wisely decided to erect an outdoor pavilion in its place.

The Alla Ray Morris Pavilion, named for the one-time owners of the REH literary estate, is an open-air, roof-covered concrete slab adjacent to the Robert E. Howard Museum. During the second weekend in June, it is Howard Days Central.

The Pavilion is the gathering place for all who come to Robert E. Howard Days. It will be open and available most of the day on Thursday and 24 hours Friday and Saturday. As you can see, tables and chairs are set up for all visitors to relax, converse with old and new friends and simply share in the fellowship of the like-minded souls who come to Howard Days to honor the Legacy of Bob Howard. There are restrooms too, along with a small kitchen and the grounds surrounding the Pavilion are nicely shaded for relaxing or a picnic lunch.

Project Pride also sets up a large cooler here, from which you may enjoy a cold bottle of water or can of pop. This is provided for any and all comers at no cost (but the Donation Jar is available - how's that for a not-so-subtle hint?) The Friday Luncheon also takes place here and again, cook-out hot dogs & hamburgers, chips & cookies are provided at no cost. (Another parentheses caveat: if you have paid the pre-registration fee, please enjoy a free lunch - who said "there ain't no such thing?" But, if you haven't done the pre-reg, a donation would be most appreciated!)

The Friday morning Bus Tour begins here - it starts at 9 am sharp, so plan on being at the Pavilion a little early. The final panel on Saturday is also held here. The Swap Meet takes place here also - you are invited to please take a little bit of space and display any Robert E. Howard type items. The only payment we ask for the space is a 10% of what you sell donation to Project Pride. The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press will also have their REH books for sale here in the Pavilion and I'm sure Featured Guest Tom Gianni will be happy to sign the books he's done cover paintings for!

So, if you have any questions during your visit to Howard Days, most certainly there will be someone in the Pavilion to help answer them. Without a doubt it is the friendliest spot at Howard Days. Hope to see you at the Pavilion!

The photo above shows the ample parking on the west side of the lot and there is also parking on the east side street.

A Full Moon and Porch Light Poetry

On June 13th, the first day of REH Days, Mother Nature has seen fit to grace us with a full moon. Now, if we follow along that this is FRIDAY the 13th, the moon is FULL and that Bob Howard wrote for a magazine with WEIRD in its title - well, this may be an evening of cosmic proportions!

What better way to celebrate it than to read aloud some of Howard's fabulous poetry? While reading it by the light of a full moon hasn't really been tried (although this may be the year!) we do like to honor the magical words of REH by reading his poetry from the same place where it was written. We know that Bob liked to speak his stories aloud as he wrote them - he most certainly did the same with his poetry. If you've ever read any of his poetry, you know that it just screams to be read aloud. So, we do. And with the exception of Tim Arney here, we don't do any screaming.

Porch Light Poetry takes place after the Banquet is over and folks have come back to the Pavilion to relax and converse among new and old friends. It's a very extemporaneous event and if you feel like reading Howard Poetry aloud from the front porch of the house where it was written, please do so! It's a nice enhancement for the Howard Days Experience, even if you just sit and listen.

REH Days Overview Part 7 - Saturday Afternoon & Evening

Only one week to go until Howard Days! Here's a look at the Saturday afternoon & evening activities in some detail.

Like we were saying, you'll be on your own for lunch on Saturday. With the great restaurants in Cross Plains and the Barbarian Festival serving up some good ol' Fair Grub, you won't go hungry!

2 pm Panel - Fists of Iron. Mark Finn, Chris Gruber and GOH Patrice Louinet, the Editors of FISTS OF IRON, the four volume boxing set from the REHF Press, are together for this one time only panel to discuss Howard's History with boxing and the stories he wrote. (Did you know REH wrote more boxing stories than any other genre?) Come hear the experts tell you all about it. Featured Guest artist Tom Gianni will also be present to talk about illustrating these stories. At the Library.

3:30 Panel - The World Building of REH. Follow Patrice back to the Pavilion where he'll join Rusty Burke and Jeff Shanks for a discussion of Howard's history and penchant for creating fantastic worlds. NOTE: THIS PANEL IS AT THE PAVILION.

After this last panel, folks hang out at the Pavilion and browse the Swap Meet for just a short while, anticipating the short drive to the final scheduled event for Howard Days. If you are heading to the BBQ, this is the time you will need to sign a release form to visit the Ranch. Details will be available.

5 pm to Sunset: The Caddo Peak Ranch BBQ. At 5 pm we caravan 5 miles west on Highway 36 to the Caddo Peak Ranch, where owners Marsha Murray and Janet Swanson are our gracious hosts for a genuine outdoor Texas chuck wagon BBQ dinner. It is another highlight of Howard Days and all are welcome! You'll feast on delicious brisket, sausage, potato salad, dessert and all the fixin's while enjoying the fellowship of your friends old and new. Before dinner, you may decide to ride up to the base of West Caddo Peak (pictured above) and trek to the top for a view of Callahan County like no other. This is fairly rugged climb and it is advisable to take a bottle of water with you. After dinner we gather on the rise and watch a gorgeous Texas sunset and say our goodbyes to a wonderful weekend.

PLEASE NOTE: THE OWNERS OF CADDO PEAK RANCH HAVE REQUESTED THERE BE ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKING AT THE RANCH. Please respect their wishes - it will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The final REH Days activity is a gathering of folks back at Pavilion for a final evening of conversation, fellowship and poetry reading as we celebrate the Legacy of Robert E. Howard one final time.