Howard Days 2013, Part 1

I've been attending Howard Days for approximately a decade now.  I think this was the most enjoyable one of all.  The weather couldn't have been better.  It was unseasonably cool, so much so that I never worked up a sweat.  Joe Lansdale was the surprise guest, and he really added to the experience.  I got to meet a reader of this blog I'd not met before (Hi, John!), renewed some friendships, and had a fantastic time.

I'll break this post up into parts for a couple of reasons.  First, I don't think I can get everything written tonight.  Second, I've got a lot of pictures, so I'm going to break things up to keep the post from getting too long.

The official events started on Friday, but there's always an informal kickoff dinner at a steak restaurant in Brownwood.  This was the first year I'd managed to make that part of the weekend.  Robert E. Howard is buried in Brownwood alongside his parents.  I'd not visited the grave before; I've always stayed at my parents' house for Howard Days and they live an hour in the opposite direction.  So I made sure I had time before dinner to swing by the grave site and pay my respects.

Then off to dinner.  The food was good, and there were over two dozen people there, scattered over at least 5 tables.  I was at the largest, and as in any gathering of Howard fans, the conversation was far ranging.  Among the topics discussed were movies, the differences between male and female Howard fans (Ain't opening that can of worms here; ya had to be there.), comics, auto repair, and the food.  We also got to see two recently uncovered photos of Howard that haven't been published yet, although there's some uncertainty about whether one is really him.  After dinner, people split up.  Some went to back to Cross Plains to the Pavilion while others went to the cemetery.  I went back to the cemetery with that group.  That's most (but not all of them) in the picture. They are (l. to r.) Lee Breakiron, Jeff Shanks, Deuce Richardson, John Bullard, Tim Arney, Al Harron, Barbara Barrett, Bill "Indy" Cavalier. 

Greenleaf Cemetery is one of the old style, elegant cemeteries you don't see much of anymore.  There are a lot of tombstones, small statues, and obelisks, but not too many of the flat markers meant for lawn mowers to run over.  It was a peaceful place.

After visiting the Howards' gravesite, we stopped at Tevis Clyde Smith's grave.  It was getting late by the time everyone left.  While I would have liked to have gone back to the Pavilion and socialized, I went on home and got some sleep.

Don Clark (l) leading the tour

The next morning, I made it down to the Howard House just as the tour was starting.  The tour varies every year so that it's not the same thing all the time.  This year, local historian Don Clark (who always does an outstanding job) took us to the nearby communities of Cross Cut and Burket, where the Howards lived before moving permanently to Cross Plains.  There's not much left of either town, although in the early part of the century they were both boom towns.  We saw the gazebo in Burket where Hester and her young son would read together.  The house is gone, the gazebo being all that remains.

Harron, Truman, Shanks, Finn

We drove back to Cross Plains, and I visited the House, bought some items in the gift shop, and head downtown to the library for the first of the panels.  The morning panel consisted of Al Harron, GOH Tim Truman, Jeff Shanks, and Mark Finn discussing the history of REH in the comics.  It was extremely educational.  I didn't know that Conan's first comic appearance was in the 1950s in a Mexican comic.  Conan was blond and was a supporting character.  The main character was Belit.  The comic was titled La Reina de la Costa Negra (the Queen of the Black Coast).  The comic ran for a number of years in two formats.  Not much is known about it.  When the panel was done, I headed off to lunch (fresh grilled chili dogs) at the Pavilion.

Mexican REH comics

Closeup of Mexican comics

Mark Finn defending his position at dinner.

I'll discuss the other panels and the rest of the events in the next post.  For now I'll leave you with some pictures. 

Blogging Conan: The Scarlet Citadel

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post on Conan.  All I can say, "Where did the time go?"

Anyway, there are times when you just need to get back to basics.  This weekend has been one of them.

The Frazetta art for "The Scarlet Citadel", shown at right and originally appearing on the cover of Conan the Usurper, has always been one of my favorites.  Perhaps it's because I don't like snakes.  If that were me chained up, I probably be a blubbering mass of jelly.  Anyway, even though it isn't exactly faithful to Howard's description, it's still a masterpiece. 

"The Scarlet Citadel" was the third Conan story published in Weird Tales, following "The Phoenix on the Sword" and "The Tower of the Elephant", although "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" and "The God in the Bowl" were probably written before Howard wrote "The Scarlet Citadel".  (Links are to my posts about those stories.)

RIP, Andrew J. Offutt

Locus is reporting that Andrew J. Offutt passed away earlier today.  No cause of death was listed.  He wrote a number of erotic novels, many of them science fiction, as well as fantasy.  Included in his fantasy works are pastiches of the Robert E. Howard characters Conan and Cormac Mac Art.

As Charles Rutledge points out in his tribute, his greatest contribution to the field was as an editor rather than an author.  He was the editor of the 5 volume Swords Against Darkness series of original sword and sorcery anthologies.  I've got all but volume 3 (with duplicates of 2 and 5).   I was considering doing a series of posts looking at each one when I track down volume 3.  That plan hasn't changed with Mr. Offutt's passing.  I've also got one or two of his novels around here somewhere I intend to read at some point.

Even though he hasn't been active in sword and sorcery circles for a number of years (at least not that I know of), we've lost one of the major players from the sword and sorcery boom from the 70s.

Manuscript of Robert E. Howard's "A Witch Shall be Born" up for Auction

A manuscript copy of Robert E. Howard's Conan adventure "A Witch Shall be Born" will be auctioned off next week.  The details are here.  If you were wondering what to get me for Christmas...

Famous Fantasy Writers in a Five-Way

Uh, story that is.  A five-way story.

Get your minds out the gutter.  This isn't that kind of blog.  It's suitable for the whole family.  Yesterday's post not withstanding.

And you guys in the back knock off the giggling.  Geez, what I put up with.

Anyway, the story I'm talking about is "The Challenge from Beyond", the fantasy version.  I don't have a copy of the science fiction version, which is long out of print.

I first read this story when I was in high school.  I was 14 when I discovered C. L. Moore, so I couldn't have been any younger than that, but I doubt I was older than 15.  I found a beat up copy of the anthology Horrors Unkown at a yard sale and picked it up primarily on the strength of a couple of early Ray Bradbury stories I'd never heard of.

Everything else was just bonus, including a Northwest Smith story by C. L. Moore, "Werewoman", which I'll discuss in my series on Northwest Smith.

The lead story in the anthology was a round robin fantasy, "The Challenge From Beyond", in which C. L. Moore, A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long each wrote a chapter.  I'll discuss it with spoilers below.

Blogging Northwest Smith: Scarlet Dream

"Scarlet Dream"
C. L. Moore

This post contains content of an adult nature and is not suitable for younger readers.  You have been warned.

"Scarlet Dream" is the third Northwest Smith story.  In terms of sexually charged imagery, it's the most explicit of the ones so far, hence the warning above.  (My discussions of "Shambleau" and "Black Thirst" can be found here and here.)  There will be spoilers, as well.  You've been doubly warned.

Blogging Northwest Smith: Shambleau

"Shambleau" is the first of the Northwest Smith adventures, and the first published story by C. L. Moore.  According to Lester del Rey, in his introduction to The Best of C. L. Moore (1975), she had been writing for 15 years before she submitted anything for publication.  I'd like to know where he got that information, but I'm not questioning it.  Since he'd known Moore personally for decades, I'm inclined to believe him.  Of course, what I'd like even more is to get my hands on some of those unpublished stories.  I suspect they've long since ceased to exist.

I don't remember if "Shambleau" was the first story I read by C. L. Moore, but it certainly made the strongest impact on me.  Here's a synopsis of what happens (spoiler alert):

One Hundred Seven Years Ago Today...

...Robert E. Howard was born.  While his popularity has waxed and waned over the years since his premature death, his legacy has endured.  Right now, we're seeing a boom in Howard's works and in Howardian studies.  Maybe soon he'll take his proper place in the canon of great writers of the early 20th century.  We can hope.

But whether that happens in the near future, the far future, or not at all, one thing is certain.  We shall not see his like again.  While he's had many imitators over the years, none have matched the power of his writings, the lyricism of his poetry, or the (sometimes) bleakness of his world view.  He helped define a genre, something few men or women can boast.  As long as there are people who love a good adventure with depth as well as action, he will endure.

So raise a glass with me and toast the birth of Robert E. Howard.

Happy Birthday, Conan.

I'm a little late getting this post up, but this month marks the 80th anniversary of the first appearance of Conan, the man from Cimmeria.  Conan first appeared in "The Phoenix on the Sword", a rewrite of an unsold Kull story, "By This Axe I Rule!"  I blogged about both pieces here.  That's the cover of the issue, December 1932, there on the right.  And, no, Conan wasn't featured on the cover.  But he soon would be.

It's been a while since I last wrote a piece dedicated solely to Conan.  No, don't go looking it up; all you'll do is embarrass people, namely me.  I'm going to look at three more Conan stories, maybe more.  The stories I'll definitely look at are "Rogues in the House", "Queen of the Black Coast", and "Red Nails."  There are a few other Conan tales I will try to get to, but those three are, in my mind at least, major stories that every Howard fan should read.

Everything Old is Still Old

My head is still reeling from the announcement that Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to revise his role as Conan.  Al Harron has covered this more eloquently than I can, so I'll defer you to his remarks. 

Instead, I want to take a slightly different approach and say this:  Really, Hollywood?  Really?  This is the best you can do?  Trot out an actor who is too old for the role, to play a character who was never anywhere near that old in any of the stories Howard wrote.

What you have here, ladies and gentlemen, aliens and Old Ones, is a perfect case of why box office reciets in general are dropping.  Hollywood can't do anything but recycle itself.  A more appropriate metaphor would probably be breed with itself.  We all know what sort of thing results from that, which is a good description of what Hollywood tends to churn out rather than coming up with something original.

At least take a fresh script (preferably written by someone who will be faithful to more than the "spirit" of Howard's most famous creation) and keep Jason Mamoa.  He fits the description of Conan much better than the Governator does.

I suppose that's too much to hope for, as is this being a sick (and scary, very scary) Halloween joke.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go burn incense to the gods of Development Hell.  Much incense.

The Next Big Thing Blog Chain

I was chained to this by David J. West, author of Heroes of the Fallen and numerous short stories, including one in the forthcoming Space Eldritch.

What is the working title of your book?

I'm not actively working on any novels at the moment, although I have a couple in different degrees of completion I hope to finish/polish after the first of the year.  In addition to some stand-alone short stories (science fiction and fantasy), there are two series I'm working on, both fantasy.  The epic fantasy series doesn't have a working title at the moment.  The sword and sorcery series is The Chronicles of Roderik and Prince Balthar.  That's the one getting most of my attention right now.

Where did the idea come from for the book series?

I don't recall what gave me the initial idea for the characters.  There was a comment on the Black Gate blog a couple of years ago in a post about a fantasy magazine that shall remain unnamed.  The magazine had folded, and in one of the comments, someone said this particular publication didn't have enough tomb robbing heroes.  Now I really enjoy a good tomb robbing.  Somehow I came up with the idea of a prince and his squire who were into a little cemetery burglary.  The only reason they would do this (that I could think of) was the prince is under a curse to murder his father, something he desperately wants to avoid doing.  So he and his squire are voluntarily exiled from their home until curse can be broken.  The court sorcerer is trying to find a way to break the curse, and it often involves having our heroes liberate certain items from their eternal resting places, usually at great risk to themselves.  The stories are written from the squire Rodrik's point of view, and all of the ones I've worked on so far start with the words "The Chronicle of" in the title.  Rogue Blades Entertainment was accepting some submissions about this time, and I wrote the first story in the series.  Jason Waltz liked it enough to buy it for the Assassins anthology.  I've placed a second story in the series with him, and I've got four more I need to finish, plus a two more to plot and write.

What genre does the series fall under?

Sword and sorcery, definitely.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

 I have no idea.  I see so few movies these days, I'm not familiar with many of the younger actors.  The characters are both young men, so most of the actors I'm familiar with are too old for those roles.

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your series?

An exiled prince and his faithful squire travel their world seeking to break a family curse while there's still time.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published.  I'm not convinced agents bring enough value to the table in the current publishing climate to justify 15% of the earnings for the number of years they want to receive commissions.  Since everything I've written in this series so far is either short story or novelette length, I will try to place them in top markets.  If I'm not able to, I'll put them up myself.  And of course, I'll collect them and publish them in bundles.

How long did it take to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The first story took a couple of weeks working in the evenings when I didn't have other commitments.  The others have been stop and go, except for the second I finished.  It's been accepted, although I have no idea when it will see print.  That one had a deadline and took a week or two once I got past a couple of false starts.  The others are longer, so they've been start and stop affairs.

What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?

Who or what inspired you to write this series?

This may be cheating, but I'm going to combine the answers to the two previous questions since the works to which I would compare these stories are also some of the main inspirations.  First, I'm a huge fan of Robert E. Howard's Hyborean Age.  I love how he mixed and matched different historical periods in an imaginary fantasy setting.  I also love how the stories are mostly episodic in nature and for the most part can be read in any order.  The setting of The Chronicles draws a lot on that template, although the world isn't a carbon copy of the Hyborean Age.  On the other hand, there have been so many imitations that I didn't want to create another Clonan.  I wanted a civilized hero or heroes who were forced to act at times in, if not uncivilized ways, at least ways that wouldn't meet with civilization's approval.  There's probably a little Fafherd and the Grey Mouser in the inspiration somewhere, although I've not read that series in years, and there are more F&GM stories I haven't read yet than there are ones I have.  I also try to read across multiple genres, so you can see the influence of Arthur Conan Doyle in the structure.  Roderik is Watson to Balthar's Holmes, in that Balthar is supposedly the hero whose exploits are detailed by his faithful companion.

What else about your book series might pique your readers' interest?

This series is intended to be fun.  I've griped at times about how many authors seem to be writing with a political or social agenda, at least judging by their blogs and tweets.  While I certainly don't begrudge these authors their right to say whatever they like in their works, I maintain that the primary purpose of fiction is to tell an entertaining story, not convert me to your way of thinking.  With that in mind, I want to write some things that people will enjoy reading, hopefully to the point they want to read more. 

I'm also using this series as an opportunity to challenge and stretch myself as a fiction writer.  It would be very easy to get stuck in a rut and write formula stories, so I'm trying to do something different with each installment or to work on some technique.  For instance, the story I'm trying to finish in time to submit to a market by the end of the year focuses entirely on Roderik.  He and Balthar are in serious trouble, and Balthar has been taken out of commission.  Getting them out alive is all on Rodrik's shoulders.  He doesn't have much to work with or much time, either.  There's also a market coming open after the first of the year  The story I've got in mind for it isn't told by Roderik (or Balthar), although he and Balthar are central to everything that happens.

Now I have to chain people to this thing, so...I'm going to I'm going to list several authors whose work I enjoy and want to read more of:

Joshua P. Simon
Ty Johnston
J. M Martin
Mark Finn

A Tall Tale Involving the Ghost of Davy Crockett

Evan Lewis writes mysteries and historical fiction, as well as running the blog Davy Crockett's Almanac.  His most recent work is a little something that should appeal to fans of Robert E. Howard's Breckenridge Elkins. 

One of his series characters is Dave Crockett, grandson of a man with a similar name you might have heard of.  It seems Dave is haunted by the ghost of his grandfather, and they don't see eye to eye.  Evan's latest installment is up for free at Beat to a Pulp.  I found the tale to be fun and clever with just the right amount of humor and exaggeration.  It wasn't too serious and was a pleasant diversion from some of the things I've been reading lately.

Check it out.  It's not long, so can read it while waiting in the doctor's office or in line at the DMV.  If you like what you read, Evan will be putting out an ebook with five Dave and Davy stories plus an additional bonus story involving other characters.

Report on Fencon IX

Fencon IX was held in Dallas over the weekend (Sept. 21-23).  I thought it was a great success.  Of course my definition of success is pretty simple.  I had a good time.  In spite of some friends and/or regular attendees not being able to make it this year.

I arrived at the hotel on Friday afternoon after a long drive.  The first two panels I attended were slideshows by the artist guest of honor, Donato Giancola.   In the first slideshow, he discussed how he became interested in art in general and how he came to do paperback covers.  The second slideshow was more about how the Old Masters and some of the modern 20th century artists influenced him.  There was some overlap between the two programs, but both were worth attending.  Some of the paintings he showed were from a series he jokingly called Dead Things on the Beach.  Many of these haven't been published, and they were some of my favorites.  One that has been published is the cover of The Golden Rose, by Kathleen Bryan.  That's it on the right.  You can see what the original painting looks like here.

Toastmaster Peter David did a great job on the opening ceremonies, throwing toast into the audience.  At least until a piece landed inside one of the large bowl light fixtures.

I made a run to Half Price Books later that night with a box of items, mostly duplicates from small presses that I'd gotten in some grab bag sales, but a few things my wife wanted to get rid of.  They offered me $30.  It was to laugh.  I thanked them, kept the books, and got considerably more (much more) than that in trade credit in the dealer's room for about half of what I had in the box.  (Thanks Willie and Zane.)

When I got back to the hotel, I hung out in the hall outside the con suite and listened to astronaut Stanley G. Love tell what all he went through to get into the astronaut program.  There were some room parties that night which I visited, then went to bed. 

Finn and Simmons, Barbarians Brunching

I bounced around several panels Saturday morning, then at noon attended Brunch with Barbarians, a joint reading between Mark Finn and Heroic Fantasy Quarterly editor Adrian Simmons.  The pieces they read were good, and so was the spread. 

More panels and signing that afternoon, along with a nap and dinner with Finn and Simmons.  The panel on the future of space exploration was packed, with folks (including me) standing at the back.  Special guest Karl Schroeder moderated a great panel on what science will look like in the far future.  I missed a great deal of GoH C. J. Cherryh's address, but what I caught was fascinating.  She was speaking on how climate change has affected empires over the historical record.  I missed most of the events with the other guests.  I usually spend some time listening to the musical guests, but this year I was pretty much otherwise occupied.  (That's one of the things I love most about Fencon, the music track.)

The maintenance people were working in the room across the hall from me and set off the fire alarms.  The entire convention evacuated long enough to get outside and come back in.

At 5:00 that afternoon, there were a launch party for a benefit CD in the con suite.  The CD is Cath, and the proceeds go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.  It's Celtic music, probably my favorite genre, and some of my favorite artists perform on it.  You can hear samples by clicking the above link.  Melissa Tatum did a great job of putting this one together.

That evening I mostly hung at parties and visited with friends.  I'm getting way too old to be staying up past midnight, I'm discovering.

(Large) mammals of action: me and Todd Caldwell

Sunday had another full slate.  Donato was supposed to do a live portraiture demonstration, but he had to leave early.  The two highlights of the day were the Phineas and Ferb panel (yes, yes I did attend) and the panel celebrating 80 years of Conan.  If you aren't familiar with Phineas and Ferb, you're missing out on some of the most intelligent and creative science fiction cartoons around, one that not only gets geek culture, but treats it respectfully.  If you don't believe me, just watch the episode set in a science fiction convention.  Members of the panel and audience displayed great taste in fashion, as you can see in the picture.

The Conan panel was the last one I attended, with good and thought provoking discussion.  Mark Finn maintained that Conan was something of an anomaly in Howard's work in that Conan was created for a specific market, namely Weird Tales.  He says that the way women were portrayed in most of the Conan stories (Belit and Valeria being exceptions) was intended to appeal to editor Farnsworth Wright and get on the cover (and thus get paid more).  As a counter-example of Howard portraying strong women, he and some of the other panelists pointed out "Sword Woman".  That was a good way to end the convention.  Not wanting to leave, I reluctantly drove home.

It was a great convention.  I'm looking forward to next year, although I'm not sure how big the convention will be.  Worldcon will be held less than a month prior, and it will be in San Antonio. 

Sword and Sorcery: Short or Long?

The recent post on naked slave girls has generated a small but steady stream of traffic.  Some of Al Harron's comments have got me to thinking about some things that I'll probably address in a follow-up post.  In the meantime, I thought I'd ask a different question at the end of this post.

Much of the classic sword and sorcery, the stuff written by the likes of Leiber,  Howard, Moorcock, and to a lesser degree Kuttner, Wellman, Anderson, Saunders,Wagner, etc. was in the form of short fiction: short stories, novellettes, and some novellas.  Novels were rare in the early days.  By the 1980s, though, when I began reading S&S, it was the other way around.

I realize that was in large part driven by the market.  When pulps were the primary, if not only, source for S&S, then short fiction was what was written.  As the market changed over time, and paperback novels replaced pulps and digests, of course writers would switch to novels.  Some of the authors listed in the previous paragraph wrote equally well at all lengths.

What I'm interested in is the question of which fans of S&S prefer.  It should come as no surprise that Robert E. Howard is my go-to guy for S&S.  He was the first author I read who wrote the stuff.  I'd been reading science fiction for a number of years before I read Howard and was familiar with Kuttner, but his S&S wasn't available at the time.   At least not to a teenager in semi-rural Texas.  (I started reading Anderson about the same time.)  With the exception of The Hour of the Dragon, Howard's S&S was of the short variety.  As a result, I tend to prefer S&S novelettes and novellas to novels. 

There are a couple of other reasons as well.  One, I can read a story in one sitting, two at the most if it's a novella.  This means if I have a block of time free, I can often read more than one.  Novelettes and novellas are, in my not so humble opinion, the ideal form for fiction in general.  They allow for character development, multiple plots, and detail in world building without much of the padding that often accompanies novels.  Given my time constraints these days, there's another reason I like shorter works.  When it takes me a while to finish something, I tend to get frustrated with it, especially if the delay is due to interruptions or an uncooperative schedule.  That rarely happens with novellas and novelettes.

So, just to satisfy my own curiosity, and to hopefully gather some very unscientific data for a future post, do most of you prefer S&S at the shorter lengths or novels?  Or do you even care? 

Why Modern Fantasy Needs More Naked Slave Girls

Yes, I realize that's an incredibly sexist title for this blog post.  It's not intended to be taken seriously (well, not entirely), so chill out a bit and listen to what I have to say.  Substitute "naked slave guys" if you prefer.  If I'm going to be sexist, I'm willing to be an equal opportunity sexist.  It may also come across as a manipulative method of increasing blog traffic, but it's not (well, not entirely).

Rather I'm picking an old sword and sorcery trope as an example to make a point.  I think much modern fantasy, far too much in my opinion, takes itself way too seriously.  It's gotten so dark and grim, for one thing.  I don't have too much of a problem with that.  I tend to prefer a dark strain through much of my fiction. What is starting to get on my nerves is how so many authors seem to be using their fiction to push some sort of an agenda.

Out of the Garden and into my Library

Out of the Garden
Angeline Hawkes
Bad Moon Books
Trade Paper, 393 p., $20.00
ebook $3.99 Kindle  Nook

If you enjoy a good barbarian story, and who doesn't, then you might want to check out the latest from Angeline Hawkes.  While most of her recent work is in the field of horror, she makes the occasional foray into the realms of fantasy, often giving us another exploit of her barbarian character, Kabar of El Hazzar.  All the stories so far have been collected in this volume.

These are pseudohistorical fantasies that may or may not take place in our world.  Some of the references to historical places and peoples, such as Nineveh or Hebrews, would incline one to think so.  But then there are references to all sorts of places that never existed.

None of which is really relevant.  What is, is the answer to the question, are the stories entertaining?

Vampires of the Carribean

Cast in Dark Waters
Ed Gorman and Tom Piccirilli
various ebook formats, $2.99
Kindle  Nook Smashwords

In spite of the fact that this is a fairly short piece of fiction (less than 19,000 words), Cast in Dark Waters is one of the best weird pirate stories I've ever read.  The characters, particularly the protagonist, Crimson, seemed to almost walk off the page, they came across so real. 

Crimson is a lady pirate, widowed, who is the toughest, most dangerous buccaneer in the Carribean.  The plot is straightforward.  An Englishman, having taken up the life of a Virginia tobacco farmer, has found out that his daughter has run away from finishing school in England with a notorious pirate.  He and his wife have come seeking Crimson's help in finding her.  The pair of lovers are rumored to be staying on an island with a dark reputation.  Supposedly the undead also inhabit the island.

And Crimson's former husband may be among them.

Report on Howard Days 2012

The Robert E. Howard House

This had to be the best Howard Days I've attended, and from what others said, the best ever as far as the weather went.  Because of the recent rain, Friday I don't think the temperature got out of the low 80s, and I'm not sure it got that high.  It felt more like April than June.  Saturday I think the high was in the low 90s, which is still April temperatures for this part of the world.  Today I came home to triple digits.  Welcome back to summer.

The theme this year was Conan's 80th birthday.  Like many people, Conan was my gateway drug to Howard.  While I like all aspects of Howard's work, Conan is still my favorite.  My wife had been sick the day before with the stomach bug from Mordor, so I waited until I was sure she was back on her feet before I took off Friday morning, running a few errands for her and going to the store.  I didn't get there until after lunch, so I missed the tours and the morning panel, which was a tribute to the late Glenn Lord.  Here's my take on what I was there for.

Rise and Fall Heralds the Rise of a Great New Fantasy Trilogy

Rise and Fall:  Book One of the Blood and Tears Trilogy
Joshua P. Simon
Paperback $14.95  
various ebook formats $2.99: Amazon  B&N Smashwords

Seeing as how he's only published one novel and a few pieces of short fiction, it would be understandable if the name "Joshua P. Simon" were unfamiliar to you.  But if you're smart, you'll make note of it and remember it.  If you're smarter, you'll buy and read Rise and Fall.  

In his author bio, Mr. Simon includes among his influences Robert E. Howard and Glen Cook's Black Company.  Howard is one of my favorite authors, and the Black Company one of my favorite series.  By divulging this information, Mr. Simon set the bar of my expectations high.  Very high.  The question is, did he meet them?

Robert E. Howard Meets Jane Austen

I pass on this link without comment except to say that Mary Robinette Kowal has waayyy too much time on her hands.