Robert E. Howard Archives

Spring Training for PulpFest

Burroughs, Cinevent, Classicon, Fantastic pulps, Promotion, Pulp Ark, pulp cons, Robert E. Howard, vintage paperbacks, Windy City Comments Off

Feb 242013

With spring comes baseball, pulp cons, and paperback shows. Leading off is the 34th annual Los Angeles Vintage Paperback Show. This one-day show will feature appearances by over forty writers including James Blaylock, Dennis Etchison, William F. Nolan, and Harry Turtledove, all of them very happy to sign your books. It will take place on Sunday, April 7th, at the Valley Inn and Conference Center in Mission Hills, California.

The Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention is in the number two hole. Now in its 13th year, this Chicago-area event will be celebrating ninety years of science-fiction and fantasy magazines with salutes to Weird Tales and the “Scientific Fiction Number” of Hugo Gernsback’s Science and Invention. There will also be an auction featuring pulps from the Jerry Weist estate. The Windy will be held at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center from April 12th – 14th.

The three spot features the South’s leading “pulp culture” convention, Pulp Ark. A writers’ conference and pulp convention, it focuses on the methodology of pulp fiction, storytelling involving “action, adventure, larger-than-life heroes and villains, and a strong focus on both plot and characterization.” Featuring guest appearances by Joe Devito, Martin Powell, and Paul Bishop, Pulp Ark will take place April 26th – 28th at the Holiday Inn Springdale Hotel and Convention Center in Springdale, Arkansas.

Batting clean-up on May 11th is Canada’s premier pulp event, the 17th annual Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale at the Lillian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library in Toronto, Ontario. You can learn more about this small, pulp-specific show by writing to Girasol Collectables, 3501 Glen Erin Drive, Suite 1409, Mississauga, ON, Canada L5L 2E9 or via email at info@girasolcollectables.com.

Penciled in to follow on May 17th – 19th is the 2013 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering, hosted by the Chicago Muckers, the regional chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophiles. It will be held at the Quality Inn in Morris, Illinois and feature artist Mike Hoffman as its guest of honor.

Cinevent 45 is slotted in at number six, taking place over Memorial Day weekend, May 24th – 27th. In addition to 170 tables of movie-related collectibles such as posters, lobby cards, presskits, DVDs, and 16 mm films, Cinevent features an extensive schedule of classic sound and silent films and one of the country’s largest live auctions of vintage posters. It will be held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Robert E. Howard Days is installed as the number seven hitter on June 7th & 8th at the the Robert E. Howard House & Museum in Cross Plains, Texas. This annual gathering of fans of Two-Gun Bob Howard is presented by Project Pride of Cross Plains and sponsored by the Robert E. Howard Foundation, with help from the members of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association. Tim Truman, artist and writer for Dark Horse Comics, will be guest of honor.

Pinch-hitting sometime later this spring is Classicon 43, one of the first pulp and paperback shows ever established. Featuring 35 tables and thousands of collectible pulp magazines, paperbacks, vintage comic books, original artwork, and more, it is held twice a year in Lansing, Michigan. For further information, write to the Curious Book Shop at 304 East Grand River Avenue, East Lansing, Michigan 48823 or by email at cbsmail@curiousbooks.com.

At the bottom of the line-up is the best pulp event of all, the summertime destination for fans and collectors of vintage popular fiction and related materials, PulpFest 2013. Join us from July 25th through July 28th at the Hyatt Regency Columbus for summer’s great pulp con, celebrating eighty years of Doc Savage and the pulp heroes of 1933 and the centennial of Sax Rohmer’s villainous Dr. Fu Manchu!

The art above includes Ray Johnson’s cover to the Avon Books edition of Jack Williamson’s The Green Girl (1950); Margaret Brundage’s sadistic Weird Tales cover from March 1936, often associated with Paul Ernst’s Doctor Satan story printed in that issue; Virgil Finlay’s cover to the March 1949 issue of Fantastic Novels, doctored by Neil Mechem of Girasol Collectables; Conan, as depicted by Margaret Brundage for the August 1934 number of Weird Tales; and Walter Baumhofer’s classic rendition of “The Man of Bronze” from the March 1933 issue of Doc Savage Magazine.

PulpFest 2012 Continues

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Aug 112012

There’s still time to get in on the action. The dealers’ room will be open today from 9 AM to 5 PM and from 9 AM to 2 PM on Sunday. Admission to PulpFest is $15 for Saturday and $5 for Sunday.

Today at 1 PM, Ron Fortier of Airship 27 will host a forum on “new pulp fiction.” An author reading and a memorial for artist David Burton and author Howard Hopkins will follow.

Our evening programming begins at 7 PM. PulpFest 2012 will celebrate the 80th anniversary of Conan of Cimmeria, the creation of Robert E. Howard, with a panel on the author and his character and a presentation on the illustrators of Conan, offered by artists Jim & Ruth Keegan and Mark Schultz.

The presentation of the annual Rusty Hevelin Service Award, more commonly called The Munsey, and an auction featuring the collection of pulp historian Albert Tonik will also take place during the evening hours. A highlight of the auction will be a pulp cover recreation by Rafael DeSoto, one of the leading artists of the pulp era. Visit our programming page for further details.

Don’t let PulpFest 2012 slip by. Come to Columbus and join up!

Two-Gun Jim & Ruth

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Jul 102012

PulpFest is very pleased to announce that illustrators Jim & Ruth Keegan, best known for their comic strip series The Adventures of Two-Gun Bob, published by Dark Horse Comics, will be appearing at the "Summer’s Great Pulp Con" in August. Jim & Ruth, along with their friend Mark Schultz, will be helping PulpFest 2012 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Robert E. Howard’s Conan of Cimmeria.

The Keegans began their celebrated biographical take on Howard’s life in 1997 when they joined REHupa, the Robert E. Howard United Press Association. This work brought them to the attention of several publishers that were reissuing the work of the popular author–Wandering Star, Del Rey, and, most recently, the Robert E. Howard Foundation. The Keegans’ cover painting for the Foundation’s Tales of Weird Menace appears above.

Jim & Ruth will be joining Mark Schultz in PulpFest’s dealers’ room where they will have some of their Howard-related work on display. On Saturday evening, August 11th, the three artists will discuss the artistic challenges of illustrating Howard’s work and will present an historical overview of eight decades of Conan art.

Register now for PulpFest 2012 for a chance to meet three of the best contemporary illustrators of Robert E. Howard’s Conan. For more information on Jim & Ruth Keegan (and Mark Schultz), please visit their Guests page under the Programming link of our home page.

80 Years of Conan the Cimmerian

Brian Leno, Conan, Don Heron, John D. Squires, Programming, REHupa, Robert E. Howard, Rusty Burke, Sword and Sorcery, Weird Tales Comments Off

Jun 152012

Although tales of swordsmen and sorcerers had certainly preceded them, it would be the stories of Robert E. Howard’s Conan of Cimmeria that would popularize the genre, paving the way for characters such as C. L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry, Henry Kuttner’s Elak of Atlantis, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné, Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane, and Glen Cook’s Black Company.

Debuting in the December 1932 issue of Weird Tales in "The Phoenix on the Sword," Conan seemed to spring full-bodied to the mind of Robert E. Howard:

The man Conan seemed suddenly to grow up in my mind without much labor on my part and immediately a stream of stories flowed…almost without effort….I did not seem to be creating, but rather relating events that had occurred. Episode crowded on episode so fast that I could scarcely keep up with them. For weeks I did nothing but write of the adventures of Conan. The character took complete possession of my mind and crowded out everything else in the way of story-writing.

Following hot on the heels of that first story, "The Scarlet Citadel" would appear in the January 1933 issue of "The Unique Magazine." The classic "The Tower of the Elephant" would run two months later in the March number. Fourteen more tales of the Cimmerian would appear in Weird Tales, including gems such as "Rogues in the House," "Queen of the Black Coast," "Beyond the Black River," and "Red Nails," which closed out the series in 1936.

On Saturday, August 11th, PulpFest will celebrate the eightieth birthday of Conan and the sword and sorcery genre with a panel presentation hosted by Rusty Burke, the editor of the highly acclaimed Howard reprint series published by Del Rey Books, the president of the Robert E. Howard Foundation, and a member of REHupa (The Robert E. Howard United Press Association).

Joining Rusty for Robert E. Howard’s Conan and the Birth of Sword and Sorcery will be Don Herron, editor of The Dark Barbarian (Greenwood Press, 1984), the first book to treat Howard’s work seriously, and its sequel The Barbaric Triumph (Wildside Press, 2004). For a quarter century, Don has been leading San Francisco’s Dashiell Hammett Tour, the longest-running literary tour in the United States. Also on board will be Brian Leno, an award-winning Howard scholar whose essays have appeared in The Cimmerian, REH: Two-Gun Raconteur, and Up and Down These Mean Streets, and John D. Squires, an Ohio bookseller whose knowledge of fantastic fiction is broad and deep. John is an expert on the work of M. P. Shiel and publisher of JDS Books and The Vainglory Press.

The cover art above is by Margaret Brundage for the August 1934 issue of Weird Tales, illustrating Robert E. Howard’s "The Devil in Iron." The scan was provided by Girasol Collectables.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Smashing Novels, December 1936

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Jun 092012

This isn't actually a Western pulp. SMASHING NOVELS published a variety of adventure fiction. But since this weekend is the annual Robert E. Howard Days get-together in Cross Plains, it seemed fitting to me to spotlight my favorite Western yarn by Howard. "Vultures of Whapeton" is a truly visionary story, foreshadowing the trend toward darker, more hardboiled Westerns that really bloomed in the Forties and Fifties. I've read it several times and always enjoy it. It's also an unusual story in that Howard wrote two alternate endings for it, and SMASHING NOVELS ran both of them. I prefer the more downbeat version and think of it as the "real" ending.

The rest of this issue looks pretty good, too. The lead novel is by Will Jenkins, better known as the science fiction writer Murray Leinster even though Jenkins was his real name. Old-timer Peter B. Kyne is on hand, too, as is an author I'm not familiar with, Foster Drake.

As I write and schedule this post, I don't know if I'm going to Cross Plains this year or not. It looks more than likely that I won't be there. But I'll be thinking about REH. Maybe I'll pull out a copy of "Vultures of Whapeton" in one of its various paperback reprintings and read it again.

Mark Schultz Attending PulpFest 2012

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Jun 032012

PulpFest is very pleased to announce that author and illustrator Mark Schultz, best known for his award-winning comics series Xenozoic Tales, will be appearing at the "Summer’s Great Pulp Con" in August. Mark, along with his friends Jim and Ruth Keegan, will be joining PulpFest 2012 to help celebrate the 80th anniversary of Robert E. Howard’s Conan.

The winner of five Harvey Awards, two Eisners, an Inkpot, a Spectrum Award, and three Haxturs for comics published in Spain, Mark originally became interested in the work of Robert E. Howard through the Lancer paperbacks of the late sixties. His professional involvement with Howard’s fiction began when Wandering Star asked if he would be interested in illustrating a Howard book. The result, Conan of Cimmeria, Vol. One (1932-1933), was published in the United Kingdom in 2003. The first US edition, also illustrated by Schultz, was published by Del Rey later the same year. Mark’s cover painting for the Del Rey edition appears above.

Mark will be joining the Keegans in PulpFest’s dealers’ room where they will have some of their Howard-related work on display. He will also be joining Jim and Ruth for an historical look at The Illustrated Conan on Saturday, August 11th. Mark will discuss the actual mechanics of creating illustrations for stories vs. covers vs. comics and how intended use effects content and approach.

Register now for PulpFest 2012 for your chance to meet three of the best contemporary illustrators of Robert E. Howard’s Conan. And for more information on Mark Schultz, please visit Other Guests under the Programming link of our home page.

The artwork above is Mark Schultz’s cover art for The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, published by Del Rey in 2003.

Pulp Con Time

Cinevent, Classicon, Conan, conventions, Fantastic pulps, Promotion, Pulp Ark, pulp con, Robert E. Howard, Tarzan, Windy City Comments Off

Apr 082012

In two weeks, the pulp con season begins with the second edition of Pulp Ark. Running April 20th through the 22nd, it will be held in Batesville, Arkansas, nestled in the beautiful Ozark Mountains. Not only is Pulp Ark the only southern-based pulp convention, it is also the leading convention for the “new pulp” genre, a type of fiction grounded in the pulps of yore. A showing of Tarzan, Lord of the Louisiana Jungle, a documentary on the making of the 1918 silent film Tarzan of the Apes, will be part of the festivities as well as the presentation of the 2012 Pulp Ark Awards. Congratulations to all of the winners. Click on the Pulp Ark logo above to learn more details about this new pulp convention.

One week later, the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention will take place in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, IL. Celebrating Edgar Rice Burroughs and the 100th anniversary of Tarzan of the Apes, the convention will run from April 27th through the 29th and be held at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center. The convention will host an extensive film program, including an exclusive showing of the recent Disney film, John Carter, at a nearby theater. Another highlight of the con will be the pulp-related art show, sponsored by Dan Zimmer’s Illustration Magazine. Along with PulpFest, the Windy is a must for the pulp fan. Click on the logo above for additional information about this superb pulp convention.

North of the border and one week after Windy City, Toronto will host the 16th annual Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale. A one-day event, this small but pulp specific show will take place on Saturday, May 5th at the Lillian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library, 239 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can learn more by writing to Girasol Collectables, 3501 Glen Erin Drive, Suite 1409, Mississauga, ON, Canada L5L 2E9 or by emailing info@girasolcollectables.com.

Cinevent 44 will take place May 25th - 28th at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, the former home of PulpFest. In addition to 170 tables of movie-related collectibles such as posters, lobby cards, stills, pressbooks, DVDs, and 16 mm films, Cinevent features an extensive schedule of classic sound and silent films and one of the country’s largest live auctions of vintage posters. Click on the logo below for a link to the convention’s website.

Sponsored by the Robert E. Howard Foundation with help from the members of REHupa, the Robert E. Howard United Press Association, and Project Pride, the annual Robert E. Howard Days will be held June 8th-9th in Cross Plains, TX. The ultimate gathering for fans of Howard, it will feature tours, panels, auctions, films, speeches, readings, rare collectibles, and great Howardian fellowship. Like PulpFest 2012, this year’s Howard Days will celebrate Conan’s eightieth birthday. Essayist Charles Hoffmann will be the guest of honor. Write to Bill Cavalier at 2cavaliers@sbcglobal.net with your questions or comments.

One of the first pulp and paperback shows ever established, the 41st Classicon will take place on Saturday, June 9th in Lansing, MI. It will feature 35 tables and thousands of collectible pulp magazines, digests, and paperbacks available for sale or trade as well as pin-ups, original artwork, and other pop culture material.

As always, these events are just a prelude to PulpFest 2012, the summertime destination for fans and collectors of vintage popular fiction and related materials. Why not register today?

How Many Brands Can an Author Have?

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Apr 012012

James Scott Bell
Twitter.com/jamesscottbell

Last week I wrote about the re-launch of my first series, co-authored with Tracie Peterson. City of Angels, Book 1 in the Trials of Kit Shannon series, is now available for the intro price of $2.99 on both Kindle and Nook.

Which raises (not begs!) the question: can an author today have several brands?

Back in the “old days” (like, before August, 2010) branding was a key concept in the traditional publishing world. Still is, actually. That’s because a publisher trying to make money with an author has to build a repeat readership, and that’s done over time, book by book.

Take a hypothetical author. Let’s call him Gil Johnstrap. He comes out with a terrific first novel, a thriller about a boy on the run from the law. A fan base starts to form and they eagerly await his next book. If that book were to be about a horticulture competition in Surrey, England, circa 1849, they would tend to be confused and frustrated. They might decide to skip the next Johnstrap because they’re not sure what it contains.

So Gil and his publisher come out with another thriller, this one about a family on the run from the FBI. Fans buy it and are happy. They start spreading the word to other thriller fans about this Johnstrap fellow. The growing base looks forward to the next thriller. And so it goes.

Now, if an author becomes overwhelmingly popular, like a King, Grisham or Patterson, they earn the right to try, on occasion, something “off brand.” King might write about a girl lost in the woods. Grisham about a painted house. Patterson about whatever the heck he wants—I have a feeling his parking tickets would sell a million copies.

But the publishers will insist on getting “back on brand” with the next book, because that is the bread and butter for them, the guaranteed sales.

Cut to: today. And e-publishing. What is the state of branding now? Let me start with my own experience.

I have been writing contemporary suspense, like the Ty Buchanan series for Hachette and Deceived for Zondervan. I’ve now augmented those books with novella/short story collections I’ve self-published. These all fall into the suspense category, so they are complementary. They make new readers for the traditional work. Everybody wins.

I’ve self-published a couple of boxing stories, because I like writing them. These make me new readers for the rest of my work, too. They do absolutely no harm to the print brands. Plus they bring in nice-dinner-with-my-wife money each month.

I write zombie legal thrillers under the pen name K. Bennett for Kensington. I plan to augment these with short, paranormal stories. These stories will make new readers for the novels. Once again, both publisher and author win.

As mentioned up top, I’m re-launching the historical romance series featuring Kit Shannon, six books in all. I daresay the readers of the Kit Shannon books may find the Mallory Caine, Zombie-at-Law books a tad “off brand.” But that’s okay. Two different audiences, but with potential cross-over. And no harm, no foul to either brand.

I do non-fiction for Writer’s Digest Books. I support those books with articles for Writer's Digest magazine, my regular Sunday column here at TKZ and on Twitter (where I've also developed a strategic brand). Again, everything working together.

So: Can an author today juggle several brands?

My answer: Not only can, but should.

Branding in the days of print-only was partially determined by physical shelf space and seasonal purchases. An author could not come out with several different titles at roughly the same time. Bookstores wouldn’t buy. And they’d be a bit confused. If Gil Johnstrap did write that horticulture novel, A Garden in My Heart,would it be placed on the thriller shelf next to his other titles, where fans would look? Or on the romance shelf? Or in “Gardening”?

But there are no such limitations in the digital world. All books are “shelved” cover out. Digitized books are given, via algorithm, space next to similar books. A reader can find new authors in a genre this way. Quite easily.

An author can distinguish between his brands via cover art, book description, tagging, and even a pseudonym.

John Locke, poster boy for self-publishing success, writes contemporary thrillers and Westerns. Just like Robert B. Parker did after he became a household name with Spenser.

As I said a couple of years ago, this new e-publishing era is a lot like the old pulp fiction days. I look back at a Depression-era writer like Robert E. Howard. He wrote stories in the fantasy, horror, detective, western and boxing genres. All of ‘em. And made a living. That can be done again, now, in today’s e-world. It’s a great time to be a writer who loves to write.

There is only one fly in this ointment: a traditional publishing contract with a boilerplate non-compete clause the publisher is determined to enforce. I know some writers in this predicament. And while I understand that publishers are undergoing paradigm shock right now, this is not the best reaction. Publishers should be willing to re-negotiate these clauses so their writers can earn extra income and make new readers without harming the brand they are creating together.

Publishers who make an investment in an author do deserve consideration and protection. They deserve the author's best work (non-diluted by overwriting). And they are entitled not to wake up one morning to find their author selling a novel in the same genre for 99¢. Authors need to appreciate the harsh business reality of traditional publishing.

All that said, I see no reason why writers cannot be strategically developing different brands for their digital platform, and have fun doing it. Nor do I see a reason for publishers to resist sitting down with author and agent and hammering out contractual language that is fair to both sides on this matter.

Now I'm going to run a warm bath, put on some Yanni and relax with A Garden in My Heart.

PulpFest 2012 Accepting Registrations

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Jan 302012

PulpFest 2012 is now accepting registrations for our August convention. From our Registration page, you’ll be able to download our member and dealer registration forms, including ones that you can fill in and print from your own computer. You can pay for memberships and dealer tables through our Paypal Order page. You’ll also be able to book a room at the Hyatt Regency Columbus at the convention rate of $109 plus tax by visiting our special link to the hotel.

On our Programming page you’ll find our tentative schedule for the 2012 convention when we’ll be celebrating the centennial of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars and the 80th anniversary of Robert E. Howard’s Conan of Cimmeria. You can read more about MIke Resnick, our award-winning guest of honor by turning to the GOH–Mike Resnick page. If you’d like to relive the first three PulpFests, you’ll find reviews, our blogs from previous years, and more. We even have a primer on pulp history!

All this can be found by clicking the buttons along the left side of our home page. And don’t forget, now’s the time to make your nominations for the 2012 Rusty Hevelin Service Award. Please send the name of the person that you’d like to nominate and a short paragraph describing your reasons for your nomination to Mike Chomko, 2217 W. Fairview St., Allentown, PA 18104-6542 or to mike@pulpfest.com. The deadline for nominations is April 30, 2012.

We look forward to seeing you over the weekend of August 9-12.