Leno giveth, and Leno taketh away.
Biblical.
First Brian alerts me to the fact that REHupa mailings from the estate of Carl Osman are on the block at eBay (some with deadlines today).
Now he sends at least tentative proof that Carl is in fact a goner, with an online obit.
When Carl was in REHupa he titled his zine The Burkburnett Papers — at the time he was living in 926 Cropper in the burg of Burkburnett, Texas. Since Carl Osman isn’t that uncommon a name, Leno needed to reconcile the info that Obit Carl was a resident of Baraboo, Wisconsin at the time of his death. He does so in classic deductive style:
The obit says Carl was from Baraboo and the guy selling the REHupas is from Baraboo, so it fits. (Right now he has 16 mailings for sale on eBay, with numbers in between 175-192.)
For purposes of The Great Extinction Event countdown, however, poor Carl just can’t be the kickoff, only an outlier. Born on June 12, 1950, he passed away on Friday, April 26, 2013.
Six years ago.
(I have to wonder how long the eBay seller hangs on to stuff picked up at estate sales, before putting it on the block. . . .)
I’m still thinking that today, Robert E. Howard’s 113th birthday, nonetheless is the day to set the countdown clock ticking. Too many of us came too close last year to keep postponing it.
So, I’m in — odds makers in Vegas, take note.
(By the way, Leno reflects on the passing of the author of The Tales of Taul: “Poor guy was young, only a year older than me.”
(Don’t think I’m not keeping an eye on Brian. He’d make a swell start for the Event. Lend it some gravitas.
(I bet he’s got an eye on me, waiting to see if my holdings show up on eBay.
(Sharpening his knife.)
