Apparently my post on Birthday 106 for author Robert E. Howard has met with some grumbling in the so-called social media — I hear that at least one person has “disliked” it on Facebook. Jeez. Don’t know if I can continue on under such a devastating assault.
But I guess that’s what spurred Bill “Indy” Cavalier to send in some comments. Indy is the long-time honcho of the Howardian a.p.a. REHupa — as I have said long since in print and often enough in conversation, he is without question the greatest of the Official Editors for that group.
Offhand, I don’t remember my exact rankings for the next spots, but I believe I put Brian Earl Brown as second most important (which met with howls of rage from many, but BEB kept that amateur press association going for years, in hard times, and REHupa simply wouldn’t be around today without his efforts then), with third and fourth place being debatable between Jonathan Bacon and Morgan “The Morgman” Holmes. No one else made a significant enough mark to earn a fifth place ranking.
I say this with some understanding of history, and the fact that REHupa is now hovering at around 230 mailings — I first joined with mailing 11 in 1974 and have returned to the action a couple of times in the years between then and now.
And herewith, Indy speaks:
“Hey, Don! Nice post re: Howard’s birthday. Really liked your thoughts re: inspired by Glenn. Pretty well encapsulates our generation of Howard Heads.
“I’m in agreement about the six story paperback — tasty little item — and it was sold at Wal-Mart, so that had to help distribution. I’m pretty sure the text was taken from the Del Rey’s: in ‘The People of the Black Circle,’ Conan calls the governor a bastard, and that’s not in the Lancer.
“Another point re: Margaret McNeel: she told me once that Doc Howard did indeed deliver her.
“Always happy to help a bud with little factoids!
“Don’t let the bastards wear you down!”
One little email, and both Conan and Indy call some guys bastards. Oh well, that’s the rough and tumble Howardian arena for you. If you don’t like it, you probably should be reading something more sedate.
