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Post by deuce on Jul 7, 2017 10:17:41 GMT -5
Courtesy of Bobby Derie...
"By the way, I’m sending you a Sport Story magazine containing a yarn of mine, the first of a new series, the continuance of which I have an idea will depend a great deal on the expression of the readers’ opinions. If you like the yarn, I’d be greatly obliged if you’d drop Street & Smith a line saying so, that is if it isn’t too much trouble. If the publishers receive some letters approving my work, they’ll be more likely to continue buying stories of the series."
- Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, August 1931, CL2.243
"By the way—Robert E. Howard himself wishes the gang would speak a good word for his new story in Street & Smith’s Sports Stories. It is the first of a series, & the fate of the later ones depends largely on its public reception."
- H. P. Lovecraft to August Derleth, 9 Sep 1931, ES1.378
"Thank you very much for the nice things you said about “College Socks” and thanks very much indeed for the letter to Street & Smith, which I know will help me along a great deal with the editors."
- Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, Oct 1931, CL2.256
The story in question was "College Socks," a boxing tale starring Kid Allison, first published in Street & Smith's Sport Story Magazine (vol. 32 no. 6, 25 Sep 1931); Lovecraft's letter with his thoughts on the story is, sadly, no longer extant.
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Post by emerald on Jul 7, 2017 11:28:39 GMT -5
Courtesy of Bobbie Derie... "By the way, I’m sending you a Sport Story magazine containing a yarn of mine, the first of a new series, the continuance of which I have an idea will depend a great deal on the expression of the readers’ opinions. If you like the yarn, I’d be greatly obliged if you’d drop Street & Smith a line saying so, that is if it isn’t too much trouble. If the publishers receive some letters approving my work, they’ll be more likely to continue buying stories of the series." - Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, August 1931, CL2.243 "By the way—Robert E. Howard himself wishes the gang would speak a good word for his new story in Street & Smith’s Sports Stories. It is the first of a series, & the fate of the later ones depends largely on its public reception." - H. P. Lovecraft to August Derleth, 9 Sep 1931, ES1.378 "Thank you very much for the nice things you said about “College Socks” and thanks very much indeed for the letter to Street & Smith, which I know will help me along a great deal with the editors." - Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, Oct 1931, CL2.256 The story in question was "College Socks," a boxing tale starring Kid Allison, first published in Street & Smith's Sport Story Magazine (vol. 32 no. 6, 25 Sep 1931); Lovecraft's letter with his thoughts on the story is, sadly, no longer extant. Aww. HPL was an odd duck in many ways, but he was a good friend. You gotta know that a boxing tale, even if it was from REH, wouldn't have rated as his favorite reading material, but this didn't keep him from standing up for his friend.
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Post by deuce on Jul 9, 2017 13:46:15 GMT -5
Courtesy of Bobbie Derie... "By the way, I’m sending you a Sport Story magazine containing a yarn of mine, the first of a new series, the continuance of which I have an idea will depend a great deal on the expression of the readers’ opinions. If you like the yarn, I’d be greatly obliged if you’d drop Street & Smith a line saying so, that is if it isn’t too much trouble. If the publishers receive some letters approving my work, they’ll be more likely to continue buying stories of the series." - Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, August 1931, CL2.243 "By the way—Robert E. Howard himself wishes the gang would speak a good word for his new story in Street & Smith’s Sports Stories. It is the first of a series, & the fate of the later ones depends largely on its public reception." - H. P. Lovecraft to August Derleth, 9 Sep 1931, ES1.378 "Thank you very much for the nice things you said about “College Socks” and thanks very much indeed for the letter to Street & Smith, which I know will help me along a great deal with the editors." - Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, Oct 1931, CL2.256 The story in question was "College Socks," a boxing tale starring Kid Allison, first published in Street & Smith's Sport Story Magazine (vol. 32 no. 6, 25 Sep 1931); Lovecraft's letter with his thoughts on the story is, sadly, no longer extant. Aww. HPL was an odd duck in many ways, but he was a good friend. You gotta know that a boxing tale, even if it was from REH, wouldn't have rated as his favorite reading material, but this didn't keep him from standing up for his friend. HPL looked out for his friends. Here, he comments on a Costigan yarn in Fight Stories... "I read your fight story with keen interest and enjoyment, and believe you succeeded admirably in its creation. It hangs together finely, and has enough varied turns and incidents to satisfy the most exacting popular craving for action. It is lifelike, too, despite the necessary strain on probability, and gives one a real sense of the breathless adventure in unknown and sinister labyrinths. Steve is a likeable chap, for all his simian resemblance and the reader ends up with three cheers for his indomitable spirit! I never heard of Fight Stories before—surely the 'pulp' magazine world is going in for intensive specialisation!
I wish I could write more variedly—heaven knows I need the money—but when I get off of weird stuff I am always abominably uninspired. That is rather bad luck for me, since of all possible markets, the weird one is about the narrowest. Do you go in much for 'scientifiction'—the 'voyage to Mars' stuff? There is really quite a market for that—at least three magazines. Clark Asthon Smith is invading that field with some degree of success."
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Robert E. Howard, 30 Jan 1931
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Post by deuce on Jul 21, 2017 14:15:38 GMT -5
"The really lucky guy is the one whose natural mode of expression happens—through pure chance—to coincide with some form of writing in popular demand. Robert E. Howard is the best example of this I can think of at the moment—his stories sell, but they have a zest & naturalness which at once distinguish them from the listless, synthetic pap of ….. the hacks …."
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Howard Wandrei, 7 Sep 1934
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Post by deuce on Jul 30, 2017 18:08:44 GMT -5
"What you say of your ancestry is extremely interesting, and I think it is a great asset from the standpoint of fantastic literature to have so predominant a share of Celt. I have often thought, in surveying the trends of literature and socio-political organisation today, that the Celtic group is really the only young and unspoiled race left on the planet. All the rest of the white race has passed the naive and adventurous and life-loving stage of its evolution, and has reached that prosaic, urbanised, social-minded, unimaginative condition out of which vivid art finds hard work in growing. Only the Celt, I sometimes reflect, continues to think and feel spontaneously in poetic fashion—that is, in terms of symbolism, pageantry, dramatic contrast, and adventurous expectancy. In him we see the strongest remaining manifestation of the pure Aryan spirit—the spirit of the natural bard and fighter and dreamer as opposed to the merchant, the builder, the administrator, and the instinctive city-dweller."
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Robert E. Howard, 4 Oct 1930
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Post by deuce on Jul 31, 2017 16:28:24 GMT -5
Courtesy of Bobby Derie... In December 1930, H. P. Lovecraft sent a letter to Robert E. Howard, and also enclosed a "philosophical article" by HPL—which one, exactly, isn't named and the letter is no longer extant, but from Howard's response it seems very likely that it was "Idealism and Materialism" (1926). Howard's response:
"And I enjoyed your philosophical article very much. I am hardly capable of judging it, since I never devoted any study to theology, philosophy or science, but I do not think that anyone could have handled the subject in a more masterly manner. I particularly like the point you made in that truth and necessity not always coinciding, some religion is necessary for the masses. I have always maintained this, myself. As for myself, neither idealism nor materialism appeals to me greatly. That life is chaotic, unjust and apparently blind and without reason or direction any one can see; if the universe leans either way it is toward evil rather than good, as regards life and humanity. That there is any eventual goal for the human race rather than extinction, I do not believe nor do I have any faith in the eventual super-man. Yet the trend of so many materialists to suppress all primitive emotions is against my every instinct. Civilization, no doubt, requires it, and peace of mind demands it, yet for myself I had rather be dead than to live in an emotionless world. The clear white lap of science and the passionless pursuit of knowledge are not enough for me; I must live deeply and listen to the all of the common clay in me, if I am to live at all. Without emotion and instinct I would be a dead, stagnant thing.
A materialistic resignation to unalterable laws is sensible but repellent to me. I will freely admit the necessity and desirability of such a resignation which is no more than recognizing natural laws—if such things be. A man who does not resign himself is like a caged wolf who breaks his heart and beats his brains out against the bars of his cage. Yet I must admit that such a course appeals to me more than that of calm submission. Foredoomed to failure, a man can still snarl and tear. Many and many a time, when one is reeling and dizzy and sick at heart and soul, broken and tossed by the blows of fate or destiny or whatever is is that makes life a hell on earth, one may wish for the ability of philosophic resignation; but with a slight renewal of strength the old blind fighting lust comes surging back and makes him break his fangs on the iron bars anew.
I'm no philosopher, but resignation isn't in my blood. I wish it was. It isn't necessarily a hope to win that makes a man rebel against the infamies of life, vainly. Defeat is the lot of all men, and I come of a breed that never won a war. Men and women too, of my line have fought for hopeless lost causes for a thousand years. Defeat waits for us all, but some of us, worse luck, can't accept it quietly."
— Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, Dec 1930
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Post by bobbyderie on Aug 2, 2017 5:00:30 GMT -5
Actually, the article was "Idealism and Materialism." I missed a footnote. Mea culpa.
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Post by deuce on Aug 9, 2017 7:55:42 GMT -5
"I was also very much interested in hearing about the researches in the Near-East. The Sumerians must have evolved their civilization somewhere, as you point out, and the question of where? evokes almost limitless realms of speculation. What are your own theories on the subject? — I mean where do you suppose these tribes worked out their problems of progress? Perhaps the ever-rising sand-ocean of Turkestan hides the ruins that might tell of their march upward from the ape. Or — it seems somewhere I’ve read of a theory that the Mediterranean shifted her bed within the lifetime of mankind and drowned great areas of level sea-land. Is it possible that in these sunken lands the ancestors of the Sumerians attained mind and culture — and that in tales of that inundation grew the legends of the Flood? — and of lost Atlantis? And since the Tigris-Euphrates civilization is now believed to have preceded the Egyptian, is it now the theory that from the Sumerian culture the Egyptian grew, or that these civilizations evolved along different, separate lines?"
-- Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, Aug 1931
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Post by deuce on Sept 12, 2017 9:56:11 GMT -5
"Have heard again from Howard, who seems to be a really profound student of early Celtic philology, folklore, & antiquities. If I get into closer correspondence with him, I shall urge him to turn away from the pot-boiling ideal a bit. His middle name is Eiarbhin—whatever than means. Something semi-synthetic, like the 'Eamons' & 'Padraics' of the Irish Free State, I imagine!"
— H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 18 July 1930
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Post by deuce on Sept 15, 2017 13:40:45 GMT -5
"Like Samkin Aylward, I warm to a man with the bitter drop in him. And whatever else they were or were not, the Indians weren’t fools enough to forgive a wrong, or what they considered a wrong. I’ve often thought of fictionizing the incident just mentioned, transferring it to another race and age — having Bran Mak Morn eat the heart of a Roman governor, or Conan the Cimmerian that of a Hyborian king. I wonder how much barbarity the readers will stand for. One problem in writing bloody literature is to present it in such a manner as to avoid a suggestion of cheap blood-and-thunder melodrama — which is what some people will always call action, regardless of how realistic and true it is. So many people never have any action in their own placid lives, and therefore can’t believe it exists anywhere or in any age.
Another problem is how far you can go without shocking the readers into distaste for your stuff — and therefore cutting down sales. I’ve always held myself down in writing action-stories; I never let my stories be as bloody and brutal as the ages and incidents I was trying to depict actually were. I think sometime I’ll let myself go — possibly in a yarn of the Middle Ages — and see if I can sell the thing. I don’t know much slaughter and butchery the readers will endure. Their capacity for grisly details seems unlimited, when the cruelty is the torturing of some naked girl, such as Quinn’s stories abound in — no reflection intended on Quinn; he knows what they want and gives it to them. The torture of a naked writhing wretch, utterly helpless — and especially when of the feminine sex amid voluptuous surroundings — seems to excite keen pleasure in some people who have a distaste for wholesale butchery in the heat and fury of a battlefield. Well — to me the former seems much more abominable than the cutting down of armed men — even the slaughter of prisoners in the madness of fighting-lust.
I can read of the Little Big Horn, of Little Turtle’s slaughter of Saint Clair’s army, of the slaughter at Nicopolis and at Mohacz and the Horns of Hattin, unmoved except by feelings of admiration for the courage shown; but I have never been able to read of the burning of Joan of Arc without the most intense feeling of horror and rage; the same is true of the execution of William Wallace, and of Robert Emmett; thought of them rouses in me another sensation — a savage satisfaction at the memories of King’s Mountain and New Orleans, with the British soldiers falling like ripe grain before the American rifles — yet I deplore the Scottish troops that fell there. I have seen persons who were constituted right opposite from me; they found accounts of battles and wholesale massacre either repugnant or without interest, yet avidly devoured articles and stories dealing with the persecution of the helpless. I’ve never been able to read the full history of the Spanish Inquisition; it’s too horrible. But I find highly enjoyable the chronicles of Montbars the Exterminator, who went mad from reading and brooding over that same Inquisition and started out to avenge all the French who perished thereby."
-- Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, 9 Aug 1932
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Post by deuce on Sept 21, 2017 10:57:46 GMT -5
“Two-Gun Bob” will never be a hack because he puts so much of himself into his work—even his most ostensibly mercenary work. He is King Kull or Conan or Bran—or whatever may form the subject of any given tale. And not even what Clark Ashton Smith calls his “monotonous manslaughter” can spoil the vividness of his results. Nor do I know of anyone else who can throw such an aura of unholy, palaeogean antiquity about a lonely jungle ruin or a Cyclopean crypt beneath some mouldering, aeon-weighted city of horror & decay. Of all R.E.H.’s work I think I like the “Kull” stories most—though some of the newer things are fine. That “Queen of the Black Coast”—which appeared last spring or summer—flowered into sheer poetry in places.
-- H. P. Lovecraft to C. L. Moore, 27 Apr 1935
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Post by deuce on Oct 13, 2017 9:04:30 GMT -5
"I’m glad to hear you’ve gotten over your eye-strain. A writer with bad eyes is like a fighter with crippled hands."
-- Robert E. Howard to HP Lovecraft, August 1931
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Post by deuce on Dec 5, 2017 12:25:31 GMT -5
"My correspondence is now under control—except for a 22-page (closely typed) argumentative epistle from Two-Gun Bob, the Terror of the Plains."
-- HP Lovecraft to Donald Wandrei, 28 March 1934
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Post by deuce on Dec 13, 2017 13:15:07 GMT -5
"Most of the W.T. [Weird Tales] serials are impossible junk, though anything by Bob Howard must be good."
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Duane Rimel, 12 September 1934
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Post by deuce on Dec 24, 2017 13:44:22 GMT -5
These excerpts are a great example of REH and HPL bouncing ideas off each other. All of that got derailed later by the "civilization vs barbarism" discussion. "I liked your 'Festival' reprint in the current Weird Tales. Indeed, I believe I like it as well as anything else I ever read of yours. It will quite overshadow my Conan yarn, but being overshadowed by your stories is no disgrace. I particularly like the subtle implication of an alien race, the ancestors of the central character. I wish you'd enlarge on that theme in another story."
-- Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, September 1933
"As for my 'Festival'—I liked it when I wrote it, but today it seems a bit strained and over-coloured to me. Adjectives and descriptive touches are laid on too thickly—there is a pervasive extravagance about the whole thing. In intimating an alien race I had in mind the survival of some clan of pre-Aryan sorcerers who preserved primitive rites like those of the witch-cult—I had just been reading Miss Murray's 'Witch-Cult in Western Europe'. It might be possible to enlarge on this theme—introducing a character descended from the cult stock who did not know of his ancestry till reminded by certain messengers sent to summon him to the tribal rites."
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Robert E. Howard, 2 November 1933
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