Robert E. Howard Changed My Life (Rogue Blades Foundation)

[RBjason]

Howdy all!

Wanted to drop by and let y'all know that there will be a new REH title dropping at Howard Days 2020. Now that I have in hand 27 of the essays and promises from 4 of the last 5 to have theirs within days, I can confidently state ROBERT E. HOWARD CHANGED MY LIFE will be there in June.

ROBERT E. HOWARD CHANGED MY LIFE is a collection of personal essays examining the influence of REH and many of his characters on the lives of 32 contributors long familiar with the man and his works. The powerful reactions my invitation to participate and the terrifically compelling essays I've received indicate this title has enduring potential. This first in REH studies to employ such a one-of-a-kind approach brings together many of the remaining 'old guard' and several of the current 'new blood' of the Howard legacy and characters in quite personal examination of the reverberations of a passionately lived life.


ROBERT E. HOWARD CHANGED MY LIFE is homage not only in memoir but also in financial support for Project Pride, the agency that sustains the Howard Home and Museum in Cross Plains. A portion of each sale of the hardcover and electronic book will be donated by RBF to Project Pride each year, probably in person at the annual Howard Days.

Here's the beautiful cover from Didier Normand. There's a special cover price discount running right now at www.rogue-blades.com/RBF-Coming-Soon otherwise the book will be US$42.00 in hardcover and US$9.99 in Kindle.




Bill 'Indy' Cavalier's Howard Days 2018 GOH speech titled "How REH Saved My Life" serves as introduction to the collection, followed by: Kull (Jason Durall), Cormac mac Art (Keith Taylor), El Borak (Dave Hardy), Steve Costigan (Chris Gruber), Breckinridge Elkins (Mark Finn), Bran Mak Morn (Matt John), Solomon Kane (Dierk Guenther), James Allison (Adrian Cole), Valeria (Karen Joan Kohoutek), Turlogh Dubh O'Brien (Scott Oden), Cormac FitzGeoffrey (Todd B. Vick), Steve Harrison (Fred Blosser), Conan (Charles Saunders and John C. Hocking), Black Vulmea (David C. Smith), Bêlit (Jaym Gates), Kosru Malik (Howard Andrew Jones), Dark Agnes (Becky Cloonan), a Wyrd Ensemble of Kathulos, Brill, Jessel, & Buckner (Bobby Derie), and the Hyborian Age as a character (Jeffrey Shanks). Rusty Burke, Nancy Collins, Joe Lansdale, Deuce Richardson, Steven Erikson, Cecelia Holland, Patrice Louinet, Clint Werner, Michael Moorcock, Barbara Baum, and Roy Thomas contribute essays on how REH himself changed their lives.

Thanks for taking a look!

[Deleted]

Big John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala (SSOC 19)

Here's an excerpt from our John C. Hocking’s (Emerald) essay for the upcoming book, Robert E. Howard Changed My Life:

I was a precocious reader. By the time I was seven years old, guided by the taste of my father, I was reading Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, E.R. Burroughs, E.E. Smith, and Lester Dent’s Doc Savage stories. Around this time my father, an art and history teacher, a martial artist and collector of swords, became a little frustrated that my mother was less than keen to accompany him to see a new, supposedly pretty hardboiled, Western movie called A Fistful of Dollars, so he took me.

In addition to thrusting upon my youthful eyes an unimagined example of cinematic style, the film presented a powerful vision of a highly qualified good and a frighteningly believable evil in stark conflict beyond anything I’d encountered before. Every aspect of the movie resonated with me, but the depiction of fearsome, believably dangerous villains being faced down by a hero who was actually dangerous enough to confront and destroy them instantly made most of the reading, TV and movies I’d known seem somehow inadequate, even false.

Then, in the summer of 1967, my Dad brought me a copy of Lancer’s Conan the Adventurer. The Frazetta cover promised much, but I read the first story in that collection, Robert E. Howard’s “The People of the Black Circle,” on a quiet sunny morning and it blew my little mind.

Here was all the fierce clash of qualified good and nigh unqualified evil I’d glimpsed in Sergio Leone’s film, but featuring a literally unforgettable hero…
The invader was a tall man, at once strong and supple. He was dressed like a hillman, but his dark features and blazing blue eyes did not match his garb. Chunder Shan had never seen a man like him; he was not an Easterner, but some barbarian from the West. But his aspect was as untamed and formidable as any of the hairy tribesmen who haunt the hills of Ghulistan.

Amplified by a genuinely frightening element of the supernatural…


You wanna read more? Here's the Link:
www.blackgate.com/2020/03/20/rogue-blades-author-robert-e-howard-conan-and-me/

[RBjason]

I've been remiss in my updates: The same week RBF was to receive some substantial donations toward the publication of this title is the week Covid19 derailed life as we know it. My donors, rightfully so, advised they were going into a 'wait-and-see' mode, so were holding onto their money. I don't begrudge them that, but it did mean we could not publish the book. Right now it is tentatively scheduled for release at Howard Days 2021, though there is the chance it could still see light in 2020 were sufficient funds to arrive.

In the meantime, due to the delay, we've added a 33rd essay and a closing feature - Additional REH Readings as recommneded by the contributors. The pre-release special offer has been extended to December 2020.

[RBjason]

So REH CHANGED MY LIFE is pending release!

Hardcover will be released June 9, 2021 at Howard Days. If you're attending and pre-ordered, let me know and I can bring your copy along (save on shipping for both of us!).

Kindle releases June 11, 2021, though it is in pre-order on Amazon now.

33 essays on Howard's personal impact, salutes to Charles R. Saunders, and the new standard of appendixes, Appendix REH!

rogue-blades.com/reh-changed-my-life/

[robp]

Excellent news!

[terryallenuk]

May 10, 2021 23:19:51 GMT -5 RBjason said:

So REH CHANGED MY LIFE is pending release!

Hardcover will be released June 9, 2021 at Howard Days. If you're attending and pre-ordered, let me know and I can bring your copy along (save on shipping for both of us!).

Kindle releases June 11, 2021, though it is in pre-order on Amazon now.

33 essays on Howard's personal impact, salutes to Charles R. Saunders, and the new standard of appendixes, Appendix REH!

rogue-blades.com/reh-changed-my-life/

Will Hardcover , or paperback , show up on Amazon?

[RBjason]

May 11, 2021 13:38:31 GMT -5 terryallenuk said:

May 10, 2021 23:19:51 GMT -5 RBjason said:

Will Hardcover , or paperback , show up on Amazon?

Yes sir, hardcover will also go live on Amazon on the same day. If RBF survives we may issue a paperback version in the future.

[terryallenuk]

May 11, 2021 13:55:28 GMT -5 RBjason said:

May 11, 2021 13:38:31 GMT -5 terryallenuk said:

Yes sir, hardcover will also go live on Amazon on the same day. If RBF survives we may issue a paperback version in the future.

Great , I'd put the kindle on wish-list as a reminder anyway but only really use it for holidays.

[linefacedscrivener]

May 10, 2021 23:19:51 GMT -5 RBjason said:

So REH CHANGED MY LIFE is pending release!

Hardcover will be released June 9, 2021 at Howard Days. If you're attending and pre-ordered, let me know and I can bring your copy along (save on shipping for both of us!).

Kindle releases June 11, 2021, though it is in pre-order on Amazon now.

33 essays on Howard's personal impact, salutes to Charles R. Saunders, and the new standard of appendixes, Appendix REH!

rogue-blades.com/reh-changed-my-life/

Will there be copies for sale there or do we have to pre-order?

[RBjason]

May 12, 2021 10:55:40 GMT -5 linefacedscrivener said:

rogue-blades.com/reh-changed-my-life/

Will there be copies for sale there or do we have to pre-order?[/quote]


I will have print copies for sale in-person Thursday 6/10 through Sunday 6/13!

[RBjason]

Thanks to all'y'all who stopped by and chatted or said 'Hi.' I look forward to hearing from those of you who picked up the book - I hope you were able to get the signatures you wanted!

A few folks who pre-ordered received their books in person. I failed to note the name of the first fellow who came for his book, so if that was you, could you please let me know? Thank you!

[RBjason]

Thank you to any and all who may have nominated the anthology, the cover art, and any of the essays for REH Foundation Awards. Here, for your reviewing pleasure, is the best compilation of Appendix REH I could create thus far: a.co/dMcU9g5

[bartonamra]

I did nominate several essays as well as the book. It was a joy to read. I don’t believe such a line up of Howard experts and fans will be featured in a single book any time soon.

Thank you for that and good luck for the REH Foundation Awards

[RBjason]

Thanks goes to those who nominated three essayists, the cover artist, and the book for REHF Awards!