Some readers of the DMR Books Blog may remember my post on the sword-and-sorcery/heroic fantasy legacy of Chris Hale. Well, as it turns out, pics from the trip Chris and I made to Howard Days 2007 have survived. While not accessible via the archive.org link I provided in my previous post, David Drage was kind enough to share those photos with me, which had been thought lost for years. Chris Hale took all but one of the pics, thus preserving the event for posterity.

Those who don't know the background behind the trip to HD 2007 can check out my previous post or--even better--listen to the podcast about it here.

Without further ado, here are the HD 2007 pics with commentary.

At the Howard Pavillion that Friday night. From left to right: Frank Coffman, ‘Dapper’ Don Herron, Leo Grin, award-winning Howard scholar Brian Leno and (possibly) Gary ‘The Best Son De Camp Never Had’ Romeo. Not sure who the brunette girl is. Lots of Texas’ own Shiner Bock in this photo.

The mighty Leo Grin—he stands 6’7” or 6’8”—displaying the Cimmerian Awards statuettes to be presented that evening. Leo created The Cimmerian journal and then created the Cimmerian Awards, along the way revolutionizing how Howard Days was structured and conducted. The REH Foundation Awards still use Leo’s nomenclature.

In 2007, Don Herron and Rusty Burke received equal votes for the prestigious ‘Black Circle’ award. Here they are shaking hands with Leo Grin looking on. REHupa’s editor, Bill ‘Indy’ Cavalier, is in the foreground.

The solitary photo I took at HD 2007. Chris Hale paying his respects at REH’s grave in Brownwood, Texas.

REH scholar Chris ‘Sailor Costigan’ Gruber and Don Herron at the Pavillion on Saturday night.

It’s been almost fifteen years, so…from left to right: I don’t know who the guy in the hat is. I think that the woman in the mint green blouse is erstwhile REHupa Blog blogger, Amy Kerr. I don’t know who the blonde is. I don’t know who the guy with the beard is. The guy wearing the black cowboy hat holding the Shiner Bock is former REHupan, Scott Hall. The one wearing the maroon cap is REH biographer, Mark Finn. The man at the far right is REH scholar and sometime DMR Books blogger, Dave Hardy.

Rusty Burke in his trademark Hawaiian shirt with the traditional Shiner Bock on the table.

A photo of the Howard House taken by Chris Hale on that Sunday morning before we headed back to Kansas.

I should note that all pics were taken with a disposable camera. The quality—or lack thereof—doesn’t reflect on David Drage’s files. He gave me what I sent him back in the day. Still, these pics are a pricelss visual record of Howard Days 2007.

As a further addendum to my previous post, I remembered that the estimable Al Harron had done an extensive review of the Dial 'P' For Pulp podcast segments Chris and I (and Brian Willhite) did on Merritt's The Ship of Ishtar. That review can be found here. Even if my commentary wasn’t part of Mr. Harron’s review, I’ve always considered this one of Al’s better posts. Harron is often at his best when writing about A. Merritt, as readers of the DMR Blog have seen in the past.

My thanks to David Drage—whose main website can be found here—and Al Harron, who is still blogging at his website, The Blog That Time Forgot.