Cross Plains, Texas, is where Robert E. Howard spent the second half of his life. Cross Plains is where REH wrote virtually all of his immortal yarns. Thus and therefore, it is incumbent on any serious Howard fan to attend Howard Days, which is held every year in Cross Plains.

Like the hajj to Mecca or the pilgrimage to Santiago, the journey to Cross Plains--for most REH fans--is arduous and costly. That has certainly been my experience. The first time I attended was in 2006, the centennial of Howard's birth. The event enjoyed major promotion on the Official Robert E. Howard Forum. I decided to take the plunge. Howardian bigwigs like Leo Grin, Don Herron, Rusty Burke and Frank Coffman were more than kind to me, making this HD newbie feel right at home.

I journeyed back to Cross Plains in 2007 at the express request of the mighty Leo Grin. Leo wanted me to do a presentation on REH's Thurian Age. During that talk, I presented maps of the Seven Empires and of Thurian Age Earth that remain--to this day--the most accurate maps out there. My wingman throughout all of that was Chris Hale. Without him having my back, I might not have made it to Cross Plains at all. An account of the trip can be found here.

I returned to Howard Days in 2010. I’d decided to take a break from REH fandom, but The Cimmerian website had won an award from the REH Foundation, so I showed up to accept that. As fate would have it, Al Harron and several members of his extended family had attended. That would be the first time we met in person, but far from the last.

REH mega-fan, Ernie Batten, in front of the Howard House.

I attended Howard Days 2013 purely because my erstwhile sword-brother from The Cimmerian, Jeff Shanks, called me up and told me that--if I could make it down to Fort Worth--he would pick me up and I could crash on his motel floor. Jeff was as good as his word. I ended up sitting next to Joe R. Lansdale in a Brownwood BBQ joint and patching a call through from Tim Truman to Jim Cornelius. Also, I had a deep--and deeply inebriated--discussion about Edgar Rice Burroughs with Dennis McHaney.

And so it was...until last year. Chris Hale and I had planned on attending Howard Days 2021. He died suddenly in April of 2021. This year, I suggested to my long-time friend, Glen Ort, that we attend Howard Days in 2022 as a remembrance of Chris. To his credit, Glen was cool with that. Glen met Chris at the same time as he met yours truly back in the '90s. A guitarist of note--and REH fan--Glen and I recorded our first EP together in 1995. He moved to Kansas City soon after, but we've always kept in touch. A road-trip to Cross Plains sounded like a good opportunity to reconnect and honor Chris' memory.

We arrived in Brownwood and checked into the La Quinta hotel--which has great fresh waffles for breakfast--on Thursday night. Brownwood, where Robert E. Howard completed his high school education and earned his accounting degree, is about forty miles from Cross Plains. The journey there takes one across Lake Brownwood, which is a prominent feature in the REH yarn, "Wild Water".

Despite having attended four Howard Days previously, this was only the second time I'd been there on a Friday morning. I'd done so back in 2006, but hadn't--for various reasons--ever since. It's pretty cool, both literally and figuratively. The whole event is (officially) just starting. Also, the temperature is as low as it's gonna get the entire day. As I recall, the lowest daily 'high' temperature for the weekend was ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit. The highest was around one hundred and three.

Friday mornings are also cool because you get to meet a lot of the more hardcore REH fans. They've shown up for the whole shebang. In addition, you can chat with various Howardian luminaries before they get sucked into other obligations and accrue hangers-on.

Me chatting with John Bullard and Paul Herman as I fill gaps in my REHF library. Howard scholar, Rob Roehm is standing to my left. Arlene Stephenson (I believe) is to the extreme left of this photo.

I got to meet back up with old Howardian buds like Paul Herman, John Bullard and Keith West. Paul and John were running the REH Foundation tent. I was able to fill a few holes in my Howardian library without having to pay postage. I did the same thing--trade paperbacks instead of hardcovers--in the Howard House gift shop, where I got to see Arlene Stephenson again. Just like my first Howard Days in 2006, Arlene was there, running things. She's a native Kansan, so it's always cool to touch base with her.

Around noon I headed down to where the various panels were being held. I was part of the panel "Robert E. Howard in 1932". I hadn't been on a Howard Days panel since my "Thurian Age" presentation in 2007, so I was looking forward to it. My co-panelists were Paul Sammon, Rusty Burke, and Patrice Louinet. My particular ambit was "Worms of the Earth", but the conversation tended to center upon "Phoenix on the Sword" and "Cimmeria". I don't know why I was surprised.

The following panel was The Glenn Lord Symposium, which featured some worthy contributions. It was followed by the REH Foundation awards. Among others, my old buddy from The Cimmerian, Brian Murphy, won an award. I tried to call him and let him know, but the phone service just wasn't cooperating.

The Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet & Silent Auction was a few hours later. The books I'd brought from Chris Hale's personal library racked up about fifty dollars for Project Pride. If I'd known the airline wasn't charging for the first checked bag--a decision they made a few days before my flight--I would've taken a lot more books. Still, it was something in memory of Chris.

Fredrik Malmberg was the Guest of Honor. I'd met Fred and Jay Zetterberg at the '06 Howard Days and had maintained contact with them for all the years I was a mod for the Official Robert E. Howard Forum. It was good to see them. Despite some missteps, I think that Malmberg has been the best steward of REH's legacy thus far, especially in regard to getting Howard into print. Nobody can touch them on that score. The Robert E. Howard Foundation wouldn't exist without Malmberg's initial support.

Saturday was a little less 'organized'. There were a couple of panels, one of which was Paul Sammon’s talk on his book, Conan the Phenomenon, and also his involvement with the two Arnold ‘Conan’ movies. Without a doubt, Sammon has been there and done that.

"Adapting REH to the Gaming World" was held after the lunch break. I wasn't able to make that one because the Cross Plains restaurant I was at took a very long time--way long--to serve me n' Glen. Glen wanted to eat there and I respected that.

Later that day, after the traditional BBQ evening meal, Glen—with his resonant baritone—declaimed a Howard poem at the now-traditional poetry reading on the porch of the Howard House. He said he could now cross that off his bucket list.

Glen reading “Thus Spake Sven the Fool” on the Howard House porch.

As always, one of the main attractions of Howard Days is just meeting other REH fans who love Howard so much that they have to make the trip. One of those fans was Ernie Batten. I knew him from social media, but it was great to meet him in person. His picture in front of the Howard House is the 'cover pic' for this post.

Chris Gruber reading an REH poem on the porch of the Howard House.

It was good to hang out with REH scholar and fan, Chris Gruber. As I recall, he’s been to every Howard Days I’ve attended. We also worked together on the Modiphius Kull RPG book. It has always been a pleasure to hang out with Chris. His decision to attend was something of a last-minute thing, but he ended up bringing his whole family. Very cool. A buddy of his from Michigan also drove all the way from Michigan on Saturday.

Another major Howard scholar/fan who showed up with his wife and kids was Stale Gismervik. Back in the early days of the Interwebz, Stale administered an early REH forum that is still fondly remembered. We talked about his current Howard website, The World of REH, and how we could grow that to become even cooler than it already is.

Derrick Baker—I hope I spelled his name right—was another far-farer who attended HD 2022. He came all the way from Dublin, Ireland. We commiserated about how REH is so little-known within the isle he loved so much. Derrick gave the first-ever reading of “Cimmeria” in Irish Gaelic on the porch of the Howard House.

Another cool REH fan I met was ‘Ian’. I don’t remember his surname, but I do remember he was from the Netherlands. He came in search of an expert on El Borak. I had to tell him that Dave Hardy—who, incidentally, has written for the DMR blog more than once—didn’t attend this year. I should have engaged him more on the topic. I’ve been reading El Borak yarns since I was ten or eleven. Dave and I have similar views on the character. As it was, Ian and I had a great time and shared a few beers.

Speaking of ‘sharing beers’, there were a couple of elderly gentlemen from—as I recall—Dallas who attended. Both were Howard fans—to my shame, I don’t recall the names of either man—and they had a cooler of beer that was constantly on offer to other REH fans. If anyone remembers who they were, comment below.

Another REH fan who showed up was Anthony Tollin. Back in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, he and his wife, Adrienne Roy, were the main colorists for DC. Anthony did a lot of the Batman comics. Adrienne did The Warlord and a lot of the other S&S comics for DC. That was a cool conversation. It just goes to show that ya never know who will turn up at Howard Days.

The Howard House pavilion. Stale Gismervik is in the foreground. To the left—and way back—can be seen Glen Ort. Just to the right of Stale, in a leather cowboy hat, is Jason M. Waltz. Chris Gruber is in the extreme lower right of the picture.

I’ve gotten this far and can’t believe I haven’t mentioned Jason M. Waltz of Rogue Blades yet. Jason was there from the get-go, chatting with everybody. I finally managed to get ahold of a copy of his Challenge! anthology. Thanks to Jason, I signed upwards of fifteen autographs for fans who had purchased Robert E. Howard Changed My Life. I’ve signed a few autographs over the years, but nothing like that.

I’m absolutely certain that I’ve left out multitudes of people I should have mentioned. My abject apologies for that. Feel free to comment below. Also, I may not have attributed photos correctly. Let me know below.

For anyone sitting on the fence, get to Howard Days sooner than later. Gasoline and air fares are never going to get cheaper. Quite the opposite. I plan on attending in 2023. Six times in seventeen years. After that…who knows?