So, Ken Lizzi, Brian Murphy and myself had combined our powers to make the perilous—but rewarding—pilgrimage to Cross Plains, Texas, where the 2023 Howard Days gathering was being held. Getting in some pre-HD revelry and badinage on Thursday night, the three of us retired to a redoubt in the Central Texas wilderness to prepare for two days of full-on Howardian celebration and fellowship.

The next morning, we were up and out by around 9 a.m. Ken had fiddled with his GPS and we took a different route out. No matter how you sliced it, getting to or from the Hideaway involved a fair amount of backroad driving.

We arrived at the Howard House and its associated Pavilion. Ken and Brian immediately headed for the Howard House. I'd toured it numerous times over the course of my five previous Howard Days, so I let them discover it for the first time while I hung out with John Bullard, Paul Herman and Jason Waltz.

I looked over the wares at the REHF tent. As I've said before, we live in something close to a Howardian Golden Age when it comes to the availability of REH texts. I passed on the hardcovers of the 'Collected Letters' and 'The Collected Poetry', despite the fairly hard sell from John Bullard. I have the letters in the original hardcover and I actually prefer to have my reference books in trade format. I'll mark up a trade paperback all day long, but I consider hardbacks sacred and take separate, hand-written notes from them. Trades, on the other hand, belong to the streets and get what’s comin’ to ‘em.

It was great to chat with John and with Paul Herman, as always. I also strolled over and l checked out the offerings in Jason Waltz's Rogue Blades tent, where he was presiding over his book-hoard while sporting his trademark black cowboy hat. Jason gave me my two contributor copies of Hither Came Conan. I bought several RBE titles, filling some holes in my collection. I'd been a supporter of Rogue Blades since my days at The Cimmerian. It’s sad to see the RBE saga winding down, but also cool to see Jason focusing on his own fiction. He's a good writer and I look forward to reading his new stuff in the future.

It was around this time that Ken and Brian got back from riding on Rusty's bus tour. I'd told them the night before that Howard Days is a balancing act. To get the most out of it, one has to balance the dead--REH and stuff from his time--and the living--the fellow fans and possible future friends.

We headed up to the library, where the guys had a great time looking through the REH collection. We then headed back to the Pavilion...with a quick stop at Dollar General. You see, on top of everything else, I'd snapped off one wing of my glasses while clearing brush the week before. Since I can manage a lot of things without them, I'd decided to go sans spectacles for much of the weekend. Thus and therefore, I decided to buy some cheap sunglasses.

I've been a ZZ Topp fan since I checked Tres Hombres out of the Oswego library as a tweener. I'd held off buying shades until I was actually in Texas in honor of ZZ's classic tune, "Cheap Sunglasses". Equipped with bargain-priced Texan spectaculation, we headed back to the Pavilion.

Jimmy Jarman showed up around that point. It was so cool to see him. The last time we'd hung out was when he still lived in Tulsa, six years before. Where had the time gone?

As usual at Howard Days, time was running short. We needed to get down to the REH panels. Paul Herman said he would be the lead car so all of us could find the venue. He also offered to let me ride shotgun in his 'Vette, which is kind of an intermittent tradition between him and myself at Howard Days. We got caught up on more Howardian stuff as Paul struggled to honor the speed limit—he does a little bit of drag-racing in his spare time; true story, bruh.

The panels were a little uneven, though good overall. Others have spoken about them at more length, plus they’re on Youtube. The highlight of the whole thing for me was getting to speak with Fred Blosser afterward. I've been a fan of his since the days of The Savage Sword of Conan. He was one of the true pioneers when it came to REH's pseudo-history. Fred and I discussed something that is too often ignored, in my opinion, which is that The Savage Sword of Conan--for the first decade or so, anyway--constituted an actual bi-monthly magazine dedicated to REH. Yes, it might've been heavy on the 'art' side of things, but it also boasted text pieces every issue about Howard and his creations. Neither Fred nor Roy Thomas have received their full due for that achievement, in my opinion.

Fred and his wife were incredibly charming and gracious. I talked to them briefly a couple times later on that weekend.

At that point, as I recall, Ken, Brian, Jimmy and myself then headed to Brownwood. It was time to pay respects at Howard's grave.

The pic you see was taken by Jimmy.

We returned to Cross Plains in time for the banquet. Due to a mix-up, mainly on my part, Jimmy and I went through the line a bit later than Ken and Brian. Jimmy and I ended up sitting at a table in the north-west corner. Several ladies from Cross Plains were gracious enough to make some room for us. We engaged in some pleasant badinage with them.

John Betancourt's speech was entertaining enough. He's certainly been around—been there, done that. I was hoping for more about his incarnation of Weird Tales and, also, his 'Weird Works' collections from Wildside. I was an early supporter of the Betancourt-Scithers-Schweitzer Weird Tales, thanks mostly to Jimmy keeping me supplied. In my opinion, it holds up well in comparison to the McIlwraith-era Weird Tales. Your mileage may vary.

After the banquet was the silent auction. Jimmy, a grizzled veteran of thirty years of buying and selling collectibles, observed that a silent auction of Howardiana at Howard Days would be the last place he would look for REH bargains. I pointed out that there were plenty of non-REH/REH-adjacent offerings that were reasonably priced. Plus, everyone knew that all proceeds went to Project Pride, so purchases really amounted to buying the items and donating at the same time.

Soon after, I got with Dennis McHaney and bought Robert E. Howard in the Pulps. A gorgeous book which he knocked the price down on for some well-nigh invisible 'flaws'. Only a true bibliophile--or an honest man--like Dennis would do something like that. So, graciousness was in the air that Friday night. After that, Jimmy headed back to the missus and the rest of us returned to the Hideaway, where Brian gloated over his many purchases.

Day Two dawned and we rose again to sample the dark delights of Howard Days. There was hanging out and repartee at the Pavilion. I got to chat with Will Oliver, which is always rewarding. His forthcoming REH bio should be outstanding. Todd Who? Henry Franke--a stalwart amongst the Burroughs Bibliophiles apa but also a staunch REH fan--tried to recruit me once again for his group. While I have yet to accept, I recommend the Burroughs Bibliophiles to anyone deeply interested in Edgar Rice Burroughs. I, also, once again thanked Lee Breakiron for his indefatigable efforts in Howard studies.

Around noon, myself and the boys adjourned to the Staghorn Restaurant. We placed our order and waited. And waited. And waited. After about forty-five minutes, we reordered. Obviously, they didn't have sufficient crew for the unusual influx. We never made a fuss and enjoyed our burgers when they finally arrived. We also tipped the waitress.

Afterwards, it was time for Jimmy to drive back to Abilene. However, he had something for me. It was a bottle of 'Single Barrel Select' Jack Daniel's. Since moving to Tennessee, he'd gotten into the whole 'single barrel' scene. While very health-conscious, when he did 'cheat' he liked to do it in style. He and a group of 'investors' had all bought a single barrel of their choosing at the JD distillery in Lynchburg. A princely gift. We shook hands and he drove off to Abilene. A friendship that had lasted over forty years. Who knew when we would meet again?

I then hooked back up with Ken and Brian. They wanted to check out the Woody's car/baseball museum, which was something I'd meant to do the year before, but Glen Ort had zero interest in. I'll say this: if Cross Plains didn't have REH, Woody's would/should still draw in some tourists. A very nice place with a fascinating collection of awesome automobiles and baseball paraphernalia. A true jewel in the Cross Plains crown.

After that--a little more than an hour before the BBQ was served--we got with Jason Waltz and set up for our little discussion of sword-and-sorcery in the 21st century. It didn't take long: two tables and four chairs.

I started it off, discussing the origins of S&S in Weird Tales and Strange Stories, bringing it up through the REH Lancers and on into the doldrums of the '90s. I specifically called out Rusty Burke, Toni Weisskopf and David Drake for their efforts on behalf of the Baen 'REH Library' series.

I brought the history up to the 2000s, which is where Jason, to my left, took over. Jason was there from the beginning of the S&S resurgence, being part of the Pitch-Black/Black Gate crew to one extent or another. He recounted how he founded Rogue Blades when Pitch-Black went under and the dark years between 2010-2015. His 'segment' was probably the longest of the four of us. Brian Murphy talked about his award-winning book, Flame and Crimson, along with general S&S developments during the last five years or so. Ken Lizzi talked about self-publishing, plus markets like Tales from the Magician's Skull.

There were questions afterward. One guy kept trying to bring up Turtledove's Conan of Venarium as an example of 'S&S in the 21st Century'. Pathetic.

People started showing up from Paul Herman's panel—which was across town—for the traditional Saturday Night BBQ. The general hubbub began to rise. We drew the discussion to a close. We'd handed out raffle tickets the day before for the chance of free books.

John Betancourt—the 2023 Howard Days Guest of Honor—was one of the rafflees. He stopped and talked to me. I told him that I appreciated what he did with Weird Tales. A charming guy. He then moved down and grabbed Brian's Flame and Crimson for his free book, telling Brian that he'd been wanting to get hold of it for awhile.

Overall, we gave away more than $250 worth of books. I gave away both of my spare copies of REH Changed My Life and Hither Came Conan. I also gave away copies of DMR anthologies containing Howard yarns, bought with my own money and given away on my own hook. Quite a few people—including the HD 2023 Guest of Honor—got to finish their trip to Cross Plains with a cool S&S-related freebie.

Brian, Ken and I hung out for about another hour and then headed back to the Hideaway for the final time. Once again, everyone was exhausted. Ken and Brian both seemed quite satisfied with their first HD experience. That is certainly what they said later in their blog posts. For me, just getting to meet and hang out with two dudes I'd liked and respected online--plus chatting with Fred Blosser--made it worthwhile. While I never intended to ever go back again, I'm glad I made an exception just one more time.

Part One can be found here.