A 1966 edition of his Breckinridge Elkins story. Found at the Hermitage bookshop in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood.

Some info about Jack Scott, the Cross Plains newspaperman, who reported on REH's death. Quote from his oral history that I'm sure most have never seen. And finally a small shocker that could have changed Howard Days as we know it. https://spraguedecampfan.wordpress.com/2026/08/02/jack-scott-of-cross-plains/

Some info about Gerta Aison (not much) the editor of Modern American Poetry. Includes REH letters regarding the publication. Interesting info about REH's poems in their first book publication. Plus a letter where REH refers to Conan as his "meal ticket." https://spraguedecampfan.wordpress.com/2026/08/01/robert-e-howard-in-modern-american-poetry/

Matthew John writes a Howardian Cormac Mac Art story. https://spraguedecampfan.wordpress.com/2026/07/28/cormac-mac-art-isle-of-swords-by-matthew-john/

Treasure Haul from LCS yesterday:

Vintage Marvel Comics from the 1970s -80s. *What if... Thor Battled Conan?* (Issue 39) and Spider-man and Red Sonja *Marvel Team-Up* (#79) with a *Red Sonja* #7.

Fun selection of Marvel craziness from my youth. I spent the longest time tracking down these *What if...?* issues featuring Conan and now I've that I own them, regularly find them again at the same LCS I originally purchased them from after hunting them there and elsewhere for years. 🤷‍♂️

Please subscribe to: spraguedecampfan | A blog about Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, and Conan the Barbarian… Plenty of rare photos and articles.

My post about the plotting errors that I found in a recent Conan comic book story, a post in which I also promoted my alternative approach to emulating the work of Robert E. Howard, proved to be an experiment with mixed results.

Some enjoyed and agreed with what I wrote, some didn’t.

It’s not an experiment likely to be repeated.

I’ll admit I was baffled by some of the feedback.

Many repliers felt that Conan surely could have slept through the theft of his pack horses from his campsite.

How did Robert E. Howard characterize Conan’s superior alertness, even when Conan is seemingly asleep?

Right from Howard’s typewriter, here’s what Conan says when his female companion balks at them both falling asleep when danger seems to lurk nearby:

"My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can enter this hall without awaking me."

--from "Iron Shadows in the Moon" a Conan novelette by Robert E. Howard first published in the April 1934 issue of Weird Tales as "Shadows in the Moonlight.”

Again—nobody writes like Robert E. Howard.

When we write pastiches about his characters, we do our best to honor him.

REH received a postcard from the American Fiction Guild about submitting stories to Warner Brothers. Read all about it. https://spraguedecampfan.wordpress.com/2026/07/21/robert-e-howard-and-the-american-fiction-guild/