Today is the 111th anniversary of Robert E. Howard's birth in Peaster, Texas, about twenty miles as the crow flies from where I'm sitting. CONAN THE USURPER, bought brand-new in 1967 at Barber's Bookstore in downtown Fort Worth, was my introduction to his work. I know now that there's 'way too much de Campian meddling in this book, but I wasn't aware of that then, and anyway, I was 14 years old and look at that great Frazetta cover! Look at that giant snake and all those cool monsters and skeletons in the background! What more does a 14-year-old boy need on a paperback cover? (Well, maybe a scantily clad McGinnis babe, but that's a different post.) Anyway, happy birthday, Bob, and thanks for all the great reading over the years.
As some of you know, today is my birthday, and as usual when people asked me what I wanted, I said, "Books!" This has been my answer for more years than I like to think about. So, since many of you are book people, too, here are the ones I got as presents this year:
And as Livia said when I was sitting there looking through them, "Isn't it a shame you don't have time to read them?" Yes. Yes, it is. And one way or another, that's going to change.
Today marks the 106th anniversary of Robert E. Howard's birth in Peaster, Texas, about twenty miles as the crow flies from where I'm sitting. If you'd like to celebrate, the accepted procedure is to read one of your favorite REH stories and raise a glass of your favorite drink to the Greatest Pulp Writer in the Whole Wide World. That's what I plan to be doing this evening.
I've knocked off work early today since it's my birthday, and I was in a good place in the current manuscript to stop. Earlier, had an excellent lunch and birthday cake, finished with some fine presents: clothes, CDs, DVDs, a pair of binoculars (for some reason, I've always liked binoculars), and three books: BITTER STEEL, the new collection by Charles Gramlich; THE COMPLETE KI-GOR, VOLUME 1, the first six Ki-Gor novels from the pulp JUNGLE STORIES; and THE BLACK BAT OMNIBUS, VOLUME 1, the first three Black Bat novels from BLACK BOOK DETECTIVE. Great stuff, all around, and a day like today reminds me how lucky I am to have such a great family. Topped off with a multitude of birthday wishes from friends, and it's been a fine day. Thanks to one and all. Now to read some Black Bat.
Sounds like a book title, doesn’t it? In this case, though, it refers to the fact that I turned 55 today, which means I can now legitimately get the senior citizen discount that retail clerks and restaurant cashiers have been giving me for several years without asking.
In the birthday present department, this year was largely about replacing stuff that was lost in the fire, like my iPod and THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF PULPS and a GET FUZZY collection and assorted CDs and DVDs, plus some that I didn’t have before, like the soundtrack CD from THE COMANCHEROS, which is playing as I type these words. Great stuff, in other words. Simply put, it was a fine birthday . . . even though I don’t feel 55, no how, no way.
Yesterday was my 54th birthday, and I celebrated by vegetating pretty much all day. The only work I did was some research reading. But what you really want to know about is the swag I got, right? In addition to some clothes and a battery-powered lamp (for when the electricity goes off, as it does several times each year, minimum), I got boxed DVD sets of all three seasons of KUNG FU, a series that has a lot of nostalgia value for me since it was a Really Big Thing while I was in college; the first season of BOSOM BUDDIES, a fine sitcom; and the new collector’s edition of ISLAND IN THE SKY, which is one of the very few John Wayne movies I’ve never seen. Maybe the only one. I mean, I’ve even watched the serials THE THREE MUSKETEERS and THE SHADOW OF THE EAGLE.
Now all I have to do is find the time to watch all that stuff.
Today is my mother's 91st birthday. We had a small, low-key get-together at the nursing home where she lives now. She's had lots of ups and downs since her stroke back in January -- more downs than ups, to be honest -- but by golly, she's hanging in there. 91 ain't bad, I say.
