Nominations

On Monday I meant to fit in another Robert E. Howard related topic, but I ended up talking about Breckinridge Elkins for so long that I left that topic for today.

I recently learned that in addition to having a number of friends on the preliminary ballot for the 2017 Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards, I myself am on there as well! Three times!

• I was nominated for an essay I wrote for Two-Gun Raconteur about one of my favorite historicals, Robert E. Howard’s “Gates of Empire.”
• Bill Ward and I were nominated for our Conan read-through, which actually began in 2015, but concluded in 2016. We were nominated last year for the first half of the read-through and I have fingers crossed we cross the finish line for the back half of it. I was proud of our work and thought Bill especially had some great analysis.
• Lastly, this site itself was nominated — which seems like the longest shot to me, although I suppose I do talk about Robert E. Howard an awful lot, even more than I do Harold Lamb.

It’s exciting to be in the running again. And I have to say that if I do get onto the final ballot, I’ll hope for a win. Because it would be an excellent time to finally make the pilgrimage to Cross Plains, Texas and see the home where Howard lived and worked, and hang out with some Robert E. Howard fans and scholars.

There are other writers I love as well, but as I was tidying up my office the other day and looking at my shelves I realized that there’s no other writer I return to as frequently.