Friends of REH and Legacy Circle members should be receiving their Fall Newsletters any day now. This issue contains rare facsimile pages from The Junto (an amateur press publication that Howard contributed to), a letter to Emil Petaja, the typescript for “The Voice of Doom,” and young Bob’s original manuscript for “West Is West,” complete with his English teacher’s corrections and grade (C+).

This issue is also full of News & Events, with complete coverage of Howard Days ‘09 (including Guest of Honor Larry D. Thomas’ banquest speech) and some interesting REH news from across the pond in France. Not a Member? Look here.

Membership in the Robert E. Howard Foundation certainly has its benefits. At this year’s Howard Days, Legacy Circle members will receive The Saga of Faring Town, a nice little booklet that contains all of the Faring Town items created by Howard: “Sea Curse,” “Out of the Deep,” and ”A Legend of Faring Town.” Legacy Circle members not in attendance will have to wait on the postal service for this, as well as the 2009 membership pin. We’re also working on something special for the Legacy luncheon in July at the San Diego Comic-Con. Complete details of this event are included in the next Newsletter, also scheduled for release at Howard Days and distributed to Friends of REH as well as the Legacy crew. This Newsletter presents the first appearance of the Steve Costigan version of “The Jade Monkey,” complete with the editorial markings that change it into a Dennis Dorgan story.  We also announce the winner of the 2009 REH Foundation scholarship and throw in a couple other REH nuggets for good measure. Sound good? Membership details here.

UPDATE: Only a few copies of the second printing of The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard remain. We are discussing a third printing, but that would be at least two months away. Grab the second printing while you can. All members receive a 10% discount.

The first issue of The Robert E. Howard Foundation Newsletter, volume 3, should be arriving in member mailboxes as I write. This issue is a Synopsis Special, including “The Silver Heel,” “The Devils of Dark Lake,” and “Alleys of Peril” (which originally featured Sailor Steve O’Brien). There’s plenty of news and a few other rarities, as well.

Not receiving the Newsletter? Become a member!

The latest Foundation Newsletter should be hitting member mail boxes as I write this. It contains several firsts, including a couple of items recently rediscovered in Glenn Lord’s archives: The fragment known as “Yellow Laughter” and a previously unknown (at least to bibliographers) complete vignette titled “The Rivals.” The entire contents is listed below:

#4, Winter 2008 – Contents: Photo of Bob; Letter from the Board, by Rob Roehm; “Ballad of King Geraint” (excerpt) verse, OSU transcription; “Zukala’s Mating Song,” verse, OSU transcription; “The Guise of Youth,” verse; “Roads,” verse; “Skulls Against the Dawn,” verse; “The Thing on the Roof,” draft; “The Nut’s Shell”; “Yellow Laughter,” Glenn Lord transcription; “The Commentary,” non-fiction from The Junto; “The Rivals,” Glenn Lord transcription; “The Question of the East”

The Robert E. Howard materials contained in the Newsletters are high resolution scans of his typescripts or holographic manuscripts unless otherwise noted. The Newsletter is only available to “Friends of REH” and “Legacy Circle” members.

Volume 2

#1, Spring 2008; all volume 2 Newsletters prepared for publication by Rob Roehm.
Contents: Photo of REH in boxing stance; “Letter from the Board,” by Bill Cavalier; “The Cairn on the Headland” Draft A, introduction by Rob Roehm; “News and Events”; “Jeffries Versus Dempsey”; “Plains of Gilban,” verse; “Was I There?,” verse.

#2, Summer 2008
Contents: Photo of REH drinking beer; “Letter from the Board,” by Rob Roehm; “The Dwellers Under the Tombs” Draft A; “News and Events”; “Hyborian Map,” drawing; Letter: REH to Tevis Clyde Smith, Sept. 7, 1924; double ending to “The Dead Remember”

#3, Autumn 2008
Contents: Old photos of Cross Plains; “Letter from the Board,” by Rob Roehm; “The Black Stone” early draft; “Howard Days 2008,” by Bill Cavalier; Untitled Fragment (“the honor of Beffum.”), Glenn Lord transcription; Letter: Dr. I.M. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, October 30, 1936; “And So I Sang,” verse.

#4, Winter 2008 — Coming Soon.

Volume 1 [Out of Print]

#1, Spring 2007, prepared for publication by Dennis McHaney.
Contents: Photo of REH in Lincoln, New Mexico; “Letter from the President,” by Rusty Burke; “Another ‘Rattle of Bones’,” introduced by Patrice Louinet; “Rattle of Bones” draft (typescript with transcription).

#2, Summer 2007 (mislabeled “Fall”), prepared for publication by Damon Sasser.
Contents: Photo of REH shadow boxing; “Letter from the Secretary” by Paul Herman; Untitled Story (“The Seeker thrust . . .”), transcription only; Untitled Synopsis (“The Slugger’s Game”); Untitled Synopsis (“A Knight of the Round Table”); Untitled Synopsis (“General Ironfist”); Untitled Synopsis (“Sluggers on the Beach”); Untitled Synopsis (“Dark Shanghai”); Untitled Synopsis (“The Silver Heel”); Note for “Nekht Semerkeht” (“Hernando de Guzman . . .”); “A Boy, a Beehive, and a Chinaman,” transcription only; Untitled Poem (“Fill up my goblet”), transcription only; “The Builders” (3) verse, transcription only; Untitled Poem (“Brazen thewed giant . . .”) transcription only; Drawings (“Theme-real experience? Imaginary?”); Page 15 of “Nekht Semerkeht,” typescript.

#3, Fall 2007, prepared for publication by Paul Herman.
Contents: Photos of REH’s writing table; “Letter from the Secretary,” by Paul Herman; “The Search for the Desk of Robert E. Howard,” by Paul Herman; “While Smoke Rolled,” Pike Bearfield draft; Pg 1 of “Guns of the Mountains”

#4, Winter 2007, prepared for publication by Paul Herman.
Contents: Photo of REH as a child; “Letter from the Secretary,” by Paul Herman; “Pigeons from Hell” early draft; Sample from REH Poetry Index, by Barbara Barrett; List of Middle and Near Eastern Titles; Untitled Synopsis (“Guardian of the Idol”).

All excess copies of Volume 1 were destroyed at the end of 2007.