What A Collection - Ken Kelly!

It's the artist Ken Kelly's birthday and when I did a tweet and facebook post about it,

I realized - you know what? I am positive that Ken Kelly has done more book covers that I own than anybody else - and that's a lot considering I typically buy every Frazetta I can find. Kelly is such a work horse and has done so many Conan's and other sword and sorcery related covers that it is staggering. He has done a lot of heavy metal covers too, but I don't think I have any of those but when it comes to book covers wow -its staggering.

I just did a count in my office I have about 30+ books with Frazetta covers. And I am not counting doubles - just one individual cover per book.

But I've got 70+ Ken Kelly covers - loads of Conan and Robert E. Howard, but also some Kane, Karl  Edward Wagner books like his Bran Mak Morn - Legion From the Shadows, the Robert Adams Horseclans series and John Maddox Roberts Stormlands series, and then even a variety of standalones and anthologies.

Happy Birthday Ken, and thanks for the bigger than life barbaric art!

The Dragons Hour, Remembering Robert E. Howard

It's no secret that Robert E. Howard is my favorite author. This is his birthday so I'm dusting the blog off for the new year and giving him a toast as it were.

I'm writing this just after midnight, so I'm not sure yet what tale of his I will read later, but I surely will, of course not too much times goes by since the last time I read one. Recently, I revisited one of my favorite Conan yarns - People of the Black Circle and shortly before that Iron Shadows in the Moon.

Around Halloween as a family we listened to some of the audiobook of The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard and I was very pleasantly surprised that my son brought up In the Forest of Villefere just a few days ago. The boys have always loved Pigeons From Hell, my kids like creepy.

That's probably why I share it with them, because I am so amazed and taken with the stories. The tales light the fire of wonder in me and I want to share that with the kids.

I went to Howard Days in 2018 and meant to blog about it then and never did, that's when I kinda fell of the wagon blogging here, then I wasn't able to make it in 2019, but it is my plan to go this year again. Its an interesting feeling walking through his house and thinking about being where he was when he wrote - not just his desk but all over the house from what I have heard. It was like visiting a sacred shrine and I can't wait to go back. I have also been able to visit Hemingway's graveside but spending so much time in the Howard house had a lot more personal feel than just seeing Papa's stone and museum.
Meeting a bunch of online friends in person finally was a big plus too!

Not sure where I am going with this other than just expressing heartfelt appreciation to the man for countless hours of reading enjoyment, contemplative thought and the sheer love of the written word.

Wish you had been around a bit longer to write more, but I surely love what you did accomplish.

SKOAL!

This is a print I got at Howard Days, that is in my study.

My son, Mathias (14) made this Conan bust for me for Christmas.

Happy Birthday Frank

Its no surprise my all time favorite artist is the Frank Frazetta.

I've heard of ungodly amounts of money paid for his work (not that he didn't earn that and not that I wouldn't pay it myself if I could) but the closest I've been able to manage myself to own in my personal collection aside from several calendars, books and of course prints is an actual signed poster! One that was meant to be part of some exclusive collection of Robert E. Howard's work - probably with Wandering Star but I'm not sure.

It is one of my favorite pieces and of course I have the fill print hanging in a place of honor in my study, but the signed print is right behind me, looking over my shoulder.

Today would have been Frank's 89th birthday and I'm just saying my Thanks and how grateful I am for the amazing works of art he put into the world, we are surely all the better for his unique vision.

YOR: The Hunter From the Future

I saw this when I was a kid and because it was part of that 80's craptastic fantasy revival its always been in the back of my head to see it again and the other night, Amazon Prime obliged me.

Opening with a theme song about Yor, that sounds like it was a rejected Yes track, I was sure that they chose a place with the most phallic looking rocks possible. Took me awhile to find a screen shot online, that still doesn't do it disturbing justice.

Yor played by Reb Brown (70's Captain America, Space Mutiny-which I just watched via Mystery Science Theater 3000) oh and he was Blaster, in Uncommon Valor - a movie I actually like.

Anyhow he shows up just in time to save the damsel in distress and her dad? from an enraged triceratops. After he kills it with a few good whacks in the head with his ax, he tells them to help him with the best cuts of meat. All in a days work for our hero.

Later the bad caveman attack and take the girl, so Yor and her dad go after them. Rather conveniently Yor kills a bat/pteranadon some winged beastie I never got a good look at and he hang glides into the bad cavemen's open cavern. Unbelievable as that was it is still better than Ator's similar maneuver in Cave Dwellers. Then he has to run with the girl - I'm spacing her name but she was a Bond girl in Moonraker (so she has done better movies)  and they cross a defile
and then run up the cavern past the death god altar and LO! There is a dam at the top of the cavern so that Yor can break it down and flood out the pursuing baddies. Pretty damn convenient.

Later he gets word that there is a goddess who has a similar medallion to his, so he goes in search of her to learn who he is.
Of course its not that hard to find said blonde wench and she tells him the little that she knows before she lets him and the girl and her dad know they are to be sacrificed. And then they escape, not much to go on here it is a sad movie.

Moving along they go to a beach and rescue some peaceful villagers there from some monster then discover that the people had to deal with some kind of futuristic attack and left behind technology nobody understands and say it comes from some kinda forbidden island and so of course Yor is going there.

So moving along, they go to the island, get attacked by some black wannabe Darth Vader bots, find out a guy named the Overlord is behind it and that he = Yor now, is actually one of these futuristic peoples and that his father took him and crash landed in the barbaric wastes. So after a brief incarceration and struggle against the Overlord, Yor triumphs and flies away and the movie ends on the question of will Yor be able to save the remaining members of humanity from destroying themselves through nuclear annihilation?

In hindsight, my memory of watching it on video with my Dad when I was maybe 10 made it a better movie than it really was, but whadaya do? Also, its funny how most of these movie posters make for better entertainment than the actual movie, the story you think you will see always tops what yu get with these = Deathstalker, Barbarian Queen etc etc.

I also watched Fire and Ice with my boys recently and they loved it.

I thought it had its moments but sure wasn't profound by any stretch, I can only hope the upcoming live action one is a little better. I still have hope for S&S cinema.

LTUE or Life the Universe and Everything

It falls on valentines weekend, so the annual LTUE conference which is amazing by the way, was not something I was able to spend as much time as I would have liked attending. I missed all of Thursday, and only spent about four hours at on Friday and around five hours at Saturday. I wasn't on any panels and just hung out with writer friends and fans but it was still a great time and gathering of magnificent proportions. As opposed to the comic cons - this is a writers (and artists) gathering without all the cosplay and crazy fandom. This was a place to talk shop, network and just enjoy fellow creatives company.

I made some new friends and had quality time with old ones. I plan on making it a point that I can spend a whole lot more time next year with everyone - I am in good graces with the head honcho's so next year I'll be on panels etc.

Here's some of the cooler things I got to see: A great prop - a Trolloc sword for the Wheel Of Time trailer, made by Hraefn Wulfson.

 Egyptian Queen, signed by Frank Frazetta!

 A great piece by Devon Dorrity, wish I could take it home.

 The always genteel Dave Butler.

 Signed Frazetta Berserker, on loan from the Frazetta museum, made my day I had no idea they would be here this weekend.

 A great piece by Hraefn Wulfson.

 Another fantastic sculpture by Devon Dorrity.

 Awesome new friend Hraefn Wulfson who made the above Trolloc sword for the recent fan trailer for The Wheel of Time. He is an amazing artists with this Atlantis portal piece and the above Egyptian meets Aliens pieces, and the other works beside the Trolloc sword. I love his specialty made frames too!

Found this gem at a used book dealer at the con.

And lastly, I took my wife to a Regency Ball for valentines which scored a lot of points with her, so its was a pretty great weekend.