We were blessed with a particularly beautiful fall foliage here in New England, startling orange and red and bright yellows. But in the past week the color drained out as the leaves fell all at once. Caring for an ill parent impacts your mood and mindset. But life isn’t unrelentingly dark. There’s always something sorcerous to report on.

So let’s get to it.

Howard home nears funding goal

​In April 2023 I attended Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains, TX, birthplace of the man who brought us Conan the Cimmerian, Kull of Atlantis, and Solomon Kane. Howard’s boyhood home has been converted into a museum, and to get to walk through his living room, kitchen, and peer into the same humble bedroom where he wrote so many of his immortal stories was an experience I will carry with me forever.

Little did I know that the house was sagging under my feet. Howard’s home was suffering from some significant structural issues including foundation collapse, rotting piers and termite damage. An estimate showed it would take $100K or more to bring it back to museum condition.

​Fundraisers have been working toward the goal (I kicked in as well), but recently Project PRIDE received a $50,000 grant from the Texas Preservation Trust Fund to help support the structural stabilization and restoration work. More than half of the goal at a swoop.

It looks like it will fund but donations are still welcomed. I believe the plan is not only to make repairs but restore it to an even more authentic 1930s condition. Work is expected to begin in early 2027.

Huge props to everyone involved with this project. I will absolutely get back to Cross Plains one day and it appears the Howard home will not only be saved, but renewed.

From the blog: The Case for Criticism and "Yucking" the Rings of Power

Last week I penned a long essay on the blog, ostensibly a critique of the new Amazon series The Rings of Power but really about the broader role of criticism. Rings of Power has a massive footprint, a total global reach of 185 million viewers at its height per Amazon. But it hasn’t been a story of success. Viewers abandoned the show in droves and a significant portion of Tolkien fandom (raises hand) have rejected it.

This essay was inspired in part by the reaction of a Reddit community (I know) who reacts to any criticism of the show with a phrase that to put it mildly, chaps my ass: “Don’t Yuck My Yum.” No one likes a critic… but that doesn’t mean they don’t play an important role in how we understand media, and what works—and what doesn’t. Critiquing failed adaptations of beloved works, for example.

We do enough phone scrolling and passive Netflix consumption. We need more engagement, even when it's critical.

Also I really hate black licorice. Don’t even think about sending me any. That’s a firm yuck.

Backing Charles Saunders (RIP) and Dossouye

I recently put in my sheckles for a pair of paperback reprints of Charles Saunders Dossouye stories, a project kickstarted by Brackenbury Books. These stories initially appeared in places like Amazons, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, and Sword and Sorceress, edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley (both by DAW Books).

I have read a couple of these stories but I don’t have them all and this was a chance to rectify that. The new artwork looks great as well.

If you haven’t yet read To Leave A Warrior Behind, fix that pronto. It’s a gripping read, offering a penetrating look into Saunders life and tragic end. You’ll also learn a lot about Imaro and its publishing history along the way.

Now if I can only figure out how to pronounce “Dossouye.”

The Once and Future King read-along

This book is a joy. The prose is first-rate, lucid and clear and sane. The storytelling is charming and the truths it conveys, timeless—even when said truths are hard (as truth often is).

I’ll be sharing a few reading highlights in the next few newsletters as I make my way through. Here’s one.

Wart, aka., young Arthur is a humble servant, his lineage unknown to him, and tutoring under Merlin. His brother Kay, a knight in training and ostensibly of higher birth and rank, is nevertheless jealous of his younger brother. Wart gets to do cool things like being transformed into birds and fish. This tension boils over into a fistfight; Kay’s lip is bloodied and Wart’s eye, blacked.

Nevertheless Wart pleads for Merlin to include his brother in the next lesson. Merlin, living in backwards in time, knows that this unfairness is only perception, and that his lessons would be lost on Kay (or even worse, he’d fail and come to harm).

“Perhaps what is good for you might be bad for him,” he advises his young pupil.

But Wart’s innate sense of fairness prevails. Merlin relents and in the next lesson pairs Wart and Kay together on an adventure that takes them into the land of faerie.

Although the young Wart has much to learn he’s already demonstrating the qualities that will make him a leader of men. He stands for what is right even in the face of the received wisdom of his elders. And he’s subtly building long-term loyalty that will serve him well.

Dad update

Today is a big day. We meet with the oncologist to review the results of last week’s PET scan, which I am told will likely hold no further surprises (beyond the usual awfulness of Stage IV metastatic cancer). Then Dad receives his first chemotherapy infusion later this morning.

I’ve also begun engaging in-home nursing services (PT, OT, social work, palliative care, etc.). The family and I have been spending many hours at his place and outside help is welcomed.

The other night we watched “Fury,” the World War 2 Eastern Front film starring Brad Pitt and a Sherman tank. A bit far-fetched but full of well-done battle sequences. Blowing up Nazis is a reasonable way to forget present circumstances.

Do you like Rings of Power? Tell Brian why you disagree (or agree).