| PUBLISHER'S JOURNAL October 2007 |
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REH: Two-Gun Raconteur
The Definitive Howard Journal
The Definitive Howard Journal
Howard Stocking Stuffers
With Christmas just a mere seven weeks away, it's time to think about the Howard fans on your
Christmas list. For the first time in many years, there is a large amount of Howard in print,
besides the De Rey editions, the Bisons are still around, not to mention the Wildside books,
the Girasol volumes, several fanzines (including TGR!), not to mention all the Howard items on
eBay. So get that mouse clicking and bring some Christmas cheer to your favorite Howard fan.
-- Posted by Damon C. Sasser on October 31, 2007
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A Bit of Cross Plains History
Here's a piece on an old Cross Plains hotel:
Cromer Hotel
Cross Plains, Texas
I am submitting this to see if any of your readers remember this building. This is the Cromer
Hotel in Cross Plains, Texas. My Grandmother, Inez Cromer Brown operated it from 1947-1969.
The original hotel was about half this size and was first located in the town of Turkey Creek. It
was the Kemper Hotel then. It was moved to the present town site and added on to the size
you see in the photo.
It was a typical western hotel with about 43 rooms and 2 baths (down the hall). At the time this
picture was taken, there was a row of car garages in the back of the hotel. Those were torn
down in the 1950's. Two rooms in the 1950's were remodeled with private baths. The regular
rooms in the 1960's rented for $2.35 a night and the rooms with baths were $3.50 a night.
When my grandmother purchased it, the name was the Mathis Hotel. The purchase price in
1947 was $14,000. She sold it in 1969 for $6,000 to get it off her hands as she was getting older
and could not care for it anymore. She said it paid for itself a couple of times over before she
sold it.
The hotel was not air conditioned and was really warm in the summers. The hotel had the
original furniture from the 1800's, including brass beds and dry sinks. It even had the original
pitchers and bowls from the western era. I can't remember the address of the hotel, but it was
located across the street from the fire station in Cross Plains. The kitchen portion of the hotel
was located where the "jutting out" portion is on the picture. That was originally the back
porch of the original hotel in Turkey Creek. There was a huge dining room in the center of the
hotel on the lower level. The menus were set for each day and people from town would come
down and pay to eat there. The meals for the "roomers" were included with their rooms. She
only would light the hallways of the hotel with 7 watt light bulbs and at one time called to
complain to the electric company because her monthly bill had gone over three dollars. Many a
trucker stayed at the Cromer Hotel. She rarely rented to women as she said they could "cause
trouble."
She sold the hotel in 1969 and moved to be near her daughter in Springdale, Arkansas where
she passed away in 1973.
-- Danny Michael Fritchlee, May 30, 2007 (from Texas Escapes website)
-- Posted by Damon C. Sasser on October 24,2007
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Contents for The Best of Robert E. Howard, Vol. 2
Editor Rusty Burke recently announced the contents for this collection of Howard stories, due
out November 27th:
By This Axe I Rule!
The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune
Wings in the Night
Pigeons From Hell
Black Canaan
The Bull Dog Breed
Black Vulmea's Vengeance
The Tower of the Elephant
Red Nails
Lord of Samarcand
Son of the White Wolf
The Shadow of the Vulture
The Man on the Ground
Old Garfield’s Heart
The Vultures of Wahpeton
Wild Water
Gents on the Lynch
POEMS: (The King and the Oak); (Which Will Scarcely by Understood); (Solomon Kane's
Homecoming); (Timur-land);
(Echoes from an Anvil); (Black Harps in the Hills); (The Grim Land); (Never Beyond the Beast);
(Musings); (Cimmeria); (A Song of the Naked Lands) and (Flint's Passing)
Cover and interior art by Jim and Ruth Keegan.
-- Posted by Damon C. Sasser on October 17, 2007
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