60 years of Hammer Horror

 

I missed an important anniversary yesterday -- it was on that date, May 2nd, 60 years ago, that The Curse of Frankenstein was released by Hammer Film Productions. Although the studio had been around in one form or another since the 1930s, it was the release of Curse in 1957 that ushered in the age of Hammer Horror and made the studio's name known worldwide.

The British Film Institute posted a short photographic retrospective for the occasion, highlighting one Hammer film for each year during its prime.

Happy 111th Birthday, Robert E. Howard

Today marks the 111th anniversary of the birth of pulp writer Robert E. Howard. It has become a tradition on this date for Howard fans to read a favorite story and raise a toast.

Howard wrote something for every interest: sword and sorcery, hard-boiled detectives, weird horror, historical fiction, boxing, westerns, pirates, and poetry.

It's a great moment for Howard fans who are also tabletop gamers, with the Conan adventure board game out now and the core rulebook for the Conan RPG available sometime later this year.

For his birthday this year I might read one of the stories from Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures.

For more information on his life and career, start with the following sites:

• Robert E. Howard Days
• The Robert E. Howard Foundation
• Howard Works bibliographic database
• The Cimmerian (archive; no longer updated)

I highly recommend Mark Finn's Howard biography, the Locus and World Fantasy Award-nominated Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard available as an expanded edition from the REH Foundation.