I forgot the literary post. Last night we had dinner with the Library board and got to talk to Mark Finn and his wife, Cathy, from Vernon. They haven't met Sylvia Mahoney but will now. He spoke to Kiwanis at noon, to high school students in the afternoon and was our author at the Meet the Author event. He just published BLOOD AND THUNDER: a biography of Robert E. Howard stressing his Texas and Cross Plains writing. He read from his boxing and cowboy stories that use Texas protagonists illustrating how he used Texas humor and tall stories to create his characters. He only wrote 22 Conan stories in his production of over 300 stories and 700 poems in seven years. He was focusing on western and Texas themes in his later years before his untimely suicide.

In the question and answer period we got a complete briefing on the history of REH's papers and the legal battles over copyrights from Jack and Barbara Baum who enherited the papers from their aunt, Ella Mae Morris by way of John's mother Zora Mae Bryant. They finally released the copyrights last year in order that the manuscripts could be marketed better. REH's popularity is growing. U of Nebr press is publishing his cowboy stories in two volumes that I have and I really enjoyed them.

Mark Finn has just moved back to Vernon to establish a museum like the Howard museum to commemorate Jack Teagarden, the jazz trombonist from Vernon. He is remodeling a theater and plans to offer 3-D movies to entertain. Should be open in the next couple of months.