The Second Scottish Invasion of Cross Plains: Day 3

Since I had such a fantastic time, this is going to be a very short post, but fear not: it WILL be substantially expanded later with a lot more detail.

08:00 Breakfast

Bacon & Egg tacos.  Glorious. 

09:00 The Pavillion

Chatted with lots of folk.  Bought Dreams in the Fire.  Then the library.

10:00 Paul and Conan at the Movies

Superb stuff.  See Ben Friberg's videos if/when he posts them.

Circa 11:30

Lunch at the Bank, had a grilled chicken sandwich.  Glorious.  We saw a few Howard Days folk, then back to the library.  I've made it a custom to buy a Howard manuscript facsimile every year, and this was no exception: last year was "The Sword Woman," this year I went with "The Black Stranger."  Fredrik Malmberg passed by, and actually came up and said it was alright for me to talk about everything I saw at yesterday's panel - this was something I discussed on Conan Movie Blog.  So, the president, CEO and Co-Founder of Paradox Entertainment - or at least someone with his ear - has been reading Conan Movie Blog.  And Mr Malmberg personally took the time to tell me it was alright.  Awesome.

The heat was really getting to me, and since I didn't have a lot of sleep, I reluctantly missed the second two panels, even though I dearly wanted to see them.  I had a lie down (siesta, to use the local parlance), and though there were two irritating flies, I certainly needed it for what was to come.

Circa 15:30 What's happening with REH?

Rusty Burke, Rob Roehm, Fredrik Malmberg, Joakim Zetterberg and Leslie Buhler talked about the next stuff from Paradox, CPI and the REH Foundation.  Some of the exciting announcements:

 - The next REH Foundation collection will be the Spicies, and Rob noted that some of Howard's typescripts were quite a bit raunchier than the final tales
 - The Del Reys are not at an end, but on a hiatus, waiting to see how much demand for more REH there will be after the film
 - Future volumes mentioned include "the Northern stuff," three boxing collections, errata for stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere, and a second edition Collected Poems of REH (YES!)
 - The Kull film is moving forward, and Sean Hood's working on the script
 - Christophe Gans has been developing a script for Dark Agnes.

That last announcement had me absolutely squealing with delight.  While hardly an ideal choice, from a realistic standpoint, Gans may well be one of the best choices to get an Aggie film actually made.  I overheard that the script was described as "Kill Bill in the Middle Ages."  Stupendous - as long as they don't pull a Red Sonja with a rape origin or some such.  Plus he's French, so him making a film about a French character has a nice synchronicity with the English MJB making a film about the English Solomon Kane.

Circa 16:30 Signing

Got Mark & Amy to sign Dreams in the Fire, and ran to the hotel to get changed.

Circa 17:00 Caddo Peak Ranch

Got to Caddo Peak Ranch.  I got acquainted with another newbie (present at the poetry throwdown last night) called Aurelia.  She captured the hearts and minds of just about every male present with her earnestness, erudition, intelligence and simple charm.  Plus she was gorgeous, that helped.  With a capital G.  I also talked with many other folks.

Ascending the Peak

I climbed Caddo Peak.  It was arduous: my calves were shorting out every dozen or so steps, so I had to rest to let them reenergize.  The heat didn't help at all.  But I succeeded.  I wasn't alone, of course: Keith, Aurelia, Matthew, Don, Kevin, Miguel and more conquered the Callahan County Mountain.  I momentarily lost my hat, but a mighty soul saved it from the ages and we reunited.  I found a rock.

The Barbeque

I talked with Don, Kevin, Aurelia, Todd, Frank and Gary about all manner of things: Scotland, independence et al.  I had barbecue.  You know what it was, and it had a capital G too.

The Pavillion

I talked with many people, well into the wee hours.  Said goodbyes.  Have fallen hopelessly in love with Aurelia.  Now I really have to get some sleep.