by Gary Romeo
The APA, the Robert E. Howard united press association (REHupa) was founded by REH fan, Tim Marion, in 1972. (Mr. Marion was active in other fandoms as well. See his “Fancycopedia” entry if interested.) For those unfamiliar with the term, APA stands for “amateur press association.” Members create at least four pages of original material related to Robert E. Howard and mail them to the Official Editor. The OE then staples all the contributions together forming a booklet that is mailed to each member.
I’m currently a member and find it, all in all, an interesting and fun activity. Several of the members are on the board of the Robert E. Howard Foundation. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the movers and shakers of REH fandom are either current members or have passed through the ranks. I encourage any interested person to join. New blood is needed.
Tim Marion originally invited L. Sprague de Camp to join the organization. Sprague felt his busy schedule precluded any involvement at that time. But he did generously offer to help by sending announcement letters to his professional associates about the newly formed group. Tim Marion wrote about Sprague’s help in Terminal Eyes #8 (available online).
De Camp didn’t actively participate until the 51st issue. He then continued to contribute until issue 144. In his 90th year, Sprague was slowing down and his letters to the group ended. At that time there were three honorary members: Sprague de Camp, Roy Thomas, and Glenn Lord. Honorary members did not have to contribute to stay in the group. Glenn was a founding member and participated in the first few years. Roy’s contributions were rare. Sprague contributed to almost every issue from 1981 – 1998.
In 1999, both Sprague and Roy were removed as honorary members. The majority of the group felt Sprague and Roy had taken the focus away from REH’s prose and merely popularized a generic barbarian that hurt REH’s literary status. Agree or disagree, removing Sprague and Roy who were more or less through with Conan by that time, appears childishly spiteful.
Below is Sprague’s first letter to the group. He defends his role in REH/Conan publishing which became increasingly under attack in those days by a new breed of fan, who in the main, considered attacks on Sprague to be the best way to champion Robert E. Howard.
spraguedecampfan 
Gary, you make it sound Glenn never did anything to support REHupa! In fact you should damn well know he was one of the original members contributing almost every issue of the first years until business pressures didn’t allow him the time. De Camp wasn’t the only one to promote REHupa but the majority of new members were from current members promotion. It would have been better had de Camp not started writing letters as it only inflamed some members to bitch about his interference in rewriting Howard stories etc. I’ve read every de Camp letter in REHupa and I never found that much that couldn’t be found elsewhere. As before, de Camp didn’t popularize Conan. The Howard Conan stories are so good that with the aid of the Frazetta covers they popularized themselves. De Camp’s only claim to fame is that he got them finally republished in PB form for the masses. And those masses popularized Conan too to the degree that about 1970 comics were starting and by 1975 were a major impetus so that by 1980 a movie was getting bandied about, which came out in 1982 and further popularized Conan as a POP Culture icon. That’s my take!
Hmm, de Camp didn’t popularize Conan, eh? I suppose one could argue it, since his participation in the Gnome Press version didn’t make the character take off (though the GPs certainly did provide a boost to the Howard fandom of the time). But those paperbacks wouldn’t have happened without him. I mean, SOME paperbacks might have, eventually, but probably not as the ambitious saga the Lancers were promoted as, and probably without Frazetta. A happy confluence of factors, to be sure. But getting the Conan stories “republished in PB form for the masses” is practically the definition of popularizing. Things actually DON’T popularize themselves. They have to be out there, first. De Camp got them out there. He, and then Carter, and then Roy Thomas, all helped build the enthusiasm at the time, and arguably sparked it.
Leaving out that Glenn was a founding member and active during the early years was a mistake. I’ve corrected that. Thanks for the comments (even the ones I disagree with.) 🙂