This year marks what would have been Robert E. Howard's 100th birthday. Since that anniversary serendipitously coincides with this year's World Fantasy Convention in Austin, editors Cupp and Lansdale wanted to put together a tribute to Howard that would make its debut at the convention. They contacted a bunch of writers with strong ties to Texas and gave them some simple boundaries: write a story featuring a character of Robert E. Howard's, a story featuring Howard himself as a character, or a story in the style of Robert E. Howard.

If you've ever met a Texan, it will come as no surprise to you that these writers took some pretty imaginative journeys to get where they were going. It should also come as no surprise to you that this is a top-flight collection, full of enough adventure, myth, humor, and apes (regular and giant-sized) to satisfy even the most jaded reader.

The stories are strong and cover a wide spectrum. Some of the standouts are "The Stone of Namirha" by Charlotte Laughlin and Bill Crider, a modern day tale involving rival sorcerers, a jewel that can control the world, and a resurrected Robert E. Howard; Gene Wolfe's "Six From Atlantis," a tale of Kull worthy of Howard himself; Chris Nakashima-Brown's "The Bunker of the Tikriti," a re-telling of "The Tower of the Elephant" set in modern Iraq; and Michael Moorcock's "The Roaming Forest," a tale of Rackhir, the Red Archer and his quest for Tanelorn.

For my money, though, the story you absolutely shouldn't miss is Melissa Mia Hall's "The Sea of Grass on the Day of Wings," a look at Robert E. Howard's last day.

Whatever part of Howard you like, you'll find something in this collection to take away with you. Are you the adventurous sort? Check out Lawrence Person's "The Toughest Jew in the West," or James Reasoner's "Wolves of the Mountains." Need your funnybone tickled? Try Paul O. Miles and Rick Klaw's "A Penny a Word," or Jayme Lynn Blaschke's epic of zeppelins and giant apes "Prince Koindrindra Escapes."

Or maybe you have a taste for the dark and mysterious. Look no further than Scott Cupp's "One Fang," or Neal Barrett, Jr.'s "The Heart." And if your fascination is for the man himself, you'll get some interesting glimpses of him in Mark Finn's "A Whim of Circumstance" and L.J. Washburn's "Boomtown Bandits."

Texas is an epic place, where fact looks a lot like fiction and fiction tends to edge toward the mythic. Editors Cupp and Lansdale have marked out a territory big enough to encompass the facts of Howard's life, the legends he created, and the mythic places where the two intersect, and in the process have brought together a host of excellent writers to do old Robert proud.