| Gone Fishing | 20 Dec 2014 10:53 a.m. PST |
Our family is about to leave on holiday to a little house by the sea. It is on the northern California coast which generally has spectacular whale watching this time of year--and the pods can be seen right from the living room of this place. One doesn't even have to get out of the chair. Needless to say, I'm excited. I picture long, overcast afternoons, some good cooking (clam chowder?), and plenty of reading time. Which point leads me to my question. My wife has chosen Moby Dick for her holiday reading. I actually love this novel, and it's a highly appropriate choice, to be sure (I actually wish I'd thought of it!), but in the end maybe a trifle metaphysical and brooding for leisurely afternoons by the fire. So I've decided I'd like to read some Conan. My problem is I don't know where to begin. I know I could look around for some answers online, but suspect TMP is probably better than any other source I could find. I did a search here but didn't find a thread dedicated to the stories themselves. Seems odd, but I didn't see one! I haven't seriously read RE Howard for about 30 years, so could use any advice regarding the series. I'm happy to read either a novel or short stories, so that's not an issue. I'm especially interested in stories that might have evil sorcerers (was Stygia the evil land?), breaking into temples/tombs of evil, fell magic and creatures, as opposed to 'human only' stories. If I'm going to read fantasy I plan to go all the way. Can any of you recommend specific titles? If there is a good collection available on Amazon etc. and you could direct me to it I'd be very grateful. I've got a week or so to sort this out and would really appreciate any advice. Thank you! |
| nevals | 20 Dec 2014 11:00 a.m. PST |
link Complete Conan.I bought it for my uncle last summer.He reads the stories in no particular order. |
| Gone Fishing | 20 Dec 2014 11:28 a.m. PST |
That's a great start, Nevals. Thank you! |
| Ancestral Hamster | 20 Dec 2014 11:29 a.m. PST |
Both short stories, possibly in the collection nevals mentioned above. "The Queen of the Black Coast" Of young Conan's first venture into piracy and his first great love. "Beyond the Black River" Conan is middle-aged and now a mercenary in Aquilonian service. This is a few years before he takes the Aquilonian throne for himself. |
| GarrisonMiniatures | 20 Dec 2014 11:50 a.m. PST |
Complete Conan is excellent – it's on my bookshelf. There are also a load of excellent graphic novels available, the Chronicles of Conan, published by Dark Horse. |
| Frothers Did It And Ran Away | 20 Dec 2014 12:40 p.m. PST |
Wandering Star also published a complete set of the original REH stories in 3 volumes with illustrations by Mark Shultz and Gary Gianni. My favourites of the stories are Red Nails and Treasure of Tranicos. I'm a heretic on the latter since I thing the L Sprague deCamp edit is a better story than the pure REH version, The Black Stranger. |
| Winston Smith | 20 Dec 2014 1:35 p.m. PST |
Heresy. I avoid all the "improvements, edits, pastiches," etcetera by deCamp, Carter et al.
Pure Howard or nothing. |
| Gone Fishing | 20 Dec 2014 1:40 p.m. PST |
The Complete Conan may be what I'm after. I appreciate the story names. I'll look forward to reading them. I'm also taking along a collection of Thrud, just in case Conan seems too taxing. My wife might want to borrow it after large doses of Melville. |
| Coelacanth | 20 Dec 2014 1:46 p.m. PST |
Evidently, the Wandering Star editions are the same as the Del Rey Books editions in the United States. I don't have the Conan books, but they did a good job with the Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn stories by Howard. Smith, W. is right; avoid the Conan stories "edited" by deCamp and Carter. Ron |
| Norman D Landings | 20 Dec 2014 3:17 p.m. PST |
Great choice of holiday reading! The original REH is undoubtedly the place to start, but the Lin Carter & L Sprague deCamp stuff is not too far from the mark. I found the Bantam Press series (late 70's/early 80's not a patch on the originals, but enjoyable lightweight pulpy fun. The Tor publishing stuff – Robert Jordan et al – is just dreadful. Wishy-washy generic by-the-numbers stuff featuring a Conan comprehensively neutered by enlightened modern sensibilities. Worth considering for a holiday read is Robinson publishing's "Robert E. Howard's World of Heroes", which features Conan, Kull of Atlantis, Bran Mac Morn and Solomon Kane. |
| evilgong | 20 Dec 2014 4:11 p.m. PST |
Some of the non Carter / de Camp works are woeful, IIRC includes Conan dabbling in majic and being caught sleeping by city-bred curs. Regards David F Brown |
| Chalfant | 20 Dec 2014 5:22 p.m. PST |
Lots of answers already, but I'll repeat one… for me, "Beyond the Black River" is my favorite Conan story. Chalfant |
| Norman D Landings | 20 Dec 2014 6:11 p.m. PST |
'Black River' is a cracking story.
Wish REH had written more about Conan's time on the Pictish frontier. I like 'Red Nails' a lot, too; unforgettably bleak depiction of the long-forgotten, decaying, city-sized palace.
Inside – haunted by rival bands of degenerates creeping through the halls with murderous intent.
Outside – dinosaurs! |
| 53Punisher | 20 Dec 2014 8:23 p.m. PST |
I have to agree with Red Nails. Another of my favorites is Tower Of The Elephant. |
| Grelber | 20 Dec 2014 10:26 p.m. PST |
Last year, I read The Best of Robert E. Howard: Volume I Crimson Shadows. This has some of Howard's non-Conan pulp stories, and was great fun. It contains The People of the Black Circle, a Conan story set in ancient India. It made me want to put together ancient Indian armies in 1/72nd scale plastic. Grelber |
| Gone Fishing | 20 Dec 2014 11:10 p.m. PST |
Some excellent leads here; I'll definitely have to try "Black River" and "Red Nails" and then move on to some of the other recommendations. I appreciate the suggestions--thank you! |
| grommet37 | 20 Dec 2014 11:14 p.m. PST |
Several of my favorites, the ones that come immediately to mind, have already been listed: Red Nails "Tower of the Elephant" "Queen of the Black Coast" Beyond the Black River I would add "Rogues in the House" as another. I see you've already selected Red Nails and BtBR. Excellent choices. Enjoy. As mentioned above, BtBR is indeed a cracking story. Red Nails should also be a bit of just what you're looking for. If you really like the Warrior-meets-Wizard motif, or even just Ye Eldritch Horror, I'd also recommend Clark Ashton Smith, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, early Lovecraft, ER Eddison, and Lord Dunsany. Also, if you can find it, REH did some passable horror. "The Black Stone" is a personal favorite. |
| djbthesecond | 20 Dec 2014 11:46 p.m. PST |
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| latto6plus2 | 21 Dec 2014 4:24 a.m. PST |
Hour of the Dragon for full on warrior – wizard action. An evil sorceror from the distant past rises again to bring back the bad old days. And only one man can stop him… I think it may be the longest Conan story too |
| Norman D Landings | 21 Dec 2014 5:04 a.m. PST |
IIRC, 'Hour of the Dragon' was written for a UK publishing house who wanted to work with REH, but weren't interested in short stories, leading to an atypical full-length novel. Its plotline was an expanded rerun of 'Black Colossus'. |
| Chalfant | 21 Dec 2014 7:09 a.m. PST |
Oh yes, both Red Nails and Rogues in the House… good choices there too. Chalfant |
| boy wundyr x | 22 Dec 2014 8:48 a.m. PST |
Lot of good recommendations already, though I'll put in another plug for "People of the Black Circle". I'd also recommend "Phoenix on the Sword", the story that got Conan started (in the pulps) and has the classic Conan opening. I'm a fan of a lot of Howard, and personally give Kull a slight edge to Conan, and Howard's "Pigeons From Hell" is one of my favourite horror stories of all time. His "oriental" stories are great too. |
| Gone Fishing | 22 Dec 2014 9:27 a.m. PST |
These tips have been really helpful. I'm off to the local bookstore today to see what they have. If it's in stock, I might pick up the three volumes and then I can read ALL the recommendations. Boy Wundyr, I'd love to hear why you prefer Kull. Maybe I need to look into him also. Thanks again for all the tips. It's cracking up to be a good reading holiday! |
| boy wundyr x | 22 Dec 2014 10:27 a.m. PST |
There are a few reasons for my preference of Kull over Conan, although it's a pretty slim difference, more like 1A vs. 1C (Solomon Kane goes in between and gets the 1B spot). - "The Shadow Kingdom", a Kull story, is one of my favourite Howard stories, with "Pigeons from Hell", "Kings of the Night" (Kull also appears in that, though it's properly a Bran Mak Morn story), and "The Dark Man". It's one of my favourite stories period, superbly moody.
- The Thurian Age is less defined than Conan's Hyborian Age and several of the stories have a more mystical bent, and I find that to make the stories stranger and more interesting. Howard really does a good job of portraying an ancient world.
- He has a good sidekick in Brule the Spear-Slayer.
- Because Kull was less successful in getting sales than Conan, there's also less bad Kull (there's a lot of unfinished Kull instead) than bad Conan. There's lots of good Conan, but a few pieces were pretty clearly written for a quick buck based on the popularity of the series. Of course, bad Conan is still better than 90% of what you'll find in bookstores today… The first Conan story is actually a re-write of the unsold "By This Axe I Rule", a Kull story. The Conan version has supernatural elements added to make it more sellable to Weird Tales. One downside to the Kull stories though is that a number of the plots get started by pouting/sulking 18 year-old girls and the terrible social/legal burdens they bear… FWIW one of my miniature projects is to build Thurian Age armies, have some Pictish cavalry and Giant-Kings done. |
| Gone Fishing | 22 Dec 2014 1:37 p.m. PST |
That's great information, thank you!! The bookstore didn't have what I was looking for, so I ended out getting The Complete Chronicles-recommended in the first response-from Amazon. |
| boy wundyr x | 22 Dec 2014 1:59 p.m. PST |
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| Bob Runnicles | 23 Dec 2014 10:35 a.m. PST |
"The Tor publishing stuff – Robert Jordan et al – is just dreadful. Wishy-washy generic by-the-numbers stuff featuring a Conan comprehensively neutered by enlightened modern sensibilities." I generally agree but I will admit I enjoyed the stuff by John Maddox Roberts. Pure Howard is obviously the best though :) |
| Mithmee | 23 Dec 2014 10:08 p.m. PST |
He reads the stories in no particular order. That is because the books jump all over the place. |
