It has been said that any Conan story not written by Robert E. Howard is fan fiction. I agree with that but “fan fiction” doesn’t necessarily equal bad fiction. And there is the distinction between authorized and unauthorized continuations. Authorized (the intellectual property owner gets paid) fiction is usually held to a marketplace standard. It has to provide entertainment for the original fans and there is a profit motive (usually). Fan fiction is written by a fan to just please other die-hard fans (and him or herself). Expectations are lower and (usually) profit isn’t a motive.
This book is unauthorized fan fiction. The publisher is Dorrance Publishing. You might have seen their ads on the internet. As vanity presses go, they are one of the oldest (established in 1920) and appear to be fairly successful. I have no problem with the concept. If you want to avoid rejection letters and self-promote your book, then go for it.
This book probably features the least attractive “Conan” cover ever published. It is credited as “Cover design by Renee Biertempfel.” Published in 2021, it is still available to purchase through Amazon (the Kindle version is around $8). The dedication tells us “There are many holes in the Conan timeline. This work is intended to fill some of those gaps. Enjoy!”
I actually did for the most part enjoy this book. I’ll admit to lowered expectations and treating it differently than an authorized item. When I read fan fiction, I can’t help grading on a curve. The book isn’t great, and it is totally unnecessary to read. Nevertheless, I was never bored and read it quite fast. Anything after the Lancer/Ace Conan series is “multiverse Conan” to me. I don’t get hung up on consistency. That will drive you nuts. I just hope any errors are not too grievous.
The novel starts in Cimmeria. We learn of conflicts between the different clans. The novel takes its cue from the Conan the Barbarian movie and has Conan’s father known for his steel weapons. (So, we are immediately on shaky ground.) Conan’s father is named Krulag here. His mother is Bashera. (Multiverse Conans have blacksmith fathers but his parents’ names change often.) This is a novel about young Conan. Conan is born after a “raider incident” which is not quite “the born on a battlefield” mentioned by REH. Nevertheless, violence is witnessed at birth.
The story flows in a slow burn neo realist way. It features common Cimmerians in their day-to-day activities: mining ore, hunting, setting traps, shoeing horses. The back cover information tells us that the author was an Eagle Scout. I expected more details regarding woodcraft and outdoor survival. This adventure takes place in woods and mountains and seems believable but the level of detail while fine isn’t at the level I was expecting after reading that back cover. As the novel progresses there are some fairly graphic sex scenes. Conan learning the “discipline of steel” is the springboard for adventure rather than a hero/villain conflict.
The “weird” element comes in the form of witch doctor mummery and red-haired giants. No grand sorcerers or minions of Set. Everything in the book is remarkably low key. The ending is somewhat abrupt, I guess signaling a sequel is planned.
The whole package: bad art, Dorrance publishing, meandering (but not boring) story gives a low budget feel to the book. And there are some typos. Cimmerian is spelled Cimmarian at least once and “loose” is used instead of “lose” at least twice. Scourge is misspelled as scurge. Aquilonia is spelled as Aqualonia throughout the text. The northern barbaric lands are collectively referred to as Hyperboria. The book is 372 pages long, but these slight errors are forgiven (if not forgotten) by the end of it.
Definitely only for completists. But not a terrible piece of fan fiction.
There is a sequel available directly from Dorrance. I haven’t seen the book listed on Amazon. I’ll probably get it, but I’m old and have a collecting sickness.
I’m glad to see L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter back in print. (Even with the spelling error!) By now most know that Catherine Crook de Camp (Sprague’s wife) actually co-wrote the book and not Lin Carter. I’ll have more on this later.
Every now and then Sprague hate still rears its ugly head. The complaint that he edited REH’s words gets less traction these days as we now know that EVERYBODY (Glenn Lord, August Derleth, Donald M. Grant, numerous fanzine editors, etc.) edited REH’s words. Even the “pure text” Del Rey volumes have edited words:
— Notes on the Original Howard Texts, The Sword Woman, Rusty Burke
Even though the Del Rey editors mirrored Sprague’s reasoning (“I ironed out these inconsistencies”) in this instance (and copied ideas from Dark Valley Destiny in the essay “Hyborian Genesis”) several cannot forgive Sprague his speculations about REH’s suicide. Suicide is looked at somewhat differently these days, but it still isn’t considered a “reasoned choice” for an otherwise healthy 30-year-old man. Even one possibly filled with survivor’s guilt over a dying parent. I honestly can’t understand why some have so much angst over de Camp’s views. He has his opinions, I have mine, you have yours. To hate de Camp and imagine his paperback introductions and Dark Valley Destiny are what keeps Robert E. Howard from being recognized on a level with Proust is maladjusted to the point of psychosis. (Not enjoying his Conan pastiches is perfectly understandable, suum cuique, as a dead language perfectly puts it.)
Anyway, onward… The Conan the Barbarian movie was first scripted by Oliver Stone, then revised by John Milius. Sprague received a copy of the script in early 1980 and sent off a six-page letter to his fellow board members (John Troll, Arthur Lieberman, and Glenn Lord) at Conan Properties, Inc. (CPI) discussing his concerns. (Below are some excerpts.) Sprague comes across as a little prudish which is surprising as his and Carter’s pastiches had sex scenes in their stories. Sprague (who was 72 at the time) was aware of Marvel Comics success with the character and must have thought those fans wouldn’t be able to purchase tickets for a “R” rated film. Sprague was most likely unaware that comic book buyers started skewing older in the 70s and 80s.
De Camp’s main concerns were ignored for the most part. His other concerns were minor. He suggested cutting or renaming a character called Brak because of John Jakes’ S&S hero. He disliked the scene with Conan’s mother being beheaded. He hated the scene with Conan killing a woman pit-fighter (which was filmed but cut). He disliked the camel punching scene (as did I.) He felt “Osric” was an incorrect name for the king of Zamora. He thought too many breaking and entering scenes involved ropes. And he said two black villains (the second villain was Yaro, more on him later) seemed one too many. He made a few other suggestions as well, but none were significant.
He did approach John Milius on the set during the filming with suggestions and Milius resented him for it. De Camp fictionalized his Hollywood experience in his book, The Swords of Zinjaban.
When the movie was previewed by the ratings board, the biggest concern was violence and gore. Producer, Raffaella de Laurentis, writes in John Walsh’s book, Conan the Barbarian: The Official Story of the Film, “Shooting Conan was one battle. Releasing it was another. The big issue was that the first cut of the movie was too violent. Conan got an “X” rating on three submissions to the MPAA before we finally received an “R.” As we all know, the sequel Conan the Destroyer was rated PG13 in an attempt to attract a wider audience and failed to do so. The 2011 remake was rated “R” and a total flop. Modern consensus seems to be that Conan should be a streaming show with sex and violence a la Game of Thrones.
As previously mentioned, Lin Carter did not collaborate with Sprague on this book. Carter, at this point, was drug-addled and unreliable. I can sympathize with whatever demons possessed him and wish he could have overcome them before dying of cancer, but a frustrated Sprague wrote Carter a letter and advised he would do the work on his own if Carter couldn’t:
Sprague got his wife, Catherine to help him complete the book. When the time came to publish it, the publishers did not want Catherine’s name on the book’s cover. They wanted the proven writing team of L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter to appear. Frankly I can understand that although I’m sure it upset Catherine. It is mentioned in Sprague’s foreword to the book that “[This book] was written by myself in collaboration with Lin Carter, with additional material by Catherine Crook de Camp.” Since de Camp did end up paying Lin Carter his share of the contract (and their collaborative story, “The Thing in the Crypt” was used in the screenplay), I suppose Sprague felt somewhat justified in giving Lin an undeserved co-writing credit.
Finally, let’s discuss this new edition of de Camp and Carter’s novelization. It has been re-issued as a medium-sized trade paperback with a $15.95 price tag. That is pretty much what used copies of the first printing are going for on eBay. And if you are anything like me, your original copy is dog-eared and worn. So, buy this new copy. It is worth supporting.
There are no extras. (Original US readers often get an extra “u” they haven’t seen before.) 🙂 and perhaps the “About the Authors” afterword is new. It wasn’t in the original US edition but may have been in the UK editions? This is really just a reissue of the original 1982 paperback. Titan Books should have contacted some author or knowledgeable fan (me!) to write a new introduction. Consider the reproduced letters and my above commentary as the new introduction for now. 🙂
The book is a fast read. De Camp and Carter try to emulate REH’s style and succeed for the most part. Most people, I would guess, read a novelization for the added detail it provides and to relive exciting scenes in a textual format. This book does both of those things tremendously well. The book succeeds on its own merits, but it is an adaptation. So, I’ll concentrate on things that are different from the movie.
There are not too many differences between this novelization and the film. I suppose some will appreciate that and others will enjoy that there are the minor differences as something new. The chief difference is the movie eliminated the character of Yaro. Yaro is a Kushite priest of Set whose main function in the novelization is to kill King Osric. Also, most of Thulsa Doom’s minions are “beast-men” who are controlled by the jewel “The Eye of Set” that Conan and crew steal in both the book and film. Another major difference is that the novelization has a “Kallias of Shamar” narrating the adventure and interrupting the story from time to time. (Which I didn’t like.) More detail is given, and Conan’s thoughts are given. De Camp made sure Conan killing the woman pit-fighter upset our hero. Conan’s hate for his captivity is shown much better than in the film. Conan actively escapes his slavery during an earthquake scene that is not in the movie. “The Thing in the Crypt” scene resembles the original story in this novel. I could go on and on detailing the differences, but you should discover them for yourself.
The worst change? “The best of life is to confront your enemy face to face, to see his hot blood spill upon the earth, and to hear the lamentations of his women!” S’ok, but Arnold’s verbalization in the movie works soooooo much better!
I think I’ve covered the most severe changes. Some might consider other changes better or worse. (Feel free to comment on the blog with any differences of opinion, or information I left out.) I know that there are people who have watched the movie more often than me and have more expertise regarding “behind the scenes” knowledge.
In conclusion, I’ll repeat that I’m glad de Camp and Carter are back in print. I expected the Lancer/Ace series to get reprinted first but better this than nothing. De Camp played a significant role in popularizing REH and Conan back in the day. This re-issue stands as a testament to that history.
“Roosters crow all the time—morning, afternoon, and evening! They’ll crow to greet the day, to lead their flocks to forage, to cue a boundary, and to alert about predators.”
The Song of Belit by Rodolfo Martinez has been around a while. I’m hardly the first to review it. But with the recent resurgence in Conan product, I’ve decided to finally read it and review it. I bought it a few years ago at a reasonable price. According to Amazon it is going for around $70 now.
I liked it well enough but $70 is way too much to pay. Anyway, onward. As you can gather from the title, this is a retelling of Robert E. Howard’s “Queen of the Black Coast.” The author incorporates REH’s original story into this product and gives REH a co-author credit. The author, Rodolfo Martinez, does detail his changes in a final afterword.
There is a prologue where we learn N’Yaga, Belit’s mentor and guardian, is a follower of the gods, Isis and Osiris, he is in the middle of a ceremony and “the parents” tell him that “Khemi Asud and Khemi Ahmar again will be one.” It’s a decent teaser.
The first chapter is from REH’s “Queen of the Black Coast.” Everyone here should know the setup. Conan kills a judge instead of betraying a friend, is chased by the city guard, and ends up becoming the pirate queen’s, Belit’s, lover in an immediate fit of passion.
Martinez’s voice starts in the second chapter. While I think most might hate the internal dialogue that Conan has after the above events, I enjoyed it. “He was not ashamed of anything that had happened, either on the deck or in [Belit’s] cabin, but he was still not entirely sure of the ground he was walking on. The Shemite seemed volatile in temperament and volcanic in character, and Conan sensed she could move from worship to hatred with the utmost ease.”
Belit has her concerns as well: “From the bridge, Belit examined the scene and did not look away from the gigantic white body of the Cimmerian mixed with the dark skins of the pirates. She drank without saying a word, wandering perhaps what kind of animal she had chosen as bedmate.”
I particularly liked this insight: “A civilized man would have asked himself certain questions, wondered about his true feelings for Belit. After all, the pirate had not given him much choice: to die like the rest of the Argus crew or to become her lover. Confronted with that situation, a Hyborian man would have been constantly assaulted by doubts, would have hesitated over and over again about the decision taken and would have wondered to what extent those were the life and mate he wanted. Conan, however, had not turned back once.”
The novel continues on. We get some clarifications not in the original story. Belit does not deal in slavery. She does make the villages of the Black Coast pay her for protection and will kill and burn villages if payment is not made. Conan’s kills a sorcerer and earns the “Amra” nickname. Belit’s parents were killed by Stygians and she was rescued by N’Yaga and grew up in the land of Nukanda. Nukanda is an Hyborian world version of Wakanda (this is not as bad as it sounds, it works to further the plot). Demitrio from “The God in the Bowl” returns and so does Murilo from “Rogues in the House.”
Remember the prophecy in the prologue? “Khemi Asud and Khemi Ahmar again will be one.” Well, that is the main plot of the new story. Khemi Asud and Khemi Ahmar are ancient names for Stygia and Nukanda. Once they were a united country and work is on the way by the Nukandians to reunite them. The parents, Isis and Osiris, war against Seth. On Seth‘s side is that Stygian wizard Toth-Amon. (Yep, we got a wandering “h” throughout the whole book.)
I won’t detail the rest of the story, suffice to say, there are subplots with Demitrio and the queen of Nukanda, the king of Turan and his sons, a cult of assassins, Toth-Amon and his Black Circle, Murilo and his mercenaries, magical twin jewels, and other stuff I’ve forgotten. This is a NOVEL. It has all the twists and turns you would expect in a 400+ page book.
The current crop of short works that I’ve read are just too one-note. Conan is a cynical bad-ass, Conan kills people, Conan kills a monster, Conan goes on to the next adventure.
Does this novel get a little plodding? IMHO, sadly it does. The author is best when dealing with individuals and their motivations. He provides logical reasons for his characters behaving the way they do, and I loved that. But he often adds more setbacks than necessary that seem like padding. I didn’t like every choice made by the author. There is a particular explosive choice made that I really disliked. But all in all, I did enjoy the book and think novels along this line should be the future for Conan.
I like short stories. REH wrote plenty of great short stories. “Queen of the Black Coast” is a great story, but it doesn’t quite work as a “short” story. Too much time passes in the background, and we never see a realistic romance bloom. That is why we’ve seen this story expanded several times. First by Roy Thomas in the Marvel Comics comic-book series and then again by Brian Wood in the Dark Horse comic-book series. Both of those versions have their plusses and minuses. So does this one.
I dunno. Neither Stephen Graham Jones’s nor Chuck Dixon’s opening scenes grabbed me in a positive way. Dixon recovers better than Jones, but I wasn’t really enthralled with either adventure. This one starts with Conan raiding a caravan. A bloody business for sure and Dixon doesn’t shy away from describing the slaughter. Everyone, except for a young male soldier, is unmercifully slaughtered. After the killing is done one of Conan’s men, Zekir al Khoraj, is upset that their raid did not result in capturing any women to rape and suggests this last captive will suffice. Conan tells Zekir he can have the boy after he is done interrogating him. Conan finds out that there is another caravan that has a better treasure. Conan then kills the lad and tells Zekir, he is done.
It’s left to the reader to weigh whether it was to save the boy from rape (or even a gang-rape) but there is a slight possibility it was just to spite Zekir, who is trying to usurp Conan’s authority over his crew. Conan knows what these men are capable of but still chooses to lead them.
Chuck Dixon is trying to differentiate Conan from the dregs who form his outlaw band. “These were men with prices on their heads from across the southern kingdoms, emirates, and khanates. For better or ill, they were Conan’s sword brothers and looked to him as their chieftain for as long it suited him. Or them.” I’m not sure it works. For me, the grimness (albeit realistic) and lack of camaraderie takes away some of the fun from Conan’s outlawry.
You can say, “that’s the way Conan would behave in that position” but I say, “why would a writer put Conan in that position?” This is fiction, after all. Why write a distasteful scene when you don’t have too?
Anyway, onward… Conan convinces his crew to attack another caravan and they capture a beautiful but very young princess. Conan convinces his men the girl is worth keeping untouched due to her value for a ransom. Conan tells the princess, “I lay only with women, not children. And only with those who are willing. My brothers are not so discriminating. A boy. A goat. You. Makes little difference to them.” So, Conan has witnessed these acts from his men and still is willing to lead them.
It turns out the young princess is King Yildez’s daughter, and a ransom is not going to work. An army of highly trained soldiers called the “Immortals” is quickly in pursuit. The girl, Ravona, was on her way to marry the prince of Zamora.
Ravona is the typical spoiled girl and complains a lot. Conan notices an albino camel following their trail. She explains the camel is her devoted pet from childhood. Instead of killing the camel, Conan tethers it to a stake. The Immortals find the camel and know it will continue looking for the princess and lead them to her captors.
Has Conan made a mistake in his merciful choice not to kill the camel?
Detailing anymore of the plot would provide spoilers. Suffice to say there are comic-book type beasties afoot and we get to read more bloodletting. This time the beasts are “cats who are not cats.”
Although better than Stephen Graham Jones’s short story and Chuck Dixon’s first Conan adventure, all in all, this was just another mediocre adventure for the Cimmerian, in my opinion. Simple plots and a cruel Conan are not to my taste. I liked the violence in the first Conan film, but I think some creators think they now need to add cruelty to the mix. The most recent Conan film had a nicely swaggering Jason Momoa but him sticking his finger in gaping nose wounds was unHowardian in my view. The lack of imaginative stories is replaced with grossness, buckets of blood, and casual cruelty.
I hope the trend gets reversed in the next Conan product.
Two Conan pastiches in the same year? And a third on the way? Are we in a Conan renaissance? I honestly don’t think so. Titan Books is taking a chance on Conan most likely in hopes of the long-promised Conan Netflix series. If that happens a renaissance could occur but right now, I think we just have hope and opportunism.
Conan is public domain (PD) in Europe and publishers mostly small, but some medium, are taking advantage. Numerous print on demand (POD) publications proliferate on Amazon and Lulu Publishing. And now Castalia House, a publisher associated with controversial figure Vox Day, is publishing PD Conan by Chuck Dixon.
I bought the book (and will buy any sequels). My politics are to buy Conan books from whomever and give them a fair read. But a reader should be informed so I’m including any background information that I know about.
Back in June 2014 writer Chuck Dixon and artist Paul Rivoche published an article in The Wall Street Journal bemoaning liberalism in comic books. I don’t mind artists bringing politics into popular culture whether it’s a liberal or conservative bent. I’ve read good books written with either slant. I believe the free market (in this respect anyway) usually works and the market will decide whether something is worth a continuing purchase or not. Usually anything too doctrinaire one way or another loses out in the end. People are much more complex than any label suggests and resent overt appeals to sway them in any direction,
Chuck Dixon
The Siege of the Black Citadel is not overtly political. It is a decent short adventure but nothing much beyond that. This short novel (about 100 pages) starts with Conan ogling women in a bar (something I can identify with). Conan takes action against an abusive patron (I’d call a bouncer) and breaks one of his legs. So, Dixon establishes Conan as a bad-ass right away. I like that but wish Chuck would have done it in a different way. I’ve avoided too many bar fights and scenes like this are too much wish-fulfillment and remind me that I’m pretty much a wimp in those kinds of situations. Just as Conan is about to get thanked by the grateful woman his mercenary army Captain recruits him for a task.
Blood of the Serpent, the recent Conan novel by S. M. Stirling starts with a bar fight confrontation as well, but Stirling makes it less of a cliche with Conan thinking about the confrontation as well as acting it out. It’s a subtle difference that I appreciated.
In this story, Koth is in the midst of a civil war. Prince Xathomidas is trying to overthrow Emperor Strabonus. He is funded by Koth’s rivals. A key part of victory is capturing a refuge named Talas K’rith. The Black Citadel being its main fortification. Conan is working for Xathomidas but his immediate boss is a Vanirman named Danix, who works under General Scythis. They have a plan to overtake Talas K’rith by mining a tunnel to breach its walls. Since the mining is taking too long, Conan is recruited to find an easier way.
Conan chooses six men to accompany him for the task. Conan, under cover of night goes to the refuge, and gets unbelievably lucky on that very same night and spies a secret entrance when he sees a drawbridge being lowered to allow soldiers carrying a chest of gold into the refuge. The soldiers are accompanied by a fat man named Lord Rodian. Conan tells his men to capture that man “because fat men always know things.” which I found funny (because it’s usually true!).
Conan and his men obtaining the gold overrides any loyalty to their employer. The tale then becomes a gold heist story that again is a little bit similar to a section in Blood of the Serpent. It is different enough though. Lord Rodian is captured and is tricked with a plan that involves sex-workers “”The Shemites? The ones who can-” Lugan began with a nasty smirk.” I have no idea what Lugan means, and I doubt if Dixon does either. There is juvenile stuff going on here.
Conan lies to his superiors about the event and comes up with a plan to use a battering ram to attack Talas K’rith. Conan’s plan almost works but fails due to the fact that Prince Ozmeth, the nominal head of the refuge, is actually subordinate to a sorcerer called “the Afghuli.” The battering ram attack fails when the sorcerer uses a fiery concoction to deep-fry the attackers. After this second failure Conan’s boss, Danix, needs to figure out a way to punish Conan, so Conan schemes to be placed in the mine tunnels as punishment. Giving him a way to enter Talis K’rith first and steal any more hidden gold.
After the battering ram action, the scene switches to Prince Ozmeth for a while. A character named Kaja is introduced. The narration suggests Kaja, an androgenous male, could be the Afghuli’s sex toy. The Prince and the Mage are aware of the tunnel being dug underneath and toward their stronghold. The mage is not worried since he has sorcerous powers.
In one scene Kaja (“the androgyne,” as Dixon starts calling him) is being used in the mage’s magical ceremony to conjure a demon and Prince Ozmeth sees that Kaja’s genitalia has been removed. “Turning against this offense against nature” the prince continues to watch the ceremony. Like most guys I like my penis and have that intense cringe at the thought of it being mutilated. But knowing Dixon’s politics I can’t help but think of this as a “punching down” scene and unworthy of being in a modern Conan book. It didn’t ruin the story, but it brought in too much of a current real-world controversy and spoiled my escapist enjoyment for a short bit.
I’ll quit at this point. The conclusion is easy to guess. Conan has to fight the conjured beastie. Conan does not acquire a king’s ransom before becoming a king. And Conan achieves a victory leaving him alive and well enough to have future adventures.
Although this short novel is entertaining enough, its brevity gives it a comic book feel. It follows a standard formula, has action, a spooky scene or two but it simplifies other events in the narrative and overall feels a little formulaic and gimmicky to me. I liked Blood of the Serpent better for the most part but neither book was anything really great.
I guess I have to admit to being a Conantic. Sucked in at age 13, reading the books, the comics, and the fanzines at an impressionable time I became addicted. I joined REHupa at middle age and am now blogging at old age. I’m committed to reading anything Conan and enjoy it all on some level. I’m constantly chasing that original high of the Lancer Conan series.
Blood of the Serpent is the latest Robert Jordan Tor Conan novel. Although this time the book is by S. M. Stirling and published by Titan books. But it is essentially a Robert Jordan Tor Conan novel.
Lest some interpret that as a criticism, I want to stress that I do not mean it as such. Robert Jordan was the first Tor Conan author and he set the pattern: Novel length stories, Horny Conan, and references to past (y’know, the really great ones, by Robert E. Howard!) adventures. It was a successful formula that worked and it was blessed by the master:
Mr. Jordan (real name: James Oliver Rigney Jr.) has since passed away and Conan is no longer a part of Tor’s future, but Titan Books has taken up the mantle. This new book satisfies the Conan craving that we hophead Conan fans crave. Our last authorized fix was Harry Turtledove’s Conan of Venarium back in 2003. (There was a movie novelization by Michael A. Stackpole published in 2011 that was well done but was too associated with a failed movie to garner suitable appreciation.) The Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures paperbacks that started publishing in 2005 don’t count, as those stories didn’t feature our favorite Cimmerian front and center.
I have to admit to seeking outside dealers to satiate my Conan cravings. I purchased: King Conan and the Stygian Queen by Jess Thornton and Robert E. Howard (Middletown DE, 2016); Temple of the Black One by Robert M. Price (Columbia, SC, 2017); The Song of Belit by Rodolfo Martinez and Robert E. Howard (Sportula, 2020); and most recently I Conan: Cimmerian by L. J. Laroch (Dorrance Publishing, 2021).
That product (and the various Conan comic books) got me through the last 19 years and even though there were brief periods of withdrawal I never kicked the habit completely. So when new Conan hits the streets I’m on the corner buying up any supply.
The line “Robert E. Howard’s Conan” is guaranteed to bother those short-sighted fans who merely want to virtue signal that this is NOT Robert E. Howard’s Conan. Yeah, it is. It’s the character created by REH. The same appellation “Robert E. Howard’s Conan” appears on the Modiphius Gamebooks and no one complains. Pastiche brings out the nonsense in some fanboys.
Cover by Gerald Brom
The artwork on this latest book has been the topic of some discussion. I’m sure the folks at Titan Books know better than I do. But I liked the old style covers. For some of the Tor Books (especially those by Roland Green) the covers were the best part!
Cover by Ken Kelly
Back in the old days (1993) we got both beefcake and cheesecake. Admittedly the beefcake here looks like he will soon be ravishing the cheesecake in this somewhat “rapey” cover. A cover like this would have the prudes wagging a finger today. But these old style covers were meant for Conan fans who grew up on Playboy and were fun at the time.
A snake wrapped around a sword? Meh…
By the way, Conan and the Gods of the Mountain is a sequel to Robert E. Howard’s “Red Nails” and Stirling’s book is a prequel. Remember those excerpts from A Probable Outline of Conan’s Career that prefaced the stories in the Lancer/Ace series? Blood of the Serpent is based on the preface to “Red Nails.”
Stirling follows this outline fairly closely, adding more action, and ignoring that one line that de Camp/Miller/Clark wrote that stands out like a sore thumb. You know the one. Sadly, it is Howardian.
Back to the book… The inside illustrations by Roberto De La Terre are very good. And browsing the Internet shows us that Mr. De La Terre (when allowed) can draw female warriors (see below). There is a particular good illustration of Valeria toward the end. But you’ll have to buy the book to see it.
The book also contains a new map (presumably by De La Torre). This new map contains more detail than the Lancer/Ace (the gold standard) maps did. I wish they had printed it in a larger size. I do have a minor complaint about fonts used in the text. The book uses both italics and bold italics. At first I thought this was a clever way of replacing quotes for the character’s thoughts. But the motif is used inconsistently.
The novel starts well. Conan is described in typical Howardian fashion: “Conan was bare to the waist and wore only knee-length loose canvas breeks, seaman-style, and the naturally pale skin of his broadshouldered, taut, heavily muscled torso was tanned the same nut-brown as his arms and legs and face, except where thin or puckered scars showed white. His hair fell to his shoulders, square-cut and as black as any Stygian’s, tied back with a strip of black silk. The eyes under his brows were volcanic blue and his features bluntly, ruggedly carved, with close-shaven jowls.”
Valeria is quickly introduced: “Keep your paws off my arse, Stygian pig,” the voice said, “or I’ll feed you your fingers and ram your severed sword hand thumb up your bunghole with the toe of my boot.” Maybe the dialogue is too coarse for REH’s Valeria and too similar to that god-awful Ablaze version of the character but Stirling needed a shorthand way to introduce her as a no nonsense warrior and it probably works for a modern audience.
Valeria’s warning doesn’t end the conflict and she ends up kicking the Stygian not so “noble”man in the balls. Male readers might not like that cliché so much.
I’m going to avoid describing the novel in too much detail from this point onward so as to avoid giving away too much plot and avoid spoilers. The novel is a fast read. I read it in two sessions and never got bored. Stirling is good with detail. You feel Conan’s sweat and the real life concern of being an outsider in a place like Stygia, where even though, you may have been invited, you are really not wanted.
The weird element that every Conan story should have is weak though. Stirling playfully throws in some Lovecraft but we never get a cosmic menace. Instead Conan is bedeviled by bewitched crocodiles, lions, rhinos, and even Edgar Rice Burroughs’ mangani.
Conan and Valeria, along with other members of Zarallo’s mercenary band, have to escort a Stygian contingent to a gold mine. A slave revolt occurs and the novel brings us some decent battle action. I always root for slaves in a slave revolt but protecting the Stygian gold and their own lives are Conan and Valeria’s concern. After the skirmish, Conan and crew, find some gold that was lost in the melee. At this point the novel appears to be going in a new direction and will be about how to finagle a gold heist with Stygians everywhere.
But the novel has to lead to the events in “Red Nails” so the potential gold heist story goes nowhere. And after Valeria takes “drastic measures to repulse a Stygian officer, Conan follows her south into the lands of the blacks.”
Conan travels south and meets a native warrior woman named Irawabon. New Edge Conan has sex with her, without protection, but he does ask her if she is worried about pregnancy after the deed:
Some time later he yawned, then stopped as a thought struck him. “You not afraid—” His hand shaped the air over her belly. Irawagbon groaned softly, rolled her eyes and slapped his arm. “Now man asks?” He shrugged.
I’m sure in the next new Conan adventure he’ll don a lambskin bladder condom. New Edge Sword & Sorcery sensibilities shouldn’t bother Conan as long as he can still get laid.
When the last chapter of Stirling’s novel converges into REH’s “Red Nails” I was reminded of the vastly inferiorConan and the Stygian Queen by Jess Thornton. In that essentially bad fan-fic book Thornton incorporates REH’s “Beyond the Black River” as part of his narrative. Stirling does the same here but with REH’s “Red Nails.” Despite Stirling being a far far more skilled writer than Mr. Thornton I did feel a bit cheated.
I was entertained by the novel as a whole. It moves very fast and has plenty of exciting parts that I wished were developed more. Particularly the aftermath of the Stygian slave revolt and what could have been an interesting gold heist story. If Stirling hadn’t felt compelled to include “Red Nails” as his finale, the events in this novel, minus Valeria, could have been the main plot elements of a wholly original novel.
As a final statement I have to make my discontent known about a sentence made in the afterword where Stirling gives thanks: “To the folks at Titan Books, for deciding to do a new series hewing more closely to R. E. Howard’s vision.” To my ears that sounds like a slam to what came before. I sincerely doubt this book will be as successful as the Lancer/Ace series and probably not even the Tor series. I hope I’m wrong but a slam against what I (and millions, in the case of the Lancers) enjoyed before does not seem the best foot to start the new journey.
I sincerely hope this journey proves successful. I have a decade or two left and I would love it if new Conan adventures accompanied me until my end. Conan should go on forever…
Conan of the Isles (Lancer Books, 1968) was the sixth book published in the Lancer Conan series but is the last chronologically. It sports a cover by John Duillo. (Duillo was discussed in some detail in the blogpost for “Black Tears.”
When Prestige/Ace Books took over the series it featured a new cover by Boris Vallejo.
The best literary look at Lin Carter (and his collaborations with L. Sprague de Camp) is a book that now commands a price of about $200. The book is Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds, Starmont House, 1991 by Robert M. Price (Lin Carter’s literary executor). Why Wildside Press or some other small press publisher hasn’t reissued this book is puzzling. The high markup price for the original seems to indicate that the demand is there. Below is a quote from the book:
Mr. Price goes on to say that de Camp most likely edited Carter sparsely but undoubtedly added Conan’s geological observations about the oily black liquid he encounters at one point in the story. Also, he feels that de Camp added introspective detail in Chapters IX – XII. Price’s observations are keen, and again, this book should be brought back into print ASAP.
Marvel Comics began the adaptation of Conan of the Isles in Conan the Barbarian Annual #7. It was planned that parts 2 and 3 would follow in subsequent annuals but that did not happen. Instead the complete story was issued as Marvel Graphic Novel #42. Script by Roy Thomas and art by John Buscema. John Buscema draws old Conan pretty much the same as young Conan. Colorist George Roussos did color the hair gray with streaks of white.
A sequel “The Necromancers of Na’at” based on the Clark Ashton Smith story “Necromancy in Naat” was published in Conan the Savage #10 (May, 1996). It was the final issue of that magazine. The script is by Roy Thomas and art by John Buscema. Roy Thomas must have been bothered by Sigurd’s oaths as much as I was. Sigurd and Yasunga are killed off in this story. Again Buscema’s old Conan looks the same as his young Conan in this Black & White magazine.
The current Marvel Comic series King Conan (2022) by writer Jason Aaron and art by Mahmud Asrar has a grizzled older looking Conan and the story seems to be a reworking of LSdC’s and LC’s “Shadows in the Skull” and Conan of the Isles. This new series contradicts things in these previous adventures.
Another “final” adventure appeared when Lin Carter wrote a poem “Death-Song of Conan the Cimmerian” that was originally published in The Howard Collector #17, Autumn 1972. It was reprinted in Dreams from R’lyeh, Arkham House, 1975.
An illustrated version appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan #8.
This novel was a paperback original so there is no need to discuss textual changes. I did notice a typographical error in a scene where Conan reminisces about “Juba,” clearly this should have been “Juma” from “The City of Skulls” and Conan the Buccaneer.
Conan of the Isles is dedicated to: John Jakes, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, and Jack Vance, our colleagues in S.A.G.A – the Swordsmen & Sorcerers’ Guild of America, Ltd.
The novel opens with King Conan being an exemplary ruler but bored with statecraft. Conan is described: “As for King Conan, even that mightiest of champions, Time, had not yet broken him. True, sixty odd years had strewn abundant silver in the thick, black mane and the stiff, grizzled beard, cut short and square, that now clothed his grim lips and iron jaw. Some flesh had fallen from his mighty frame, leaving him gaunt as a savage gray wolf of the northern steppes. And Time’s cold hand had etched deep grooves in his somber brow and scarred cheeks. But still unquenchable vitality surged within his titanic form. Hot flames of leashed fury smouldered in his eyes. And Time’s palsying grip had sapped but little of the strength from his viselike hands – now wrinkled and corded – and his supple sinews and massive thews.”
The peace is broken when insubstantial red shadows like “a hoard of ghostly vampire bats” attack and Conan’s ally, Trocero vanishes into thin air. As attacks increase across the kingdom, Conan uses his unspoken superpower to gain information from the ether. Last used in “The People of the Black Circle” this time around Conan falls asleep and has a conversation with Epemitreus (first encountered in “The Phoenix on the Sword”). Epemitreus tells Conan to abdicate his throne and in his best Horace Greely imitation tells Conan “to go west, young man” (Epimetrius is about 1500 years old, compared to Conan’s mere 60 odd years, so by comparison Conan is a young man.) Conan also receives a magical talisman.
Conan heads south and recruits pirates to sail west. His past reputation as the seafaring pirate Amra allows him to easily acquire a crew. Sigurd of Vanaheim (last seen in Conan the Buccaneer) comes along for the ride. They soon encounter the wizard priests of Xotli, descendants of refugees from sunken Atlantis. Round One goes to Conan but Round Two has Conan’s crew captured and Conan learning to use scuba gear.
There is an extended encounter with a giant octopus that takes up six exciting pages. It is one of the best sequences in the book. Although quickly and conveniently resolved when a shark arrives the tension is quite good up to that point and definitely entertained this reader. Conan finds refuge in a city, learns the language, and not needing Viagra (or the generic substitute Sildenafil) pleases a prostitute. Conan gains the help of Metamphoc and his Guild of Thieves.
As in most stories of this type Conan enters a cavern to sneak into the enemy stronghold. Giant rats attack first. Later it’s dragons (giant lizards). Conan encounters Xotli (the evil wizard of this story) and perseveres thanks to Epemitreus’ talisman. Conan realizes that Mitra (the major Aquilonian god) is winning the battle for him.
By story’s end Conan is satisfied he still has the stuff of champions and acquires a new ship, the Winged Dragon. Conan is preparing to sail even further west to a new continent, Mayapan. The story ends, “… the great ship, which the folk of Mayapan were to call “Quetzalcoatl” – meaning “winged (or feathered) serpent” in their uncouth tongue – lifted anchor. She sailed south and then, skirting the Antillian Isles, into the unknown West. But whither, the ancient chronicle, which endeth here, sayeth not.“
As the ending to the Lancer Series it is not terrible. It was a serviceable adventure and at the time of my original reading I liked the idea that Conan made it to the Americas and inspired the “Quetzalcoatl” legend. Back then I believed the historical myth that Meso-Americans thought the Spanish Conquistadors to be returning gods and was pleased that Conan’s legacy was a part of American History as I understood it. But my thinking is (thankfully) always challenged…
The legend can be dated to 1552: Francisco López de Gómara was the first person to say that the Spaniards conquered Mexico because the conquistadors had been seen as gods by the indigenous people. López de Gómara had never been to Mexico, but he was chaplain and secretary to the retired Hernando Cortés, who had led the conquistadors.
Cortés own letters during the conquest make no mention of being mistaken for or interpreted as a god. Nonetheless, López de Gómara’s version quickly became the accepted story, writes the historian Camila Townsend, even among the post-conquest indigenous peoples. The fleshed-out version of the story had it that “a god named Quetzalcoatl, who long ago had disappeared in the east,” had promised to return on a certain date. By extraordinary coincidence, Cortés appeared out of the east in that very year. Seduced by their religious credulity, the Mexica—“Aztec” was a post-conquest term—were ripe for conquest by their “white gods.”
Townsend argues that the “white gods” story is essentially political pornography, a dehumanizing narrative that equates technological with intellectual and moral superiority. Obviously, the “relatively powerful conquistadors and their cultural heirs should prefer to dwell on the Indians’ adulation for them rather than on their pain, rage, or attempted military defense.”
There is one last entry to cover in The Lancer Conan Series. I will do a post on “The Hyborian Age” in about two weeks and conclude this series and then start on The Lancer Kull Series. Hope everyone stays interested.
Conan the Avenger, Lancer Books, 1968 contains The Return of Conan by Bjorn Nyberg and L. Sprague de Camp; and “The Hyborian Age, Part 2” by Robert E. Howard. (I will be discussing “The Hyborian Age” in a few weeks, as the final entry for this series.) Chapters 2 – 5 of The Return of Conan were first published as the novella Conan the Victorious and appeared in Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, September 1957. The complete novel was published as The Return of Conan, Gnome Press, 1957. Conan the Avenger went through several editions. Although labeled volume 8 in one edition it is the tenth book in the series chronologically.
I had previously written about the Gnome Press version of The Return of Conan. (See that blogpost for the magazine and hardcover illustrations. There is also a reproduction of an article by Bjorn Nyberg called “Conan and Myself.” )
I know very little about Bjorn Nyberg. Doing searches on Google does reveal some information. Below is a translation of what was probably the most informative site:
Björn Emil Oscar Nyberg, writer, born in Stockholm (Sweden) on September 11, 1929 and currently residing in France. His bibliography is especially scarce, standing out for being the first official follower of the work of Robert E. Howard as author in 1957 of the novel "The Return of Conan", later renamed in 1968 as Conan the Avenger. Discoverer of the Cimmerian stories through the first editions in book format published in English by Gnome Press, in the early 1950s, he was the first to dare to continue the Conan saga chronologically where its creator had left it, writing alone and in a language that was not his own The Return of Conan (1957), which he submitted once finished for publication to the editors of Gnome Press, who accepted it, although subjected to a style correction by de Lyon Sprague de Camp in order to be able to translate it correctly for publication in English. Despite being entirely written by him, Nyberg consented that the novel finally appeared half signed with Sprague as a necessary condition for its publication. In the same way, Björn Nyberg would later write two other new short stories for the Conan cycle, The People of the Summit, of which there are two versions, and The Star of Khorala (The Star of Khorala), both also being "revised" and co-signed by Sprague de Camp for publication in 1978 within the book "Conan the Swordsman". Of the rest of his scarce bibliography, the novel Väktaren stands out, published in 1958 in his native language and not translated into other languages.
Number 2, February 1958
The fifth part of Isaac Asimov's The Steel Caves and the short stories Nattvaka i Tychos krater (Niels E. Nielsen), Imperialistisk logik (Robert Heinlein) and Väktaren (Björn Nyberg). The science department further discusses the origin and development of life but also about marches. The reading department consists of a call for SF-Union Scandinavia from C-H Bierbaum and Leif Helgesson.
Below is the notice of his passing from the newspaper Svenska dagbladet.. (Huge “THANKS” to Martin Andersson!)
SvD, Wednesday, 1 December 2004. Our beloved and deeply missed Björn Nyberg, born September 11, 1929, quietly passed away in Uppsala on November 16, 2004. — nieces and nephews Kerstin, Elisabeth and Per, and their families, other relatives, and many friends. The memory lives; it cannot be buried. It cannot be hidden in dust and earth. No, it will live In the song of birds, in the scent of flowers, and in the wind’s breath. Services were private.
Bjorn Nyberg’s other Conan stories are: “The People of the Summit,” and “The Star of Khorala.” Both appeared in Conan the Swordsman, Bantam Books, 1978. “The People of the Summit” first appeared in slightly different form in The Mighty Barbarians, Lancer Books, 1970.
Nyberg wrote a very short Conan parody called “The Agent” that was reprinted in The Conan Grimoire, Mirage Press, 1972 (it first appeared in Amra, V2,N5.) It is a jokey tale that explains how Conan manages to rid himself of the various women that attach themselves to him.
There are three other Amra appearances of note. A short biographical letter (reproduced below) a short letter on Conan’s career (also reproduced below) and a more lengthy article called “Conan Undesexed” written by L. Sprague de Camp with excerpts from Bjorn Nyberg. I will reprint that in my final summary.
Marvel Comics adapted the novel in King Conan #5-8.
Roy Thomas discussed these issues in Barbarian Life, Volume 3, Pulp Hero Press, 2021. Roy had quit Marvel before issue 5 hit the newsstand (before resigning he had submitted the completed script and John Buscema had finished illustrating it). Roy was not allowed to edit the issue and the new editor made a serious mistake when proof-reading before publication. A two page spread was printed without the two pages facing each other in the final version.
The Return of Conan is a direct sequel to (and knock-off of) The Hour of the Dragon. Like THOTD, The Return of Conan is a somewhat meandering novel full of various vignettes that bring up Conan’s past adventures and reintroduces characters from earlier stories.
Somewhat like a cassette recording that has been copied and recopied the music loses some treble and bass but it is still serviceable and enjoyable to hear when driving with the windows down on a cool summer night. C·30 C·60 C·90 Go!
Cribbing from Wikipedia: “In the kingdom of Aquilonia, a year of peace for King Conan and his new queen Zenobia is broken when the latter is abducted by a demon. Conan learns from the wizard, Pelias of Koth, that an eastern sorcerer, Yah Chieng of Khitai, is responsible, and begins a quest to recover her without realizing that the fate of the world, as well as Aquilonia, rests on the outcome of the contest.”
Zenobia and Conan are introduced near the beginning of the novel: “[…] the queen was more beautiful than anyone. The perfection of her form was outlined by the clinging, low-necked gown she wore, with only a silver circlet to confine the foamy mass of her wavy black hair.” “Conan cut an imposing figure in his simple black tunic, with legs clothed in black hose and feet booted in soft, black leather. The golden lion of Aquilonia blazed upon his breast. Otherwise his sole ornament was the slender golden circlet on his square-cut mane. Looking at the great spread of his massive shoulders, his lean waist and hips, and his legs muscled with a tiger’s deadly power, one could see that this was no man born to civilization.”
One of the first odd things in this novel is Conan’s battle cry. “Then the king opened his mouth to voice a weird and terrible call that echoed shudderingly through the hall. It rang like the cry of doomed souls. The eerie tones made many a face turn ashen.” Conan bundolo, tand ka-goda!
After Zenobia is kidnapped, Conan travels to get advice from Pelias (from “The Scarlet Citadel”). There is excitement along the way. Conan kills seven men without much fuss, a knife wound is easily cured once he arrives at Pelias’ abode. The second odd thing is that Conan is advised to pray to Crom and does so. And Crom answers! “And into his brain he thought he heard the cold words come: Long have you forsaken me, O Conan.” Later he sacrifices a bullock to Crom. Bollocks, cry the purists among us. LOL.
The novel continues to get a little trippy. Nyberg (and probably de Camp as well) thought this to be the last Conan story and so rules are made to be broken. Pelias says, “We are entering a new era. Enlightenment and reason are spreading among the peoples of the West. Aquilonia stands as a bulwark among the nations […]. You have rejuvenated the nation, and similar forces are at work in other realms. The bonds of black magic are strained and broken by new factors brought in by the changed conditions. […] This resistance of civilization to the magic of darkness is concentrated in the barbarian king of Aquilonia.” So Conan has to save Western civilization! Quite a twist on that “barbarism must ultimately triumph” quote associated with pre-king Conan!
The novel proceeds with plenty of action. Conan is mightier than ever (even though yellow lotus is his kryptonite this go-around) and plenty blood-thirsty. Conan’s killing capacity was not watered down in this adventure even though he needs a magic ring to overcome a supernatural Yeti-type creature. He encounters a past friend we never heard of before in Rolf the Aesir (maybe Bjorn in disguise?), he gets to kill lifelong foe King Yezdigerd and hooks up with Yasmina (from “People of the Black Circle”). Conan beds her and a Khitan woman as well. Crom intervenes in the finale causing some groans from this reader but to be honest my own religious beliefs (and senility) have me hearing voices from the ether at times so I gave it a pass. And, yes, another bullock is sacrificed near story’s end. But true to form Conan’s main concern at the very end is for a flagon of wine.
In previous blogposts I’ve compared original text with new edits. I do not have a copy of Nyberg’s original typescript so I have no idea what changes de Camp may have made. The Lancer Book edition did restore some text that Martin Greenberg, Gnome Press publisher, edited out of the Gnome Press hardcover edition. De Camp explains it all in this article from Amra:
The Return of Conan shouldn’t top anybody’s list of their favorite Conan tale but I enjoyed it for what is was. It’s decent fan-fic that made the transition to (what was at the time considered) canon. If Conan ever returns to literary popularity I hope this novel is not overlooked. It has historical value as the first pastiche novel and it entertains if you aren’t too picky.
Bonus: The original paperback cover sans copy and the later revised version. Both are Frank-tastic!
The Hour of the Dragon was first published as a five part serial in Weird Tales. It appeared in the December 1935, January, February, March, April 1936 issues. Below are the front covers and first pages with illustrations. The story was reprinted under the title, Conan the Conqueror, Gnome Press, 1950; Ace Books, 1953; Boardman (UK) 1954; and Lancer Books, 1967.
Information about the Gnome Press, Ace Double, and Boardman (UK) reprints can be found in this link. Along with the covers of each book, it includes the Gnome Press introduction by John D. Clark and Sprague de Camp’s book review that first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction.
The Lancer version went through various editions, all with Frank Frazetta’s magnificent artwork. The book was labeled both volume 3 and volume 5 but chronologically it is the 9th book in the series.
There are some minor textual differences between the Weird Tales, Lancer, and Del Rey versions. The biggest difference is that the Del Rey version starts with a short poem that is not present in Weird Tales or Lancer:
There are the normal differences in page/story breaks. Lancer uses “Numedides” as the former king’s name, WT and Del Rey use “Namedides.” One instance of “Crom” is italicized in the Del Rey version. “Surprised” is used instead of “surprized” in the Lancer version. There is a typographical error in the Lancers, where “Zenobia” is spelled “Zanobia” in one instance. Some words are not hyphenated in the Lancer version: head-pieces, war-horse. Other changes are listed below:
WT: The Cimmerian involuntarily shivered; he sensed something incredibly ancient, incredibly evil …
Lancer: The Cimmerian involuntarily shivered; he sensed something incredibly ancient, incredibly evil …
Del Rey: The Cimmerian involuntarily shivered; he sensed something incredibly ancient, incredibly evil.
*
WT: ape-like speech
Lancer: guttural speech
Del Rey: ape-like speech
*
WT: for ever
Lancer: forever
Del Rey: for ever
*
WT: morion
Lancer: basinet
Del Rey: morion
*
WT: burganet
Lancer: helmet
Del Rey: burganet
*
Below are some critical reactions to this novel. First a scan of the Weird Tales readers response to the first installment. (See lower right hand paragraph.) Then Lancer Series editor, L. Sprague de Camp’s overview (from Dark Valley Destiny, Bluejay Books, 1983) and lastly an excerpt from The Robert E. Howard Guide, Skelos Press, 2018 by Del Rey Series editor, Patrice Louinet.
Weird Tales:
L. Sprague de Camp:
Patrice Louinet.
Marvel Comics adapted the story in six parts. The first four chapters were adapted in the color comic Giant Size Conan #1-4. The last two chapters in the black &white magazine The Savage Sword of Conan #8, 10. It was collected into a graphic novel in 2019. Dark Horse adapted the story in King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon #1-6. It was also collected into a graphic novel.
The basic plot of the novel was mentioned previously in the excerpt from de Camp but for those who skipped that part or need more, here is the plot overview from Wikipedia. Co-blogger Brian Kunde is a Wikipedian (Google it!) and responsible for most of the Wikipedia entries for REH and de Camp. (So I’m merely borrowing from a friend here … )
This volume contains the last Conan tale in the Lancer series by Robert E. Howard. The next three books in the series are pastiche by de Camp & Bjorn Nyberg, and de Camp & Lin Carter.
In the oft-quoted letter REH wrote to P. Schuyler Miller about Conan’s career, REH wrote: “In writing these yarns I’ve always felt less as creating them than as if I was simply chronicling his adventures as he told them. That’s why they skip around so much, without following a regular order. The average adventurer, telling tales of a wild life at random, seldom follows any ordered plan, but narrates episodes widely separated by space and years, as they occur to him.”
REH did refer to the Conan yarns as a saga in a letter to a friend, Alvin Earl Perry; and in his story “The Scarlet Citadel.” he wrote of Conan saying: “His saga, which had led him to the throne of Aquilonia, was the basis of a whole cycle of hero-tales.”
The Lancer Series was envisioned by L. Sprague de Camp as a “completesaga” in chronological order. It turned out to be a very popular idea. Why this rankles some is beyond my ken. My wallet probably would have preferred limiting the series to those twelve initial volumes. But I love the character and bought everything since. At the beginning of this endeavor de Camp could not have known that the character would later be adapted to comic books, film, and television and that the popularity of the character would have additional authors narrating episodes of Conan “widely separated by space and years.” A new Conan pastiche by S. M. Stirling is due out in October 2022. I plan to purchase it and review it here.
Anyway, onward…
There is a line of dialog in the opening chapter that stood out to me. Valerius, one of the conspirators, says: “What purgatory can be worse than life itself?” Sadly, we know that to be REH’s worldview. It is remarkable that Conan is such a life affirming character, struggling and persevering against all odds, to not only become king of a civilized country, but fighting tooth and nail to regain that same throne, in this novel.
Here we first see Conan through a wizard’s mirror. Conan is described as “a tall man, mightily shouldered and deep of chest, with a massive corded neck and heavily muscled limbs. He was clad in silk and velvet, with the royal lions of Aquilonia worked in gold upon his rich jupon, and the crown of Aquilonia shone on his square cut mane; but the great sword at his side seemed more natural to him than his regal accouterments. His brow was low and broad, his eyes a volcanic blue that smoldered as if with some inner fire. His dark, scarred, almost sinister face was that of a fighting-man, and his velvet garments could not conceal the hard, dangerous lines of his limbs.” (Later it is said that Conan has a hairy chest, which I believe is new information.)
We are given additional background for Conan in this novel. This novel has Conan declaring, “I have no royal blood. I am a barbarian and the son of a blacksmith.” Earlier Conan tells his general, Pallantides, about a dream, “I saw again the battlefield whereon I was born. I saw myself in a pantherskin loin-clout, throwing my spear at the mountain beasts. I was a mercenary swordsman again, a hetman of the kozaki who dwell along the Zaporoska River, a corsair looting the coasts of Kush, a pirate of the Barachan Isles, a chief of the Himelian hillmen. All these things I’ve been, and of all these things I dreamed; all the shapes that have been I passed like an endless procession, and their feet beat out a dirge in the sounding dust.”
REH is foreshadowing the experience and skills that will keep Conan alive and winning to the end of this adventure.
I’m not one for lists (unless I agree with them!) Michael Moorcock (creator of the second best Sword & Sorcery hero) and James Cawthorn wrote Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, Carroll & Graf, 1988 and included Conan the Conqueror (The Hour of the Dragon) in the book. Reproduced below is an excerpt from that book giving a summary of the finale and an accurate summation of REH’s writing.
This novel merits study. I’m not smart enough to comment on it all but I think it is significant that Conan meets so many women in the story. First Zenobia who will become his queen, also the witch Zelata, the royal bred Albiona, and the vampiress Akivasha. Conan wisely chooses Zenobia but Akivasha is tempting!
Conan inspires a slave uprising in this story and shouts in his best Nat Turner imitation, “Death to the masters!” But frankly, REH ruins the mood with the former slaves roaring, “We are thy children! Lead us where you will!” Earlier in the story Servius, an ally of Conan, complains about Conan’s usurper, “Aye, white men sell white men and white women, as it was in the feudal days.” Servius knows how to raise Conan’s dander!
Back in the Conan story “The Treasure of Tranicos” the treasure Tranicos stole belonged to an exiled Stygian prince, Tothmekri. In this novel there is a 3,000 year old Stygian priest called Thothmekri. Since there is only a slight difference in spelling I thought it could have been the same person at first but Thothmekri is definitely a much older fellow.
Lastly I want to add some observations about Thoth-Amon’s appearance in this book. Thoth-Amon regained his ring in “The Phoenix on the Sword” and appears to be back to full strength. When Conan inquires about the priest Thutothmes (whom Conan is searching for) he is told, “Men say that he opposed Thoth-Amon, who is the master of all priests of Set, and dwells in Luxur, and that Thutothmes seeks hidden power to overthrow the Great One.” Later it is mentioned that the western world knows Thoth-Amon as a “figure of terror and myth.”
This is the third story where REH mentions Thoth. The others being “The God in the Bowl” and “The Phoenix on the Sword.” Clearly REH meant for Conan and Thoth to meet one day. (I will be reviewing de Camp and Carter’s version of that encounter soon. I remember it as less than stellar.) How I wish REH had lived to tell that tale. What a novel that could have been!
Bonus: I’ve seen the Frank Frazetta artwork reproduced in several places on the internet. The coloring/lighting varies on several. Of the two most prominent reproductions, one has a blueish tone and the other has a pinkish tone. Both are frank-tastic!
Maybe one is for boys and the other for girls? The official version appears to be the pinkish tone. Appropriate, since the official version is available at: https://www.frazettagirls.com/
Conan the Buccaneer, Lancer Books, 1971 was the 11th and last book published in the Lancer Conan Series. It is the 6th book chronologically. It is dedicated: “To the greatest living creator of swordplay-and-sorcery, J. R. R. Tolkien.”
There was a two year gap between Conan of Cimmeria, Lancer Books, 1969 and this book published in 1971. In that two year period several significant things occurred. The second volume of collected articles from the Sword & Sorcery fanzine, Amra, was published as The Conan Swordbook, Mirage Press, 1969. De Camp published his fifth and last historical novel, The Golden Wind, Doubleday, 1969. In 1970, Pyramid Books published The Reluctant Shaman, calling de Camp “fantasy’s reigning monarch” on the inside front cover. Also that year de Camp’s fourth Sword & Sorcery anthology, Warlocks and Warriors, was published in hardcover (and later as paperback). Lin Carter was continuing his work as series editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. His Thongor series was still going strong with the publication of Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus, Berkley Medallion, 1970. And most importantly Conan the Barbarian from Marvel Comics (first issue, cover dated October 1970) was soaring in popularity.
Sword & Sorcery was at it’s peak! Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter were all easily found in any bookstore. Conan had successfully entered into a new decade but the world was changing…
The 70s became a rough period for Conan. Lancer Books would soon go bankrupt. A civil war would break out between Sprague de Camp and Glenn Lord (literary executor for REH) dividing the Conan community into ridiculously opposing factions. Amra would soon cease publishing and Frank Frazetta would end his relationship with Conan. While Conan successfully moved to Ace Books, times were a changing. Carter, in his introduction, alludes to seventies strife but is hopeful of the future.
Despite Carter’s optimism, Sword & Sorcery, was changing. Soon Conan clones would be replaced by Tolkien clones. The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series would end in 1974. And even though Conan stayed the course culminating in the hugely successful Conan the Barbarian film in 1982, nothing would really ever be the same.
Besides the core series of twelve books, there was the Bantam Conan series of six books. They were uneven in quality despite the series being written by experienced and successful authors. The unnumbered seventh volume in the Bantam series was the de Camp/Carter movie novelization. The Tor Conan series that appeared from 1982 – 2002 were often a mishmash of movie Conan and REH/pastiche Conan. As with any series product some were better than others. But “purists” decried the pastiches and eventually their popularity waned.
Conan is in a state of flux at the moment. Viable in MMOG and RPG gaming but lingering in potential film development. Barely hanging on in comics and vacant in book publishing. Hopefully “purists” and “non purists” will unite in supporting the announced Conan publishing venture, Perilous Worlds, if they eventually start publishing new Conan works. Conan will live forever as long as new adventures are written.
Marvel Comics adapted Conan the Buccaneer in The Savage Sword of Conan #40 -43.
Anyway, onward…it’s time to talk about this novel-length Conan adventure….
This book doesn’t have the usual excerpt from “A Probable Outline of Conan’s Career.” This story closely follows the events from “The Pool of the Black One.” Conan is now Captain Conan of The Wastrel. He has been commissioned as a Buccaneer of Zingara. What became of Sancha, the woman Conan acquired at the end of the previous story? Maybe Crom knows, but I’m not asking.
Conan is described as ” a tall man, almost a giant, of enormously powerful build. The dark, scarred face under the battered sailor’s hat was clean-shaven, and the heavy, sun-bronzed features were framed by a square cut mane of course black hair. The deep-set eyes under the massive black brows were blue.” Conan swears by the deity Mannanan again (he did so previously in “The Slithering Shadow). Apparently Cimmerians aren’t as monotheistic as was implied by Conan in “Queen of the Black Coast.”
The novel starts when the young buxom princess, Chabela, has a nightmare and seeks the guidance of her god, Mitra, Lord of Light. (This is similar to Yasmina in “The People of the Black Circle.”) By casting divination rods she is told to sail to her brother’s home. Meanwhile, the duke of Kordava is in league with Captain Zarono. Zarono is in league with a Stygian wizard named Menkara. Duke Villagro is trying to get Chabela to marry him using the Stygian’s mind control magic and become king of Zingara. Menkara’s magic is not strong enough and Menkara says they need the help of Thoth-Amon.
Villagro agrees to tear down the temples of Mitra and institute Set worship if Thoth -Amon will help him. Now, of course, this is a ridiculous bargain guaranteed to cause civil strife but apparently Villagro is desperate and not thinking clearly or thinks he can renege later. So Zarono is now on his way to intercept the princess’s ship before she can reach her brother and then plans to travel to Stygia to seek the help of Thoth-Amon. Meanwhile, Ninus, a priest of Mitra is on his way to sell Conan a treasure map. and sees Menkara, they recognize each other and Menkara stabs Ninus. Ninus, still alive but wounded, tells Conan that Menkara and Zarono stole the map. Conan thinks Zarono is after treasure and Conan sets sail to pursue Zarono.
All in all, it is a pretty clever set up for the novel. Each ship having adventures until the final confrontation where Conan prevails.
The only thing in the novel that I really disliked was Sigurd’s many curses: “By the breasts of Ishtar and the belly of Dagon!,” “Aye, by Lir’s fish-tail and Thor’s hammer!,” “By Frigga’s teats and Shaitan’s fiery member!” and (Scottish?) dialect, “Here, lass, did I be startling you? Fry my guts, I meant no harm. How came ye to this gods-forsaken place at the world’s edge?” Probably intended as humor, it just annoys me (but not enough to say it ruined the novel.)
Conan crosses over into Cthulhu Mythos territory when Tsathoggua is mentioned in the novel.
Thoth-Amon is used to good effect. Some REH fans dislike the way de Camp and Carter used Thoth-Amon as a reoccurring villain. But it proved a popular idea. Dark Horse Comics when adapting Conan to comic books eschewed all other de Camp/Carter ideas but kept Thoth-Amon as the main villain, even giving him a mini-series comic book at one point.
Juma the Kushite (from “The City of the Skulls”) returns. Call me a woketard liberal but I like seeing a brave intelligent black supporting character in Conan adventures. It is a necessary counterpoint for stories like “The Vale of Lost Women,” “The Snout in the Dark,” and “Drums of Tombalku.” De Camp and Carter even hit you over the head at one point having Sigurd say to Conan, “I never thought much of the blacks before. They’ve always seemed to me a pack of superstitious, childish savages. But your friend Juma opened my eyes. He’s a real leader, even as you are yourself are. Aye, there’s heroes and there’s scuts in every folk and nation.” A bit corny for modern times but that was progress in 1971.
Queen Nzinga of the Amazons was also an admirable leader and warrior. Her fault lies in the male chauvinism of the writers. De Camp and Carter made her an unreasonably jealous female. A reviewer of the novel suggested Edgar Rice Burroughs’ La of Opar as D & C’s inspiration. De Camp wrote a letter to correct that.
The Book of Skelos has a starring role in this story. This book has been previously mentioned in “Black Colossus,” “The Devil in Iron,” “People of the Black Circle,” and “Pool of the Black One.” I plan to write up something about the various mentions someday.
Quibbles aside, I enjoyed Conan the Buccaneer as a whole. The hate that exists for it seems way out of proportion to what it actually is. It is a speedy and entertaining adventure that, although dated by today’s standards, helped bridge Conan into the 20th Century.
spraguedecampfan 