Conan

[Fried Egg]

Does anybody know where the best place to read all the Robert Howard Conan stories together without offerings by other authors and in their original form (preferably without having been edited by Sprague De Camp or others)?

 

[The Wanderer]

Does anybody know where the best place to read all the Robert Howard Conan stories together without offerings by other authors and in their original form (preferably without having been edited by Sprague De Camp or others)?

The Complete Chronicles of Conan by Robert E Howard

Is in Leather Bound Hardcover at Amazon

Amazon.co.uk: The complete chronicles of Conan: Centenary edition: Books: Robert E. Howard,Stephen Jones

and if you want them in Paperback Victor Gollancz/Millenium have 2 volumes, though they are unfortunately out of print, but are available from Amazon Sellers used, possibly new if you're lucky enough

Amazon.co.uk: The Conan Chronicles: People of the Black Circle Vol 1 (Millennium Fantasy Masterworks): Books: Robert E. Howard

Amazon.co.uk: The Conan Chronicles: Hour of the Dragon Vol 2 (Millennium Fantasy Masterworks): Books: Robert E. Howard

 

[Fried Egg]

Hmm...looks like you're right. I just found this Wiki article:
Conan (books) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was just thinking about all those fragments and unfinished stories and whether it would be better to read them unfinished or not...

 

[j d worthington]

Hmm...looks like you're right. I just found this Wiki article:
Conan (books) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was just thinking about all those fragments and unfinished stories and whether it would be better to read them unfinished or not...

There's also the Del Rey Howard books. So far they've had three of Conan, plus collecting all the Kull, Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn material (stories, fragment, synopses, and alternate versions), so six in all. Beautiful books, and with meticulous scholarly attention to Howard's original mss. If you want to read them with the (sometimes heavy) editing they had in their original magazine appearances, then there are several different sources for them.

As for the fragments, etc.... For myself, I found them quite interesting, and intriguing; occasionally they have some of Howard's best writing, at other times just average, sometime among his worst... but interesting for all that.

If you're interested, here's a link. You might want to see if you can get a copy of one of these to look at to help you decide whether you want to go for them or not. As someone who's been following Howard for about 36 years, I'd say they're well worth both the effort and the (quite reasonable for a trade pb) cost:

Del Rey Online

 

[Fried Egg]

While we're on the subject, are there any other contributions to the Conan series written by other authors that are worth reading? I should I stick to Howard where attall possible?

 

[Nesacat]

The Del Rey editions are lovely and have some unfinished pieces as well so they are a pretty good investment. The centenary edition hardback is beautiful and more than worth what it is going for.

I have read Robert Jordan's Conan tales and they somehow don't sound quite right. They feel wrong and I personally found myself skimming through much of it. For me at least Howard's tales are the best.

 

[j d worthington]

While we're on the subject, are there any other contributions to the Conan series written by other authors that are worth reading? I should I stick to Howard where attall possible?

There are some of them that you may find worth reading, but I'd be very careful. I have a fondness for them, I'll admit, but that's because I found them very young, and there's a large degree of sentiment there. Karl Edward Wagner's The Road of Kings is rather good, though, if you can find it. A few of the stories by Carter & de Camp are not bad reads, though they're very uneven, and the majority are... well, let's just say, not comparable to REH.

If you really like them, you should try some of his other work, such as the Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane, or Kull stories; or the upcoming Best of, which is a mixture of all sorts of things. His stories of the Crusades aren't bad, either.

Bison Books (an imprint of the University of Nebraska) has got some of his books I'd recommend:

University of Nebraska Press

These will give you a pretty wide variety of things he's written, from his humorous Western tales to some pretty gritty regional work; from the supernatural adventure (and downright grim horror) to his oriental adventure and a hefty dose of his Crusade stories.

 

[Nesacat]

I just read the Solomon Kane tales. Del rey has put them together and they are wonderful. Kane is a wonderful complex character and absolutely different from Conan.

I also like Kull who is rather like Conan only he's an Atlantean. Again Del Rey has compiled those tales.

 

[BAYLOR]

I discovered Conan via the 12 volume set about 1981. I enjoyed them greatly .


Ive since read the tales in their original form when they came out. Terrific stuff.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Best Conan Pastiche I've read. Conan Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner and by him Bran Mak Morn Legion of the Shadows


Also of interest Andrew Ouffet's Cormac Art Pastiche books are quite good.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Devil in Iron Where he finds a long dead city brought back to life by city by an Iron God. A very creepy and well told Conan Story.

 

[BAYLOR]

Conan Hour of the Dragon novel length Conan story, King Conan falls victim to the machinations of rivals and enemies to the throne Aquilonia and the an Revived ancient Wizard Xaltolten from the long dead kingdom of Pythonas It's terrific .

 

[Zendexor]

I just read the Solomon Kane tales. Del rey has put them together and they are wonderful. Kane is a wonderful complex character and absolutely different from Conan.

I also like Kull who is rather like Conan only he's an Atlantean. Again Del Rey has compiled those tales.

And there's a great collection of four of Howard's Oriental Stories tales, entitled The Sowers of the Thunder, which is also the title of the last of the four stories. How he found time to learn so much is a mystery to me. He writes as though he was there... completely confident in the world of the medieval East.

 

[BAYLOR]

And there's a great collection of four of Howard's Oriental Stories tales, entitled The Sowers of the Thunder, which is also the title of the last of the four stories. How he found time to learn so much is a mystery to me. He writes as though he was there... completely confident in the world of the medieval East.

I read that howard anthology of stories. It's great but also pretty grim.

 

[BAYLOR]

Im wondering of the the King Conan film with arnold is ever happening.