Posted by billward on Jan 1, 2021 | 0 comments
where to start with robert e. howard
by bill ward
You are reading: Conan the barbarian books where to start
robert e. Howard (1906-1936) was a giant and father of giants, his literary creations are so powerful that they have informed popular culture and permeated the consciousness of the masses to this day. but its very ubiquity can obscure and mislead: if two people engage in a conversation about conan, are they really talking about the same conan? what’s going on with all these other writers writing howard’s hero stories? do they need to be read in order? Of the dozens of reprints and collections over the years, where does it really begin?
Because Howard’s creations are commercially valuable, they have been distorted and, in my opinion, abused by various copyright holders, publishers, and publishers over the years. While the full story of his posting history is way beyond the purpose of this introductory essay (and not without plenty of bright spots to balance out some of the bad), there are a few highlights to keep in mind for newbie Howard. . For one thing, differing copyright laws in various countries (specifically the United States and the United Kingdom) sometimes mean that public domain versions of Howard’s stories are available for free (or cheaply repackaged into books). electronics of potentially questionable quality), and sometimes they are not. often the stories are a less than desirable version. When it comes to many of Howard’s cheap editions, especially those in electronic format, the old adage that you get what you pay for really does apply.
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There is also the confusion generated by the thriving conan pastiche industry. repackaging conan over the years, presenting his story as a grand epic complete with numbered volumes and an overarching narrative arc, and adding a generous amount of filler stories written by weaker writers or cobbled together from stories by howard no related or published (!), not only completely misrepresents the character, but raises a barrier to entry for the uninitiated. when I was a kid I honestly thought I had to read the books in order, and since I only found a few random volumes, none of them marked with that magic number ‘one’, they just sat on my shelf, unread. many claim that decamp and carter’s pastiches opened the door to conan for a whole generation of fans, and maybe that’s true, but in my own personal experience, the door was locked tight and the knob wouldn’t budge.
but everything else is good news. Did that old Howard collection with the frazetta-style fantasy cover turn out to be boxing stories? well, at least they are some of the best ever written in the genre. Was that Howard’s own ‘Conan’ story actually the story of a 1930s Texas Pulp hero who ventured into the Middle East, weapons swapped for bows and Afghans turned into Afghouls? hey, it may not be true conan, but it’s good adventure fiction. As much as the lesser talents interfered with the real thing, as much as the ticks prided themselves on being superior to the host, in the end the quality of Howard’s work always won out.
so where to start? conan is, of course, synonymous with howard and sword and sorcery. And anyone generally interested in reading Howard for the first time is probably thinking of giving his Conan stories a try. The first one I always recommend to beginners is Hour of the Dragon (also published as Conan the Conqueror), the only Conan novel by Howard himself. This novella has all the pace, energy, and invention of Howard’s Magazine fiction, but in a longer adventure format that will be more familiar to modern novel-dominated reading habits. Howard even originally wrote the novel with a new audience in mind (the UK market), and it serves perfectly as an introduction to the character. Having lost his throne through trickery and treacherous sorcery, Conan embarks on an epic quest that sees him revisit the roles he previously held in his career: pirate, raider, mercenary and thief. everything that is the hallmark of the conan tales is found in this classic novel of sword and sorcery.
Hour of the Dragon/Conan the Conqueror has been published as a stand-alone volume over the years, but is also included in the magnificent King line of Howard Collections. Beginning in 2005, Del Rey in the United States began publishing unexpurgated Howard First Class Collections, following a trend started by Wandering Star in the United Kingdom. These collections, currently 11 volumes, present the real Howard, unadulterated, his stories restored as closely as possible to the original published or unpublished versions, and presented in the order in which they were written where appropriate. Along with excellent supporting material from renowned scholars of the genre (including Tales from the Wizard’s Skull by Howard Andrew Jones himself), these volumes represent the best entry into the world of Robert E. howard.
The first three volumes feature all of the Conan stories, later books focus on other famous Howard characters such as Bran Mak Morn or Solomon Kane, or collect stories by theme such as horror tales and historical adventures. by howard. there are even some “best of” volumes that take a more improvised approach, for those readers looking for the sampler rather than the main course. and while i firmly believe that the king series is the best of howard’s collection, not only is it affordable and easy to find, but it is the best presentation of his work outside of small press editions, of course, it is not the only place to find these tales. Whichever editions of Howard’s work you choose, I’d like to present some more specific recommendations for new readers.
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When recommending specific conan short stories, it’s tempting to list about half of the entire cycle, as there are so many solid pieces. One of the greatest stories of sword and sorcery ever written is “The Tower of the Elephant,” a fast-paced and seamless caper that introduces us to the young Cimmerian rogue out of step with civilized ways, and more fundamentally decent than one might expect. . of a savage a grizzled king conan shines in the first conan tale “the phoenix on the sword”, as well as in the story that probably served as the model for the hour of the dragon: “the scarlet citadel” . And if you liked the battle at the end of that one, you’ll really love “Black Colossus,” where both Conan and Howard demonstrate a mastery of pitched warfare. actually it’s almost a rule of thumb that if the word ‘black’ is in the title you’re looking at top notch conan: “beyond the black river” is howard’s work on civilization versus barbarism, “the people of the circle black”. ” is a masterful novel with incredible pacing and an excellent villain, and “the queen of the black coast” hits us with love and loss, as well as one of the most immortal lines of sword and sorcery of all time :
“let me live deeply as long as I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the warm embrace of white arms, the mad glee of battle when blue swords blaze crimson, and I am content.”
Howard’s other heroes wouldn’t echo the above sentiment, and anyone who suggests they’re clones of each other is simply not paying attention. Both Bran Mak Morn and King Kull, the other two great protagonists of Howard’s Sword and Sorcery, are kings with fate weighing heavily on them. Try both in the “Kings of the Night” crossover story, or journey through the dark side of Roman Britain alone with Bran in one of the greatest stories Howard would ever produce, “The Worms of the Earth.” >
howard also wrote historical adventure stories along the lines of popular magazine tales such as argosy and adventure. Many of the best are set in the context of the Crusader period, where West and East collide in colorful conflict, as in “The Sowers of Thunder” and “The Hawks Overseas.” Or meet the real Sonya Roja, a heroine who never wore a chainmail bikini, especially since she’s living and fighting during the 16th-century siege of Vienna in “Shadow of the Vulture.” And speaking of kick-ass heroines done right, you definitely won’t forget meeting the dark Agnes de Chastillon in “The Sword Woman.”
It may be easy to get the wrong idea about Howard’s fiction when you haven’t experienced reality, just the reflection of pop culture, but the basics above are certainly a great place to start. Howard’s output was wide and vast: I don’t even mention his westerns, his humorous stories, his boxing stories, or his poetry. or how about “pigeons from hell”, an absolute classic of the horror genre. his possibly posthumously completed sword and planet novel, almuric? the adventures of the borak? And I also have to point out that some of the Howard pastiches are pretty good, so there’s a whole world of non-Howard stuff to discover as well.
There is no need to overwhelm new readers, the old taste is enough. And once you’ve had a taste of Howard, you certainly won’t need him to hold the door for you any longer; you’ll push me out of the way and kick it yourself, just like any good barbarian would.
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