Conan of Cimmeria by R E Howard, Carter, De Camp

[Craig Herbertson]

Well, I was always a big fan of Howard and to me your descriptions on the illustrators make a lot of sense. Howard was very dark - one of the great story tellers. Some of the scenes are electric. The opening scene in Conan the Conqueror where they resurrect the magician is just 'thrilling'

[Dr Terror]

colour map

[Craig Herbertson]

Wow, makes you want to spend a year or two honing combat skills and growing a new body just to wander across those ancient plains.

Reminds me too of how well researched Howard's work was. Can't get enough of it.

[Jaqhama]

Oct 15, 2008 11:34:36 GMT Craig Herbertson said:

Wow, makes you want to spend a year or two honing combat skills and growing a new body just to wander across those ancient plains.

Remidns me too of how well researched Howard's work was. Can't get enough of it.

Can't get enough of REH and Conan?...I give you the REH foundation forum and website and all things related.

www.conan.com/invboard/index.php

The REH forum mods don't like people saying this on their forum, in fact I almost got banned because of it...but you can read plenty of free Conan and other REH stories for free at:

www.arthursclassicnovels.com

Just type Robert E. Howard into the internal search engine.
Red Nails is there, one of the best Conan tales.
As is Beyond the Black River.

The Conan of the books and the Conan of the movies is in no way similar.
Movies are crap. Nothing like the real Conan stories.

Cheers: Jaq.

[Craig Herbertson]

Yes,

the only good thing about the movie was the opening scene (or was it the end) with SwartZy glowering - a direct copy of the classic Frazetta cover. Beyond that it was pretty much an embarrassing farce which made me feel very sad.

I used to go on about Tarzan in a similar fashion. Anyone watching a Tarzan film must assume that Edgar Rice Burroughs was retarded but read the book - it's dated in many respects but still a marvellous story

[mattofthespurs]

I love the Tarzan books in much the same way I love the Conan books.

[killercrab]

Anyone watching a Tarzan film must assume that Edgar Rice Burroughs was retarded but read the book - it's dated in many respects but still a marvellous story >>

Ha ha I grew up watching those old b/w Tarzan flicks. I remember one Christmas they showed 'em all Criag. My fave was Tarzan and the Leopard Woman with the leopard cult guys with metal claws. Love to see it again !

ade

[Craig Herbertson]

The early films look like Ballard novels now with their utterly preposterous landscapes, hordes of renewable savages and ancient lions being beaten up by musclemen. Brilliant hockum but nothing like the novels

[bushwick]

My mate got me about 8 old Conans from a retro fair the other day, late 80s Sphere editions. Now, I used to be obsessed with anything 'sword and sorcery' when I was little, but ashamed to say I'd never read a Conan book. Didn't really know much about REH's short life either. Jeez, he was prolific over a very short time, wasn't he?

Started on 'Red Nails' yesterday, and I'm loving it I must say. Howard's writing is a lot less florid than I thought it'd be, quite economical. The pacing is brilliant, really exciting stuff, and having only seen the Arnie films, I was surprised at how gregarious and talkative Conan actually is. He's similar to the Edge-type heroes in a way, essentially being 'a man alone', but he has a lot more craic to him, eh?

This is probably about as good as it gets when it comes to rip-roaring, no nonsense pulp. I can see where the likes of Harknett, GNS etc get a lot of it from. Violent, too - somehow I didn't expect decapitations, slit throats etc etc, I've no idea why!

[Craig Herbertson]

Howard is unashamedly violent. Conan loves violence really, never happier when killing people - after all, he s a barbarian. I am starting to wish I hadn't sold all Howard's books but one a long time ago

[benedictjjones]

i've been convinced by you lots ramblings and intend to 'plunge into conan' (so to speak) asap.
ta.

[killercrab]

I picked up the Chronicles of Conan anthology last week. Like Bushwick I've been surprised at REH's prose - violent , detailed yet the tales never get bogged down.Very similar to the pulps from the 1970's in many ways. I've tried a De Camp Conan too - no comparison - burger to Howard's steak. What I like about the Hyborian mythos is that it ties into *our* history broadly speaking. The land Conan travels has tigers and bears as well as exotic threats.

ade

[dem]

Ade, when you're done with Conan, try the Solomon Kane stories. Kane is a globetrotting Puritan, sworn to fighting evils, righting wrongs and - most importantly - bringing wrong-doers to terrible, violent ends. Basically, a cross between a painfully sincere, selfless Matthew Hopkins and GNS's Sabat with no sense of humour whatsoever. Skulls In The Stars, Rattle Of Bones, Wings In The Night (the body count in that one!) and Hills Of The Dead are especially good, bloody fun.

I've got the Neville Spearman edition of The Skull Face Omnibus. They went through a phase of reprinting several Arkham House originals in the 'seventies - by Henry Whitehead, Clark Ashton Smith, David H. Keller, etc - and if you can overlook the atrocious cover, Skull Face ... is one of the best. There seems to be a mixture of just about everything in here, including a mad horror novel, a western, a strange assortment of vampire stories, plus some of the finest (and bloodiest) adventures of Conan, Solomon Kane, Kull and Bran Mak Morn. I'm sure you'd prefer it spread out over three paperbacks, in which case Panther obliged in 1976).

Robert E. Howard - The Skull-Face Omnibus (Neville Spearman, 1974: Originally Arkham House, 1946)

Jacket Design: Reg Boorer

August Derleth - Foreword
H. P. Lovecraft - Robert Ervin Howard: A Memoriam
E. Hoffmann Price - A Memory Of R. E. Howard

Wolfshead
The Black Stone
The Horror From The Mound
The Cairn On The Headland
Black Canaan
The Fire Of Asshurbanipal
A Man-Eating Jeopard
Skull-Face
The Hyborian Age
Worms Of The Earth
The Valley Of The Worm
Skulls In The Stars
Rattle Of Bones
The Hills Of The Dead
Wings In The Night
The Shadow Kingdom
The Mirrors Of Tuzun Thune
Kings Of The Night
The Phoenix On The Sword
The Scarlet Citadel
The Tower Of The Elephant
Rogues In The House
Shadows In Zamboula

Which Will Scarcely Be Understood (verse)
Lines Written In The Realization That I Must Die (verse)


I can't abide poetry, but I must admit to being fond of his titles. The 'straight' horror stories are worth your time too. Somewhere around here, there's a paperback collection called Pigeons From Hell which is ace. Trouble is, the cover depicts some kind of sea dinosaur, so i hid it somewhere because it offended my sensibilities so.

[killercrab]

Dem - great stuff. I fully hope to explore all REH' worlds. I'm planning on getting the Wordsworth REH horror volume soon - except some beggar must of snagged it last week from Borders Preston! So far the only REH poetry I've read is Cimmeria which was illustrated in one of the Savage Sword Of Conan mags .

I was reading about Howard's relationship with Lovecraft tonight. They corresponded on many subjects though each came from different political sensibilities - Lovecraft was fond of calling Howard , Two Gun Bob! However when it came to writing pulp - they absolutely respected each other and in fact Howard used some Cthullu stuff in his works - similarily Lovecraft used Howard's serpent men in one story. I love the idea of these two titans arguing via letter - can you imagine them *online* in this day an age?! Ha ha.

ade

[David A. Riley]

I'm planning on getting the Wordsworth REH horror volume soon - except some beggar must of snagged it last week from Borders Preston!

Wish I did, but they still hadn't got them in - or some other beggar managed to beat me to them.

Still, I managed to get a couple of the new Virgin horror books, Ligotti and Williams, plus a critical survey of HPL.

I'll be searching their shelves again this Friday though. Be warned!

David