Thoughts on Conan the Barbarian and short stories by Robert E Howard.

[Cicero]

Conan always came across as more intelligent than Gandalf. That seems funny considering their roles.

Well, Conan did eventually rise to become King of Aquilonia that would taken some smarts . Actually the very first Conan story The Phoenix on the Sword Conan was already a king. Of course Howard did write the Conan saga out of order. L Spague De Camp when he did the 12 volte ace edition of Conan all the cthe stories in chronological order and he and Lin Carter added Conan stories to fill out Conan's timeline.

 

[Cicero]

There is Conan Comic done in 1972 number 14 and 15 in which Conan The Barbarian meets Eric of Melnibone and the demonic sword Stormbringer.

 

[oberon55]

Actually the very first Conan story The Phoenix on the Sword Conan was already a king.

The Phoenix on the Sword was a rewrite of his Kull story By This Axe I Rule which had been rejected for publication. Howard often cannibalized his own work & used it it later stories. I really enjoyed his opening to The Phoenix on the Sword.

"KNOW, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet."
--The Nemedian Chronicles

The Phoenix on the Sword is also one of the more quotable of the Conan stories. Here are just a few of my favorites.

"I had prepared myself to take the crown, not to hold it."

"A great poet is greater than any king."

"Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

 

[Cicero]

The Phoenix on the Sword was a rewrite of his Kull story By This Axe I Rule which had been rejected for publication. Howard often cannibalized his own work & used it it later stories. I really enjoyed his opening to The Phoenix on the Sword.

"KNOW, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet."
--The Nemedian Chronicles

The Phoenix on the Sword is also one of the more quotable of the Conan stories. Here are just a few of my favorites.

"I had prepared myself to take the crown, not to hold it."

"A great poet is greater than any king."

"Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

Ive re-read this story multiple times , it never get old nor losses its magic and, ive read By This Axe I Rule and at the rest of the King Kull Stories , liked those as well.


I liked the sage Epimetreus, wish Howard had done a story about him

 

[Raya]

Conan always came across as more intelligent than Gandalf. That seems funny considering their roles.

At first I just gaped when I read those words. But then I thought about it for a while and realised it was true.

 

[Hobbit]

"KNOW, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet."
--The Nemedian Chronicles

There's something just great about that style, that vocabulary, isn't there? And nearly 100 years old.

 

[Raya]

Reading some books is like listening to beautiful music. And it's not just Howard. I would also mention Patricia McKillip, Barbara Hambly and Tanith Lee. And from earlier writers, Oscar Wilde, Dunsany, Eddison (who wrote The Worm Ouroboros) and, of course, Tolkien.

 

[Hobbit]

I'm tempted to add H P Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith - same era as Howard - but they're not for everyone. Personally Ashton Smith I find hard going, but appreciate the style.

 

[Hobbit]

Before I move the chat away from Howard, does anyone have preferred editions? Personally. I particularly like the Gollancz editions:

but I also have a Kindle copy that uses the original text and drawings. Feels rather contradictory reading them as if they were in Weird Tales, but on a Kindle!

 

[Raya]

I'm tempted to add H P Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith - same era as Howard - but they're not for everyone. Personally Ashton Smith I find hard going, but appreciate the style.

Oops, I forgot to mention Smith. The most beautiful story, in my opinion, is the one about the lonely siren on a dying planet.

 

[Cicero]

Oops, I forgot to mention Smith. The most beautiful story, in my opinion, is the one about the lonely siren on a dying planet.

The Eternal World ?

My favourite story by him is The City of the Singing Flame Ive read and reread . He did do a sequel Beyond the Singing Flame and planned a third story in the cycle but it nave got beyond synopsis .

An amazing writer !

 

[Cicero]

I'm tempted to add H P Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith - same era as Howard - but they're not for everyone. Personally Ashton Smith I find hard going, but appreciate the style.

Ive the Nightshade Five volume set of Smiths work . Once in while I'll dive in a read story or two. Ive never been disnapinted by anything ive ever read by him . !

 

[Cicero]

Before I move the chat away from Howard, does anyone have preferred editions? Personally. I particularly like the Gollancz editions:
View attachment 785
but I also have a Kindle copy that uses the original text and drawings. Feels rather contradictory reading them as if they were in Weird Tales, but on a Kindle!

Impressive Library ! the only one of those I have is the H P Lovrecraft hardcover one to the far left H P Lovecraft The Complete Fiction Barnes and Noble .

 

[Hobbit]

Ive the Nightshade Five volume set of Smiths work

Me too. Bought as a preorder when the postage to the UK was not as much as the books themselves (which it mainly is these days, sadly.)

Once in while I'll dive in a read story or two.

Like a lot of the older writers I read, I find reading one or two at a time is enough. It's how they were in the old pulp mags, after all! Makes me appreciate them more, I think.

Impressive Library!

Thank you. I am very lucky. There are a few pictures around of my books here at SFFWorld, but I am always wary as it may seem like showing off.

the only one of those I have is the H P Lovrecraft hardcover one to the far left H P Lovecraft The Complete Fiction Barnes and Noble .

Probably because the rest are all from Gollancz - UK publisher? I like the Barnes and Noble edition - as it is pretty much complete, I think - but the small print these days makes the reading harder.

 

[Cicero]

Me too. Bought as a preorder when the postage to the UK was not as much as the books themselves (which it mainly is these days, sadly.)

Like a lot of the older writers I read, I find reading one or two at a time is enough. It's how they were in the old pulp mags, after all! Makes me appreciate them more, I think.

Thank you. I am very lucky. There are a few pictures around of my books here at SFFWorld, but I am always wary as it may seem like showing off.


Probably because the rest are all from Gollancz - UK publisher? I like the Barnes and Noble edition - as it is pretty much complete, I think - but the small print these days makes the reading harder.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with showing off the books you own love . People seeing these books get curious and, in some cases , seek out those books and that's a good thing.

 

[Raya]

The Eternal World ?

Yeah, that's it.

 

[Cicero]

Yeah, that's it.

As a Teenager he wrote a strait up adventure novel The Black Diamonds. He was about 14 years old when it wrote and It's rather entertaining . He may have written one other novel. Im not sure .

 

[Raya]

When I was 14, I tried to draw a manga about Zhuge Liang in maths class. And I cursed my teacher with very obscene words when she tried to take away my "art".

Fortunately, this manga did not survive to this day. And I'm really glad that it will never be published, because I'm definitely not Clark Ashton Smith.

 

[Cicero]

When I was 14, I tried to draw a manga about Zhuge Liang in maths class. And I cursed my teacher with very obscene words when she tried to take away my "art".

Fortunately, this manga did not survive to this day. And I'm really glad that it will never be published, because I'm definitely not Clark Ashton Smith.

When I was kid , I couldn't even draw two straight lines on a page . I have no artistic talent whatsoever.


There is no one like Clark Ashton Smith,. He was a great writer , great story teller , with Magnificent prose writer and he was one hell of a great poet too. His literary influences were interesting among them William Beckford, Charles Baudelaire and Lord Dunsany, Sir Richard Burton and others.

There is really no one quite like him.

 

[Matt H.]

Thanks for this, Cicero! Will check out Howard. Somehow I thought Connan was by E.R. Burroughs, lol. Don't know why I thought that exactly. Byw, do you like Burroughs? How'd you compare him with Howard? I guess he's more sci fi, but some of his works seem to have a connanesque vibe...

Btw, agree about CA Smith, one of my favorite writers... IMO above Lovecraft (also good in certain ways)