Conan the Barbarian/Conan the Cimmerian - Robert E Howard

[Admin Pete]

One of my favorite fictional characters. We need more Tarzans and Conans among us.

Original Robert E. Howard Conan stories

Conan stories published in Weird Tales

"The Phoenix on the Sword" (novelette; vol. 20, #6, December 1932)
"The Scarlet Citadel" (novelette; vol. 21, #1, January 1, 1933)
"The Tower of the Elephant" (novelette; vol. 21, #3, March 1933)
"Black Colossus" (novelette; vol. 21, #6, June 1933)
"The Slithering Shadow" (novelette; vol. 22, #3, September 1933, alternate title "Xuthal of the Dusk")
"The Pool of the Black One" (novelette; vol. 22, #4, October 1933)
"Rogues in the House" (novelette; vol. 23, #1, January 1934)
"Iron Shadows in the Moon" (novelette; vol. 23, #4, April 1934, published as "Shadows in the Moonlight")
"Queen of the Black Coast" (novelette; vol. 23, #5, May 1934)
"The Devil in Iron" (novelette; vol. 24, #2, August 1934)
"The People of the Black Circle" (novella; vol. 24, #3–5, September–November 1934)
"A Witch Shall Be Born" (novelette; vol. 24, #6, December 1934)
"Jewels of Gwahlur" (novelette; vol. 25, #3, March 1935, author's original title "The Servants of Bit-Yakin")
"Beyond the Black River" (novella; vol. 25, #5–6, May–June 1935)
"Shadows in Zamboula" (novelette; vol. 26, #5, November 1935, author's original title "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula")
"The Hour of the Dragon" (novel; vol. 26, #6 & vol. 27, #1–4, December 1935, January–April 1936)
"Red Nails" (novella; vol. 28, #1–3, July, September, October 1936)

Conan stories published in Fantasy Fan magazine

"Gods of the North" (March 1934) - published as The Frost-Giant's Daughter in The Coming of Conan, 1953.[11]

Conan stories not published in Howard's lifetime

"The God in the Bowl" — Published in Space Science Fiction, Sep. 1952.
"The Black Stranger" — Published in Fantasy Magazine, Feb. 1953.
"The Vale of Lost Women" — Published in The Magazine of Horror, Spring 1967.

Unfinished Conan stories by Howard

"Drums of Tombalku" — Fragment. Published in Conan the Adventurer, 1966.
"The Hall of the Dead" — Synopsis. Published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1967.
"The Hand of Nergal" — Fragment. Published in Conan, 1967.
"The Snout in the Dark" — Fragment. Published in Conan of Cimmeria, 1969.

A number of untitled synopses for Conan stories also exist.
Other Conan-related material by Howard

"Wolves Beyond the Border" — A non-Conan story set in Conan's world. Fragment. Published in 1967 in Conan the Usurper
"The Hyborian Age" — An essay written in 1932. Published in 1938 in The Hyborian Age.
"Cimmeria" — A poem written in 1932. Published in 1965 in The Howard Collector.

[Admin Pete]

The character of Conan has proven durably popular, resulting in Conan stories by later writers such as Poul Anderson, Leonard Carpenter, Lin Carter, L. Sprague de Camp, Roland J. Green, John C. Hocking, Robert Jordan, Sean A. Moore, Björn Nyberg, Andrew J. Offutt, Steve Perry, John Maddox Roberts, Harry Turtledove, and Karl Edward Wagner. Some of these writers have finished incomplete Conan manuscripts by Howard. Others were created by rewriting Howard stories which originally featured entirely different characters from entirely different milieus. Most, however, are completely original works. In total, more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories featuring the Conan character have been written by authors other than Howard.

[Vile Traveller]

I can really only read the R.E. Howard books these days. They are a real product of their time, warts and all, but there is a freshness I don't get from the other authors' treatment of this character.

[Admin Pete]

Oct 8, 2015 19:49:41 GMT -5 Vile Traveller said:

I can really only read the R.E. Howard books these days. They are a real product of their time, warts and all, but there is a freshness I don't get from the other authors' treatment of this character.

On that I completely agree with you, I don't think any of them captured the true Conan.

[Necromancer]

Conan is just an incredibly iconic character, and I love the stories Robert E Howard wrote. While the pulp writers might have never been considered for the Nobel prize in literature or anything like that, there was just so much talent and creativity (just look at H.P. Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith, to name a few examples). REH is no exception. I think he was a most excellent writer - extremely productive and very efficient: just think of how much action and imaginary descriptions he managed to put in his rather short stories. He sure knew how to provide his readers with entertainment and excitement. For me personally, the Conan stories have been hugely influential. Savage, exotic, actionpacked, adventurous and entertaining.

[finarvyn]

Oct 8, 2015 19:49:41 GMT -5 Vile Traveller said:

I can really only read the R.E. Howard books these days. They are a real product of their time, warts and all, but there is a freshness I don't get from the other authors' treatment of this character.

I still own my 12-volume ACE paperback series of Conan books with DeCamp and Carter edits and someday hope to re-read them so that I can compare my Conan of the 1970's to the actual Howard works which I read later on. At the time I thought I was reading "real" Conan.

Very few authors can really compare to the vibrance and imagery evoked by Robert E. Howard. Conan was great, but Francis X Gordon and Solomon Kane may be even better.

[Necromancer]

I've just tracked down the remaining few titles (long out of print) of the Conan volumes translated to Swedish. There was actually a few stories I haven't read yet, so I'm really looking forward to reding them. But I also feel the need to get myself some collection of the complete stories in English, since everything that was published here was the ones edited (including some of the "collaborations") with de Sprauge and Carter. I'd really like to read the "true" originals too!

[FaerieGodfather]

The majority of Howard's original work is available on Project Gutenberg Australia, here: gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1303751h.html

[Bartholmew Quarrels]

The only stories considered canon in the Conan saga are the original ones written by Robert E. Howard. Here are Howard's own titles for stories and not the titles as they were published in Weird Tales and elsewhere if they differ. All of the unfinished Typescripts, Notes, Fragments, Drafts, and Story synopses had no titles. They are described by key words from the text as suggested by Al Harron in an essay at the Cimmerian.

1. The Phoenix on the Sword
2. The Scarlet Citadel
3. The Tower of the Elephant
4. Black Colossus
5. Xuthal of the Dusk
6. The Pool of the Black One
7. Rogues in the House
8. Iron Shadows in the Moon
9. Queen of the Black Coast
10. The Devil in Iron
11. The People of the Black Circle
12. A Witch Shall be Born
13. The Servants of Bit-Yakin
14. Beyond the Black River
15. The Man-Eaters of Zamboula
16. The Hour of the Dragon
17. Red Nails

Published posthumously:

18. The Frost-Giant's Daughter
19. The God in the Bowl
20. The Vale of Lost Women
21. The Black Stranger

Unfinished Typescripts: Notes, Fragments, Drafts, and Story synopses:

22. The Shumballa Typescripts (synopsis, draft)
23. The Tombalku Typescripts (synopsis, draft)
24. The Nestor Synopsis
25. The Yaralet Fragment
26. Wolves Beyond the Border Typescripts (notes, drafts)