R.E.H. stories chronology

[slegtvalk]

Hey guys,

First let me introduce myself. I'm slegtvalk, a Conan-fan from the Netherlands. I got into Conan years ago when I started playing Funcom's Age of Conan: Unchained. I liked the story and feel of the game so much that I started reading the original R.E. Howard stories and I've been hooked on Hyboria ever since. I bought the centenary edition from Orion Publishing (which you probably all know) and though I love that edition, I've struggled a bit with the order in which the stories have been printed (you can find the order of the stories in the book here). It starts with The Phoenix on the Sword, followed by The Scarlet Citadel and The Tower of the Elephant. Last summer, when I started playing Conan Exiles, I got back into Conan and now I've decided to re-read the stories. However, I remembered the weird order in which they were printed in the Orion version and I was wondering: Do any of you know in what kind of order they are printed in the book? Is it in order of publication? This time around I really want to read them in chonological order, in other words: starting with Conan when he was young and ending with him as king. Do you have such a list?

My apologies if this question has already been discussed here.

[stubbs]

Hi Slegtvalk. Looks like the Orion stories are in order of publication. There are different interpretations of the chronological order of the tales.

This is Joe Marek's proposal:

"The Hyborian Age, Part One"
"Cimmeria" (poem)
"The Frost Giant's Daughter"
"The Tower of the Elephant"
"The Hall of the Dead" (fragment)
"The God in the Bowl"
"Rogues in the House"
"The Hand of Nergal" (fragment)
"Black Colossus"
"Queen of the Black Coast"
"The Snout in the Dark" (fragment)
"Shadows in the Moonlight"
"A Witch Shall Be Born"
"Shadows in Zamboula"
"Xuthal of the Dusk"
"The Devil in Iron"
"The People of the Black Circle"
"Drums of Tombalku" (fragment)
"The Vale of Lost Women"
"The Pool of the Black One"
"Red Nails"
"The Teeth of Gwahlur"
"Beyond the Black River"
"The Black Stranger"
"Wolves Beyond the Border" (fragment)
"The Phoenix on the Sword"
"The Scarlet Citadel"
"The Hour of the Dragon"
"The Hyborian Age, Part Two"

This is Dale Rippke's

"The Frost Giant's Daughter"
"The God in the Bowl"
"The Tower of the Elephant"
"The Hall of the Dead" (synopsis)
"Rogues in the House"
"The Hand of Nergal" (fragment)
"Black Colossus"
"Shadows in the Moonlight"
"Queen of the Black Coast"
"The Snout in the Dark" (fragment)
"The Slithering Shadow"
"A Witch Shall Be Born"
"The Devil in Iron"
"The People of the Black Circle"
"Shadows in Zamboula"
"Drums of Tombalku" (fragment)
"The Vale of Lost Women"
"The Pool of the Black One"
"Beyond the Black River"
"The Black Stranger"
"Red Nails"
"Jewels of Gwahlur"
"Wolves Beyond the Border" (fragment)
"The Phoenix on the Sword"
"The Scarlet Citadel"
"The Hour of the Dragon"

The very first one, and the only version to be seen by Howard is in the essay 'A Probable Outline of Conan's Career' (1936) by P. Schuyler Miller and John D. Clark, but this only includes tales published at that time. It can be found here: link

[johnnypt]

Feb 3, 2020 8:09:45 GMT -5 slegtvalk said:

Hey guys,

First let me introduce myself. I'm slegtvalk, a Conan-fan from the Netherlands. I got into Conan years ago when I started playing Funcom's Age of Conan: Unchained. I liked the story and feel of the game so much that I started reading the original R.E. Howard stories and I've been hooked on Hyboria ever since. I bought the centenary edition from Orion Publishing (which you probably all know) and though I love that edition, I've struggled a bit with the order in which the stories have been printed (you can find the order of the stories in the book here). It starts with The Phoenix on the Sword, followed by The Scarlet Citadel and The Tower of the Elephant. Last summer, when I started playing Conan Exiles, I got back into Conan and now I've decided to re-read the stories. However, I remembered the weird order in which they were printed in the Orion version and I was wondering: Do any of you know in what kind of order they are printed in the book? Is it in order of publication? This time around I really want to read them in chonological order, in other words: starting with Conan when he was young and ending with him as king. Do you have such a list?

My apologies if this question has already been discussed here.

You can check out this section of the board:


swordsofreh.proboards.com/thread/94/chronology-robert-howard-conan-yarns

We've talked about it a LOT 

[slegtvalk]

Feb 3, 2020 9:12:41 GMT -5 stubbs said:

Hi Slegtvalk. Looks like the Orion stories are in order of publication. There are different interpretations of the chronological order of the tales.

Thanks stubbs! That's great. I'm a bit surprised about the mention of The Hyborian Age. I always considered that text to be extradiegitic in nature i.e. not part of the fictional world of Hyboria but more like a note from the author. In other words it is told by R.E.H., not a fictional narrator.

[slegtvalk]

Feb 3, 2020 9:20:56 GMT -5 johnnypt said:

Feb 3, 2020 8:09:45 GMT -5 slegtvalk said:

Hey guys,

First let me introduce myself. I'm slegtvalk, a Conan-fan from the Netherlands. I got into Conan years ago when I started playing Funcom's Age of Conan: Unchained. I liked the story and feel of the game so much that I started reading the original R.E. Howard stories and I've been hooked on Hyboria ever since. I bought the centenary edition from Orion Publishing (which you probably all know) and though I love that edition, I've struggled a bit with the order in which the stories have been printed (you can find the order of the stories in the book here). It starts with The Phoenix on the Sword, followed by The Scarlet Citadel and The Tower of the Elephant. Last summer, when I started playing Conan Exiles, I got back into Conan and now I've decided to re-read the stories. However, I remembered the weird order in which they were printed in the Orion version and I was wondering: Do any of you know in what kind of order they are printed in the book? Is it in order of publication? This time around I really want to read them in chonological order, in other words: starting with Conan when he was young and ending with him as king. Do you have such a list?

My apologies if this question has already been discussed here.

You can check out this section of the board:


swordsofreh.proboards.com/thread/94/chronology-robert-howard-conan-yarns

We've talked about it a LOT 

Yeah, I could've known that this would be a hot topic. Thanks for the link.

[themirrorthief]

good stuff gracias