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Post by alexander on Dec 26, 2022 13:51:57 GMT -5
A follow-up to a review I posted a few days ago. Broadly speaking it's mixed
A look at Amazon UK and US show that sales are dropping (top 300-400 in sword and sorcery ! !). The book briefly entered the top 100 in the US the week it was out.
Does that mean Titan Books will ask a S&S writer to take over or no new pastiches for the next 10 years ?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2022 23:47:59 GMT -5
I'm 221 pages in now and have also considered jumping directly to Red Nails a number of times when reading this pastiche. I guess, I'll finish it eventually.
Titan should bring on some yarns by our John Hocking and Scott Oden.
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Post by irondavith on Dec 27, 2022 16:12:02 GMT -5
I'm close to finishing the book and also looking forward to Red Nails. Love that story. But I have to admit the book has grown on me, and it does feel like it fits quite neatly as a prequel to Red Nails. I definitely lean towards mostly positive currently.
Edit: by fits quite neatly, I mean that you can see how they end up where they do at the start of Red Nails. I need to look at the timelines again, as Conan does seem quite young. Will listen to johnnypt's podcasts again!
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Post by johnnypt on Dec 27, 2022 16:48:23 GMT -5
I'm close to finishing the book and also looking forward to Red Nails. Love that story. But I have to admit the book has grown on me, and it does feel like it fits quite neatly as a prequel to Red Nails. I definitely lean towards mostly positive currently.
Edit: by fits quite neatly, I mean that you can see how they end up where they do at the start of Red Nails. I need to look at the timelines again, as Conan does seem quite young. Will listen to johnnypt's podcasts again!
Will take the listens! He's definitely not a youngster no matter what timeline you look at. The simplest fit is having it come after Pool of the Black One (without all the Black & Red gymnastics ) and he's definitely in his mid 30s there.
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Post by boot on Dec 27, 2022 17:42:22 GMT -5
I'm 221 pages in now and have also considered jumping directly to Red Nails a number of times when reading this pastiche. I guess, I'll finish it eventually. Titan should bring on some yarns by our John Hocking and Scott Oden. Are we reading the same book? I still dig it. I look forward to returning to it to see what happens next. Different tastes, I guess. I liked Michael Stackpole's novelization of the 2011 movie, and I would say that Sterling's Conan feels a lot like Stackpole's Conan. And...I've refrained from saying this for a long, long time; I have John Hocking's book. I've had it for years, but I just started earlier this year. I read about 20% or so, and I just put it down. I didn't like it. I was prepared to like it because people on this forum rave about it, but it did not feel "Conan" to me at all. I'm going to give it another go at some point, though. Maybe I'll change my mind. Right now, I'd say that Sterling's book is A LOT better than Conan and the Emerald Lotus. OK, start throwing rocks at me!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2022 18:16:00 GMT -5
I'm 221 pages in now and have also considered jumping directly to Red Nails a number of times when reading this pastiche. I guess, I'll finish it eventually. Titan should bring on some yarns by our John Hocking and Scott Oden. Are we reading the same book? I still dig it. I look forward to returning to it to see what happens next. Different tastes, I guess. I liked Michael Stackpole's novelization of the 2011 movie, and I would say that Sterling's Conan feels a lot like Stackpole's Conan. And...I've refrained from saying this for a long, long time; I have John Hocking's book. I've had it for years, but I just started earlier this year. I read about 20% or so, and I just put it down. I didn't like it. I was prepared to like it because people on this forum rave about it, but it did not feel "Conan" to me at all. I'm going to give it another go at some point, though. Maybe I'll change my mind. Right now, I'd say that Sterling's book is A LOT better than Conan and the Emerald Lotus. OK, start throwing rocks at me! I dunno, Stirling's novel is not that bad, so far. I'll probably finish the rest of the yarn next week. I could imagine this story by Stirling working very well in the comic books leading to a Red Nails adaptation or even in a TV series.
I have not read Hocking's Conan and the Emerald Lotus but would like to have the opportunity to do so, that goes for Conan and the Living Plague as well.
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Post by irondavith on Dec 28, 2022 13:11:19 GMT -5
Are we reading the same book? I still dig it. I look forward to returning to it to see what happens next. Different tastes, I guess. I liked Michael Stackpole's novelization of the 2011 movie, and I would say that Sterling's Conan feels a lot like Stackpole's Conan. And...I've refrained from saying this for a long, long time; I have John Hocking's book. I've had it for years, but I just started earlier this year. I read about 20% or so, and I just put it down. I didn't like it. I was prepared to like it because people on this forum rave about it, but it did not feel "Conan" to me at all. I'm going to give it another go at some point, though. Maybe I'll change my mind. Right now, I'd say that Sterling's book is A LOT better than Conan and the Emerald Lotus. OK, start throwing rocks at me! I dunno, Stirling's novel is not that bad, so far. I'll probably finish the rest of the yarn next week. I could imagine this story by Stirling working very well in the comic books leading to a Red Nails adaptation or even in a TV series.
I have not read Hocking's Conan and the Emerald Lotus but would like to have the opportunity to do so, that goes for Conan and the Living Plague as well. Agree that it would work really nicely as a comic adaptation!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2022 13:32:02 GMT -5
I dunno, Stirling's novel is not that bad, so far. I'll probably finish the rest of the yarn next week. I could imagine this story by Stirling working very well in the comic books leading to a Red Nails adaptation or even in a TV series.
I have not read Hocking's Conan and the Emerald Lotus but would like to have the opportunity to do so, that goes for Conan and the Living Plague as well. Agree that it would work really nicely as a comic adaptation! I agree, I should add, that I think Conan pastiche works better in the comic books. Even the De Camp stuff was tolerable in the early classic SSoC issues!
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Post by boot on Dec 28, 2022 19:59:30 GMT -5
You can keep Conan And The Spider God, but...yeah, I like most of de Camp's stuff.
Oh, woe is me.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2022 23:22:53 GMT -5
You can keep Conan And The Spider God, but...yeah, I like most of de Camp's stuff. Oh, woe is me. I love the Spider God, but not as much as the Satyrs in Conan the Liberator
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Post by boot on Dec 29, 2022 8:46:35 GMT -5
You can keep Conan And The Spider God, but...yeah, I like most of de Camp's stuff. Oh, woe is me. I love the Spider God, but not as much as the Satyrs in Conan the Liberator Satyrs? Really? I have that one, and I remember it being really dark--as in the King of Aquilonia bathing in a bath of blood with a ring of children trussed up by their ankles with their throats slit dangling above him. Satyrs and that dark evil in the same book?
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Post by johnnypt on Dec 29, 2022 12:59:40 GMT -5
I love the Spider God, but not as much as the Satyrs in Conan the Liberator Satyrs? Really? I have that one, and I remember it being really dark--as in the King of Aquilonia bathing in a bath of blood with a ring of children trussed up by their ankles with their throats slit dangling above him. Satyrs and that dark evil in the same book? Arthur Machen says "No problem!" to that combo.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2022 14:13:32 GMT -5
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Post by irondavith on Dec 29, 2022 16:53:49 GMT -5
I'm reading this adaptation at the moment, it's in the fourth omnibus. And it's been great so far. I think it's all a part of the Conan the Liberator story right? And one of the individual issues is called Satyr's Blood or similar? On hols right now and can't check. Can't blame Conan for going after her though.
Edit: ah yes, I see Conan the Liberator is mentioned above
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Post by nightscape on Dec 29, 2022 22:32:19 GMT -5
I'm reading this adaptation at the moment, it's in the fourth omnibus. And it's been great so far. I think it's all a part of the Conan the Liberator story right? And one of the individual issues is called Satyr's Blood or similar? On hols right now and can't check. Can't blame Conan for going after her though. Edit: ah yes, I see Conan the Liberator is mentioned above The satyr bit, combined with the related allusions to the Battle of Thermopylae, really took me out of both the SSoC and prose versions of this story. By the time Thomas got to adapting Conan the Liberator his disinterest in the material was starting to show. It was during this period he tried his hand at movie and TV writing.
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