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Post by Jason Aiken on Aug 16, 2016 19:17:17 GMT -5
The only three books you really need: The original Conan Robert E. Howard Tales with the preferred text: Book 1: www.amazon.com/Coming-Conan-Cimmerian-Original-Adventures/dp/0345461517Book 2: www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345461525/Book 3: www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345461533/If you want to read the tales in internal chronological order, just follow this list. It's Dale Rippke's chronology. Dark Horse uses it (for the most part) in their comics. You can Google "Conan Chronologies" and see what others are out there, but this one seems pretty close. "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 Here are a few pastiches that have received high praise: Conan: The Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner - Paperback Editions: www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553120263/www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0441116183/Kindle: www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ANI6YI6/Conan and the Emerald Lotus by the boards' own John C. Hocking Paperback Editions: www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812544994/www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812590619/ |
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Post by johnnypt on Aug 16, 2016 20:44:22 GMT -5
Jason's right, the three Del Reys are all you need to start. There's great value in reading them as they are arranged in the books, the order in which Howard wrote them. You can see how the character develops and how one story grows out of the other. I would suggest reading them that way first. Then if you want to read them later in chronological order you can read them several ways: the Miller Clark version, Dale's version or you may even have some ideas of how the stories fit together yourself. There a chronology thread with some of our ideas about what story goes before which. Per Howard, Tower & Rogues are towards the beginning, Phoenix, Citadel & Dragon are at the end, anything else is up for debate.
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Post by hoptimus on Aug 18, 2016 12:35:13 GMT -5
Yup you want the Del Reys. After you read them you will read them again. They are fantastic.
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Post by deuce on Aug 18, 2016 14:49:27 GMT -5
Yup you want the Del Reys. After you read them you will read them again. They are fantastic. Right on. They are all worth rereading. Starting off with the Del Reys allows a reader to get a pure dose of the original REH Conan. Sort of a reset. After that, branching out is fine, but the reader will know the real thing and be able to make an informed comparison.  |
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Post by mrp on Aug 21, 2016 1:12:04 GMT -5
This may have been asked/answered/discussed long before I joined, but can anyone outline the relative merits of the Del Rey editions and the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks edition. I have both, having shelled out for the Gollancz edition via Amazon UK before the Del Rey editions came out when I learned they were supposed to contain the original Howard texts minus the de Camp edits, which had not really been available in a mass market edition prior to that. I first heard of the Del Rey edition shortly after I had already ordered the Gollancz editions, and wound up getting those too, and I know there are differences between the two (aside from the obvious 2 volumes vs. 3 and the order the stories are presented in), but are there other differences as well-I've not had the opportunity to give them a close side by side reading for comparison) and I am planning a reread through the Howard originals again later this year, and was debating which edition to read, so I thought I would ask here as I see many recommending the Del Rey versions, but no one ever seems to mention the Gollancz editions.
-M
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Post by johnnypt on Aug 21, 2016 6:45:35 GMT -5
The two volume Gollancz set is essentially a DeCamp-less version of the Lancer/Ace series. It has the stories in the same order that DeCamp had them based on Miller-Clark, though these versions seem to be all Howard without his edits and rewrites. They were fine for the time they came out since there was no Howard Conan out for sale on the market, but the Del Reys are more comprehensive since they were the mass market editions of the Wandering Star books, with additional notes and drafts. Now Gollancz did a good thing IMO when collecting the stories for the single volume edition in arranging them by the order they were released, even down to the later stories (Black Stranger coming before Frost Giant's Daughter, with Vale of Lost Women after). They seemed to take a page out of the Wandering Star/Del Rey editions by removing any editorial interference in how readers view the stories and just present them in a simple fashion.
I don't have the Gollacz editions so I can't comment on any textual errors. From what I've read from others, there don't seem to be any major ones. If someone really wanted a one volume edition to have all the stories in one place, I don't think I'd have a problem pointing someone to the Complete Gollancz edition. But I'd still argue for the 3 volume Del Reys, they're just the complete package.
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Post by terryallenuk on Aug 21, 2016 14:06:10 GMT -5
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Post by mrp on Aug 21, 2016 16:17:07 GMT -5
The two volume Gollancz set is essentially a DeCamp-less version of the Lancer/Ace series. It has the stories in the same order that DeCamp had them based on Miller-Clark, though these versions seem to be all Howard without his edits and rewrites. They were fine for the time they came out since there was no Howard Conan out for sale on the market, but the Del Reys are more comprehensive since they were the mass market editions of the Wandering Star books, with additional notes and drafts. Now Gollancz did a good thing IMO when collecting the stories for the single volume edition in arranging them by the order they were released, even down to the later stories (Black Stranger coming before Frost Giant's Daughter, with Vale of Lost Women after). They seemed to take a page out of the Wandering Star/Del Rey editions by removing any editorial interference in how readers view the stories and just present them in a simple fashion. I don't have the Gollacz editions so I can't comment on any textual errors. From what I've read from others, there don't seem to be any major ones. If someone really wanted a one volume edition to have all the stories in one place, I don't think I'd have a problem pointing someone to the Complete Gollancz edition. But I'd still argue for the 3 volume Del Reys, they're just the complete package. Thank you for the response, it was helpful. -M |
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Post by mindboggled on Mar 29, 2019 20:54:04 GMT -5
The two volume Gollancz set is essentially a DeCamp-less version of the Lancer/Ace series. It has the stories in the same order that DeCamp had them based on Miller-Clark, though these versions seem to be all Howard without his edits and rewrites. They were fine for the time they came out since there was no Howard Conan out for sale on the market, but the Del Reys are more comprehensive since they were the mass market editions of the Wandering Star books, with additional notes and drafts. Now Gollancz did a good thing IMO when collecting the stories for the single volume edition in arranging them by the order they were released, even down to the later stories (Black Stranger coming before Frost Giant's Daughter, with Vale of Lost Women after). They seemed to take a page out of the Wandering Star/Del Rey editions by removing any editorial interference in how readers view the stories and just present them in a simple fashion. I don't have the Gollacz editions so I can't comment on any textual errors. From what I've read from others, there don't seem to be any major ones. If someone really wanted a one volume edition to have all the stories in one place, I don't think I'd have a problem pointing someone to the Complete Gollancz edition. But I'd still argue for the 3 volume Del Reys, they're just the complete package. I have the complete Gollancz edition; it's how I read all the Conan stories. The exterior is aesthetically pleasing, but the interior pages are not as copiously illustrated as the one Del Rey I thumbed through at my library. |
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Post by Reaver on Jun 23, 2020 13:43:32 GMT -5
a handy online pdf was published recently (2017) by Pulp-Lit press, including the completed Robert E. Howard Conan stories, Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian. This can be download or ordered in hard copy or audiobook. This collection includes many of the Weird Tales covers and illustrations. |
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Post by Reaver on Jun 29, 2020 11:03:21 GMT -5
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Post by Jason Aiken on Jun 29, 2020 17:19:22 GMT -5
This is indeed a handy collection for acquiring the Weird Tales text and illustrations. I purchased it just to have the Weird Tales illustrations in one place for easy viewing. |
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Post by kobeck on Sept 8, 2020 13:07:55 GMT -5
This is indeed a handy collection for acquiring the Weird Tales text and illustrations. I purchased it just to have the Weird Tales illustrations in one place for easy viewing. Oh man... Thanks so much for that link |
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Post by themirrorthief on Jul 28, 2021 0:22:14 GMT -5
i really liked conan the triumphant by jordan
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Jul 28, 2021 12:05:09 GMT -5
And if you want to see how the published Conan tales originally appeared, you can use the list below and the link to a spreadsheet that will then link you to each of those Weird Tales issues (and more!). Conan Stories published in Weird Tales
"The Phoenix on the Sword" (novelette) • WT 20 6 (December 1932) "The Scarlet Citadel" (novelette) • WT 21 1 (January 1933) "The Tower of the Elephant" (novelette) • WT 21 3 (March 1933) "Black Colossus" (novelette) • WT 21 6 (June 1933) "Xuthal of the Dusk"' (novelette) • WT 22 3 (September 1933) • as "The Slithering Shadow" "'The Pool of the Black One" (novelette) • WT 22 4 (October 1933) "Rogues in the House" (novelette) • WT 23 1 (January 1934) "Iron Shadows in the Moon" (novelette) • WT 23 4 (April 1934) • as "Shadows in the Moonlight" "Queen of the Black Coast" (novelette) • WT 23 5 (May 1934) "The Devil in Iron" (novelette) • WT 24 2 (August 1934) The People of the Black Circle (novella) • WT 24 3-5 (September, October, & November 1934) "A Witch Shall Be Born" (novelette) • WT 24 6 (December 1934) "The Servants of Bit-Yakin" (novelette) • WT 25 3 (March 1935) • as "Jewels of Gwahlur" Beyond the Black River (novella) • WT 25 5-6 (May and June 1935) "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula" (novelette) • WT 26 5 (November 1935) • as "Shadows in Zamboula" The Hour of the Dragon (novel) • WT 26 6 & 25 1-4 (December 35 and January, February, March & Apr 1936) Red Nails (novella) • WT 28 1-3 (July August/September & October 1936) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GNCfBzO4NcbvjE8XsNlpAjYPpA5rf25PulI7RpVBkhU/edit#gid=0 |
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