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Post by Jason Aiken on Jul 3, 2018 23:03:37 GMT -5
Figured July was a good time to do this, seeing as how it began serialization in the July 1936 issue of Weird Tales.  eText w/images: www.gutenberg.org/files/32759/32759-h/32759-h.htmPreferred Text: amzn.to/2z9dzbh or amzn.to/2IRsUgm------------------------ I've put off reading this for nearly a decade as I didn't want to run out of REH Conan tales, but I feel like it's time. Would anyone like to join me? |
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Post by bartonamra on Jul 4, 2018 9:44:00 GMT -5
I’ve read Red Nails twice and still don’t see how so many put it in their top Conan stories. I’ll read it again and see if I have missed something. The last time I was annoyed by a few scenes and it seemed to be just another lost city tale. Though now that I think about it, some parts are great, especially the first chapters.
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Post by Char-Vell on Jul 4, 2018 13:39:53 GMT -5
Red Nails is a masterpiece, surpassed only by Beyond the Black River.
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Post by emerald on Jul 4, 2018 15:42:25 GMT -5
Okay this is kinda off topic, but would you look at that magazine right there? Look who made the Table of Contents: REH, CAS, C.L. Moore and Edmond Hamilton. Wow. Oh, but wait, also in this issue, but not noted on the cover, are August Derleth, Manly Wade Wellman and Arthur Conan Doyle.
To my mind the greatest genre magazine of all time. Collected it for awhile and have some wonderful issues. But eventually I had to choose between adding issues to my collection or feeding and housing myself. And I was too weak to continue.
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fernando
Thief
I'm purist and proud! I hate insistent people! And I only give opinions when I'm ASKED!!
Posts: 141 
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Post by fernando on Jul 5, 2018 15:31:48 GMT -5
RED NAILS! One of my predilect REH's Conan stories!  And thank you, Jason Aiken, for posting Margaret Brundage's cover here - the most faithful to the depiction Howard did of Valeria, Tascela and the Tlazitlan women! |
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Post by themirrorthief on Jul 9, 2018 14:57:23 GMT -5
The chapter where they first enter the city is mind blowing...some guy named Phil on Librivox does such a masterful job of reading that story...Red Nails is a work of genius
and oh yeah, that cover is so sweet...!!!!! thank you Margaret..another genius
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Post by johnnypt on Jul 9, 2018 16:34:34 GMT -5
One odd thing I just thought of: Right after Hour of the Dragon finished being serialized, a Conan story shows up with an actual dragon!
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Post by Jason Aiken on Sept 8, 2018 20:18:58 GMT -5
I've been very late in reading this but sat down and enjoyed Part I this morning and it was everything I love about sword-and-sorcery. A capable beauty in need of assistance meeting just the experienced, savage survivor she needs. Together they get the best of a remnant monster from a bygone age and make there way to just outside the walls of a mysterious city.
Just wondering, but that bit about no man disarming Valeria seemed very familiar. Is that an aspect that was borrowed and used as part of Red Sonja's character?
I liked Conan's cunning with the make-shift poison lance. This is the type of behavior that needs to be highlighted in all future incarnations.
I'm ready for Part II.
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Post by Von K on Sept 9, 2018 12:32:42 GMT -5
I too am late but currently re-reading. Some interesting insights from Patrice in his Hyborian Genesis essay on Red Nails. I get the feeling that REH at least partly based Valeria on Dark Agnes. I think you're right Jason in that Roy Thomas probably drew a little from Valeria when he was creating Red Sonja.
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Post by Von K on Sept 11, 2018 14:47:27 GMT -5
In Red Nails REH writes: "They could fight neither by sorcery nor the sword." Wonder if this is the original phrase that inspired Fritz Leiber to suggest Swords and Sorcery as a genre title to Michael Moorcock in Amra magazine?
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Post by Von K on Sept 13, 2018 13:01:53 GMT -5
In the scene you mentioned Jason where Conan crafts the spear, there's an interesting snippet of world building I never noticed before:
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fernando
Thief
I'm purist and proud! I hate insistent people! And I only give opinions when I'm ASKED!!
Posts: 141
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Post by fernando on Sept 13, 2018 13:18:50 GMT -5
In the scene you mentioned Jason where Conan crafts the spear, there's an interesting snippet of world building I never noticed before: It's a very interesting excerpt. In my opinion - and in my pastiches too - I put Cimmerians' refuse to aid Aquilonians as one of the reasons for Gundermen building Venarium...  |
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Post by themirrorthief on Sept 19, 2018 9:14:56 GMT -5
I've been very late in reading this but sat down and enjoyed Part I this morning and it was everything I love about sword-and-sorcery. A capable beauty in need of assistance meeting just the experienced, savage survivor she needs. Together they get the best of a remnant monster from a bygone age and make there way to just outside the walls of a mysterious city. Just wondering, but that bit about no man disarming Valeria seemed very familiar. Is that an aspect that was borrowed and used as part of Red Sonja's character? I liked Conan's cunning with the make-shift poison lance. This is the type of behavior that needs to be highlighted in all future incarnations. I'm ready for Part II. Red Sonja is Valeria, Red Sonya, and Agnes sorta combined into one...kinda absurd that they claim she isnt a Howard creation but we all know better...no disrespect to Roy Thomas who is a genius in his own right and a fantastic writer, second only to Howard when it comes to Conan |
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Post by Jason Aiken on Sept 21, 2018 17:18:57 GMT -5
Finished reading Part II and thought it was pretty good. The city is basically a palace-city with two warring factions and plenty of sorcery and supernatural elements abound. It was good to see both Valeria and Conan in action. I'm interested in seeing more of this strange city in future installments. I'm taking my time with this one, as it's all I have left.
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Post by Von K on Sept 21, 2018 19:10:59 GMT -5
It's a very interesting excerpt. In my opinion - and in my pastiches too - I put Cimmerians' refuse to aid Aquilonians as one of the reasons for Gundermen building Venarium... Interesting speculation Fernando. |
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And thank you, Jason Aiken, for posting Margaret Brundage's cover here - the most faithful to the depiction Howard did of Valeria, Tascela and the Tlazitlan women!
