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Conan - The Complete Robert E Howard Conan Series
18 original Conan Stories by Robert E. Howard Cimmeria - A Poem The Phoenix on the Sword The Scarlet Citadel The Tower of the Elephant Black Colossus The Slithering Shadow or Xuthal of the Dusk The Pool of the Black One Rogues in the House Gods of the North Iron Shadows in the Moon or Shadows in the Moonlight Queen of the Black Coast The Devil in Iron The People of the Black Circle A Witch Shall be Born Jewels of Gwahlur Beyond the Black River Shadows in Zamboula or Man-Eaters of Zamboula Conan the Conqueror or The Hour of the Dragon Red Nails The Hyborian Age Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1936
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About the author
Robert E. Howard
3,269 books2,628 followersRobert Ervin Howard was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror."
He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.
—Wikipedia
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.
—Wikipedia
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 16, 2022
“I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.” - Conan, Queen of the Black Coast
The thing to understand about Robert E. Howard is that he was a good writer. This feels like it's a redundancy. After all, his stories are still inspiring people a hundred years later. Except, it really isn't. I've read the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and HP Lovecraft extensively while being utterly fascinated by their worlds. However, I have to adjust my brain a little bit to absorb their style of prose. Robert E. Howard is as good today as he was a century ago and it is every bit as enjoyable to modern eyes (with the occasional bit of values dissonance--but not even that much).
No, in fact, I'm going to come out and say it: Robert E. Howard is a fricking FANTASTIC writer. His every word is evocative and transports you to a magical land every bit as wondrous and amazing as Middle Earth. I will go so far as to say I think Robert E. Howard, Tolkien, and Frank Herbert are pretty much the three greatest fantasy/science fiction writers of all time. Extra points for the fact Robert E. Howard was communicating his beautiful reality through short stories and one novel.
It wasn't accurate to Conan in any real way but I'm reminded of the John Milinus Conan the Barbarian movie in a very real way: the stories have no right to be as deep or as engrossing as they are. Robert E. Howard pooh pahed civilization and wrote of a mighty warrior from a purer barbarian people but his stories were deeply influenced by history, archaeology, philosophy, religion, and mythology.
I consider myself an intelligent man but when I read them as a teenager versus reading them as a Master of History, I find myself awed in an entirely different way by the concepts involved. John Milinus didn't adapt Conan accurately but he wrote in the same way that Howard did: stories that worked perfectly on a pure action level as well as deep meditations on bigger concepts. Its timeless and amazing in the same way Blade Runner is (except in the distant past not future).
Who is Howard's Conan? He is a barbarian, mercenary, pirate, cat burglar, philosopher, and eventually king. He was a man too big and too curious for his native Cimmeria and lived life to its fullest until the time he took responsibility for a dying civilization. He's our travel guide for the fantastic worlds Howard takes us to and introduces us to the strange land we're in by living it.
Fiercely intelligent, fiercely loyal, and frequently fed up with this nonsense -- he is a hero and antihero at various points in his life but doesn't so much change as evolve. We start with the end of his career and go through the past but it never feels inauthentic. He is as alive as any fictional character can be and I think I know him better than most real people I know.
Just read Howard's stories on Conan, you won't regret it. Everyone should.
The thing to understand about Robert E. Howard is that he was a good writer. This feels like it's a redundancy. After all, his stories are still inspiring people a hundred years later. Except, it really isn't. I've read the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and HP Lovecraft extensively while being utterly fascinated by their worlds. However, I have to adjust my brain a little bit to absorb their style of prose. Robert E. Howard is as good today as he was a century ago and it is every bit as enjoyable to modern eyes (with the occasional bit of values dissonance--but not even that much).
No, in fact, I'm going to come out and say it: Robert E. Howard is a fricking FANTASTIC writer. His every word is evocative and transports you to a magical land every bit as wondrous and amazing as Middle Earth. I will go so far as to say I think Robert E. Howard, Tolkien, and Frank Herbert are pretty much the three greatest fantasy/science fiction writers of all time. Extra points for the fact Robert E. Howard was communicating his beautiful reality through short stories and one novel.
It wasn't accurate to Conan in any real way but I'm reminded of the John Milinus Conan the Barbarian movie in a very real way: the stories have no right to be as deep or as engrossing as they are. Robert E. Howard pooh pahed civilization and wrote of a mighty warrior from a purer barbarian people but his stories were deeply influenced by history, archaeology, philosophy, religion, and mythology.
I consider myself an intelligent man but when I read them as a teenager versus reading them as a Master of History, I find myself awed in an entirely different way by the concepts involved. John Milinus didn't adapt Conan accurately but he wrote in the same way that Howard did: stories that worked perfectly on a pure action level as well as deep meditations on bigger concepts. Its timeless and amazing in the same way Blade Runner is (except in the distant past not future).
Who is Howard's Conan? He is a barbarian, mercenary, pirate, cat burglar, philosopher, and eventually king. He was a man too big and too curious for his native Cimmeria and lived life to its fullest until the time he took responsibility for a dying civilization. He's our travel guide for the fantastic worlds Howard takes us to and introduces us to the strange land we're in by living it.
Fiercely intelligent, fiercely loyal, and frequently fed up with this nonsense -- he is a hero and antihero at various points in his life but doesn't so much change as evolve. We start with the end of his career and go through the past but it never feels inauthentic. He is as alive as any fictional character can be and I think I know him better than most real people I know.
Just read Howard's stories on Conan, you won't regret it. Everyone should.
January 31, 2016
Fantastic! Probably the most intense writer I've ever read. Howard gives you an adrenaline rush in every story. None of the Conan movies give justice to the deepness behind these stories.
August 23, 2021
“He was no defensive fighter; even in the teeth of overwhelming odds he always carried the war to the enemy.”
Conan is a classic. He's amazing. If J.R.R. Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy, Robert E. Howard is it's Grandfather, period.
If you're trying to read your way through the history of fantasy, the best of fantasy, the ages of fantasy, or any other survey of the field, you can't complete it without reading Conan. In other words, I highly recommend Conan. You can't go wrong.
“You can not escape me!" he roared. "Lead me into a trap and I'll pile the heads of your kinsmen at your feet. Hide from me and I'll tear apart the mountains to find you! I'll follow you to hell and beyond hell!”
Conan is a classic. He's amazing. If J.R.R. Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy, Robert E. Howard is it's Grandfather, period.
If you're trying to read your way through the history of fantasy, the best of fantasy, the ages of fantasy, or any other survey of the field, you can't complete it without reading Conan. In other words, I highly recommend Conan. You can't go wrong.
“You can not escape me!" he roared. "Lead me into a trap and I'll pile the heads of your kinsmen at your feet. Hide from me and I'll tear apart the mountains to find you! I'll follow you to hell and beyond hell!”
April 24, 2021
Quite possibly my favorite stories of all time.
November 21, 2023
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October 12, 2016
Mostly short stories. Fun reading, Conan is a badass.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews