Queen of the Black Coast

The Dark Storm Conan Chronology #12

by Robert E. Howard

Queen of the Black Coast is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan becoming a notorious pirate and plundering the coastal villages of Kush alongside B�lit, a head-strong femme fatale. Due to its epic scope and atypical romance, the story is considered an undisputed classic of Conan lore and is often cited by Howard scholars as one of his most famous tales.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, Adventure, Pulp, Classics

28 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Robert 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.

Reviews

[Jayakrishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"..... my love is stronger than any death! I have lain in your arms, panting with the violence of our love; you have held and crushed and conquered me, drawing my soul to your lips with the fierceness of your bruising kisses. My heart is welded to your heart, my soul is part of your soul."

A rip-roaring passionate erotic nautical action adventure from Robert. E. Howard. Conan becomes King to Belit, a female pirate with whom he makes passionate and violent love on their ship, the Queen of the Black Coast. An expedition up a strange river leads to them discovering vast treasures.

But they also run into other worldly creatures who cuts short not just Conan's life as a pirate, but also his love life.

[Bentley ★ Bookbastion.net · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the Conan the Barbarian short stories I've now read, but excursions into the world that Robert E. Howard has created are always at the very least entertaining. Howard has a way with world building that is unparalleled, and wholly unexpected from a classic author of what is now considered pulp fantasy fiction.

In this story, he sets his readers off on a sea-faring expedition with Conan and takes us on a journey to places along the Black Coast that no one fully expects to go. Again, Howard's trademark ability to weave cosmic horror remains for me the most unexpected and pleasant surprise - aside from his deliciously descriptive prose. With a stunning command of the written word, Howard is unrivaled at creating scenes that are at once brutal, stunning and unexpectedly frightening.

I take two issues with this story. One being that the enemy creature showcased in this story, while enigmatic and appropriately scary, is never really given a true place in the world. We know it's borne and bred from a dead civilization, but where that civilization sat in the world remains a mystery until the bitter end. I suppose it must be the point of the story, but I felt that the loop remained unclosed in a way that was dissatisfying.

Secondly, I know that this was written in a different time (1934 to be exact) but the racism and sexism present in this story rubbed me the wrong way. I especially take issue with the one other white character (and only woman in the story) throwing herself at Conan as she was infinitely better positioned than he for the upper hand in that moment, and I think a more interesting dynamic could have emerged between the two of them than simple love interests.

While our social standards (and the standards for what we expect in published works today) have certainly evolved to better places, I still think Howard's stories are entertaining enough in their own way. He was a master of the written word for his time, and I definitely wouldn't pass up another opportunity to traverse the dangerous shores and jungles of Conan's world.

4 out of 5 stars

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conan boards a trade ship but then the ship gets attacked by pirates. Conan proves himself a mighty warrior and is spared by the pirate captain. A pirate captain known as the queen of the black coast. Together, they raid the black coast as the most powerful pirate couple around.


A bit of a shame this story did not age well. The bits of racism and sexism, which are a sign of the time this was written in, do cloud over this story a little bit. They’re also the reason why I’m rating it a bit lower. Apart from that, a really fascinating pulp fiction story with an interesting and strong female character.

[Mark Tallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this for the second time and I thoroughly enjoyed it, more so than the first time. This is a top tier Conan tale that Robert E.Howard wrote, definitely one of my favourites. Howard was on his top form with this one. I'm pleased that I revisited this yarn for Cimmerian September 2025. Cimmerian September is something that Book Tuber Michael K. Vaughan started a few years ago, its great fun to participate in.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conan the Barbarian seeks to battle the Queen of the Black Coast named Bayleet. Will he be victorious in his conquest? Read on and find out for yourself.

I enjoyed the Dark Horse Comics Motion Comic of this short story on YouTube via Geek and Sundry's official YouTube channel with Vic Mignogna as Conan. If you like comics, definitely check this out for yourself online here at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFFME...

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conan joins the pirate crew of Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast, until the exploration of an ancient city and an encounter with the primordial creature that dwells within wreck havoc on the crew. Fun, exciting and the prose is candy for the eyes. It's everything I look for in a Conan story and it's a nice follow-up to Iron Shadows in the Moon which ended abruptly. My only complaint this time around is that the villain/monster felt underwhelming and had no time to develop compared to many other villains in the series. The final battle was flashy and cool, but it lacked emotional substance because of the lack of characterization. Other than that, still Conan at its finest with lots of bloody, sexy action.

[Ramón S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert E. Howard has a way of writing that is direct and not pretentious. I enjoyed the book .
Personally I was glad that Bêlit ended so badly She is the kind of woman I consider a witch.
Sorry Conan I prefer your adventures without her

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Great fun exploring a forgotten dead city, looting said city, and battling the ancient evils and beasts that protect it. Oh yeah, and pirates, plus some very sappy Conan style romance.

[Baal Of · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may be hitting my point of saturation with Conan. Howard's prose is still quite good, but I feel like I'm not getting anything really different. Then again, that was probably the point of these stories when they were being published in the pulps - consistent, manly-man adventure stories, so in that respect, this story succeeds.

[Manuel Alfredo Collado · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este relato Conan empieza huyendo de una situación violenta provocada por el choque entre la civilización y sus propias creencias (típico) y termina alistado en una banda de piratas dirigidos por una mujer de gran carácter y embriagadora belleza.

Es un relato de aventuras que nos permite adentrarnos en un recóndito rincón del mundo de Howard y conocer un poco mejor la historia del mundo gracias a episodios oníricos o alucinógenos. No me ha entusiasmado demasiado, pero se deja leer y además creo que la mítica película de Conan se inspiró en este relato para una de sus escenas (aunque me gustó más el resultado en la película).

[Gastjäle · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a handful of pages, all signs seemed to point towards a promising maturation on Howard’s part, when compared to the lacklustre Tower of the Elephant. Now, he appeared to have a better command of his paragraphs, meaning that he could actually pull more controlled atmospheres without the gratuitous self-sabotaging by means of hyper-affective testosterone bursts. Here’s a good example of this development (chapter 1):

“Now no more shining towers rose inland. They had passed the southern borders of Stygia, and were cruising along the coasts of Kush. The sea and the ways of the sea were neverending mysteries to Conan, whose homeland was among the high hills of the northern uplands. The wanderer was no less of interest to the sturdy seamen, few of whom had ever seen one of his race."

The perspectival progress is quite captivating, starting from the coastline, then dwelling on the mysterious sea, then zooming out on the musing Conan and finally rounding off at the suspicious mariners eyeing the barbarian. Unfortunately, Howard kind of ruins this zoom-out effect with the following paragraph, where performs a couple of clumsy perspectival hops between the sailors and the barbarian, before starting to outline Conan’s character. (This could have easily been remedied by means of conjunctions or paragraph changes, but apparently it did not occur to Howard.)

Another thing that seemed promising was that Howard ostensibly had become more aware of when the narrative could go obviously over the top, showing that he could have picked up some self-awareness along the way. Such self-awareness can of course be disingenuous and a weakening factor, but at the same time, in moderate amount, it can also help form trust towards the author, that they know what they are doing when they are doing it. Here’s an example from the same chapters, a few paragraphs before the previous excerpt:

“Nor did master Tito pull into the broad bay where the Styx river emptied its gigantic flood into the ocean, and the massive black castles of Khemi loomed over the blue waters. Ships did not put unasked into this port, where dusky sorcerers wove awful spells in the murk of sacrificial smoke mounting eternally from blood-stained altars where naked women screamed, and where Set, the Old Serpent, arch-demon of the Hyborians but god of the Stygians, was said to writhe his shining coils among his worshippers.”

The first sentence is quite fine. It has some Howardisms like “gigantic flood”, “massive black castles” and “loomed over”, yet they do not feel incongruous when conjoined together (as opposed to, say, if he had used “gargantuan”, “deliriously behemothian” and “scowled like madness over” instead, respectively). But what in the name of the unholy is that second monster sentence? It begins with a rather mild main clause yet is fiercely followed by a breathtaking train of subordinates, each attempting to top its predecessor! However, apart from the crowbared explication on the Old Serpent, as a piece of consciously over-the-top raving it works and flows quite well!

In this story, Howard would also craft a surprisingly persistent narrative gradation, namely the lotus-induced dream sequence in chapter 3. The progression from the amorphous blackness to the cinematographic scenes of primordial devolution and the present-day battle scenes is pretty delicious, especially when one considerds the purposely vague trudging of the beginning and the more clear-cut, sped-up scenes at the end. Even though we know it is a dream from the get-go (the song of Belît kind of gives it away), we can still admire the craftsmanship to an extent.

Yet despite all of these hopeful tokens, no full-fledged development had taken place. While it is true that now there was more persistence, the persistence would also extend to Howard’s employment of power words. And these power words were so jarring, that they made me wince in their epilectic luridness.

I do understand that Howard’s bombastic descriptions and his uncaring purple prose can attract many to its nectar. They seem to insist on changing the gear into hyperdrive, wanting to offer the reader faster and more furious theatricality. He cannot craft atmospheres of such durance as the likes of Poe or Conrad, but instead he produces a clear frame after frame, very much like a cartoonist, of the most grotesque poses and power. The muscles coil and knot, eyes take the form of solar-blazing jewels, madness erupts from all the holes of planet Earth, everything glimmers and crimsons, darkness is concrete and starlight celestial, there is “diabolism blacker than the Well of Skelos” and fiends from the molten lavapits of infernal, hellish, hadesian Tophet of Gehenna manifest before the reader exuding “an aura tangible as the black mist rising from a corpse-littered swamp”. For those, who are not exhausted by this, and who do not expect anything but a raw ride to fantasy, these stories definitely can offer a great time.

But let me seethe for a spell:

”Then the moon rose, a splash of blood, ebony-barred, and the jungle awoke in horrific bedlam to greet it. Roars and howls and yells set the black warriors to trembling, but all this noise, Conan noted, came from farther back in the jungle, as if the beasts no less than men shunned the black waters of Zarkheba.”

A rising moon a splash of blood, ebony-barred? Jungle awoke to horrific bedlam to greet the moon, superemphasised by a group of powerful verbs… yet Conan’s nonchalant musing simply pushes the sounds to the background and even infers some “shunning” in them. The effect on the reader is way too violent due to the initial description, and the transition to a pondering Conan showing that the sounds are actually pretty far into the depths of the vegetation is not even jarring—it’s like a car crash.

“[…] And at first glance the crypt seemed brimming with liquid fire, catching the early light with a million blazing facets. Undreamable wealth lay before the eyes of the gaping pirates; diamonds, rubies, bloodstones, sapphires, turquoises, moonstones, opals, emeralds, amethysts, unknown gems that shone like the eyes of evil women. The crypt was filled to the brim with bright stones that the morning sun struck into lambent flame.”

Not only does this vast inventory of precious stones, robbing the scene of its intended dazzling immediacy, it also ends the list with a gormless and weak item, whose intended luminary effect was already deprived by the preceding “million blazing facets”. And how does Howard cap it all, what is his climax? “Filled to the brim with bright stones”? Howard moves from a torrent of sensory data to a dull general depiction, whereas anyone in their right mind would have done it the other way around.

”The blacks shuffled their feet uneasily, but did as they were told. As they swung onward, Conan stepped quickly behind a great tree, glaring back along the way they had come. From that leafy fastness anything might emerge. Nothing occurred; the faint sounds of the marching spearmen faded in the distance.”.

The pirates “shuffle” and “swing”, but no wait, no they “march”. And what can one say of the intraparagraphal transition from “anything might emerge” to “nothing occurred”? It is passages like this that I would adduce if someone was wondering whether Howard was a good writer or not. Or excerpts like “Again Conan looked on death and destruction. Before him lay his spearmen, nor did they rise to salute him. From the jungle edge to the riverbank, among the rotting pillars and along the broken piers they lay, torn and mangled and half devoured, chewed travesties of men.”

Enough of that, though. I have made my views clear enough. Now, what about the story itself? Surely this tale is driven by world-building and plot, as much as action scenes—so it would be silly to not mention them in a review.

For a short adventure, a lot of things happen in it. We get a boat tour around Howard’s world of fancy, and many places are given brief characterisations, which must be of interest to those who wish to form a coherent view of Conan’s universe.

The Cimmerian himself changes from a fleeing person on a tradeboat to a swashbuckler with a busty ivory dame, for a while living his la dolce vita. The characters are all-round flat freaks of passion, but I am happy that Howard made Belît such an avaricious creature, and did not schmalz down the whole love affair. She was portrayed with particular vividness and viciousness, which though ridiculous, was at times very palpable.

Like in Tower of the Elephant, the temporal perspective is broadened quite massively, when primordial creatures are brought in to the scene. However, while the dream sequence was most arresting, Conan’s way of intuitively understanding its import, which is shown by the statement that the last of the winged monsters had died after the duel, is not warranted. And if this statement was not Conan’s but the narrator’s, the latter stepped out of its set bounds quite efficaciously.

The battle scenes were greatly marred by the unskilled treatment of the prose I pointed out above, so at best they provided sudden spikes of excitement. The common reaction to these scenes tended to be one of glutted irritation.

The final chapter ends the story in a pleasantly somber note. Gone is the sense of mystery from the sea: the barbarian sees no more potential in that blue wasteland after his loss. The final scene of the farewell pyre is quite effective as it is, even though the reverberating clangor of the preceding chapters still rings jarringly in one’s ears.

So, all in all, it is a step up. But still Robert leaves a sour taste in one’s mouth.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conan + pirates = great fun!
Although a bit outdated still written very eloquently

[Graeme Rodaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conan and his squeeze, Belit, 'Queen of the Black Coast,' reave across a dozen kingdoms until they embark upon a quest for a nameless lost city along a poisoned river.

Conan prevails against a foe fallen from greatness into degeneracy in one of those scenarios where 'nuke 'em from orbit,' was the better option.

Ends on a rare elegiac note of pale fire over a burnished sea.

5 'love lost' stars.

[Cedric Nye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, man!! I am not going to be a spoiler, I think that is shitty. What I will say is that this story brings tears to my eyes every time. The love between Conan and Belit is better than any love story I have ever read.

Ahhhhhh! How can I tell you about Conan and Belit without spoiling the story? Belit is a hard-core plunderer, and she owns a ship. Her and her crew loot and plunder the coast until fate causes her to attack the ship that Conan has hitched a ride on.

A bloody battle ensues, and the mighty Conan is the last from his ship to still be standing. The bodies of his enemies are stacked around him like cord-wood, his chest is heaving from dealing death like a sharp deals cards.

Belit takes one look at Conan, and she's like "Mmmmmmm, I gotta get me some of that!" So Belit calls off her crew, and her and Conan begin plundering together.

But things go sideways when Belit gets obsessed about a lost city...That is all I am going to say!!
Read it!! The most beautiful and messed up love story EVER!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Queen of the Black Coast is one of Robert E. Howard's best Conan stories. It is very short, being only 32 pages, but Howard's epic prose makes it worth it.

Those who are unfamiliar with Conan stories should read this one first. It introduces a great character in the Queen, Belit, and offers much insight into Conan's personalities and the ways of Hyboria's people.

Favorite quote from Conan (that describes him in a nutshell): "I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the classic Conan tales. It always strikes me as odd how little screen time Belit gets in this - the comics really amp up her presence and flesh out her character. There's nothing better than Conan on the high seas.


Comics:
Conan the Barbarian 58,59,100 by Buscema
Darkhorse Conan the Barbarian 22-25 by Wood
The Darkhorse comics are pretty lousy, the Marvel ones go on too long with weird tales of Belit but the actual adapation in 58 and the death of Belit in 100 is really great.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this story a few times already over the past few years. I just keeps getting better. I really wish Howard had dedicated another decade or so to writing. The original Conan series of 20 so stories and novels is masterful work I enjoy coming back to again and again. Sword and sorcery at its very best.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The addition of the warrior, pirate female co-lead was a nice change from the usual macho cast of a Conan story. She did give in/join up with Conan perhaps a little too easily, but at least she didn't swoon, lol!

[dathomira]

this i definitely didn't mark toward my yearly total, but i want the record to show i gave it the old college try. my thoughts are brief: i did expect the racism in conan--you simply do not have the origin story he has and the setting he has in the era its being written and escape that. nevertheless, 'the blacks of kush' and the hooked noses of shem did surprise me. but i have truly been spoiled by some of the greats of this time period, because when belit showed up, tits bared, dropped her girdle, and said 'its time to mate' i was the human embodiment of a record scratch. its easy to forget that even if some of these men knew women, no they didn't. <3

[Antonis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 / 5

Not one of my favorite Conan stories but not bad either.
My first main problem is a very subjective one; I don't like nautical/maritime stories, I just can't stand reading scenes that take place on ships. Unfortunately, half of this story is such, and I just couldn't wait for that part to finish.
My second problem came at the second part. While there was tension and some horror elements, most of the development was focused either around visions/dreams and just senseless fighting. Oh I know, I can hear some of you saying "Dude, it's a Conan story." Sure it is, but many of the previous Conan stories I've read had a very good plot to explain and excuse the fighting, and some reasons to create tension about what would happen afterwards. Here, everything feels a bit bland and needless. If not for the light horror elements, I might have DNFed or skipped this one completely.
But well, as they say, your mileage may vary, so if you're bent on reading the Conan stories in any order, read this one as well. After all, it's a few dozen pages and will not take you more than 1-2 hrs.
In the end, I was left disappointed but still hope for much better stories as I continue the Conan omnibus!

3 / 5

[Carl Timms · Rating 5 out of 5]

A testament to Howard's terrific writing here that a 140 page story can feel like I've read a novel or series of novels. Cutting out any fat, this is a story that gets straight to the point, building up the love of Conan's life with surprisingly little effort and wrenching the hearts strings by story's end. The action is possibly some of Howard's finest, starting with a bloody sea battle and ending in the monster filled wastes of a forgotten city. It's like a summary of everything he wrote well: brutal combat, heroism, romantic melodrama and dark sorcerous horror. So glad I finally read this after years of enjoying Conan's adventures and one I'll most definitely revisit.

[Seth Skorkowsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun tale of how Conan became a pirate, found his true love, discovered a lost city and fantastic wealth, and then tragedy strikes.

Not my favorite of the old R.H. Howard classics, but the way Conan becomes a sailor was wonderful. Howard is much more poetic in this story than the others, and he shows a side of his battle-hardened barbarian that we never get to see. Being raised on the 1982 Conan movie, I've enjoyed seeing the little tidbits that were pulled from the classic tales. Here we see the Black Lotus, discussions of Crom, and how true love protects him from beyond the grave.

[Alison Menotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Robert E Howard story so far!! A short tale that I just can't stop thinking about.

[Gianluca Fiore · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Conan's short stories. Enough mystery and action packed in a few pages, with a female companion for Conan that is quite his match.

[Dartharagorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite short stories!! If you haven't read this one do yourself a favor and sit down and enjoy!

[Bill Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brundage paints an anatomically problematical cover, and the issue isn’t much better, the first misfire in a few months.

Thorp McClusky’s “Loot of the Vampire” is better than most of the vamp stories since 1923, but that’s a low bar to fly over. The Dracula figure here is a more overt supervillain than most of his kin and McClusky writes good pulp.

Possibly the best and the worst story in the issue is Robert E. Howard’s “Black Canaan.” Best because this story, like most of Howard’s work, is very well written. Worst for its deep racism, surprising for Howard, who usually avoids overt frothing race hate (as does Weird Tales since the 20s). There’s also another letter from Howard in The Eyrie. Gotta wonder if he was getting lonely out there in Cross Plains.

Bloch’s “The Grinning Ghoul” is fun. His early work has a trace of that blackest humor that will color his stories a decade or so later.

Jack Williamson’s “The Ruler of Fate” comes to a disappointing conclusion. The resolution conveniently ignores the threat of a villain who can change and see the future.

One of the filler pieces, “Lethe,” by Harold G. Shane, is creepy and effective. The dependably awful Hugh Davidson contributes “The House of the Evil Eye,” an idiotic story of an Italian patriarch and his inherited death stare. Derleth, A.V. Milyer, and M.J. Bardine are also represented, but not especially notably.

[Aksel Erzinclioglu · Rating 5 out of 5]

That one was absolutely super duper. Not for the action (which was all great) but for the deeper look at Conan which the others (as far as I have read) haven't yet done. We see Conan to be deeply philosophical in many ways, talking of life and its meaning. He discusses both the greater meaning of life and what life means to him on a personal level. It's also the first time we truly see him in love. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as it was the first time I felt that I saw Conan as truly human. Cracking read and I would highly recommend!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first of the Conan stories that feels like a novel-length yarn would have been a worthy medium rather than the pulp-shortened substance we get. I know comics have delved more into the character of Bêlit and she seems worthy.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining reading 📘

I read this as part of the Conan: The Barbarian complete collection in 2017

Robert E. Howard is one of my favortite authors. I started reading the Conan paper back novels in the 1960s. I would highly recommended this novel and author to reads of action novels. 2017

[Andrés Iglesias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una historia muy chula, muy lovecraftiana. En ella se muestra mucho de lo que es Conan: alguien capaz de hacer lo que sea por sobrevivir; capaz de vivir una vida que le plazca, sea al lado de quien sea; capaz de lo peor y de lo mejor a mismo tiempo. Una de las más chulas.