Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion

Conan Pastiche, from 100% pastiche to posthumously finished tales, lets read how non-Robert E. Howard authors continued the barbarian's adventures!


Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp's 1967Conan with cover art by Frazetta.

Going to re-read Conan the Rebel by Poul
Anderson. Have not read this since 1980 or '81.

Road of Kings is pretty good, KEW's trademark dark, gothic mood with good combat scenes. Watch for the Red Sonja joke...

Cool. I recently git a copy of Road of Kings. Ill start there.

S.E. wrote: "Conan Pastiche, from 100% pastiche to posthumously finished tales, lets read how non-Robert E. Howard authors continued the barbarian's adventures!


Lin Carter and [au..."

I'll be interested to see what other people think about the stories in this volume. Overall, I thought Howard's stories were better than the pastiche ones!

Not too long ago I finished Conan the Freebooter. As a whole I just really didn't enjoy it. Perhaps it was de Camp's liberties with non-Conan stories or perhaps it was just me. The whole book seemed bland, leaving little etched on my memory. The one thing that I took away from it was Conan's crucifixion and how it was used in the film.

Years ago I read a bunch of Conan novellas by Robert Jordan - seemed pretty good to me.

Ugg.. not a fan of Robert Jordan's Conan..
You ask me Jordan made Conan, PG13.

Some -not all- of John Maddox Robert's Conan was pretty good. I still need to read Karl Edward Wagner's. I would think he'd have the closest style to Howard.

Just wrapped up Wagner's Conan: The Road of Kings.

The milieu was true to Hyborbian Age as discussed above. Also, it followed Conan's development from buccaneer to potential king well; this would serve as a great prequel to REH"s only novel length Conan story The Hour of the Dragon.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Greg wrote: "Ugg.. not a fan of Robert Jordan's Conan..
You ask me Jordan made Conan, PG13. Some -not all- of John Maddox Robert's Conan was pretty good. I still need to read Karl Edward Wagner's. I would th..."

Interesting; I've only read one Conan pastiche (via this groupread...it was Wagner's only one).

I am curious if members here have a "must-read" pastiche of Conan. ie, which one is "best"

Poul Anderson's Conan the Rebel. Wagner's Conan: Road of Kings. John C Hocking's Conan and the Emerald Lotus(really fun read). Most of John Maddox Roberts' Conan is pretty good. And I don't care what anyone says, but I liked deCamp's Conan of the Isles. Also, the short story collection Conan the Swordsman has a couple of ok tales.

Thats a lot to read!

Jack wrote: "So, it's time for me to read a Conan pastiche. I planned to read Wagner's Conan: Road of Kings, but then I looked over my Conan bookshelf. So many good choices, some of unknown quality...I then rolled 1d100 die for a -51-. This gave me book #13 (covering the range 49-52). Book #13 is:."

Nice. RPG-like determination of bookreading.

I recall you trying to read the whole Lancer series. You still chomping away at that?

I remember enjoying Conan the Savage by Leonard Carpenter

Started Sagas of Conan, which extracts some of the completely original stories by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter and Bjorn Nyberg from the original Lancer Conan series. So far, not great literature, but sufficiently entertaining -- I think it's hard for many people to divorce their evaluation of the stories on their own terms from their opinion of de Camp & Carter's meddling with the Conan series as a whole.

Slight correction: Turns out that Sagas of Conan is not taken from the Lancer series -- it's a reprint of Conan the Swordsman, Conan the Liberator and Conan and the Spider God, all of which were published by Bantam years after the end of the original Lancer series.

Jack wrote: "I finished Conan the Destroyer by Robert Jordan. Not a bad book. Nothing too fantastic or terrible about it. Flashes of Howard-eque descriptions, but also some passages where Jordan w..."

@Jack,
I think that book ( Conan the Destroyer) was adapted from/for the movie. Did it evoke the movie for you?
...I think you were baiting me with the Ken Kelly comments ;). (shameless explanation: the cover hid did for my Spawn of Dyscrasia has elements of KISS )

I'm looking forward to Conan the Conqueror with Arnold...assuming it gets the green light sometime

S.E. wrote: "I'm looking forward to Conan the Conqueror with Arnold...assuming it gets the green light sometime."

This would be Conan smashing heads with a reinforced Zimmer frame? :P

Greg wrote: "S.E. wrote: "I'm looking forward to Conan the Conqueror with Arnold...assuming it gets the green light sometime."

This would be Conan smashing heads with a reinforced Zimmer frame? :P"

Had look up "zimmer frame." Yep, he may need one.

Jack wrote: "I'm personally starting to doubt that a new Conan-Arnold movie will get made. It just doesn't seem to be moving along at all. I'm not known for my optimism, however."

I don't think it would be believable unless it's about Conan as an old man and what that would mean for him in the world he lives in. Some heroes do grow old after all. Perhaps he would be a mentor to a younger hero in this movie?

S.E. wrote: "Had look up "zimmer frame." Yep, he may need one"

;)

Finished Sagas of Conan. My review. Short version: Not actively terrible, but not all that necessary either.

I read the first of Loren Coleman's Legends of Kern, and I thought it was pretty good. While not directly Conan, there is a bit of author humour mentioning Conan, and how any great deed becomes a Conan legend. As you would expect from his odd other works, the beast descriptions are very good, as are the bad guys.

Age of Conan: Blood of Wolves: Legends of Kern, Volume 1

Cindy wrote: "I read the first of Loren Coleman's Legends of Kern, and I thought it was pretty good. While not directly Conan, there is a bit of author humour mentioning Conan, and how any great deed becomes a C..."

I'm a fan of that one too. Though I read a couple of the others series in Age of Conan, and it I didn't care for those

I haven't got to the second one yet. I found the characters quite well done. The action is good, as is the scenery setting.

Cindy wrote: "I haven't got to the second one yet. I found the characters quite well done. The action is good, as is the scenery setting."

It's a well rounded trilogy, all the books are equal to the first or better.