Complete Conan the Barbarian original fiction by Robert E. Howard

Books
Written By Chris Well

A pop culture legend, Conan the Barbarian is king of the whole genre of sword & sorcery.

To truly understand the cultural impact of Conan, let’s go back to the introduction of the Cimmerian and his world…

One of the most striking characters in storytelling history is sword & sorcery icon Conan the Barbarian AKA Conan the Cimmerian. A sword-wielding adventurer facing dangerous wizards, monsters, soldiers, and thieves.

Conan made his first appearance in a 1932 issue of the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales. In the decades since, Conan has made all sorts of appearances in books, movies, TV shows, comic books, games, and more.  

The character’s creator, author Robert E. Howard actually invented the whole story category now known as “sword & sorcery” fiction. In his brief author career, REH typed out more than a hundred stories for many more pulp categories. This doesn’t just include sword & sorcery stories, but also fantasy, horror, boxing stories, cowboy stories, action and adventure, comedy, and more.

Side note: In addition to Conan, REH’s characters also include sailor and boxer Steve Costigan (whose stories are hilarious)—plus philosophical warrior Kull of Atlantis, short-tempered sword woman Dark Agnes, Texas gunfighter El Borak, somber Puritan Solomon Kane, police detective Steve Harrison, and Pict king Bran Mak Morn, among others. (In fact, the Robert E. Howard Foundation is continuing to make even more Howard’s writings available.)

“His characters are actually all very different,” notes The Robert E. Howard Show host Michael K. Vaughan in his video The Story of Conan. “I do think Conan is Robert E. Howard’s greatest character,”

We’ll actually share the whole video down the page below—but will mention here that Vaughan talks about the intriguing way Howard tells Conan’s life story out of order.

“It’s a really interesting story because, of course, Conan changes over time,” Vaughan says. “This tells the story of Conan when he was very young, all the way until he was a middle-aged man and he was the king of the greatest kingdom of his world. And it’s interesting not only in the story that it tells, but in the way the story is told.”

Below are the main Conan the Barbarian books. These feature the original stories—and bonus text—from the character’s creator, Robert E. Howard.

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Complete Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard  

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (#1)

“Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities… there was an Age undreamed of… ”

Conan is one of the greatest fictional heroes ever created—a swordsman who cuts a swath across the lands of the Hyborian Age, facing powerful sorcerers, deadly creatures, and ruthless armies of thieves and reavers.

In a meteoric career that spanned a mere twelve years before his tragic suicide, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword and sorcery. Collected in this volume, profusely illustrated by artist Mark Schultz, are Howard’s first thirteen Conan stories, appearing in their original versions–in some cases for the first time in more than seventy years–and in the order Howard wrote them.  

Along with classics of dark fantasy like “The Tower of the Elephant” and swashbuckling adventure like “Queen of the Black Coast,” The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian contains a wealth of material never before published in the United States, including the first submitted draft of Conan’s debut, “Phoenix on the Sword,” Howard’s synopses for “The Scarlet Citadel” and “Black Colossus,” and a map of Conan’s world drawn by the author himself.

Here are timeless tales featuring Conan the raw and dangerous youth, Conan the daring thief, Conan the swashbuckling pirate, and Conan the commander of armies. Here, too, is an unparalleled glimpse into the mind of a genius whose bold storytelling style has been imitated by many, yet equaled by none.

“The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian exemplifies heroic writing through more than its eponymous character. The enthralling pace of its stories—their narrative decisiveness and undawdling aestheticism—shows how the contemplative art form of literature can nevertheless be made to convey an active and existentialist ethos.” (The Mythopoeic Society)

“What a great series of stories—I highly recommend it.” (The Robert E. Howard Show.)

Find The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian online:

The Bloody Crown of Conan (#2)

“Stories such as ‘The People of the Black Circle’ glow with the fierce and eldritch light of [Howard’s] frenzied intensity.”—Stephen King

In his hugely influential and tempestuous career, Robert E. Howard created the genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery—and brought to life one of fantasy’s boldest and most enduring figures: Conan the Cimmerian—reaver, slayer, barbarian, king.

This lavishly illustrated volume gathers together three of Howard’s longest and most famous Conan stories–two of them printed for the first time directly from Howard’ s typescript–along with a collection of the author’s previously unpublished and rarely seen outlines, notes, and drafts. Longtime fans and new readers alike will agree that The Bloody Crown of Conan merits a place of honor on every fantasy lover’s bookshelf.

THE PEOPLE OF THE BLACK CIRCLE
Amid the towering crags of Vendhya, in the shadowy citadel of the Black Circle, Yasmina of the golden throne seeks vengeance against the Black Seers. Her only ally is also her most formidable enemy–Conan, the outlaw chief.

THE HOUR OF THE DRAGON
Toppled from the throne of Aquilonia by the evil machinations of an undead wizard, Conan must find the fabled jewel known as the Heart of Ahriman to reclaim his crown—and save his life.

A WITCH SHALL BE BORN
A malevolent witch of evil beauty. An enslaved queen. A kingdom in the iron grip of ruthless mercenaries. And Conan, who plots deadly vengeance against the human wolf who left him in the desert to die.

“Here we see Howard transitioning from hard and fast little stories to longer forms of storytelling. We see him handling this in two ways: in the two novellas, he increases the length of the stories by adding more POV characters and increasing the complexity of the story. For the one real novel, Howard kept the story simple and reverted to a more episodic structure in which Conan travels a lot from one location to another. Both approaches worked out well.” (A Sky of Books and Movies)

“One of the Conan stories in this volume is the only full-length novel that Robert E Howard ever wrote about Conan—The Hour of the Dragon—which is my personal favorite. That’s my favorite Conan story.” (The Robert E. Howard Show)

Find The Bloody Crown of Conan online:  

The Conquering Sword of Conan (#3)

“For headling, nonstop adventure and for vivid, even florid, scenery, no one even comes close to Howard.”—Harry Turtledove

In a meteoric career that covered only a dozen years, Robert E. Howard defined the sword-and-sorcery genre. In doing so, he brought to life the archetypal adventurer known to millions around the world as Conan the barbarian.

Witness, then, Howard at his finest, and Conan at his most savage, in the latest volume featuring the collected works of Robert E. Howard, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Greg Manchess. Prepared directly from the earliest known versions—often Howard’s own manuscripts—are such sword-and-sorcery classics as “The Servants of Bit-Yakin” (formerly published as “Jewels of Gwahlur”), “Beyond the Black River,” “The Black Stranger,” “Man-Eaters of Zamboula” (formerly published as “Shadows in Zamboula”), and, perhaps his most famous adventure of all, “Red Nails.”

The Conquering Sword of Conan includes never-before-published outlines, notes, and story drafts, plus a new introduction, personal correspondence, and the revealing essay “Hyborian Genesis”—which chronicles the history of the creation of the Conan series. Truly, this is heroic fantasy at its finest.

“This collection features Howard at his finest and Conan at his most savage. Truly heroic fantasy at its best.” (Tantor Media)

“By this point, [REH] was starting to become a little bit more experimental in his writing of the Conan stories. This is a very eclectic mix of stories—they’re all pretty different from each other. This volume certainly shows how he was developing as a tremendously talented writer. He was already the greatest pulp writer who ever lived.” (The Robert E. Howard Show)

Find The Conquering Sword of Conan online:

 Find more about Robert E. Howard online

The Story of Conan | The Robert E. Howard Show

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Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
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