If a guy wanted to start reading some of the books in the Conan series, where's the best place to start?

I read them about 40 years ago.... I would start from the beginning... they are actually great reading as I recall.

Didn’t seem to matter much. I started here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...rt_story_collection)

I still have the paperbacks. Good stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:

I still have the paperbacks. Good stuff.

Yep. The great covers sold the books. Good stories but the covers brought them to life.

I would start with the Robert E. Howard books first , then the collaborations, then the books written by other authors. Robert E. Howard created the character if you didn't already know, along with Kull series and a few others.

This series is a good one, based primarily on REH work, with some L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter work Lancer/Ace Conan paperbacks

That's what got me started, anyway. I would hope those may still be available in used form somewhere.

RE: starting. I believe (and I may be wrong here) that the first story (i.e earliest in Conan's career, not the first one published) in the REH body of work is "Frost Giant's Daughter" but there are non-REH stories that go back to when he was very young.

I just finished a reread of all the Robert E Howard Conan stories. They weren't released (or written) in chronological order, rather skipping around Conan's life as if it was a man telling tales of his adventures around a fire. The stories were written in the 30's and show their age a bit, but are head and shoulders above any of the later Conan tales.

L Sprague DeCamp expanded some REH work and finished some Howard stories after Howard died. They are OK. I grew up reading Robert Jordan Conan novels and have a soft spot for them, but they don't really hold a candle to the originals.

“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.”

― Robert E. Howard

I was a huge Conan fan when I was younger. I had a big collection of the comic books but for some reason I just never read any of the novels. I did love the cover art though.

Glad I happened upon this thread.

Something new to read!

I used to collect the large “black and white” Savage Sword of Conan magazines.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Sword_of_Conan

Amazon has all of the Robert E Howard stories collected into 3 volumes. If you have the Kindle app, I think they are $26 for all three if I remember right.

When I read them as a teenager, I read the Lancer/Ace Paperback Series. They include most all the Conan Stories by Howard, as well some by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, and Björn Nyberg. I liked all of them. I consider these Conan Canon.

There are a number of Howard stories including many Conan ones here at the Gutenberg project. They are free to download in a number of different digital formats.

https://www.gutenberg.org/eboo...&submit_search=Go%21

There was another book series similar to Conan. the character was a barbarian as well and tore up the land.

He was a Destroyer too. I know its not much to go on, but does anyone know what those books were?

Definitely start with the Howard books, as others have said. I have a collection of his short stories called "The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian." It has a lot of the history of the character and various peoples of the Hyborian age.

On a related note, check out the biopic "The Whole Wide World" w/ Vincent D'Onofrio as REH.

Saw it years ago and remember it being pretty good. I'll have to watch it again now.

-Rob

Conan series was a good read but I really loved the Icewind Dale Trilogy.

If you like the Conan books, you may like
the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series (D&D was influenced by them),the Elric of Melniboné series,and the Kane series by Karl Edward Wagner.

[Beavis]Moorcock, he, hehe, he said Moorcock, he hehe[/Beavis]

[Butthead] Yea, I like Moorcock, hehehe[/Butthead]

[Beavis] Shut up Butthead.[/Beavis]

quote:

Originally posted by Underdog:
There was another book series similar to Conan. the character was a barbarian as well and tore up the land.

He was a Destroyer too. I know its not much to go on, but does anyone know what those books were?

Are you thinking about Kull of Atlantis? wikipedia link

quote:

Originally posted by Cleburne:
Conan series was a good read but I really loved the Icewind Dale Trilogy.

Read that back in the day. Actually snagged them out of my parents' basement last month!

quote:

Originally posted by Underdog:
There was another book series similar to Conan. the character was a barbarian as well and tore up the land.

He was a Destroyer too. I know its not much to go on, but does anyone know what those books were?

REH wrote the Cormac Mac Art series. It was about an Irish barbarian who fell in with a band of Vikings and their adventures. Decent read. The original Conan series is still my favorite.