I'm on a bit of a Conan kick. Hadn't read it when I was younger, and man, it's good stuff. Different in tone. Evocative. There's a sense of danger to the world, history, and discovery that I don't get with current fantasy - even much of the good stuff. Gets my imagination going.
Anyone have recommendations for similar writers, stories, themes, of similar quality?
I asked on enworld and didn't get much feedback.
The suggestions there were Karl Wagner's Kane stories, and Louis L'amour's The Walking Drum.
I'm wondering if the folks here have others.
Thanks.
I'm on a bit of a Conan kick. Hadn't read it when I was younger, and man, it's good stuff. Different in tone. Evocative. There's a sense of danger to the world, history, and discovery that I don't get with current fantasy - even much of the good stuff. Gets my imagination going.
Anyone have recommendations for similar writers, stories, themes, of similar quality?
I asked on enworld and didn't get much feedback.
The suggestions there were Karl Wagner's Kane stories, and Louis L'amour's The Walking Drum.
I'm wondering if the folks here have others.
Thanks.
I recently discovered the comic book adaptation of Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser" stories and they really whet my appetite for more. A bit similar to REH's Conan, but with a spin completely his own. His two main characters are actually a bit more sympathetic to me than Conan was the last time I read him. There's a humor to Leiber's work that gives it a bit more dimension and it is kind of nice that the main characters feel remorse for fighting and killing every now and then.
The setting, Lankhmar, has even been turned into a d20 D&D campaign by a third party publisher, along with Howard's Hyboria.
Robert. E. Howard was pen-pal with Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan) and H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu). They shared a lot of their ideas with each other, giving and taking suggestions all the way up until Lovecraft committed suicide. As a result there’s a certain similarity of tone and “atmosphere” in most of their stuff. For Burroughs, you might not want the Tarzan stuff so his Barsoom novels might work.
Similarly:
Lin Carter’s Green Star books, his Lankar of Callisto, and his Thongor novels are all done is the Barsoom vein (if you like Barsoom you’ll probably enjoy the others as well.
Leigh Brackett’s Skaith books, though SciFi, have much the same feel.
Larry Niven’s Magic Goes Away and its follow-ups.
Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series.
Glen Cook’s Dread Empire and Black Company series might fit also.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
I definitely like the first three Black Company books. Haven't gotten around to the others or Cook's Dread Empire books yet.
I wonder if there's anything with a similar tone, that is a bit easier in narrative style. Sometimes Cook's writing is a bit hard to follow.
For anyone interested in some of the other suggestions I received from the other board, here's the link to the thread. A few more people have chimed in with suggestions there.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=193833
Robert. E. Howard was pen-pal with Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan) and H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu). They shared a lot of their ideas with each other, giving and taking suggestions all the way up until Lovecraft committed suicide. As a result there’s a certain similarity of tone and “atmosphere” in most of their stuff. For Burroughs, you might not want the Tarzan stuff so his Barsoom novels might work.
Similarly:
Lin Carter’s Green Star books, his Lankar of Callisto, and his Thongor novels are all done is the Barsoom vein (if you like Barsoom you’ll probably enjoy the others as well.
Leigh Brackett’s Skaith books, though SciFi, have much the same feel.
Larry Niven’s Magic Goes Away and its follow-ups.
Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series.
Glen Cook’s Dread Empire and Black Company series might fit also.
HP Lovecraft died of cancer.Robert E Howard took his own life the previous year.
Also i would add John Normans Gor books.Not everyone may like them but they are very much in the vein of ERBs Barsoom stories and i think the first several at the least are quite engaging.Ofcourse i have a soft spot for the series since they were the first sci-fi/fantasy books i had read after finding them in a thrift store.
Fritz Leiber was my first suggestion- the work is boisterous, grubby and fun.
If you like the nasty way sorcery is portrayed in Conan, I'd suggest Clarke Ashton Smith's Zothique- it's about halfway between Howard and Lovecraft in terms of flowery writing- the Continent of Zothique is a decandent, degenerate place, rife with crumbling tombs, priesthoods of Ghouls and alien Ziggurats- a fantasy born of the discoveries at Babylon and Ninevah that seized the imagination of the public at the time.
Lovecraft was a big fan of Smith and he himself contributed a lot to the Cthulhu Mythos.
The books are hard to come by, but worth the hunt. Amazon UK carries a great selection called Emperor of Dreams and iTunes has a few short stories as audiobooks.
David Gemmell. Not all of his books, and certainly there is more introspection in them, but his style of describing combat, the elemental fury of some of his warrior characters is reminiscent. Certainly you could see Druss the Axeman sitting down to an ale and sharing war stories with Conan.
Conan is usually the first example given of the Sword & Sorcery subgenre. Fafherd & the Grey Mouser is often the second.
I should warn you: if you really delve deep into the S&S literature, and you're really digging it, you might find your D&D tastes graudally shifting...
I thought I'd throw another vote in for Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. My all time fav is Moorcock's Elric.
Another vote for Clark Ashton Smith - very good writer, and so many D&D monsters and ideas come from his stories. One of the freakiest and downright usettling images in his work is of a beign very similar to an atropal entering our world.
Leiber again, great writer. His work has been adapted for just about every edition of D&D and the thief (now rogue) class seems to be directly influenced by the thieves in his Lankhmar books.
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I too love Robert E Howard's style, so vibrant with energy.
Have you tried his other stories, other than Conan that is?
There's the Bran Mak Morn short stories. His western and boxing ones too.
Then of course, I've heard a lot of good things about the Solomon Kane stories, only I never could find any of them... maybe something for the Planet Stories line (hint, hint :-)
Just give the mp3's at this site a try.
The power in those verse, plus the great music and voice: it gives me that funny feeling inside.
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Fritz Leiber. It's a little more lighthearted; sense of humor to his work, but Fafhrd and Grey Mouser are killer.
I agree completely and also if you liked Conan then read REH's Kull stories. Recently there were new collections put out of several of REH's writing.
Also, I like the Martian series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
I agree that the early Thieves World books were good but the flavor from story to story can be so different because they are all short stories written by different authors. A couple of my favorite characters are Shadowspawn and Tempus. There were a couple of unique wizards to but I do not remember their names. One was cursed so his form constantly changed and the other was from an order called the Blue Star or something like that. An order with the mission of being ready for the end of the world and weighing in on the side of good i the last battle...
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I might suggest the following titles, all available through Paizo's Planet Stories line:
Black God's Kiss by C. L. Moore (Sort of a female Conan, from the same era. Great.)
Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner (Explicitly commissioned by Weird Tales to satisfy demand for Conanesque stories following Howard's suicide. Plus two fun bonus stories featuring another Conan analogue, Prince Raynor.)
The Secret of Sinharat by Leigh Brackett (Technically SF, but you wouldn't know it by reading the two full novels in this book. Eric John Stark is one of the coolest and most important characters in adventure fiction, and Brackett's Mars is one of the best SF settings ever.)
Almuric by Robert E. Howard (What happens when a modern man in the Conan mold is transported to a savage planet? Lots of people and monsters get their heads chopped off and innards spilled upon the ground, that's what! This book has been delayed but is now about to go to the printer. One of the finest in the Planet Stories line!)
The Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett (Eric John Stark returns on a new planet filled with new fantastic societies and plenty of swordplay. Brackett puts the fantasy in science-fantasy, and this is one of her classics.)
There will be plenty more to come, of course, but these are the Planet Stories offerings that immediately suggest themselves to a fan of Robert E. Howard.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!
--Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo/Planet Stories
Black God's Kiss is indeed fantastic and a classic in its own right.
You might want to check out the Conan comic by Dark Horse Comic. Make sure that the author is Kurt Busiek and artist Gary Nord. They really got the Conan thing going a few years back. In fact, I felt at times that they even improved on REH character and story. There are a few graphic novels out by now by them.
Tim
You should post a review on the product page, Krypter!
I'd love to, but I've got the 1970s hardcover, not the Planet Stories one. I can write about the story, but I can't appraise the quality of the Paizo edition. Sorry. When my Elak comes in, I'll write about that.
Haven't read Conan...but Death Dealer line perhaps?
As ever,
ACE
Those actually aren't bad, particularly the first two--there is a certain amount more fantasy and fantastic magic than in Conan but the general feel works. Furthermore Gath of Baal is more of an elemental barbarian than most would be Conans--including Jordan's version.
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Did anybody try Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories and novels?
Yes! They were awesome but now they are some what hard to find. I remember about 5 years ago a small publishing firm republished all of the Kane novels and short stories in two volumes but they are all out of print and very pricey. The lowest price that I have seen for either volume was over $80.00.
Fortunately, I have been able to pick up some of the older printings of Wagner's work at various used bookstores. However, I would love to see all of them back in print again. I would open my wallet for that.
Burrough's fans should check out 'Darwinia'. It's more Lost Continent than Conan, and while flawed, it's both fun and smart.
Burrough's fans should check out 'Darwinia'. It's more Lost Continent than Conan, and while flawed, it's both fun and smart.
It's a good novel, but it's not Conanesque and it's not even fantasy at the end. More like Tarzan or dark victoriana.
There is a book I read recently called The Hammer And The Sword that has a bit of a Robert E. Howard feel to it. It actually seems to be an amalgamation of different fantasy writers' styles, but it seems to work pretty well. The author's name is Jason M. Green if anyone is interested. I think the book is still only available online for the moment at a site called Xlibris.com, which is the name of the publishing company.
I wish to amend my previous post. The Hammer And The Sword is now listed for sale at other places than just the Xlibris site.