Conan / Robert E Howard

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by Dead_pool, Jan 29, 2017.

  1. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    so I'm nearing the end of reading all of Robert E Howards work, Conan/kull/all the wierd tales work, next up is the rest of his Breckinridge Elkins Westerns but I was wondering if there's any other good sword and sorcery books/tales that are lovecraft / Robert howard esque which are worth a read, I do know there's a lot of dross out there!

    Also any good movie suggestions in a similar vein would be welcome, ive started watching a lot of the 80's SandS ones, but again theirs lots of dross (some of which I loved originally) to slog through before you get to the real gems!

    cheers!
     
  2. Unreal Combat

    Unreal Combat Valued Member

    Do you like any of David Gemmell's work? I used to enjoy reading his fantasy genre books as a teenager.
     
  3. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    never tried it, worth a go?
     
  4. Unreal Combat

    Unreal Combat Valued Member

    Yeah absolutely. Morningstar was one of my favourites.
     
  5. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    For sword and sorcery heroic fantasy Gemell is where it's at. Some of my favourite books, and I've read most of them 5+ times.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2017
  6. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    The interesting thing with Gemell's work is it's aged with me. For seemingly simple action fantasy I get different perspectives on them whenever I read them.
    However I would say that they are fundamentally quite different to Conan, the heroes are much more existential than Howard's, their heroism being as much about their character evolution as their bravery.
    I also love how there's very much an emphasis on the hero and the coward experiencing the same emotions but reacting differently.
    His heroes are often very flawed individuals, driven by guilt, fear, rage, regret and grief, and often only become heroes because someone has to.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2017
  7. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    Michael J Sullivan sort of straddles sword and sorcery and epic fantasy, and certainly has some of the Conan feel.
    I'm assuming you've watched Solomon Kane?
     
  8. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member

    Gemmel good to brilliant - knights of dark renown a modern classic. But modern. if you want a contemporary of Lovecraft and robert e howard. then

    Clark Ashton smith is one of the tops - much of his stuff is so old that it is out of copy write - this site has legal free downloads of a lot of his work.

    http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/

    Their is also frizs Lieber, who has a curious 1930 German sense of humor. He is best known for his invention of the city of Ankh Morpork.

    Aslo L sprague de camp who took over from Howard on the Conan stories.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2017
  9. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    when i was a teenager, i loved the elric of melnibone series. maybe something might pique your interest here?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melniboné
     
  10. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    While I'm a big fan of Moorcock's other work I can never seem to get on with Elric.
     
  11. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    i'm not familiar with anything else moorcock has done, although i know he's written other stories. anything in particular to read?
     
  12. RobP

    RobP Valued Member

  13. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    Really? For me the starting point for Moorcock is the History of the Runestaff, probably his most accessible work with his most relatable protagonist. The three subsequent Hawkmoon novels are good too.
    Then the Corum quartet is pretty much distilled Moorcock, really weird, really gripping. The second Corum series is also very good although I personally dislike the downbeat ending.
    The Obsidian City and The Eternal Champion
    The Warhound and the World's Pain
     
  14. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member

    thinking about another thread I found this quote.

    "The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, R. E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H. P. Lovecraft, and A. Merritt."
    Writing in Appendix N, AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1979), p. 224
     
  15. Rand86

    Rand86 likes to butt heads

    The Kane series would be my suggestion also, although it's actually quite different from Conan.

    I'm going to throw my vote in for David Gemmell too; discovering his novels is actually what got me reading fantasy once again.
     
  16. blindside

    blindside Valued Member

    How did they manage to leave out Tolkien? A second level ranger was called a "strider.". The type VI demon armed with a flaming sword and whip was a balrog. The even had the burning pinecone spell from the Hobbit.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2017
  17. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Thanks for the great suggestions, I shall start on them soon!

    In related news, the anthology ive just downloaded from the Howard estate has a few mini stories that i've not read yet, and are missing from other collections, such as the Kull stories, and some very HP lovecraft influenced stories that play as conan in space, very cool indeed!
     
  18. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

  19. RobP

    RobP Valued Member

    AFIAK there were legal problems with the Tolkien estate, so eventually they had to change all the names that were specific to LOTR ( Hobbits became Halflings, Balrogs became Balor, Ents became Treants, etc)

    Similar thing wht HPL, the first Deities and Demigods had a full Cthulhu Mythos section that was later removed
     
  20. RobP

    RobP Valued Member

    No problem! If you like HPL here's a great podcast too

    http://hppodcraft.com/
     

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