book question [Conan?]

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Atrophic Decay	book question [Conan?]		Lead	[-]
Posts: 535 02-19-08 10:28 AM	Tags : None I remember a few people saying there were some good conan books, I was thinking about trying to pick one up from the library but can't remember which ones were discussed...
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EQTazer		#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1015 02-19-08 10:54 AM Community Member	I'm not sure about Conan specifically, but anything by Greg Rucka is fantastic.
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Feydakin Rainsong		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 5098 02-19-08 11:18 AM Wholly Shi'ite	For Christmas I got three volumes which contain the 12 "original" Conan novels written by R.E. Howard and largely edited by Lin Carter and L. Sprague deCamp. The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian The Bloody Crown of Conan The Conquering Sword of Conan Basically, Howard wrote a lot of fragmentary Conan material, and after his suicide in 1936, much of it was edited together with contributions by Carter, deCamp and others to sort of pull everything together into a continuous story arc. A lot of purists despise Carter and deCamp, actually. There are a lot of other conan books (including graphic novels), but pretty much all but the three books I mentioned above are just other writers riffing off the Conan character. I guess you could say the three books (which are a compilation of 12 novel-sized paperbacks which were themselves just collections of short stories) are Conan canon. A door is sometimes a jar, but a jar is never a door.
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vizco		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2950 02-19-08 11:49 AM Raid Peon	The funny thing is that Howard only wrote fewer than two dozen Conan stories and one novel. So what you are really getting with those collections is a lot of material by deCamp and Carter over a small foundation of Howard's work. They also "edited" and "revised" Howard's prose (which, to be fair to them, wasn't very good). "The Bloody Crown of Conan" contains the one novel and two novelettes, plus a lot of marginal material (like the posthumous Tolkien stuff). I assume the others are similar, though Amazon doesn't show the ToCs for them. They also don't mention either deCamp or Carter as far as I can tell. If you read the entry on Conan in Wikipedia you'll see that the copyrights and ownership and published editions are completely confused and screwed up. Nonetheless, it's all a good read; Conan was the original barbarian hero. This is the guy who, when he was hung up to die and a vulture came to pick at his eyes, bit its head off. That's tough. Harmony of Souls : My Quiver All this science I don't understand; it's just my job five days a week.
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Atrophic Decay		#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 535 02-19-08 5:26 PM	So the three you put links to are the 'good' ones which contain the story of Conan? I am not sure if I followed what you said entirely =)
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Atrophic Decay		#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 535 02-19-08 5:29 PM	darn, looking at the online catalog they don't have them
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Feydakin Rainsong		#6	[url]	[-]
Posts: 5098 02-19-08 6:23 PM Wholly Shi'ite	Yeah, the three books I linked to contain all of the original Robert E. Howard stuff, which, as vizco said, is mixed in with a lot of stuff by other authors (mainly Carter and deCamp) who edited the pieces that Howard left behind into a single story arc that starts with Conan fleeing his homeland of Cimmeria and ending with him usurping the throne of Aquilonia and later (at the age of about 60) sailing off across the western seas to find new adventures. If you read some of this stuff and really like it, I strongly suggest you find yourself a copy of a novel by Robert E. Howard called "Almuric." Easily one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy novels of all time. A door is sometimes a jar, but a jar is never a door.
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Atrophic Decay		#7	[url]	[-]
Posts: 535 02-19-08 7:11 PM	apparently 'beyond the borders' is the only book the library has by him, doh!
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fatesdefiance		#8	[url]	[-]
Posts: 3065 02-20-08 4:07 AM Community Member	Don't be put off by the Lin Carter and L. Sprague DeCamp contributions to the Howard books. They're both excellent writers. Carter particularly adopted much of Howard's and Edgar Rice Burroughs' styles. Hunter Tarryn Valewalker -- Twisted Fates (Prexus - Retired) Nightshade Tarryn Valewalker -- Kingfisher Brigade EQ2 - Unrest Tarryn of Dale, Hunter -- Dies Irae LotRO - Meneldor
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Feydakin Rainsong		#9	[url]	[-]
Posts: 5098 02-20-08 6:59 AM Wholly Shi'ite	Yeah, I definitely never had any problem with any of the editors when I was growing up reading those books. When I go back and read them now, I might actually be a sophisticated enough reader to detect where Howard's writing leaves off and Carter, deCamp or someone else's writing continues, but I doubt it'll affect my enjoyment. I was just remarking that there are some people who really nit-pick about it. A door is sometimes a jar, but a jar is never a door.
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