Howard's Other Works

[j. d. worthington]

Well, occasionally there is mention of Robert E. Howard around here, especially the Conan stories. However, I'm wondering who has read his other work, whether it be the stories of Bran Mak Morn, Kull, Solomon Kane, Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, James Allison, Agnes d'Chastillon, or any of his other series characters. I'd also like to hear from anyone who has read his stories in other vein, such as the tales he did on Oriental adventure, or his horror tales; or his non-series fantasies, such as "The Grey God Passes".

I look forward to hearing from anyone interested....

[HardScienceFan]

Bran,Kull,Solomon.
Hard to get though

[Who's Wee Dug]

Bran Mak Morn, Kull, Solomon Kane,Turlogh Dubh O'Brien,The Grey God Passes.

I have read all those,plus all the Connan books and the Sword Woman,Almuric,Marchers of Valhalla,Dark Man Omnibus 2 books, all said and done I was not too keen on S.Kane and the film did not grab me that much either but it was OK, although I had read the book first.

But I am a big fan of REH, will have to look out for the James Allison ones as they are the only ones I had not yet obtained.
One interesting book I have is The Annotated Guide to Robert E Howards Sword & Sorcery by Robert Weinberg a 1976 Starmont House publication.And I passed up a long time ago the chance of the large format hard covers in the grey dust jackets as done by Donald Grant I think.

[HardScienceFan]

WWD you a fan as well?
great

[Who's Wee Dug]

HSF, I even have the other Connan books written by Poul Anderson,L.Sprague,Lin Carter,Andrew Ouffutt,Robert Jordan & Steve Perry Fan boy or what.

[HardScienceFan]

There's only one REH,the man himself
I am a purist

[Who's Wee Dug]

Agreed! but when you read the others it just shows how good he was.

[GOLLUM]

I've read some of Kane, Kull and Bran Mak Morn, Steve Costigan and enjoyed them all. There's a beautiful set of collected works coverng these characters that I've recently purchased.

[HardScienceFan]

got those old Lancer books with the Frazetta covers
come to think of it Lancer was underrated

[Fried Egg]

I saw a load of his other books in a second hand book shop a ages ago but that was before I had read any Conan. I thought I'd come back for those later if I liked Conan. Unfortunately they were gone when I came back...

[Connavar]

My ultimate dream right now is to find a second hand store with nun Conan REH, that would be awesome


I have become a big fan of Conan that i wanna try his other stuff i know care if its Kane,Bran,Kull or some other story.


Actually im gonna make it a goal of mine to find the other stuff.

[j. d. worthington]

Wow! I wasn't expecting anything near this much of a response!

Okay... WWD -- yes, they were put out by Donald M. Grant. Some of the illustrations were exquisite; others were... meh. But it was nice to have Howard's works before all the extra editing, and see his fragments (like the one that became "The Snout in the Dark"). The same goes for Red Shadows (though the Krenkel illos on that were very fitting, I thought). Once in a while you can come across these for good prices... and if you ever see a decent price on the Grant edition of Sowers of the Thunder... go for it. Lovely book visually, and some great adventure tales....

Con: Do you mean the "non-Howard Conan"? Those are still fairly easy to obtain here, though I'm not sure how they are in your neck of the woods. But if so, I'll warn you -- there's a plethora of them out there, and most are... questionable, at best. Some of them, however, do have merit (though they are not Howard, by any means). Wagner's Conan novel, The Road of Kings, is a good tale, and a good take on the Cimmerian -- also grim, dark, and tragic. He has a rather good feel for Howard, and a great deal of respect for the man and his work, and it shows. Offutt's Conan stories... they're fun, and have some very nice things about them, but don't quite feel right. However, they are a good read. I don't much care for Anderson's Conan novel (despite the fact I quite like most of Anderson's fantasy work), and the De Camp/Carter pieces vary in quality from pleasant to sheer hackwork to occasionally very good. The less said about Robert Jordan's Conan, the better, in my opinion. (I'll give the man credit for this: he captures the feel of Howard's world rather well, and doesn't do too badly with the character himself... but the storylines, and the writing in general, are very shaky, and as for his female characters... REH himself would gag.)

Ben, GOLLUM: Glad to see others have read more of his work than just the Hyborian age stories. Also, Ben, I agree. Lancer was underrated. So was Zebra, who put out quite a few Howard books in the '70s (as well as books by others "continuing" his characters' tales -- a few of those were not at all bad, either, but most.... *sigh*). The Howard books, however, were wonderful, and ran the gamut. Well worth getting if you can find them for a reasonable price. They also did a reprint of Lovecraft's The Colour out of Space (and other stories), using, as I recall, the Lancer plates; and they put out several books by Talbot Mundy (the Tros of Samothrace set) as well as several other things a fantasy lover would enjoy. The Berkley Books set was also quite nice, often being reprints from Donald M. Grant, plus several originals, as I recall....

WWD: The Weinberg book -- very nice, that one; though it is strictly Howard... no followers. As for the James Allison stories... I do wish someone would put them in a volume together, but I don't think all of them have yet been collected in a single place (I'm including the fragments, which are always of interest, too). But that series intrigues me, I must admit...

So... any thoughts on any of these? Favorites? Ones you felt didn't quite work? etc.....


WWD: Weinberg's book is a very nice guide, though it does stick strictly to Howard, none of his followers.

[Connavar]

Nun Conan Howard i meant which means its time to try his other works.

I have heard he has done alot other stuff even outside his famous Kane,Kull etc


I have also become Conan purist. I refuse to read Conan done by someone else than REH. Why bother? Is not like Conan is some epic fantasy series that you must read to see the end I like Conan for the way REH writes him.

All the others no matter how famous they are on their own i couldnt care less.

[Who's Wee Dug]

JD at the time they were £4or£6 each have seen one or two in the past few years going for about £25. Also just watched again the Hawkwind documentary of Hawkwind on BBC4 it is on again at 2:40 am GMT if you can stream it on the net.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Who's Wee Dug

JD at the time they were £4or£6 each have seen one or two in the past few years going for about £25. Also just watched again the Hawkwind documentary of Hawkwind on BBC4 it is on again at 2:40 am GMT if you can stream it on the net.

Ah, thanks for that... Actually, I found the darned thing available on YouTube, believe it or not.... in several installments, but the whole darned thing seems to be there....

Con: Probably wise. I first read most of those when I was a lot younger, and still have fondness for several of them; and some of them, frankly, still hold up very well on their own... but there's nothing like the original!

As for his other work... thank goodness, a lot of that is becoming more available, through such places as Wildside Press, Del Rey, and Bison Books, etc.