Conan Meets the Academy

23
Jun

This multidisciplinary collection offers the first scholarly investigation of Conan, from Howard’s early stories, through midcentury novels and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic films, to the 2011 cinematic remake of Conan the Barbarian. Drawing on disciplines such as stylometry, archeology, cultural and folklore studies and literary history, the essays examine statistical analyses of the words in Conan texts, the literary genesis of Conan, later-day parodies, Conan video games, and much more. This volume reveals the hidden scholarly depth of this seemingly unsophisticated fictional character.

Continue reading →

The Conan Grimoire

20
Jun

The Conan Grimoire is a 1972 collection of essays, poetry and fiction edited by L. Sprague de Camp and George H. Scithers, published in hardcover by Mirage Press. The essays were originally published as articles in Scithers’ fanzine Amra. The book is a companion to Mirage’s previous two volumes of material from Amra, The Conan Reader (1968) and The Conan Swordbook (1969). Most of the material in the three volumes, together with some additional material, was later reprinted in two de Camp-edited paperback anthologies from Ace Books; The Blade of Conan (1979) and The Spell of Conan (1980).

Continue reading →

The Conan Swordbook

20
Jun

The Conan Swordbook is a 1969 collection of essays edited by L. Sprague de Camp and George H. Scithers, published in hardcover by Mirage Press. The essays were originally published as articles in Scithers’ fanzine Amra. The book is a companion to Mirage’s other two volumes of material from Amra, The Conan Reader (1968) and The Conan Grimoire (1972). Most of the material in the three volumes, together with some additional material, was later reprinted in two de Camp-edited paperback anthologies from Ace Books; The Blade of Conan (1979) and The Spell of Conan (1980).

Continue reading →

The Conan Reader

20
Jun

The Conan Reader is a 1968 essay collection by L. Sprague de Camp, published in hardcover by Mirage Press. The essays were originally published as articles in George H. Scithers’ fanzine Amra. Mirage subsequently published two companion volumes of essays from The Conan Swordbook (1969) and The Conan Grimoire (1972). Most of the material in the three volumes, together with some additional material, was later reprinted in two de Camp-edited paperback anthologies from Ace Books; The Blade of Conan (1979) and The Spell of Conan (1980).[1][2]

Continue reading →

The Spell of Conan

20
Jun

The Spell of Conan is a 1980 collection of essays, poems and fiction edited by L. Sprague de Camp, published in paperback by Ace Books. The material was originally published as articles in George H. Scithers’ fanzine Amra.

The book is a companion to Ace’s earlier volume of material from Amra, The Blade of Conan (1979). Most of the material in the two volumes, together with some additional material, was reprinted from three previous books issued in hardcover by Mirage Press; de Camp’s collection The Conan Reader (1968), and the de Camp and Scithers-edited anthologies The Conan Swordbook (1969). and The Conan Grimoire (1972).

Continue reading →

The Blade of Conan

20
Jun

The Blade of Conan is a 1979 collection of essays edited by L. Sprague de Camp, published in paperback by Ace Books.

The material was originally published as articles in George H. Scithers’ fanzine Amra. The book is a companion to Ace’s later volume of material from Amra, The Spell of Conan (1980). Most of the material in the two volumes, together with some additional material, was reprinted from three previous books issued in hardcover by Mirage Press; de Camp’s collection The Conan Reader (1968), and the de Camp and Scithers-edited anthologies The Conan Swordbook (1969). and The Conan Grimoire (1972).

Continue reading →

Ar-I-E’ch and the Spell of Cthulhu

19
Jun

Robert E. Howard’s correspondence with H.P. Lovecraft inspired the two-fisted creator of Conan the Barbarian to pit his square-jawed modern heroes against cosmic horrors, colossal beasts, and cannibalistic children of the night, in a short-lived effort to open new markets for his fiction.

In this book, the first in the “Informal Guide to Robert E. Howard” series, Howard scholar Fred Blosser analyzes each of REH’s Cthulhu Mythos stories, unpacking their plots, their themes, and their unexpected linkages to Howard’s other works.

Continue reading →

Worms of the Earth

19
Jun

‘Worms of the Earth’ is a short story by American fantasy fiction writer Robert E. Howard. It was originally published in the magazine Weird Tales in November 1932, then again in this collection of Howard’s short stories. The story features one of Howard’s recurring protagonists, Bran Mak Morn, a legendary king of the Picts. 

Continue reading →