Non-Howard material.

Conan and the Spider God is a fantasy novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp featuring Robert E. Howard’s sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in paperback by Bantam Books in December 1980; later paperback editions were issued by Ace Books (April 1989, reprinted August 1991) and Tor Books (June 2003). The first hardcover edition was issued by Robert Hale in 1984, and the second by Tor Books in 2002. It was later gathered together with Conan the Swordsman and Conan the Liberator into the omnibus trade paperback collection Sagas of Conan (Tor Books, 2004).

Conan and the Spider God is the only fictional Conan work credited solely to de Camp; his other Conan stories being collaborations with Howard (posthumously), Lin Carter, and Björn Nyberg. De Camp also wrote numerous non-fiction pieces about Conan and Howard, both alone and with others.

Contents

• vii • Introduction (Conan and the Spider God) • essay by L. Sprague de Camp
• 1 • Conan and the Spider God • [Conan Pastiches] • novel by L. Sprague de Camp

Plot

Conan finds himself in the kingdom of Zamora, a fugitive under suspicion of kidnapping Jamilah, the queen of Turan. Discovering she has actually been captured by devotees of the Zamoran spider god Zath, he journeys into the city of Yezud (first mentioned in the Howard story “The People of the Black Circle”) to rescue Jamilah. Incidentally, Conan steals some opals used as eyes in the god’s temple image.

Characteristically, de Camp’s Conan is a more credible if less elemental figure than Howard’s, carefully assessing the situation in Yezud and taking the time and effort to lay the groundwork for his foray rather than just barreling in swinging his sword.

Chronologically, Conan and the Spider God come between the short stories “The Curse of the Monolith” and “The Blood-Stained God”.

Notes

None.