Edited by L. Sprague de Camp

Conan the Wanderer is a 1968 collection of four fantasy short stories by American writers Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, featuring Howard’s sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. Most of the stories were originally published in various fantasy magazines. The book has been reprinted a number of times by various publishers and has also been translated into German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish and Italian. It was later gathered together with Conan the Adventurer and Conan the Buccaneer into the omnibus collection The Conan Chronicles 2 (1990).

Contents

• 6 •  A Map of the World of Conan in the Hyborian Age • (1966) • interior artwork by John D. Clark, Ph.D. and L. Sprague de Camp and Robert E. Howard and David A. Kyle and P. Schuyler Miller
• 9 • Introduction (Conan the Wanderer) • (1968) • essay by L. Sprague de Camp
• 13 • Black Tears • [Conan] • (1968) • novelette by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp
• 40 • Shadows in Zamboula • [Conan] • (1935) • novelette by Robert E. Howard
• 73 • The Devil in Iron • [Conan] • (1934) • novelette by Robert E. Howard
• 106 • The Flame Knife • [Conan] • (1955) • novella by L. Sprague de Camp and Robert E. Howard

Plot

Conan, now about thirty-one, survives a Turanian-involved trap which crushes his Zuagir raiders and seeks revenge on Vardanes of Zamora, their betrayer. Afterwards, he moves on to other adventures, killing a high priest in the cannibal-haunted city of Zamboula and ultimately gaining command of a band of Kozaki warriors in the service of Kobad Shah, king of Iranistan. In his final adventure, Conan once again encounters his old rival, Olgerd Vladislav, and predecessor as chief of the Zuagirs.

Chronologically, the four short stories collected as Conan the Wanderer fall between Conan the Freebooter and Conan the Adventurer.

Notes

Reprinted 1976 (twice), 1981, 1982
Copyright © L. Sprague de Camp 1968.
Individual stories’ copyright and publication information on copyright page.
First printed in Great Britain by Sphere Books ltd 1974.

Cover artist is mistakenly credited as Frank Frazetta. The illustration of the 1968 Lancer edition is used. This is credited to John Duillo.
Other prices: Australia A$3.95, Malta £1.25.

Se almost complete Sphere publishing story.