The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time!
by Robert E. Howard
List Price:
Our Price: $11.25
You Save: $6.75 (38%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.83 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Robert E. HowardEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-12-02
ISBN: 0345461517
Number of pages: 463
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Reviews of The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time!
Book Review: Grabbing a Sword and Brutally Hacking Away Until the Problem Stops Moving
Summary: 5 Stars
Having finally gotten around to trying and loving Conan 2.0: Kull: Exile of Atlantis, I was ready to try the finished version, and once again Robert E. Howard did not disappoint! I can honestly say I've never read anything quite like it!
Introduction by Patrice Louinet: Interesting and useful, especially to a newbie like me. Discusses the significance of these editions of Conan stories: "until the present publication, Howard's Conan stories had never been published as Howard wrote them, in the order in which he wrote them, in a uniform collection."
"Cimmeria": short poem containing Conan's remembrances of the home he never revisits, written about the same time that Howard first conceived the character. Also reprinted here: The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 2: Grim Lands.
"The Phoenix on the Sword": First Conan story was a rewritten Kull story "By This Axe I Rule!" The romance was eliminated, a weird element was added, and after the first draft, the somewhat slow beginning of the plotters' meeting was dropped in favor of the famous excerpt from the Nemedian Chronicles. I liked the original, but I loved this version more.
"The Frost-Giant's Daughter": Interesting twist on several ancient myths with Conan in the role the relentlessly chasing god. Later rewritten as the non-Conan story "The Frost-King's Daughter".
"The God in the Bowl": Weird police procedural involving the investigation of the death of a man Conan was stealing from.
"The Tower of the Elephant": First great Conan story involves Conan's attempt to steal the source of the priest Yara's magic from the title thief-proof tower and what he finds there. Contains interesting bit of history firmly tying the Kull and Conan universes together. Also reprinted here: The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 2: Grim Lands.
"The Scarlet Citadel": King Conan is betrayed, his army slaughtered, and himself taken prisoner and condemned to a horrible death in the dungeons underneath the title structure, which only makes him mad!
"Queen of the Black Coast": Dark masterpiece about Conan going pirating with Belit, the title pirate leader, and the grim finish, brought on by the last, twisted survivor of a dead primordial race.
"Black Colossus": An ancient sorcerer is reborn and threatens to make Princess Yasmela of Khoraja his bride by force, but a forgotten oracle of Mitra tells her to fear not and place her kingdom in the hands of the first man she meets. Guess who that turns out to be!
"Iron Shadows in the Moon": The first of the "formula" Conan stories. Conan rescues damsel in distress from Hyrkanians, pirates, a giant ape, and statues come to life.
"Xuthal of the Dusk": Conan rescues damsel in distress from two conquering armies, a treacherous Stygian, the god of Xuthal, and the warped Xuthalites themselves.
"The Pool of the Black One": Conan rescues damsel in distress from pirates and inhuman sorcerer giants.
"Rogues in the House": Twist on the formula: Conan rescues fop in distress from anthropoid ape and treacherous priest.
"The Vale of Lost Women": Conan rescues damsel in distress from Kushite tribesmen and "a Devil from the Outer Dark".
"The Devil in Iron": Conan rescues damsel in distress from a couple of Hyrkanian plotters, a giant snake, and an iron-bodied "thing" that had crawled out of the Abyss.
"The Phoenix on the Sword" (first draft): Much closer to the original "By This Axe I Rule!"
"Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age": Thumbnail sketches of the Aquilonians, Gundermen, and Cimmerians.
"The Hyborian Age": Detailed history of Conan's world. Written primarily as a way for Howard to keep it straight in his stories.
Untitled Synopsis: Never fleshed out outline written after "The God in the Bowl" probably due to rejection of "The Frost-Giant's Daughter".
Untitled Synopses of "The Scarlet Citadel" and "Black Colossus".
Untitled Fragment: Conan starts to rescue damsel in distress. Probably a false start written after "The Vale of Lost Women".
Untitled Synopsis and Untitled Draft: Conan rescues a couple of damsels in distress, the first from a howling mob, the second from the first. Probably a false start written before "The Devil in Iron".
Hyborian Names and Countries and a couple of Hyborian Age Maps: Further author's aids.
"Hyborian Genesis" by Patrice Louinet: Informative notes on the creation of the Conan stories.
"Notes on the Conan Typescripts and the Chronology" and "Notes on the Original Howard Texts": Mostly of use to the Howard scholar.
I am looking forward to reading the rest of this Del Rey series: The Bloody Crown of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 2), The Conquering Sword of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 3), Bran Mak Morn: The Last King, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard, The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 1: Crimson Shadows, The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 2: Grim Lands, The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard, and El Borak and Other Desert Adventures.
Note: My review title comes from the mostly praiseworthy Washington Post review published on Howard's one hundredth birthday. However a couple sentences stand out for sheer stupidity:
"Perhaps most disturbingly, Conan glorifies the Gordian Knot solution: The proper response to a complex problem is to grab a sword and brutally hack away until the problem stops moving. Some naive readers might imagine that such a policy actually works in the real world."
This is an obvious reference to Howard's fellow Texan, "W" the Barbarian, and while we cannot know what Howard would have thought of him, we can know what he'd have thought of this sentiment: this idiocy is why barbarism is the natural state of mankind. Earth to Washington Post: while NOBODY thinks that grabbing a sword and brutally hacking away until the problem stops moving is the solution to EVERY problem, anyone who thinks that it is NEVER the solution "is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
More The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time! reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Summary of The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time!
?Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities . . . there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars. . . . Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand . . . to treadthe jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.?
Conan is one of the greatest fictional heroes ever created?a swordsman who cuts a swath across the lands of the Hyborian Age, facing powerful sorcerers, deadly creatures, and ruthless armies of thieves and reavers.
In a meteoric career that spanned a mere twelve years before his tragic suicide, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword and sorcery. Collected in this volume, profusely illustrated by artist Mark Schultz, are Howard?s first thirteen Conan stories, appearing in their original versions?in some cases for the first time in more than seventy years?and in the order Howard wrote them. Along with classics of dark fantasy like ?The Tower of the Elephant? and swashbuckling adventure like ?Queen of the Black Coast,? The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian contains a wealth of material never before published in the United States, including the first submitted draft of Conan?s debut, ?Phoenix on the Sword,? Howard?s synopses for ?The Scarlet Citadel? and ?Black Colossus,? and a map of Conan?s world drawn by the author himself.
Here are timeless tales featuring Conan the raw and dangerous youth, Conan the daring thief, Conan the swashbuckling pirate, and Conan the commander of armies. Here, too, is an unparalleled glimpse into the mind of a genius whose bold storytelling style has been imitated by many, yet equaled by none.
Action & Adventure Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Action & Adventure Books
Polar Shiftby Paul Cussler Clive & Kemprecos
Penguin; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.30
The Call of the Wild (Children's Classics)by Jack London
Penguin Audio; Published: 1997-08-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $11.00
Pelican Briefby John Grisham
Trafalgar Square; Published: 1993-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.19
Price in other shops:
Stardustby Neil Gaiman
HarperCollins; Published: 2008-12-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.78
Price in other shops:
Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)by Neal Stephenson
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2004-09-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.22
Price in other shops:
Sandstormby James Rollins
Harper; Published: 2005-04-26; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops:
No Man's Landby G.M. Ford
William Morrow; Published: 2005-06-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.50
Price in other shops:
Forever Odd - Signed Proofby Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Preyby Michael Crichton
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2003-08-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.95
Sharpe's Waterloo (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #20)by Bernard Cornwell
Harpercollins; Published: 1998-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Similar Books and other products
Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventuresby Robert E. Howard
Del Rey; Published: 2011-01-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.41
Price in other shops:
The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 2 (v. 2)by Roy Thomas
Dark Horse Comics; Dark Horse; Published: 2008-03-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howardby Robert E. Howard
Del Rey; Published: 2008-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.05
Price in other shops:
Kull: Exile of Atlantisby Robert E. Howard
Del Rey; Published: 2006-10-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Bran Mak Morn: The Last Kingby Robert E. Howard
Del Rey; Published: 2005-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.48
Price in other shops:
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kaneby Robert E. Howard
Del Rey; Published: 2004-06-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
The Bloody Crown of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 2)by Robert E. Howard
Del Rey; Published: 2004-11-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
The Conquering Sword of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 3)by Robert E. Howard
Del Rey; Published: 2005-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.73
Price in other shops:
The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 1 (v. 1)by Roy Thomas
Dark Horse; Published: 2011-03-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops:
The Complete Chronicles of Conanby Robert E. Howard
Gollancz; Published: 2009-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.37
Price in other shops: