Where to Start with Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard created Conan the Barbarian in 1932 and in the process invented sword and sorcery as a genre. Writing at ferocious speed for the pulp magazine Weird Tales, Howard produced stories of raw, cinematic power that have never gone out of print. His prose is muscular and vivid, his pacing relentless, and his vision of a prehistoric world haunted by ancient sorcery remains one of fantasy’s most compelling settings.
Start here
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
Robert E. Howard · 496 pages · 2003 · Easy
Themes: primal adventure, survival, barbarism vs. civilization, dark sorcery, freedom
The definitive collection of Robert E. Howard’s original Conan stories, presented as he wrote them. This 2003 Del Rey edition collects the first thirteen tales in their unedited form, with illustrations by Mark Schultz and scholarly notes by Patrice Louinet.
Why Start Here
Previous Conan collections were tampered with by later editors who rewrote passages and rearranged the order. This edition restores Howard’s original text and presents the stories in the order he wrote them, giving you the purest experience of his vision. Stories like “The Tower of the Elephant” and “Queen of the Black Coast” are among the finest adventure fiction ever written in English.
What to Expect
Short, punchy tales that drop Conan into a new crisis every time. A thief infiltrating a sorcerer’s tower. A pirate sailing with a warrior queen. A gladiator escaping a corrupt kingdom. Howard’s prose is direct and cinematic, his pacing extraordinary. At 496 pages the book is substantial, but each story stands alone and can be read in a single sitting.