The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian

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.