183 replies to this topic

[Jor-el]

I just completed reading "Conan of Venarium" by Harry Turtledove. The book is excellent,and makes you crave for more. I can hardly wait for more new Conan books. But, I am confused about something. REH penned Conan's father as being named Nial the blacksmith, but in this book he is called "Mordec" . Also, concerning Conan's hair color, as in ALL other stories, Conan's hair is stated as black, not "Arnie brown". I hope whomever makes a new Conan movie reads at least one Conan storie,thus educating themselves on what Conan should look like.

Jor-el

[Jason Durall]

                  I just completed reading "Conan of Venarium" by Harry Turtledove. The book is excellent,and makes you crave for more. I can hardly wait for more new Conan books. But, I am confused about something. REH penned Conan's father as being named Nial the blacksmith, but in this book he is called "Mordec" . Also, concerning Conan's hair color, as in ALL other stories, Conan's hair is stated as black, not "Arnie brown". I hope whomever makes a new Conan movie reads at least one Conan storie,thus educating themselves on what Conan should look like.

                                                        Jor-el

Actually, I don't think REH ever named Conan's father.

[Winterghost]

I think it was DeCamp who named Conan's pop Nial, and I believe it was in Conan and the Spider God.

(Recently discovered documents show that Howard had wanted to name the father Herbert the Barbarian)

[Jor-el]

Hello out there! Have any of you read Turtledove's Conan of Venarium? If not you should get to it by Crom! I myself am impatiently waiting for the second of three Mr. Turtledove is supposed to write within the year.

Jor-el {the blade}

[wulfhere]

You'll be waiting forever.

[budgie]

I thought it was an interesting and enjoyable read but there are problems with it in some aspects of Conans life and surroundings.

If Mr Turtledove did a little more research into REH's Conan and incorperated it into future stories I would be happy to read more of his work.

Budgie

[Ironhand]

For a somewhat different take on the sack of Venarium, see our screenplay, "The Sack of Venarium", at
http://www.conan.no/...s/the_sack.html

[heartbreakkid19]

I read and enjoyed it, I love the way his father was portrayed and the relationship he had with his mother. I think it showed the development of this great character in a real way.

[Orkin]

I haven't read this book, but I know that it portrays Cimmeria early in Conan's life. The more I think about it, the more I think that the Cimmerians should be more primitive (hunter-gatherer etc.) than that. Just a thought.

[Kane]

I have to agree with Orkin. For reasons that I cannot explain, I've always pictured Conan's clan/tribe as being on the edge of stone age going into the cooper age.
It was only the arrival on Conan's grandfather, a member of a southen tribe, that allowed them to jump to the iron level of technology.

[budgie]

Actually I quite liked the portrayal of the Cimmerian family structure and lifestyle.. I seen them as further on that Stane age or even Bronze age..
Primative by some of the other cultures,yes but not fur wearing semi nomads but as a people with a known culture who were in some ways very advanced.. think early celtic..

Budgie

[Rusty]

Sounds like a good read. I'll be sure to check it out. So many books I want to get now after reading some of these posts!!

[unclefuzz]

I really had only three complaints, the first being Conan's mastery of the bow, the lack of this talent was what originally made him have to serve as an irregular in the Turanian army, so it seemed out of place that he was so good with it at an earlier age. Second, Conan was supposed to be from northern Cimmeria, not the southern occupied regions, and lastly, the ending completely through out the path Conan took to reach the southern civilzed lands, completely re-writing his early history. This said, much of the book was very entertaining and despite the small conflicts with Conan's history, this was still a good book.

[Hyborian]

If Mr Turtledove did a little more research into REH's Conan and incorperated it into future stories I would be happy to read more of his work.

He was paid to write a Conan story, not to do research about some unknown writer from the 30's. As long as his book sells, I doubt that he cares about consistency

[wulfhere]

Could you explain to me why a knowledge of the character Conan, a character created by that "unknown writer from the 30's" is irrelevant to the writing of a Conan story?

If your paid to write a Conan story then write a Conan story, not a story about a barbarian who is utterly unlike the established character known as Conan of Cimmeria. If you are going to write a novel using another man's creation as your main character the least you can do is to understand who that character is, what they did and why they did it, then work within that framework.

[Hyborian]

Could you explain to me why a knowledge of the character Conan, a character created by that "unknown writer from the 30's" is irrelevant to the writing of a Conan story?

If your paid to write a Conan story then write a Conan story, not a story about a barbarian who is utterly unlike the established character known as Conan of Cimmeria. If you are going to write a novel using another man's creation as your main character the least you can do is to understand who that character is, what they did and why they did it, then work within that framework.

I was just being sarcastic, wulfhere. I share your opinion about the way authors should write those pastiches.

Well actually I think that they should NOT write pastiches : they should write their own stories, with their own heroes. I really think that many Conan pastiches would be great fantasy novels, if they didn't feature a caricatured Conan

[wulfhere]

Sorry, sarcasm is easy to miss in this format.

Well actually I think that they should NOT write pastiches : they should write their own stories, with their own heroes. I really think that many Conan pastiches would be great fantasy novels, if they didn't feature a caricatured Conan

My sentiments exactly!

[budgie]

Could you explain to me why a knowledge of the character Conan, a character created by that "unknown writer from the 30's" is irrelevant to the writing of a Conan story?

If your paid to write a Conan story then write a Conan story, not a story about a barbarian who is utterly unlike the established character known as Conan of Cimmeria. If you are going to write a novel using another man's creation as your main character the least you can do is to understand who that character is, what they did and why they did it, then work within that framework.

I was just being sarcastic, wulfhere. I share your opinion about the way authors should write those pastiches.

Well actually I think that they should NOT write pastiches : they should write their own stories, with their own heroes. I really think that many Conan pastiches would be great fantasy novels, if they didn't feature a caricatured Conan

A noble thought.. unfortunately you would then be limited to reading REH Conan's only.. I dont fancy reading the same few stories all the time, it would turn me off the mans creation.. occasionally you have to have a new fix to keep you interested.. some are sucessful, most are not..

Even among the pastiche novels theres some that have captured the mood and feel of a Conan story to an extent.

Turtledoves book would indeed have been a lot better had he done a little mor4e research, his writing stile I found easy to follow and the basis of the storyline was interesting enough.

Budgie

[Hyborian]

A noble thought..

Thank you

unfortunately you would then be limited to reading REH Conan's only..

As I said earlier, there are many other writers, many other worlds and many other heroes to discover. You can even read REH's other works

That said, I must admit that all Conan pastiches are not that bad. But by adding more and more adventures to Conan's life, they turn him into some comic book superhero (it seems that Conan cannot spend one day of his life without slaying a sorcerer...). The new novels to be released, based on the Hyborian Age but not the character of Conan, seem much more interesting to me. Hopefully they'll give us a different view of that world. IMHO, that's the kind of novels that should have been written instead of the pastiches we know.

[Gorm]

I read Turtledoves book. I enjoyed it, I really liked it far better than any of the other conan works I've read, besides Howard of course. I agree that the end didnt line up with how i thought conans life passed, the end seemed rushed, like after the battle of Venarium(spelling) Turtledove just didnt know what to do. I laughed when Conan stole the merchants cart in aquilonia. But the book did give a good feeling of atmosphere and did well to recreate Cimmeria in a deserving light.

the only other problem i had was the battle with the snake that he got the poison venom from, it felt injected, just so he could have his first battle with creatures of Set i there.

worth a read, had a good map in the begining as well.

Second, Conan was supposed to be from northern Cimmeria, not the southern occupied regions

I thought Conan was from the Southern regions? i suppose he could have moved south to fight at venarium, but i had always imagined him living there. no biggie, just my two cents.