421 replies to this topic

[Subotai]

Hi

This is my first post, after reading through every message on this wonderful new board

I am going to go buy the REH Fantasy Masterwork series and read that first, but i was wondering if people here could rate the pastiches, say from best to worst and also naming the books worth reading...

Thanks in advance!


Subotai
Thief, Archer, Hyrkanian

[Dragon Girl]

Robert Jordan's are pretty decent. He's quite a good writer, although I didn't get very far into his Wheel of Time series because the darn things are so long.

Steve Perry....meh.

It's been awhile since I read any non-REH Conan, so I can't really remember the other authors that well.

[Ironhand]

Look for the ones by Karl Edward Wagner and Andrew Offut. Also try "Conan and the Emerald Lotus".

[Hawklord]

I agree with Ironhand: Offut and Wagner are good. Offut's are: Conan: The Sword of Skelos, Conan the Mercenary, and Conan and the Sorcerer. The only Wagner Conan book I have read is Conan: The Road of Kings.

I have only read one Steve Perry book, Conan the Indomitable, and I didn't quite like it. He's an O.K. wirter, I guess, but the story didn't . . . FEEL . . . like a Conan story.

Most of the other Tor releases I like; all good yarns

[budgie]

Rating the pastiches.. ok, heres one from me

Just finished reading Conan the Freelance by Steve Perry..

How would I rate it? patchy would be a good description..
Usual plot, Conan involved in a quest to find a missing item and getting sidetracked by women and wizards..
Character wise the main villan and his shark/human creations arn't too bad as vilians go. Theres another group of lizard people involved and also a group of humans who live in giant trees
for continuity the story aint bad, bit like reading a Steven King novel with the stories initially jumping over the place but slowly threading together nicely.
..
I say patchy becuase some of the minor characters or situations are either plain silly or stereotypical.. the prologue is a total cop out plot wise. The story does get a little slow at points but gains pace near the end.
Ity took me a long time to get into the book and even start to care about any of the characters as I say Kleg;the prime Selkie (mages main henchman) is probably one of the better ones

Im reading these books in series (as mentioned in one of my other posts) so my next one is Conan the Formidable also by Steve Perry.. heres hoping its an improvement over this one..

I'l give it 6/10

Budgie

[alex]

The first book Perry wrote I kinda enjoyed. The title escapes me at the moment. There was an old wizard and a young girl who latched on to Conan after he saw them materialize a grotesque giant spider in a bar room bully's tankard of ale. By Crom you got my attention there! I also recall a shapeshifter who's favorite form was the Panther and a major demon ugly from another dimension. That was one of Perry's early ones. From then on he got steadily worse and worse, until he hit rock bottom with Conan the Formidable - which I believe is the one Emerald is painfully trying to forget. What a testimoy to crap! (Shudder)

Some of those TOR guys had a couple of good ones then turn right around with some of the worst ever! Like Leonard Carpenter. I REALLY dug his Conan The Raider. It was like Night Of The Living Dead meets the Mummy. Throw in a giant Stygian with snakes in a public duel with Conan while everyone oohs and ahhs, an old Vanir who befriends then later betrays Conan and you had one damn good read!

So when I bought Carpenter's Conan the Gladiator, I was expecting something along the lines of the big Cimmerian betrayed and captured, then sent to the arena to die. Then predictably slaughter 10 times his number to the amazement of everyone involved while they gasp at his physical strength.

Well..that's how I would have wrote it. So what did I get? A lame mock fight after mock fight. Hey even Conan takes part in becoming an actor for the crowd. Leonard, what was that?

I think the best Pastiches were the Bantams. Conan The Swordsman, Conan and The Spider God, The Road Of Kings, etc etc.

But of course De Camp and Carter's efforts would take precedence even over them.

[Isaacson]

Hi Alex and all .

... Alex Wrote :

>The first book Perry wrote I kinda enjoyed. The title escapes me at the moment. There was an old wizard and a young girl who latched on to Conan after he saw them materialize a grotesque giant spider in a bar room bully's tankard of ale. By Crom you got my attention there! I also recall a shapeshifter who's favorite form was the Panther and a major demon ugly from another dimension. That was one of Perry's early ones.

- I haven't read it in a long while , but the book sounds like Steve Perry's "Conan the Fearless" ( Tor USA pb , 1986 ) . The were-panther in that book is the Senator "Lemparius" .


Cheers , Danny .

[Amra31]

Perry's work is fair
Robert Jordan is the best of the Tor line with John Maddox Roberts a close second.

Roland Green some were good some were ok

I like the Leonard Carpenter Tor stuff

Don't care for Sean Moore

non Tor Andrew Offut is good.

Individual Books all begin w/ Conan
The Invincible-Jordan
The Magnificent-Jordan
The Unconquered-Jordan
the Triumphant-Jordan
The Defender-Jordan
The Valorous-Roberts
The Victorious-Jordan
The Bold-Roberts
The Champion-Roberts
The Renegade-Carpenter
The Spider-God
The Rebel

I thought these are some of the best

[Necton29]

Like Leonard Carpenter. I REALLY dug his Conan The Raider.
So when I bought Carpenter's Conan the Gladiator, I was expecting something along the lines of the big Cimmerian betrayed and captured, then sent to the arena to die. Then predictably slaughter 10 times his number to the amazement of everyone involved while they gasp at his physical strength.

Well..that's how I would have wrote it.    So what did I get? A lame mock fight after mock fight. Hey even Conan takes part in becoming an actor for the crowd. Leonard, what was that?

I had similar experience with Leonard Carpenter's books. I liked Conan the Savage and some other stuff he wrote. Then I read Conan the Gladiator. That book was awful. That's the worst Conan book I've ever read. That first part with the circus reminded me of this Elvis Prestley movie about a carnival called "The Roustabouts."

[Necton29]

My favorite Conan books are:

Conan and the Amazon by John Maddox Roberts
Conan the Destroyer(a novelization of the movie, but still a good book in my opinion. It was changed quite a bit from the movie.) by Robert Jordan
Conan the Savage by Leonard Carpenter
Conan of Aquilonia by L. Spraque de Camp and Lin Carter

[skeletorjr]

Ironhand mentioned it a few posts ago, but let me second his recommendation of "Conan and the Emerald Lotus". Out of the 20+ Tor books I've read, this is one of the best. It's a good Conan story and a very well-written book. It's the only Conan by John Hocking, I hope it's not the last.

[budgie]

Well, just finished reading another of the Steve Perry pastiches - CONAN THE FORMIDABLE and I must sat it was a big improvement on the previos one I had read ( Conan the Freelance, review above). I have to disagree with Alex slightly as I thought freelance was definately poorer.. funny how a story aoppeals to one person and not the other

I was a little sceptical at first as the basic premise of the story involves Conan being captured by magical means and ending up in a travelling freak show circus which includes a 4 armed man, a female cat creature, a wolf man and various other creations..
On the whole though the story flows reasonably well and improves as the story unfolds.

Not the best of the pastiches but readable 7/10

Next one.. Leonard Carpenters CONAN THE OUTCAST..

btw what Conan stories is everyone reading at the mo..

budgie

[Amra31]

I am in the middle of rereading Conan the Valerous by John Maddox Roberts, pretty good read this is one of my favorites.

[alex]

I am in the middle of rereading Conan the Valerous by John Maddox Roberts, pretty good read this is one of my favorites.

Ah yes, the burning spear of Cimmeria. One of Roberts' better stories.

[Necton29]

[snip]

non Tor Andrew Offut is good.

[snip]

I liked Andrew Offut's "Conan: The Sword of Skelos" a lot. I just read it. He had a great portrayal of Conan, although at times, I found Offut's language to be wierd. It was so wierd, in fact, that I wondered if he spoke English as a second language.

[Kane]

One of my local used bookstores just got in a load of the Conan pastiches. since I do not have the money to purchase the entire collection I need some help to decide which ones I should buy.
I have all the ones by the following; de Camp, Carter, Anderson, Offuit and wagner. Also, I have the 2 volume collection of Jordan's work, in addition I have copies of The Emerald Lotus, The Red Brotherhood and the Defiant.

What I would like is for anyone who reads this post to list there two favorite pastiches. From that list I'll chose the 5 or 6 books I will buy.

Thank you in advance for the help

[budgie]

Kane,

Im almost finished Roland Green's CONAN AT THE DEMONS GATE and must say I have really enjoyed it.

Its set after the death of Belit and deals with Conans travels within the Black Kingdoms (and elsewhere but you have to read to find out )
I found the characters interesting with plenty of intregue, double dealing and insight into the workings of the Black tribes - good stuff.

Leonard Casrpenters CONAN THE OUTCAST is worth a read too..

Not so keen oin the Steve Perry ones though - ok, but not great

budgie

[heathen74]

I like Conan the Great the best out of the pastages. I liked Leonard Carpenter's writing the best of the writer's who wrote Conan pastages. (There is however no replacement for Howard)

There is also one that was on a web site that isn't around anymore. Conan was a bouncer at a club and eventualy took over the whores in the street in front of where he was working. It was sort of humorous and very grim but I can't remember what it's called. Can anyone help me out? Also is it still available anywhere?

The only of the pastage writers I didn't care for was Robert Jordan. I think he and deCamp shared a tendancy to make Conan to moral. It's as if they would have been more comfortable writing King Arthur. At least deCamp's stories are more memerable than Jordan's and also more original

[alex]

One of my local used bookstores just got in a load of the Conan pastiches. since I do not have the money to purchase the entire collection I need some help to decide which ones I should buy.
I have all the ones by the following; de Camp, Carter, Anderson, Offuit and wagner. Also, I have the 2 volume collection of Jordan's work, in addition I have copies of The Emerald Lotus, The Red Brotherhood and the Defiant.

What I would like is for anyone who reads this post to list there two favorite pastiches. From that list I'll chose the 5 or 6 books I will buy.

Thank you in advance for the help

Kane, you've got all the good ones.

But seriously, try and get Conan The Raider by Leonard Carpenter. I've always been a big fan of that book since I read it in 87 or 88. Also try Conan The Marauder by John Maddox Roberts. Both have single opponent duels which are always fun, and both have a decent writing style.

[Ironhand]

There is also one that was on a web site that isn't around anymore. Conan was a bouncer at a club and eventualy took over the whores in the street in front of where he was working. It was sort of humorous and very grim but I can't remember what it's called. Can anyone help me out? Also is it still available anywhere?

That's "Conan and the Devil's Daughter". It was carried on the old conan.com back when it was run by Threshold. It was never published in book form, but it is possible that CPI, and hence Paradox and the current conan.com may have inherited the rights to it, if they can find it. It was written by a guy who was the conan.com webmeister for a while; his internet handle was Scorpion; his wife did the illos for it.