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The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time! | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert E. Howard
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $6.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  97 reviews
Sales Rank: 13835
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 463
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0345461517
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780345461513
ASIN: 0345461517
Publication Date: December 2, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
“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 tread
the 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 92 more reviews...
The original master at work September 30, 2008
Foget your highbrow accounts of mid-life crises in the Hamptons. Forget your stories of love lost and won against the backdrop of (insert contrived historical setting here). This is what entertaining, escapist fiction is about. A guilty pleasure, something to be covertly enjoyed? No, by Crom! These stories are uncompromisingly true to themselves, and as a result have more integrity than most things I've read in the last 20 years. If only those writing in Fantasy these days could shrug off the weight of tired tropes and imposed expectations of the genre, they could produce something that approaches the fresh, snappy pace and well-described action that Howard pioneered. True, he had the advantage of helping invent the genre, and didn't have to write under this weight, but that's the fun part - like Raymond Chandler, you can read these works, see the genre being invented before your eyes and realise why the style became cliche - it was so good that everyone wanted to copy it.
I find it interesting that Howard, who struggled with depression, wrote stories that crackle with vitality and display what I see as a celebration of living a passionate life. Funny how that works. Anyway, I leave you with a telling quote from "The Tower of the Elephant" that sums up the noble honesty of the character of Conan and why he appeals so much: "Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."
"Who dies first?" September 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The first of the three new editions of Robert E. Howard's Conan following the order in which they appeared and not the chronological sequence by the late Lyon Sprague de Camp. Some are classics of the genre (a genre which Howard pretty created single-handedly): "Phoenix on the Sword" -- in which King Conan, surrounded by assasins in his bed chamber, one hand against the wall, a battle axe in the other says through bloody lips, "Who dies first?" "A Witch Shall be Born" has the classic scene of Conan crucified. John Milius really screwed this up in the movie. It has none of the power of the image Howard created. In "Queen of the Black Coast" you have Howard at the height of his powers and Conan's great love of his life (another scene that Milius copped for the movie to much lesser effect). If you love fantasy than these three books will make, along with Tolkien, a great cornerstone to any library.
Grabbing a Sword and Brutally Hacking Away Until the Problem Stops Moving September 15, 2008
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, and The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard.
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."
Sword and sorcery rules and Howard is the King! July 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
First, I must say that I am a woman. Many have found it unusual that I would love Robert E. Howard's work, but I do. I have all of his stories, and am grateful there are new editions to replace my poor crumbling paperbacks.
As a writer of fantasy Robert E. Howard is a must read for any interested in the genre. We take for granted the acceptance of fantasy in literature today, but in the 1930's-it was not respected or looked on with any serious note. I am not saying Robert E. Howard was without flaws, but he could create such heat on paper in a few sentences that takes many a writer pages to achieve. His raw barbarian hero Conan goes from age 15 to aged king and his journey is never dull. It is the scope of imagination in Howard's writing that is wonderful. The freedom to be wild. We should never forget that as writers. As a reader, I relish Howard's tales of savage myth.
 If it's your genre, you'll like this collection July 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Howard's Conan is a warrior and not much more. The common thread of all the stories is that somewhere along the way way Conan kills someone or something. It's pretty much that simple. Some of the stories are no more than a few pages, while others cover what essentially are multiple chapters. Most of the stories have a smoking hot woman who usually starts scantily clad and ends up completely unclad at some point - though sex does not feature (keeping in mind they were written in the 1930s). Conan isn't even the main character in some cases.
Outside of the tales themselves, I found the introductory discussion of Howard and the development of the Conan character interesting. What was most intriguing to me, though, was the well developed history of Conan's world, written by Howard, which is included toward the end of the volume.
Overall, if you take the stories individually, try not to link them much (despite the ever-present Conan), and you like the genre, you'll probably quite enjoy this collection. It's well written and loaded with exciting action. If you want the type of character development you get from novels, and even from the Conan movies, you'll be disappointed.
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