The Conan Novels have their own history alongside that of Robert E. Howard and his famous Cimmerian. Even if you never saw a copy of Weird Tales or read a Lancer paperback, you could read Conan novels as if they had been written like The Executioner or Remo Williams. There are over fifty novels of Conan and only one was written by Robert E. Howard. The Conan novels fall into ten phases.
Phase One
Each of the spat of novels belongs to a different period of publishing. The first was the original Weird Tales appearances of Conan by Robert E. Howard. REH wrote one novel length piece “The Hour of the Dragon” that appeared in “The Unique Magazine” from December 1935 until April 1936. This novel tells of how Conan finally achieves his throne in Aquilonia. It is not one of his more supernatural stories, as Howard had originally hoped to sell it to Adventure, not Weird Tales.
Phase Two
Gnome Press began reprinting Howard in 1950 with Conan the Conqueror, which contained “The Hour fo the Dragon”. It was this book that L. Sprague de Camp was given by Fletcher Pratt, that started LSD as Conan’s new best friend. De Camp signed on with Gnome to add stories to the Conan saga by completing, adapting and editing unpublished stories. It was as editor that he came across “The Return of Conan” written by Swedish fan, Bjorn Nyberg. LSD revised the story and it appeared in Gnome’s The Return of Conan (1957) and later as Conan the Avenger (1968).
Phase Three
Gnome failed as an enterprise but when Lancer Books took over the Conan properties in 1966, L. Sprague de Camp recruited Lin Carter to help him. Together the men revised more stories, and added new pastiches of their own. Lancer went bankrupt in 1973 so ACE Books took over and finished out this phase. This was the time of the famous Frank Frazetta covers and later those by Boris Vallejo.
Lin and Sprague did several new collections but among them was two novels. Conan of the Isles (1968), which told of Conan’s final adventure (rather like Allan Quatermain dying in the second book. This did nothing to stem the tide of new books to come.) Most of this novel was Carter’s creation, though both men got credit. Conan the Buccaneer (1971) was another nautical-themed novel. This one heavier towards de Camp. Fans occasionally ask who wrote what between them but it isn’t that hard to tell.
At this time (1977), Karl Edward Wagner released another version of “The Hour of the Dragon” through Berkeley books, with the idea of presenting REH in his original Pulp versions (without LSD’s fiddling.) Wagner made it very clear that mock-Howard was not the same thing:
I have written Howard pastiches myself, so I can speak both as a reader and an author: Every author leaves his personal mark on whatever he writes; the only man who could write a Robert E. Howard story was Robert E. Howard. Read Howard pastiches as you will — but don’t let anyone kid you that you’re reading Robert E. Howard. It is far more than a matter of imitating adjective usage or analyzing comma-splices. It is a matter of spirit.
This is a good philosophy to keep while reading all the novels mentioned in this article. Only Howard’s original The Hour of the Dragon is a true Conan novel. That being said, there are other pleasures to be found in these books.
Phase Four
With ACE in control now, the property saw some new venues such as the illustrated trade paperback (which Larry Niven had sold well with The Magic Goes Away (1976). Conan got the same treatment with Conan and the Sorcerer Oct. 1978) and Conan the Mercenary (1981) by Andrew J. Offutt. Some previously published stories got the novel treatment with The Treasure of Tranicos (1980) and Conan: The Flame Knife (1981) by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp saw a non-Conan book turned into a new adventure illustrated by Esteban Maroto.
Phase Five
AJO also sold The Sword of Skelos (1979) to a rival company, Bantam Books. Other established authors also produced regular paperbacks for Bantam including:
Conan the Liberator (1979) by L. Sprague de Camp & Lin Carter
Conan: The Road of Kings (1979) by Karl Edward Wagner
Conan and the Spider God (1980) by L. Sprague de Camp
Conan the Rebel (1980) (by Poul Anderson
One final item to finish off the work of Carter & de Camp was the novelization of Conan the Barbarian (1982). It was published in paperback by Bantam. After rendering the film into novel form, the two giants stepped aside.
Phase Six
In mid-June Conan began his life as a men’s novel hero. TOR Books had the copyright and they hired Robert Jordan to write full-blown novels bearing Ken Kelly covers. TOR would do this regularly throughout the rest of the 1980s and 1990s. When the second Conan film appeared, it made sense to have Jordan do the adaptation since he was now “the Conan writer”. He would give up that title to create his own Epic Fantasy, The Wheel of Time. Jordan’s novels were popular though i find too much Tolkien running through some of them.
Conan the Invincible 1982) by Robert Jordan
Conan the Defender (1982) by Robert Jordan
Conan the Unconquered (1983) by Robert Jordan
Conan the Triumphant (1983) by Robert Jordan
Conan the Magnificent (1984) by Robert Jordan
Conan the Destroyer (1984) (adaptation) by Robert Jordan
Conan the Victorious (1984) by Robert Jordan
Phase Seven
By 1985, Jordan gone, TOR decided to spread out the work with a whole catalogue of new writers such as Leonard Carpenter, Steve Perry and Sword & Sorcery writer, Roland J. Green. Green had written his own Wandor series in the 1970s as well as many of the Jeffrey Lord Sword & Planet books. Everybody has their favorites though many book blurbs claimed authors to be “the new voice of Robert E. Howard”. This phase ended with a strange volume, Conan of Venarium (2004) by Harry Turtledove. This novel harkens back to “The Hour of the Dragon”, writing a kind of “anti-Conan” Conan book, with little magic in it.
Conan the Valorous (1985) by John M. Roberts
Conan the Fearless (1986) by Steve Perry
Conan the Renegade (1986) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan the Raider (1986) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan the Champion (1987) by John M. Roberts
Conan the Defiant (1987) by Steve Perry
Conan the Marauder (1988) by John M. Roberts
Conan the Warlord (1988) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan the Valiant (1988) by Roland Green
Conan the Hero (1989) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan the Bold (1989) by John M. Roberts
Conan the Great (1989) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan the Indomitable (1989) by Steve Perry
The 1990s
Conan the Freelance (1990) by Steve Perry
Conan the Formidable (1990) by Steve Perry
Conan the Guardian (1991) by Roland Green
Conan the Outcast (1991) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan the Rogue (1991) by John M. Roberts
Conan the Relentless (1992) by Roland Green
Conan the Savage (1992) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan of the Red Brotherhood (1993) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan and the Gods of the Mountain (1993) by Roland Green
Conan and the Treasure of Python (1993) by John M. Roberts
Conan the Hunter (1994) by Sean A. Moore
Conan, Scourge of the Bloody Coast (1994) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan and the Manhunters (1994) by John M. Roberts
Conan at the Demon’s Gate (1994) by Roland Green
Conan the Gladiator (1995) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan and the Amazon (1995) by John M. Roberts
Conan and the Mists of Doom (1995) by Roland Green
Conan and the Emerald Lotus (1995) by John C. Hocking
Conan and the Shaman’s Curse (1996) by Sean A. Moore
Conan, Lord of the Black River (1996) by Leonard Carpenter
Conan and The Grim Grey God (1996) by Sean A. Moore
Conan and the Death Lord of Thanza (1997) by Roland Green
Conan of Venarium (2004) by Harry Turtledove
Phase Eight
The second last phase of Conan novels saw ACE Books return to publishing Howard-inspired material. Age of Conan books do not feature the Cimmerian but are set in his world. These were not the first publications to do this. Ray Capella had been writing short stories (largely for Amra) doing the same thing. ACE wasn’t trying to copy Capella but promoting a new MMORPG called Age of Conan. The reason doesn’t really matter because the Hyborian Age offers plenty of material for new books. The talented writers who wrote these books included authors like Richard A. Knaak (who wrote for AD&D) who were regulars at adapting television and film material.
Scion of the Serpent (2005) by J. Steven York
Heretic of Set (2005) by J. Steven York
The Venom of Luxor (2005) by J. Steven York
Blood of Wolves (2005) by Loren L. Coleman
Cimmerian Rage (2005) by Loren L. Coleman
Songs of Victory (2005) by Loren L. Coleman
The Eye of Charon (2006) by Richard A Knaak
The Silent Enemy (2006) by Richard A Knaak
The God in the Moon (2006) by Richard A. Knaak
Ghost of the Wall (2006) by Jeff Mariotte
Winds of the Wild Sea (2006) by Jeff Mariotte
Dawn of the Ice Bear (2006) by Jeff Mariotte
Phase Nine
The final and shortest phase was when Michael A. Stackpole, best-selling author, adapted the Jason Momoa film, Conan the Barbarian (2011). The film broke even and no second wave of fandom followed. The book wasn’t published by ACE.
Phase Ten Anybody?
Which leaves us where we are in 2020. Will there be new Conan books or will publishers just go on collecting the old ones into bigger and bigger omnibuses? In December 2026, Robert E. Howard will be gone 90 years and the copyright may be in the public domain. (Wait and see. I suspect publishers are doing the same.) Soon there could be as many new Conan books as Sherlock Holmes novels. Conan and the Tedious Wizards of Ad Nausium. Conan the Supernummery. Conan the Collectible… ick.
Perhaps the tenth phase is already underway. The Song of Belit by Rodolfo Martinez was released in English (the original was in Spanish) earlier this year (2020) and the new novel attempts to fill in the years not covered by Howard in his “Queen of the Black Coast.” John Hocking and Scott Oden have done serializations of new Conan prose stories for the Conan comic, and if the publishing issue ever gets worked out, Hocking will have a sequel to his Conan and the Emerald Lotus (often considered the best Conan pastiche) out called Conan and the Living Plague. Not to mention, if the Netflix series does actually happen, that might generate some new novels as well.
Supernumerary, I think you mean.
Thanks for these lists; I now have a bunch of Conan books to look for!
Don’t forget that the comics/graphic-novel folks have written and illustrated any number of non-Howard issues. Some are well written, some are well illustrated and, oddly enough, a few are both!
For me, the image of Conan will always be the John Buscema Conan, brooding on the lion throne of Aquilonia.
This is a poorly researched piece. Ace were never in control of anything, they were just a publisher. You completely fail to mention Conan Properties (CPI) who were the real controlling force behind Conan formed in the late 70’s so a film could be made. You note the Frazetta covers but fail to see their significance and the fact that they were done for the Lancer books, not Ace which were poorer copies or cropped images. You appear not to know the difference between copyright and trademark. De Camp knew in the early 60’s the copyrights on most Conan stories had expired or was about to. TOR never controlled copyright. They had permission from CPI to publish Conan tales by others as approved by CPI. WELL, I think that covers most of it.
If my purpose here was to give a history of Conan copyright, I would agree with you. My intent was strictly a fan and collector’s perspective. I didn’t get into how Lancer screwed up the Conan books when they went bankrupt, leaving Conan the Aquilonian in limbo for several years. I wasn’t going there. I am not interested in current owners and sellers. What I wanted to do is give the collector a clear pathway to finding all the novels. And to ask the big question: what is next? I would happily feature your article on all the copyright stuff in another post. Write it. send it. I am more than happy to learn all about it.
GW
Thanks for this great chronological history. I have quite enjoyed many of the TOR Conan’s, provided I don’t read any of them directly after REH originals, in order to avoid stylistic disappointments. I’ve only four of those post-Howard novels left to ferret out. I’m currently reading Howard’s ‘The Black Stranger’ which I guess would be considered a novelette/novella/short novel (is there a difference?), making it, I think, his second-longest Conan story.