Conan the Cimmerian was the first Robert E. Howard character to be written about by others. This began when L.Sprague de Camp converted non-Conan tales and finished scraps of others for the 1950s Gnome Press collections. The first may have been “The Black Stranger” (aka “The Treasure of Tranicos”), which appeared in Fantasy Magazine, March 1953. By 1957, de Camp and Bjorn Nyberg were creating them wholesale for the Lancer paperbacks. Lin Carter got in on the act with “The Thing in the Crypt” and the rest of Conan (1967). After De Camp & Carter, the flood gates opened and we got the new novels of the 1970s by Andrew J. Offutt, Karl Edward Wagner and Poul Anderson. Robert Jordan followed with the movie novelization and then a half dozen more. The age of pastiche had arrived and Tor served up regular books from a host of authors including Leonard Carpenter, John Maddox Roberts, Steve Perry, Roland J. Green and others. For a complete list go here.
But the other Robert E. Howard characters also received pastiches and patch-ups, though not in such volume. Howard gave us several brawny and heroic characters including his first, Solomon Kane and King Kull, as well as later ones like Bran Mak Morn and Cormac Mac Art. The character of Red Sonja was created by Roy Thomas from REH’s work and is included her too.
King Kull
L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter were busy in the late 1960s (after the explosion of The Lord of the Rings in paperback). When they weren’t writing new Conan stories they spent their time finishing old scraps and bits left by REH. The first character to get the business after Conan was King Kull. Carter finished three pieces (and edited several others) for King Kull (1967). These include a Lovecraftian squidgy-hunt in “Black Abyss” (1967), a quest in “Riders Beyond the Sunrise” (1967) and “Wizard & Warrior”. Kull would later be re-released without the Carter material so we got a pretty good idea of what Lin supplied to these pieces.
Decades later Adrian Cole would write the first, all-new tale of Kull, “Treason in Zagadar” (The Anthology of Fantasy & Supernatural, 1994). I wrote about it here. Cole would later write several new stories in Robert E. Howard’s imitator, Henry Kuttner’s Elak of Atlantis series. These are very good as well.
Kull got one more piece, the novelization of the Kevin Sorbo film from 1997. This was written by Sean A. Moore. Moore wrote several of the Tor Conans to good applause.
Cormac Mac Art
The mid 1970s saw many new books with Robert E. Howard’s name on them somewhere, many of these from Zebra Books. One of these was Tigers of the Sea (1974) that collected Howard’s few tales of Cormac Mac Art, an Irish pirate who has adventures along with the Saxon, Wulfhere. One of these stories was completed by the editor, Richard L. Tierney, “The Temple of the Abominations”. Tierney adds Cthulhu Mythos elements to one of Howard’s favorite scenarios, a treasure guarded by evil. Tierney was a student of history. He adds a historic feel to all his pastiches as you will see later.
The next author of a Cormac book was Kentuckyian, Andrew J. Offutt, who had a small reputation in Science Fiction (and a secret career as a porn writer.) He became Sword & Sorcery’s newest champion with his Swords Against Darkness anthologies. Offutt would also write three Conan novels before the rush. His six book series about Cormac is far more Irish than Howard ever was. The last two books were written with Australian author, Keith Taylor. Taylor was a big hit in the 1980s with his Bard series.
The Sword of the Gael (1975) by Andrew J. Offutt
The Undying Wizard (1976) by Andrew J. Offutt
The Sign of the Moonbow (1977) by Andrew J. Offutt
The Mists of Doom (1977) by Andrew J. Offutt
When Death Birds Fly (1980) by Andrew J. Offutt & Keith Taylor
The Tower of Death (1982) by Andrew J. Offutt & Keith Taylor
Bran Mak Morn
Bran Mak Morn was a dark figure in the history of the Picts. Robert E. Howard featured him in several of his very best stories back in Weird Tales. He received two very different pastiches. Legion From the Shadows (1976) by Karl Edward Wagner is a Cthulhu Mythos filled novel with Serpent Men. For the Witch of the Mists (1978) by Richard L. Tierney & David C. Smith takes Bran to the arenas of Rome, in a book best described as “historical” rather than fantastic. I wrote about it here. It is no surprise I prefer the Wagner book, with its many monsters.
Terence Vulmea
David C. Smith wrote a sequel to Black Vulmea’s Vengeance (1976), a Robert E. Howard text with a complicated history, being first a Conan story, which did not sell so then it became a stand alone pirate yarn then L. Sprague de Camp turned it back into a Conan tale “The Black Stranger” later called The Treasure of Tranicos. This book is the second version. Smith writes a sequel to it called The Witch of the Indies (1977). I have to wonder if the title caused For the Witch of the Mists to also contain the word “Witch”.
Solomon Kane
Solomon Kane was Howard’s first character, a dark Puritan who travels to Africa to avenge a murder. REH left three unfinished pieces that Horror writer (and Sword & Sorcery creator of Ryre) Ramsey Campbell finished. This small contribution in the late 1970s made him the perfect choice to write the movie novelization Solomon Kane in 2010. The first, “The Castle of the Devil” (1978) is set in Europe while the last two, “Hawk of Basti” (1979) and “The Children of Asshur” (1979) take place in Africa.
Red Sonja
Marvel Comics and Roy Thomas gave us the gal in the steel bikini back in 1973. Based on Red Sonya of Rogatino from “Shadow of the Vulture” (The Magic Carpet, January 1934), Thomas created a warrior of goddess proportions. Tierney & Smith penned six adventures about Red, setting them solidly in the Hyborian Age. Tierney, as always, gives the book some feel of history while Smith provides the action-filled prose. Probably part of their success (and failure) is the Boris Vallejo covers featuring the steel bikini-ed babe.
The Ring of Ikribu (1981) by Richard L. Tierney & David C. Smith
Demon Night (1982) by Richard L. Tierney & David C. Smith
When Hell Laughs (1982) by Richard L. Tierney & David C. Smith
Endithor’s Daughter (1982) by Richard L. Tierney & David C. Smith
Against the Prince of Hell (1983) by Richard L. Tierney & David C. Smith
Star of Doom (1983) by Richard L. Tierney & David C. Smith
Conclusion
What began in 1967 at Lancer Books spilled out into the 1970s, making most of Robert E. Howard’s fantasy work available. The vibrant characters REH created begged for more adventures. Paperbacks are one place where you could find them. Comic books are another. Marvel Comics and Roy Thomas pastiched a steady supply in Conan the Barbarian, Savage Sword of Conan, King Conan/Conan the King, Kull the Destroyer/Kull the Conqueror, as well as several editions of Red Sonja. Later Dark Horse and Glenat did their own comics. Red Sonja, at Dynamite, has had a busy career as well. Some of these were adaptations but as time went on more of it became pastiche.
Roy Thomas, according to his introduction in The Ring of Ikribu, wrote 4000 pages of Conan (and that was in 1981, he wrote more afterwards). Others who came after him include Chuck Dixon, Kurt Busiek, Bruce Jones, Michael Fleisher, Tim Truman, Christopher Priest and Cullen Bunn. These comic writers can also be considered pastichers. I am sure we shall see more in the future as Robert E. Howard-based comics, as well as Sword & Sorcery in general, have been in a renaissance since 2008. The mighty heroes of the Man from Cross Plains, Texas, live on in comics . And why not print as well? Scott Oden recently penned a prose sequel to “The Devil in Iron” for back-up feature in the new Savage Sword of Conan.
Very comprehensive
It was a sequel to “The Devil in Iron”, actually. The other pastiche tale I wrote takes place during “Black Colossus”, and is a flashback to Conan’s years as a mercenary (making use of the Yaralet Fragment, also).
How about a sequel to “Beyond the Black River” then? Thanks. Ill change that.
Solomon Kane also appeared in a pastiche in the anthology “Conqueror Fantastic” edited by Pamela Sargent. The story is “Observable Things” by Paul Di Filippo.
Interesting article! And I never get enough of seeing Jones’ covers. It’d be better to refer to her by her preferred name Jeffrey Catherine Jones, though.