This post is brought to you by the Arthan the Bear Man series by G. W. Thomas. Inspired by classic Heroic Fantasy, each novel (and one story collection) follows Arthan, a were-bear, as he battles against terrible foes, fighting beside friends and allies. Army of the Dark Queen has a mysterious horde taking over the forest, converting men and women into dark drones. The Hidden World takes Arthan into an underground realm filled with dinosaurs and madmen. The Tears of Y’Lala is filled with plant monsters and an underground city filled with goblins. War of the Weres pits werewolves against were-bears, with the were-foxes and bird women playing a smaller role. The Beacon House & Other Stories is a collection of six adventures of Arthan as a seventeen year old youth. Kingdom of the Dead pairs Arthan with Vih the fox-woman and a sorcerer named Jach as they travel beyond death to save a small girl. Arthan will be back in “The Twilight War” for Swords of Fire 4.
The collections of Conan began in the 1950s with Gnome Press. They came to paperback in the late 1960s with Lancer’s purple-edged books. But the collapse of the company in 1974 left Book #11, Conan of Aquilonia, in limbo. As Lin Carter pointed out in Year’s Best Fantasy 1:
Fans of Sword & Sorcery in general, and Conan the Cimmerian in particular, suffered a setback during 1974 when the publisher of the Conan series, Lancer Books, suspended all publication. ” The franchise was rescued by ACE Books in 1977, taking over all the previous volumes in the process. The loss to the field of this enterprising and prolific publishing firm is indeed grim; but the most frustrating thing about it may have been that Lancer cancelled all publications just before issuing the long-awaited final volume in the Conan series, Conan of Aquilonia….
ACE Books eventually rescued the Conan saga (including Book #11) but new Conan products were not part of the package. Bantam Books managed to grab the license and the next seven books would appear in much smaller print size with some great cover art inspired by the Berkley Books fold-out posters.
Conan the Swordsman (1978) continued with “Legions of the Dead”, “Shadows in the Dark”, “The Star of Khorala”, “The Gem in the Tower”, “The Ivory Goddess” and “Moon of Blood” by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp along with “The People of the Summit” by L. Sprague de Camp and Björn Nyberg. Good stories, though nothing startlingly new.
Conan the Liberator (1979) by L. Sprague de Camp & Lin Carter was the last novel the pair would write from their own ideas. This tale is one of Conan’s later life as king of Aquilonia. Like most of the stories in Swordsman, it was adapted by Marvel Comics in Savage Sword of Conan. Carter & de Camp would return one last time to do the novelization based on the 1982’s Conan the Barbarian.
The Sword of Skelos (1979) by Andrew J. Offutt is the second of a trilogy of books from the editor of Swords Against Darkness. Conan the Sorcerer, the first book and the last, Conan the Mercenary were published at ACE. (I bet there’s a story there!) Don D’Ammassa called it the weakest of the trilogy. (That’s why it’s in the middle…)
The Road of Kings (1979) by Karl Edward Wagner, author of the Kane novels and stories, was the only Conan novel he wrote. It takes place during his buccaneering days. He helps a band of rebels depose a tyrant. Oddly the book wasn’t called Conan the Rebel, a title Poul Anderson would use a year later. Wagner did a Bran Mak Morn novel for Zebra back in 1976. He also acted as editor for a group of REH reprints at Berkeley in 1977 (those ones with the great Ken Kelly posters) and edited the Echoes of Valor series in the late 1980s.
Conan the Rebel (1980) by Poul Anderson is Anderson’s single Conan gambit. Conan helps in another revolt but during his days with Belit. Don D’Ammassa liked this one better. I have to admit I was disappointed because Anderson had written such great heroic fantasy with The Broken Sword and other books. Rebel is alright, but all the monsters are at the end.
Conan and the Spider God (1980) by L. Sprague de Camp was unusual in that he wrote it alone, not with Lin Carter. D’Ammassa liked this one too but I have to complain that a book with that great a cover deserved more spidery goodness. De Camp’s style is more historical and less thud and blundery fun than say Lin Carter’s. More Marvel adaptations, of course.
Conan the Barbarian (1982) by L. Sprague de Camp & Lin Carter was the novelization of the movie. This was de Camp and Carter’s swan song. They would have nothing more to do with the Cimmerian that had been part of de Camp life since 1955, and Carter’s since 1967. Whether you liked the movie or not, will determine if you like the novelization, I suppose. Not a fan of them myself. (Don’t get me started on that %^&*ing skeleton again!)
Conclusion
The Conan property would go to Tor/Pinnacle next, for a long list of new novels beginning with Robert Jordan in 1982. In Warriors of Altaii (2019), Jordan’s wife and agent, Harriet P. McDougal, tells us:
Not so long after that, Tom Doherty got the rights from Conan Properties to do a new Conan novel, but Tom wanted to publish it in time for the first Conan movie, and Baen didn’t have any writers who could do a credible Conan. So I told him Rigney could (because of Altaii), and I asked Rigney [Robert Jordan] to do it.…Under the name Robert Jordan, his work was reviewed as “the best of the modern Conans,” thus establishing a name in fantasy. He liked doing it, and did six more.
After Jordan came Leonard Carpenter, Steve Perry, Roland J. Green, Sean A. Moore and others. The story of Conan, as an icon of Sword & Sorcery solidified (or is that fossilized?) in these Tor novels, most with a Ken Kelly cover and a formula feel that marked the end of an era. Bantam’s Conans, though nicely packaged, still felt haphazard. (Despite Bob Larkin being the consistent cover artist for most of the books.) Not since the Lancer/Ace collections had Conan felt a cohesive franchise. Tor brought that branding back and hard. All through the rest of the 1980s and into the S&S-hating 1990s Tor drove the Conan boat. For better or worse, this was the new face of Sword & Sorcery.
Sword & Sorcery from RAGE machine Books
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