''Tales of Conan'' is a 1955 collection of four

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

short stories by American writers Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp, featuring Howard's

sword and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the ...

hero

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and ''Conan the Destroyer''), ...

. The tales as originally written by Howard were adventure yarns mostly set in the Middle Ages; they were rewritten as Conan stories by de Camp, who also added the fantastic element. Three of the stories also appeared in the fantasy magazine ''

Fantastic Universe ''Fantastic Universe'' was a U.S. science fiction magazine which began publishing in the 1950s. It ran for 69 issues, from June 1953 to March 1960, under two different publishers. It was part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishi ...

'', two of them before publication of the collection and the other one after. The book has also been translated into Japanese. The collection never saw publication in paperback; instead, its component stories were split up and distributed among other "Conan" collections. "

The Flame Knife ''The Flame Knife'' is a 1955 fantasy novella by American writers Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp, featuring Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was revised by de Camp from Howard's original story, a then-unpublished o ...

" was later also published as an independent paperback. Chronologically, the four short stories collected as ''Tales of Conan'' represent an add-on to Gnome's Conan series, coming between stories published in the remaining volumes. The first "tale" would fall within the collection ''

The Coming of Conan ''The Coming of Conan'' is a collection of eight fantasy short stories by American writer Robert E. Howard, featuring his sword and sorcery heroes Kull and Conan the Barbarian, together with the first part of his pseudo-history of the "Hyborian ...

'', the second between that volume and the collection ''

'', the third within ''Conan the Barbarian'', and the fourth between that volume and the collection ''

The Sword of Conan ''The Sword of Conan'' is a collection of four fantasy literature, fantasy short stories by American writer Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian, first published in hardcover by Gnome Press in 1952. The storie ...

''.

*"Introduction" ( P. Schuyler Miller) *"Ghostly Note" (L. Sprague de Camp) *"

The Blood-Stained God ''The Blood-Stained God'' is a 1955 fantasy novella by American writer Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp, featuring Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was revised by de Camp from Howard's original story, an unpublished ...

" *"

Hawks Over Shem "Hawks over Shem" is a fantasy short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, featuring Conan the Barbarian and published in 1955. It's based on the story "Hawks over Egypt" by Robert E. Howard and is usually credited to both authors. Synop ...

" *" The Road of the Eagles" *" The Flame-Knife"

Reception

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System ...

'' reviewer Floyd C. Gale found the collection inferior to de Camp's own ''

The Tritonian Ring ''The Tritonian Ring'' is a heroic fantasy novel written by L. Sprague de Camp as part of his Pusadian series. It was first published in the magazine '' Two Complete Science Adventure Books'' for Winter, 1951, and first appeared in book form in ...

'', where de Camp "out Conaned Conan."

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...

noted that Miller's introduction "is so spiritedly infectious that one almost succumbs to his enthusiasm . . . until one tries to read the four long stories.""Recommended Reading," ''

F&SF ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiva ...

'', June 1956, p.103.

References

Sources

* * 1955 short story collections Conan the Barbarian books Fantasy short story collections by L. Sprague de Camp Fantasy short story collections Literary collaborations Books with cover art by Ed Emshwiller Gnome Press books {{1950s-fantasy-story-collection-stub

Contents

Reception

References

Sources