Conan's Brethren: The Complete Collection [Paperback]

Robert E. Howard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2009

A master of all genres of pulp, from historical adventure and detective stories to western and boxing fiction, Robert E. Howard invented the genre now known as Sword-and-Sorcery, and it is for these larger than life tales of heroic fantasy and horror that he is best remembered. Plucked from the pages of Weird Tales and other pulp magazines, his mighty heroes are brought together in one collection—the vengeful Puritan swashbuckler Solomon Kane; Howard's first barbarian hero King Kull; Bran Mak Morn, the last of the Picts; Red Sonja, She-Devil with a Sword; and many others. World Fantasy Award-nominee Les Edwards contributes a black and white frontispiece, along with a gold embossed work on the leather-style cover, while Hugo Award- and Bram Stoker Award-winning editor and author Stephen Jones compiled the selections and provides an insightful afterword.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you own Gollancz's previous Howard collection, you'll want this handsome companion volume! British Fantasy Society --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Robert E. Howard's (1906–1936) tales of heroic and supernatural fantasy won him a huge audience across the world and influenced a whole generation of writers, from Robert Jordan to Raymond E. Feist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 750 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (December 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575089881
• ISBN-13: 978-0575089884
• Product Dimensions: 1.8 x 6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,923,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LIST OF STORIES FOR THOSE INTERESTED... WE ALL KNOW THESE STORIES ARE ROCKIN' AWESOME!!!!, December 17, 2009

By 

Travis Deputy "TheInsatiableBookReader" (Padukee, Keentukee) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Conan's Brethren: The Complete Collection (Paperback)

This isn't a review per se, but a list of the contents in Conan's Brethren. And what a brethren he has! I've read about 99% of these stories at one time or another in various collections over years and there is not a dog in the bunch. In fact, all of them are classics! These stories are a greatest hits of Conan's Brethren; Bran Mak Morn, Kull, Solomon Kane, Black Turlough, James Allison etc. You'll find about all of them here. Now, for a list of the stories....

Introduction

Solomon Kane

Solomon Kane's Homecoming (verse)
Red Shadows
Skulls in the Stars
Rattle of Bones
The Moon of Skulls
The Hills of the Dead
The Footfalls Within
Wings in the Night

King Kull

The Shadow Kingdom
The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune
The King and the Oak (verse)

Bran Mak Morn & the Picts

The Lost Race
Kings of the Night
The Dark Man
Worms of the Earth

Savages, Swordsmen & Sorcerers

Spear and Fang
Hawks of Outremer
The Gods of Bal-Sagoth
The Sowers of the Thunder
Lord of Samarcand
The Lion of Tiberias
The Shadow of the Vulture
The Valley of the Worm
The Frost King's Daughter
The Garden of Fear
Gates of Empire
Almuric
The Ghost Kings (verse)

Afterword: Kinsmen of Conan by Stephen Jones

BUY IT! If you haven't read these fabulous REH stories I envy you. If you have, well, you're still in for a treat because you get to relive all those great adventures again!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The birth of sword and sorcery, February 8, 2011

By 

John Middleton (Brisbane, QLD, AUST) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Conan's Brethren: The Complete Collection (Hardcover)

Robert E Howard wrote a lot of things besides Conan. There were other fantastic heroes such as Kull and Bran Mak Morn, the "historical" stories of Soloman Kane, puritan killer. He also wrote modern horror, such as the short story Pigeons from Hell, westerns, sea tales...whatever took his fancy, and would pay the bills. Most of this writing was short stories, but then there was the odd novel, such as Almuric. This book is a collection of stories Howard wrote, and, save for Almuric, had published in his lifetime.

Solomon Kane opens the collection, with 5 or 6 stories devoted to him. Set largely (but not exclusively) in 1500's Africa, Kane is something of a driven man, intriguing to read about.

Then there is Kull, virgin king of Valusia: The Shadow Kingdom is one of the best short sword and sorcery short stories I have ever read, a real little gem. Kull reappears later in a Bran Mak Morn tale, and, speaking of Bran Mak Morn, the Worms of the Earth is a superb weird horror story set in the early years of the Roman Empire in Britain.

There is then a collection of short stories about various heroes of various short lengths, culminating in Almuric.

Almuric is a sword and planet tale, in the tradition of Burrough's Mars. Esau Cairn is an impressive physical specimen - the most perfect man on earth, perhaps - when he kills a corrupt politician and escapes to the lost planet Almuric with the help of a random scientist. That's pretty much the first page of the story, so I am not spoiling anything there. After that, Cairn has a pile of adventures, matching strength and wits with the locals - ape-like men and beautiful-like women (they have bred themselves that way. Really).
Lastly there is a short essay by Stephen Jones on these other heroes, and their publicaiton history, which is interesting reading.

Travis Deputy's review has the contents; I wont repeat that.

This is another excellent single volume colleciton of Howard's brawling heroes: the various Del Rey volumes have more in total (as do Wandering Star or Sub Press, if your budget stretches to it), but for a solid starting point for non-Conan Howard, you can't beat this.

5.0 out of 5 stars Conan Plus, September 24, 2011

By 

Chad Westall "cwest" (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Conan's Brethren: The Complete Collection (Hardcover)

The cover and style of the book is a great visual draw. I usually like to travel with smaller books, but his stories are short and easy to read. You will be through them in no time and have a book that looks amazing on the shelf. Read the adventures you want to live.