RE: Conan -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

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Date Posted: 14:18:08 05/23/02 Thu
Author: mt. healthy mountaineer
Subject: RE: Conan
In reply to: Adilbrand 's message, "Conan Recommendations" on 10:56:04 05/23/02 Thu

This book was also a TOR book (a TOR hardback, even though that seems to be a contradiction in terms).

Sorry to say, I've never been terribly interested in Conan because he is too much like a Barbarian Superman, he can't be beat and he knows he can fight through every situation. Anderson's version seems to be nothing more than a wad of Libertarian muscle with a bad attitude and large, insatiable genitalia.

I was thinking of comparing this Conan with my favorite novel character, Spencer of the Robert Parker detective series in my review. Spencer also fights a lot and he is superior at that skill, being a former boxer, but he gets hurt, he nearly dies several times and his wounds have consequences (one of the books is almost exclusively about the rehab he goes through when he is nearly killed by a mafia assassin). I hope that the Howard novels actually get in Conan's head a bit (like the Spencer novels do with Spencer), because Anderson does not, except to note when he is horny and when he is angry.

I was also bugged by the fact that Conan's world is a smaller copy of Europe and Africa - sometimes with the same names(zembebwe, kush, corinthia [it wasn't in this book but I can assume that they are highland Greeks like the Macedonians], & Argos [they weren't in the book but I assume that they are seafaring Greeks], and Taians are Scotsmen living in Africa), and sometimes with similar names and similar cultures (i.e. - Stygia & Egypt). There is no reason for this to bother me except for its unoriginality. I probably wouldn't have cared if the book had been better.

Poul Anderson is an 8 time winner of the Hugo award and a 3 time minner of the Nebula award, a feat that I can only attribute to a scarcity of good sci-fi writers in days gone by.

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Replies:

Conan not Superman in Howard's Stories -- Adilbrand, 18:23:52 05/23/02 Thu
Unoriginality in Conan -- Adilbrand, 19:59:00 05/23/02 Thu
- I checked in my branch library and they did not have a Howard Conan, but I'll keep an eye out (NT) -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 08:49:04 05/24/02 Fri
- Re: Unoriginality in Conan -- Omega, 10:05:22 05/24/02 Fri
  - I completely agree (NT) -- Adilbrand, 14:55:39 05/24/02 Fri
- Re: Unoriginality in Conan -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 11:25:28 05/25/02 Sat
  - I've seen that documentary -- Adilbrand, 22:53:38 05/25/02 Sat
- Howard's Cthulhu stories -- Omega, 10:53:04 05/26/02 Sun
  - Clark Ashton Smith and Others -- Adilbrand, 13:04:05 05/26/02 Sun
    - Re: Clark Ashton Smith and Others -- Omega, 13:09:20 05/26/02 Sun