Conan of Cimmeria (1969)

Conan, the meta-physician:
from the story, "Queen of the Black Coast"
Belit, the pirate queen and Conan's lover, asks, "'Conan, do you fear the gods?'
"'I would not tread on their shadow,' answered the barbarian conservatively. 'Some god are strong to harm, others, to aid; at least so say their priests. Mitra of the Hyborians must be a strong god, because his people have builded their cities over the world. But even the Hyborians fear Set [ancient snake-god]. And Bel, god of thieves, is a good god. When I was a thief in Zamora I learned of him.'
"'What of your own gods? I have never heard you call on them.'
"'Their chief is Crom. He dwells on a great mountain. What use to call on him? Little he cares if men live or die. Better to be silent than to call his attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune! He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul. What else shall men ask of the gods?'
"'But what of the worlds beyond the river of death?' she persisted.
"'There is no hope here or hereafter in the cult of my people,' answered Conan. 'In this world men struggle and suffer vainly, finding pleasure only in the bright madness of battle; dying, their souls enter a gray, misty realm of clouds and icy winds, to wander cheerlessly throughout eternity.'
"Belit shuddered. 'Life, bad as it is, is better than such a destiny. What do you believe, Conan?'
"He shrugged his shoulders. 'I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plans and vaulted hall of the Norheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.'" pp. 96-98

Robert E. Howard, who wrote the original Conan stories in the 1930s, committed suicide at age 30. How sad for him and for his readers, because Howard was an intuitive story-teller who channeled the great archetypes. Crom knows how many more marvelous stories he might have given us had he not chosen to check-out early.
This volume contains three of his stories, heavily edited. The rest is basically fanfic. The series, copyright 1969, is how most Boomers were introduced to Conan.

This contains

The Curse of the Monolith
The Bloodstained God
The Frost Giant's Daughter
The Lair of the Ice Worm
The Queen of the Black Coast
The Castle of Terror
The Snout in the Dark

Conan, by dint of prowess is now a Turanian captain. He is sent on a mission to Khitai. The foppy type he takes along lures him into a night quest by promise of treasure.

Conan is none to pleased to learn he is to be a human sacrifice, instead.

Now, said magic using fop guy. Out of all the band, and people, he picks Conan?

What is Khitan for fracking stupid?

3 out of 5

Conan has deserted Turan, and is on the trail of treasure in the Kezankian mountains. Can't trust anyone in this bunch of treasure hunters.

The statue he is after is something he decides he definitely doesn't want, after all.

2.5 out of 5

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600751.txt

Conan meets a very pale woman after fighting a battle in the frozen north. She is haughty, and arrogant, and summons a couple of her brothers to fight Conan. Giant men they might be, but the Cimmerian grabs them, and then grabs the girl.

She calls to her father Ymir, and disappears. Conan wakes up - was it all a dream?

4 out of 5

Conan, uneasy after his encounter with the Frost Giant's Daughter, heads south.

He saves a girl from a pack of white hairy beast men only to lose her in the tunnel of the ice worm. He barely makes it out himself.

3 out of 5

Download Queen of the Black Coast

One of the classic Conan stories. The barbarian goes a-reavin', and finds another of the rare women that can match him. Belit has fire, and presence, and command, but again, it does not end well. Highly recommended.

4.5 out of 5

Conan is war chief of the Bamulas, and the story is told from the point of view of an Ophirean woman that is a captive of the group he is leading.

She talks him into letting her go by offering herself to him, for variety. He doesn't hold her to it, however, knowing that would be wrong, and lets her go.

She manages to get herself into trouble in the vale, where the women she finds definitely are not human. The Cimmerian, luckily for her, had been following her trail, and arrives just in time, another day at the office for him :

"A devil from the Outer Dark," he grunted. "Oh, they're nothing uncommon."

3.5 out of 5

It all piles on the barbarian here. He has to leave his Bamulas warrior chief post due to racism.

Travelling through the Kushian grasslands a pride of lions decide he would be quite tasty, being so young and meaty. He fights off lions for a while, but runs out of arrows and has to run.

Amazingly, he comes to a black onyx tower, and the lions won't enter. Everything is dead around it.

He enters due to having no choice, but his superstitious barbarian self is worried, and he sleeps uneasily.

He is right, because a whole bunch of slavers turn up, and a hundred headed monster promptly appears and starts slaughtering them with its bare hands, head ripping off and all that good stuff.

He takes one of their horses and leaves, to take his chance with the lions.

3.5 out of 5

A short draft. A popular military officer is imprisoned by a dangerous queen type. When she returns from hunting, the population is beginning to turn ugly, and tries to tear her from her horse.

A large, scarred Cimmerian is nearby, and manages to rescue her, not without injury to either.

She promptly orders her Captain of the Guard slain, and gives Conan the job. He is not displeased to be the captain for a good looking naked and bleeding ruler, at least for now.

3 out of 5

http://superprose.blogspot.com/2007/03/conan-2-conan-of-cimmeria.html ( )