Fantasy Like Conan?

[Nardpuncher]

I've been on a Conan kick, and enjoy fantasy, and want something along the same lines. Some fantasy tries to be too epic and tries to build a huge elaborate world when sometimes you just want a big barbarian to decapitate some half-man half-dragon.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I would suggest some of the other books by Howard coming from Bison Press tike "The Lord of Smarcand" These are his tales of the Crusades. Great adventure stories, one of my favorites is in this is "Shadow of the Vulture" which introduces Sonya of Rogatino, the character Red Sonja is based on.

Another series I liked was Fritz Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Fun adventures of a warrior and a thief, both awesome swordsmen.

Finally, Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, in particular the first series of 5 novels about Corwin of Amber and the wars between he and his brothers to claim the crown of Amber.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

I love Zelazny, and Amber is my top fantasy series of all time, but I'm not sure it's simple and non-epic...

If you like Amber though, try Steven Brust series with Vlad Taltos, very similar writing style, awesome world, and the books are each a little more standalone, although there ends up being a common thread running through them.

 

[Lonemagpie]

This looks like an opportunity to plug The Light Of Heaven, which comes out in a couple of weeks...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twilight-Ke...=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232025409&sr=1-9

 

[Steve Roby]

I've been on a Conan kick, and enjoy fantasy, and want something along the same lines. Some fantasy tries to be too epic and tries to build a huge elaborate world when sometimes you just want a big barbarian to decapitate some half-man half-dragon.

Gov Kodos mentioned Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books. There's only seven of them (eight if you count the one by Robin Wayne Bailey, which ain't bad), and they aren't mammoth Wheel of Time tomes; they're a couple hundred pages each, generally containing a few short stories each. At their best, they're arguably the best heroic fantasy out there: well written, well characterized, witty, and adventurous.

The next obvious choice is Michael Moorcock's Elric series. A bit heavier and deeper than Howard, but lots of swordplay and sorcery. Also not an endless series of endless books. Del Rey's doing a great new reprint series; start there.

Incidentally, getting back to Conan... which Conan stories are you reading? The Robert E. Howard ones, or those dozens of books written by other people? Some of them aren't bad, but only Howard wrote the real Conan, and if you've read and liked those, you should give the Kull and Bran Mak Morn collections from Del Rey a try. And if you've only read the Conan books written post-REH, buy the three Del Rey collections of his Conan books immediately.

This looks like an opportunity to plug The Light Of Heaven, which comes out in a couple of weeks...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twilight-Ke...=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232025409&sr=1-9

Speaking of which, is it necessary to read the earlier books in the trilogy, or is it more or less standalone?

 

[Australis]

Hmm, what about Michael Moorcock?

In some ways Elric is the anti-Conan, driven by magic and the dark symbiotic need of his black sword Stormbringer (11 novewls, plus short stories).

One of my favourite Conan comics had this:

Elric appeared in a two-part Conan the Barbarian comic book adventure entitled "A Sword Called Stormbringer!" and “The Green Empress of Melniboné”, written by Roy Thomas, based on a story plotted by Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn that appeared in Conan the Barbarian.

Absolutely stunning artwork.

Moorcock creates very elaborate worlds. He has trilogies of books of his heroes, Dorian Hawkmoon (2 trilogies), Oswald Bastable, and Corum Jhalen Irsei (2 trilogies), and then later he tied the whole thing together with the concept of the Eternal Champion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Champion

I'd go so far as to say that Moorcock was the first guy to tie a large number of his books into one arc, much as Asimov and Heinlein later did.

And THEN, he attaches to it the 1960s strangeness of Jerry Cornelius, one of the great characters of fantasy fiction. And just when you think you jave a handle on Cornelius... the next book, he's someone different!

And of course Discworld, funny and light after the darkness of Conan and Elric, though these too can be pretty deep and have dark moments in the later novels.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I hadn't thought of Elric, that too is a great suggestion. However, as Australis mentions, Elric's persona is not anything like Conan.

Another series I'd recommend would be the John Carter of Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. More Science-Fantasy than straight sword and sworcery, but the protagonists come from the same era of pulp fiction action heroes. I'd especially suggest the first three books "A Princess of Mars" "The Gods of Mars" and "The Warlord of Mars"

 

[Lonemagpie]

This looks like an opportunity to plug The Light Of Heaven, which comes out in a couple of weeks...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twilight-Ke...=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232025409&sr=1-9

Speaking of which, is it necessary to read the earlier books in the trilogy, or is it more or less standalone?

It's a bit more complex than that - Twilight of Kerberos overall is going to end up, AIUI, being made up of four trilogies - one for each of the hero characters - and maybe a concluding mini. So, the first two books were each book 1 of a trilogy, and so, all being well, is this!

Which means Light of Heaven is standalone and the *first* of a trilogy, but you'll get more out of the worldbuilding if you've read either of the previous books.

 

[Mistral]

GRUNTS by Mary Gentle. Not too heavy, lots of decapitations(and stuff like that), some magic-and the whole story is told from the bad guys side.

Never been a big fantasy fan but the Book of Swords(Lynn Carter?) is s'posed to be good.

You can count my vote for Zelazny and the Amber stories-kinda James Bond meets Conan, if you can picture that.

Moorcock is too dark and weird , IMO.

There is a sci-fi book that is basically a fantasy with guns, spaceships and an Old West flavor. Its called Santiago by Mike Resnick, and its about bounty hunters, whores, thieves and other pleasant people. If you like Conan you might want to give it a chance...

Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote some fun fantasies, if I recall correctly, no major quests-just stories of derring do.

 

[Norrin Radd]

As an aside, I really enjoyed Robert Jordan's Conan books.

As for fantasy like Conan, I think some of the Dungeons and Dragons books have a lot in common. Maybe check those out.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

I'd give Kull a try. Kull tended to brood and be a little more philosophical about matters but it's still good clean sword-and-sorcery fun with Brule the SpearSlayer, Thulsa Doom, and those pesky Snake People.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Another Moorcock tale that is fun is "The Warhound and the World's Pain" Less dark and fronted with doom than the Elric stuff. It' the story of Ulrich von Beck and his search for the Holy Grail at the behest of Lucifer who's looking to repent.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Yeah, I've got the first one of the Del Rey stories by Howard. I've read a couple of the Tor ones, as well as reprints of the Savage Sword of Conan (that B&W magazine from the 70s and 80s).

 

[Gov Kodos]

Yeah, I've got the first one of the Del Rey stories by Howard. I've read a couple of the Tor ones, as well as reprints of the Savage Sword of Conan (that B&W magazine from the 70s and 80s).

If you like the comics, Dark Horse has collected a lot of the Conan comics. The series is "The Chronicles of Conan" I especially like the early Roy Thomas stuff. Many of the tales are taken from the original Howard stories, and the art is fantastic,

 

[Lt. Trull]

Try David Gemmell's universe... especially the skilganon the damned series...

look him up at:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

I've been on a Conan kick, and enjoy fantasy, and want something along the same lines. Some fantasy tries to be too epic and tries to build a huge elaborate world when sometimes you just want a big barbarian to decapitate some half-man half-dragon.

other Howard heroes of the misted past:

Kull of Atlantis (set pre-Conan)

Bran Mak Morn (post Conan during Roman Empire)

Black Vulmea (17th or 18th -I forget which- century pirate)

Solomon Kane (17th century puritan gun/swordsman)

El Borak (20th century gunman/cowboy)

Karl Edward Wagner's Kane books are pretty sweet, too. Kind of a Conan/Cthulhu-type world with essentially the undying Caine of the Bible as the main character.

 

[Annoiu]

Seems to me like Glen Cook's Annals of the Black Company might fit the bill. It has a Sword and Sorcery setting, but no real world building beyond the characters, at least not in the early stages. The central character isn't really a Conan type and the books obviously weren't written by Robert E. Howard or before 1950, but I thought I'd suggest them anyway.

 

[Steve Roby]

As an aside, I really enjoyed Robert Jordan's Conan books.

The great thing about Jordan's Conan novels is that you only have to read one. They're the same novel over and over again with the settings and guest stars changed. Most of the other Conan novels published by Tor follow that same formula.

Robert E. Howard's Conan (i.e., the original) tends to have more variety, not least because there's only one novel and a bunch of shorter stories. No need to reuse the same formula every time.

Another series I forgot about: Karl Edward Wagner's Kane books. Looks like they're out of print, though.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Try this -- Jim Theis' The Eye of Argon.

Also, I'm also going to echo the recommendation of the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. And Del Rey's new Elric collections are superb.

 

[Orintho]

If you can find them, look for Karl Edward Wagner's series of novels and short stories about Cain. They can run a bit darker than Conan, but are worth the read.

Also while not specifically about barbarians, RA Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels feature them.