I’ve always been a Conan The Barbarian fan. Back in my youth I read most (all?) of the original stories by Howard and loved the unique stories and evocative setting.
In recent years I’ve been reading a lot of 1960s/70s pulp novels, and in doing so have discovered and appreciated several notable Conan clone series. Here’s my impressions on a few of these.
Brak The Barbarian
This series of five books, written by John Jakes between 1968 and 1980 are perhaps the most directly Conanesque of this lot, with a very similar protagonist, setting and adventures. Brak himself, a barbarian from the north, is on a series-spanning quest to a fantastic ‘golden’ city in the south and he has many adventures on his way, usually involving crazed sorcerers, evil – occasionally Lovecraftian – monsters and the occasional (though less often than Conan) beautiful maiden. While I’ve only yet read half the series (but own them all) I enjoy them quite a lot.
Thongor
During the 60s and 70s Lin Carter wrote seven books featuring his barbarian warrior Thongor. His adventures occur in a fantastic ruined world of lost wizardry, ancient ‘dragon kings’ and many exotic but distinct civilizations. These books are unsophisticated but fast-paced and rich in imagination, and on the whole contain less barbarian violence and womanizing than most on this list. Good, quick reads, these also inspired a (good!) marvel comics series also penned by Carter.
Kothar
Gardner Fox was a writer for DC Comics in the early years who turned his efforts to novels in the 1960s. This spawned two notable fantasy series, the first of which were the five Kothar books. Kothar himself could be Conans younger, blonder brother who decided he wanted to have the same adventures as his more famous sibling. Interesting differences (a magic cursed sword, an immortal sorceress) combined with a pacing obviously learned from a career in comics result in very readable books. Probably my favourites in this list.
Kyrik
This is Fox’s second series, written (for a different publisher, hence the original hero) in the mid 1970s. Mostly identical to the previous (another hero having wild adventures in a ruined world) this one features the usual – and expected – assortment of magic and monsters and near-naked women to save. While perhaps not quite as readable as Kothar, this is still a recommended series.
Richard Blade
This remarkable series of 37 (!) books was written over 15 years (starting in 1969) by three writers under the pen name Jeffrey Lord. After reading one book that I bought in Australia last year I was so impressed/insane that I purchased thirty-five more for the low, low price of $100!
The premise of this mad series is that MI6 sends super-agent Richard Blade (a fitter, handsomer, stronger and smarter James Bond) through a dimensional transporter into exotic new worlds where he performs reconnaissance for queen and country. Since the transporter can’t send clothes, he’s naked when he arrives and since many of the worlds are stereotypical fantasy realms, there’s more than a hint of Conan inspiration here. I’ve only read two, but those books alone had enough lunacy for a dozen other books, and I look forward to reading more.
Raven
‘Richard Kirk’ was the pseudonym of famed fantasy author Robert Holdstock who in the 1980s created an eventual five-book fantasy series about a female warrior named Raven. The books are slightly infamous for the Royo cover art (in the USA) and (nuder) Achilleos art in the UK – all I am sure crafted carefully to attract teenage male readers…
The books themselves are much more sophisticated than the covers suggest and the heroine in particular is more reflective and has a richer backstory than any other mentioned on this page. The setting is satisfyingly exotic and once again features barbaric civilization in a world scattered with evidence of a lost civilization. The quality of the books is not consistent, but overall these were worth the read.
