When I was a poor student of 22-ish about 15 years ago, without any cash to spend on frivolous shopping, I entered a quirky second hand bookstore in Stockholm, Sweden (Alfa Antikvariat, it has since left this world) which has a tremendous SF and Fantasy section in its basement. A batch of "new books", mainly American paperbacks of the 60s and 70s, had just arrived and were kept in banana cardboard boxes on the floor waiting to be put into the shelves. I was scrolling through these, finding very nice copies of all the books you (so rightfully) scorn at in this episode. They were all autographed and dedicated by L. Sprague de Camp! I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't understand why they were in a Stockholm book den. Then among the leaves of one of the books, I found one of those old-timey snippets from an airline boarding card which had been used as a bookmark. It had been issued to one "Björn Nyberg", which suddenly explained it all. The first guy to write Conan pastiches, and even worse pastiches than L. Sprague de Camp. At the time, most people thought Nyberg was still alive and living in France, but I managed to find an obituary stating that he had died in 2004. The next day, someone had bought the whole batch, lock stock and barrel.
After being a joung fan of Marvel's Conan and the movie, the first Conan book I read was Bjorn Nyberg's Conan the Avenger. As a joung, naive and inexperienced fantasy fan, I could inmediately recognize that Nyberg's prose, creativity and plot were bottom tier!
@@georgeseal8463 It is, but he is an interesting figure as Sweden’s first internationally successful (well, ish) fantasy author. There is next to nothing known about him, but he must have been an unusual character. He wrote his first Conan story as a typewriting exercise, which is revealing.
Made the mistake of reading Conan the Avenger earlier this month. De Camp and Björn Nyberg made a straight up mockery of Howard's character. May Mitra be with you on that next read through.
On the novel front I have about 150 pages of 'LOTR: Return of the King' left to go. Currently, I feel like I am in the middle of the longest epilogue I have ever read. Hopefully will finish the third book this week. It has taken me 40 plus years to read the trilogy and unfortunately still not my thing but glad to have read it. Comics; I got through the collected Vol 2 and 3 of the current Fantastic Four run. I'm liking the one and done old school approach of most of the stories and making it very much about family. It does come across as more of an all ages book which may turn of the more grim and gritty readers. It's a bit more grounded than fantastical so it isn't for everyone but I've liked the change of pace.
You don't collaborate with a dead guy Michael, you collaborate with an UNdead guy. I thought it was gracious of you to acknowledge in a previous video that some of the De Camp/Carter stories were entertaining. I agree that some are but many of them are very generic and just go through the motions. I have a greater appreciation for "Jewels Of Gwahlur" after reading the Dark Horse Comics adaptation by the wonderful P. Craig Russell.
"I hate it worse than ever" ...Lol! Another great video on a great reading event! Conan the Buccaneer ~ Can't argue with all the plot points being "borrowed" from other REH stories. Which is probably why I find it more tolerable than de Camp's original stories!
Plot twist: Roger is actually the mummified remains of L. Sprague de Camp and at the end of the month you will pay for your blasphemy! The curse of the black literary mummy shall be his final posthumous tale. 🤣
Thats a lot of Conan lol. Its been fun getting your take on these pastiches and then listening to Steve. It does sound like most pastiches are not great, although Steve seemed to enjoy Hawks over Shem. Im currently about 3/4 the way through Blood of the Serpent. Its still just okay, not fantastic. I hope to finish it and Jump into City of the Dead after.
I have to say, I am one of the people who always loved "The Black Stranger". It sure is an unusual Conan story, but so is "Beyond the Black River" if we take an honest look at it. While BtBR has a western influence, TBS has a strong, pretty well done gothic vibe; it also has great fights and one of the more interesting heroines in the series. But as a non-american, I am also not that familiar with Hawthorne, so it's possible I don't get to feel it's full weirdness. Interesting to hear some reviews of pastiches. I never read any of them myself, and pretty much no one talks about them nowadays, so it's cool that some people do this month.
The Black Stranger is my all time favorite Conan story, followed closely by Beyond the Black River. If Howard had lived longer I often wonder where he would have taken Conan as he delved more into his "Western phase"
@@Falconlibrary if it was on par with Beyond the Black River and the Black Stranger, I would have enjoyed that. I was finaly able to find a copy of the 70s edition of Black Vulmea's Revenge ( the pirate yarn that Howard turned the Black Stranger into when Weird Tales rejected it. I'm looking forward to finally getting to read that version of the story
Anyone that loves Conan the way you appear to do, *Deserves a new subscriber today!* Love the content and your background setting Michael. I have to admit, that I am so thankful for REH, but I enjoy anything Conan (I can only read Weird tales so many times before I Yearn for more Conan!) LOL I currently, am one SSOC away from having all the issues (and I am flying across the world next week to pick it up in person....that's a long way to film a RUclips video)! 😅😂 My first book I read was the Treasure of the Tranicos when it first came out! Then I had to buy them all! Also, cannot wait to go to Howard days next year; do you ever attend? Thank you again for the insightful video, looking forward to your next video. _Skol! ~ Son of Crom_
Thank you, mighty Son of Crom! Congratulations on your SSOC collection. I haven’t been to Howard Days since 2010 but I am thinking of going to the next one if I can manage it. Perhaps I will see you there.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 That would be fantastic; I hope you can make it. I better book my hotel by January; I have heard that places to stay fill up fast. I feel though, that I might be overwhelmed by being surrounded by so many REH fans... I am sure it will feel like "Conan Nerd Valhalla" to me! 😆😂
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Thank you, Sorry to hear. I Got further into the video & found out I hadn't missed it, the numbers were "yet to come, " and I was more "up to date than I thought. Continue to slay!
The Treasure of Tranicos is a great example of the harm that deCamp did to Howard's Conan stories. To tear apart a writer's work and rebuild it to suit your own idea of a chronology that was never intended is the ultimate in disrespect and arrogance. Poor deCamp isn't getting much love this month, is he? 😆
I guess de Camp was just way ahead of the curve with his "posthumous collaborations." He'd fit right in with Hollywood now with their digital necromancy, bringing back deceased actors and actresses to inhabit or have cameos in their movies.
CONAN. I was shocked to find that my husband never read Conan,(he's read every other classic you ever bring up). I will have to scare up the books. as our local library has met with an accident and is closed indefinitely. One more reason never to move to a small town (like we did) and another reason to collect thousands of books,(like we have).
I gather that you are in no hurry to read L. Sprague de Camp’s _The Tritonian Ring,_ a novel “in the tradition of Conan”, but also about a quest to obtain a powerful magic ring. Yeah, nothing derivative there.
I tend to agree that the pastiche stories aren't as good as the original stories. But in DeCamp's defense, he didn't give us pastiche stories in place of the originals - he gave us pastiche with the originals. The good stuff is all there if you look for it and the series is still worth reading.
There is no valid defense for what de Camp did with this set. You shouldn’t have to pick through to get to the real stuff. Robert E. Howard’s Conan should have been published on its own. Conan was his character, not de Camp’s.
I'm less bothered by adjacent stories than by going to a finished Conan story and saying "I can make it better," and then the enshitification ensues . . . @@michaelk.vaughan8617
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Put it like this, better they published it this way then not at all - in the long run it worked out well, otherwise real Conan/Howard stories might be more neglected then Clark Ashton Smith.
@@MagusMarquillin Indeed. Without this series, DeCamp would not have met Lin Carter, Carter would have probably never been hired by Ballintine and CAS, Dunsany et al would not have been discovered by younger generations.
@@MagusMarquillin I don’t buy that. Eventually the Conan stories would have been published, and probably in a much better way. There was a lot of interest in H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs and other pulp/fantasy writers at the time. The greatest pulp writer in the world and his greatest creation would not have been long neglected.
which conan stories an comics goes on ancient egypt and dinasour times? I am searching those. İs conan ever goes ottoman like place. Some sand zone stories on savage sword comic characters look like ottoman and seljuk turks. You should play and read books of first two assassins creed series. And you must read berserk manga very similar to savage sword and better themes monster historical inspired cityies.
I love the Silmarillian tremendously at least, but the utmost care and respect went into that completion. Much has to do with how much work the author had put in before their death.
I suspect you are referring to the new Conan omnibus volumes from Titan. They are basically reprints of the Marvel omnibus volumes. I have talked about those.
I don't agree with you on De Camp, but I respect your opinion and love your channel. What do you think of the other conan writer - Jordon for instance?
@@redwawst3258 at this moment I’m actually asking viewers to not send anything. At the rate gifts have been coming in I’m going to have to add a 100 books to the 500 book challenge. Thanks though!
Do I detect some jealousy?! Why the hate for L. Sprague de Camp? Is it because he didn't initialize his first three names L.S.D. Camp? Is it because he only initialed his first name? How original, wonder why nobody else copied it? J. Ribald Rue Tolkien. Is it because his legacy of Conan stories will long survive every attempt at slander and criticism? How long before the book community reverses course and praise de Camp for his editing non-Conan stories into Conan stories. Brilliant! Or sad 😢? Write your own Conan story, then compare it to de Camp's re-edited non-Conan ones. Not so smarmy now, huh!
When I was a poor student of 22-ish about 15 years ago, without any cash to spend on frivolous shopping, I entered a quirky second hand bookstore in Stockholm, Sweden (Alfa Antikvariat, it has since left this world) which has a tremendous SF and Fantasy section in its basement. A batch of "new books", mainly American paperbacks of the 60s and 70s, had just arrived and were kept in banana cardboard boxes on the floor waiting to be put into the shelves. I was scrolling through these, finding very nice copies of all the books you (so rightfully) scorn at in this episode. They were all autographed and dedicated by L. Sprague de Camp! I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't understand why they were in a Stockholm book den. Then among the leaves of one of the books, I found one of those old-timey snippets from an airline boarding card which had been used as a bookmark. It had been issued to one "Björn Nyberg", which suddenly explained it all. The first guy to write Conan pastiches, and even worse pastiches than L. Sprague de Camp. At the time, most people thought Nyberg was still alive and living in France, but I managed to find an obituary stating that he had died in 2004. The next day, someone had bought the whole batch, lock stock and barrel.
@@esperantofeig wow! Interesting.
After being a joung fan of Marvel's Conan and the movie, the first Conan book I read was Bjorn Nyberg's Conan the Avenger. As a joung, naive and inexperienced fantasy fan, I could inmediately recognize that Nyberg's prose, creativity and plot were bottom tier!
@@georgeseal8463 It is, but he is an interesting figure as Sweden’s first internationally successful (well, ish) fantasy author. There is next to nothing known about him, but he must have been an unusual character. He wrote his first Conan story as a typewriting exercise, which is revealing.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 hello Michael. I really love your shows. I have a few books I would like to gift to you. I think you would really enjoy them.
'Hi I'm Conan, Crom' 🤣🤣 I'm reading Conan: The Road of Kings by Karl EW. It's been pretty good. It's got a good plot.
Your dedication to reading that 12-book series this month is impressive! I need to get my video up talking about the one I read this month!
I suffer for my channel!
Just watching you talk about DeCamp made this video worth it! Great stuff!
Is it possible to have too much Conan..............Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!! not possible. 🤓
Made the mistake of reading Conan the Avenger earlier this month. De Camp and Björn Nyberg made a straight up mockery of Howard's character. May Mitra be with you on that next read through.
I just read Conan the Avenger. It is an abomination.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 🤣 At least it might make for a fun review, right?
On the novel front I have about 150 pages of 'LOTR: Return of the King' left to go. Currently, I feel like I am in the middle of the longest epilogue I have ever read. Hopefully will finish the third book this week.
It has taken me 40 plus years to read the trilogy and unfortunately still not my thing but glad to have read it.
Comics; I got through the collected Vol 2 and 3 of the current Fantastic Four run. I'm liking the one and done old school approach of most of the stories and making it very much about family. It does come across as more of an all ages book which may turn of the more grim and gritty readers. It's a bit more grounded than fantastical so it isn't for everyone but I've liked the change of pace.
You don't collaborate with a dead guy Michael, you collaborate with an UNdead guy.
I thought it was gracious of you to acknowledge in a previous video that some of the De Camp/Carter stories were entertaining. I agree that some are but many of them are very generic and just go through the motions.
I have a greater appreciation for "Jewels Of Gwahlur" after reading the Dark Horse Comics adaptation by the wonderful P. Craig Russell.
That was a really good adaptation.
Just started these this week, as I wanted to read the Heroic Legends Conan ebooks. What a mixed bag those turned out to be!
"I hate it worse than ever" ...Lol! Another great video on a great reading event! Conan the Buccaneer ~ Can't argue with all the plot points being "borrowed" from other REH stories. Which is probably why I find it more tolerable than de Camp's original stories!
@@GrammaticusBooks HA!
Plot twist: Roger is actually the mummified remains of L. Sprague de Camp and at the end of the month you will pay for your blasphemy! The curse of the black literary mummy shall be his final posthumous tale. 🤣
What a ghastly thought!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 You have to say that in a Thurston Howell III voice.
Thats a lot of Conan lol. Its been fun getting your take on these pastiches and then listening to Steve. It does sound like most pastiches are not great, although Steve seemed to enjoy Hawks over Shem. Im currently about 3/4 the way through Blood of the Serpent. Its still just okay, not fantastic. I hope to finish it and Jump into City of the Dead after.
I have to say, I am one of the people who always loved "The Black Stranger". It sure is an unusual Conan story, but so is "Beyond the Black River" if we take an honest look at it. While BtBR has a western influence, TBS has a strong, pretty well done gothic vibe; it also has great fights and one of the more interesting heroines in the series. But as a non-american, I am also not that familiar with Hawthorne, so it's possible I don't get to feel it's full weirdness.
Interesting to hear some reviews of pastiches. I never read any of them myself, and pretty much no one talks about them nowadays, so it's cool that some people do this month.
"This is an original novel written by L Sprague de Camp and Lynn Carter and together. . . " They Fight Crime!
Hello Michael. I have a few books i would like to give to you. I think you would enjoy them!
The Black Stranger is my all time favorite Conan story, followed closely by Beyond the Black River. If Howard had lived longer I often wonder where he would have taken Conan as he delved more into his "Western phase"
Howard's planned multi-part Western epic would've been basically Conan in the Old West.
@@Falconlibrary if it was on par with Beyond the Black River and the Black Stranger, I would have enjoyed that. I was finaly able to find a copy of the 70s edition of Black Vulmea's Revenge ( the pirate yarn that Howard turned the Black Stranger into when Weird Tales rejected it. I'm looking forward to finally getting to read that version of the story
Will you do a video on “The Tower Of The Elephant”?
@@jordanthomas4379 I did one on the story years ago. I’ll be covering the Marvel adaptation next week.
L. Sprague de Camp actually showed restraint in not sending Harold Shea into the Hyborian Age to meet Conan.
Anyone that loves Conan the way you appear to do, *Deserves a new subscriber today!* Love the content and your background setting Michael. I have to admit, that I am so thankful for REH, but I enjoy anything Conan (I can only read Weird tales so many times before I Yearn for more Conan!) LOL
I currently, am one SSOC away from having all the issues (and I am flying across the world next week to pick it up in person....that's a long way to film a RUclips video)! 😅😂
My first book I read was the Treasure of the Tranicos when it first came out! Then I had to buy them all!
Also, cannot wait to go to Howard days next year; do you ever attend? Thank you again for the insightful video, looking forward to your next video. _Skol! ~ Son of Crom_
Thank you, mighty Son of Crom! Congratulations on your SSOC collection. I haven’t been to Howard Days since 2010 but I am thinking of going to the next one if I can manage it. Perhaps I will see you there.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 That would be fantastic; I hope you can make it. I better book my hotel by January; I have heard that places to stay fill up fast. I feel though, that I might be overwhelmed by being surrounded by so many REH fans... I am sure it will feel like "Conan Nerd Valhalla" to me! 😆😂
I'm not sure why, but I always appreciate the weekend reading report. Good work. Carry on.
Have we hit 200?
Not yet.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Thank you, Sorry to hear. I Got further into the video & found out I hadn't missed it, the numbers were "yet to come, " and I was more "up to date than I thought.
Continue to slay!
Have you ever been to the Frazetta museum?
Unfortunately, no.
The Treasure of Tranicos is a great example of the harm that deCamp did to Howard's Conan stories. To tear apart a writer's work and rebuild it to suit your own idea of a chronology that was never intended is the ultimate in disrespect and arrogance. Poor deCamp isn't getting much love this month, is he? 😆
@@MysteryandMayhem-gr7nn Ha!
So Weird Stories rejected a story (The Black Stranger) because it seemed kinda weird? How weird.
I hate when I have to face giant snakes. They’re hard to get along with.
True.
......not too keen on the small lads !
I guess de Camp was just way ahead of the curve with his "posthumous collaborations." He'd fit right in with Hollywood now with their digital necromancy, bringing back deceased actors and actresses to inhabit or have cameos in their movies.
CONAN. I was shocked to find that my husband never read Conan,(he's read every other classic you ever bring up). I will have to scare up the books. as our local library has met with an accident and is closed indefinitely. One more reason never to move to a small town (like we did) and another reason to collect thousands of books,(like we have).
@@tonette6592 that’s pretty terrible about your local library. Sorry to hear that.
I gather that you are in no hurry to read L. Sprague de Camp’s _The Tritonian Ring,_ a novel “in the tradition of Conan”, but also about a quest to obtain a powerful magic ring. Yeah, nothing derivative there.
I tend to agree that the pastiche stories aren't as good as the original stories. But in DeCamp's defense, he didn't give us pastiche stories in place of the originals - he gave us pastiche with the originals. The good stuff is all there if you look for it and the series is still worth reading.
There is no valid defense for what de Camp did with this set. You shouldn’t have to pick through to get to the real stuff. Robert E. Howard’s Conan should have been published on its own. Conan was his character, not de Camp’s.
I'm less bothered by adjacent stories than by going to a finished Conan story and saying "I can make it better," and then the enshitification ensues . . . @@michaelk.vaughan8617
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Put it like this, better they published it this way then not at all - in the long run it worked out well, otherwise real Conan/Howard stories might be more neglected then Clark Ashton Smith.
@@MagusMarquillin Indeed. Without this series, DeCamp would not have met Lin Carter, Carter would have probably never been hired by Ballintine and CAS, Dunsany et al would not have been discovered by younger generations.
@@MagusMarquillin I don’t buy that. Eventually the Conan stories would have been published, and probably in a much better way. There was a lot of interest in H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs and other pulp/fantasy writers at the time. The greatest pulp writer in the world and his greatest creation would not have been long neglected.
which conan stories an comics goes on ancient egypt and dinasour times? I am searching those. İs conan ever goes ottoman like place. Some sand zone stories on savage sword comic characters look like ottoman and seljuk turks. You should play and read books of first two assassins creed series. And you must read berserk manga very similar to savage sword and better themes monster historical inspired cityies.
Were they posthumously done...or preposterously done?? 😂 Say hey to Roger for me! 😊
I tend to despise posthumously finishes and published works. I just DNFd one “by” Barbara Pym. It wasn’t good so I didn’t finish it.
I love the Silmarillian tremendously at least, but the utmost care and respect went into that completion. Much has to do with how much work the author had put in before their death.
Spoiler alert 🚨 Mike still hates these 😆
Third time’s the charm, at least that’s what I’ve heard. Might be some years before we find out.
@@davidnovakreadspoetry 😆
Some video just said that a new Conan graphic novel omnibus came out. Get on that!
I suspect you are referring to the new Conan omnibus volumes from Titan. They are basically reprints of the Marvel omnibus volumes. I have talked about those.
It seems very weird what they did to the Conan stories. Has this happened with any other of Howard's characters? or with any other author?
Certainly nothing to this extent. Mixing pastiche fiction with an author’s original work is certainly bizarre.
I don't agree with you on De Camp, but I respect your opinion and love your channel. What do you think of the other conan writer - Jordon for instance?
@@GaryMartinDobbs I didn’t really care for Jordan’s Conan books. Fortunately he moved on to much better things!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 You sir then, are a Howard purist. Nice that we can disagree but I love your videos. Much respect.
Have you seen the new comic Conan; battle of the black stone? Its supposed to be a kind of time war and all Howards character will be in the series..
@@EdG-p1q I haven’t read it yet.
At what point is pastiche fan fiction? Or vice versa? Asking somewhat tongue in cheek but also genuinely curious.
@@sw3dge it’s all fan fiction, really. I guess the only difference is if someone pays you for it.
Where do I send a gift book to you?
@@redwawst3258 at this moment I’m actually asking viewers to not send anything. At the rate gifts have been coming in I’m going to have to add a 100 books to the 500 book challenge. Thanks though!
That is a lot of Conan....
It Ain’t Bob Howard, but I like The Buccaneer. 🤷🏻♂️
I'm getting the sense that you're no fan of L. Sprague de Camp. I mean he's no Lionel Fanthorpe but he was okay.
He was good when he was writing his own original work. Not so much when he was desecrating Robert E. Howard’s.
😎🔥🫵🏼
Do I detect some jealousy?! Why the hate for L. Sprague de Camp? Is it because he didn't initialize his first three names L.S.D. Camp? Is it because he only initialed his first name? How original, wonder why nobody else copied it? J. Ribald Rue Tolkien.
Is it because his legacy of Conan stories will long survive every attempt at slander and criticism? How long before the book community reverses course and praise de Camp for his editing non-Conan stories into Conan stories. Brilliant! Or sad 😢?
Write your own Conan story, then compare it to de Camp's re-edited non-Conan ones. Not so smarmy now, huh!