Xuthal of the Dusk and A Witch Shall be Born.

[Hallskar]

So I finally recieved the rest of the books/stories in the mail, but I can't figure out the timeline and where to start from.

Which adventure does Conan go through first?

[Nige]

If you want to read the stories in chronological order, it's as follows:

"The Frost Giant's Daughter
"The God in the Bowl
"The Tower of the Elephant"
"The Hall of the Dead" (synopsis)
"Rogues in the House"
"The Hand of Nergal" (fragment)
"Shadows in the Moonlight"
"Black Colossus"
"Queen of the Black Coast"
"The Snout in the Dark" (fragment)
"The Slithering Shadow"
"A Witch Shall Be Born"
"The Devil in Iron"
"The People of the Black Circle"
"Shadows in Zamboula"
"Drums of Tombalku" (fragment)
"The Vale of Lost Women"
"The Pool of the Black One"
"Beyond the Black River"
"The Black Stranger"
"Red Nails"
"Jewels of Gwahlur"
"Wolves Beyond the Border" (fragment)
"The Phoenix on the Sword"
"The Scarlet Citadel"
"The Hour of the Dragon"

The Slithering Shadow is Xuthal of the Dusk btw, so that one occurs first.

[Hallskar]

The edition I recieved, does not seem to have the stories in order. Thanks!

[Nige]

Also, I should note, and this goes to anyone else who's interested in picking up the books. There's no recommended way to reading the stories, as he didn't write them in chronological order, I think Phoenix on the Sword and Scarlet Citadel were his first published stories?

There's definitely no right or wrong way of reading these stories, the great thing is that you can just pick a story and read it. Some prefer to read it in order of publication, some in chronological etc, just whatever floats your boat :)

This relates to the Howard written stories though, I personally never read the pastiche stories from Sprague & de Camp or Robert Jordan etc. I'm sure they have a very different order due to all the stories they wrote in addition.

[Thorim]

Nguyên văn bởi Hallskar:

The edition I recieved, does not seem to have the stories in order. Thanks!

Maybe it is edited in the order Howard wrote his stories (what I myself prefer, you get a better feeling for the development of the artist Robert E. Howard IMO)?
But thank you for the list @Potato-Nige, maybe I read the stories in that order one day. :)

[Hallskar]

And I just found a powerpoint on a biography of Howard himself. Wrote the Conan series from 1932-1935. http://www.academia.edu/5517048/The_Biography_of_Conan_the_Barbarian_Time_to_Thank_the_Editors_and_the_Pasticheurs

To a friend he said:

"…I have sometimes wondered if it were possible that unrecognized forces of the past or present — or even the future — work through the thoughts and actions of living men. This occurred to me when I was writing the first stories of the Conan series especially. I know that for months I had been absolutely barren of ideas, completely unable to work up anything sellable. The the man Conan seemed suddenly to grow up in my mind without much labor on my part and immediately a stream of stories flowed off my pen — or rather, off my typewriter —almost without effort on my part. […] The character took complete possession of my mind …as if the man himself had been standing at my shoulder directing my efforts…"

So my main goal is to see how he wrote his stories, before commiting sucide in 1936.

[Nige]

Yeah, I've read them both in published order and chronological order, I think I prefer published order myself? But either order you decide to read it in is 100% A-Ok ultimately. The stories weren't designed to be read in a certain order I think, if that makes any sense, because he went at such an early age, he probably didn't put as much thought to that question I'd imagine.

[Thorim]

Nguyên văn bởi Potato-Nige:

Yeah, I've read them both in published order and chronological order, I think I prefer published order myself? But either order you decide to read it in is 100% A-Ok ultimately. The stories weren't designed to be read in a certain order I think, if that makes any sense, because he went at such an early age, he probably didn't put as much thought to that question I'd imagine.

100% agree

[alrik1119]

Awesome stories!!!

[P.I.Staker]

I used the Dale Rippke Chronology when I have to do something, but mostly I just read them as I want to. It really is that feeling of being told tales by a fireside. No need for any order, just the stories of Conan, larger than life.