Ramble House just published The Sword of Thongor so the cover artwork isn’t available online yet. In its place, I’m providing one of my favorite Thongor covers instead. Thongor was created by Lin Carter as a Conan clone. If you’re a fan of Robert E. Howard’s barbarian, then you’ll feel right at home with the Thongor series. Like Conan, Thongor travels around getting in trouble. Plenty of sword fights and action propel the books. No doubt Robert E. Howard was the more talented writer, but Lin Carter manages to capture some of the Conan magic in his Thongor series. Robert M. Price is the executor of Lin Carter’s estate. He’s a fan of the Thongor series and decided to write a sequel. Richard A. Lupoff provides an informative Introduction. If you’re a fan of Sword & Sorcery novels, The Sword of Thongor will entertain you. GRADE: B
THONGOR OF VALKARTH SERIES
1. Young Thongor, by Lin Carter, Robert M. Price, and Adrian Cole (Wildside Press, 2012) (ISBN 978-1-4344-4101-0)
2. The Wizard of Lemuria (1965; revised/expanded as Thongor and The Wizard of Lemuria (1969)). In his introduction to the revised edition, “A Word from the Author”, Carter reveals that the revisions consist of restoring certain passages cut by the editor from the first edition, conforming certain portions of the book to details described in later books of the series, and adding a few thousand words of new material.
3. Thongor of Lemuria (1966; revised/expanded as Thongor and the Dragon City (1970))
4. Thongor Against the Gods (1967)
5. Thongor in the City of Magicians (1968)
6. Thongor at the End of Time (1968)
7. Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus (1970)
Carter was actually a pretty good writer, but he refused to abandon his fanboy sentimentalism. As such, I can only take him in small doses, but when I do I enjoy him. His editing of Ballantine’s Adult Fantasy series, coming on the coattails of the Tolkien boom, was an important and influential step in popularizing that genre. I met him once; he seemed friendly, smart, and — need I say it? — just a tad weird.
Jerry, I’m like you: Lin Carter in small doses. When Lin Carter edited the BALLANTINE ADULT FANTASY series, he created a whole new audience.
I remember seeing the paperbacks, but never did buy or read any of them.
Rick, the Thongor books are fun reading if you’re in the right mood.
I guess I’m just never in that mood. I tried Conan years ago but it wasn’t really my thing.
Jeff, different strokes for different folks.
For me, Jeff, it wasn’t so much mood as age. I found the adventure of the Conan tales spooky and fun when I was 9 or so.
Try the best of the Conan stories before you give up on them. “Tower of the Elephant ” is the only Howard story I know of that is included in a college textbook “Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction & Fantasy”Fritz Lieber once wrote ” The best Conan stories are Howard’s best. “The People of the Black Circle”can be
compared without straining to the melodramas of Marlowe. It has
stirring language,strong motives,awesome sorcerers,brilliant magical
devices,sympathetic hero-villains, & a Conan subdued enough to make the outcome interesting.” After that, there’s ” Beyond the Black River” ( which will surprise you and remind you more of James Fenimore Cooper than any other Sword & Sorcery story.) You must read “A Witch Shall Be Born”- a lesser Conan story but it contains the famous crucifixion scene which was the best writing of Howard’s career ! Other of the better Conan stories are “Rogues in the House”, “Queen of the Black Coast”, “Shadows of Zamboula” with its memorable cobra dance, “Shadows in the Moonlight’ with its wooded isle of iron statues that come to life when the moon shines, “The Scarlet Citadel” with battles, rival sorcerers & a descent into hell., “The Black Colossus” with its wizard raised from the dead, seeking to revive a vanished empire & it also has the strongest openings of any of the Conan stories ( which may have inspired the opening to “Raiders of the Lost Ark”). I must also add a “lesser” Conan story , “The God In The Bowl” because it gave me the worst nightmare of my life about a snake with a human head.
Jim, thank you for that eloquent enforcement of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. Even after all these years, I think they’re underrated.
The cover looks like the work of Vincent di Fate. Not sure if it is him or not, but I love his work.
I agree with you and Jim, the Conan stories are very underrated and make for excellent reading. I’ll have to give this a try.
Carl, you’re right about the cover artwork being Vincent Di Fate’s. Good eye!