Conan the Usurper by Robert E. Howard, Lancer Books, 1967

Conan the Warrior is a 1967 collection of four fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp featuring Howard's seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. Most of tThe stories originally appeared in the fantasy magazine Weird Tales in the 1930s. The book has been reprinted a number of times since by various publishers, and has also been translated into German, Spanish, Italian and [[Dutch language|Dutch[]. Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was a writer of fantasy and historical adventure pulp stories published mainly in Weird Tales magazine in the 1930s. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... haha For other meanings see Fantasy (disambiguation) Fantasy is a genre of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. ... Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was a writer of fantasy and historical adventure pulp stories published mainly in Weird Tales magazine in the 1930s. ... L. Sprague de Camp from the cover of Time and Chance: an Autobiography, Donald M. Grant, 1996 Lyon Sprague de Camp, (November 27, 1907, New York City – November 6, 2000, Plano, Texas) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. ... This article is about a fantasy sub-genre. ... Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet. ... This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ...

Contents:

• "Introduction" (L. Sprague de Camp)
• "The Treasure of Tranicos" (Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp)
• "Wolves Beyond the Border" (Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp)
• "The Phoenix on the Sword" (Robert E. Howard)
• "The Scarlet Citadel" (Robert E. Howard)

The Phoenix on the Sword is one of the original stories by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian, first published in Weird Tales in 1932. ... The Scarlet Citadel is one of the original stories by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian, first published in Weird Tales in 1933. ...

Plot

Conan, about forty in these stories, embarks on the most desperate gamble of his life — leading a revolution against King Numedides of Aquilonia, with the end of making himself king in his place. From his low point as a treasure-seeking fugitive in the Pictish Wilderness, he is retrieved by allies from his days in the Aquilonian army to lead the revolt. The borderlands suffer grievously during the war, but in the end Conan takes the throne, only to suffer the customary uneasiness of the head that wears the crown, from an attempted assassination involving Stygian sorcerer Thoth-Amon to magical treachery on the battlefield as he strives to defend his hard-won kingship against predatory foreign powers. Thoth-amon is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard. ...

Chronologically, the four short stories collected as Conan the Usurper fall between Conan the Warrior and Conan the Conqueror. The Hour of the Dragon is one of the original stories by Robert E. Howard and his only full length novel about Conan the Cimmerian. ...

Trivia

The Aquilonian civil war between Conan and Numedides is not actually depicted, but occurs offstage as background to the action of "Wolves Beyond the Border", Howard's only non-Conan tale set in the Hyborian Age. De Camp later made the war itself the subject of his novel Conan the Liberator, co-written with Lin Carter. Conan the Liberator by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, Bantam Books, 1979 Conan the Liberator is a 1979 fantasy novel written by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter featuring Robert E. Howards seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. ... Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 - February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. ...

"The Phoenix on the Sword", which Howard rewrote from an earlier Kull story, marks his only use of Thoth-Amon as an antagonist, in a somewhat peripheral role — he and Conan never even meet! In later stories de Camp and Carter would later elevate the Stygian sorceror into one of Conan's principle enemies. A complete edition of Kulls stories from 1995 Kull of Atlantis or Kull the Conqueror is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard. ...

Howard later reused the plot of "The Scarlet Citadel" as the basis of his only Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon (afterwards retitled Conan the Conqueror).