A company called wandering star released a hardcover cloth bound edition of the three volumes about 20 years ago, with the illustrations as colour plates. They are now extremely rare and expensive.
All those volumes are a pleasure to read. I’ve been known to curl up with one in sick days when depression is also strong, and just let the world go take care of itself for a while.
I absolutely love the Del Rey Editions. I encourage modern writers of sci fi, fantasy, horror and basic adventure to read Howard. His stories are just absolutely turbo charged roller coasters and writers can learn from this. Howard never forgot the audience. I also recommend Del Rey's collections of Michael Moorcock's Elric novels and stories. Very well done.
I’d love a collection of his westerns and boxing stories. I have most of these. What a great mind…. Such a great journey to escape too. A shame the movies never do justice to his work..
Great video, Michael! l had a "reader's block" recently, so l picked up some Solomon Kane and the block vanished! In story telling, Howard was a giant! Anyway, to be precise: Wandering Star was a British publisher, if l recall exactly it was a one-man enterprise, and it all started with the Solomon Kane volume. Today it's the rarest Wandering Star publication, it was expensive at the time, it's almost impossible today. Wandering Star volumes are true works of art! Great illustrations, signed editions and so on ... Wandering Star published the Solomon Kane volume, Bran Mak Morn and three others with all the Conan stories. Volumes of Kull, Horror stories and Selected Letters (!) and Best of were announced but never saw the light because, for reasons l know not, the owner gave up. The rights were then picked up by Subterranean Press which announced that they would complete the remaining volumes. After publishing Kull, the Horror Stories and Best of volume 1 they stopped too. Del Rey republished all the volumes in paperback with the same contents and black and white illustrations. I think that reason why there are two Best of volumes is that there was already a Best of volume 1 published by Subterranean, so Del Rey sort of "completed" what had been left behind. The remaining titles from Del Rey are original. One last thing: l think there are Del Rey hardbacks (possibly Book club editions) of Kane and Conan. Greetings.
I only have the Solomon Kane one, I should do something about that :) I can’t but all at once so I’ll have to choose 2-3. Thanks for the overview, kudos
started collecting the del ray editions after reading the complete cronicles of conan. both are great but if i had to pick one it would be the del ray editions
I stumbled upon this video and I am so glad I did. I was watching to see which volumes I was missing and was happy to find that I have all of them. Like you I would like to have other volumes that would be done in a similar presentation, especially the westerns.
One of my favorite set of books. Yes, It's long time for another set of REH books. I'd be nice if we finally got a complete set of everything he wrote. Did you ever get The Collected Poetry of REH? It's by Foundation Press. They put out three volumes. The editions I have were put out in 2022 and 2023. Since I'm on poetry here, I'll also mention The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works Of H.P. Lovecraft. This one is by Hippocampus Press. The one I have is a 2013 edition. Definitely worth looking up.
Thats a really nice set of books, been a long time since I've read any of Robert E Howard's work, another reason why I'm looking forward to Cimmerian September.
My favorite set of Robert E. Howard's work, by far. I, too, wish that it went a bit further to contain EVERYTHING. Love the illustrations, too. Being an illustrator myself, I get picky about the art. These artists are some of the best!
I really love Skull-Face/Kathulos and the similar Erlik Khan, Lord of the Dead. They're so pulpy. There was supposed to be a related tale with a lot of changes called "Teeth of Doom" that I have yet to read...but there's always more Howard; that's what's so great about him.
I had the Conans and the Kull back when they first came out but had to get rid of them due to some financial struggles. Glad to say I just went online and ordered all 11 tomes and will have them in my library on Monday. Thanks for reminding me how awesome this collection of books was.
I personally like the Lancer books, and I think Carter and de Camp wrote some really great stories, and if they hadn't given Conan the attention and TLC it needed, Ace/Lancer would've just found someone else. I'm glad they're the ones that were chosen, and while I wish it could've been done a different way, those books were also 50-60 years old at this point. They were dirt cheap when they were released, weren't exactly best-sellers, and probably sold more copies on account of Frank Frazetta than the stories themselves or the name recognition. I'm personally very grateful for Carter and de Camp, and I think they did their best and made the most out of a crappy situation. Plus they got to fulfill their childhood dreams, and I personally think some of their stories may be better Conan stories than what REH wrote. Blasphemous I know, but "The Thing in the Crypt" is a FANTASTIC story, and in my headcanon is the start of Conan adventures.
Good clip! I met Mr. Schultz and Mr. Manchess at Howard Days in Cross Plains. I met Anciano at Howard Days as well. He did Solomon Kane first because he was involved in getting a Solomon Kane MOVIE made, which eventually happened. That's how Wandering Star got started. According to two people who knew REH--Novalyne Price and Norris Chambers--Howard pronounced it 'CO-nun', NOT 'Co-NAN. That IS how Milius and Ahnuldt pronounced it, though.
I really like this set, the illustrations are great and it's nice to have the incomplete stories that de Camp and Carter developed. I don't know why but I especially appreciate the scholarship at the back of them, where every spelling and grammatical error Howard apparently made is detailed. It's unnecessary but it makes me think of him hammering his typewriter at a hundred miles and hour.
Your videos have been such a joke to go through while I begin my Robert E. Howard journey! So much knowledge, thank you for helping guide the way for my wallet.
Another good video. You're previous videos on the Del-Rey editions convinced me to buy the first Conan book. Now I need to buy the other two. You keep costing me money! ; -)
Thank you for this amazing channel. I've finally completed my Del Rey collection this week adding the missing books of Sword Woman, El Borak, and Grim Lands v2. Of course I had to grab the official Conan the Barbarian story of the film by John Walsh.
At the time these were coming out, Bison Books was releasing their own line that had a lot of his other fiction (e.g., historical, westerns, humor, etc.), so if you got both sets you were relatively well-covered for a lot of Howard's work.
A neat note on the El Borak Tim Bradstreet art- he used actor Thomas Jane as his model for El Borak. Bradstreet was the cover artist of The Punisher for years and he first worked with Jane, who played Frank Castle in the 2004 movie, on the movie’s posters.
You're right Michael, Lin Carter did finish some incomplete Kull tales. I find Carter's work here very good, he matched the mood of each story he worked on well and had an accurate feel for the characters, especially Kull himself. "The Black Stone" is for me Howard's best horror story which doesn't feature his S/S heroes like Conan and Bran Mac Morn. Your mention of "Almuric" reminds me to look for the issues I'm missing of Ironhand Of Almuric from Dark Horse Comics, an unofficial sequel. There's also an adaptation of the original novel in early issues of Marvel's Epic Illustrated magazine, written by Roy Thomas with art in a very Barry Windsor-Smith style by Tim Conrad.
I plan to get all of these Del Rey editions! You've always spoke so highly of them, how could I not? Especially since REH has become one of my favorite authors.
The Conan stories are complete, also the Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn. Unfortunately El Borak is incomplete. There are way more stories out there left unpublished by Del Rey, starting by his boxing stories / Steve Costigan, his pirate stories, his novels such as Almuric and Skull Face, his detective stories among others. Ok, most of them are minor stories and not too well developed but anyway. Theres a whole lot more published stuff in Spanish...editorials such as Barsoom and some others..
I've got the Conan and Solomon Kane collections, but I've also got several of the "Weird Works of Robert E. Howard" collections, so I don't feel the need to buy too many of the other collections. I would however like to read his Sword Woman stories one of these days, so I need to get that collection.
Excellent, I love those Del Ray versions even though the first ones I bought were the UK Sphere books, I think I picked up the occasional US Conan. Still love the King Kull volume though (along with the Solomon Kane). The Warrior Woman is my favourite. Great video as ever
Here in Brazil we have a 3 volume edition of Conan, wich contains all the 21 stories from REH. All in hardcover illustred by Frazetta. One of the best editions in the world, if not the best. By the publisher Pipoca e Nanquim.
Love these books! We need to talk more about El Borak,very underrated! Btw, check out the Renegade Swords collection, they have some Howard stuff in there as well.
I have never read a Howard cowboy story. A guy born in 1906, in central Texas, he vert likely knew some actual old school cowboys. I know he spent the last year of his life writing for the cowboy pulps. I would like to read some.
Have you ever done a video just showcasing what is on your bookshelf in the background? There are many books I do know, but I some I do not. Like what edition of John Carter, Dune, etc. Also, in older videos, I could swear you had a Star Trek book based on the symbol on the spine.
I’m so glad Del Rey picked up where Wandering Star left off collecting anthologies of stories with the same character. This series made collecting REH so much easier than trying to track down stories scattered throughout so many other story collections. After collecting these books, I was able to sell most of my paperbacks and only kept those with stories not occurring in the Del Rey books or a few non-Conan books with Ken Kelly covers.
The Del Reys are the gold standard of REH publishing. Only the RRH foundation press editions rival it perhaps not in quality but in content definitely.
One other thing I would like to say. (I know, I keep invading the comments.) For those people who want to participate in Cimmerian September, but don't feel that they would be able to read all ( or most, or even some) of the stories: these Del Rey editions are available as audiobooks (I'll let you figure out where, since UA-cam seems to not like mention of other places). Listen in the car, walking around, shopping, or working. The reader, Todd McLaren, is fantastic. You will believe he IS Conan.
Amazing set,and i kind a like it soft covers,i dont know,in my mind it's kind a more pulpy feelin' to it,i have also that giant of Conan chronicles but it's a trouble to be cumsy with that one
Great video, Michael! I just finished the last of these today (Best of REH Volume 2: Grim Lands). He is, without question, one of the greatest writers of all time and I'm very despondent that there aren't any more of these.
Hi Michael, I was wondering could you do a video on Conan, Soloman Kane, Sherlock Holmes etc showing what to read once you finished the original canon. So if I finished Robert E Howard's Conan or all the Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes so what next? Whats the good non-canon stuff to read or more importantly what to avoid(!) Maybe a cool topic to cover one day?
Such a great effort was put into compiling these Del Rey editions, so I was very disappointed when I recently went to "upgrade" my softcovers to hardcovers, only to find that the hardcovers are printed on cheaper paper than the paperbacks, have very thin paper boards, and the signatures are glued, not sewn. Worst of all, the cheap paper used in the hardcovers is *very* prone to toning/foxing. Every Del Rey Conan hardcover I've seen is foxed. My feeling is the Del Rey Conan hardcovers will not hold up as well as their acid-free softcover versions. And for the secondhand prices the hardcovers are going for, no way. Ultimately I've decided to keep my softcovers
Instead of "The Best of" (since lets be honest 80% of what most REH fans consider his best would have been included in the Conan, Kull, etc. vols.) They should have just titled a volume as "The Rare Stories of" and left out the reprints as again lets be honest most people that bought those books already had or would end up buying the bigger named books anyways.
That would make more sense to me - at least the "Best of" have the perk of alternate illustrations, but still limits it to the more earnest enthusiasts.
Somebody needs to make a list of every REH story and poem and put them into chronological order of when they take place -- i.e. Kull stories before Conan before Bran Mak Morn before Solomon Kane, etc. Certain tales would be listed twice, of course, like the crossover tale involving Kull being magically transported to Bran Mak Morn's era. I, for one, would like to see a thorough Chronology of the REH universe, where every story is placed in that chronological order -- perhaps with a bracketed date of when the story was actually written and/or published [thusly]. And leave out the pastiche fiction!
I have the Solomon Kane and Horror Stories volumes. I love them. Great books, lots of fun. I have to disagree on his best horror story. My personal favorites are 'Dig Me No Grave' and 'Pigeons From Hell'. The latter was adapted into a supreb episode of Thriller and was reprinted in The Horror Hall Of Fame collection.
I'm fairly hard-core as a Conan fan, but the other characters don't call to me as much. However, I would enjoy seeing a real Solomon Kane movie. The early 2000's movie was an origin story, not written by Howard.
Hey Mike, I’m going to be picking up this set, but have you looked into the books by the Robert E Howard Foundation? I see they have some nice collections like Steve Costigan and a lot of the Westerns. Wondering what your opinion is, thanks!
Wildside Press published quite a bit of Howard's boxing and western stories. Also a bit of his detective stories, of which Howard himself was not a fan.
Thank you, great piece! But about "Sowers of the Thunder"? I think it and others were left out of the Del-Ray series. Perhaps Rodger would like to hear you talk about the longer REH stories? We don't hear a lot about his longer stories and I am sure you could do it justice. I have the collectible edition with the Roy Krenkel illustrations.
That’s a good question because there are a lot of duplications. But then there are many stories that are not otherwise available in the other Del Rey editions. In a week or two I should have up a video that will show some other options for those stories.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Thats what I was wondering about, if the duplications made it not worth the purchase(s). I will wait to pull the trigger on these until you post the new video!
Better than the Berkley edition of the original stories in three (dammit, only three) volumes? I believe Karl Edward Wagner edited those. Okay, I'll bite.
The Gollancz set feature the stories as they were published in Weird Tales complete with any edits made by its editor Farnsworth Wright. The Del Rey's go back to Howard's typescripts where possible and also include first drafts of some stories
If you can't get the Del Rey versions, what would you suggest as a good alternative? It wouldn't have to be as extensive as these, as I'm new to Conan. Also, there's releases of Conan that include the editor's own fanfics? What?
We don't need a new collection. This is the top of Crom's mountain. As much as I decry pastiches and the Sprague de Camp collection, I must admit that I believe he did it out of love for the character and Howard, and it did keep Conan out there to attract new fans.
Have you noticed that the later Del Rey editions have decreased exponentially in quality? When I got the first pressings of the Conan books they were printed in thick, creamy paper and the printing itself was of good quality. The editions I've been purchasing lately (Kull, Bran mak Morn and the Horror stories) have been printed in cheap, ultra thin paper, and the illustrations seems to have been printed in a cheap computer printer. The paper is so thin that it is almost transparent and the reading therefore is difficult at some points. That is unnaceptable.
despite my best efforts and years of searching, i only have 10 of the 11. i STILL lack "sword woman", which is stil the most elusive book i have looked for in this set. o know i can easily buy a copy on ebay, etc, but i want to find one in a used bookstore. all the other titles - i see them from time to time. sword woman? nada...
I like the Black Stone but i always thought It was a bit too derivative to be his best horror story. I have always been partial to Pigeons from Hell for the title, even when, actually I don't really believe in best ofs as a principle... Of course, it is all subjective...
I really wanted the Wandering Star edition of Solomon Kane, but it’s way overpriced at this point. The other Wandering Star books are still obtainable, though at a collectible price still.
Excellent video as always! I'm always looking forward to the Robert E. Howard show. But you seem completely unaware of The Robert E. Howard Foundation and that they publish everything that is not in the Del Rey editions. A whole bunch of books are planned to be republished now that the first editions are almost gone.
I am well aware of the Robert E. Howard Foundation. They are a relatively small press and you never see their books in bookstores, at least I haven’t. I appreciate the work they have been doing but we really need Howard to be published again by a major publisher I think. I am glad to hear some of their earlier books are due to be reprinted.
![Conan Unchained - The Making Of Conan the Barbarian [HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jiQ9rUgQcXI/mqdefault.jpg)
Hard to express the joy I felt when those Del Rey editions were released. A complete hardcover release of Howard's work would be very welcome.
this set was also released in hard cover, and they are MUCH harder to tind and much more expensive than the soft covers.
11 volumes?! Gulp! I'd love these in hardback, same covers, but without dust covers.
A company called wandering star released a hardcover cloth bound edition of the three volumes about 20 years ago, with the illustrations as colour plates. They are now extremely rare and expensive.
All those volumes are a pleasure to read. I’ve been known to curl up with one in sick days when depression is also strong, and just let the world go take care of itself for a while.
I only own half of these.
I often thought of looking up to see if there were more volumes.
Wow.
I absolutely love the Del Rey Editions. I encourage modern writers of sci fi, fantasy, horror and basic adventure to read Howard. His stories are just absolutely turbo charged roller coasters and writers can learn from this. Howard never forgot the audience. I also recommend Del Rey's collections of Michael Moorcock's Elric novels and stories. Very well done.
Am simple man, see Robert Howard, click.
This couldn't have come at a better time.
I wish they would've released an edition of REH's poetry.
I have all the Del Rey Conans, Bran Mak Morn and The Horror Stories of REH. These editions are just beautiful
🎵 It’s the Robert E. Howard Shooow! 🎶 👋 ❤
I’d love a collection of his westerns and boxing stories. I have most of these. What a great mind…. Such a great journey to escape too. A shame the movies never do justice to his work..
It really is.
I glad got all my collection of all Robert E. Howard stories from Del Rey.
Just read my first REH yesterday (The Sword Woman) and loved it. Don't know why I underestimated his writing for so many years.
Great video, Michael! l had a "reader's block" recently, so l picked up some Solomon Kane and the block vanished! In story telling, Howard was a giant! Anyway, to be precise: Wandering Star was a British publisher, if l recall exactly it was a one-man enterprise, and it all started with the Solomon Kane volume. Today it's the rarest Wandering Star publication, it was expensive at the time, it's almost impossible today. Wandering Star volumes are true works of art! Great illustrations, signed editions and so on ... Wandering Star published the Solomon Kane volume, Bran Mak Morn and three others with all the Conan stories. Volumes of Kull, Horror stories and Selected Letters (!) and Best of were announced but never saw the light because, for reasons l know not, the owner gave up. The rights were then picked up by Subterranean Press which announced that they would complete the remaining volumes. After publishing Kull, the Horror Stories and Best of volume 1 they stopped too. Del Rey republished all the volumes in paperback with the same contents and black and white illustrations. I think that reason why there are two Best of volumes is that there was already a Best of volume 1 published by Subterranean, so Del Rey sort of "completed" what had been left behind. The remaining titles from Del Rey are original. One last thing: l think there are Del Rey hardbacks (possibly Book club editions) of Kane and Conan. Greetings.
I really wish I had gotten my hands on those Wandering Star Editions.
I only have the Solomon Kane one, I should do something about that :) I can’t but all at once so I’ll have to choose 2-3. Thanks for the overview, kudos
I managed to get all the Del-Ray editions and they have a top spot on my bookshelf. :D
We need a complete Breckinridge Elkins hardcover!
I have the entire collection. They are fantastic.
started collecting the del ray editions after reading the complete cronicles of conan. both are great but if i had to pick one it would be the del ray editions
Fantastic video, thank you. I just found the first Conan volume on eBay. I can’t wait to start my journey into Robert E. Howard’s work!
I have these editions, too. These will be the editions of Conan I'll be reading.
I stumbled upon this video and I am so glad I did. I was watching to see which volumes I was missing and was happy to find that I have all of them. Like you I would like to have other volumes that would be done in a similar presentation, especially the westerns.
One of my favorite set of books. Yes, It's long time for another set of REH books. I'd be nice if we finally got a complete set of everything he wrote. Did you ever get The Collected Poetry of REH? It's by Foundation Press. They put out three volumes. The editions I have were put out in 2022 and 2023. Since I'm on poetry here, I'll also mention The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works Of H.P. Lovecraft. This one is by Hippocampus Press. The one I have is a 2013 edition. Definitely worth looking up.
Based. Howard is the writer who made me fall in love with poetry.
Thats a really nice set of books, been a long time since I've read any of Robert E Howard's work, another reason why I'm looking forward to Cimmerian September.
Illustrations are great.
I just bought the 1st book in the series. Excited to revisit these stories. I had read the ones with the Frazetta covers years ago.
My favorite set of Robert E. Howard's work, by far. I, too, wish that it went a bit further to contain EVERYTHING. Love the illustrations, too. Being an illustrator myself, I get picky about the art. These artists are some of the best!
I really love Skull-Face/Kathulos and the similar Erlik Khan, Lord of the Dead. They're so pulpy. There was supposed to be a related tale with a lot of changes called "Teeth of Doom" that I have yet to read...but there's always more Howard; that's what's so great about him.
I had the Conans and the Kull back when they first came out but had to get rid of them due to some financial struggles. Glad to say I just went online and ordered all 11 tomes and will have them in my library on Monday. Thanks for reminding me how awesome this collection of books was.
Great overview of fantastic books - I absolutely love that set even though I like to go slumming in Lancer-land
I personally like the Lancer books, and I think Carter and de Camp wrote some really great stories, and if they hadn't given Conan the attention and TLC it needed, Ace/Lancer would've just found someone else. I'm glad they're the ones that were chosen, and while I wish it could've been done a different way, those books were also 50-60 years old at this point. They were dirt cheap when they were released, weren't exactly best-sellers, and probably sold more copies on account of Frank Frazetta than the stories themselves or the name recognition.
I'm personally very grateful for Carter and de Camp, and I think they did their best and made the most out of a crappy situation. Plus they got to fulfill their childhood dreams, and I personally think some of their stories may be better Conan stories than what REH wrote. Blasphemous I know, but "The Thing in the Crypt" is a FANTASTIC story, and in my headcanon is the start of Conan adventures.
Good clip!
I met Mr. Schultz and Mr. Manchess at Howard Days in Cross Plains.
I met Anciano at Howard Days as well. He did Solomon Kane first because he was involved in getting a Solomon Kane MOVIE made, which eventually happened. That's how Wandering Star got started.
According to two people who knew REH--Novalyne Price and Norris Chambers--Howard pronounced it 'CO-nun', NOT 'Co-NAN. That IS how Milius and Ahnuldt pronounced it, though.
I really like this set, the illustrations are great and it's nice to have the incomplete stories that de Camp and Carter developed.
I don't know why but I especially appreciate the scholarship at the back of them, where every spelling and grammatical error Howard apparently made is detailed. It's unnecessary but it makes me think of him hammering his typewriter at a hundred miles and hour.
Best reh books there is wish they'd done a Western , sea, poems , sport and early collection
Me too.
Thanks so much for turning me on to this set of books! I am now in the process of collecting them all! Please keep the great videos coming!
I’ll do my best.
Great wrap up. I wish they'd bring out a volume of his Elkins stories too. I got the Conan volume 2 for the September event.
Your videos have been such a joke to go through while I begin my Robert E. Howard journey! So much knowledge, thank you for helping guide the way for my wallet.
Another good video. You're previous videos on the Del-Rey editions convinced me to buy the first Conan book. Now I need to buy the other two. You keep costing me money! ; -)
I've read all of Conan by REH-but not the Del Rey editions. I am SO looking forward to delving into them.
Thankfully they are still cheap and easily available
The John Buscema comic magazine was usually at the local convenience store in the 80s and early 90s
Yeah, I got mine at the 7-11.
By Crom what a great video! I haven't read a lot of Conan and I was recently thinking about getting some of these. Enormously helpful, thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Shame they never got around to his Sailor Steve Costigan stories.
There is a new conan book by titan is a new Comic book series with plenty of variant covers of course
There is a new book coming out this fall "City of the Dead" I think it's going to be called as well.
Thank you for this amazing channel. I've finally completed my Del Rey collection this week adding the missing books of Sword Woman, El Borak, and Grim Lands v2. Of course I had to grab the official Conan the Barbarian story of the film by John Walsh.
At the time these were coming out, Bison Books was releasing their own line that had a lot of his other fiction (e.g., historical, westerns, humor, etc.), so if you got both sets you were relatively well-covered for a lot of Howard's work.
That’s right!
ive collected all the Wandering Star ones, aswell as the 3 from Subterranean Press (Kull, Horror Stories, Best Of Vol 1)
Wonderful discussion!
A neat note on the El Borak Tim Bradstreet art- he used actor Thomas Jane as his model for El Borak. Bradstreet was the cover artist of The Punisher for years and he first worked with Jane, who played Frank Castle in the 2004 movie, on the movie’s posters.
You're right Michael, Lin Carter did finish some incomplete Kull tales. I find Carter's work here very good, he matched the mood of each story he worked on well and had an accurate feel for the characters, especially Kull himself.
"The Black Stone" is for me Howard's best horror story which doesn't feature his S/S heroes like Conan and Bran Mac Morn.
Your mention of "Almuric" reminds me to look for the issues I'm missing of Ironhand Of Almuric from Dark Horse Comics, an unofficial sequel. There's also an adaptation of the original novel in early issues of Marvel's Epic Illustrated magazine, written by Roy Thomas with art in a very Barry Windsor-Smith style by Tim Conrad.
Thanks for the well timed video
I plan to get all of these Del Rey editions! You've always spoke so highly of them, how could I not? Especially since REH has become one of my favorite authors.
The Conan stories are complete, also the Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn. Unfortunately El Borak is incomplete. There are way more stories out there left unpublished by Del Rey, starting by his boxing stories / Steve Costigan, his pirate stories, his novels such as Almuric and Skull Face, his detective stories among others. Ok, most of them are minor stories and not too well developed but anyway. Theres a whole lot more published stuff in Spanish...editorials such as Barsoom and some others..
I've got the Conan and Solomon Kane collections, but I've also got several of the "Weird Works of Robert E. Howard" collections, so I don't feel the need to buy too many of the other collections. I would however like to read his Sword Woman stories one of these days, so I need to get that collection.
Excellent, I love those Del Ray versions even though the first ones I bought were the UK Sphere books, I think I picked up the occasional US Conan. Still love the King Kull volume though (along with the Solomon Kane). The Warrior Woman is my favourite. Great video as ever
Here in Brazil we have a 3 volume edition of Conan, wich contains all the 21 stories from REH. All in hardcover illustred by Frazetta. One of the best editions in the world, if not the best. By the publisher Pipoca e Nanquim.
Love these books!
We need to talk more about El Borak,very underrated!
Btw, check out the Renegade Swords collection, they have some Howard stuff in there as well.
I have the ebook of that. I need to read it.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Do it, they are really cool :)
Great video, I really want to pick up a copy of the Solomon Kane book. omg that mummy is too creepy though!
Robert E Howard Conan stuff I always love❤😊
Im looking at buying them literally today what timing thank you Michael
I have never read a Howard cowboy story. A guy born in 1906, in central Texas, he vert likely knew some actual old school cowboys. I know he spent the last year of his life writing for the cowboy pulps. I would like to read some.
"By Crom! Robert E Howard is the best.
I got the second best set of Conan.... so you can flex your muscles now!!
Have you ever done a video just showcasing what is on your bookshelf in the background? There are many books I do know, but I some I do not. Like what edition of John Carter, Dune, etc. Also, in older videos, I could swear you had a Star Trek book based on the symbol on the spine.
I would like to get the Del Rey Sword Woman book...I have the Conans and the Kull. Solomon Kane I also need. Great show!
I’m so glad Del Rey picked up where Wandering Star left off collecting anthologies of stories with the same character. This series made collecting REH so much easier than trying to track down stories scattered throughout so many other story collections. After collecting these books, I was able to sell most of my paperbacks and only kept those with stories not occurring in the Del Rey books or a few non-Conan books with Ken Kelly covers.
REH only lived to 30 and you see his writing input. Can you imagine if he had lived to 70 or 80 what it would have been? Damn shame.😮😮😮
It really is.
The Del Reys are the gold standard of REH publishing. Only the RRH foundation press editions rival it perhaps not in quality but in content definitely.
Wish we would get a book about his weaterns. I havent seen any books that includes his weaterns.
One other thing I would like to say. (I know, I keep invading the comments.) For those people who want to participate in Cimmerian September, but don't feel that they would be able to read all ( or most, or even some) of the stories: these Del Rey editions are available as audiobooks (I'll let you figure out where, since UA-cam seems to not like mention of other places). Listen in the car, walking around, shopping, or working. The reader, Todd McLaren, is fantastic. You will believe he IS Conan.
I’m really glad to hear that the audiobooks are so well done. That would be a great option for some people in September.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Also, they are unabridged, so you get all the extras.
Dude, intro is SIIIIIICK!
Amazing set,and i kind a like it soft covers,i dont know,in my mind it's kind a more pulpy feelin' to it,i have also that giant of Conan chronicles but it's a trouble to be cumsy with that one
I question Robert Howard's sobriety when coming up with Conan. To come up with something that brilliant must of required help
I really love Pigeons from Hell for REH best horror story
Absolutely agree.
Great video, Michael! I just finished the last of these today (Best of REH Volume 2: Grim Lands). He is, without question, one of the greatest writers of all time and I'm very despondent that there aren't any more of these.
Is there no Cormac Mac Art, or is it in one of the other books? 🤷🏻♂️
Hi Michael, I was wondering could you do a video on Conan, Soloman Kane, Sherlock Holmes etc showing what to read once you finished the original canon.
So if I finished Robert E Howard's Conan or all the Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes so what next? Whats the good non-canon stuff to read or more importantly what to avoid(!)
Maybe a cool topic to cover one day?
That’s a good idea.
Such a great effort was put into compiling these Del Rey editions, so I was very disappointed when I recently went to "upgrade" my softcovers to hardcovers, only to find that the hardcovers are printed on cheaper paper than the paperbacks, have very thin paper boards, and the signatures are glued, not sewn. Worst of all, the cheap paper used in the hardcovers is *very* prone to toning/foxing. Every Del Rey Conan hardcover I've seen is foxed. My feeling is the Del Rey Conan hardcovers will not hold up as well as their acid-free softcover versions. And for the secondhand prices the hardcovers are going for, no way.
Ultimately I've decided to keep my softcovers
Instead of "The Best of" (since lets be honest 80% of what most REH fans consider his best would have been included in the Conan, Kull, etc. vols.) They should have just titled a volume as "The Rare Stories of" and left out the reprints as again lets be honest most people that bought those books already had or would end up buying the bigger named books anyways.
That would make more sense to me - at least the "Best of" have the perk of alternate illustrations, but still limits it to the more earnest enthusiasts.
Somebody needs to make a list of every REH story and poem and put them into chronological order of when they take place -- i.e. Kull stories before Conan before Bran Mak Morn before Solomon Kane, etc. Certain tales would be listed twice, of course, like the crossover tale involving Kull being magically transported to Bran Mak Morn's era. I, for one, would like to see a thorough Chronology of the REH universe, where every story is placed in that chronological order -- perhaps with a bracketed date of when the story was actually written and/or published [thusly]. And leave out the pastiche fiction!
I have the Solomon Kane and Horror Stories volumes. I love them. Great books, lots of fun.
I have to disagree on his best horror story. My personal favorites are 'Dig Me No Grave' and 'Pigeons From Hell'. The latter was adapted into a supreb episode of Thriller and was reprinted in The Horror Hall Of Fame collection.
Pigeons From Hell is pretty great.
I'm fairly hard-core as a Conan fan, but the other characters don't call to me as much. However, I would enjoy seeing a real Solomon Kane movie. The early 2000's movie was an origin story, not written by Howard.
Hey Mike, I’m going to be picking up this set, but have you looked into the books by the Robert E Howard Foundation? I see they have some nice collections like Steve Costigan and a lot of the Westerns. Wondering what your opinion is, thanks!
Whats the difference between the fantasy masterwork editions and the Del rey editions?
Wildside Press published quite a bit of Howard's boxing and western stories. Also a bit of his detective stories, of which Howard himself was not a fan.
Thank you, great piece! But about "Sowers of the Thunder"? I think it and others were left out of the Del-Ray series. Perhaps Rodger would like to hear you talk about the longer REH stories? We don't hear a lot about his longer stories and I am sure you could do it justice. I have the collectible edition with the Roy Krenkel illustrations.
Sowers of Thunder is in the Sword Woman volume.
BIG thanks for the correction!@@michaelk.vaughan8617
Hi Michael. Huge fan of your channel. Question - is it worth it to buy the two “best of” editions if I have all of the others? Thanks.
That’s a good question because there are a lot of duplications. But then there are many stories that are not otherwise available in the other Del Rey editions. In a week or two I should have up a video that will show some other options for those stories.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Thats what I was wondering about, if the duplications made it not worth the purchase(s). I will wait to pull the trigger on these until you post the new video!
Are these Conan books still available? at decent prices?
Yes.
Better than the Berkley edition of the original stories in three (dammit, only three) volumes? I believe Karl Edward Wagner edited those. Okay, I'll bite.
So how does The Complete Chronicles Of Conan from Gollancz stack up against Del Rey? Enjoyed the video, thanks.
The Gollancz set feature the stories as they were published in Weird Tales complete with any edits made by its editor Farnsworth Wright. The Del Rey's go back to Howard's typescripts where possible and also include first drafts of some stories
Yeah, thanks penstroke!
If you can't get the Del Rey versions, what would you suggest as a good alternative? It wouldn't have to be as extensive as these, as I'm new to Conan.
Also, there's releases of Conan that include the editor's own fanfics? What?
i am curious about his poetry, is there any volume containing his poems?
We don't need a new collection. This is the top of Crom's mountain.
As much as I decry pastiches and the Sprague de Camp collection, I must admit that I believe he did it out of love for the character and Howard, and it did keep Conan out there to attract new fans.
Have you noticed that the later Del Rey editions have decreased exponentially in quality? When I got the first pressings of the Conan books they were printed in thick, creamy paper and the printing itself was of good quality. The editions I've been purchasing lately (Kull, Bran mak Morn and the Horror stories) have been printed in cheap, ultra thin paper, and the illustrations seems to have been printed in a cheap computer printer. The paper is so thin that it is almost transparent and the reading therefore is difficult at some points. That is unnaceptable.
I have the first printing of all the Del Reys so I was unaware of any drop off in reprint quality. That’s certainly unfortunate.
need to get me these i have the solomon kane one,i need to get the conan ones my barnes and nobles has at least two of the three
despite my best efforts and years of searching, i only have 10 of the 11. i STILL lack "sword woman", which is stil the most elusive book i have looked for in this set. o know i can easily buy a copy on ebay, etc, but i want to find one in a used bookstore. all the other titles - i see them from time to time. sword woman? nada...
I like the Black Stone but i always thought It was a bit too derivative to be his best horror story. I have always been partial to Pigeons from Hell for the title, even when, actually I don't really believe in best ofs as a principle... Of course, it is all subjective...
Do the best of volumes contain much duplication of stories that are in the single character volumes?
Yes, they do.
Which series do you recommend for a beginner to Robert E. Howard?
Conan. Then I would go to Kull, Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Thank you!
Had REH not succombed to deoression he would have died a millionaire.
What’s deoression?
I really wanted the Wandering Star edition of Solomon Kane, but it’s way overpriced at this point. The other Wandering Star books are still obtainable, though at a collectible price still.
Someone please tell me where is that intro from?
I made it.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Wow that’s amazing. I Love it.
Excellent video as always! I'm always looking forward to the Robert E. Howard show. But you seem completely unaware of The Robert E. Howard Foundation and that they publish everything that is not in the Del Rey editions. A whole bunch of books are planned to be republished now that the first editions are almost gone.
I am well aware of the Robert E. Howard Foundation. They are a relatively small press and you never see their books in bookstores, at least I haven’t. I appreciate the work they have been doing but we really need Howard to be published again by a major publisher I think.
I am glad to hear some of their earlier books are due to be reprinted.