Conan History Questions

The Warlord

Mongoose
All right fellas, being somewhat new to REH's other works, I'm trying to figure out where Bran Mak Morn and Red Sonja fit in. I understand that Kull was an atlantean ancestor to Conan, but are BMM and RS somewhere else on the timeline? Is there even a connection?

Also, I've read somewhere that BMM is the king of the Picts. Are these more 'historical' picts, or REH's picts?

Thanks, all!
 
I haven't read a great deal of Howard's stories, but:

I believe Bran Mak was from the Roman era. The story "Worms of the Earth" involves his revenge against a Roman govenor.

http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/robertehoward/branmakmorn1.html

Red Sonja was Hyrkanian, but I don't know much about her.

Here's one site that mentions her:

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=sonja&sp-a=sp1001f755&sp-f=iso-8859-1

She seems to be contmeporary to Conan, but IIRC Howard's stories with her were not really Hyborian. Comic authors transplanted her into Hyboria.

Hope all that helps.
 
Red Sonja is an Hyrkanian and is found in 6 pastiche novels by David C. Smith & Richard L. Tierney.
I think Howard's Red Sonja was a character from the Middle-Age and can be found in the recent published book by Wildside Press : Gates of Empire.

Kull was an Atlantean that lived in the Thurian Age some 8,000 to 9,000 years before Conan. As Conan he became king in a foreign kingdom and it was he who eradicated the serpent men.
 
According to the intro to the first Red Sonja novel , her first appearance was in a story by REH called " The Shadow of the Vulture " set in 16th century Vienna . Roy Thomas adapted the character ( changed to a Hyrkanian warrior woman ) for issue 23 of the Conan comic . Richard Tierney and David C. Smith then wrote a set of 6 novels about her ( the Hyborian age version ) - good luck finding all of these for a reasonable price , although Amazon carry a few .
Bran Mak Morn is a Pict warlord during the Roman occupation of Britain , the Picts being a little more like the historical version , but still with a Howard touch ( though he admits himself in the intro he was willing to sacrifice historical accuracy for the stories ) . These definitely tie in with the conan / Kull mythos - read " Kings of the Night " where Kull is summoned forward in time to help the Picts ! In fact read all of them , I think the Bran stories are some of the best stuff Howard ever wrote.
Hope this helps.
 
Red Sonja , the comic version , appeared in quite a number of series' over the years from Marvel as well as one issue from Cross Plains Comics .

Although Dark Horse arn't using her in the new Conan comic she can be found in their Chronicles reprints of the old Marvel Conan the Barbarian comic.

Terry

Join The Robert E Howard Comics Group
Check out : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheREHcomicsgroup/
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane OUT NOW !
 
cornelius said:
According to the intro to the first Red Sonja novel , her first appearance was in a story by REH called " The Shadow of the Vulture " set in 16th century Vienna . Roy Thomas adapted the character ( changed to a Hyrkanian warrior woman ) for issue 23 of the Conan comic . Richard Tierney and David C. Smith then wrote a set of 6 novels about her ( the Hyborian age version ) - good luck finding all of these for a reasonable price , although Amazon carry a few .
I suggest you try www.abebook.com, section "used books", or http://www.whsmith.co.uk, section book, section out of print (they have a lot of booksellers and work with abebook.co.uk).
I found the entire lot there in excellent shape for a very reasonable price ($30 or $40). There you also can find a lot of ancient Howard books (I suggest you there a pocket edition : Baen Book).

These site are very useful as you can decide in your search the location of the booksellers.

cornelius said:
Bran Mak Morn is a Pict warlord during the Roman occupation of Britain , the Picts being a little more like the historical version , but still with a Howard touch ( though he admits himself in the intro he was willing to sacrifice historical accuracy for the stories ) . These definitely tie in with the conan / Kull mythos - read " Kings of the Night " where Kull is summoned forward in time to help the Picts ! In fact read all of them , I think the Bran stories are some of the best stuff Howard ever wrote.
In the same Roman setting, there is also Cormac Mac Art, a Irish man sailing with Danish pirates (Vikings) raiding the Eastern British shores. There are also Picts who are described like those of the Hyborian Age.
 
Thanks for the tips , I've been able to pick up most of them for about £5 each , but the cheapest I've seen #4 is about £45 and much as I'd love to own the whole set this seems a bit steep for a twenty year old paperback .
I second the vote for the Baen editions , these are how I managed to get the Kull , Cormac and Bran stories but I haven't got to Cormac yet ( still working through the Conan pastiches ) .
Thanks again , I'm always looking for more 2nd hand booksellers .
 
cornelius said:
Thanks for the tips , I've been able to pick up most of them for about £5 each , but the cheapest I've seen #4 is about £45 and much as I'd love to own the whole set this seems a bit steep for a twenty year old paperback .
This is what is called collector books, hence the price. Look for "The Bookworm" (Hamilton, ON, Canada); they sell the whole lot for 20 £.
Canada booksellers are generally excellent as they sell per lot (not only one or 2 books but the entire cycle). I also bought there the Cycle of Thongor from Lin Carter.

Moreover, I also strongly suggest 2 anthologies: The spell of Conan and the Blade of Conan with texts from Poul Anderson, Fritz Leiber, Marion Zmimer Bradley and many more (so-called members of the Hyborian Legion).
There you'll find, among other things, an excellent essay by L. Sprague de Camp on Hyborian Technology, as well another essay by John Boardman on Ocean trade in the Hyborian Age.

Then another 2nd hand bookseller (in UK): www.paperbackshop.co.uk

Pleased to help you.
 
Cheers , found a copy for about £1.80 - hell of a discount ! I'd forgotten Thongor , I only need one of those to complete the set , better go and look for that . I'll have to pick up the books with the essays in - I'm a real geek for that sort of thing , BTW have you read The Howard Collector ? There's a couple of interesting essays in there and a good lexicon of Hyborian names ( people , places etc. - good for at a glance reference when writing scenarios / running the game ) .
 
cornelius said:
BTW have you read The Howard Collector ? There's a couple of interesting essays in there and a good lexicon of Hyborian names ( people , places etc. - good for at a glance reference when writing scenarios / running the game ) .
No I haven't this one, though I have the lexicon of Hyborian names (by de Camp isn't it?). But I will seek it as soon as I advance in my reading of Conan pastiches (I bought all the reprints from Tor book but I lack sometimes the sheer will to go further as many are badly written to stay polite) and recently ordered the excellent (that's what I was told) Imaro trilogy from Charles Saunders. It is about sword & sorcery in an African setting.
 
If you can get them (the Imaro books by Saunders) you'll be very pleased. Excellent reads, lots of good ideas for games (some of the magik is just CREEPY) and tons of fun. Imaro himself? A match for Conan any day of the week...good luck!
 
cornelius said:
According to the intro to the first Red Sonja novel , her first appearance was in a story by REH called " The Shadow of the Vulture " set in 16th century Vienna . Roy Thomas adapted the character ( changed to a Hyrkanian warrior woman ) for issue 23 of the Conan comic . Richard Tierney and David C. Smith then wrote a set of 6 novels about her ( the Hyborian age version ) - good luck finding all of these for a reasonable price , although Amazon carry a few .
Bran Mak Morn is a Pict warlord during the Roman occupation of Britain , the Picts being a little more like the historical version , but still with a Howard touch ( though he admits himself in the intro he was willing to sacrifice historical accuracy for the stories ) . These definitely tie in with the conan / Kull mythos - read " Kings of the Night " where Kull is summoned forward in time to help the Picts ! In fact read all of them , I think the Bran stories are some of the best stuff Howard ever wrote.
Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for the recomendation. I went to a used book store and bought Worms of the Earth and let me tell you "THIS STUFF IS AWESOME!!"
I mean, I picked up the book and sat in my car outside the book store and didnt leave the parking lot for like 3 hours or so.
The book was like alot of other Howard books. IE many short stories.
Dark, gloomy...
Are there any other REH books with him in it?
How do Conans picts realate to Bran's picts?

Thanks for the responses
 
I'm not sure what's in " Worms of the Earth " , I picked up the Baen edition of " Bran Mak Morn " which contains the following :
Author's Foreword
The Lost Race
Men of the Shadows
Kings of the Night
A Song of the Race
Worms of the Earth
Fragment
The Dark Man
The Gods of Bal Sagoth
The Lost Race and the last three stories don't feature Bran as a main character , But are still related stories . The Introduction is by REH and gives his explanation of how he developed the Picts and Men of the Shadows gives a history of the Picts and how they fit in with the rest of the Howard timeline .
From what I've gathered from The Hyborian Age the British Isles are the highest mountains of Cimmeria , all that was left after it was flooded by the sea and the British Picts are descended from Conan era Pict invaders .
 
FYI the Wandering Star book , due out next year from Del Rey , contains

The stories:

Men of Shadows
Kings of the Night
Worms of the Earth
The Dark Man
The Lost Race
Fragments* and
Bran Mak Morn: A Play

The poems:

Song of the Race
Drums of Pictdom
and the previously unpublished,
The Bell of Morni

And Howard's contemporary stories of the Picts:

Children of the Night
and the rare, The Little People

PLUS, Rare scans of two of Howard's original manuscripts!!

Bran Mak Morn: A Play (in Howard's own handwriting)
The Little People (typescript with handwritten notes)

* A note on the text: Unfortunately, we have been forced to use the version of the "untitled synopsis" originally published in Cromlech 3, as we have been unable to obtain a copy of the original manuscript. All other texts, however, have been taken from either their original appearance in print or from Howard's original manuscripts with the utmost care.



Terry

Join The Robert E Howard Comics Group
Check out : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheREHcomicsgroup/
THE BLOODY CROWN OF CONAN OUT 23RD NOVEMBER
 
Children of the Night and the rare, The Little People
Does anyone know where I could order either of these stories?
Also, cornelius, the book I have has all the stories that yours has except The Gods of Bal Sagoth.
You said that Fragment did not feature Bran, but I think you may be wrong. If you read the story, all 4 pages, you will see that the character very closely matches Bran.
Great stuff. Its a shame REH didn't write more.
Bless his soul!
 
If you check the Howardworks site http://howardworks.iwarp.com/howard.htm it gives details of where all the stories have been published in the past . The Del Rey Bran book is out next summer.

Terry

Join The Robert E Howard Comics Group
Check out : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheREHcomicsgroup/
THE BLOODY CROWN OF CONAN OUT 23RD NOVEMBER
 
Cheers , I might have to pick that up . I got the Del Rey Solomon Kane book and was very impressed - they included quite a bit of extra stuff / alternate versions etc. If the Bran volume is anything like this it should be a treat .
 
Guzberg , you're right . The character does seem to be Bran , but since he's not explicitely named I thought I'd point it out . Just me nitpicking !
 
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