New CONAN /HYBORIAN Novels published by Mongoose?

[Buxom Sorceress]

regarding more new 'hyborian /Conan' novels..
ace are making a right sloppy mess with their age of conan trilogies. i think the editors at ace haven't got a clue about what 'good S+S with some integrity' really is?

so MONGOOSE [who have done a good job with their conan licence] should be asking cpi for a licence to produce a series of novels based in hyboria. hopefully then they could employ Vincent Darlage + John Hocking [+ other experienced conan fans + rpg scenario writers?] to write some quality exciting new novels? 8)

Warhammer rpg + ofcourse D+D have very productive ranges of novels that are closely tied into their rpg universes. the warhammer range are the best quality series based on an S+S rpg that i have ever read.

have Mongoose considered this? [ after the poor kern + the appalling anok book 3 the ace contract could be vulnerable now?]
so what do u think guys?

 

[The King]

If new pastiches on Conan were to be written I would prefer short stories (as Howard did write them) than the usual mercantile 200+ pages novels.

 

[Strom]

I voted 'both' because I would really like some new Conan pastiche if done right while I see Hyboria as a character as exciting as Conan and I would like to see more novels exploring Conan's world as well. 8)

 

[René]

Short stories set in Hyboria, but NOT featuring CONAN. I can't see so much free space in his life to fill with even more heroic deeds (71 books up to now).

And, please, no trilogies! Some authors seem to think that writing trilogies maybe makes them new Tolkiens, but only few authors have enough to say to fill three books - just look at the Kern trilogy which could pressed in 2 or even 1 volume (if "pressing" is the right word for deleting totally unnecessary fillers).

 

[Mythos]

I voted for both.
I'd like to see some new stories with Conan. However, any Conan stories that would come up in the future should be short stories. Conan has never fared well in novel length format. Only Howard ever wrote a proper Conan novel and it should be left at that. The need to pad the page count for a novel means that Conan tends to get left out of much of the action and the focus tends to center around secondary characters and needless pages of filler.
In short stories the focus can center around either Conan or the important secondary characters. Howard himself wrote a few Conan stories where the title character only makes limited appearances. Proving that such stories can be made to work. But, when Conan does show up he dominates the story. This is the way it should be.

Any novels done should be about new characters. The current attempt by CPI to due trilogies with characters started flawed. The books had to have a tie in with the new computer/on-line Conan game. This created limits which the authors had to work into their stories. In addition, while parts of the two series were good, I belive that any new authors should be required to qat least be familiar with the settings that Howard created. Yes, they can expand on material that REH provided, but I'm getting tired of seeing direct contradictions. The greatest offender being the Turtledove attempt at providing insight about Conan's early life.

Another area that is left for any future writer, and not mentioned in the choices above, is stories taking place in the Hyborian world before the arrival of Conan. Howard explained the development of his world in his Hyborian Age essay. Combine that with some of the historical material presented in "Hour of the Dragon", and we have thousands of years of history that have never been put on to paper. Think of the stories that could be told!
Tales of the early Hyborians expanding into new lands. The rise of the Stygians and Acheron Empire. The degeneration of the Hyperborian people. All these take place long before the birth of Conan and, imo, would make excellent material for both short stories and novels.

 

[geordiekimbo]

I voted for both.

I'd like to see some tie in stories (short stories if necessary), that let those players of Conan who are new to the world an idea how to play various character classes, and more importantly cultures. A Conan101 as it were, which would also be of use for those familiar with R.E.H's work et.al.

 

[The King]

Short stories set in Hyboria, but NOT featuring CONAN. I can't see so much free space in his life to fill with even more heroic deeds (71 books up to now).)

Though these stories are official because approved (at least licenced) by Conan Properties, many of them are very worthy of the line. That's why I woulnd't mind some short stories.

 

[Deathdealer]

No more trilogies!