Conan The Barbarian

When someone mentions Sword and Sorcery, what comes to mind is Conan the Barbarian, arguably the greatest representation of the genre. It’s true that the story of Conan has been more influential than any other genre work. Its been imitated time and time again, but never duplicated. Conan is a figure from pulp fiction that’s transcended into myth, impacting an entire generation of writers and even making a dent in Hollywood as well. Many know Conan from the films and movies, but if you haven’t actually read the source of Conan, Robert Howard's pulp fiction stories, than you’ve never encountered the real Conan. Conan, Howard’s hero, dominates the landscape much in the way the ancient heroes of the Iliad and Odyssey were masters of the Greek domain. Like the primal Greek heroes and gods, Conan is an indestructible force of nature, a pure hurricane gale that obliterates all obstacles. The raw Conan is a character shaped from myth, a figure who’s both a force of nature and a human being. The world of Conan is a landscape not unlike our own past, but it’s a world woven from a patchwork of imagination, history, and legend. Conan is the archetype for an enduring human myth, a raw, primal force of humanity and instant. Conan defines the essence of true Sword and Sorcery. Don't just limit yourself to the stories of Conan -- Howard wrote other non-Conan tales which are also considered Sword and Sorcery classics. Try Kull: Exile of Atlantis and The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane .