Conan - Conan the Wanderer

Conan the Wanderer was first published by Lancer Books in 1968. The painted cover was created by John Duillo, who also created the cover for Conan of the Isles (bearded Conan!) and Conan the Freebooter (Conan is Tarzan!). The later Ace edition of the novel features a superior cover painted by Boris Vallejo. 

This collection is an odd one, featuring just four stories, one being the novella “The Flame Knife”, written by L. Sprague de Camp from a Robert E. Howard manuscript. It features two sole REH stories, “The Devil in Iron” and “Shadows in Zamboula”. The other story, “Black Tears”, is an original authored by both L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. 

The typical introduction by L. Sprague de Camp features the obligatory map and a history of the stories involved. He makes note that “The Flame Knife” was originally a 42,000-word novella of adventure in Afghanistan titled “Three-Bladed Doom”. The story failed to sell, so Howard shortened it to 24,000 words to no avail. de Camp also provides examples of heroic fantasy, citing works like Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Fletcher Pratt's The Well of the Unicorn, and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. The introduction concludes with a brief bio of the Conan character.

“Black Tears” is the first story in the collection (full review HERE). This is penned by de Camp and Carter, and later was adapted by Roy Thomas and Ernie Chan for The Savage Sword of Conan #38. Additionally, the story is included in the Orbit Books omnibus The Conan Chronicles 2. “Black Tears” picks up after the events in “A Witch Shall Be Born”. Conan is the chief of the Zaugir, an outlaw band of Kozak horsemen. In a setup, a blood brother of the former Zuagir leader sells Conan out to the rival Turanians, who ambush the group. After the battle, Conan is drugged by the Zuagir and left to die in the desert. He eventually finds a city called Akhlat the Accursed. There's an old prophecy that a man will come to town and liberate the city from a vampiric force. 

Parts of this story reminded me of Robert E. Howard's “The Scarlet Citadel”, especially the inevitable boss fight in the city's underground tunnels. The stone statue part of the story was reminiscent of “Shadows in the Moonlight”, with a little bit of “Red Nails” thrown in with the inner-city stuff. I really enjoyed the story and found it to be a perfect companion to “A Witch Shall Be Born”. The descriptions of mountains, tunnels, and the “beast” were executed very well. I know some Conan fans really don't like Carter or de Camp's pastiche style, but as I've stated in numerous reviews, I find their work to be mostly enjoyable.  

Howard's “Shadows in Zamboula” is next (full review HERE). This was originally published by Weird Tales in November 1935 as “The Man-Eaters of Zamboula”. The story was later republished in the Gnome Press collection Conan the Barbarian. It was adapted into comics for Savage Sword of Conan #14. It is a simple formula with Conan investigating a town's mystery, this one being a mysterious inn owned by a man named Aram Baksh. Conan voluntarily checks in at the inn and discovers the secret of the old inn – the guests are on the menu for flesh-eating cannibals! Howard's writing is rich on atmosphere, violence, and Lovecraftish imagery. The theme of Conan accepting a challenge always includes a twist, and this one was no different. This was a fantastic story.

Next is another of Howard's stories, “The Devil in Iron” (reviewed HERE). This first appeared in the August 1934 issue of Weird Tales and was adapted to comics for the October 1976 issue of The Savage Sword of Conan. Like many of these Conan stories, this one features a setup as Conan is lured to an abandoned island by Turan's king. The bait is a young woman, the trap is a giant! Along with the monster and the maiden is a raiding party led by the king's henchman, Agha. The giant's colossal nature and threat didn't affect me much, and the overall adventure left something to be desired. I didn't care for this story that much.

"The Flame Knife" finishes the collection (full review HERE). As I mentioned earlier, this was originally a manuscript titled “Three-Bladed Doom” featuring an Afghanistan adventure. The original hero was Howard's lovable El Borak. There are two versions of this story, one printed in REH Lone Star Fictioneer in 1976 and another in the Zebra paperback Three-Bladed Doom in 1977. Both of these versions feature an ending rewritten by Byron Roark. de Camp decided to take Howard's original work and modify it to fit as a Conan-led story titled “The Flame Knife”. This was originally published in Tales of Conan in 1955. The novella was also published as its own book in 1981 by Ace. It was adapted into comic form in Savage Sword of Conan #31-32. 

In de Camp's novels and stories, Conan is a cookie-cutter hero who personifies all that is good. The bad guys are carbon-copy bad. Conan's characteristics are much different than Howard's more nihilistic approach. That difference in style and characterization weighs down “The Flame Knife”.

Conan is instructed by the king of Iranistan to lead a team of men to hunt and kill a bandit named Balash. The problem is that Conan is friends with the bandit, so he leads his team to warn Balash of the king's pursuit. There's a bloated, convoluted backstory on the Hidden Ones cult and how they feel Conan is instrumental in their affairs. They soon create an army and hunt Conan. 

This story, albeit an average read, feels like something Steve Perry would dredge up as a Tor full-length. Conan fights a giant snow-ape (depicted by Sanjulian on the Ace paperback cover) and ends a longtime rivalry with a foe that was originally introduced in “A Witch Shall Be Born”. Those are the real highlights of the novella, along with the conventional swordplay, typical crazy cults, cave creatures, and prison escapes. 

Overall, this is a really enjoyable collection of Conan adventures, highlighted by “Black Tears” and “Shadows in Zamboula”. If anything, these old Lancer and Ace paperback collections are worth having in any book collection. I see them often in used bookstores, and they make great travel companions for a quick read on the go. Get a copy of the book HERE.

Red Mist

Red Mist was published in paperback in April 1989 by Popular Library. The cover, featuring model Steve Holland, was created by Ben Perini. My efforts to determine a biography of author Michael O'Toole failed to produce any results. Further, the book doesn't present any information on the author. Your guess on who he is as good as mine.

This police procedural is set in Los Angeles. Vic Perry is a Raiders fan, a wealthy day trader, a womanizer, and a serial killer. Through 268 pages, Perry prowls the city for victims, often led by his hot temper and infatuation with power. He kills victims by shooting them point blank, often in the face, with a .38 Smith & Wesson, a gun that O'Toole sometimes foolishly refers to as a magnum. After several kills, Perry's onslaught attracts the attention of two LAPD detectives, Tony and Frank.

Through the book's opening chapters, readers ride in Perry's maniacal headspace, experiencing every detail from lust to rage. O'Toole develops a relationship between Perry and a local sexy barmaid named Andy. The two engage in pornographic sex on-page, similar to the graphic scenes found in adult westerns. In fact, the author injects sex in most of Perry's ambition, going as far as having one victim perform oral sex on Perry before the madman blows her chin off (with the revolver). 

When Tony is murdered by Perry, Frank begins an investigation into his partner's murder, tying it into the rampage shootings around the city linked to the same shooter. There's a surprise thrown in with Frank's wife that leads the police officer into some really dark places while hunting the serial shooter. 

Red Mist is far from a masterpiece, but was just engaging enough to keep the pages flipping. I enjoyed Frank's character and the ruthless aggression O'Toole injected with this radical villain. Whether or not the graphic sex and gore is too much is in the eye of the beholder. I thought it was borderline indulgent, but it never erased the plot. There were reasons for everything, which sometimes just all adds up at the end. Red Mist is an entertaining, recommended read. Get it HERE.

Resident Evil #01 - The Umbrella Conspiracy

Resident Evil is arguably the greatest survival horror media franchise of all time. The Capcom video game, known as Biohazard in Japan, began its life in 1996 on the very first Sony Playstation. Countless sequels were created across multiple generations of gaming systems. Six live-action films were produced, a television show, animated films, comic books, and novels. With novels as our primary focus, I picked up a Pocket Books paperback called The Umbrella Conspiracy, the first of a seven-book Resident Evil series published between 1998-2004 and authored by S.D. Perry, daughter of Steve Perry (Conan, Star Wars, Matador).

The first thing you need to know about The Umbrella Conspiracy, and this book series, is that you don't need a Resident Evil education to read and enjoy this. This series starts at the very beginning and mostly consists of novelizations of the video games. This first book is a novelization of the very first game, so those of you unfamiliar with the franchise can start right here. Don't be intimidated.

Raccoon City is a small town with an urban area, lots of dense forest, and rural fields. But, this quiet little community is experiencing an unusual number of vicious homicides. People are found dead in the Victory Lake area, mutilated as if mauled by a savage animal. Rumors run rampant, the police have no solid leads, so a special force is brought in to help solve the case - S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue). This division is made up of highly trained, paramilitary specialists that are privately funded.

The S.T.A.R.S. unit is divided into two teams, Alpha and Bravo. While there are a lot of members in the unit, the ones that really matter to this series are Alpha's Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers, Barry Burton, and Albert Wesker. If you enjoy all of those 70s and 80s team-commando paperbacks, then this group should be easily likable. The members realize that everything has been searched at Victory Lake, but there is a large abandoned mansion, the Spencer Estate, at the foothills of The Arklay Mountains that may hold some answers.

Wesker sends the Bravo team in by chopper, but soon they radio back that the helicopter has crashed in a secluded area. Alpha team is sent in by chopper and immediately discover that some of Bravo have been attacked and mutilated. Soon, the team is attacked by ravenous, skinless dogs. In an effort to stay alive, Chris and others flee through the forest to the Spencer Estate. Inside, they find that it isn't abandoned at all. Instead, the mansion is filled with research equipment, labs, and evidence of hideous experiments. When Chris is attacked by a zombie, the proverbial sh#t hits the fan.

I absolutely loved this book. I immediately finished the last page and hopped online to order the second installment, Caliban Cove. From an action-adventure stance, this book is loaded with firefights in all parts of the mansion. There's the undead to contend with, a traitor in the group, and monsters galore as the team navigates the cavernous house in search of clues. As a horror novel, it works on a violent, gory level as the survival horror introduces puzzles and traps for the squad to solve. 

While there isn't much to really complain about, I did get confused often as the point of view changes to different squad members throughout the house. Rarely are they all together in the same room. Instead, the book feels slightly “epic” at 260 pages due to the constant change in characters. I really enjoyed both Rebecca and Jill, and from what I understand they make a big impact in future books. In researching the series, it appears that Wikipedia has the series listed as:

1 The Umbrella Conspiracy (1998) Novelization of Resident Evil (1996) video game

2 Caliban Cove Original novel (1998)

3 City of the Dead (1999) Novelization of Resident Evil 2 (1998) video game

4 Underworld (1999) Original novel

5 Nemesis (2000) Novelization of Resident Evil 3 (1999) video game

6 Code: Veronica (2001) Novelization of Code: Veronica (2000) video game

0 Zero Hour (2004) Novelization of Resident Evil: Zero Hour video game 

Buy a copy of the book HERE.

Conan - Conan the Hunter

Sean Moore's Conan The Hunter is thrust into the life of Conan chronologically after the wretched Steve Perry novel Conan The Defiant. Some argue that Conan The Indomitable, also by Perry, would be next, but I'm not terribly certain. I don't know that it really matters in the grand scheme of all things Conan. Conan the Hunter was published in 1994 by Tor and is one of three Sean Moore installments in the series.

I can't say Moore is any worse than Perry, but he certainly isn't miles better either. Conan The Hunter would have been a much better book if it wasn't written in phases. We get a huge cross section of this book that plays out like an urban thriller. Then, Moore stretches the thin plot thousands of miles across a desert wasteland to eventually culminate in a finale inside yet another desolate temple.

This book begins with Conan drunk and gambling in the area of Zamora (he does say at the end of Conan The Defiant that he is headed here). He has picked up a night wench called Yvanna and has made arrangements to pay for sex by giving her a jeweled bracelet. The bracelet was stolen from a murdered princess and now all fingers are pointing at Conan as the killer. After a few chase scenes, some treachery and intrigue we see Conan trapped in a dungeon courtesy of the deceitful Mutare.

Moore keeps a brisk pace and provides ample battle scenes to increase the excitement. It is once Conan teams with Salvorus, Kailash and a priest named Madesus that things really became too bogged down. I thought the chase scene across the desert in pursuit of Mutare was unnecessary. We could have skipped thirty pages here and just put the band of heroes right in the temple. But, the climactic battle is decent and Conan fights temple gargoyles! Who can argue with that?

I'm not dreading Moore's next two entries, but Conan's chronological life includes four more Perry novels as well as two titles from Leonard Moore before the next Moore title. 

Conan - Conan the Defiant

Where does on even begin to discuss the Conan contributions of author Steve Perry? Where L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter's collaborations and novels are written fairly well, Perry is just flat out lifeless. His scenes go off into so many tangents that I had to jot down notes. I had no idea which character was alive, dead, or somewhere in between. At the end of the day none of it really mattered as Conan the Defiant went absolutely nowhere.

Conan The Defiant was originally published as a paperback original by the Tor brand in 1987. The book finds our hero shortly after he has left the cave of "The Thing In The Crypt." His wandering path leads him to the aid of Engh, an Oblate priest who is fighting off enemies using only a staff. Conan is intrigued and eventually the two are friends back at Engh's temple. There is a tussle, Engh is dead and Conan is off to right the wrong in the predictable vengeance formula. This is where things get bizarre. 

A necromancer named Neg The Malefic has a small army of zombies, one of which is a beautiful woman named Tuanne. Neg also employes a vile henchman named Skeer. Why? Because he needs an amulet/charm thing called The Source Of Light. Apparently, if he has this amulet he can make even more zombies than he has now. Neg is basically trying to become Evil Ernie and rule the world with his corpse companions. In the way is Conan, the recently escaped zombie Tuanne and another beautiful wench named Elashi.

Perry goes on the deep end three-fourths into this book. He has an army of tarantulas hunting Skeer while the main characters are searching for Neg and an armed assassin and his crew are pursuing Conan. Neg himself has a crew of a dozen or more blind zombies trailing Conan. Who can keep up with this nonsense? To make matters even more confusing, Conan, Elashi and Tuanne become lovers of each other along the way - relationships, partners, enemies, heroes, etc. 

The end result was a battle that was quickly dispatched and disposed of in less than five pages. The absolute worst part? Conan actually cries at the end of the book. Crom be damned. There are at least four more Perry novels in this list and I'm not sure I can read another. This was absolute rubbish with a pretty cover. Hall of Shame was built for books just like this one.