Complete list of Conan pastiche novels

With over fifty to choose from, which is your favourite? And which books really count?

Although the venerated Robert E. Howard only wrote 20 original Conan stories, one novel and several fragments or unfinished stories, there have been a slew of other authors writing about the Barbarian from Cimmeria.

Some of those books are great, some are most certainly not. It also gets quite confusing. There are many books from many publishers available.

I’ve read or listened to the original stories at least four or five times each (and some many more). Craving more Conan goodness, I decided to make it my mission to make my way through all of the pastiche works.

What is a pastiche?

In case you’ve not heard the term before, a ‘pastiche‘ is a work that imitates another’s style, often as a tribute.

In Conan’s case, it refers to stories by later authors mimicking Howard’s style (or at least attempting to).

Until now, I’ve found no definitive list of purely Conan NOVELS by other authors. The wiki page lists all Conan books available, and that’s where it gets messy.

Some books look like novels but are in fact collections of short stories.

I’ve been slowly collecting the books as they become available on ebay and other places, and a lot are ‘double-dipping’, to steal the term from the comic world.

For example, Conan the Usurper looks like any of the others here, but is actually a collection of four short stories by Robert E. Howard and edited or revised by Sprague de Camp.

So it doesn’t make the list.

Likewise, of the three books pictured below, although they look similar, only one makes this list (Conan the Mercenary).

The Swordsman is another collection of pastiche short stories (a list of which will come soon), and Conan the Warrior is a collection of stories from REH (and therefore cannot be described as pastiches or novels).

So this list will focus purely on the pastiche novels.

To be honest, the quality of the pastiches varies greatly. In another post I will rate the best and worst that I’ve read so far.

If you’re looking for a good place to start, I highly recommend John Maddox Roberts.

Although I don’t think his Conan is 100% like REH’s Conan (he’s generally more amiable), the books are fast-paced page-turners with a real sense of excitement and urgency.

The Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner is also an excellent read.

I enjoyed it so much and it’s a real shame that he only ever wrote the one Conan novel. The prose is incredible, almost poetic, (much like REH) and Conan is a brooding killer thinking of ways to nullify potentially problematic situations before they even arise.

But it might not be the best place to start, because it’s so hard to top!

So, without further ado: all the pastiches novels to date, in order of author.