The Essential Conan

Infobox Book
name = The Essential Conan
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Dust-jacket the first edition
author = Robert E. Howard
illustrator =
cover_artist = Ken Kelly
country = United States
language = English
series = Berkley Conan
subject =
genre = Fantasy short stories
publisher = Science Fiction Book Club
release_date = 1998
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 643 pp
isbn = ISBN 1-56865-803-6
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Essential Conan" is a collection of fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The book was published in 1998 by the Science Fiction Book Club. It collects the editions of the Conan books, edited by Karl Edward Wagner and published by Berkley Books in 1977. Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines "Weird Tales", "The Phantagraph" and "The Howard Collector". The Wagner editions were the first to virtually reproduce Howard's original stories without any editorial changes other than typo fixes.

Contents

* "The Hour of the Dragon"
** Foreword, by Karl Edward Wagner
** "The Hour of the Dragon" (poem)
** "The Hour of the Dragon"
* "The People of the Black Circle"
** Foreword, by Karl Edward Wagner
** "The Devil in Iron"
** "The People of the Black Circle"
** "A Witch Shall Be Born"
** "Jewels of Gwahlur"
** Afterword, by Karl Edward Wagner
* "Red Nails"
** Foreword, by Karl Edward Wagner
** "Beyond the Black River"
** "Shadows in Zamboula"
** "Red Nails"
** "The Hyborian Age" (essay)
** Afterword, by Karl Edward Wagner

References

*cite web
last = Brown
first = Charles N.
authorlink = Charles N. Brown
coauthors = William G. Contento
title = The Locus Index to Science Fiction (1984-1998)
work =
publisher =
date =
url = http://www.locusmag.com/index/t440.htm#A41496
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-02-05