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The Spell of Conan
2 Paperbacks. Both Published by ACE. A set of the two Tribute volumes to Robert E. Howard edited by L. Sprague de Camp. These feature a collection of Robert E. Howard fiction, Heroic Fantasy fiction short stories by Fritz Leiber and others and many articles about Robert E. Howard and the Sword and Sorcery genre by de Camp and others. THE BLADE OF CONAN (May 1979, 310 pages, Sanjulian Cover, 0441116701) and THE SPELL OF CONAN (July 1980, 244 pages, 0441116698)
- GenresFantasy
244 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1980
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About the author
L. Sprague de Camp
758 books312 followersLyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both novels and works of non-fiction, including biographies of other fantasy authors. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 23, 2020
This is a non-fiction collection of articles and essays about the heroic fantasy/swords & sorcery genre, many of them focusing on Conan and his creator, Robert E. Howard. It's a companion volume to The Blade of Conan, also published by Ace. Most of them are reprinted from a small circulation magazine, Amra, that George H. Scithers founded in 1959 and published for many years as a labor of love. Many of the pieces appeared subsequently in one or another of the three collections that Jack Chalker's Mirage Press published of pieces from Amra edited by Scithers and de Camp. This Ace edition lacks the luscious artwork that appeared in Amra and that Mirage preserved in their editions (I particularly remember the Roy G. Krenkel illustrations for Fritz Leiber's verse), but it was nice to have the text available in an affordable and accessible edition. There are some good bits for heroic fantasy readers, and for Conan buffs in particular.
January 13, 2023
It is at its worst when you have old white guy de Camp psychoanalyzing Howard or going on about anthropology and racial differences. None of that has aged well.
It is at its best when an author discusses his own work, whether that be de Camp talking of the history of Howard's unpublished manuscripts and how de Camp himself hammered them (slightly?) into a publishable state. In some cases he makes strong arguments, and frankly much of that could have been usefully part of the Ace, etc., edition where they first appeared.
Also Leiber's "Fafhrd and Me", a fascinatingly personal overview of the development of the Twain and of Lankhmar/Newhon, especially with the involvement of Harry Fischer.
It is at its very best with various short fictions that appeared in Amra, several of which are set in the Hyborian Age but don't feature Conan or feature him only incidentally. The possibilities of this angle of writing seem endless but wasn't pursued in any paid writing. Kind of a shame.
It is at its best when an author discusses his own work, whether that be de Camp talking of the history of Howard's unpublished manuscripts and how de Camp himself hammered them (slightly?) into a publishable state. In some cases he makes strong arguments, and frankly much of that could have been usefully part of the Ace, etc., edition where they first appeared.
Also Leiber's "Fafhrd and Me", a fascinatingly personal overview of the development of the Twain and of Lankhmar/Newhon, especially with the involvement of Harry Fischer.
It is at its very best with various short fictions that appeared in Amra, several of which are set in the Hyborian Age but don't feature Conan or feature him only incidentally. The possibilities of this angle of writing seem endless but wasn't pursued in any paid writing. Kind of a shame.
October 24, 2015
This is not a collection of fiction, but rather a sort of “best of” collection from a swords and sorcery fan magazine whose contributors include authors such as L. Sprague de Camp and Fritz Leiber. They write about possible influences on Howard and other writers in the genre, and make historical comparisons. They are all fun to read.
July 13, 2020
i was excited to find conan criticism by robert e. howard’s contemporaries, and there are a handful of interesting pieces on offer here, but unfortunately l. sprague de camp is an insufferable hack and his choices both in writing his own criticism and curating this collection are baffling. i mean, almost half of the pieces in this book are his own mediocre work. c’mon.
August 31, 2016
Amra was a Robert E. Howard and Conan oriented magazine that ran from 1959 to 1982. I've never seen an issue so I can't comment on the overall quality of the writing it contained, but this book can't possibly represent the cream of the crop.
If you've read my reviews of other Conan and Howard books, you know I take a fairly dim view of L. Sprague De Camp. I'm not a big fan of his pal, Lin Carter, either, but at least Carter, in my humble opinion, was a decent writer. De Camp stinks. Unfortunately, The Spell Of Conan is made up mostly of De Camp's writing. This ranges from crappy poems to sketchy, incomplete articles to some decent, if pointless analyses. I mean, this guy edited this book and (I assume) had access to twenty three years of content and ended up using his own writing to fill up 50% of this book. This guy talks about himself in third person in articles he wrote! I went into this with the idea that I was going to take a more charitable view of De Camp but it's only made it worse. He was sexist, too. Jerk.
There are parts I liked, though. Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd And Me" is interesting and well written and provides insight into the origins of his most famous characters. Poul Anderson's article on the possible origins of the Aesir is another shining moment. John Boardman's "The Thong Of Thor" is funny and pretty clever.
If you've read my reviews of other Conan and Howard books, you know I take a fairly dim view of L. Sprague De Camp. I'm not a big fan of his pal, Lin Carter, either, but at least Carter, in my humble opinion, was a decent writer. De Camp stinks. Unfortunately, The Spell Of Conan is made up mostly of De Camp's writing. This ranges from crappy poems to sketchy, incomplete articles to some decent, if pointless analyses. I mean, this guy edited this book and (I assume) had access to twenty three years of content and ended up using his own writing to fill up 50% of this book. This guy talks about himself in third person in articles he wrote! I went into this with the idea that I was going to take a more charitable view of De Camp but it's only made it worse. He was sexist, too. Jerk.
There are parts I liked, though. Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd And Me" is interesting and well written and provides insight into the origins of his most famous characters. Poul Anderson's article on the possible origins of the Aesir is another shining moment. John Boardman's "The Thong Of Thor" is funny and pretty clever.
March 4, 2014
Has some interesting information on Howard and his influences (and those he influenced), but there's too much extraneous, unrelated stuff in here. It's like they just took a bunch of articles from various issues of a magazine and stuffed them together. Oh, wait... looks like that's what they actually did.
What is intriguing and rather surprising to read is L. Sprague de Camp's first-person accounts of how he not only raised the Canon of Conan out of obscurity (years after Howard shot himself at the age of 30), but in some cases edited and rewrote rejected stories-- and even retconned unrelated Howard stories into Conan stories, changing the hero and the setting completely!
It's important that de Camp raised awareness of Howard's work... but the thought of all that rewriting makes me squeamish. I can't imagine someone doing that today with an author's work and getting away with it. But maybe I'm just naive.
Edit: Though it was unrelated, I really enjoyed the autobiographical insight into Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series. I already had a soft spot for those stories, and learning more about the creative partnership that Leiber had with his friend Harry Fischer reminded me of the creative partnerships that I have enjoyed.
What is intriguing and rather surprising to read is L. Sprague de Camp's first-person accounts of how he not only raised the Canon of Conan out of obscurity (years after Howard shot himself at the age of 30), but in some cases edited and rewrote rejected stories-- and even retconned unrelated Howard stories into Conan stories, changing the hero and the setting completely!
It's important that de Camp raised awareness of Howard's work... but the thought of all that rewriting makes me squeamish. I can't imagine someone doing that today with an author's work and getting away with it. But maybe I'm just naive.
Edit: Though it was unrelated, I really enjoyed the autobiographical insight into Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series. I already had a soft spot for those stories, and learning more about the creative partnership that Leiber had with his friend Harry Fischer reminded me of the creative partnerships that I have enjoyed.
June 7, 2013
Amras Vermächtnis
Eine lose Sammlung von Artikeln und Geschichten diverser Schriftsteller aus dem Magazin Amra. L. Sprague de Camp und die anderen Epigonen Howards hatten die Tendenz, jedes Wort, das Howard verwendete, zu analysieren und hin und her zu drehen; zu Beginn ist das noch interessant, wer aber, wie ich, die Geschichten Howards wegen ihres Zaubers und ihrer unglaublichen Atmosphäre schätzt, dem wird durch diese Vorgehensweise viel genommen. De Camps zerebraler Ansatz ist das genaue Gegenteil von Howards Bauchschreibe. Man muss nicht alles verstehen und analysieren, in Zusammenhang setzen mit den "echten" Kelten oder Aesir oder ähnliches. Gerade bei solchen reinrassigen Eskapismustexten wie den Geschichten um Conan ist Analyse sogar der Tod der Atmosphäre.
Insgesamt gesehen sind in dieser Sammlung durchaus interessante Texte, nett, aber nicht übermäßig erkenntnisbringend oder erleuchtend. Als Sammlung wirken sie darüberhinaus schnell ermüdend.
Eine lose Sammlung von Artikeln und Geschichten diverser Schriftsteller aus dem Magazin Amra. L. Sprague de Camp und die anderen Epigonen Howards hatten die Tendenz, jedes Wort, das Howard verwendete, zu analysieren und hin und her zu drehen; zu Beginn ist das noch interessant, wer aber, wie ich, die Geschichten Howards wegen ihres Zaubers und ihrer unglaublichen Atmosphäre schätzt, dem wird durch diese Vorgehensweise viel genommen. De Camps zerebraler Ansatz ist das genaue Gegenteil von Howards Bauchschreibe. Man muss nicht alles verstehen und analysieren, in Zusammenhang setzen mit den "echten" Kelten oder Aesir oder ähnliches. Gerade bei solchen reinrassigen Eskapismustexten wie den Geschichten um Conan ist Analyse sogar der Tod der Atmosphäre.
Insgesamt gesehen sind in dieser Sammlung durchaus interessante Texte, nett, aber nicht übermäßig erkenntnisbringend oder erleuchtend. Als Sammlung wirken sie darüberhinaus schnell ermüdend.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews