Bottalk Reviews

We go back to the beginning, before the Black Stone, before Thulsa Doom, Conan is a youth from the south, he still has his old Pictish sword (Brule's blade freshly acquired at Venarium in Conan the Barbarian FCBD 2023). Conan ventures North to Asgard in this prequel to The Frost-Giant's Daughter aka The Gods of the North. Jim Zub's Frozen Faith part 1: Cold Comfort starts now! Conan remembers Lyolf training him for combat with wooden sticks. The young Cimmerian questions the existence of his deity Crom, preferring to trust his five human senses, his own strength and steel weaponry. Conan sees a pack of wolves eating a human corpse next to a campsite. For no reason and with no strategy whatsoever he immediately attacks the pack. The wolves naturally overpower him. Conan loses his sword. Conan remembers asking his father the location of Crom's mountain. His father confirming that Crom resides on all mountains and in the souls of all Cimmerians. Conan's father is sure

eBook by Michael A. Stackpole  Cover by Jenny Frison Illustrations by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers! N'Yaga (shaman of the Black Corsairs) is chilling in his cave, he sees in the bones before him that Bêlit will soon be paying him a visit. Bêlit arrives seeking N'Yaga's wisdom, she's dressed in Shem tribesman robes.  First mate N'Goro, a tall, powerful, scarred hunter brings an antelope has an offering. N'Yaga knows Bêlit's father. Nephew Izefia mentions that Bêlit is dressed as a raider. A threat. Izefia misreads his uncle's scattered bones and is told to prepare the antelope for diner.  N'Goro hands Izefia the antelope and sits behind Bêlit. Bêlit aka The Daughter of the Hawk tosses the shaman's bones to see her own future. N'Yaga sees a black-maned lion aka Conan in the bones, he foresees the events of "Queen of the Black Coast"  Ophir is mentioned. N'Yaga remembers Arthaniel's

Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, it is time once again to pay the venerable spinner rack a visit!  60 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint!  Inside this magnificent magazine you'll find the following treasures: John C. Hocking, an autobiographical essay Conan: City of the Dead, Omnibus Preview A fresh new Pin-Up of Kull the Conqueror and Thulsa Doom by Alex Horley CONAN: WOLVES OF THE TUNDRA by Frank Tieri and Cary Nord  A Werewolf grabs a snack in the snow. It spies on a family. The family members are revealed to be Werewolves too! A fight ensues. The only lycanthrope that survives the scuffle is... Conan the Werewolf. Flashback: A famished Cimmerian enters "the Hungry Claw" inn, taxidermy wolves adorn the place, Werewolves in human form start harassing Conan, the lights go out, Conan gets bitten during the bar brawl. Conan wakes in a barn where he's decimated every single animal inside. The owner of the animals recommends elim

The Conan the Barbarian screenplay adaptation from 1982 is back in print! What!? Crom listened? Yes! By L. Sprague de Camp, his wife Catherine Crook de Camp and Lin Carter  Foreword by L. Sprague de Camp A movie novelisation based on a screenplay by John Milius and Oliver Stone Also available Unabridged on audiobook read by Bradford Hastings  Also available in Portuguese: ISBN-13: 9786554481540  Conan o Bárbaro – Novelização Oficial do Filme Spoilers! Spoilers!  King Conan is know as Conan the Great. Kallias of Shamar is our narrator from southern Aquilonia, instead of Akiro, the Wizard of the Mounds. Corin the smith, Conan's father, masters the secret of steel from the Atlanteans. The father sword's pommel resembles the hooves of an elk, its grip is wrapped with string made from the intestines of forest tigers. Mystic rites are performed to make the Cimmerian sword INVINCIBLE. Conan's father beheads a Vanir raider from Vanaheim and kills a horse. Maeve, Conan's mother,

Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone wins this year's Robert E. Howard Foundation "The Costigan Literary Achievement" and "The Rankin Artistic Achievement" awards at Howard Days! Brule's life was just about to be extinguished by a freshly revived Thulsa Doom... it is finally time for: Jim Zub's The Age Unconquered part 4: Terror Undreamed Of! Thulsa announces a "New Age of Doom" and that the Spear-Slayer is out of time. We get a flashback: A meteorite strikes the earth. Only Kathulos (the sorcerer, magician and scientist from the novella Skull-Face) is brave enough to touch the Black Stone from outer space. The Black Stone uploads DARK knowledge and DARK magic into Kathulos's brain. Kathulos is now able to control the deceased. He builds himself an army of the undead and renames himself Thulsa Doom. Thulsa enjoys being a successful tyrant for some time, we even get another Renato Casaro Conan the Barbarian 1982 movie poster homage from

Omnibus by John C. Hocking Dedicated to lovers of sword-and-sorcery and especially fans who waited for the Living Plague for so long Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love  Illustrations by Richard Pace From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Also available unabridged on audiobook read by Bradford Hastings Spoilers! Spoilers!  CONAN AND THE EMERALD LOTUS (1995) Stygian mage Ethram-Fal aka the Shemite Eldred the Trader, resurrects the dormant immortal resident of the abandoned Palace of Cetriss (one of the world's mightiest sorcerers), a hybrid of plant and predatory fungus with an insatiable appetite for blood with the blood of his insolent apprentice (freshly executed by Captain Ath, also a Stygian who is given an addictive reddish leaf as a reward). The carnivorous plant's seeds are the sole source of the Emerald Lotus, an addictive green powder that enhances the abilities of sorcerers. The only side effects are growing cravings, madness and death.  Akkharia in Shem, ruled by King Sumuab

Novel by Stephen Michael Stirling with very considerable help by Steve Saffel Dedicated to Stephen's late wife Janet Illustrations by Rob De La Torre From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Also available unabridged on audiobook, but WITHOUT the Red Nails novella, read by Bradford Hastings  Trivia: Stephen also wrote the introduction to Eons of the Night (The Robert E. Howard Library Vol. 5) way back in 1996. The All-New Chronicles of the Worlds Greatest Barbarian Hero start here! Spoilers! Spoilers!  A prequel to Robert E. Howard's Red Nails. A cat infested (cats are sacred to Stygians) Sukhmet tavern south of the River Styx in Stygia. Sword for hire/mercenary Conan, now a scout in Zingaran commander Zarallo’s Free Companions (Zingarans sunk Conan's previous ship), is playing dice with friend Anjallo. Conan notices that two Zamorans are trying to trick Brocas, a young Corinthian, into an unfair duel. Conan destroys the arm of one Zamoran while Brocas kills the other. Conan

Jim Zub's The Age Unconquered part 3: Call from the Depths continues. We are still knee-deep in the Thurian Age aka the Pre-Cataclysmic Age.  Brule has been burning to know, since issue 9, what was said during the secret meeting between Yag-Kosha and Conan. Conan spills the beans via a flashback: The elephant man made the barbarian aware that he is indeed in the past, that spirits can roam free, but mortals are stuck in specific times, impeded by their own memories. Yag-Kosha knows that Conan has been strategically sent back in time by unknown divine forces. Conan thinks that perhaps he's being used by these godlike forces. Yag-Kosha, limited by his current physical form, cannot foretell Conan's future beyond his own death (at the hands of Conan in The Tower of the Elephant).  Yag-Kosha can see Conan only because they previously encountered each other in the future. He actually sees the Cimmerian as a floating chest hole, a phantasm without physical limitations. The friendl