BotTalk Reviews

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 ...

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...

eBook by Henry Herz Cover once again by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  Our favourite freebooters: Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast and Conan are on board The Tigress, the bireme oared warship is known by its painted menacing eyes and feared red long narrow flag.    Conan, wearing his horned helmet, an Hauberk from Nemedia and a cuirass, gorget and pauldrons all from Koth, spots a cog sailing by its lonesome. Bêlit really wants to ram the merchantman. Conan and his ebony reavers board the ship. Conan cuts a dude in half with his broadsword from Aquilonia. All the sailors still crossing swords on the trading vessel get killed. This carnage gets our pirates some grain, rum and amphorae of olive oil. Bêlit wants to go home to her haven. The Tigress, now damaged, is taking on water. Conan tells the boatswain to slow the ship down, they start removing water from the vessel. They arrive at Bêlit's magically concealed island retre...

Also available in Spanish: ISBN-13: 9788467964325 Conan el Bárbaro: La Historia Oficial de la Película Also available in German: ISBN-13: 9783986663438 Conan der Barbar: Die Entstehungsgeschichte des Kultfilms Also available in French: ISBN-13: 9782364809482 Conan le Barbare: L'histoire d'un Film Culte Also available in Portuguese: ISBN-13: 9788550822174  Conan o Bárbaro: a História Oficial do Filme John Milius's magnum opus gets an official hefty coffee-table book on its 41st anniversary. You know the sword-and-sorcery story: Warrior. Thief. Gladiator. Conqueror. Conan. It takes a little from "The Tower of the Elephant", "Queen of the Black Coast", "The Devil in Iron", "Shadows in Zamboula", "A Witch Shall Be Born", "Worms of the Earth", "The Shadow Kingdom", "The Cat and the Skull", "The Thing in the Crypt" and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). Young Conan learns of the Ridd...

A Free Comic Book Day prelude to Battle of the Black Stone: The Staring Sigil. Author avatar, James Allison (The Valley of the Worm, last seen in Zub's Conan: Serpent War), a 1930s pulp writer from Lost Knob aka Cross Plains, Texas who can recall the lives of his heroic past incarnations is startled by an unseen, unwelcome visitor, a phantom monster... possibly the vile Stygian sorcerer Koth-Serapis. Back to the Hyborian Age. We are Beyond the Black River. The new Aquilonian province of Conajohara, Fort Tuscelan on the edge of the Pictish wilderness. Conan and friends are fighting incredibly crazed, almost suicidal Picts. Conan decapitates their giant, he notices that the man mountain is wearing a bone necklace with a pendant fabricated from a fragment of the BLACK STONE incised with a familiar eye symbol. Conan's soul is instantly assaulted by a flashback consisting of the events from past issues (Conan the Barbarian #1-8). Solomon Kane, Dark Agnes de Chastillon, El Borak aka ...

eBook by Shaun Hamill Cover once again by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  A prequel to Robert E. Howard's The Tower of the Elephant. Kordava, the capital city of Zingara. Barkeep, Mugido is watching a young Conan who is wearing trousers and a shirt. A bored, cash-strapped Conan is observing the ships floating in the harbour. Zingaran sailor, first mate, Flavio de Palma the Bold from the Fortune’s Dawn enters the watering hole, he offers the barbarian youth a fresh ale, employment and adventure. Sailing ships and the sea are still a mystery to Conan. Flavio is seeking mercenaries to safeguard a valuable cargo that needs to go to Aquilonia (one day Conan will sits upon the throne of Aquilonia). Apparently, the Shirkri River is squirming with pirates Flavio and Conan find the Fortune’s Dawn, a carrack with three masts.  It is Conan's very first time on a ship. Conan meets the crew: Lookout: Marco of the wooden leg Helmsman: Anen of th...

It is time to go back to the spinner rack to get the 2nd issue of the brand new Conan black-and-white mag!  60 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery printed on newsprint!  Inside this anthology you'll find the following treasures: A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Rafael Kayanan A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Gerardo Zaffino A fresh new Pin-Up of Solomon Kane by Nick Marinkovich Conan the Barbarian: Leaving the Garden by Jim Zub and Richard Pace Pesach the Plenty's wagons are brimming with goods, including his family, Conan is tagging along. We are in Shem en route to Argos. Pesach's young son mentions giants from The Frost-Giant's Daughter. Conan promises him more tales of his adventures in the future. Conan wants to leave the convoy behind, for the simple reason that he has debts to pay in Argos. Pesach offers Conan Corinthian spirits as an incentive to stay by his side. Pesach wants to sell his rare combustible (pitch derived from plants) in the port city of Messantia....