/lit/ - Literature

>>21471109
I've read the Conan ones, kull, Bran mak morn, and am currently reading the horror stories one.
Brank mak morn is the weakest simply due to having such a low number of stories. There's a few with him in them, but others in the book are just about picts. Worms of the earth as the other anon mentioned is great, so is kings of the Night. But one is in the kull book, the other in the horror stories collection. That said, some of the non bran stories aren't bad and if you like Howard's stories you'll enjoy the other stuff here.

Kull is awesome. Only thing is not a ton of kull stories were published. But that's remedied with the inclusion of some unpublished ones (like by this axe I rule). The mirrors of tuzun Thune and the screaming skull of silence are shorter stories but they are pretty neat ideas. I don't know why but kull is comfy to read. Probably my favorite non Conan book from the del Rey set.

Horror story collection has been great thus far. Wolfshead is one of my favorites now as is the horror of the mound. Its kinda cool as you get a mix of stuff, theres a boxing story, a murder mystery, vampires, werewolves, etc. I've come across a couple of Solomon Kane stories in here and they were good. And dream snake, Howard captures the weirdness of a dream really well with it.

I've got el borak and am planning on reading it at some point this year. The Westerns in the horror story set make it seem promising.

Tldr I don't think you can go wrong with what you pick. If you read Conan and want more, Kull is the next closest thing and is great

>>20523130
>What's your MC's story goal?
To gain entrance to the equivalent of valhala/elysium
He tells stories from his life to ancient heroes and soldiers older than him to convince them he is worthy to gain entrance
He talks about voyages into the unknown, escape from slavery/a fighting pit, quest for vengeance against the one who stranded him on an island, defeating an evil subterrainian creature that is worshipped by islanders and they sacrifice children too, etc

My hope is in doing so it'll prevent things from being too samey and enable me to change locations/side characters on a whim as well as sticking with short stories (something I have more experience with) to form a work the length of a novel, rather than a singular story of that length which is harder. It also enables me to stop and start again pretty much whenever I want without needing to refresh myself on where I was

>>20000591
Yes. If you've read Howard's Conan stories I highly recommend reading his Kull stuff. More philosophical, fewer stories and more fragments than Conan (thanks to retard losing the stories Howard's dad gave him to look through after his death) but still very good.

>>19654788
>Hour of the Dragon
Xaltotun is from a long dead decadent civilization. Decadence I'd often what creates the monsters see:
>red nails
>xuthal of the dusk
That said you aren't entirely wrong. Conan defeats savages like the picts in beyond the black river

Kull is far more philosophical than Conan. He thinks far more than Conan. I recommend you read those stories once you finish Conan. It's not the same but they're still good

Conan is very good and definitely worth reading if you want pre Tolkien fantasy. It is more violent than Tolkien, and while not grim dark in a gay and fake way like game of thrones, magic in Conan is evil and a sign of wickedness. Magic is not acknowledged as real by all and few see it much less practice it. When Conan sees it his barbarism kicks into overdrive, partially because Howard often uses magic as a sign of decadent civilization which is the antithesis of Conan, and according to Howard, man's natural state.

Something to keep in mind is, Conans hyborian world is earth, just pre history. So you'll recognize stuff in various countries (India, African tribes, norsemen, etc). Also, there is no specific order. Each story is a chapter in Conans life
Best stories imo
>Phoenix on the Sword
>Queen of the Black Coast
>The Hour of the Dragon
>The People of the Black Circle
>Red Nails

If you like Conan I also recommend Kull. He was written before Conan. Not many of his stories are still around but the ones that are, are pretty good and Kull tends to be a little more of a philosopher than Conan. His world is, again, a pre cataclysmic version of Conans and Conan and much older than it

>>19579471
Kings of the night was good so I wanna read bran at some point. I'm just worried it won't be quite as good as conan/kull due to things being less strange since it's recent history