Red Nails, and why it's the best Conan Story
What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king! The Road of Kings , Robert E Howard There's a lot to like in Robert Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories. Howard's Hyborian Age, as a setting, is textured and believable, with a laundry list of cultures, places, wars, rulers, traditions, and mythologies all in constant interaction. Every story sees Conan himself - towering, larger-than-life, potent and indomitable - navigating some new set of trials thrown at him by this dynamic and dangerous world. Conan stories are tense, violent affairs, exploring conflicts between the new and the old, wildness and order, men and women, rulers and ruled, the strong and the weak, the noble and the vile. When I began reading Howard, it was sugges...