> Mike: > > Some of the would-be REH writers certainly have a certain smell about > them, particularly those who wrote Conan pastiches (I would add Poul > Anderson to the KEW exception). > > The thing is, REH is soooooo superior to other s&s writers, that > they seem small by comparison; no reason as such to belittle them, but > rather to admire the genius of REH (this from a writer who wrote a > prodigious amount of literature in a very short period of time). All it > really does is make me admire REH more. > > Nino Lucio > Miami, Florida > 305-536-8850
Changed e-mail addresses for a while, but yes, I think you're right. The example is very simple: Read a Conan story like "The Frost Giant's Daughter," or "Queen of the Black Coast." The prose is like poetry, evocative, overwhelming, even seeming to draw one in and create a vivid picture and mood. Then crack open a da Cramp/Carter piece (any piece) and (if you can stomach it) read the entire thing. See how many times Conan is referred to as "the mighty Cimmerian" (there's some descriptive prose for you), "the mighty barbarian," or is described with some similarly juvenile attempt at an adjective or superlative. Is it Marvel's Thor you're reading about, or REH's Conan? Is it Hercules or the Hulk, or the "wolfish" Cimmerian? The difference is staggering and obvious. The Conan of other writers is not Howard's Conan, so why pollute something which has already been perfected? Thongor is not Conan, but Thongor stories were turned into Conan stories. At least Jakes had the decency to be honest and original in his homage, with his "Brak the Barbarian." He didn't have to imitate REH poorly, he just wrote and created his own original works. As for Anderson, I think he was an excellent writer--but his style wasn't right for the Conan stories. He bogs down in extraneous detail, wallows in it, which is ok if you're reading a story set in the Viking Age and he's explaining some obscure Norse motivation. But it's totally out of place in a Conan story. Jordan's similarly long-winded, and misses the character. I know because I've thumbed through the books on the bookstore shelf and guffawed aloud. Karl came closest, and his attempt was more a true homage and labor of love than anyone else's. But it still wasn't REH. Writers have an easy row to hoe when they are "contracted" to write a Conan story. They'll have the name Conan in the title, which is an instant draw and selling point for comic-book fans and so on. But they are guilty of the worst crime of writing, much of the time--the dilution and distortion of another writer's protagonist, without that writer's permission. The only equivalent crime is wasting the reader's time, which many of the pastiches definitely do. --Mike
