Redsteve's Reviews > Conan the Wanderer

Like Conan the Freebooter (#3), this collection of pulp heroic fantasy stories is set in the Hyborian "Middle East" and have more complicated plots than those in the first two books of this series. "Black Tears" is a Conan story written by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp. It's OK, but doesn't have a 100% "old school" Conan feel to it. The tale features a cursed lost city and a somewhat Lovecraftian monster. Until "Shadows of Zamboula" I was starting to wonder if I was mis-remembering how racist the Conan stories can get, but Howard is pretty horrible on this one - pulling out pretty much every negative stereotype of cannibalistic black savages and also repeatedly bringing up the horrors of race mixing ("...white, brown, and black folk mingle together to produce hybrids of all unholy hues and breeds - who can tell who is a man, and who is a demon in disguise."). The story itself is not too bad, but it's hard to get past the descriptions and asides which are REALLY racist, even by the standards of 1935 America. The only woman in the story is a femme fatale rather than a straight out victim, which is refreshing in a Conan story while keeping to a standard pulp trope."The Devil in the Iron" is another original Conan story by Howard, but honestly isn't all that great - too many plot holes, improbable coincidences, and formulaic (even by pulp standards) elements. Lastly, "The Flame Knife" was an unpublished novella by Howard, featuring "modern" Irish hero Francis X. Gordon, later re-written by L. Sprague de Camp and set in the Hyborian Age. It's a decent story inspired by the real world legends of the "Old Man of the Mountain" and the hashishins. Lots of swordplay, monsters, and exotic settings. The women in this story, while not actually heroic, are at least spunky and willing to pick up a weapon on occasion.