Conan of Venarium

by Turtledove, Harry

• ISBN13: 9780765304667
• ISBN10: 076530466X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-07-18
• Publisher: Tor Books

Summary

or decades, millions of readers have thrilled to the adventures of Conan, the barbarian adventurer invented by Robert E. Howard, and further chronicled by such other notable fantasy writers as L. Sprague de Camp, Poul Anderson, and Robert Jordan. Now Harry Turtledove, one of today's most popular writers of SF and fantasy, fulfills a lifelong ambition by contributing a novel to the Conan saga. Here is the tale of the young Conan, in the year or so before he becomes the wandering adventurer we know from Howard's tales. On the verge of adulthood, he lives in a Cimmerian hamlet, caring for his ailing mother and helping at his father's smithy. He's big, strong, shy, ferocious-and has a crush on the weaver's daughter who lives next door. Then war comes: an invasion by the Aquilonian Em-pire. Conan burns to join the fight, but he's too young to go. The Aquilonians have smashed the Cimmerian defending forces, and can rule as they please. Soon their heavily garrisoned forts dot the countryside. Their settlers follow after, carving homesteads out of other men's land. Every Cimmerian longs to drive the intruders out with fire and sword, but they must stay their hands, for the Aquilonians have promised savage reprisals. Then, intolerably, the Aquilonian commander takes a wholly dishonorable interest in the weaver's daughter-and he's not a man to wait, or even ask permission. It's not a recipe for a peaceful outcome.

Author Biography

Harry Turtledove is the Hugo-winning author of many SF and fantasy novels. His alternate-history novels, include the bestselling The Guns of the South, How Few Remain, the Worldwar series, and the recent Ruled Britannia. He lives with his wife and daughters in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

YOUNG CONAN

A sudden, horrid certainty blazed in Conan, fueling fury fierce as his father’s forge. “Tarla!” he burst out.

“It seems so, yes,” said Mordec unhappily. “He sniffs around her, sniffs around Balarg’s house like a hungry hound after meat.”

“I’ll kill him!” raged Conan. “I’ll cut his heart out and feed it to swine. I’ll drape his guts over the roofpole. I’ll—“

His father shook him, hard. Conan’s teeth clicked together on his tongue. Pain lanced through him. He tasted blood in his mouth. When he spat, he spat red. He said no more. “Good,” said his father. “Maybe I’ve shaked some sense into you. Can you imagine what would happen to Duthil if you were mad enough to murder the Aquilonian commander? Can you?”

“He deserves death,” Conan said sullenly.

“Yes, no doubt,” said his father.

Excerpts

YOUNG CONAN

A sudden, horrid certainty blazed in Conan, fueling fury fierce as his father’s forge. “Tarla!” he burst out.

“It seems so, yes,” said Mordec unhappily. “He sniffs around her, sniffs around Balarg’s house like a hungry hound after meat.”

“I’ll kill him!” raged Conan. “I’ll cut his heart out and feed it to swine. I’ll drape his guts over the roofpole. I’ll—“

His father shook him, hard. Conan’s teeth clicked together on his tongue. Pain lanced through him. He tasted blood in his mouth. When he spat, he spat red. He said no more. “Good,” said his father. “Maybe I’ve shaked some sense into you. Can you imagine what would happen to Duthil if you were mad enough to murder the Aquilonian commander? Can you?”

“He deserves death,” Conan said sullenly.

“Yes, no doubt,” said his father.

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Excerpted from Conan of Venarium by Harry Turtledove
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