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Conan is back, and at the top of his form!

SFWA Grand Master L. Sprague de Camp was revered in the genre of fantasy for both his fiction and nonfiction. Booklist praised his novel The Honorable Barbarian, saying: "The action is brisk, and the worlds and characters are described with de Camp's deft, light touch... thoroughly agreeable entertainment," while Kirkus Reviews said of The Pixilated Peeress "the unassuming style and verve of the telling keep the pages turning. Pure prose junk-food."

But more important, L. Sprague de Camp wrote Dark Valley Destiny, the definitive biography of Conan's creator, Robert E. Howard, leaving little wonder as to why Conan and the Spider God is considered one of the finest novels in the canon of Conan.

Son of a blacksmith, a former slave and thief, Conan the Cimmerian has risen to the rank of Captain of the Royal Guard. But as usual, trouble is his bedfellow.

Forced to kill while defending himself, Conan must flee the vengeance of the High Priest of Erlik. Foraging through field and forest, meeting friend and foe, Conan cuts a bloody swath through assassins and bounty hunters all the way to the sinister temple of Zath, where he encounters the huge and hideous Spider God. Facing certain death, Conan becomes both the hunter... and the hunted. Conan and the Spider God is a thrilling adventure of the mighty barbarian, from one of the genre's most revered authors.

Aquilonia, once the proudest land in all of Hyboria, has fallen under the tyrannical reign of a mad king. As his brutal insanity sweeps the land, only one man dares stand against him: Conan the barbarian.

Conan becomes the leader of an army of rebels, brave warriors who thought their battles would be fought with spear and sword, axe and dagger. In this they were mistaken, for their greatest foe is not the army of Aquilonia, but the vile sorcerer Thulandra Thuu.

Dark clouds loom ahead for the people of Aquilonia, and only Conan can save them.

The iconic hero of the Hyborian Age returns in this volume of classic fantasy adventure stories.

Sometime after the fall of Atlantis, a great hero was born on a battlefield, destined to defend his people against angry gods and merciless demons. His name was Conan, and his exploits are legend.

This volume collects eight classic Conan stories and an essay on the work of Conan creator Robert E. Howard. These stories from renowned fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp, and co-written with Lin Carter and Bjorn Nyberg, relaunched Conan as a popular hero in the 1970s.

Table of Contents:

• 8 - Conan the Swordsman (map) - interior artwork by Ellisa Mitchell
• 11 - The Conan Saga - (1978) - essay by L. Sprague de Camp
• 21 - Legions of the Dead - (1978) - short story by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp
• 42 - The People of the Summit - (1978) - short story by L. Sprague de Camp and Björn Nyberg?
• 56 - Shadows in the Dark - (1978) - short story by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp
• 82 - The Star of Khorala - (1978) - short story by L. Sprague de Camp and Björn Nyberg?
• 109 - The Gem in the Tower - (1978) - novelette by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp
• 134 - The Ivory Goddess - (1978) - short story by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp
• 155 - Moon of Blood - (1978) - short story by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp
• 190 - Hyborian Names - (1978) - essay by L. Sprague de Camp