"The Slithering Shadow" by Robert E. Howard. Well, Fritz Leiber no less rated this the worst Conan tale Howard ever writ, and he may well be right. From the turn-off opening, with Conan grumpily ignoring his clinging and annoying dishrag of a companion, Natala, a slave girl he's rescued in his latest military disaster, this reads like Howard almost parodying himself (one more reference to "iron thews" and such and I'm gonna hurl). A certain amount of suspense does arrive as Conan and his whiner explore the Marie Celeste-like setting of the shunned city of Xuthal, and there's a kinky bondage and whipping scene for those with an appreciation of such things (and Natala deserves it!). The Beastie in the Cellar this time out is Thog, an improvement on the nondescript menace of "A Witch Shall Be Born", but only by a bit. Definitely lesser stuff. "Shadow" was adapted a couple times, once in the 70's (Savage Sword of Conan #20) with some very nice Alfredo Alcala art over John Buscema roughs, and less memorably a few years ago in Conan the Avenger. Neither of them made it a better story, alas. An inauspicious start."The Jewels of Gwahlur" by Robert E. Howard. Another tale considered one of Howard's prize turkeys. Actually its an improvement over "Slithering Shadow"; which it rather resembles (abandoned city, helpless slave-girl) Howard's more on here, and leans less on Conan Cliches to describe his hero. Conan uses his wits a fair bit, and his plan to turn the tables on the evil priesthood is Leiber-worthy. But this is still a lesser adventure tale, albeit with some good action and characterization. I'd classify it as a good enough read but not remotely an essential Conan tale. "Jewels" got the comics treatment in Savage Sword of Conan #25 and Dark Horse's Jewels of Gwahlur miniseries. Neither of them terribly inspired (much as I like P. Craig Russell)
"The Dreaming City" by Michael Moorcock. Now this one was a pleasant surprise! While I thoroughly enjoyed "Kings in Darkness", I found the writing a bit comic-bookish, and feared the Elric stories would not be as impressive this time around. Not so! The prose of "The Dreaming City" is perfect, cool and modern with just a touch of flower in its tone, appropriate to the tale. Not only that, its cinematic - the opening scene is not only vivid enough to conjure up a clear mind-movie, it also manages to give the reader a full understanding of what's going on in about four paragraphs of expository dialog that doesn't even sound expository. Moving on, it manages to perfectly set up the whole Elric scenario and setting in the course of the tale - important, since this was the first published Elric story, and introduced the world to the albino sorceror-prince and his milieu. After reading, its easy to see why Elric caught on; "The Dreaming City" definitely leaves one wanting more. Its also groundbreaking - in 1961, the story inverted practically every sword-and-sorcery trope there is. What's more, without giving too much away, the story ends not so much is triumph; perhaps more like one of the biggest "be careful what you wish for" endings ever presented. We have winner, folks. Might I add, Marvel adapted this into a very fine graphic novel in the 80's with fine artwork by P. Craig Russell.
"The Singing Citadel" by Michael Moorcock. Very much like "While the Gods Laugh" in that its as much philosophical as it is adventure-ish; "Citadel" comes off as something of a transitional tale, meant to introduce certain ideas and characters and set up future events. Nevertheless, Elric's rendevous with Yishana is another piece of fine, cinematic writing, and Moorcock's imagination is as vivid as ever. There's a hint of the pulp tone creeping in, but not enough to overwhelm the otherwise strong storytelling.
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