Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the short story...

Xuthal of the Dusk by Robert E. Howard (1933)
(Originally published as "The Slithering Shadow")

From the anthology The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard. See The Coming of Conan the Cimerian discussion hub for more info on the anthology and pointers to discussion of its other stories.

Fritz Leiber hated this story. Who am I to argue with him? Like the last story "Iron Shadows in the Moon" all the elements are there but they never came together well - it felt rushed overall. Conan is a little rough with Natala at times and seems out of character during his interactions with her.

Randy wrote: "Fritz Leiber hated this story. Who am I to argue with him? ..."

Well, I liked it. I like the "haunted city" concept in general, and while it's been done better, this seemed fine to me.

We have no idea where comely wench Natala comes from, she's just clinging to Conan on their death march through the desert at the start of the story. They're saved from dying of thirst when they encounter a mysterious, seemingly empty city in the middle of nowhere. But the city isn't empty, it's inhabitants are just resting....

I liked the mysterious haunted city idea, even though this story doesn't keep the mystery very long.

Also, cat fight! :)

I think it's in this story Howard comments on Conan's "inherent decency" by which he is naturally chivalrous to women. Selectively, as other stories reveal.

Oh man, the start of this cracked me up. I'm sure it wasn't intended to be funny, but it was so cringe-worthy... it did have some of the funniest lines in it overall. Conan got a bit snarky too, so definitely out of character, but in a way that was amusing. I enjoyed this story more than not.

Some really bad prose (I mean, worse than the other stories) ruined what might otherwise have been an interesting take on the lotus-eaters trope.

Conan butchering dozens of sleep-addled drug addicts in a particularly messy way doesn't really seem like a tale he'll add to his songs.

I wonder how many times the word "thews" is used. The descriptions do get a bit repetitive when you read all these stories back to back though I realize that is not how they were published so I try to take that into account as one story blurs into the next.

Conan actually got pretty beaten up this time. Often there's little doubt he'll come out with maybe a couple bruises and some cuts but here he fought a kind of deity thing (what the end of The Black Colossus should have been), so at least there was that to make it different from the other stories. Generally he avoids the scary monster outright (Iron Shadows in the Moon) or he deals with them with little resistance (The God in the Bowl)

I think the next couple of stories in my edition aren't part of the group read so will be a few days before I comment on the next