Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion

Conan and the Emerald Lotus by John C. Hocking the 1995 pastiche which has a 2019 sequel (of sorts) with a serialized novelette in Marvel's Conan The Barbarian (2019-) #1 (penned by John C Hocking, included as a parallel story with the comic). That series started release this year in January and continues!

Is the new edition out yet? I would love to read this for the discussion, but I’m waiting for the new edition so I don’t have to pay collectors price

Clint wrote: "Is the new edition out yet? I would love to read this for the discussion, but I’m waiting for the new edition so I don’t have to pay collectors price"

Eh gad, many of those paperback's run 30USD.

I've been reading the Comics, i.e., John C Hocking's Black Starlight story that features emerald lotus.

I hoped we we could bring both readers of the 1995 book and the comics together.

I didn't know about any new edition. What do you know about that?

The new edition of Emerald Lotus is supposed to show up this Spring, maybe as early as April. And its time-lost follow-up novel, Conan and The Living Plague, should land at the same time.
It's odd that Lotus would be commanding collector's prices now as we're just about to see a new edition and the book has never been marked up much previously.

Hey, I joined Goodreads just to see what was going on over here.
If you have a question, I'll do my best to conjure up an answer.

Thanks for reading.
JCH

Holy cow, it’s John C Hocking! Sweet. Thanks for joining in.

Any teasers for the Living Plague that you can reveal?

Are there threads from Emerald Lotus, thru Black Starlight, into Living Plague?

You might have seen the excerpt from Living Plague up on the Perilous Worlds site. Here...

http://perilousworlds.com/wp-content/...

Yeah, back in the day I originally planned a short chain of novels about Conan when he served as a mercenary in Shem, so there are bits of continuity running through Lotus to Plague and I connected my serialized novella, Black Starlight, to that as well.

Off the top of my head, maybe the most notable connection is that a character Conan meets early on in Lotus, and who he doesn't see again for the duration of the novel, is a supporting character and boon comrade in Living Plague.

As Mr Hocking pointed out, yup, new edition is going to be available. I’ve been following this site with interest:
http://perilousworlds.com/

The website has isbn numbers and list 16Usd for both books (each). Wasn’t clear how to (pre)order from my phone.

I have not found a way to pre-order either. I am not even sure you can. I’m wanting to read Mr Hocking‘ books and M Stackpoles The Song of Belit. I’m interested to see if there is a novella attached to the Age of Conan comic that relates to the upcoming novel

How fortuitous that I just finished reading Emerald Lotus and now find a follow up running in a monthly Conan comic.

Hocking really does capture some of Howard's burning spirit in his prose. He also doesn't have Conan doing un-Conan things. These may seem like obvious elements that one would find in a Conan novel, but it you've read other of the pastiche stories, you'll find that, by and large, they're rare.

I definitely enjoyed Emerald Lotus and am excited to see where this gang of characters end up next.

John wrote: "The new edition of Emerald Lotus is supposed to show up this Spring, maybe as early as April. And its time-lost follow-up novel, Conan and The Living Plague, should land at the same time...."

JCK, Perhaps we stumbled upon making this groupread a month or two early to time it with the release of Living Plague and the reprint of Emerald Lotus.

No worries. We can extend this group read...and/or have Living Plague as a topic for May-Jun topics.

Glad to know they are coming soon!

Conan The Barbarian (2019-) #4 is available (US kindle)... another dose of Black Starlight in there.

It's true, and it's the most substantial installment of Black Starlight yet. Marvel had to expand the margins and remove the summary and dedication to fit it into the comic.

Things get (sur)real with a vicious vengeance as the malign forces that have been lurking about take a step out of the darkness to confront the Cimmerian.

Just devoured #4, and it is a great issue.

Will review soon, but the art and story of the comic were amazingly dark and deep... and Black Starlight really gels. Love the undead and Sorcery inclusion.

Need more!

Matt, Im interested in your opinion about all things Emerald Lotus. Especially after #4

Finally reviewed #4 : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The emerald lotus is starting to take center stage, and Stygian creatures/sorcery become dominate. Looking forward to #5.

I feel even more inclined to get both the reprint of "Emerald Lotus" and "Living Plague" once available.

Possible cover art revealed of Hocking’s new Conan and Emerald Lotus reboot from Perilous Worlds:

https://perilousworlds.com/conan-book...

I’m just happy that someone is producing a brand new Conan novel.
I can’t wait! Been waiting years for this!