The year...1996. Russian publisher Литература released four hardcover Conan books, all of which were written by one Tito Bras (Тито Брас) and marketed as fairy tales...you know, Conan for kids! As one might expect, reactions amongst Russian Conan fans were mixed, but check out these whack covers!
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Love the 'do in that last pic...Hyperborean brains make good styling gel!
Long ago, a fellow with the codename Stasreviewed one of these books - "The Sun Stone"- over on the Russian Conan forum (forum.cimmeria.ru), and although I'm relying entirely on Google translate some interesting tidbits of information can be gleaned from said review.
According to Stas, the novel has enough adult content that it doesn't read like a children's book at all. He also describes the writing as somewhat canonical and comparable in quality with the last fifty Conan novels released by Russian publisher North-West (Северо-Запад)...more on those Conan offerings in an upcoming post (or ten). Stas even provided a sample of the interior artwork!
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Further to this review, these books have also discussed at some length elsewhere in the same forum. Some additional investigation revealed that these stories have been described as suitable for middle school children around the age of 15, and I even saw them listed on one proposed school curriculum reading list.
Loosely related to all of this, there's one other Conan novel that was published in Russia that was also kid oriented, although it's apparently so obscure that there's virtually nothing to be found out about it on the cyberwebs. It was published in 2003, written by one Dzhekasha Basilo (Джекаша Басило), and titled Conan - Against the Evil of the World (Конан -Против мирового зла). If you've got any more info about that rare beast drop us a line!
Конан - Битва с изумрудным драконом
Conan - The battle with the Emerald Dragon, 367 pgs.
Конан Против властелина Моргота
Conan Against the Lord of Morgoth, 271 pgs.
Конан - Великий лес
Conan - The Great Forest, 303 pgs.
Конан - Солнечный камень
Conan - The Sun Stone, 304 pgs.
Love the 'do in that last pic...Hyperborean brains make good styling gel!
Long ago, a fellow with the codename Stasreviewed one of these books - "The Sun Stone"- over on the Russian Conan forum (forum.cimmeria.ru), and although I'm relying entirely on Google translate some interesting tidbits of information can be gleaned from said review.
According to Stas, the novel has enough adult content that it doesn't read like a children's book at all. He also describes the writing as somewhat canonical and comparable in quality with the last fifty Conan novels released by Russian publisher North-West (Северо-Запад)...more on those Conan offerings in an upcoming post (or ten). Stas even provided a sample of the interior artwork!
Further to this review, these books have also discussed at some length elsewhere in the same forum. Some additional investigation revealed that these stories have been described as suitable for middle school children around the age of 15, and I even saw them listed on one proposed school curriculum reading list.
Loosely related to all of this, there's one other Conan novel that was published in Russia that was also kid oriented, although it's apparently so obscure that there's virtually nothing to be found out about it on the cyberwebs. It was published in 2003, written by one Dzhekasha Basilo (Джекаша Басило), and titled Conan - Against the Evil of the World (Конан -Против мирового зла). If you've got any more info about that rare beast drop us a line!