Know, o Prince that Conan stories do pwn..

You will never ever appreciate Age of Conan for what it is if you haven't read the Robert E.Howard's Conan books. The word "books" is really misleading, they are more of a stories. Since copyright on most of them have already expired, you can read them FOR FREE online.

I highly advise you to read them in correct order to see how Conan developed as a character - Howard have written them in nonchronological order so his first story was.... about King Conan at age of 40. Here is chronological list of Conan's adventure from age of 19-teen:

"The Frost Giant's Daughter"
"The God in the Bowl
"The Tower of the Elephant"
"The Hall of the Dead"
"Rogues in the House" (assassins - DO read this story :D )
"The Hand of Nergal"
"Shadows in the Moonlight"
"Black Colossus"
"Queen of the Black Coast"
"The Snout in the Dark"
"The Slithering Shadow"
"A Witch Shall Be Born"
"The Devil in Iron"
"The People of the Black Circle"
"Shadows in Zamboula"
"Drums of Tombalku"
"The Vale of Lost Women"
"The Pool of the Black One" (read this story and then go back to Tortage to...talk to HER)
"Beyond the Black River"
"The Black Stranger"
"Red Nails"
"The Teeth of Gwahlur"
"Wolves Beyond the Border"
"The Phoenix on the Sword"
"The Scarlet Citadel"
The Hour of the Dragon (a must for Age of Conan fans, AOC takes place after this book)

here are the links for some of the stories:

• The Phoenix on the Sword (1932)--Text--HTML
• The Scarlet Citadel (1933)--Text--HTML
• The Tower of the Elephant (1933)--Text--HTML
• Black Colossus (1933)--Text--HTML
• The Slithering Shadow (1933)--Text--HTML
• The Pool of the Black One (1933)--Text--HTML
• Rogues in the House (1934))--Text--HTML
• Shadows in the Moonlight (1934)--Text--HTML
• Queen of the Black Coast (1934)--Text--HTML
• The Devil in Iron (1934))--Text--HTML
• The People of the Black Circle (1934)--Text--HTML
• A Witch Shall be Born(1934)--Text--HTML
• Jewels of Gwahlur (1935))--Text--HTML
• Beyond the Black River (1935)--Text--HTML
• Shadows in Zamboula (1935)--Text--HTML
• The Hour of the Dragon (1936)--Text--HTML
• Red Nails (1936)--Text--HTML
• Gods of the North (1934)--Text--HTML
• The Hyborian Age--Text--HTML

You can pick Conan books for DIRT CHEAP on aucion sites like ebay (I bought every single on of them) or spoil yourself and go for 3 fat books from Amazon.com.

Little tip: do NOT read any other Conan books than Robert E.Howard's ones: other authors don't know shit about shit about shit when it comes to Conan - waste of time and money.

If you want to "JUMP INTO" Conan and read great story - read RED NAILS.
Let me know in the comments if you liked it.