When I posted some Conan pastiche covers earlier this week (HERE), James Reasoner called my attention to this one by Mr. John C. Hocking, which I had never read.
I’ve been struggling of late to find a book I really enjoy. The Sun Also Rises didn’t fill the bill. Neither did Anna Karenina or Philip Jose Farmer’s The Dark Heart of Time. Brian Wynne (Garfield’s) The Bravos was better, but didn’t quite scratch my itch.
But after riding with Conan on his quest to eradicate the Emerald Lotus, I’m finally back in the groove. This is a thoroughly enjoyable romp through the Hyborean Age. The only bad news is that this is Mr. Hocking’s only published Conan novel.
The back cover shouts TRAPPED IN A WEB OF WIZARDRY!, and that’s a fair description of the story. Conan finds himself tangled in the affairs of three sorcerers (one good, one bad and one very bad) and needs every bit of his courage, strength an skill to fight his way out.
The trouble starts when a two-bit Stygian sorcerer stumbles upon the secret of the Emerald Lotus and is suddenly possessed of more power than all the wizards of the Black Ring combined. The Emerald Lotus gives its users great power, but is also the most addictive and malignant of drugs. The Stygian uses it to enslave two Khemish rivals, and our man Conan gets caught up in the three-way battle.
What sets Conan and the Emerald Lotus above the Sword & Sorcery herd is Mr. Hocking’s ability to bring each character vividly alive and allow them to interact and change. The real story here is not sword vs. sorcery, but of people with differing agendas and opposing wills. I particularly enjoyed the growing - and very genuine - friendship between Conan and mute Khitan warrior who accompanies him and two lissome ladies (one a sorceress and the other just lissome) into the dreaded Stygian desert.
The author makes no attempt to ape the style of Robert E. Howard, but what flows from his pen (or word processor) seems naturally suited to the Conan's world. And somehow he manages to make the implausible magic spells seem possible. As a bonus - and I was especially pleased by this one - he does not resort to making Conan do battle with a giant snake.
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Hocking “spent two years writing a second Conan novel, Conan and the Living Plague, under contract with Conan Properties, which was ‘sufficiently pleased with the book that they wanted to use it to attract a new publisher for Conan and try to break into hardcover.’ Publication of it and a third Conan novel Hocking had started were canceled due to a change in ownership of Conan Properties.”
Damn. That’s too bad. But after nearly twenty years, Conan’s popularity is as strong as ever, and it seems high time for the property owners to consder a new round of original novels. We can only hope. (And if some future publisher decides to reissue Emerald Lotus, they're welcome to use this blurb: Kicks Anna Karenina's butt!)
Meanwhile, John Hocking has not been idle. He was co-editor of the 2007 crime anthology Detroit Noir, and won the 2009 Harpers Pen Award for Sword and Sorcery fiction for his story “The Face in the Sea,” from Black Gate 13. And, if this photo is any indication, he's been eating quesadillas.
More Forgotten Books at pattinase. Next week, the Forgotten Books links will appear right here on the Almanack. Y'all come back, now.
