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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 2:23:50 GMT -5
For the Conan and Robert Howard fans here...or fans of fanzines in general. Anyone here have any experience with the Amra zine? Are they worth checking out or tracking down? Any particular standout issues or features? I have always heard talk of them but never actually seen a copy myself. They were generally held in high regard, but that was before Howard scholarship became legit and took off and before opinions on the de Camp and Carter contributions soured. If they are worth checking out, are they affordable or generally pricey?
-M
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 15, 2014 16:20:28 GMT -5
I only know Amra thanks to the reviews published in SSoC, but it certainly looked like a top-quality fanzine, with great illustrations and interesting articles. As far as I know, many of these articles were reprinted in non-fiction books about Conan in the 1970s, with titles like "the Conan grimoire" and "the blade of Conan".
I would definitely get my greedy hands on any issue I could find!
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Post by benday-dot on Jun 15, 2014 20:35:14 GMT -5
I've got a couple issues.
Amra was an REH fanzine started in 1959 by former Weird Tales editor George Scithers. I think he coined the term "sword and sorcery".
They present more as pamphlets than magazines. Each issue runs at about 20 pages and measures around 6 x 9 inches, so smaller than a regular comic. They were all of course pre-computer, so production values are minimal, and the font is a very small type (maybe size 8 or so).
The articles in the issues I've read are interesting, written in the spirit of learned fans of Howard and Conan with titles like "The Barbarian Hero" and "Conan the Existentialist".
It wasn't really for the articles though that I at one time picked up the copies I have, but for the Krenkel spot illos found within. I love RGK's roughs and sketches, and plenty are printed in the slender issues of Amra. Krenkel supplied these sketches over the years all gratis!
If you just want to read up on the articles I would follow RR's advice and check out some of the old collections.
Articles from Amra were first collected in three hard cover volumes by Mirage Press: The Conan Reader (1968), The Conan Swordbook (1969) and the Conan Grimoire (1972)
Later, Sprague deCamp edited a couple paperback collections published by Ace/Bantam. These were The Blade of Conan (1979) and the Spell of Conan (198o). These last two would definitely be the most affordable avenue into Amra.
I'm not sure if any of the reprint collections contain the Krenkel artwork.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 20:53:23 GMT -5
I have the Blade of Conan lying around somewhere, so I will check it out to get a better sense. Not sur eI knew the articles within were from Amra, so thanks for the heads up on that.
-M
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 22:51:21 GMT -5
That might be the fanzine I saw scans of with Frank Miller contributions from when he was in his early teens. I can't remember the mag, but his work was all Spartan and gladiator stuff.
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Post by berkley on Jun 16, 2014 2:06:44 GMT -5
I've never read, or even seen, any Amras, but they sound like something I'd like to have a look at. I remember hearing about it somewhere years ago, probably in some SSoC article?, but until this thread I'd forgotten all about it. I just had a quick look at Lonestar and added a random issue to my latest order. Well, not random exactly, but the cheapest one they had in stock. It was about 8 bucks, which is a little more than I usually like to pay for back-issues, but seemed reasonable considering the kind of thing it was. Thanks to benday-dot for the info about the paperback collections - I'll keep my eye out for those.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 20:08:22 GMT -5
So I pulled the copy of The Blade of Conan off the shelf...interesting stuff. I think when I bought it, I assumed it was yet another collection of Howard pastiches edited by de Camp, and didn't realize it was a collection of material mostly from Amra. Been looking through the table of contents and looking up the essays on the ISFD to see what came from Amra.
It has a lot of different stuff-from the Clark Miller outline of Conan's life to articles on Ocean Trade in the Hyborian Age, and everything in between. A lot of it is by de Camp and Carter, but also stuff from Glen Lord, Poul Anderson, Ligh Brackett, Jerry Pournelle and others. It will take some time to read through this stuff, but it does look like a nice sampler for the Amra stuff. I will have to keep my eyes open for a copy of the Spell of Conan as well.
-M
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 22:31:45 GMT -5
And now going through my Howard related paperbacks I found a collection called The Howard Collector, edited by Glenn Lord that is a collection of bits form a second Howard fanzine entitled obviously enough-The Howard Collector that was edited/published by Glenn Lord. There were a few articles in there by Fred Blosser, whose name I recognize from bits he did for Savage Sword of Conan over the years-not sure if those were reprinted by Marvel from Howard Collector articles or vice versa, or if they were separate articles all together but Lord suggested Blosser to Marvel based on his articles for the Collector.
-M
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