I listen to a dozen audiobooks a month, easy. Often, a re-listen. I fall asleep with an audiobook timer set, every night. Having bought my bungalow in June, I try to spend a little time reading on the front porch, most days. Now that Fall weather has (FINALLY) settled in here in Columbus, I’m trying to be more intentional about it. Plus, the spare bedroom is actually the reading room.

So, I’ve gotten in some reading the past month.

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN – CHUCK DIXON

I’ve blogged about Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian a couple times. I only began reading that one during COVID, and I now have five of the Marvel Omnibuses, as well as Roy Thomas’ terrific three-volume memoirs about the first 100 issues.

And just a year or two ago, I expanded my reading to include the black-and-white Savage Sword of Conan, also helmed by Thomas. Originally I preferred CtB. But the art style, and the depth of the stories, have really made me a SSoC fan. I read the first several Marvel volumes, which were by Thomas. But I’m currently reading Volume X, with Chuck Dixon doing the writing. Gary Kwapisz seems to have done most of the artwork (inked by Ernie Chan) and I’ve adapted to his style pretty quickly.

I’d heard of Chuck Dixon from his recent Conan novellas, which I’ve not read. I am disappointed in his characterizations. He turned Valeria into a gold-digging strumpet who throws herself at Conan and needs him to rescue her. The independent, kick-butt pirate of Red Nails is gone.

The plots have been okay, but the dialogue isn’t very Robert E. Howard. Conan sounds like a bad B-movie actor: “My blade thirsts and the foul ichor that bloats these foul carcasses must serve!” as he slices up a monster.

What’s really wearing me out, is Conan constantly referring to Crom. “Crom, give me speed to reach my blade! I will do the rest!” followed by, “So, I am on my own again, Crom! Curse you! You’d think Crom is as prevalent in Conan’s life as Zeus was in the Greek world. The writing feels like a pastiche by someone not very familiar with REH’s works. The stories have been okay as I work through this volume, but I’m not a fan of his SSoC.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN – JIM ZUB

Last week I did the third and final Solomon Kane Youtube panel for the Robert E. Howard Foundation. Jim Zub was on it, and since I hadn’t read any of his new Conan comics (give me a break; I’m working on catching up on stuff published 50 years ago!), I figured I should remedy that.

I got a nice Titan slipcase set of the first three volumes (12 issues) of his Conan. These all evolve around a mysterious black stone which is a world-shattering danger. You know I’m a spoiler minimalist about newer stuff. But the quest to defeat the Black Stone goes across time and we meet a few more Robert E.Howard characters. Roy Thomas did this as well with Conan the Barbarian. I like the artwork by Doug Braithwaite in the middle volume; especially the use of green for the supernatural. And Roberto De La Torre’s depiction of the villain in colume three is really cool. I like the look of this series.

And Jim has Conan down much better than Chuck Dixon did in SSoC. I will probably get the next collected set, coming out shortly. And I’ll add that Jim is a super cool guy and was a lot of fun on the panel.

A PARADE OF HORRIBLES – Matt Dinniman

The most recent What I’ve Been Reading was in October of last year. I spent a lot of time talking about my read of the self-titled first Dungeon Crawler Carl book. I liked it. I then proceeded to binge read the next six, one after another, which brought me to current. And they were all available through the Libby app. Get a library card people! Seriously. Book three (The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook) was meh. But I really liked all the other ones, and it was a fun and fast-paced series. It was different and refreshing and fun and made me want to get home from work to keep reading.

Book eight came out early this year: A Parade of Horribles. I read that over the past two weeks. Which should tell you something. This was the first i book which I didn’t read every chance I got. I made myself sit down and read a chunk at a time. The ending was okay, but at the 50% mark (at which point I would have named it A Parade of Boring), I set it aside and re-read a non-DCC book. Then came back and finished it. I’m not going to reveal any spoilers and I’ll read book nine. I’m still a DCC fan. But if it’s more of this, number nine may be enough. I could walk away without getting to whatever closure there is. This wasn’t in my Top 20 reads of the year.

You don’t have to like every book or story an author writes. Being discerning is better than being a fanboy. Sure, you can like everything. But it’s okay not to. And this book didn’t work for me.

GARRETT PI – GLEN COOK

I’m excited that all of the Garrett books are coming out in audio. They will become regular listens, like Tony Hillerman, SPQR, and Eve Ronin, already are. I started book two, then began concurrently reading book one (two was upstairs in the reading room, one was downstairs in the main room’s reading corner. I liked that). I tore through both, and I still love Garrett. I started three, then also read seven – this one on my Fire tablet. So, I did a quick four book Garrett re-read, and this remains a favorite series.

The first new book in over a decade will be out next Fall. Last Metal Romance will likely close out the series. These are such god books. A mix of Raymond Chandler and Nero Wolfe, with a Discworld vibe, this checks all my boxes.

BEDROOMS HAVE WINDOWS – COOL & LAM

I’ve blogged multiple times about my favorite Erle Stanley Gardner series. Yeah, that’s the Perry Mason guy. Cool and Lam are mismatched detectives, and these are fast, fun reads. A Parade of Horribles went kinda slowly, and I had read a lot of Garrett in a hurry. I was still reading Conan comics. I decided that a ‘new’ Cool and Lam book was called for. This is my first read of this 1949 Dell paperback. Most of my C&L Dells are falling apart. This one is intact, though it’s cracking as I read it now.

Bertha Cool is a continually annoying partner, but Donald knows how to handle her. And he is always up to things. This mismatched pair keeps things moving along and this one is no different so far. And as usual, I’m enjoying it. I re-watched the unsold 1958 pilot as well. Hard Case Crime has brought a few books back into print. Highly recommended.

MISC

I’m a ‘mood’ reader. I get into the mood for something and that’s what I read. I’m still in a Garrett mood, so #4 (my favorite) is probably up next. And I’m definitely continuing on with the Conan comics. I’m working on a couple Nero Wolfe projects, so I’m reading for those, but that’s not included here.

And let me again plug John Maddox Roberts’ historical mysteries set in Ancient Rome: SPQR. I tear through the entire series on audiobook. Which are brilliantly read by John Lee. He’s a big part of why I can listen to the entire series a couple times a year. Wish I’d discovered these before he passed away in 2024. I was already a big fan of his Conan pastiches.

Other What I’ve Been Reading

What I’ve Been Reading: November 2025 (Matt Dinniman, Johnny Nexus, Douglas Adams, No Hallowed Ground)
What I’ve Been Reading: June, 2025 (Clive Cussler, The Continental Op, de Camp/Carter, Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian/Savage Sword of Conan)
What I’ve Been Reading: April, 2025 (Frederick Nebel, Norvell Page, Harold Lamb, Steve Hockensmith)
What I’ve Been Reading: November, 2024: (Glen Cook, Dodgers’ baseball)
What I’ve Been Reading: September, 2024 (Harold Lamb, Hugh Ashton, Scott Oden)
What I’ve Been Reading: November, 2023 (Holmes on the Range, The Caine Mutiny, Jules De Granden)
What I’ve Been Reading: September 2022 (Columbo, Douglas Adams, Cleveland Torso Murderer)
What I’ve Been Reading: May, 2021 (Cole & Hitch, Dortmunder, and Parker, and Tony Hillerman)
What I’ve Been Reading: September 2020 (Jo Gar, Sherlock Holmes, Casablanca the movie, more)
What I’ve Been Reading: January, 2020 (Glen Cook, John D. MacDonald, Howard Andrew Jones, more)
What I’ve Been Reading: December, 2019 (Scott Oden, Norbert Davis, David Dickinson)
What I’ve Been Reading: July, 2019 (Clive Cussler, Gabriel Hunt, Max Latin)

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every Summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.

You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.