Conan the Free Lance

Conan the Free Lance
cover of Conan the Free Lance
Author(s)	Steve Perry
Cover artist	Kirk Reinert
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Conan the Barbarian
Genre(s)	Sword and sorcery Fantasy
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	1990
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	279 pp
ISBN	0-812-50690-1

Conan the Free Lance is a fantasy novel written by Steve Perry featuring Robert E. Howard's seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in February 1990. It was reprinted by Tor in December 1997.

Plot

The evil wizard Dimma the Mist Mage suffers from a curse that has rendered his body insubstantial. As a mystical "Seed" held by the Tree Folk might restore him, he directs his enslaved selkies to steal it for him. Meanwhile, the young Conan, enroute to Shadizar, had fallen in with the Tree Folk after rescuing their medicine woman, Cheen. He helps them fend off the selkies' attack, but not before one of them makes off with the Seed and takes Cheen's brother Hok hostage. Conan undertakes to aid the Tree Folk in recovering Hok and the Seed.

Reception

Reviewer Harvey Ryan considered Perry's Conan novel's "goofy," noting that the author "has a reputation among Conan fandom for overkill and general silliness" -- and Conan the Free Lance "won’t change anyone’s mind about Perry’s style." He rates it well below the author's previous novels Conan the Fearless and Conan the Defiant and feels the "one arena" in which it excels is in its brevity.^[1]

Notes

1. ^ Harvey, Ryan. "Pastiches 'R' Us: Conan the Free Lance" (Review), Jul. 28, 2009.

Reference

• Conan the Free Lance publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Fantastic Fiction entry for Conan the Free Lance