What living author could write worthy Conan novels?

I'm reading Robert Jordan's Conan novellas right now, and I am just LOVING them. REH made the world come to life, but Jordan's skills lie in characters. He's like the Bob Ross of characterization: with a couple brush strokes, a blue blob becomes a mountain range for Bob. Jordan gave you a character with just a few words, and they felt fleshed out and three dimensional.

Anyway, enough gushing about the author who shaped my teenage-to-adult fantasy reading habits.

What living author (who hasn't already written Conan stories) do you think could truly tackle the giant barbarian's stories? Do you think George RR Martin could handle the dark, seedy world of Hyboria, or do you think he couldn't resist taking Conan down with syphilis or something equally embarrassing and ironic?

Joe Abercombie. He kinda already did a conanesque character in his First Law series.

Logen Nine-Fingers is very much the cimmerian barbarien in there.

Hadn't heard of him before, but I like the look of his books. I'll definitely be checking that out.

Drest beat me to it.
Abercrombie is propably the best fantasy writer I've had the pleasure of reading... And I've read a lot! :laugh: Jordan is -very- good too, but... Abercrombie ftw

Joe Abercrombie
Brandon Sanderson
Patrick Rothfuss
Scott Lynch
George RR Martin
Peter V Brett

I also like: (but may not be good enough)
Mark Charan Newton
Michael J Sullivan

I like Sanderson, but I don't know that he's got the grit to bring Hyboria to life. Granted, I'm most familiar with Warbreaker and his WoT work. Maybe his other series have more darkness to them.

With Martin, I know he could nail the grit, and the darkness, but I feel like he just takes too much glee in destroying powerful characters. I don't think Conan would last to the end of his own story (if they let Martin write it however he wanted). That said, if they could rein in his tendency to kill off all the good characters, I'd read Martin's version of Conan.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Maganothrom

I like Sanderson, but I don't know that he's got the grit to bring Hyboria to life. Granted, I'm most familiar with Warbreaker and his WoT work. Maybe his other series have more darkness to them.

With Martin, I know he could nail the grit, and the darkness, but I feel like he just takes too much glee in destroying powerful characters. I don't think Conan would last to the end of his own story (if they let Martin write it however he wanted). That said, if they could rein in his tendency to kill off all the good characters, I'd read Martin's version of Conan.

---

Try Sanderson's "the way of Kings". Great start to what I think will turn out to be a fantastic series.

"The Road" and "No Country for Old Men" author Cormac McCarthy. Without a DOUBT he could put a whole level of depth into this world.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by K4nnyc

Joe Abercrombie
Brandon Sanderson
Patrick Rothfuss
Scott Lynch
George RR Martin
Peter V Brett

I also like: (but may not be good enough)
Mark Charan Newton
Michael J Sullivan

---

I don't know the other authors. But George RR Martin's work I love it, I love his worlds, his characters, but I don't think he could believably pull off a Conan story based on what I've seen from him. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. He's too PC.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wancow

"The Road" and "No Country for Old Men" author Cormac McCarthy. Without a DOUBT he could put a whole level of depth into this world.

---

Yea Blood Meridian was one barbaric tale! Cormac is probably the most talented American author living today, although he is getting up in years and may be past his prime of creativity. But as a descriptive writer he can paint a vivid picture with words.

Another younger American author who is very good is Kem Nunn. I am reading Dogs of Winter by him. He writes a lot about surfing, sort of Blood Meridian meets the Beach Boys, lol.