Young Thongor. Lin Carter

original and with artwork by Val Mayerik. Issues 24 to 29 ran the complete The Wizard of Lemuria, again scripted by Effinger and with excellent art by Vincente Alcazar, who worked at various times on some of the more prestigious Conan comics.

9 Milton Subotsky, who co-produced with Max Rosenberg movies such as At the Earth’s Core and The Land That Time Forgot, both from the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, wrote to me for some information about Thongor in the 1970s. This was for a potential Thongor movie he was considering for Amicus Productions, so there were at least some basic plans on the drawing table! Movie rights to the Thongor books were licensed by a different production company in 2001, so hope for a film version lives on.

10 Conan, published by Lancer (NY) 1967, edited by Lin Carter and Sprague de Camp.

      INTRO TO LEMURIA

      The following originally appeared as part of the introduction to Thongor and the Dragon City, which is now chronologically the third volume in the series about the Valkarthan warrior. A section of it is reprinted here as a fitting opening to Thongor’s saga, setting the stage for the dramatic adventures that unfold.

      LEMURIA

      Half a million years ago the first and most glorious civilization arose on the Lost Continent of Lemuria amidst the blue vastness of the Pacific.

      This was the middle of the Pleistocene epoch, a division of geological time which began circa one million BC and extended to about 25,000 BC. The continents of Eurasia, Africa and the Ameri cas were very different then. Mammoth and mastodon and sabretooth tiger fought for the mastery of the earth, while tall, stalwart Cro-Magnon man and his hulking, ape-like predecessor, Neanderthal man, fled from the remorseless advance of the towering glaciers. The age of the mighty reptiles was long over: it had ended with the birth of the Cenezoic Era seventy five million years ago.

      But amidst the steaming jungles and fetid swamps and thundering volcanoes of primal Lemuria, the colossal saurians yet lived. They had come close to dominating the earth itself, and they would have trampled the first, small, timid mammals into the quaking slime.

      But the Nineteen Gods Who Watch The World intervened. Seldom does The Unknown One permit the Nineteen Gods to influence the flow of time—only in moments of cosmic peril may they take action on the physical plane. But the future history of the planet trembled in the balance, and the unwritten chronicles of age upon age hovered in the mists of the Might-Have-Been. Thus the Nineteen Gods were permitted to act, and Man arose upon the earth to challenge the might of the Dragon Kings in war.

      It is written in the age-old pages of The Lemurian Chronicles that this war lasted for one thousand years.

      Man triumphed, the Dragons fell, and the Age of Men began. But, from beyond the Universe itself, the dark forces of Chaos and Old Night schemed and plotted against the Lords of Creation. Evil cults of demon-worshippers arose in primal Lemuria: dark druids sworn to the service of Chaos, who subtly undermined the nine young cities of the World’s West. King was pitted against king, and city against city, in ruinous wars. Soon the bright torch of that first civilization would be crushed out, and Man would descend into the red murk of howling savagery…

      DIOMBAR’S SONG OF THE LAST BATTLE

      1.

      With dawn we rode from Nemedis

      in all her pomp and pride.

      The white road thundered beneath our tread

      and the white sea at our side.

      The wild waves broke on the naked rocks

      and returned to break once more

      Where the grim black walls of the Dragon Keep

      loomed on the grim black shore.

      2.

      The foam-maned lions of the sea

      drove madly against the strand.

      On a desolate stretch of wet black rock,

      the heroes took their stand.

      Above, against a storm-torn sky

      of whirling crimson smoke,

      The jagged walls of the Keep rose sheer

      from the rocks where white waves broke.

      3

      And Thungarth, son of Jaidor, urged

      his mount to the grim black gate

      That rose above him like a cliff,

      death-cold and dark as fate.

      Ah, he was young as morning,

      a hero to behold;

      His mighty thews like ruddy bronze,

      his mane like ruddy gold.

      4

      The challenge was his alone to claim,

      by clan-law and blood-right,

      For the Dragon Kings had slain his sire

      in treachery by night.

      He set his war horn to his lips—

      the thunder of its cry

      Aroused the Dragon warriors forth

      to conquer or to die.

      5.

      And from the ebon citadel

      the Dragon Warriors came,

      And they were mailed in adamant,

      and armed with evil flame.

      The heroes rode against them

      and strove with sword and shield

      To fight and fall—if fall they must

      —to die, but never yield!

      6.

      And Khorbane fell, and proud Konnar,

      and gallant Yggrim too;

      Yet still we strove with the Dragon Kings

      and the great war trumpets blew.

      And for every hero of Phondath’s breed

      who upon that black shore fell

      We sent a dozen Dragons down

      the scarlet throat of hell!

      7.

      From wild red dawn to wild red dawn

      we held our iron line

      And fought till the blades broke in our hands

      and the sea ran red as wine.

      With arrow, spear and mighty mace,

      we broke the Dragon’s pride,

      Thigh-deep in the roaring sea we fought,

      and crimson ran the tide.

      8.

      But we were armed with simple steel,

      and they with sorcery;

      And step by step they thrust us back

      into the hungry sea.

      And Thungarth saw that he must use

      that Sword the Gods had made

      Although he knew it meant his doom

      to lift that dreadful blade.

      9.

      As one by one his brothers fell,

      he raised the Star Sword high!

      He sang the runes to the Lords of Light

      —and thunder broke the sky!