Conan and the Treasure of Python is a fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 novel written by John Maddox Roberts

John Maddox Roberts

John Maddox Roberts is an author who has written many science fiction and fantasy novels, including his successful historical fiction, such as the SPQR series and Hannibal's Children....

 featuring Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard

Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....

's seminal sword and sorcery

Sword and sorcery

Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural...

 hero Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...

. It was first published in trade paperback by Tor Books

Tor Books

Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...

 in November 1993; a regular paperback edition followed from the same publisher in August 1994.

Plot

In Asgalun, Conan is hired to lead a party to Kush, by a man whose brother has vanished seeking a legendary treasure. Conan takes the job, though the project is almost derailed at the outset by an attack by corsairs. In Kush the expedition is joined by Goma, a mysterious native who serves it as a guide. A long march to the reputed treasure region ensues, including a harrowing journey through a waterless desert. Finally the seekers reach a secret kingdom, in which they are imprisoned. Their guide is then revealed as the realm's rightful monarch, the rule of which has been usurped by a tyrant with the aid of a witch doctor. A battle must be fought and a horrible lake monster faced before all can be resolved.

Reception

Reviewer Harvey Ryan considered the book "one of the most interesting of the Tor novels," and the writer "the most consistently successful of its stable of authors," while noting that "this novel is literally King Solomon's Mines

King Solomon's Mines

King Solomon's Mines is a popular novel by the Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party...

... Roberts copies the exact plot of the classic H. Rider Haggard

H. Rider Haggard

Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...

 1885 adventure novel and recasts it as a Conan story, with the legendary barbarian starring in the Allan Quatermain

Allan Quatermain

Allan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and its various prequels and sequels. Allan Quatermain was also the title of a book in this sequence.- History :...

role."

Reference

• Fantastic Fiction entry for Conan and the Treasure of Python