Also known as "Conan the Conqueror," The Hour of the Dragon is Robert E. Howard's only full-length novel about Conan, and it is considered by many to be one of his best works. During Conan's reign as King of Aquilonia, a group of conspirators plot to depose him in favor of Valerius, heir to Conan's predecessor Numedides, whom he had slain to gain the throne. To accomplish this they resort to necromancy, resurrecting Xaltotun, an ancient sorcerer from the pre-Hyborian empire of Acheron. With his aid the Aquilonian army is defeated by that of the rival kingdom of Nemedia and occupied. Conan, captured, is slated for execution until the sympathetic slave girl Zenobia risks her life to free him. Conan's quest to retrieve the Heart of Ahriman in order to defeat the wizard and regain his throne takes him through all the lands of Hyboria. After his eventual triumph he vows to make Zenobia his queen. Robert E. Howard is considered the godfather of Sword and Sorcery, and he is the creator of the international icon Conan the Cimmerian. This classic of adventure has been newly designed and typeset in a 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.
