CONAN: The Flame Knife -- (Ace Books, 1981)

Esteban Maroto provided many great illustrations for the 1981 Conan paperback novel "The Flame Knife" (Ace Books) and this powerful drawing shows Conan in full battle mode wielding his axe, like the bad-ass barbarian we know he is. The drawing was chosen to be the first page of the book. The Flame Knife novella, by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprgue de Camp, was originally published in 1955 in the hardbound collection "Tales of Conan" (Gnome Press).