
Conan the Barbarian (The Complete Chronicles)
Robert E. Howard · 1932
Howard invented sword and sorcery in 1932 and created the template for every muscled fantasy hero since. Conan himself is more complex than the archetype suggests; Howard's Hyborian Age is a melancholy world of lost civilizations and declining empires.
Science Fiction & Fantasy · the Pro canon
The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.