OK, here are the quotes again, with the identification and my comments in parentheses.
#1. "Before them all came the giant form of Conan. Arrows had ripped his white khalat, exposing the glittering black mail that clad his lion-thewed torso." (This is De Camp and Carter, "Black Tears", P. 16 of Conan the Wanderer. I thought it was pretty good. The use of the word “khalat” is a giveaway. It’s classic De Camp and I don’t think Howard ever used this word.)
#2. "There was blood on the Cimmerian's mail, dried blood on the sword in his right hand; he loomed dim and gigantic in the shadowy light." (This is authentic REH, P. 51 of Red Nails, the Berkley paperback edition. Really good. The use of the semi-colon to tie two sentences together is a nice stylistic touch.)
#3. "Both Conan's knees bent to drop him straight down into a squat below the mighty cut. He heard the wind-noise of the rushing blade, too close above his head." (This is andy offutt, P. 42 of Conan the Mercenary. Workmanlike prose. Nothing spectacular here.)
#4. "The Cimmerian strode forward through the dull light and dust of the battlefield. His sword was red, his knuckles white from the harsh grip of his hand on the hilt." (This is my contribution, from “Conan: Let's Rip Their Heads off and Feed Them to the Worms,” an unpublished manuscript that consists only of the two lines quoted above.
#5. "Conan pivoted on his buttocks, his foot rising to meet a hurtling nomad in the stomach. With a gagging gasp the man stopped dead, black eyes goggling as he bent double." (This is Robert Jordan, Conan the Unconquered. It doesn't get much worse than this. I mean, gagging, gasp, and goggling in the same sentence. I've got to start using more "G" words in my own writing. To be fair, though, this was one of his earlier books. And I read several Conan books by him. The stories were not that bad. I never tried the Wheel of Time series.)
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