The Song of Bêlit

Conan travels aboard the Argus, a merchant ship from Messantia, when they are attacked by the Tigress, the ship of the pirate Bêlit. During the confrontation, the Cimmerian is ready to sell his life, but when the situation seems more desperate, Bêlit becomes infatuated with the barbarian and he becomes her lover.

Thus begins "The Queen of the Black Coast", by Robert E. Howard. Using this story as a starting point, Rodolfo Martínez reconstructs the three years that Conan and Bêlit spent together, three years of thrilling adventures, blood and slaughter, of revenge and fulfilled prophecies, of enemies hidden in the shadows and unexpected allies, of cunning tricks and treacherous plans, but also of love and confidences, of pain, loss and longing.

Martinez follows the story to its natural conclusion, where he once again links to Howard's original story, creating a fascinating adventure, a love song for the adventure novel and popular narrative.

From the Black Coast to Stygia, from the hidden archipelago of Nakanda Wazuri to distant Turan, from Messantia to the poisonous Zarkheba River where the story will come to an end; in The Song of Bêlit, Martínez takes us through the Hyborian Age created by Howard and shows us what maybe is Conan's most fascinating adventure.



Rodolfo Martínez was born in Candás, Asturias, Spain, in 1965, Rodolfo is a computer programmer and probably the most prolific and award-winning science fiction writer in Spain. He writes with a dynamic style that often fuses several genres.



Outstanding works in his bibliography include the cyberpunk novels La sonrisa del gato (now available in English as Cat's Whirld) in 1995 and El sueño del rey rojo (The Red King's Dream) in 2004 (both of them winners of the Ignotus Award for Best novel in 1996 and 2005); the Ignotus-winning 1996 space opera Tierra de nadie: Jormundgand (No Man's Land: Jormungand); the urban fantasy Los sicarios del cielo (Heaven's Hitmen) in 2005, which won a Minotauro Award; and Fieramente humano (Fiercely Human) in 2011, which won another Ignotus Award.



He has written several fantasy pastiches inspired by Sherlock Holmes, and an action series under the overarching title El adepto de la reina (The Queen's Adept) in 2009, featuring a kind of James Bond in an alternative universe where special rules of physics operate.



His short stories have been collected in Callejones sin salida (Dead-End Alleys) in 2005, Laberinto de espejos (Mirror Maze) in 2006, Porciones individuales (Single Portions) in 2012, and Dados cargados (Loaded Dice) in 2017.



Martínez is also head of the independent publishing house Sportula.