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Solomon Kane (Solomon Kane #1)

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"For man's only weapon is courage that flinches not from the gates of Hell itself, and against such not even the legions of Hell can stand." Kane, a knight-errant born as a Puritan, has only one vanity - pride that no one has ever questioned his courage. "A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things, avenge all crimes against right and justice."

My thanks to the publishers, who have assembled EVERYTHING, including unpublished material (not completed upon Howard's death) fleshed out by Ramsey Campbell, who did a good job. Campbell's introduction spells out, for each such story, who wrote which bits.

"Skulls in the Stars" - On the road to Torkertown, Kane is warned off the shortest route across the moors; a fiend has slain every traveler to pass that way for the last year. Kane takes this as a sign that another task has come his way.

"The Right Hand of Doom" - The necromancer may have deserved death, but Kane had only contempt for his betrayer, the magician's only 'friend' who sold him to the law. Not a good idea to cross a magician who has courage and nothing left to lose, waiting in the condemned cell at Torkertown.

"Red Shadows" - After comforting a dying rape victim, Kane commits himself to tracking down Le Loup and his men. The trail leads from France to Africa, ending with Kane's first meeting and alliance with N'Longa (in case you wondered how they became blood brothers). Don't be put off by N'Longa's poor command of English; when he puts aside his pride in his knowledge of the alien tongue and drops into river dialect, that should clear up any misconceptions about Howard's treatment of his character.

"Rattle of Bones" - Kane, passing through the Black Forest, stays the night at the Cleft Skull Tavern (English translation), meeting Gaston, a flamboyant fellow traveler who seems familiar.

"The Castle of the Devil" (Campbell collaboration) - John Silent, an English mercenary moving on to his next job, meets with Kane in the Black Forest, to learn that Kane cut down a boy from the local Baron's gibbet. As his castle - the Castle of the Devil - is nearby, Kane has a feeling that he will be called upon to ease another evil man of his life...

"Death's Black Riders" - A fragment, concerning a mysterious apparition encountered by Kane in his travels.

"The Moon of Skulls" - Sir John Taferal, upon his death in a duel with Kane, confessed that he had sold his young cousin Marylin to a Barbary rover, faking her death, in an attempt to become the heir of Lord Hildred Taferal. Kane, having rid the world of one Taferal, took on the job of restoring another, tracing her to Negari, ancient city of evil repute, lost colony of Atlantis.

"The One Black Stain: Sir Thomas Doughty, executed at St. Julian's Bay, 1578" - Poem. Solomon Kane, alone of all Francis Drake's men, has the courage to say, "Worthy of death he well may be, but the court ye held was a mockery..."

"Blades of the Brotherhood" - The Fishhawk and his fellow pirates set upon a ship in the Caribbean carrying the daughter of one of Kane's old friends. The trail has led him to an English manor, whose master respects no one and nothing, not even the victor in his latest duel, Jack Hollinster, who stopped at first blood only at a magistrate's orders.

"The Hills of the Dead" - N'Longa's initial gift to Kane - the cat-headed staff - ever afterwards travels with him.

"Hawk of Basti" (Campbell collaboration) - Jeremy Hawk, an old acquaintance from Kane's seafaring days with Grenville, survived shipwreck on the African coast only to stumble across the unknown civilization of Basti. Having set himself up as a god-king, he has been overthrown, and seeks a return to power.

"The Return of Sir Richard Grenville" - Poem. Upon being wakened in the middle of a jungle night by a ghostly warning, Kane isn't one to let wonder get in the way of survival.

"Wings in the Night" - Coming upon the ruins of an African village, Kane learns the truth behind the ancient legends of harpies. He's actually at a serious disadvantage against his winged enemies here.

"The Footfalls Within" - As part of this story, we learn much more about the cat-headed staff and its history, courtesy of one of a party of slavers who capture Kane. That was their first mistake - the second was to open up a sealed tomb deep in the wilderness. (No chance to make a third mistake after that.)

"The Children of Asshur" (Campbell collaboration) - Kane stumbles across a lost civilization (Assyrian, this time). Compare with Howard's "The Voice of El-Lil" if the culture interests you.

"Solomon Kane's Homecoming" - Short poem, relating Kane's return to his hometown after many years' absence.

"Naught but a wanderer, a landless man, but a friend to all in need."

It is a mistake to write off the character of Solomon Kane as simply being a Puritan fanatic. It is inaccurate and an injustice. It is a strange sort of fanatic that hates the inquisition and the witch hunters, as much as, he does necromancers and murderers. Kane is in the ancient British and Irish tradition of a man who goes forth to wander the world after he receives the call- guided solely by his deep inner trust in his God. That is why he can walk the dark and wild places of the earth unscathed. That is why monsters and devils hold no terror for him. He simply trusts in the Lord to guide him to where he can do the most good. Kane is a Puritan in the original sense of the word, a single individual that has no tolerance for corruption whether it exists in the World- or the Church. He doesn't preach, for he doesn't need to- his actions, and his sword, speak for him. He needs no priest to mediate between himself and his Creator. Kane has gone beyond faith, for his is the sure and implacable knowledge that God exists. This is what makes him such a dangerous foe- you can't scare him and you can't make a deal with him. He obeys only the inner voice that guides him. I can see why the weak and corrupt would paint such a man as a fanatic.

Solomon Kane was Howard's first creation. In my opinion, he was also his best. There is an element present here that is missing from the later characters- something higher.

I've only recently become aquainted with the works of Robert E. Howard and have been greatly impressed with his writing abilities. The stories of Solomon Kane compiled in this paperback offer an excellent view into Howard's extraordinary ability as a storyteller. His description of a drifting Puritan on a personal mission to rid the world of all the evil that he encounters in his travels are magnificently portrayed. His fantastic method of using the language of the time in such a way that is easy to understand for the contemporary reader leave this (and other) novel very entertaining. At many different points during the course of my reading, I was fascinated by the situations that Solomon Kane would become embroiled in and was delighted by the vivid imagination that Howard obviously possessed to describe the resolution of each circumstance. My personal recommendation for this book is for all people who enjoy fiction regardless of the genre they may personally choose. This writer was excellent! His stories should be encouraged to all who can truly appreciate a master at his craft.

Despite its humble mass market paperback appearance, this is the most complete and accurate collection of Howard's Solomon Kane stories ever published. The deluxe Donald Grant editions ("Red Shadows") and Centaur Press paperbacks published in the 70s were censored to remove possibly offensive racial descriptions. These are excellent stories. Robert E. Howard wrote the novelette "Red Shadows" at the age of 21! Pretty impressive. "Wings in the Night" is one of Howard's very best stories, a sustained, masterful combination of horror and adventure. Particularly interesting for those who, all too easily, call Howard a racist is Kane's strange friendship with the African shaman N'Longa. Baen Books should be heartily congratulated for reprinting these memorable, classic stories of weird adventure, most of which first appeared in the pages of that legendary pulp magazine "Weird Tales" .

Solomon Kane's adventures are, in my opinion, among the best tales penned by R.E. Howard. None of his other heroes are as driven as Kane, nor as mysterious. The approach taken to the supernatural in these tales is also far more clever... and the supernatural seems far more horrific as a result.

This book collects all of Howard's Kane writings, including even a poem that amounts to Kane's farewell appearance. It's a worthwhile addition to the library of any lover of fantasy and horror fiction... more modern writers in both genres owe more to Howard than most of them realize.

On a final note, the 'fanboy' in me was particularly excited by the Kull cross-over in one of Kane's African adventures... when our hero stumbles into the final vestiges of the Alantean civilization!

howard's descriptions of the puritan with a sword and a pistol, makes Solomon Kane his most interesting creation. the concept in these stories are great too, and varying. some include magic, there are pirats and vampires. as always howard is unmatched in his combat descriptions. true greatness. one sad thing, though: the "completion" of some stories by Ramsey Campbell. awful. the guy hasn't got a clue. Solomon Kane sudenly tolerates corruption, one story has an incredibly stupid ending. Campbell was definitely the wrong choice. make up for it, get someone else.

Solomon Kane is one of Robert E. Howard's many enduring characters from his pulp-career, but not one that has caught on as much as Conan has, or even Kull. In a lot of ways Solomon Kane is more interesting as a character, as he is a Puritan adventurer. This gives Kane many interesting inner-conflicts. Right away, as a Puritan, he has experienced religious persecution, or seen/known others of his denomination persecuted, for their version of faith in God, which was counter to the dominant version of faith in God at that time in history. That could almost be enough, but you also have this aspect of his character which strives to reconcile how to put his faith to practice: he is not about lip-service, or hypocrisy. Can an injustice be allowed to continue, or go unanswered for? No. This is why when a rape-victim dies in his arms the man travels part of Europe, and sails as far as Africa intending to avenge her (as seen in "Red Shadows"). If there is no one, to help those who need it, to deal justice to those beyond the law of the land, to put wrongs to right, then "by God" Solomon Kane will!

The original stories, as done by Howard are classic and they hold up well today. One should keep in mind when Howard was writing about the past, his narritive voice slipped back in time as well. He approximates how people really thought back then. Also, consider that this was long before political correctness, and there was no such thing as "African-American" as a term. Howard tended to use the expression "black" which was thankfully better than a lot of writers and pulp-writers of that day. There are times when the character of Kane comes off as patriarchal, though well intentioned, but this is not to be seen as a reflection of Howard's own views towards women (which was actually very good, some say even advanced, considering his relative isolation and the era he lived), or other races of people, as much as a fairly accurate portrayal of how a lot of people would have behaved/thought at a given point in history portrayed in a story. Popular arm-chair sycophant literary criticism would have everyone believe that the character is the direct extension of the author, but really all that accompishes is to ruin stories that are fiction -- fiction -- and unfairly characterize writers who may be far from anything like the characters they create.

This edition is not bad. But, it could certainly have been better. If you can't find a better edition of Solomon Kane stories this one may do, but there have been better, and there is a hardcover collection being made available very soon.

Although these stories may not be as polished as Howard's later works, I find them fascinating because not only do they clearly indicate the direction which Howard's writing will take, but the hero is so unlike any others that Howard created. I read the Kane stories long after I was familiar with Howard's other stories, and was rather surprised by the type of character that he had created in Kane. As for accusations that Howard was a rascist, if one takes into account that Howard considered Africans as barbarians and that he placed barbarians on a rather high pedestal (Conan, Kull, etc...), and if one also takes into account the direction which his Solomon Kane stories takes, then one would have to be quite ignorant of his work in general, and desirous of pushing a knee-jerk agenda to think that. Howard simply tried to write people the way they were back then. Another interesting aspect of this character is that although he is fanatical, he is still the hero. Howard is not pushing religion here as Kane is often portrayed as a zealot, but at the same time, he is not using a religious character to mock religion as has become common in these PC times. It is a startlingly objective view of a human being with strong beliefs that are both his weakness and his strength. To me, this raises the character above his pulp-fiction environs.

As a R.E.H. fan, particularly of the Conan tales, long have I waited to find these stories collected about Solomon Kane. While a prior hope was dusty used bookstores, this is a very affordable edition that is certainly much nicer. Kane always was an underrated hero of Howard's. The Grim Puritan, the Avenging Vessel of God's Wrath, the strongest man in England. A must for any R.E.H. fan, and a nice change of pace from the barbarian world of Kull and Conan, yet tinged with the elements that make those guys great.

Solomon Kane, seventeenth century English Puritan, enemy of vampires, Assyrians, and other beings of this world and not of this world. Kane's iron will and indomitable spirit are a match for any earthly or supernal foe.