"The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane" collects together all the unedited, original stories and poems about the puritan adventurer and fantasy hero Solomon Kane. Author Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) created many classic fantasy heroes in the pulp magazines of the 1920s and 30s, such as Conan the Cimmerian, and Solomon Kane is one of his most unique and intriguing creations for modern readers. Solomon Kane appeared in "Weird Tales" Magazine, and his stories combined swashbuckling adventure with supernatural horrors. Howard describes Kane as a "fanatic," who is called by God to travel the world destroying evil. Kane is compulsive, obsessive, grim, and will NOT be swayed from his quest. He encounters sword-swinging villains, vile black magic, and hideous creatures as his wanders the globe in his ceaseless crusade.
If you haven't heard of Solomon Kane, buy this book immediately and fall into a world of action, horror, history, and the fantastic -- all centered on this vengeful and driven Puritan swordsman of the late 16th/early 17th century. The stories are presented un-edited, which means the inclusion of many racial stereotypes and attitudes prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s.
This paperback is a reprint of an expensive limited-edition hardback. Aside from the stories themselves, it includes all of Howard's unfinished fragments. Earlier editions had author Ramsey Campbell finish these incomplete stories, but I prefer to read them exactly as Howard left them. Fabulous black and white illustrations by Gary Gianni adorn almost every page, scattered around the borders of the text, with an occasional full-page illustration. Gianni has an unerring eye for period detail, and his envisioning of Solomon Kane is dead-on. For the reference of new readers, the editors include two essays on Howard's life. First, a memoriam written by H. P. Lovecraft (who corresponded with Howard for years) on the occasion of Howard's suicide in 1936. Second, scholar Rusty Burke provides a short but information overview of the Howard's life. For the extremist, there is also an appendix of textual notes on the stories.
Here are the stories, fragments, and poems you will find inside...
SKULLS IN THE STARS: Solomon Kane finds a wraith-like monster guarding a lonely road in rural England. A short spooky tale; a good introduction to the character.
THE RIGHT HAND OF DOOM: A condemned wizard seeks revenge on the man who betrayed him. This is very short piece, more like a vignette, and Kane has only a small role in the story.
RED SHADOWS: (Originally published as "Solomon Kane") Kane vows vengeance against a bandit who killed a girl, and chases him into Africa, where he encounters sinister magic and furious swordplay. A real mini-epic, with Howard's word magic at its best.
RATTLE OF BONES: In the Black Forest of Germany, Kane finds a mysterious inn with a hideous secret. A fine, short horror piece.
CASTLE OF THE DEVIL: (Fragment) Solomon Kane decides to investigate a tyrannical baron. Only four pages were completed.
DEATH'S BLACK RIDERS: (Fragment) Kane meets a shadowy ghost rider on the road. Howard completed only a page.
THE MOON OF SKULLS: The longest story -- almost a short novel! To rescue a kidnapped girl, Kane enters a lost city in Africa lorded over by an evil queen.
THE ONE BLACK STAIN: A four-page poem where Solomon Kane meets Sir Francis Drake. Unusual and stirring.
THE BLUE FLAME OF VENGEANCE: (Previously titled "Blades of the Brotherhood") On another vengeance trail, Solomon Kane battles pirates on the English coast. There's no fantasy element -- it's a straightforward historical action tale -- but Howard's fiery writing makes this one of the best stories.
THE HILLS OF THE DEAD: Deep in Africa again, Kane joins forces with a shaman to take on a horde of the walking dead.
HAWK OF BASTI: (Fragment) A good start to a story, but the manuscript stops just as it gets interesting. Kane delves deeper into the jungles to find a tyrannical lost civilization.
THE RETURN OF SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE: Two-page poem, with Kane fighting side by side with a ghost.
WINGS IN THE NIGHT: In the best story of all, Kane battles a race of bloodthirsty winged humanoids on an African plateau. Howard's writing reaches levels of feverish, raw madness, creating an intense experience. A fine example of his passionate style and theme of affirming life through seemingly hopeless struggle.
THE FOOTFALLS WITHIN: Another superb story, which will appeal to fans of horror writer (and Howard pen-pal) H. P. Lovecraft. Slavers capture Solomon Kane, but they have an unpleasant rendezvous with an ancient crypt that imprisons something that should not be disturbed. Howard delves deep into dread and primordial terror in this one.
THE CHILDREN OF ASSHUR: (Fragment) Kane stumbles across a lost city of Assyrians. This is a lengthy fragment, about thirty pages, and might have been a one of the best stories if Howard had finished it.
SOLOMON KANE'S HOMECOMING: (Poem) After years of wandering, our puritan hero comes back to England and remembers some of his adventures. This short poem is the perfect way to end the saga of Solomon Kane, and is reprinted here in two versions.
"The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane" is a volume not to be missed for fans of fantasy, pulp literature, and historical adventure. If you've only read Howard's Conan stories, here's your chance to expand to one of his other brilliant creations in a beautiful volume.
