Robert E. Howard Readers discussion

After reading & loving Robert E. Howard's books for years, especially Conan, I ran across Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories. While the genre is similar & both men were very strong, Kane was much darker than Conan. Instead of being a 'clean barbarian', Kane was steeped in horror, but I liked him just as much.

There were a lot of similarities between the authors, too. Both died well before their time, too. Howard by shooting himself, Wagner by drinking himself to death.
Both wrote horror stories, too. They were brooding artists of phenomenal talent.

Unfortunately, Wagner's tales can be much harder to get a hold of. I had a few paperbacks that I read to death, but Wagner didn't create as many Kane stories & some were unpublished or scattered in anthologies. Ditto with his horror stories.

I bought a used library copy of Why Not You And I? for $30, a good price at the time, which contained a couple of horror stories I didn't have. In a Lonely Place is another great collection of his horror. I found a copy of Exorcisms & Ecstasies for $5 on a remainder rack. I've seen it sell for over $200, but managed to find one for $60 to give to my son last year for his birthday.

There have been some wonderful collections of Wagner's stories, but the best were limited, specialty runs & priced accordingly. For Xmas, I bought us Centipede Press' 2 volume set of Wagner's horror stories; Where the Summer Ends: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 1 & Walk on the Wild Side: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 2. It was a superb job.

Next year, I think Centipede Press is going to put out a full collection of the Kane stories. While there have been a couple of attempts at this, I don't think any have actually gathered ALL the Kane stories together. There were a few of Kane in today's world that weren't available, as I recall. Anyway, those collection books are going for crazy prices now. Centipede held the price down to $45 each on the collected horror stories.

Is anyone else a fan?

I think Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane did include all of the Kane short stories including the modern ones. Having said that, it's expensive and hard to find, and I'm also looking forward to the Centipede editions.

And there was also talk about eBook editions of Kane, which would make me really, really happy.

That's good to know, Joseph. If I stumble across one at a decent price, I'll snap it up. The Book of Kane doesn't have them all, does it?

Have you read Wagner's horror stories? I'm hoping to find someone who knows what Straub goofed on when he wrote the introduction to In a Lonely Place.

No, Book of Kane (although it's a nice edition) is just a sampler and it was published in 1985, before he'd written some of the contemporary stories. (I think my first actual exposure to Wagner, and to Kane, was in one of the early issues in the Scithers/Betancourt/Schweitzer revival of Weird Tales in the late 1980's.) It does have a couple of stories that were written after the five-volume paperback series was published.

Yes, I've also read his horror stuff and quite enjoyed it, but it's been years since I read it and I don't remember anything in particular about the intro to In a Lonely Place -- what's the scoop?

The introduction to Walk on the Wild Side: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 2, Peter Straub mentions his introduction to In a Lonely Place & misunderstanding one of the stories he liked best in In a Lonely Place. Of the 3 stories he likes best, only ".220 Swift" has a male protagonist & I don't recall Brandon seeing himself in a window. Do you know?

Straub mentions that there are some authors & subjects that he just can't read, which amused me since I've never been able to get into any of his books. Worse, he said he never tried to read any of the Kane stories because he had read Conan. Seriously? In the last page or so, he wrote about how devastating it was to see Wagner drinking himself to death, but mostly he gushed.

Jim wrote: "The introduction to Walk on the Wild Side: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 2, Peter Straub mentions his introduction to In a Lonely Place & misunderstanding one of the stories..."

Sorry -- as I said, it's been some years since I read the horror stories, and while I have the Centipede edition I haven't even read the intros yet. It's probably getting to be time for a Wagner reread ...

I read & enjoyed a few Straub books back in the day -- Shadowland primarily -- but none of his more recent stuff.

To answer the Straub question will take a read of his introduction in In a Lonely Place as well as 'Wild Side'. It's not terribly important, but serves as a good excuse to re-read great stories, though.
;-)

I originally thought that KEW's Kane was influenced by Conan but I got a letter from KEW where he told me he had not read any of the Conan stories before he first came up with Kane.

Charles wrote: "I originally thought that KEW's Kane was influenced by Conan but I got a letter from KEW where he told me he had not read any of the Conan stories before he first came up with Kane."

I read that in one of the forewords or something in one of his books, too. I'd always thought the same.

Any ideas on Straub & what he missed in which story?

No idea about the introduction and what Straub missed.

My first introduction to Wagner was in the Betancourt/Schweitzer/Scithers Weird Tales issue that had some of his stories and the hagiography by David Drake. It wasn't until a year or two later that I managed to track down the paperback Kane books and the horror collections, and order The Book of Kane directly from Donald Grant; but I was very happy when I did so.

(As an aside, I have to say I really, really liked the early years of the Weird Tales revival -- basically, everything from when they were still digest-sized back in the late 1980's and early 1990's.)

I have the 4 Kane paperbacks and I'm working my way through all the Kane material as I find it, though still a ways to go. I really enjoy Kane and of what I've read "Two Suns Setting" is my favorite tale thus far. I've read some KEW horror but as horror doesn't do much for me they really haven't either.

In addition to REH, KEW has been one of my childhood and adulthood favorites. I miss the writings of both men, and return to them regularly. Volumes from both are on the writing desk.

I just found a paperback copy of Why Not You And I? for $6 delivered on Ebay & gave a scratch & dented new copy of Where the Summer Ends: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 1 to a good friend who is also one of my favorite authors. She's also a fan of his. Our mutual love for the works of Karl Edward Wagner & Roger Zelazny is one of the reasons we're friends.

I have Why Not You And I? on the shelf. Great collection. Even the title illustrates KEW's imaginative prowess.

Cool that a gal is a fan. I get the impression they are not so inclined, but that's just from the lack of comments from them, nothing scientific.

My daughter never cared for KEW nor REH, although she's always been a bit of a tom boy. (She likes the early Anita Blake, despised the later ones just like my son & I.) They do seem more male oriented writers.

Centipede Press has a pre-sale going on for the complete Kane stories. Jared has collected every Kane story, novel, & poem for his 5 volume collection. For the next couple of days, you can pre-order them at a deep discount here:
http://www.centipedepress.com/horror/...

I got 2 of the unsigned sets. Signatures don't mean much to me or my son, we just want to read them all.

Tonight during dinner, the mailman dropped by with a package. It was my brand new complete Kane from Centipede Press.
http://centipedepress.com/horror/kane...

I have not opened the box yet. I got the 5 cloth volumes unsigned in a slipcase both for myself & my son for Xmas with quite a discount since I ordered early. There aren't any stories in the collection that I haven't read yet, but I believe they're in chronological order, at least as best he could given the novels.

I've spent a lot of years waiting for this collection. There have been other 'complete' Kane books before, but none were. I have them all plus short stories in several different volumes. That took some collecting. I've been bugging Jared, the publisher, about doing this collection since he first thought about publishing KEW's other short stories. That's years worth of nagging! Xmas will be good.
:)

Congrats on the great buy! I've seen those but believe it or not I have calmed down on my collecting. It's getting so I have no room for them and I am getting older :-). They look awesome!!

I don't really have room for them in my bookcases either. Not reason enough not to buy them, though.
;)

Speaking of bookcases, here is a fun project: Bookcases that are actually a hidden door.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hidde...

Jim wrote: "Speaking of bookcases, here is a fun project: Bookcases that are actually a hidden door.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hidde..."
I like that. Quite a space saver!

Waylander by David Gemmell was compared to Wagner's Kane books by at least one reviewer. This is the third in his Drenai saga, but I think it comes first chronologically. A captivating, dark read full of amoral, yet heroic characters. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

From Jerad at CentipedePress.com:

THE COMPLETE KANE
KARL EDWARD WAGNER
COMPLETE 5-VOLUME SETS IN STOCK

Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane, one of the best fantasy series ever, was republished last year to wide acclaim. Featuring all new illustrations, and all of the Kane novels and stories, it marked the first time that all relevant Kane material had ever been collected in one set of books, using the original titles that Wagner intended.

Our distributor has found some more copies of the sets, and we have about 6 complete sets of all 5 volumes. This has been one of our best selling sets. The link below is an email link, so if you want a set, drop me a line, as they are not posted online.

The Complete Kane, 5 volumes, $150.
Jerad at CentipedePress.com

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I bought them & they are fantastic. Centipede Press also did a 2 book set of all of KEW's short stories. I think they're sold out, but if you can ever get a copy of Where the Summer Ends: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 1 & Walk on the Wild Side: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 2, they're worth buying too, especially the first.

Jim wrote: "From Jerad at CentipedePress.com:

THE COMPLETE KANE
KARL EDWARD WAGNER
COMPLETE 5-VOLUME SETS IN STOCK

Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane, one of the best fantasy series ever, was republished last year ..."

Agreed on all counts -- they're great editions.

Centipede does great books & $150 is a pretty good price for these. I love the art work. KEW's work is very tough to get completely now. Few of his books have been republished, so finding these definitive editions is great.

Jim wrote: "Centipede does great books & $150 is a pretty good price for these. I love the art work. KEW's work is very tough to get completely now. Few of his books have been republished, so finding these def..."

Well, the Kane books are all available in eBook format, but they're based on the original 1970s paperbacks, so missing some of the later stories & the novel fragment.

If you're interested in the Kane books by Centipede Press, send an email to jerad_at_centipedepress.com & he'll let you know what's available. Here are some that he had this morning:

Complete Kane by Karl Edward Wagner, $160.
Individual Kane books are $35.
Scratch and dent Dark Crusade, Night Winds, and Darkness Weaves — $15 each or $40 for the set of 3.

I finally got around to reading the Centipede Press editions of Kane. Great new artwork, super books, & the first time I've ever read all the stories in chronological order, so it was a great experience. In an essay at the end of this edition of Death Angel's Shadow KEW discusses how much of an influence REH was on him & how much they thought alike. Interesting. My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

good discussion and nice examination of Kane and the stories.

Thanks. It was great to be able to read all the stories in chronological order. Pretty crazy what the book is worth, isn't it?

I have the Nightshade Books edition of Gods in Darkness. Should I read Midnight Sun first though?

Actually, you want to read them in tandem. In my review of Night Winds which is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
you'll find the Kane stories in chronological order. You'll want to read a few short stories in Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane then swap to Gods in Darkness: The Complete Novels of Kane to read "Bloodstone", then back to the stories again for a while.

There's a copy of Nightwinds from Centipede Press available on the Scratch & Dent page here:
http://www.centipedepress.com/scratch...

When Jarred says something is dented, I can't even tell, so I"m sure 'slightly' is really minor.