The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
With Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard created more than the greatest action hero of the twentieth century?he also launched a genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery. But Conan wasn?t the first archetypal
adventurer to spring from Howard?s fertile imagination.
?He was . . . a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan. . . . A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things. . . . Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only one respect?he was true to his ideals of justice and right. Such was Solomon Kane.?
Collected in this volume, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Gary Gianni, are all of the stories and poems that make up the thrilling saga of the dour and deadly Puritan, Solomon Kane. Together they constitute a sprawling epic of weird fantasy adventure that stretches from sixteenth-century England to remote African jungles where no white man has set foot. Here are shudder-inducing tales of vengeful ghosts and bloodthirsty demons, of dark sorceries wielded by evil men and women, all opposed by a grim avenger armed with a fanatic?s faith and a warrior?s savage heart.
This edition also features exclusive story fragments, a biography of Howard by scholar Rusty Burke, and ?In Memoriam,? H. P. Lovecraft?s moving tribute to his friend and fellow literary genius.
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane Accessories
 Kull: Exile of Atlantis
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time!
Bran Mak Morn: The Last King
The Conquering Sword of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 3)
The Bloody Crown of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 2)
Lord of Samarcand and Other Adventure Tales of the Old Orient (The Works of Robert E. Howard)
The Black Stranger: And Other American Tales (The Works of Robert E. Howard Series)
The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 1: Crimson Shadows (Best of Robert E Howard)
The End of the Trail: Western Stories (The Works of Robert E. Howard)
The Savage World of Solomon Kane (Savage Worlds; S2P10400)
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane Reviews
Dressed in black with the tall slouch-hat typical of Puritan fashion, and armed with sword, flint-locks, and, later, an ancient carved staff, Solomon Kane stalks the 16th century world from the remote reaches of Europe to the bloody decks of the high seas, and into the deepest, darkest African jungles. Between the lines broods an ancient feeling of melancholy that lends such realism to the writing. It reminded me of when I was too young to be allowed to read such violent and terrifying tales but did so anyway because I knew therein were hidden truths of adventures still left in this world that my parents didn't want me to know about. Reading these stories in this format is like a journey back to my childhood when the jungles of an old Tarzan movie were more real than anything documented on the National Geographic channel, and when a horror-comic hidden in a text book at school would make me too scared to sleep that night.
Whether it be a witch-cursed monstrosity, hell-spawned vampire, mutant throw-back, or just a wicked wretch of humankind, Solomon Kane will fight with equal determination and enthusiasm to see good triumph. What makes Solomon Kane so endearing to read is, on one hand, Solomon Kane is the archetypal swash-buckler much like a character from a Robert Louis Stevenson adventure story. Robert E.
However, despite his staunch Puritan faith, his inner demons are almost as dark as those he combats. On the other hand (probably the left because left-handedness was once thought to be of the Devil), Kane is as foreboding as what he faces most often horrors as nightmarish as anything Edgar Allen Poe ever created. Howard's tales are so alive, you almost have to check yourself for wounds.
He seeks no personal reward only claims to do the will of God. He is a man of violence, filled with a wander-lust to seek out what he judges as evil with a determination and recklessness that is psychotic. As with all of Howard's heroes, Solomon Kane is larger-than-life, fearless, and inherited of an ancestral fighting prowess and unconquerable spirit.
But Kane's adventures are the product of his fanatical obsession to root-out and destroy evil in any form. And the beautiful, sweeping illustrations in this book by the award-winning artist Gary Gianni bring that classical story-telling feel to the fore-front.
In many ways, Solomon Kane is R E Howard's most intriguing character. For that reason alone, I can't give the book five stars. Adding to this wealth of riches is H P Lovecraft's In Memoriam, written shortly after howard's untimely suicide, as well as brilliant artwork capturing strikingly Howard's vision of 16th Century Europe and Africa. Still, for all the above reasons, this is a phenomenal read anyone willing to give it a try should enjoy. All of the other stories, while not as accomplished as these two, are well worth the read. As dark and conflicted as his creator and as brilliantly conceived as one could hope, Solomon Kane leaps off the page in the stories and poems presented in this collection. Unfortunately for some unaccountable reason, the editors did not see fit to provide us with an essay placing Solomon Kane in context of Howard's broader work or detailing to us the various physical, emotional, and economic situations that caused Howard to write his characters in certain ways as they have done with all the other collections in this series. As an added bonus, the duel at the end of Red Shadows is simply breathtaking.
Each shows Howard's puritan fanatic at his most vengeful, and each displays mistakes made by the protagonist, giving him a more human, identifiable feel. As for the quality of the stories themselves, while all are readable, some are simply outstanding. As is well known by connoisseurs of his work, Howard was an accomplished poet as well as a brilliant prose writer, and this shows both in the lengthy poems centering on Solomon (of which, Solomon Kane's Homecoming is the moody best) and in the shorter poems he appended to some of the stories. Red Shadows (originally titled by Howard Solomon Kane but later retitled by him upon submission to Weird Tales) and Wings in the Night are the standouts here. As with the previous editions, the editors make no changes to Howard's work aside from cleaning up typos and deleting all pastiche material.
Dear readers, please give yourself a break from the masochistic pleasures of reading the works of the present-day pretenders, and read the originals. the so-called "saga"-s/"chronicles"/"epics" that have flooded the fantasy market with their herculean size and very high percentage of broodings & ponderings, absolutely stale. They will blow your mind. by the senior citizens) that "good-old" things of the past are not to be found nowadays, since the taste has gone to "dogs". I don't know exactly how Howard had developed his vocabulary and syntactical style, but every time I read any of his works (esp. If you are not having any such expectations, then buy this book and give yourself a 5-star treat.
It is often lamented (esp. I do not belong to that age-group, but after reading works of R.E.Howard I am finding everything else, esp. those concerning Solomon Kane) I am amazed anew as to why nobody else could ever attain the height that he scaled again-and-again. to complete the fragments left behind by Howard, and that expectation was not fulfilled. The only reason for which I deducted a star was because I had expected Del Ray to append the portions written by Ray Bradbury et.al. It is true that these works may not be politically correct as per the prevalent norms, but they are very high on entertainment quotient, for which purpose they had been written and they are read.
The narratives are swiftly paced, the characters are drawn in bold strokes of white and (mostly) black with magnanimous splashes of red, and the descriptions are absolutely breathtaking.
in short perfect for any Howard fan Howard's Kane stories are much like his Kull or Conan.
But Conan wasn't the first archetypal adventurer to spring from Howard's fertile imagination. Enjoy. Such was Solomon Kane.". Other books to read are: Whole Wide World by Novalyne Ellis who was REH's girlfriend the last few years of his life and made into a DVD starring Renee Zellweger and Vincent D'Onofrio as REH, Blood & Thunder, The Life & Art of REH by Mark Finn, The Last of The Trunk by Paul Herman, and The Black Stranger & OTher American Tales that has the scariest story ever - Pigeons From Hell. Lovecraft's moving tribute to his friend and fellow literary genius. All of REH works are great. Here are shudder-inducing tales of vengeful ghosts and bloodthirsty demons, of dark sorceries wileded by evil men and women, all opposed by a grim avenger armed with a fanatic's faith and a warrior's savage heart.
Excerp from back of book; "With Conan the cimmerian, Robert E. Collected in this volume, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Garyl Gianni, are all of the stories and poems that make up the thrilling sage of the dour and deadly Puritan, Solomon Kane. This edition also features exclusive story fragments, a biography of Howard by scholar Rusty Burke, and "In Memoriam," H.P. Howard created more than the greatest action hero of the twentieth century-he also launched a genre that came to be know as sword and sorcery. Together they constitute a sprawling epic of weird fantasy adventure that stretches from sixteeth-century England to remote African jungles where no white man has set foot. "He was a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan.A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things.Wayward and restless as the win, he was consistent in only one respecthe was true to his ideals of justice and right.
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