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Kane #1, 3
Night Winds
KANE - The Mystic Swordsman ranges Earth and Time to confront the demons of darkness
Where once the mighty Kane has passed, no one who lives forgets. Now, down the trail of past battles, Kane travels again. To the ruins of a devastated city peopled only with half-men and the waif they call their queen. To the half-burnt tavern where a woman Kane wronged long ago holds his child in keeping for the Devil. To the cave kingdom of the giants where glory and its aftermath await discovery. To the house of death itself where Kane retrieves a woman in love.
The past, the future, the present - all these are one for Kane as he travels through the centuries.
Cover illustration: Chris Achilleos
Where once the mighty Kane has passed, no one who lives forgets. Now, down the trail of past battles, Kane travels again. To the ruins of a devastated city peopled only with half-men and the waif they call their queen. To the half-burnt tavern where a woman Kane wronged long ago holds his child in keeping for the Devil. To the cave kingdom of the giants where glory and its aftermath await discovery. To the house of death itself where Kane retrieves a woman in love.
The past, the future, the present - all these are one for Kane as he travels through the centuries.
Cover illustration: Chris Achilleos
286 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1978
About the author
Karl Edward Wagner
234 books348 followersKarl Edward Wagner (12 December 1945 – 13 October 1994) was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into Whose Hands". He described his world view as nihilistic, anarchistic and absurdist, and claimed, not entirely seriously, to be related to "an opera composer named Richard". Wagner also admired the cinema of Sam Peckinpah, stating "I worship the film The Wild Bunch".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
March 15, 2020
”How long the ship had lain there, no man could say.
A century?
For the ship was there when man first came to the shore. Perhaps it was there when man fled the flaming death of Eden. It may have been there at the moment of man’s birth. Or long before.
Perhaps a thousand years---
The ship.
Like some unthinkably huge sea monster, the ship rested against the shore. For the span of a thousand feet it was the shore---a curving black cliff that rose from the sand, ten times the height of a tall man.
A dead leviathan cast forth from the sea. No grave could hold a corpse so vast.”
These men are riding out to look at this vast ship that lies in the sand. It is like riding towards a mountain. They can see it for hours and hours before they get close enough to touch it. One of the men, Kethrid, is obsessed with the idea of repairing the long gash in its side and sailing this ship once again. I was struck by the ambitions of this one man. The idea that he could even consider such a task was ludicrous to the other men. For me, I kept thinking that this is where the beginnings of civilisation are born. This man may fail at his task, but quests like this plant seeds in other people. A boy, maybe one in a thousand, might hear the story of this man’s attempt and be the next one to try and find a way to make a mountain float.
This is the prologue, and already Karl Edward Wagner has me by the scruff of the neck.
When I was a kid, I devoured books. Even when I was stacking alfalfa bales in the summer, I would hurriedly put the bales in place so I could have a couple of minutes to read before my Dad would dump another load. My Dad thought I was nuts, but not, obviously, too crazy to stack hay.
It was only much later that I discovered that I was “gently mad.”
I like pulpy books set in the Old West. Between Westerns I would fit in Conan the Barbarian and Tarzan books. The Robert Howard books always had these saucy covers featuring men with bulging muscles and eye-popping, scantily clad, curvaceous women. I had to read those in my room away from the censoring eyes of my mother. My mom was always way more worried about my immortal soul than I was.
But I never met KANE.
He was six feet tall and three hundred pounds of solid muscle. He would be worth about $20 million a year in the NFL. In this collection of stories, he is at different points a powerful, feared sorcerer, a bandit on the run, a seeker of poetry, a man in search of treasure, but the one constant is that, regardless of how many people are around him, he is absolutely alone.
Kane is immortal and weary with the task of deciding what to do with his life. He is very good at killing people, but only with purpose, either to save his own life or further his own aims. Kane is seldom needlessly cruel; he’s seldom sympathetic.
These stories aren’t just about bloodlust, though there is plenty of swinging sword action and blood spilling. In the story Lynortis Reprise, there have been these huge battles, one after another, involving a massive loss of life to try and take this refuge. There are these men mutilated by the conflicts, who scavenge for sustenance in the ruins of war. ”Kane thought for an instant it was a two-headed hunchback. The figure came closer and Kane saw it was one man carrying another--or part of another man. Walking toward him was a tall, heavily muscled man, who appeared quite normal except for the eyeless mass of scar that was his face. Over his shoulder peered the head of the other man---a limbless torso slung in a harness to the blind man’s back.” Certainly, it is rare to find a sword and sorcery story that advocates such an anti-war message. When they are about to be invaded, these half-men ask Kane to help. Kane weighs the odds and declines to participate.
It isn’t his fight, but more importantly it isn’t a fight he can win.
There is a brooding darkness that hangs over these tales. Kane lives mostly in his own head. He is a man of few words. He is a man who has lived too long, but still is cursed with this strong desire to live. In one story, Kane has this hold on a beautiful woman named Dessylyn. While he broods, she has chances to escape, and each time she tries to find a man who can defeat Kane, but of course this is impossible. It is such a strange relationship. He possesses her to combat his loneliness, but doesn’t lock her up in a dungeon or make it impossible for her to leave. When she escapes, he always goes and finds her. He takes her from any man who tries to stop him. It reminds me of those men who set their wives up with other men so they can watch other men pawing their wives. It only increases or maybe brings back to life their desire for their wives. It made me wonder if Kane, too, found Dessylyn more desirable standing over the corpses of her lovers.
Atmosphere like this next paragraph made me want to keep the lantern close, the door locked, and the windows shuttered:
”Night was closing over the mountains on great raven’s wings. Shadow lay deep beneath the blue-grey pines and frost-fired hardwoods which shouldered over the narrow trail. Darkness hungrily swallowed the valleys and hollows that spread out below them---pools of gloom from which waves of mist rose to storm the wooded slopes and pour over the limestone ridge.”
The grimness that Wagner is able to convey in this next paragraph of the desperation that these men must be exuding is palpable. I can almost smell the dread sweat and almost feel their weariness in my own bones.
A battered, gut-weary handful of hunted men---ruthless, half-wild outlaws hounded by killers as remorseless as themselves. Shivering in the dirt- and blood-caked bandages, they rode on in grim determination, thoughts numb to pain and fear---although both phantoms rode beside them---intent on nothing more than the deadly necessity of flight.”
Each story stands alone. There is no thread connecting them except for the existence of Kane. It feels like there are whole lives missing between each story. Fortunately, I have four more Kane books to read. I’m anxious to see the portrait of the man continue to take shape. These tales have the feel of tavern stories told over a pint. No one really knows Kane, but everyone has a Kane story.
Wagner started writing about Kane when he was a teenager. Some of those early stories are included in this edition. They are interesting because you see the process of Wagner discovering the essence of his creation. Unfortunately, Wagner died tragically young at 48 years of age from heart and liver failure, but the real culprit, the one that planted the sword in his vitals, was long term alcoholism.
The brooding darkness in these books was not that of Kane, but that of Karl Edward Wagner.
If my review has perked your interest you should click this link and read the wonderful review by Algernon. Algernon’s Review of Night Winds
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
A century?
For the ship was there when man first came to the shore. Perhaps it was there when man fled the flaming death of Eden. It may have been there at the moment of man’s birth. Or long before.
Perhaps a thousand years---
The ship.
Like some unthinkably huge sea monster, the ship rested against the shore. For the span of a thousand feet it was the shore---a curving black cliff that rose from the sand, ten times the height of a tall man.
A dead leviathan cast forth from the sea. No grave could hold a corpse so vast.”
These men are riding out to look at this vast ship that lies in the sand. It is like riding towards a mountain. They can see it for hours and hours before they get close enough to touch it. One of the men, Kethrid, is obsessed with the idea of repairing the long gash in its side and sailing this ship once again. I was struck by the ambitions of this one man. The idea that he could even consider such a task was ludicrous to the other men. For me, I kept thinking that this is where the beginnings of civilisation are born. This man may fail at his task, but quests like this plant seeds in other people. A boy, maybe one in a thousand, might hear the story of this man’s attempt and be the next one to try and find a way to make a mountain float.
This is the prologue, and already Karl Edward Wagner has me by the scruff of the neck.
When I was a kid, I devoured books. Even when I was stacking alfalfa bales in the summer, I would hurriedly put the bales in place so I could have a couple of minutes to read before my Dad would dump another load. My Dad thought I was nuts, but not, obviously, too crazy to stack hay.
It was only much later that I discovered that I was “gently mad.”
I like pulpy books set in the Old West. Between Westerns I would fit in Conan the Barbarian and Tarzan books. The Robert Howard books always had these saucy covers featuring men with bulging muscles and eye-popping, scantily clad, curvaceous women. I had to read those in my room away from the censoring eyes of my mother. My mom was always way more worried about my immortal soul than I was.
But I never met KANE.
He was six feet tall and three hundred pounds of solid muscle. He would be worth about $20 million a year in the NFL. In this collection of stories, he is at different points a powerful, feared sorcerer, a bandit on the run, a seeker of poetry, a man in search of treasure, but the one constant is that, regardless of how many people are around him, he is absolutely alone.
Kane is immortal and weary with the task of deciding what to do with his life. He is very good at killing people, but only with purpose, either to save his own life or further his own aims. Kane is seldom needlessly cruel; he’s seldom sympathetic.
These stories aren’t just about bloodlust, though there is plenty of swinging sword action and blood spilling. In the story Lynortis Reprise, there have been these huge battles, one after another, involving a massive loss of life to try and take this refuge. There are these men mutilated by the conflicts, who scavenge for sustenance in the ruins of war. ”Kane thought for an instant it was a two-headed hunchback. The figure came closer and Kane saw it was one man carrying another--or part of another man. Walking toward him was a tall, heavily muscled man, who appeared quite normal except for the eyeless mass of scar that was his face. Over his shoulder peered the head of the other man---a limbless torso slung in a harness to the blind man’s back.” Certainly, it is rare to find a sword and sorcery story that advocates such an anti-war message. When they are about to be invaded, these half-men ask Kane to help. Kane weighs the odds and declines to participate.
It isn’t his fight, but more importantly it isn’t a fight he can win.
- Who won the war, Kane?
- I did.
- You didn't win a thing, Kane. You only survived.
- It means the same thing.
There is a brooding darkness that hangs over these tales. Kane lives mostly in his own head. He is a man of few words. He is a man who has lived too long, but still is cursed with this strong desire to live. In one story, Kane has this hold on a beautiful woman named Dessylyn. While he broods, she has chances to escape, and each time she tries to find a man who can defeat Kane, but of course this is impossible. It is such a strange relationship. He possesses her to combat his loneliness, but doesn’t lock her up in a dungeon or make it impossible for her to leave. When she escapes, he always goes and finds her. He takes her from any man who tries to stop him. It reminds me of those men who set their wives up with other men so they can watch other men pawing their wives. It only increases or maybe brings back to life their desire for their wives. It made me wonder if Kane, too, found Dessylyn more desirable standing over the corpses of her lovers.
Atmosphere like this next paragraph made me want to keep the lantern close, the door locked, and the windows shuttered:
”Night was closing over the mountains on great raven’s wings. Shadow lay deep beneath the blue-grey pines and frost-fired hardwoods which shouldered over the narrow trail. Darkness hungrily swallowed the valleys and hollows that spread out below them---pools of gloom from which waves of mist rose to storm the wooded slopes and pour over the limestone ridge.”
The grimness that Wagner is able to convey in this next paragraph of the desperation that these men must be exuding is palpable. I can almost smell the dread sweat and almost feel their weariness in my own bones.
A battered, gut-weary handful of hunted men---ruthless, half-wild outlaws hounded by killers as remorseless as themselves. Shivering in the dirt- and blood-caked bandages, they rode on in grim determination, thoughts numb to pain and fear---although both phantoms rode beside them---intent on nothing more than the deadly necessity of flight.”
Each story stands alone. There is no thread connecting them except for the existence of Kane. It feels like there are whole lives missing between each story. Fortunately, I have four more Kane books to read. I’m anxious to see the portrait of the man continue to take shape. These tales have the feel of tavern stories told over a pint. No one really knows Kane, but everyone has a Kane story.
Wagner started writing about Kane when he was a teenager. Some of those early stories are included in this edition. They are interesting because you see the process of Wagner discovering the essence of his creation. Unfortunately, Wagner died tragically young at 48 years of age from heart and liver failure, but the real culprit, the one that planted the sword in his vitals, was long term alcoholism.
The brooding darkness in these books was not that of Kane, but that of Karl Edward Wagner.
If my review has perked your interest you should click this link and read the wonderful review by Algernon. Algernon’s Review of Night Winds
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
April 22, 2016
[9/10]
Night Winds is my fifth book featuring Kane, but it reads as inventive and energetic as the first one. The series shares with its inspiration (Conan by Robert E Howard) the timeless structure that allows new readers to jumps in at any point of the journey without a need for backstory or recaps or extensive descriptions of places and histories - you don't need to worry if you haven't read any of the previous installments. Each novella is self-contained and self-sufficient, they share themes and narrative style but they are episodic without recurring characters beside the immortal force of destruction that is Kane. With each new collection I finish I am tempted to say: This is the best one yet! and: Wagner had done it again! he's drawing me back into his world, one full of peril and darkness, of larger than life heroes and powerful magics, ancient curses and lost civilizations, drunken brawls and fatally atractive women. Sword and Sorcery may be an acquired taste for some readers, but I would argue with any critic who would try to dismiss it as escapism or easy entertainment. I'll quote later the poem that give the title to this volume, one that reminded me strongly of Charles Baudelaire and his fleurs du mal , of the 'cold and sinister' beauty that is to be found on the fringes of the civilized world.
Undertow is the opening novella, set in Carsultyal - an ancient town famous for a renaissance period built on the study of ancient secrets of elder races. Kane is the most feared alchemist in the city and the story follows the attempts of his woman - fiery Dessylin - to escape his thrall. A rogue sailor (Mavrsal) and a bragging northern barbarian (Dragar) get caught in the honey trap of Dessylin's beauty, but they will have to deal with the wrath of Kane.
Two Suns Setting opens with a wonderful descriptive passage of Sun and Moon over the desert of Herratlonai, where Kane comes across the last member of an elder race: the giant Dwasslir. The two of them start a fireside polemic about the merits of civilization and savage living. Later they will set out adventuring together in search of the legendary crown of King Brotemllain - the last hero of the giant's race, getting into titanic fights with prehistoric monsters. I've marked down the Dwasslir speech as it reminded me of some of the quotes I loved in the work of Robert E. Howard:
Human civilization is parasitic - a gaudy fungus that owes its vitality to the dead genius upon whose corpse it flourishes. Civilization! You boast that as man's major accomplishment! It is nothing - only an outgrowth of human weakness! Man is too frail, too unworthy a creature to live within his environment. He must instead prop himself up with his civilization, his learning. Man is a cripple who flaunts his infirmity, boasts of his crutches. You retreat into the walls of your civilization because you are too weak to stand before nature as part of the natural environment.
The Dark Muse may be my favorite story in the collection, despite strong competition, because it includes the credo of the author, the reason he is focused on these tales of doom and horror. After a psychedelic prologue of a poet raving in a drug induced trip, the story moves to a tavern of ill repute where Kane and Opyros discuss the merits of various literary styles and themes, the eternal struggle of the artist to reach perfection. A secondary plot involving gambling and an alchemist apprentice serves to create conflict and to bring on the scene a mysterious statue: the black onyx carved figurine of a nude girl. Kane recognizes Klinure, the muse of dreams and warns the poet about the dangers of journeying into her realm:
What if instead of some long-dead artist's never-finished vision of unearthy beauty, you found yourself trapped in an unhallowed nightmare from which some fever-poisoned madman awoke shrieking? The dark muse cares not whether her dreams portray ethereal beauty or mindless horror.
The poet formed an easy smile: If I wanted to write poems on sunshine and flowers and love, this might worry me. But you know my thoughts well enough. I'll weave my verses for the night, sing of the dark things that soar through nameless abysses - unfold the poetry of the macabre, while others prattle about little things. [...] True beauty lies in the dark side of life - in death, in the uncanny - in the grandeur of the unknown. The pure awareness of beauty is as overwhelming an emotion as blind fear; to feel inexpressible love is as soul-wrenching a sensation as to know relentless terror. When fired to the ultimate blaze, the finest emotions become one intolerable flame, and ecstasy and agony are inseparable.
Raven's Eyrie is about a ruined inn lost in the mountains that was once sacked by Kane and his band of oulaws. Now Kane has been ambushed by foreign mercenaries and his rute of escape takes him back to the place, where a young girl beset by nightmares (Klesst) and a woman consumed by hate (Ionor) await the resolution of the drama started seven years previous. Beyond the immediate conflict between bandits and soldiers, there is the supernatural struggle of man against fate, mortal against deity, pitting Kane against Sathonys and his bloodhound on the night known as Demonlord's Moon : the one time of the year when the lord of darkness hunts freely for souls to take to his demonic realm. In a definig moment for Kane's personality, our hero exclaims:
Other men you can use as pawns, but not Kane! I'll yield to to no predestined fate, and if I fall, I'll die hard and I'll die a free man!
As a sidenote, the action sequences here reminded me of Bruce Willis and his Die Hard movies, not only due to the quote above, but for the one man's struggle against impossible odds and the high gore quotient.
Lynortis Reprise is a powerful denunciation of war and its atrocities, the insanity and the waste that benefits ultimately no one. The numbers involved are staggering: hundreds of thousands of victims fallen prey to poisonous gases, firebombs, rains of stones and arrows, wholesale massacres that destroyed both defenders and attackers. Wagner colourful imagery and flowery language establish the mood from the opening paragraph:
High above the blighted wasteland Lynortis broods in gloomy majesty. Lofty eyrie on a fang of sandstone, the fallen citadel stares out over the silent wilderness of desolation far below. Lynortis. Fortress city whose walls no army could overwhelm. Tyrant lord of the limitless forestlands sprawled at its feet.
In the aftermath of the bloody battle, bands of scavengers return to the fields of death in search of fabulous loot and Kane gets involved in trying to save the girl who may or may not have the key to the treasure chamber. Kane is cast here more as a witness, observer, until the moment for action comes explosively, Kurosawa style, in one of the best fights I've read in a fantasy book yet (I've quoted it in full on another site). A new facet for the anti-hero is reavealed .
- Who won the war, Kane?
- I did.
- You didn't win a thing, Kane. You only survived.
- It means the same thing.
Sing a Last Song of Valdese closes the collection at another isolated inn, with another seven years curse. Valdese is a "lamia" - a most beautiful spectre, and most malevolent. Legend says she haunts the mountain trails at night. Entices travellers into her arms and leave them bloodless beneath the moon. Shorter in length than the others, the tale left me impatient for more. Sadly, there's only The Book of Kane left for me to read.
I'll close my review with Karl Edward Wagner in his guise as poet (Opyros)
At night when sleep will not come -
and darkness hangs in thick, smothering folds,
To throttle my breath, crush the heart in my breast,
And squats on my belly like a hot, bloated succubus;
When I lie burning in restless, sick pain,
Listening to the rush of my pulse, the hammer of my heart,
and sense without caring that this is the last hour -
Night winds come.
Then let the night winds come to me -
Pass through a clear window, blow out the sick flame,
Touch cold breath to this fever-burnt flesh,
Caress with chill kisses this fever-seared mind,
Take up my poisoned soul in your restoring embrace,
Bear me off to strange lands, show me those unseen sights
Along untrod paths - you and the stars know their secret -
Though death be your destination, I'll not beg to linger -
When night winds come.
Then let the night winds take me -
Lift my crippled spirit on your vast black wings,
And I'll soar with you through the shadow;
Whisper softly in my desolate thoughts,
and I'll learn the wisdom of the dark;
Brush your fingers across my blinded eyes,
and I'll see the secret world of night;
And with you I'll explore those lost and hidden places -
Where only night winds come.
Night Winds is my fifth book featuring Kane, but it reads as inventive and energetic as the first one. The series shares with its inspiration (Conan by Robert E Howard) the timeless structure that allows new readers to jumps in at any point of the journey without a need for backstory or recaps or extensive descriptions of places and histories - you don't need to worry if you haven't read any of the previous installments. Each novella is self-contained and self-sufficient, they share themes and narrative style but they are episodic without recurring characters beside the immortal force of destruction that is Kane. With each new collection I finish I am tempted to say: This is the best one yet! and: Wagner had done it again! he's drawing me back into his world, one full of peril and darkness, of larger than life heroes and powerful magics, ancient curses and lost civilizations, drunken brawls and fatally atractive women. Sword and Sorcery may be an acquired taste for some readers, but I would argue with any critic who would try to dismiss it as escapism or easy entertainment. I'll quote later the poem that give the title to this volume, one that reminded me strongly of Charles Baudelaire and his fleurs du mal , of the 'cold and sinister' beauty that is to be found on the fringes of the civilized world.
Undertow is the opening novella, set in Carsultyal - an ancient town famous for a renaissance period built on the study of ancient secrets of elder races. Kane is the most feared alchemist in the city and the story follows the attempts of his woman - fiery Dessylin - to escape his thrall. A rogue sailor (Mavrsal) and a bragging northern barbarian (Dragar) get caught in the honey trap of Dessylin's beauty, but they will have to deal with the wrath of Kane.
Two Suns Setting opens with a wonderful descriptive passage of Sun and Moon over the desert of Herratlonai, where Kane comes across the last member of an elder race: the giant Dwasslir. The two of them start a fireside polemic about the merits of civilization and savage living. Later they will set out adventuring together in search of the legendary crown of King Brotemllain - the last hero of the giant's race, getting into titanic fights with prehistoric monsters. I've marked down the Dwasslir speech as it reminded me of some of the quotes I loved in the work of Robert E. Howard:
Human civilization is parasitic - a gaudy fungus that owes its vitality to the dead genius upon whose corpse it flourishes. Civilization! You boast that as man's major accomplishment! It is nothing - only an outgrowth of human weakness! Man is too frail, too unworthy a creature to live within his environment. He must instead prop himself up with his civilization, his learning. Man is a cripple who flaunts his infirmity, boasts of his crutches. You retreat into the walls of your civilization because you are too weak to stand before nature as part of the natural environment.
The Dark Muse may be my favorite story in the collection, despite strong competition, because it includes the credo of the author, the reason he is focused on these tales of doom and horror. After a psychedelic prologue of a poet raving in a drug induced trip, the story moves to a tavern of ill repute where Kane and Opyros discuss the merits of various literary styles and themes, the eternal struggle of the artist to reach perfection. A secondary plot involving gambling and an alchemist apprentice serves to create conflict and to bring on the scene a mysterious statue: the black onyx carved figurine of a nude girl. Kane recognizes Klinure, the muse of dreams and warns the poet about the dangers of journeying into her realm:
What if instead of some long-dead artist's never-finished vision of unearthy beauty, you found yourself trapped in an unhallowed nightmare from which some fever-poisoned madman awoke shrieking? The dark muse cares not whether her dreams portray ethereal beauty or mindless horror.
The poet formed an easy smile: If I wanted to write poems on sunshine and flowers and love, this might worry me. But you know my thoughts well enough. I'll weave my verses for the night, sing of the dark things that soar through nameless abysses - unfold the poetry of the macabre, while others prattle about little things. [...] True beauty lies in the dark side of life - in death, in the uncanny - in the grandeur of the unknown. The pure awareness of beauty is as overwhelming an emotion as blind fear; to feel inexpressible love is as soul-wrenching a sensation as to know relentless terror. When fired to the ultimate blaze, the finest emotions become one intolerable flame, and ecstasy and agony are inseparable.
Raven's Eyrie is about a ruined inn lost in the mountains that was once sacked by Kane and his band of oulaws. Now Kane has been ambushed by foreign mercenaries and his rute of escape takes him back to the place, where a young girl beset by nightmares (Klesst) and a woman consumed by hate (Ionor) await the resolution of the drama started seven years previous. Beyond the immediate conflict between bandits and soldiers, there is the supernatural struggle of man against fate, mortal against deity, pitting Kane against Sathonys and his bloodhound on the night known as Demonlord's Moon : the one time of the year when the lord of darkness hunts freely for souls to take to his demonic realm. In a definig moment for Kane's personality, our hero exclaims:
Other men you can use as pawns, but not Kane! I'll yield to to no predestined fate, and if I fall, I'll die hard and I'll die a free man!
As a sidenote, the action sequences here reminded me of Bruce Willis and his Die Hard movies, not only due to the quote above, but for the one man's struggle against impossible odds and the high gore quotient.
Lynortis Reprise is a powerful denunciation of war and its atrocities, the insanity and the waste that benefits ultimately no one. The numbers involved are staggering: hundreds of thousands of victims fallen prey to poisonous gases, firebombs, rains of stones and arrows, wholesale massacres that destroyed both defenders and attackers. Wagner colourful imagery and flowery language establish the mood from the opening paragraph:
High above the blighted wasteland Lynortis broods in gloomy majesty. Lofty eyrie on a fang of sandstone, the fallen citadel stares out over the silent wilderness of desolation far below. Lynortis. Fortress city whose walls no army could overwhelm. Tyrant lord of the limitless forestlands sprawled at its feet.
In the aftermath of the bloody battle, bands of scavengers return to the fields of death in search of fabulous loot and Kane gets involved in trying to save the girl who may or may not have the key to the treasure chamber. Kane is cast here more as a witness, observer, until the moment for action comes explosively, Kurosawa style, in one of the best fights I've read in a fantasy book yet (I've quoted it in full on another site). A new facet for the anti-hero is reavealed .
- Who won the war, Kane?
- I did.
- You didn't win a thing, Kane. You only survived.
- It means the same thing.
Sing a Last Song of Valdese closes the collection at another isolated inn, with another seven years curse. Valdese is a "lamia" - a most beautiful spectre, and most malevolent. Legend says she haunts the mountain trails at night. Entices travellers into her arms and leave them bloodless beneath the moon. Shorter in length than the others, the tale left me impatient for more. Sadly, there's only The Book of Kane left for me to read.
I'll close my review with Karl Edward Wagner in his guise as poet (Opyros)
At night when sleep will not come -
and darkness hangs in thick, smothering folds,
To throttle my breath, crush the heart in my breast,
And squats on my belly like a hot, bloated succubus;
When I lie burning in restless, sick pain,
Listening to the rush of my pulse, the hammer of my heart,
and sense without caring that this is the last hour -
Night winds come.
Then let the night winds come to me -
Pass through a clear window, blow out the sick flame,
Touch cold breath to this fever-burnt flesh,
Caress with chill kisses this fever-seared mind,
Take up my poisoned soul in your restoring embrace,
Bear me off to strange lands, show me those unseen sights
Along untrod paths - you and the stars know their secret -
Though death be your destination, I'll not beg to linger -
When night winds come.
Then let the night winds take me -
Lift my crippled spirit on your vast black wings,
And I'll soar with you through the shadow;
Whisper softly in my desolate thoughts,
and I'll learn the wisdom of the dark;
Brush your fingers across my blinded eyes,
and I'll see the secret world of night;
And with you I'll explore those lost and hidden places -
Where only night winds come.
March 12, 2018
This is the Centipede Press edition which varies from the normal paperback edition in content with an additional story, great illustrations, & author notes. It's a gorgeous hardback edition, part of the first set (5 books) to contain ALL the Kane stories that I bought a couple of years ago. I'm reading them in chronological order which means putting this book down after the first 3 stories to read Bloodstone before continuing. Below I'll list the complete Kane chronology &, if I remember, other books that contain the stories.
I've read all the Kane stories several times before, but never in chronological order. KEW published them out of order, never collected them, & his books are often difficult & expensive to come by. Before this, the most complete collection was in 2 books Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane & Gods in Darkness: The Complete Novels of Kane.
The Wikipedia entry for KEW is a good, short article that gives a good feel for the author & Kane, his major character. I was a Conan fan long before I found Kane. Conan & Kane were published with covers by Frank Frazetta which may have been what first drew me to his work as it did REH's.There are a lot of other similarities between the characters & the authors. Both wrote horror as well as S&S, although REH was far more prolific & wrote in a wider variety of genres. KEW was around longer, a pysch major, & his work is grittier. Some of the Kane stories also have a strong SF element in them - aliens from the stars, spaceships, & such. The SF element is too magical for me to shelve these as SF & I read them more as S&S/fantasy.
Conan is the clean barbarian with a hard code of ethics, a true hero. He loves a fair fight, fair maidens, & made a great king, but Kane is an anti-hero, the Black Prometheus, according to KEW. He rebelled at being the play thing of a mad god & strangled his brother, Able, on its alter. He constantly fights against Law/Order seeing it as stifling man. In "At First Just Ghostly" (1988), Kane says he killed the god that cursed him to live until the violence he brought to the human race brings him down. So far, nothing has managed it, but he winds up in some really chilling predicaments.
Kane is immortal, amoral, of high intelligence, & extreme cunning, so there is very little he won't do or hasn't done. He's a powerful warrior (with the muscles of 3 men stretched across his 6' frame), a sorcerer, & of brutish countenance. Left handed & red haired, he's known by his startling blue eyes that mark him as a killer. He does unto others what they would do unto him first & thoroughly. Sometimes those are 'good' people that are worse than he is & sometimes it's his friends since violence & betrayal haunt him. KEW has a real talent for putting Kane into the worst of a bad situation, but in an intelligent, often poignant, way. He has a real talent for nailing the end of a story, too.
Unfortunately, he didn't live to finish the Kane stories. He planned some novels that were never finished. Alcoholism took hold in the mid to late 1980s. His wife left him. Both his writing & his health deteriorated until he died in 1994 at just 48 years old.
The chronology of all the Kane stories is as follows:
This edition of Night Winds contains the following short stories:
1_In the Wake of the Night (1981): isn't exactly a Kane story. Previously published in Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane, he's not in this fragment, the prologue to what was supposed to be a 150K word novel about the voyage of the Yhosal-Monyr, a vessel which is referred to in Bloodstone. Correct chronologically, it also sets the mood & world very well.
KEW dreamed up the idea one night while tripping on acid at a Procol Harum concert at the Filmore in 1970. He still hadn't gotten around to finishing it when he drank himself to death 25 years later. As a recovering alcoholic who lost his father to alcoholism, I probably regret this more than most.
2_Undertow (1977): perfect irony. What would an immortal do to retain that which he loves? What happens when the object of his affection would do anything to get away? Chilling with a great end.
3_Two Suns Setting (1976): There were races that walked the Earth before mankind. Kane meets one & even he is impressed. Brute force, ancient monsters & ruins with an interesting philosophical discussion on what success means in among all the savagery.
---------------
4_Bloodstone (1975): - This is a separate book that should be read here if reading the stories in chronological order. I am this time, so this review is on hold until I finish it. Finished. My 5 star review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
---------------
Back to "Night Winds"
5_The Dark Muse (1973): - an eccentric poet wants to write the perfect poem & gains some help from Kane through both blood & sorcery. Dark, gory, & fantastic.
6_Sing a Last Song of Valdese (1976): a group of travelers spend the evening a tavern & what comes next is great. Is Kane man or demon? In another story, he says both have rejected him.
7_Misericorde (1983): (previously not in this volume but only in The Book of Kane) shows Kane at his best, kind of a Lucifer figure. Personal gain isn't always Kane's goal. Also an interesting fact about his parentage. Able was his father, but Eve wasn't his mother, so I assume Lilith was.
8_Lynortis Reprise (1984): is possibly my favorite Kane story of them all & that's saying something. Especially the first time, there is such a haunted feeling to this. Set 20 years after a great war where an unstoppable army met an impregnable fortress & hundreds of thousands died, Kane wanders in to the forsaken remains of the battlefield & finds a new conflict.
The end of this story has always been my favorite part since it sums Kane up so perfectly.
9_Raven's Eyrie (1977): Drat, I already said the last story was my favorite, so I can't say this one is too, can I? I want to. Only Kane can be so mean, evoke so much righteous hate, & still have me rooting for him.
The Treasure of Lynortis (1961): was the first Kane story written by KEW as a high school freshman. He pulled it out years later, found it still unpublishable, but it wound up in Weird Tales #1 (I think) & he didn't like that much. He rewrote it extensively into "Lynortis Reprise". It was also published in Exorcisms and Ecstasies & Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane.
Being able to compare this to "Lynortis Reprise" is a fantastic opportunity. It's pretty awful, although I've seen worse stuff published. The same setting, characters, & overall plot, but this early version of Kane speaks a lot in a stilted manner & has a gooey love interest. (KEW was 16, though.) There's a lot of action & some really bad things, but the aura of horror isn't nearly as pervasive nor evocative. It's so cool to see KEW's growth as a writer & it's a wonderful example to all.
The following stories are in other books or are books themselves.
10_Dark Crusade (1976) is a novel. Midnight Sun breaks out "In the Lair of Yslsl", but it's the last chapter in my paperback of this book.
11_Reflections for the Winter of My Soul (1973) (Death Angel's Shadow) The Book of Kane
12_Cold Light (1973) (Death Angel's Shadow)
13_Mirage (1973) (Death Angel's Shadow)
14_Darkness Weaves (1970) is a novel.
15_The Other One (1977) The Book of Kane
16_Midnight Sun (poem) (1974)
17_The Gothic Touch (1994)
18_Lacunae (1986)
19_Deep in the Depths of the Acme Warehouse (1994)
20_At First Just Ghostly (1988)
I've read all the Kane stories several times before, but never in chronological order. KEW published them out of order, never collected them, & his books are often difficult & expensive to come by. Before this, the most complete collection was in 2 books Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane & Gods in Darkness: The Complete Novels of Kane.
The Wikipedia entry for KEW is a good, short article that gives a good feel for the author & Kane, his major character. I was a Conan fan long before I found Kane. Conan & Kane were published with covers by Frank Frazetta which may have been what first drew me to his work as it did REH's.There are a lot of other similarities between the characters & the authors. Both wrote horror as well as S&S, although REH was far more prolific & wrote in a wider variety of genres. KEW was around longer, a pysch major, & his work is grittier. Some of the Kane stories also have a strong SF element in them - aliens from the stars, spaceships, & such. The SF element is too magical for me to shelve these as SF & I read them more as S&S/fantasy.
Conan is the clean barbarian with a hard code of ethics, a true hero. He loves a fair fight, fair maidens, & made a great king, but Kane is an anti-hero, the Black Prometheus, according to KEW. He rebelled at being the play thing of a mad god & strangled his brother, Able, on its alter. He constantly fights against Law/Order seeing it as stifling man. In "At First Just Ghostly" (1988), Kane says he killed the god that cursed him to live until the violence he brought to the human race brings him down. So far, nothing has managed it, but he winds up in some really chilling predicaments.
Kane is immortal, amoral, of high intelligence, & extreme cunning, so there is very little he won't do or hasn't done. He's a powerful warrior (with the muscles of 3 men stretched across his 6' frame), a sorcerer, & of brutish countenance. Left handed & red haired, he's known by his startling blue eyes that mark him as a killer. He does unto others what they would do unto him first & thoroughly. Sometimes those are 'good' people that are worse than he is & sometimes it's his friends since violence & betrayal haunt him. KEW has a real talent for putting Kane into the worst of a bad situation, but in an intelligent, often poignant, way. He has a real talent for nailing the end of a story, too.
Unfortunately, he didn't live to finish the Kane stories. He planned some novels that were never finished. Alcoholism took hold in the mid to late 1980s. His wife left him. Both his writing & his health deteriorated until he died in 1994 at just 48 years old.
The chronology of all the Kane stories is as follows:
This edition of Night Winds contains the following short stories:
1_In the Wake of the Night (1981): isn't exactly a Kane story. Previously published in Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane, he's not in this fragment, the prologue to what was supposed to be a 150K word novel about the voyage of the Yhosal-Monyr, a vessel which is referred to in Bloodstone. Correct chronologically, it also sets the mood & world very well.
KEW dreamed up the idea one night while tripping on acid at a Procol Harum concert at the Filmore in 1970. He still hadn't gotten around to finishing it when he drank himself to death 25 years later. As a recovering alcoholic who lost his father to alcoholism, I probably regret this more than most.
2_Undertow (1977): perfect irony. What would an immortal do to retain that which he loves? What happens when the object of his affection would do anything to get away? Chilling with a great end.
3_Two Suns Setting (1976): There were races that walked the Earth before mankind. Kane meets one & even he is impressed. Brute force, ancient monsters & ruins with an interesting philosophical discussion on what success means in among all the savagery.
---------------
4_Bloodstone (1975): - This is a separate book that should be read here if reading the stories in chronological order. I am this time, so this review is on hold until I finish it. Finished. My 5 star review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
---------------
Back to "Night Winds"
5_The Dark Muse (1973): - an eccentric poet wants to write the perfect poem & gains some help from Kane through both blood & sorcery. Dark, gory, & fantastic.
6_Sing a Last Song of Valdese (1976): a group of travelers spend the evening a tavern & what comes next is great. Is Kane man or demon? In another story, he says both have rejected him.
7_Misericorde (1983): (previously not in this volume but only in The Book of Kane) shows Kane at his best, kind of a Lucifer figure. Personal gain isn't always Kane's goal. Also an interesting fact about his parentage. Able was his father, but Eve wasn't his mother, so I assume Lilith was.
8_Lynortis Reprise (1984): is possibly my favorite Kane story of them all & that's saying something. Especially the first time, there is such a haunted feeling to this. Set 20 years after a great war where an unstoppable army met an impregnable fortress & hundreds of thousands died, Kane wanders in to the forsaken remains of the battlefield & finds a new conflict.
The end of this story has always been my favorite part since it sums Kane up so perfectly.
9_Raven's Eyrie (1977): Drat, I already said the last story was my favorite, so I can't say this one is too, can I? I want to. Only Kane can be so mean, evoke so much righteous hate, & still have me rooting for him.
The Treasure of Lynortis (1961): was the first Kane story written by KEW as a high school freshman. He pulled it out years later, found it still unpublishable, but it wound up in Weird Tales #1 (I think) & he didn't like that much. He rewrote it extensively into "Lynortis Reprise". It was also published in Exorcisms and Ecstasies & Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane.
Being able to compare this to "Lynortis Reprise" is a fantastic opportunity. It's pretty awful, although I've seen worse stuff published. The same setting, characters, & overall plot, but this early version of Kane speaks a lot in a stilted manner & has a gooey love interest. (KEW was 16, though.) There's a lot of action & some really bad things, but the aura of horror isn't nearly as pervasive nor evocative. It's so cool to see KEW's growth as a writer & it's a wonderful example to all.
The following stories are in other books or are books themselves.
10_Dark Crusade (1976) is a novel. Midnight Sun breaks out "In the Lair of Yslsl", but it's the last chapter in my paperback of this book.
11_Reflections for the Winter of My Soul (1973) (Death Angel's Shadow) The Book of Kane
12_Cold Light (1973) (Death Angel's Shadow)
13_Mirage (1973) (Death Angel's Shadow)
14_Darkness Weaves (1970) is a novel.
15_The Other One (1977) The Book of Kane
16_Midnight Sun (poem) (1974)
17_The Gothic Touch (1994)
18_Lacunae (1986)
19_Deep in the Depths of the Acme Warehouse (1994)
20_At First Just Ghostly (1988)
August 20, 2020
This was my first taste of Kane and Karl Edward Wagner and I will definitely be back for more. Don't let the awful cover photos on the Kindle eBooks for this series with their cheesy, shirtless sword wielding hunks fool you. There is no romance to be found here, only dark, bloody sword and sorcery adventure.
Comparisons to Conan are inevitable, and I think fair. The worlds they inhabit are exceedingly similar, though Howard tends to expend more effort supplying the nitty gritty details of his world building than Wagner. I came to think of Kane as what Conan might have become had he lived for a few centuries as an immortal and picked up some sorcery skills (though clearly he prefers splitting heads with his sword over casting spells). Jaded, crueler, more fatalistic and perhaps more complex, but a wandering, adventuring barbarian at heart nevertheless.
I thoroughly enjoyed every story in this collection. Wagner's writing is vivid, compact and even poetic at times. Of particular note are the stories Two Suns Setting and Lynortis Reprise, the longest in the collection. Two Suns Rising sees Kane help one of the last of a dying breed of giants seek the buried palace of a once mighty giant king, in hopes of revitalizing his race. Lynortis Reprise sees Kane navigating a long abandoned battlefield littered with corpses outside a once besieged city, now eerily dead. This is a chilling tale vividly depicting the horrendous remnants of a brutal, pointless war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Here we get a good glimpse of Kane's nature, with the passion burned out of him after centuries of life, passing through the dead city, uninterested in rumors of treasure, a beautiful woman, a righteous cause or much of anything save putting a final end to something inevitable started long ago, for its own sake.
Comparisons to Conan are inevitable, and I think fair. The worlds they inhabit are exceedingly similar, though Howard tends to expend more effort supplying the nitty gritty details of his world building than Wagner. I came to think of Kane as what Conan might have become had he lived for a few centuries as an immortal and picked up some sorcery skills (though clearly he prefers splitting heads with his sword over casting spells). Jaded, crueler, more fatalistic and perhaps more complex, but a wandering, adventuring barbarian at heart nevertheless.
I thoroughly enjoyed every story in this collection. Wagner's writing is vivid, compact and even poetic at times. Of particular note are the stories Two Suns Setting and Lynortis Reprise, the longest in the collection. Two Suns Rising sees Kane help one of the last of a dying breed of giants seek the buried palace of a once mighty giant king, in hopes of revitalizing his race. Lynortis Reprise sees Kane navigating a long abandoned battlefield littered with corpses outside a once besieged city, now eerily dead. This is a chilling tale vividly depicting the horrendous remnants of a brutal, pointless war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Here we get a good glimpse of Kane's nature, with the passion burned out of him after centuries of life, passing through the dead city, uninterested in rumors of treasure, a beautiful woman, a righteous cause or much of anything save putting a final end to something inevitable started long ago, for its own sake.
July 30, 2018
I have read this book multiple times and I still love it . I have the paperback from 1978 or 79 and it is falling apart . I realize this makes me sound old but I am old .
January 19, 2015
Not quite the home run I was expecting from this hard-to-get classic, but still pretty darned good. Kane, to date, is the best post Conan type I've run across. He has his own distinct personality (even though that can be hard to pin down, since he's a bundle of paradoxes), as well as a very distinct look: flaming red hair, relatively short (6 ft), and built like a refrigerator (300 lbs!). The stories in this collection (the first Kane stories I've read), are apparently the last in the series. Wagner creates a number of memorable characters beyond Kane, and leaves hints that at some point they may show up again. It's too bad Wagner died, because the possibilities for Kane (since he's sort of immortal) are endless.
My edition contains 6 stories. A few brief comments.
Undertow. I had some trouble getting into this, due to Wagner's choppy delivery. The story is circular in its telling, and involves Kane's lover, Dessylyn, who is not what she seems. Love hurts. The ending is really sad, and I felt redeemed the structure of the tale.
Two Suns Setting. Kane and a giant go digging in a cave for Giant treasure and glory. But something else is in the cave. This straightforward story was one of my favorites in the collection. Reminded me a great deal of Howard.
The Dark Muse. This one also struck me as a bit choppy, but it's also revealing in that it shows Kane as anything but a thug. In this one he shows himself a friend of literature, willing to help out a struggling poet. Sounds very un-Kane, but there's more than enough carnage. This story is probably the collection's central story, for it's here that the title "Night Winds" is found. The payoff in this one was excellent, and also reminded me of Howard -- at his best.
Raven's Eyrie. This might be my favorite in the collection. Kane is wounded and on the run. He finds himself returning to the scene of one his crimes, to find a daughter he didn't know of, and a woman with a serious Hate. Thrilling, and sad.
Lynortis Reprise. Kane saves a woman fleeing across an old battlefield that sounds like Verdun! You'll see. The WW 1 vibes are deliberate, and Wagner's imagination is outstanding here.
Sing a Last Song of Valdese. Meh. Kane is barely present, and compared to the other stories in the collection, this one comes across as slight.
My edition contains 6 stories. A few brief comments.
Undertow. I had some trouble getting into this, due to Wagner's choppy delivery. The story is circular in its telling, and involves Kane's lover, Dessylyn, who is not what she seems. Love hurts. The ending is really sad, and I felt redeemed the structure of the tale.
Two Suns Setting. Kane and a giant go digging in a cave for Giant treasure and glory. But something else is in the cave. This straightforward story was one of my favorites in the collection. Reminded me a great deal of Howard.
The Dark Muse. This one also struck me as a bit choppy, but it's also revealing in that it shows Kane as anything but a thug. In this one he shows himself a friend of literature, willing to help out a struggling poet. Sounds very un-Kane, but there's more than enough carnage. This story is probably the collection's central story, for it's here that the title "Night Winds" is found. The payoff in this one was excellent, and also reminded me of Howard -- at his best.
Raven's Eyrie. This might be my favorite in the collection. Kane is wounded and on the run. He finds himself returning to the scene of one his crimes, to find a daughter he didn't know of, and a woman with a serious Hate. Thrilling, and sad.
Lynortis Reprise. Kane saves a woman fleeing across an old battlefield that sounds like Verdun! You'll see. The WW 1 vibes are deliberate, and Wagner's imagination is outstanding here.
Sing a Last Song of Valdese. Meh. Kane is barely present, and compared to the other stories in the collection, this one comes across as slight.
November 3, 2019
"You’re going with me.”
“Can you mean it, Dragar?”
“If you think I lie, then stay behind.”
“Kane will follow.”
“Then he’ll lose his life along with his love!” sneered Dragar. With confident hands, he slid from its scabbard his great sword of silver-blue metal. “See this blade,” he hissed, flourishing its massive length easily. “I call it Wizard’s Bane, and there’s reason to the name. Look at the blade. It’s steel, but not steel such as your secretive smiths forge in their dragon-breath furnaces. See the symbols carved into the forte. This blade has power! It was forged long ago by a master smith who used the glowing heart of a fallen star for his ore, who set runes of protection into the finished sword. Who wields Wizard’s Bane need not fear magic, for sorcery can have no power over him. My sword can cleave through the hellish flesh of demons. It can ward off a sorcerer’s enchantments and skewer his evil heart!"
Kane is a sorcerer, a villain, a swordsman, a scholar, and a searcher for darker truths. Undertow is a novella in this book, Night Winds, that brings us an anti-hero whose adventures are quests for both knowledge and power. He explores, not only his world, but time itself.
Wagner’s writing is a throw-back. An obvious appreciation of Lovecraft and Howard with a bit of Moorcock’s Elric added to the stew. "From the roof suddenly there came a slithering metallic scrape upon the slate tiles. Wizard’s Bane pulsed with a corposant of blue witchfire. Shadows stark and unreal cringed away from the lambent blade. Against the thick shutters sounded a creaking groan of hideous pressure. Oaken planks sagged inward. Holding fast, the iron bolts trembled, then abruptly smoldered into sullen rubrous heat. Mist poured past the buckling timbers, bearing with it a smell not of any sea known to man."
What I am getting at is that it isn’t just another sword and sorcery exercise. Kane is not a hero, he may be as complete an anti-hero as is in the genre.
“You’ll stay with me because I love you, and your beauty will not fade, Dessylyn. In time you may understand. Did you ever wonder at the loneliness of immortality? Have you ever wondered what must be the thoughts of a man cursed to wander through the centuries? A man doomed to a desolate, unending existence—feared and hated wherever men speak his name. A man who can never know peace, whose shadow leaves ruin wherever he passes. A man who has learned that every triumph is fleeting, that every joy is transient. All that he seeks to possess is stolen away from him by the years. His empires will fall, his songs will be forgotten, his loves will turn to dust. Only the emptiness of eternity will remain with him, a laughing skeleton cloaked in memories to haunt his days and nights."
And
"He ignored her to lift the cup and hurriedly pour in a measure of dark, semi-congealed fluid. The alembic hissed and shivered, seemed to burst with light within its crimson crystal walls. A drop of phosphorescence took substance near the receiver. Kane quickly shifted the chalice to catch the droplet as it plunged. “Why do you force me to drink this, Kane? Aren’t these chains of fear that hold me to you bondage enough?”
Undertow is about the strange relationship between Dessylyn and Kane and the appearance of several willing saviors.
"Startled despite Dessylyn’s warning, Dragar’s practiced eye swiftly sized up his opponent. So the sorcerer’s magic had preserved the prime of his years after all.... At about six feet Kane stood several inches shorter than the towering barbarian, but the enormous bands of muscle that surged beneath leather vest and trousers made his weight somewhat greater. Long arms and the powerful roll of his shoulders signaled a swordsman of considerable reach and strength,"
It became obvious to me that the Night Winds collection is not the place to start. I am going to have to search out the earlier stories (both in Kane’s history and in Wagner’s writing). So I will offer a temporary 3* until I go further.
“Can you mean it, Dragar?”
“If you think I lie, then stay behind.”
“Kane will follow.”
“Then he’ll lose his life along with his love!” sneered Dragar. With confident hands, he slid from its scabbard his great sword of silver-blue metal. “See this blade,” he hissed, flourishing its massive length easily. “I call it Wizard’s Bane, and there’s reason to the name. Look at the blade. It’s steel, but not steel such as your secretive smiths forge in their dragon-breath furnaces. See the symbols carved into the forte. This blade has power! It was forged long ago by a master smith who used the glowing heart of a fallen star for his ore, who set runes of protection into the finished sword. Who wields Wizard’s Bane need not fear magic, for sorcery can have no power over him. My sword can cleave through the hellish flesh of demons. It can ward off a sorcerer’s enchantments and skewer his evil heart!"
Kane is a sorcerer, a villain, a swordsman, a scholar, and a searcher for darker truths. Undertow is a novella in this book, Night Winds, that brings us an anti-hero whose adventures are quests for both knowledge and power. He explores, not only his world, but time itself.
Wagner’s writing is a throw-back. An obvious appreciation of Lovecraft and Howard with a bit of Moorcock’s Elric added to the stew. "From the roof suddenly there came a slithering metallic scrape upon the slate tiles. Wizard’s Bane pulsed with a corposant of blue witchfire. Shadows stark and unreal cringed away from the lambent blade. Against the thick shutters sounded a creaking groan of hideous pressure. Oaken planks sagged inward. Holding fast, the iron bolts trembled, then abruptly smoldered into sullen rubrous heat. Mist poured past the buckling timbers, bearing with it a smell not of any sea known to man."
What I am getting at is that it isn’t just another sword and sorcery exercise. Kane is not a hero, he may be as complete an anti-hero as is in the genre.
“You’ll stay with me because I love you, and your beauty will not fade, Dessylyn. In time you may understand. Did you ever wonder at the loneliness of immortality? Have you ever wondered what must be the thoughts of a man cursed to wander through the centuries? A man doomed to a desolate, unending existence—feared and hated wherever men speak his name. A man who can never know peace, whose shadow leaves ruin wherever he passes. A man who has learned that every triumph is fleeting, that every joy is transient. All that he seeks to possess is stolen away from him by the years. His empires will fall, his songs will be forgotten, his loves will turn to dust. Only the emptiness of eternity will remain with him, a laughing skeleton cloaked in memories to haunt his days and nights."
And
"He ignored her to lift the cup and hurriedly pour in a measure of dark, semi-congealed fluid. The alembic hissed and shivered, seemed to burst with light within its crimson crystal walls. A drop of phosphorescence took substance near the receiver. Kane quickly shifted the chalice to catch the droplet as it plunged. “Why do you force me to drink this, Kane? Aren’t these chains of fear that hold me to you bondage enough?”
Undertow is about the strange relationship between Dessylyn and Kane and the appearance of several willing saviors.
"Startled despite Dessylyn’s warning, Dragar’s practiced eye swiftly sized up his opponent. So the sorcerer’s magic had preserved the prime of his years after all.... At about six feet Kane stood several inches shorter than the towering barbarian, but the enormous bands of muscle that surged beneath leather vest and trousers made his weight somewhat greater. Long arms and the powerful roll of his shoulders signaled a swordsman of considerable reach and strength,"
It became obvious to me that the Night Winds collection is not the place to start. I am going to have to search out the earlier stories (both in Kane’s history and in Wagner’s writing). So I will offer a temporary 3* until I go further.
December 19, 2020
It's tough writing a good villain protagonist. You have to pay special care in making them likeable, because all their traits - their personalities, their flaws, their hopes and dreams and aspirations, the things you agree with or laugh about - will run in direct conflict with the traits of the rest of the cast. A heroic protagonist can possess all the depth and flavour of an oatmeal, and he will still earn brownie points just for helping out all the supporting characters that you actually like, and fighting against the villain you hate. But if the supporting cast ends up more likeable than your bad guy protagonist, the story is essentially dead in the water. Nobody wants to see the designated main character beat up a bunch of people you like, at least if it isn't funny.
Well, Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories have no such problem - because no one in them is remotely likeable!
Kane himself is not only a deeply unpleasant, self-serving, unrepentant douche - he's also, far more importantly and crucially, boring. He has very little personality apart from being an overall nasty piece of work: no higher goals or aspirations beyond what any given short story happens to momentarily throw at him, no flaws or humanizing traits for the reader to grasp at, not so much as a spark of inner conflict or introspection or growth. In one story he meets his daughter, an opportunity for him to find someone he might actually care about, even to look back at a lifetime of slaughter and try to make amends... or at least to get some dark laughs out of his total indifference towards her. But no - the only thing he cares about is her role in a demonic plot for his life, and the story plays this straight and seriously.
I said that the rest of the cast is equally bland and equally repugnant, but I lie - there are a couple gleaming spots to be found. Kane gets to debate about human nature with a generally nice giant, the poet Opyros brings forth conflict and tension with his hopes and dreams and the ensuing spat with an alchemist, and I sympathized with Dessylyn and wished to see her out of her predicament. But then the first story ends in a bland dungeon crawl, the second in a bland hack-n-slash. only the third one ends keeps up without falling flat, albeit in horror rather than triumph - and even that kind of shoots itself in the leg because the unrepentantly evil sorcerer of said story is cast as the protagonist of the rest. So was it meant as horror? I can't say.
And the writing that connects all this together is... pretty bad as well, to be honest. The prose is amateurish and clumsy, with a woefully poor grasp on what words to use and when, how to construct sentences, or keep a good flow and rhythm going. The dialogue is stiff and impersonal, spiced with little personality or situational wit, mostly concerned with bringing across plot points. The world is paper-thin and fragmented, juvenile (Demonlord? Really?), and, as should have come across by now, deeply unpleasant and grim with no decent characters or situations to root for. The action is okay - it's not terrible, but it should've been downright stellar to make this book worth struggling through with all its other flaws.
On the whole, this collection of short stories left me entirely unimpressed, and I can't help but wonder all the good reviews it's had. To me it only serves as further context to just how great a writer Robert E. Howard truly was, and how difficult it is to imitate what he did well. Maybe you could give this one a read if Conan left you cold, just to see how bad it really could be.
That being the case... there were some longer narratives involving this character and the world, and I could see such stories to be potentially better off: short stories can to some extent afford to neglect greater characterization, deeper conflict, and personal growth, in favour of short-term situations and brief disposable cast - but you're pretty much forced to develop these things in a longer narrative. It would thus deal away with many of the things I didn't like to read about so far. So I might give them a look later on, when I have nothing else to read, see if this is the case.
But so far my impression with this author and his hero has not been exactly great.
Well, Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories have no such problem - because no one in them is remotely likeable!
Kane himself is not only a deeply unpleasant, self-serving, unrepentant douche - he's also, far more importantly and crucially, boring. He has very little personality apart from being an overall nasty piece of work: no higher goals or aspirations beyond what any given short story happens to momentarily throw at him, no flaws or humanizing traits for the reader to grasp at, not so much as a spark of inner conflict or introspection or growth. In one story he meets his daughter, an opportunity for him to find someone he might actually care about, even to look back at a lifetime of slaughter and try to make amends... or at least to get some dark laughs out of his total indifference towards her. But no - the only thing he cares about is her role in a demonic plot for his life, and the story plays this straight and seriously.
I said that the rest of the cast is equally bland and equally repugnant, but I lie - there are a couple gleaming spots to be found. Kane gets to debate about human nature with a generally nice giant, the poet Opyros brings forth conflict and tension with his hopes and dreams and the ensuing spat with an alchemist, and I sympathized with Dessylyn and wished to see her out of her predicament. But then the first story ends in a bland dungeon crawl, the second in a bland hack-n-slash. only the third one ends keeps up without falling flat, albeit in horror rather than triumph - and even that kind of shoots itself in the leg because the unrepentantly evil sorcerer of said story is cast as the protagonist of the rest. So was it meant as horror? I can't say.
And the writing that connects all this together is... pretty bad as well, to be honest. The prose is amateurish and clumsy, with a woefully poor grasp on what words to use and when, how to construct sentences, or keep a good flow and rhythm going. The dialogue is stiff and impersonal, spiced with little personality or situational wit, mostly concerned with bringing across plot points. The world is paper-thin and fragmented, juvenile (Demonlord? Really?), and, as should have come across by now, deeply unpleasant and grim with no decent characters or situations to root for. The action is okay - it's not terrible, but it should've been downright stellar to make this book worth struggling through with all its other flaws.
On the whole, this collection of short stories left me entirely unimpressed, and I can't help but wonder all the good reviews it's had. To me it only serves as further context to just how great a writer Robert E. Howard truly was, and how difficult it is to imitate what he did well. Maybe you could give this one a read if Conan left you cold, just to see how bad it really could be.
That being the case... there were some longer narratives involving this character and the world, and I could see such stories to be potentially better off: short stories can to some extent afford to neglect greater characterization, deeper conflict, and personal growth, in favour of short-term situations and brief disposable cast - but you're pretty much forced to develop these things in a longer narrative. It would thus deal away with many of the things I didn't like to read about so far. So I might give them a look later on, when I have nothing else to read, see if this is the case.
But so far my impression with this author and his hero has not been exactly great.
November 17, 2015
Karl Edward Wagner's KANE is to (Grimdark) Fantasy what Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground is to Indie Music. In other words, Wagner's the Grandaddy of Grimdark. And you have to read him. There's just no way around it. If you're a fantasy fan, you must read Wagner. But be prepared. He's a dark anti-hero. He's not P.C. If you like Mark Lawrence, you'll like Wagner. Kane is a creation of a vastly talented writer who died much too young. He appears in only 2 novels and 3 small short story collections. I save dipping into Wagner for special occasions. I've only a couple of his books left yet to read. Ach, screw it. I'm reading BLOODSTONE next. Love this guy.
August 11, 2020
To preface this, I was reading the Centipede Press edition, which includes not only the contents of the original Warner paperback of Night Winds, but the story "Misericorde" (originally included in The Book of Kane, a lovely illustrated hardcover from Donald M. Grant that also contained a handful of stories previously included in Death Angel's Shadow and this collection), the fragment "In the Wake of the Night" (the opening to what would have been a fourth Kane novel and a sad reminder of all the stories we'll never get), and "The Treasure of Lynortis", the original version of the story that was subsequently revised & published as "Lynortis Reprise".
Having said that, I know that for 99.99% of people out there, the only really available edition will be the eBook that does not include the three additional pieces mentioned above; and really, that's fine -- if you're only going to read one Kane book, this is the one.
As with the stories in Death Angel's Shadow, the stories here lean heavily into gothic horror moreso than standard thud & blunder barbarian adventure; and that's fine, because that's really where lay Wagner's strengths as a writer. Kane himself is often not the viewpoint character, but is a dread figure driving events from the shadows; or when he's onstage, he's still shown from somebody else's point of view and, as in his previous appearances, his role ranges from Byronic antihero to straight-up villain.
Highlights include "Undertow" (in which a woman, Dessylyn, seeks desperately to escape from his clutches), "The Dark Muse" (in which Kane helps a poet to complete his greatest work; this is arguably the most straight-up horror story in the bunch, and at times reads like the other side of one of those Lovecraft Dreamland stories -- what was happening back here while the dreamer was off having fantastical visions?) and "Raven's Eyrie", in which a seriously wounded Kane and the remnants of a bandit pack he was leading take refuge in an inn that turns out to have some pretty awful secrets of its own.
Even the one story that is more of a straight-up sword & sorcery adventure, "Two Suns Setting", has Kane teaming up with a giant to raid the long-lost tomb of a giant king, and has plenty of horrific bits.
(Oh, and I do also want to give a shout-out to "Misericorde", which is a perfect, nasty little gem of a story, possibly my favorite Kane story, but if you want it you'll most likely have to buy The Book of Kane in eBook form; but the eBooks are about $3.99 each, and Book of Kane also includes my other favorite Kane story, "Reflections for the Winter of My Soul".)
Having said that, I know that for 99.99% of people out there, the only really available edition will be the eBook that does not include the three additional pieces mentioned above; and really, that's fine -- if you're only going to read one Kane book, this is the one.
As with the stories in Death Angel's Shadow, the stories here lean heavily into gothic horror moreso than standard thud & blunder barbarian adventure; and that's fine, because that's really where lay Wagner's strengths as a writer. Kane himself is often not the viewpoint character, but is a dread figure driving events from the shadows; or when he's onstage, he's still shown from somebody else's point of view and, as in his previous appearances, his role ranges from Byronic antihero to straight-up villain.
Highlights include "Undertow" (in which a woman, Dessylyn, seeks desperately to escape from his clutches), "The Dark Muse" (in which Kane helps a poet to complete his greatest work; this is arguably the most straight-up horror story in the bunch, and at times reads like the other side of one of those Lovecraft Dreamland stories -- what was happening back here while the dreamer was off having fantastical visions?) and "Raven's Eyrie", in which a seriously wounded Kane and the remnants of a bandit pack he was leading take refuge in an inn that turns out to have some pretty awful secrets of its own.
Even the one story that is more of a straight-up sword & sorcery adventure, "Two Suns Setting", has Kane teaming up with a giant to raid the long-lost tomb of a giant king, and has plenty of horrific bits.
(Oh, and I do also want to give a shout-out to "Misericorde", which is a perfect, nasty little gem of a story, possibly my favorite Kane story, but if you want it you'll most likely have to buy The Book of Kane in eBook form; but the eBooks are about $3.99 each, and Book of Kane also includes my other favorite Kane story, "Reflections for the Winter of My Soul".)
May 24, 2020
Κέην! Ο αθάνατος ταξιδιώτης που καταράστηκε να περιπλανιέται μέσα στους αιώνες επειδή επαναστάτησε εναντίον ενός τρελού θεού. Ο ήρωας του Κάρλ Έντουαρντ Βάγκνερ είναι μια από τις πιο σημαντικές φιγούρες της ηρωικής φαντασίας, μαζί με τον Κόναν τον Φάφρντ και Γκρέϋ Μάουζερ αλλά και τον Έλρικ του Μελιμπονέ, όχι μόνο λόγω της καταπληκτικής πρόζας του Βάγκνερ αλλά και του γενικότερου χαρακτήρα του: ξε��εύγοντας από το παραδοσιακό στερεότυπο του ήρωα ο Κέην είναι αμοραλιστής, κερδοσκόπος ενώ οι προθέσεις του δεν είναι πάντα ξεκάθαρες. Δεν είναι τυχαίο που σε ιστορίες όπως το "Undertow" εμφανίζεται στο ρόλο του "κακού" ενώ σε άλλες ιστορίες ("Lynortis Reprise") παρεμβαίνει στα γεγονότα χωρίς να μπορεί να αλλάξει την ροή των πραγμάτων.
Δεν ξέρω κατά πόσο θα αρέσουν οι ιστορίες αυτές σε κάποιον που έχει συνηθίσει την μοντέρνα φαντασία: Είανι σκοτεινές αλλά όχι επιτηδευμένες και δεν υπάρχει το αίσθημα της δικαιοσύνης που μπορεί να αναζητεί ο αναγνώστης. Όπως αναφέρεται και στην τελευταία ιστορία ο Κέην υπάρχει μέσα στους αιώνες, είτε είναι υπαρκτό πρόσωπο, είτε μύθος που προσπαθεί ο καθένας να οικειοποιηθεί, ως εκ τούτου υπάρχει μια αίσθηση ματαιότητας σε κάθε ιστορία.
Η δομή των ιστοριών είναι σχετικά απλή αλλά η πρόζα δικαιώνει, λόγω του εκλεπτυσμένου γλαφυρού λεξιλογίου και της σωστή ανάπτυξη. Οι περισσότερες ιστορίες είχαν μεταφραστεί κιόλας στην θρυλική σειρά της Ωρόρα αλλά το πρωτότυπο κείμενο έχει άλλη αίσθηση. Οι ιστορίες διαβάζονται ευχάριστα παρά το δύσκολο λεξιλόγιο και γενικά η ανάγνωση είναι μια απόλαυση, ειδικά σε όσους αρέσει αυτού του είδους λογοτεχνία. Έχοντας διαβάσει και άλλα βιβλία του Βάγκνερ (δεν έγραψε και πολλά) θα έλεγα ότι αυτό είναι ίσως το αγαπημένο μου μαζί με το "Dark crusade". Το μόνο που μένει είναι το "Death angel's shadow" το οποίο βρίσκεται εύκολα στο e-bay στην προσιτή τιμή των 35 ευρώ πλέον ταχυδρομικά από Αμερική. Δυστυχώς τα βιβλία του Βάγκνερ δεν ανατυπώνονται πλέον, βρίσκονται σε site με μεταχειρισμένα αλλά είναι κρίμα να ξεχαστούν, ειδικά δε σε μια αποχή που η λογοτεχνία του φανταστικού έχει παραδοθεί στα εμπορικά κλισέ.
Δεν ξέρω κατά πόσο θα αρέσουν οι ιστορίες αυτές σε κάποιον που έχει συνηθίσει την μοντέρνα φαντασία: Είανι σκοτεινές αλλά όχι επιτηδευμένες και δεν υπάρχει το αίσθημα της δικαιοσύνης που μπορεί να αναζητεί ο αναγνώστης. Όπως αναφέρεται και στην τελευταία ιστορία ο Κέην υπάρχει μέσα στους αιώνες, είτε είναι υπαρκτό πρόσωπο, είτε μύθος που προσπαθεί ο καθένας να οικειοποιηθεί, ως εκ τούτου υπάρχει μια αίσθηση ματαιότητας σε κάθε ιστορία.
Η δομή των ιστοριών είναι σχετικά απλή αλλά η πρόζα δικαιώνει, λόγω του εκλεπτυσμένου γλαφυρού λεξιλογίου και της σωστή ανάπτυξη. Οι περισσότερες ιστορίες είχαν μεταφραστεί κιόλας στην θρυλική σειρά της Ωρόρα αλλά το πρωτότυπο κείμενο έχει άλλη αίσθηση. Οι ιστορίες διαβάζονται ευχάριστα παρά το δύσκολο λεξιλόγιο και γενικά η ανάγνωση είναι μια απόλαυση, ειδικά σε όσους αρέσει αυτού του είδους λογοτεχνία. Έχοντας διαβάσει και άλλα βιβλία του Βάγκνερ (δεν έγραψε και πολλά) θα έλεγα ότι αυτό είναι ίσως το αγαπημένο μου μαζί με το "Dark crusade". Το μόνο που μένει είναι το "Death angel's shadow" το οποίο βρίσκεται εύκολα στο e-bay στην προσιτή τιμή των 35 ευρώ πλέον ταχυδρομικά από Αμερική. Δυστυχώς τα βιβλία του Βάγκνερ δεν ανατυπώνονται πλέον, βρίσκονται σε site με μεταχειρισμένα αλλά είναι κρίμα να ξεχαστούν, ειδικά δε σε μια αποχή που η λογοτεχνία του φανταστικού έχει παραδοθεί στα εμπορικά κλισέ.
May 11, 2015
Wagner invests a real sense of history into his stories, in the same way that Robert E Howard tended. Events occur for strong reasons, and characters are rationally motivated. In this collection "Lynortis Reprise" shows this most vividly and effectively, and was the story that resonated best with me. The city ruins exist for a reason, and are abandoned for a reason, and are being investigated for reasons.
That the story takes place in a ruined, overthrown city with strange refugee inhabitants makes it all the better. In other hands the defending force would be cannibal Morlocks or the remnant "darklings" once worshipped in the city, but Wagner approaches it differently and oddly . It has an aftermath quality which few sword-and-sorcery stories address. What happens on the battlefield after the war has ended, after the bloody and depleting conquest?
The world Wagner writes continues to fascinate. The city of Carsultyal becomes a repeated element, first as Kane's abode, next as a stagnant and wilting world power, then as an ancient and lost city, then as an almost-forgotten name. It's a detail that brings out the time scale of Kane's wandering.
I would have to reread the rest of Kane to be certain--it has been a while--but it felt like the writing and story quality had stepped up from previous collections. The grating use of vernacular in character dialog has vanished and there's even some experimentation about reordering events--"Undertow"--for effect and to conceal information.
That the story takes place in a ruined, overthrown city with strange refugee inhabitants makes it all the better. In other hands the defending force would be cannibal Morlocks or the remnant "darklings" once worshipped in the city, but Wagner approaches it differently and oddly . It has an aftermath quality which few sword-and-sorcery stories address. What happens on the battlefield after the war has ended, after the bloody and depleting conquest?
The world Wagner writes continues to fascinate. The city of Carsultyal becomes a repeated element, first as Kane's abode, next as a stagnant and wilting world power, then as an ancient and lost city, then as an almost-forgotten name. It's a detail that brings out the time scale of Kane's wandering.
I would have to reread the rest of Kane to be certain--it has been a while--but it felt like the writing and story quality had stepped up from previous collections. The grating use of vernacular in character dialog has vanished and there's even some experimentation about reordering events--"Undertow"--for effect and to conceal information.
December 23, 2020
This is a dark anthology of contained short stories that features the sword and sorcery "hero-villain" Kane. "Undertow" is an anti-romance story about an abusive relationship between a sorcerer and his imprisoned love, and the recurring trap that continues to catch both of them. "Two Suns Setting" is the most conventional and lighthearted adventure tale of the anthology. It is about a giant in search of redemption for his dying race in shadowy tombs. "The Dark Muse" is a compelling allegory that treats the mental risks of pursuing art too obsessively. It recalled to me H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror, "The Call of Cthulhu," to the extent that it features a sensitive artist who stumbles upon insights that blast his mind. "Raven's Eyrie" is a gothic tale of paranoia and claustrophobia that is focused mosty on one setting; it reminded me of the famous "inn" nested story within the gothic novel, *The Monk,* by M.G. Lewis. "Lynortis Reprise" is a philosophical story about the absurdities and consequences of neverending wars. In its thesis, it evokes Robert E. Howard's "Red Nails." "Sing a Last Song of Valdese" is a strange tale of a haunted inn and dark conspiracy. It was the most formally experimental, "avant-garde" of the tales. To generalize: KEW's sword and sorcery is very distinctive in its gothicism, cruelty, brutality, and strangely pensive atmospherics. Its uniqueness is fully on display here. If you want to read the Kane novels, this might be a good place to start to get sense of the character and tone before exploring the longer narratives.
February 21, 2018
This has 3 stories about Kane, Wagner's dark version of Conan. Kane strangled his brother on the alter of the mad god that created man. The god cursed him to live until the violence he brought to the race killed him. Kane is very tough, mean & intelligent, so keeps living. A great read for anyone who likes 'Sword & Sorcery'.
October 18, 2015
Karl Edward Wagner's KANE is to (Grimdark) Fantasy what Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground is to Indie Music. In other words, Wagner's the Grandaddy of Grimdark. And you have to read him. There's just no way around it. If you're a fantasy fan, you must read Wagner. But be prepared. He's a dark anti-hero. He's not P.C. If you like Mark Lawrence, you'll like Wagner. Kane is a creation of a vastly talented writer who died much too young. He appears in only 2 novels and 3 small short story collections. I save dipping into Wagner for special occasions. I've only a couple of his books left yet to read. Ach, screw it. I'm reading BLOODSTONE next. Love this guy.
November 20, 2016
Of all the Kane books I have read so far, Night Winds appears to have the strongest horror elements to it. There is relatively little action and Kane is often much more an observer than an active participant for most of the book. I would not call it a scary book, but it's certainly quite creepy at times. Most of the stories are also not particularly high polished, but Wagner manages very well to get the ideas and atmosphere across.
A book that is as gloomy as it is enjoyable.
A book that is as gloomy as it is enjoyable.
January 13, 2023
This is the first of the Kane books I've read. It had several stories and some where better than others. Over all I give it 4 stars. I wish there was more back story on Kane in here.
Sadly the last story had more of a back story on him then all the others. I would definitely still recommend it to any fan of Sword and Sorcery.
Sadly the last story had more of a back story on him then all the others. I would definitely still recommend it to any fan of Sword and Sorcery.
November 16, 2023
If you’ve ever read Wagner, you know it’s going to be dark. This is a collection of Kane shorter stories detailing some of the best, and what some might claim , the worst of the style that came out of Wagner’s tortured mind. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s a very grim set of really good dark fantasy tales. Kane is at times devilish, indifferent, selfish, unselfish, vile, heroic, extremely unheroic, and a hundred other things. A lot of this is story driven, where Kane is just a cog in the wheel. Another great trait of shorter stories. I don’t use the word Grimdark, because that’s been around for over a hundred years. Just read Howard’s Red Nails, Worms of the Earth, or many others. I’m sure fans of the aforementioned genre would love Wagner’s Kane stories, and this is a great place to start. Highly recommend.
August 28, 2020
This is a collection of six of Wagner's best stories of Kane. It does an excellent job of portraying the many facets of this excellent swords & sorcery anti-hero, the many roles he played, and some of his many exploits over the course of a long, long life. The tone of stories shifts as well, from slam-bang comic book action to lyrical introspection and on and on. Wagner was an excellent writer with a dark undercurrent. I believe my favorite in this volume was Two Suns Setting. The other stories included are Undertow, The Dark Muse, Raven's Eyrie, Lynortis Reprise, and Sing a Last Song of Valdese. Fans of both Conan and The Witcher will find what they're searching for here, I betcha!
March 4, 2016
This is one of my favorite dark fantasy series. Kane is an excellent anti-hero, not really good but not entirely a bad guy either. Excellent story and character. Highly recommended.
October 12, 2016
Today gritty and edgy novels have a dominant presence in Fantasy. So after reading about characters like Jorg Ancrath, Ramsay Bolton or Glokta and Bayaz, or novels like Beyond Redemption and the Night Angel Trilogy or even the bleak and depressive atmosphere of the Farseer Trilogy, I thought I had an understanding of the current power of these dark stories. Or what evil was or could be.
Enter Solomon Kane. And the word to describe him: Evil.
Based on a certain biblical myth, Kane is cursed with immortality, condemned to walk the world feared, hunted and despised. So after his immemorial terrible deed, Cain, I mean, Kane, roams the world and lives throughout the ages, doing or observing, or both, what humanity has to offer.
Right on the first story (which has a choppy structure, but everything gets so much better afterwards), Kane kills a noble lady-savior barbarian with a sword that grants protection against sorcery.
Kane is the anti-Conan. He is the anti-hero. He is evil. And right there this symbolic "fight" shows what he came for.
My favorite passage is when Kane is giving writing advice to a poet with writer's block:
"What if instead of some long-dead artist's never-finished vision of unearthy beauty, you found yourself trapped in an unhallowed nightmare from which some fever-poisoned madman awoke shrieking? The dark muse cares not whether her dreams portray ethereal beauty or mindless horror."
The poet formed an easy smile:
"If I wanted to write poems on sunshine and flowers and love, this might worry me. But you know my thoughts well enough. I'll weave my verses for the night, sing of the dark things that soar through nameless abysses - unfold the poetry of the macabre, while others prattle about little things. [...] True beauty lies in the dark side of life - in death, in the uncanny - in the grandeur of the unknown. The pure awareness of beauty is as overwhelming an emotion as blind fear; to feel inexpressible love is as soul-wrenching a sensation as to know relentless terror. When fired to the ultimate blaze, the finest emotions become one intolerable flame, and ecstasy and agony are inseparable."
Holy crap. I wish I could use that as my signature.
Since it's based on the pulp fiction of Howard's Conan, the style does show a bit of aging, despite being written almost 40 years later.
There's a lot of head hopping sometimes (or is this what they call Omniscient POV?), Kane loves to refer to himself by name in third person, and by the nature of the genre, a lot needs to be described through dialogues.
But those things are extremely minor. Kane is so much bigger than life. He may even look pragmatic, and sometimes you might even sympathize with him, then comes the nasty and evil revelation.
There's nothing really graphical on his stories, but it has such a grim, dark and hopeless atmosphere when you read it and when you really search between the lines and the meanings. Since Kane is immortal and lives centuries or millenniums, there are huge gaps in time, all left for you (or another of his books) to fill.
Solomon Kane would walk in Westeros, the Broken Empire, the Six Duchies, the First Law world like if he is in Disneyland. He would rule them all.
There's all that's needs to be said.
Read the two most liked reviews for this book. They will convince you about Kane. They totally sold it to me, and I totally bought it. And I'm glad I did it.
Enter Solomon Kane. And the word to describe him: Evil.
Based on a certain biblical myth, Kane is cursed with immortality, condemned to walk the world feared, hunted and despised. So after his immemorial terrible deed, Cain, I mean, Kane, roams the world and lives throughout the ages, doing or observing, or both, what humanity has to offer.
Right on the first story (which has a choppy structure, but everything gets so much better afterwards), Kane kills a noble lady-savior barbarian with a sword that grants protection against sorcery.
Kane is the anti-Conan. He is the anti-hero. He is evil. And right there this symbolic "fight" shows what he came for.
My favorite passage is when Kane is giving writing advice to a poet with writer's block:
"What if instead of some long-dead artist's never-finished vision of unearthy beauty, you found yourself trapped in an unhallowed nightmare from which some fever-poisoned madman awoke shrieking? The dark muse cares not whether her dreams portray ethereal beauty or mindless horror."
The poet formed an easy smile:
"If I wanted to write poems on sunshine and flowers and love, this might worry me. But you know my thoughts well enough. I'll weave my verses for the night, sing of the dark things that soar through nameless abysses - unfold the poetry of the macabre, while others prattle about little things. [...] True beauty lies in the dark side of life - in death, in the uncanny - in the grandeur of the unknown. The pure awareness of beauty is as overwhelming an emotion as blind fear; to feel inexpressible love is as soul-wrenching a sensation as to know relentless terror. When fired to the ultimate blaze, the finest emotions become one intolerable flame, and ecstasy and agony are inseparable."
Holy crap. I wish I could use that as my signature.
Since it's based on the pulp fiction of Howard's Conan, the style does show a bit of aging, despite being written almost 40 years later.
There's a lot of head hopping sometimes (or is this what they call Omniscient POV?), Kane loves to refer to himself by name in third person, and by the nature of the genre, a lot needs to be described through dialogues.
But those things are extremely minor. Kane is so much bigger than life. He may even look pragmatic, and sometimes you might even sympathize with him, then comes the nasty and evil revelation.
There's nothing really graphical on his stories, but it has such a grim, dark and hopeless atmosphere when you read it and when you really search between the lines and the meanings. Since Kane is immortal and lives centuries or millenniums, there are huge gaps in time, all left for you (or another of his books) to fill.
Solomon Kane would walk in Westeros, the Broken Empire, the Six Duchies, the First Law world like if he is in Disneyland. He would rule them all.
There's all that's needs to be said.
Read the two most liked reviews for this book. They will convince you about Kane. They totally sold it to me, and I totally bought it. And I'm glad I did it.
August 23, 2015
This collection of dark fantasy stories center on the mysterious figure of Kane, a tautly muscled red-haired killer of men. If that description intrigues you, you're in luck, friend! You will hear it many times!
Kane is quite a remarkable fantasy protagonist, as he is straight up a monstrous villain. No tormented anti-hero here: the necromancer is petty, cruel and violent -- though luckily for bystanders also often quite uninterested in their goings-on. His status as a cursed immortal makes him the entry character to each tale, and rarely the object of the plot's progression. If anything, he's more of a wild card in whatever volatile situation is dropped: which faction's side will Kane choose in this story, and will they benefit from it at all? There is no knowing!
Though the setting is a sword and sorcery one, the stories vary in subgenre from horror to war to adventure, even crime! It's also a treat to try and puzzle out how many days/weeks/centuries have passed since the last short. Through Kane's eternal life, Wagner infuses the tales with a nihilist quality that might put some off (Is "Undertow" five-hundred years before "Lynortis Reprise"? Who can tell, humans are still stupid jerks!), but the variety and breakneck pace of the stories will keep anyone interested in gothic horror fantasy engaged to the end. Which comes in at under 200 pages, by the way!
Kane is quite a remarkable fantasy protagonist, as he is straight up a monstrous villain. No tormented anti-hero here: the necromancer is petty, cruel and violent -- though luckily for bystanders also often quite uninterested in their goings-on. His status as a cursed immortal makes him the entry character to each tale, and rarely the object of the plot's progression. If anything, he's more of a wild card in whatever volatile situation is dropped: which faction's side will Kane choose in this story, and will they benefit from it at all? There is no knowing!
Though the setting is a sword and sorcery one, the stories vary in subgenre from horror to war to adventure, even crime! It's also a treat to try and puzzle out how many days/weeks/centuries have passed since the last short. Through Kane's eternal life, Wagner infuses the tales with a nihilist quality that might put some off (Is "Undertow" five-hundred years before "Lynortis Reprise"? Who can tell, humans are still stupid jerks!), but the variety and breakneck pace of the stories will keep anyone interested in gothic horror fantasy engaged to the end. Which comes in at under 200 pages, by the way!
December 1, 2022
This is a collection of stories about Kane, a wanderer cursed with immortality. While they can be described as sword and sorcery stories (I’ve read that Wagner preferred the terms epic fantasy, dark fantasy, or gothic fantasy) they also have elements of adventure and gothic horror. Kane is far from your typical heroic adventurer. At times Kane is a sorcerer, an adventurer, a crime lord, or leader of bandits. At all times Kane looks out for Kane. Not really an anti-hero, sometimes a villain, but just sympathetic enough to keep me interested in the outcome of each story.
One of the things I really like about these stories is that they are all different. Also, the stories all have layers and themes that become apparent once you get to the end. Every story is a standout.
In “Undertow,” a mysterious woman seeks help from a sea captain. We don’t meet Kane right away, we just hear people talking about him. Some describe him with fear and wonder while another character mocks him. We’re not sure how the characters are connected to each other until the end. The story is built up well and has a chilling ending.
In “Two Suns Setting,” Kane meets a giant and winds up helping him search for a lost crown. As they sit by a fire, Kane and the giant debate the progress of civilization versus living closer to the natural environment. I loved this conversation. It reminded me of the themes of barbarism versus civilization that come up in many of Robert E. Howard’s stories. The action that follows is well done and it flows so well from the campfire discussion.
In “The Dark Muse,” Kane helps the mad poet Opyros summon Klinure, the dark muse. Dark and lyrical, parts of the story reminded me of Clark Ashton Smith.
In “Raven’s Eyrie,” Kane and his bandit group are being hunted by mercenaries. They seek refuge at a mountain inn with ties to Kane’s past. Besides the mercenaries that are hunting them and someone at the inn from Kane’s past, they also have to contend with a supernatural threat. This story and the previous one both have elements of gothic horror.
At the beginning of “Lynortis Reprise,” Kane rescues a woman being hunted by mercenaries. It turns out they are looking for a hidden treasure underneath the ruins of a city destroyed after a great war years ago. The setting is a dangerous wasteland in which scavengers search for loot among leftover weapons and crippled survivors. In this story we get legends of a devastating siege, legends of a treasure, and a statement on the savagery and brutality of war. I can’t decide whether this story or “Undertow” is my favorite.
In “Sing a Last Song of Valdese” travelers at an isolated inn discuss a legend. Short and sweet with another chilling ending.
I read two of the Kane novels, Bloodstone and Dark Crusade, after finishing Night Winds. I liked them both a lot but so far Night Winds is my favorite.
Undertow (5/5)
Two Suns Setting (5/5)
The Dark Muse (4/5)
Raven’s Eyrie (4/5)
Lynortis Reprise (5 /5)
Sing a Last Song of Valdese (5/5)
One of the things I really like about these stories is that they are all different. Also, the stories all have layers and themes that become apparent once you get to the end. Every story is a standout.
In “Undertow,” a mysterious woman seeks help from a sea captain. We don’t meet Kane right away, we just hear people talking about him. Some describe him with fear and wonder while another character mocks him. We’re not sure how the characters are connected to each other until the end. The story is built up well and has a chilling ending.
In “Two Suns Setting,” Kane meets a giant and winds up helping him search for a lost crown. As they sit by a fire, Kane and the giant debate the progress of civilization versus living closer to the natural environment. I loved this conversation. It reminded me of the themes of barbarism versus civilization that come up in many of Robert E. Howard’s stories. The action that follows is well done and it flows so well from the campfire discussion.
In “The Dark Muse,” Kane helps the mad poet Opyros summon Klinure, the dark muse. Dark and lyrical, parts of the story reminded me of Clark Ashton Smith.
In “Raven’s Eyrie,” Kane and his bandit group are being hunted by mercenaries. They seek refuge at a mountain inn with ties to Kane’s past. Besides the mercenaries that are hunting them and someone at the inn from Kane’s past, they also have to contend with a supernatural threat. This story and the previous one both have elements of gothic horror.
At the beginning of “Lynortis Reprise,” Kane rescues a woman being hunted by mercenaries. It turns out they are looking for a hidden treasure underneath the ruins of a city destroyed after a great war years ago. The setting is a dangerous wasteland in which scavengers search for loot among leftover weapons and crippled survivors. In this story we get legends of a devastating siege, legends of a treasure, and a statement on the savagery and brutality of war. I can’t decide whether this story or “Undertow” is my favorite.
In “Sing a Last Song of Valdese” travelers at an isolated inn discuss a legend. Short and sweet with another chilling ending.
I read two of the Kane novels, Bloodstone and Dark Crusade, after finishing Night Winds. I liked them both a lot but so far Night Winds is my favorite.
Undertow (5/5)
Two Suns Setting (5/5)
The Dark Muse (4/5)
Raven’s Eyrie (4/5)
Lynortis Reprise (5 /5)
Sing a Last Song of Valdese (5/5)
January 7, 2013
Karl Edward Wagner’s character of Kane is, in my opinion, one of the greatest anti-heroes in the world of sword and sorcery. Kane is Wagner’s clever spin on Cain from the Bible, Cain having killed his brother Abel and having thereafter been punished by God. With Kane, Wagner manages to create a profound character both detestable and likable, a character maliciously vengeful one moment and tenderly sensitive the next. In his stories of Kane, Wagner takes the reader on journeys filled with captivating enchantments and gripping action. Night Winds, a collection of short stories starring Kane, contains some truly spellbinding tales, and for that reason I call it one of my favorites.
January 6, 2018
✭✭✭✭½
“Undertow” (1977) ✭✭✭✭✭
“Two Suns Setting” (1976) ✭✭✭✭½
“The Dark Muse” (1975) ✭✭✭✭
“Raven’s Eyrie” (1977) ✭✭✭✭½
“Lynortis Reprise” (1974) ✭✭✭✭½
“Sing a Last Song of Valdese” (1977) ✭✭✭✭½
“Undertow” (1977) ✭✭✭✭✭
“Two Suns Setting” (1976) ✭✭✭✭½
“The Dark Muse” (1975) ✭✭✭✭
“Raven’s Eyrie” (1977) ✭✭✭✭½
“Lynortis Reprise” (1974) ✭✭✭✭½
“Sing a Last Song of Valdese” (1977) ✭✭✭✭½
Want to read
December 26, 2015This is copy 40 of 300 signed and numbered copies. Facsimile signed by Karl Edward Wagner and signed by Grant Griffin.
June 12, 2019
Grimdark before grimdark was actually a thing. Not too shabby.
October 16, 2020
Само суперлативи за Кейн и нищо друго.
Уагнър успява съвсем успешно да създаде един анти-Конън в мрачен и безнадежден фентъзи свят. В шестте истории Кейн успява да изгради образ пред очите на читателя, като участва почти косвено във всяка една от тях. Атмосферата е мрачна и подтискаща, героите - отдадени на най-черните си въжделения и импулси. Няма добро в светът на Кейн. На този фон леко мръдналият, затворен в себе си некромант и разбойнически главатар дори успява да стане симпатичен на читателя, а мрачната прокоба на миналото му прави съмнителния му морал дори оправдан.
Запознайте се с Кейн - 150 килограмова, червенокоса машина за смърт. Подобно на почти съименника си Кайн, той удушава брат си на олтара на лудия бог създал света. За това е прокълнат на безсмъртие и безпредметно скитане из света.
Книгата има светоизграждане на чудесна лилава проза, ама толкова тъмно лилава, че направо е черна. Уагнър е като някакъв прародител на гримдарка, като тук мрачното фентъзи няма нищо общо с псевдофеодални кланета и оргии, както стана модерно преди 5-6 години. Имаме фентъзи от ранга на Хауърд и, макар писано 40 години по-късно, направено с достатъчно внимание към езика и достатъчно архаизми, да придаде правилната атмосфера.
“Undertow” (1977) - Една жена отчаяно се опитва да примами герой, който да я измъкне от лапите на Кейн - всемогъщ некромант. Първо един варварин от севера с меч пронизващ магьосници, после смел морски капитан не успяват да ѝ помогнат.
“Two Suns Setting” - В скитанията си Кейн се сприятелява с един от последните от расата на великаните. Заедно те намират гробницата на един от великите великански крале. Там ще се сблъскат с остатъци от мечтаното от великана славно минало, което ще доведе до...
“The Dark Muse” (1975) - Разбираемо, един от малкото приятели на Кейн е постоянно друсащ се поет, който мечтае да напише перфектната, славеща смъртта балада. Кейн ще хвърли доста усилия да му помогне със сдобиването на статуята на Мрачната муза - покровителка на кошмарите, в чиято прегръдка много хора са изгубили разсъдака си.
“Raven’s Eyrie” (1977) - Тежко ранен и преследван от наемници Кейн попада в крайпътна странноприемница, където не е непознат и кръчмарката жадува да му отмъсти. Когато наемниците ги застигат, Кейн е принуден да бяга, но не и преди да открие две тайни за прокълнатото място. Едната от тях е пряко свързана с миналото му.
“Lynortis Reprise” (1974) - №0 години война са оставили една страна в руини. Там в столицата ѝ има племе от "полухора" - бойци и от двете страни, които са осакатени и изоставени. Те бленуват за край на войната. Край свързан с тяхната смърт. Дали ще успее Кейн да им го дари? И дали тази война не му е позната от преди?
“Sing a Last Song of Valdese” (1977) - Една кръчна на края на гората, няколко странника събрани на една маса да си разказват истории. Дали срещата им е случайна, дали не се познават всички от преди, дали не ги свързва мрачна тайна от преди 30 години?
Всяка следваща история градира предишната. Подредбата е страхотна и съвсем умишлено, както се вижда, не по ред на писането им. Ще се чете още.
Уагнър успява съвсем успешно да създаде един анти-Конън в мрачен и безнадежден фентъзи свят. В шестте истории Кейн успява да изгради образ пред очите на читателя, като участва почти косвено във всяка една от тях. Атмосферата е мрачна и подтискаща, героите - отдадени на най-черните си въжделения и импулси. Няма добро в светът на Кейн. На този фон леко мръдналият, затворен в себе си некромант и разбойнически главатар дори успява да стане симпатичен на читателя, а мрачната прокоба на миналото му прави съмнителния му морал дори оправдан.
Запознайте се с Кейн - 150 килограмова, червенокоса машина за смърт. Подобно на почти съименника си Кайн, той удушава брат си на олтара на лудия бог създал света. За това е прокълнат на безсмъртие и безпредметно скитане из света.
Книгата има светоизграждане на чудесна лилава проза, ама толкова тъмно лилава, че направо е черна. Уагнър е като някакъв прародител на гримдарка, като тук мрачното фентъзи няма нищо общо с псевдофеодални кланета и оргии, както стана модерно преди 5-6 години. Имаме фентъзи от ранга на Хауърд и, макар писано 40 години по-късно, направено с достатъчно внимание към езика и достатъчно архаизми, да придаде правилната атмосфера.
“Undertow” (1977) - Една жена отчаяно се опитва да примами герой, който да я измъкне от лапите на Кейн - всемогъщ некромант. Първо един варварин от севера с меч пронизващ магьосници, после смел морски капитан не успяват да ѝ помогнат.
“Two Suns Setting” - В скитанията си Кейн се сприятелява с един от последните от расата на великаните. Заедно те намират гробницата на един от великите великански крале. Там ще се сблъскат с остатъци от мечтаното от великана славно минало, което ще доведе до...
“The Dark Muse” (1975) - Разбираемо, един от малкото приятели на Кейн е постоянно друсащ се поет, който мечтае да напише перфектната, славеща смъртта балада. Кейн ще хвърли доста усилия да му помогне със сдобиването на статуята на Мрачната муза - покровителка на кошмарите, в чиято прегръдка много хора са изгубили разсъдака си.
“Raven’s Eyrie” (1977) - Тежко ранен и преследван от наемници Кейн попада в крайпътна странноприемница, където не е непознат и кръчмарката жадува да му отмъсти. Когато наемниците ги застигат, Кейн е принуден да бяга, но не и преди да открие две тайни за прокълнатото място. Едната от тях е пряко свързана с миналото му.
“Lynortis Reprise” (1974) - №0 години война са оставили една страна в руини. Там в столицата ѝ има племе от "полухора" - бойци и от двете страни, които са осакатени и изоставени. Те бленуват за край на войната. Край свързан с тяхната смърт. Дали ще успее Кейн да им го дари? И дали тази война не му е позната от преди?
“Sing a Last Song of Valdese” (1977) - Една кръчна на края на гората, няколко странника събрани на една маса да си разказват истории. Дали срещата им е случайна, дали не се познават всички от преди, дали не ги свързва мрачна тайна от преди 30 години?
Всяка следваща история градира предишната. Подредбата е страхотна и съвсем умишлено, както се вижда, не по ред на писането им. Ще се чете още.
February 10, 2015
The writing in Night Winds is vastly improved over Karl Edward Wagner's earliest efforts but, like many Fantasy writers, he's still occasionally prone to overworking things. A good example of that comes in the very first paragraph of this book:
It's the word 'strumpet' I take issue with there. There's nothing wrong with the word itself, even if it does sound somewhat comical in any post-Victorian writing. It's just that it's unnecessary here. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the sentence is diminished by its presence. 'Painted and rouged' tells us all we need to know to see the picture and grasp its implications. 'Strumpet's mask' adds nothing to this picture where 'mask' would have sufficed and instead of an affecting image we're left with incongruent, slightly comic syllables abrading our attention.
As I say though, this is now just an occasional tendency and doesn't fully or fairly represent Wagner, who is far better than some genre writers. It is, though, a good example of just what I, and others, mean by 'overwriting'.
If the writing's improved the style has also altered subtly from the two previous Kane books that I've read - Darkness Weaves and Bloodstone . Where those were brutal adventure stories, this is largely horror. Importantly, this is a collection of short stories, which also distinguishes it from those two others - which were novels. That explains my 'largely horror'; the first two stories (two of the shortest in the collection) are more akin to the novels in tone. Of the others, the longest is very Lovecraftian, whilst another seems largely inspired by the film Freaks. Horror isn't quite to my taste but I do feel that the genre lends itself well to the form of short fiction and this was an enjoyable enough collection of yarns.
A girl’s contorted face turned sightlessly upward — painted and rouged, a ghastly strumpet’s mask against the pallor of her skin.
It's the word 'strumpet' I take issue with there. There's nothing wrong with the word itself, even if it does sound somewhat comical in any post-Victorian writing. It's just that it's unnecessary here. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the sentence is diminished by its presence. 'Painted and rouged' tells us all we need to know to see the picture and grasp its implications. 'Strumpet's mask' adds nothing to this picture where 'mask' would have sufficed and instead of an affecting image we're left with incongruent, slightly comic syllables abrading our attention.
As I say though, this is now just an occasional tendency and doesn't fully or fairly represent Wagner, who is far better than some genre writers. It is, though, a good example of just what I, and others, mean by 'overwriting'.
If the writing's improved the style has also altered subtly from the two previous Kane books that I've read - Darkness Weaves and Bloodstone . Where those were brutal adventure stories, this is largely horror. Importantly, this is a collection of short stories, which also distinguishes it from those two others - which were novels. That explains my 'largely horror'; the first two stories (two of the shortest in the collection) are more akin to the novels in tone. Of the others, the longest is very Lovecraftian, whilst another seems largely inspired by the film Freaks. Horror isn't quite to my taste but I do feel that the genre lends itself well to the form of short fiction and this was an enjoyable enough collection of yarns.
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