46 replies to this topic

[Strom]

Please vote by clicking the appropriate button in the poll above.

Now, who is Solomon Kane, and what are these stories like? Well, Kane is an Elizabethan Englishman ? a Puritan gentleman, adventurer, privateer, swordsman, duelist, solider-of-fortune, world traveler, explorer, and religious fanatic. He is a strange, sinister, mysterious figure; tall, lean, dour, ascetic, garbed all in black. His quests constantly involve him in rescues and vengeance, and his stage is the world ? often remote and fantastic. He is the contemporary and friend of Francis Drake, of Walter Raleigh, of Richard Grenville, of Henry of Navarre.

Kane is known far and wide as ?Devon?s ace of swords? and ?God?s angry man.? His adventurous wanderings take him from Merrie England of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the European continent, to the castles of the German Rhineland and the Black Forrest, to a France that is torn by religious civil wars, and to a Spain that is suffering under the terrors of the Inquisition. His encounters involve barons, bandits, and brigands; werewolves, warlocks, and witches; cavaliers and corsairs.

On and on he goes ? to the New World and the jungle kingdoms of the Mayas, to the pirate waters of the Caribbean; to the Slave Coast of the Dark Continent for new and strange encounters with Arab slaves, cannibals and witch doctors, lions and gorillas, fiendish vampire bat-men, and lost cities in the jungle that were built ages before by men from lost continents and still peopled by their descendants.

If you like Conan, then you will love Solomon Kane!


Albert E. Gechter, 11/8/1970, Solomon Kane, Centaur Press, 1971

I came to Solomon Kane from Conan having already realized the uniqueness of Robert E. Howard's writing and craving more. The Centaur Press book Solomon Kane was my first exposure to Kane's adventures. The forward by Mr. Gechter made me jump right to page one and experience for myself the diverse settings and adversaries Gechter had listed. And he was right about liking Solomon Kane if you liked Conan, because the great writer is the same, the action just as vivid, the settings just as fantastic and the protagonist just as original.

This is a poll for members to share which Solomon Kane story is their favorite and why?

If you haven't read Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane stories, you can find all of them unedited in one trade paperback:

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

Edited by Strom, 24 November 2012 - 02:32 AM.
fixed link

[Sermon Bath]

I voted Red Shadows although I really, really love almost all of them. The poems are great too, especially the return of Sir Richard Grenville and Solomon Kane's homecoming. I also dig mucho the poem at the beginning of death's dark rider.

Anyhow, I suppose that I picked Red shadows cause it has two different settings, it has an awesome villain, and of course old N'Longa makes a very dramatic appearance. The pace of this story is breathtaking.....I'm always amazed how Howard could get so much in a short story and still have it flow so well. Although not a lot of people talk about it, The Blue Flame of Vengeance is a killer story and prob my second favorite. Reading that one and Black Vulmea's revenge together is pretty darn cool...both very nice pirate adventures fer shure!!!!! Kane makes two or three truly incredible speeches in Blue Flame and a couple of awesome entrances as well..all three tales are classics....you can smell the passion

Edited by xssurdinynexes, 19 August 2007 - 05:20 AM.

[Croms Bones]

The One Black Stain is my favorite Howard poem... a masterpiece.

[deuce]

The poems are a separate critter, to me. Not lesser, by any means, just different. However, love 'em as you will. Y'all shoulda been there at Howard Days '06 when Chris Gruber recited Solomon Kane's Homecoming from memory. It was about 10:30 on a hot Texas night, great atmosphere. Grub nailed it.

As for my favorite SK yarn, it has to be Moon of Skulls. Fritz Leiber loved it, too. It was the second savage tale of Solomon Kane I ever read, and the effect of that has never left me. If ya wanna know more than that, check out this board on September 1st (ERB's nativity, BTW). "Moon of Skulls" will be the "REH Story of the Month".

[Sermon Bath]

Moon of skulls built momentum like a locomotive coming down a mountain.......the ending was just an explosion of action

[PEGWiggy]

Death's Black Rider for me. So much left to think about. The possibilities are near-endless.


Wiggy

[Sermon Bath]

Death's Black Rider for me. So much left to think about. The possibilities are near-endless.


Wiggy

Im going to complete that one and post it on Mongoose, I think you will enjoy the idea I have come up with......hopefully I can get that done in a week or so.......I spent a lot of time thinking about it........im not much of a writer but i am pretty good working out plotlines and such

[Ironhand]

The One Black Stain. Every time I read it, it knocks my socks off all over again.

[Strom]

Hey! Those of you who are picking poems for your favorite Solomon Kane stories, I hope you are also choosing a prose story from the available list above. Otherwise, N'Longa's juju is coming at you-you.

[Mike_The_Barbarian]

I am hard pressed between The Blue Flame of Vengance and Wings in the Night. Both had brilliant stories. I can never get enough of a old fashions revenge story. However, I've decided to go with Wings in the Night because there is one chapter that just blew me away.
The thing 'creatures' attack the village and Kane almost goes mad with blood lust! That point there! I almost ran out of the house ready to slay demons, haha! It was immense!

[Sermon Bath]

the blue flame of vengeance is a great one too.......Kane made two awesome entrances that were set up so well..........and he made some of the coolest speeches in that one........the fight between Kane and Fishhawk was classic.......farnsworth wright must have been drunk the day he turned that tale down!!!!

[tbrittreid]

Has there been some change in official titling that I haven't heard about? It has always been my understanding that the title "Blue Flame of Vengeance" applied only to a version of one of Howard's stories that was significantly rewritten by someone else well after his death (to add a fantasy/horror element), and that Howard's original, the only one of these two that I've ever had the opportunity to read, is called "Blades of the Brotherhood." It is, in fact, my favorite Kane story, and until this is settled satisfactorily, I can't vote.

That aside, I'm very surprised to find "Death's Dark Riders" here, as I understand it to be a VERY brief fragment (hence, its absence from the Bantam Books collections with Ramsey Campbell's completions of the other three fragments), and, given its presence, the absence of "Hawk of Basti" is quite puzzling. Again, have there been some Howard research revelations I have failed to hear about?

[Sermon Bath]

I prefer the title Blue Flame of Vengeance simply because Blades of the Brotherhood is to easily confused with the black Vulmea story that has a very similar title................despite being only a great poem and five or six paragraphs the Death's dark Riders fragment is VERY interesting.............I actually did a completion of that tale myself and it was a ton of fun.....by the way my version is a continuation of Death's Dark Rider and a sequel to Blades of the Brotherhood

unfortunately it was posted at Mongoose.com and they took down all their fanfiction...sob

I have no idea why Hawk got omitted........I really loved the Ramsey Campbell completion of that tale.......it was by far the best of the three he did

Edited by xssurdinynexes, 23 April 2008 - 09:16 PM.

[tbrittreid]

I am sorry to admit that while the term "Black Vulmea" sounds familiar, I otherwise have no idea what you are talking about there. But we are talking about Howard's version of "Blue Flame/Blades" here, so I will vote. And it's good to know that "Basti" was just an accidental oversight, rather than there being some doubt of its authorship that I hadn't heard about. Thanks.

[Sermon Bath]

while we're on the subject here I would like to lobby for the Malachi Grim version of Blue Flame of Vengeance be included in future solomon Kane collections

[PaulMc]

It's been a while since I read them all in one pass but "Wings in the Night" still stands out to me, along with the poems (which aren't part of the poll, I know.)

I think Kane's ruthlessness in executing the winged creatures is chilling.

Edited by PaulMc, 24 April 2008 - 08:07 PM.

[Simone]

The One Black Stain for sure

[Sermon Bath]

It's been a while since I read them all in one pass but "Wings in the Night" still stands out to me, along with the poems (which aren't part of the poll, I know.)

I think Kane's ruthlessness in executing the winged creatures is chilling.

I can find no fault in that one either.......it was incredible down to the last sentence

hard to believe Hills of the Dead hasnt gotten a vote yet????

Edited by xssurdinynexes, 03 May 2008 - 04:25 AM.

[deuce]

I'm still a Moon of Skulls man.

[Heavy Chevy]

Hi gang,

My fav, while it is a poem it still tells a story.
I first read "The One Black Stain" moons ago in a
Savage Sword Mag.

I really cant pick a true fav as i like most all of SK's tales.

Later,
Mike C.