The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

I really was unprepared, though I had prepared myself because I have read other R E Howard stories, for just how racist these stories are. I tried to enjoy them for what they were in spite of this, but it was difficult at times. What enjoyment I could get was good enough, apparently, to get through these. They are good stories, and definitely R E Howard; and, while I feel uncomfortable recommending them because of the racism, if you can get past that part these stories are pretty darn good in a lot of ways.

But, I keep asking myself if I _should_ have tried to get past the racism. I mean it's not like reading Sir Richard Francis Burton, and forgiving him for being a product of his time while reading fantastic stories of real life show more adventures of someone larger than life. These Solomon Kane stories are fantastic stories of fictional adventures and so there's less reason to forgive and less reason to choose to read them and more reason to choose to fill my time with other things.

In the end, I don't regret reading these stories. I'm just a bit embarrassed by having read them for that reason. And, I certainly have to wonder how much if anything the filmmakers will salvage of the actual stories for the forthcoming film nominally Solomon Kane, or if the name and general characteristics will be all that's left after denaturing the offensiveness out. show less

Seven short stories available on Gutenberg Australia. First few are so-so but later concerning Kane in Africa fighting Zombie Vampires, Slavers and Harpies are superb. I was supervised by relative openness of Howard toward Africans, especially when you compare him to racist Lovecraft. Another surprising feature of these stories is relative "realism" of Kane Heroics. He is powerful warrior but he is no Conan. He needs help of others and a dose of luck to supplement his skills. Quite different from what I expected.
Savage Tales of Salomon Kane are really entertaining stories and Kane is a memorable hero. Definitely worth of time.

Solomon Kane, the Puritan avenger. I loved the character from the moment I heard of him. He cuts quite a dashing figure despite, or perhaps because of his somber mode of dress. Kane is not very representative of Puritans, but he nonetheless embodies the sterotype quite well. Fanatical in personality, unadorned in both speech and deportment, and convinced of the absolute sovereignty of God.

He never sought to analyze his motives and he never wavered once his mind was made up. Though he always acted on impulse, he firmly believed that all his actions were governed by cold and logical reasonings. He was a man born out of his time--a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of show more the pagan, though the last assertion would have shocked him unspeakably. An atavist of the days of blind chivalry he was, a knight-errant in the somber clothes of a fanatic. A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, and urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things, avenge all crimes against right and justice. Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only one respect--he was true to his ideals of justice and right. Such was Solomon Kane.

I think the most remarkable facet of his personality is his steadfastness. Swashbuckling heroes of penny dreadfuls typically wield a sword pretty well, but Kane is completely incorruptible. There is simply no point in trying to tempt him because he knows God always triumphs in the end, so there is no point in delaying the inevitable. In fact, he might as well just get on with killing the wicked and be done with it.

My favorite story of the collection is Wings in the Night. Kane finds the remnant of a colony of harpies driven south into Africa by Jason in the Age of Heroes. He fights off an attack by the harpies, and badly wounded, recuperates in a local village that has been forced to offer up a sacrifice from amongst themselves in exchange for the protection afforded by the proximity of the harpies against the more vicious tribes living nearby. Initially, the village enjoys a period of respite because the harpies fear Kane, but eventually they simply decide to massacre the villagers for sport whilst avoiding Kane as best they can.

Uncharacteristically, Kane curses the heavens for the cruelty of the world, because the villagers had placed a naive trust in him that he knew would come to naught. Yet he could not leave them to the harpies, and he did not have the weapons to overcome the harpies' superior numbers, so he simply waited until doom arrived. Kane of course cleanses the earth of the vile creatures, the but the cost is terrible. There is no attempt to justify this in the name of a greater good or explain God's ways to man, Kane simply avenges the fallen and moves on.

An interesting facet of the Kane stories is the idea that the old magic is fading away from the world. Kane, being a tool of God's justice, always defeats the evil creatures he finds before him, even when greater men than he have previously failed. Like the work of his friend Lovecraft, the world of Solomon Kane is full of dark magic that is literally incomprehensible to mere men, but unlike Lovecraft's worlds, justice does indeed prosper at the hands of Solomon Kane. I was reminded of Tim Powers' The Drawing of the Dark and The Anubis Gates.

In both of these books, strange magic lingers from the early ages of the world, but the reign of magic over the Earth has been forever broken, even though a vestige of its former power remains. For Powers, there is indeed a pivotal act in history that has rendered everything forever different, and there is a likeness to be seen in Solomon Kane. Kane vanquishes a demon sealed away in East Africa by King Solomon himself, precisely because he is a lesser man than King Solomon. Unlike his namesake, Kane serves faithfully, and so can now vanquish what was formerly merely restrained.

Thus it is somehow fitting that several of the Kane stories remained unfinished, because Kane himself was about completing unfinished business. show less

This collection of stories follow the exploits of Solomon Kane, a Puritan from the 1600s who wanders the world killing and rescuing people. The idea of the character is cool, but the stories are mostly lackluster and they go out of their way to be extremely racist.

The stories were written in the late 1920s and early 30s, so I assumed they would contain some objectionable material, but the racism is non-stop. The reason I say the stories go out of the way to be racist is because given that Solomon Kane is a Puritan, he would have spent most of his time in the British Isles or maybe northern Europe, so he shouldn't have had much opportunity to be racist. But most of the stories take place in Africa, and the racism is constant.

Solomon show more Kane does have an African blood brother and he does spend sometime actually defending African people from monsters and others, so that was somewhat positive, but it doesn't come close to making up for the rest of the racism. There were some good action scenes, but that's about it. show less

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Title: The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

Series: ----------
Author: Robert Howard
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 432
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The collected works following the adventures of the Puritan Swordsman, Solomon Kane. From the deepest depths of Africa to the windswept shores of England, Solomon Kane follows wither the spirit leads. Avenging wrongs, rescuing maidens, defeating evil incarnate, Solomon Kane knows no fear, for he show more is God's Avenging Sword against Evil.

My Thoughts:

Not as enjoyable as the Essential Conan collection I read last year. Part of that was that there just wasn't nearly as much material for Solomon Kane as there was for Conan. Almost 1/3 of the stories in this book were fragments that Howard had started and then either set aside or just never finished. Thankfully each story that was a fragment had the word (fragment), like that, next to the story name. There were also 2 or 3 poems and I'm just not a poetry buff of any sort.

My biggest problem however, was that Kane was supposed to be a Puritan. While he dresses like one, not once does he act in any way that I recognized as a Godly man. He consorts with sorcerers, uses gifts of magic from a devil worshipper, thinks that men are nothing but higher animals and generally displays no reverence for God. He occasionally mouths a platitude or two about “faith” but what he said could just as easily have come from a Hindu, a Muslim or a Buddhist.

Now with all of that out of the way...

There were some fine pulp stories here. Encountering lost civilizations in the heart of Africa, fighting off a tribe of flying cannibal creatures, torching a city of zombie vampires, fighting a whole crew of pirates, Solomon Kane has the chops to keep you entertained. Everydayshouldbetuesday talked about Solomon Kane back in May and that peaked my interest.

I would recommend this if you enjoyed Howard's Conan stories and wanted to try something different. However, if you haven't read any Howard, don't start with this.

★★★☆☆ show less

Howard's characters tend to be cynical mercenaries, hulking bruisers, or both, but Solomon Kane - a lithe, hawk-faced knight-errant with something of the religious fanatic about him - is cut from a whole different bolt of cloth as REH's famous Cimmerian. In many ways, he's Howard's most compelling character, and The Savage Tales... compiles every story, poem, and fragment into which he figured. Many of the stories take place in deepest, darkest Africa, which creates some interesting dynamics for Kane and his Puritan mores, and also provides a perfect setting for Howard to weave his grim magic.

Please do not let this be your intro to REH. My main issue is the main character himself. Things happen to and around Solomon Kane unlike King Kull and Conan who make things happen. Think stalker version of Mr.Magoo with roid rage. A lot of people love him. I do not. Too bad because the writing is in ways better than average and the presentation in this edition is great with the huge amount of well done illustrations. .