Karl Edward Wagner - Thoughts?

[Fried Egg]

I've read the "Nightwinds" collection which I enjoyed but apparently he has done some horror writing too. Can anyone comment on this, give some recommendations?

 

[j d worthington]

You might look for his In a Lonely Place.... And Wagner is somewhat uneven, but often very, very good....

 

[Fried Egg]

I'll look out for that, thanks.

Doesn't appear to be any of his books currently in print but second hand maybe...

 

[j d worthington]

Unfortunately, yes. All of Wagner's work is currently out of print. Have you tried the rest of the Kane series? They are well worth perusing. He also wrote a couple of REH pastiches which are not at all bad... though they are certainly not REH, they are rather good books on their own. And for sheer "disturbing", try his "The River of Night's Dreaming", which is set in the sale milieu as R. W. Chambers' The King in Yellow.... And there is one Elric tale (in Tales of the White Wolf) he wrote, in which the Wolf meets up with his own Kane....

 

[GOLLUM]

I was lucky enough to purchase a HB edn of both of Wagner's collected works of Kane. I haven't finished going through them yet but what I have read is very good!

As J.D. mentioned most of his stuff is out of print. These 2 books will cost you a pretty packet in mint condition. I was lucky enough to purchase them at a very reasonable price in near-immaculate condition. If I were to sell them they would represent a good investment but I'm loathe to do so.

 

[w h pugmire esq]

"Sticks" is one of the finest pure Lovecraftian tales ever penned, & I was thrilled to see Jim Turner include it when he revised Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Karl was extremely supportive when I was a young beginning writer, and I loved him for his kindness and generosity as an editor. Miss him, so I do.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, "Sticks" is a marvelous story... and after my first reading it in the first Whispers anthology, I've never been able to quite look at Lee Brown Coye's artwork in quite the same way....

 

[J Riff]

Kane rocks, a great character.

 

[w h pugmire esq]

Just got this email from Jerad at Centipede Press:--

"I have recently secured rights to do a collection of stories by Karl Edward Wagner. This would include virtually all of the horror fiction.

My question to all of you:

would you rather see this as one volume in the Masters of the Weird Tale, slipcased, around 950 pages

or...

would you rather see two volumes, each one about the size of The Autopsy and Others by Michael Shea (approx 550 pages each volume), with a slipcase?"

I love those huge volumes, but people complain that they are cumbrous and difficult to read, and fear that the binding may not hold up over ye decades. Anyway, this is GREAT NEWS for Wagner fans!!!

 

[j d worthington]

It would be marvelous to have such a collection, and certainly Centipede, from what I've been able to see, does a wonderful job. My only reservation here is that I'd like to see a genuinely affordable edition of Wagner's fiction again... he deserves a wider audience than is likely to be able to afford something like this.

Aside from that... if I can put together my pennies in time, I'm in, either way....

 

[GOLLUM]

My only reservation here is that I'd like to see a genuinely affordable edition of Wagner's fiction again... he deserves a wider audience than is likely to be able to afford something like this

Amen to that.....

Having said that, I would probably dip into the funds to get this one.

 

[Connavar]

Huge volumes are hard to read,unusual for my reading hands. I prefer two volumes.

I really want to read KEW stories i cant afford his second hand collections. I hope this horror collection(s) comes out soon.

 

[Fried Egg]

I would prefer two volumes personally...

 

[nomadman]

Adding my voice to the two volume brigade.

Single volumes are more affordable but alas, in my experience, quite unreadable.

 

[GOLLUM]

Adding my voice to the two volume brigade.

Single volumes are more affordable but alas, in my experience, quite unreadable.

Due to the number of pages (bulk) OR fine print used in order to cram more into a manageable page count or some other factor?

 

[nomadman]

Due to the number of pages (bulk) OR fine print used in order to cram more into a manageable page count or some other factor?

Bulk mainly. I also find them to be psychologically daunting.

 

[BAYLOR]

Died way too young .

Ive read and enjoyed his Kane Stories and I wish he'd written more of them then he did because they are such wonderful dark fantasy stories.

His novel Bran Mak Morn Legion of the Shadows , Though a pastiche, is in it's own right an excellent fantasy novel . I Would have liked to seen him write more of these as well and His Conan Pastiche Conan Road of Kings is Quite good as well, again I would like to seen heim do more Conan novels.

 

[BAYLOR]

I have yet to see the New editions of the Kane books in the bookstore.

 

[BAYLOR]

Kane rocks, a great character.

A heroic villain/antihero and unforgettable.

 

[BAYLOR]

Kane might be happening as a movie.