Tag Archives: Kane

Remembering Karl

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It is December 12 as I write this. I’m trying to get final exams graded, but I’m taking a break to observe the birthday of Karl Edward Wagner (1945-1994). I think it’s that important ot acknowledge his achievements.

Karl Edward Wagner probably needs no introduction to anyone who reads this blog. He was one of the greatest writers of sword and sorcery and dark fantasy/horror of the Twentieth Century. We’ve not seen his like since, in my opinion.

Four fourteen years, he also edited The Year’s Best Horror Stories for DAW books. He took over the reins with volume VIII in 1980. The series ended with volume XXII with Karl’s death. Wagner didn’t limit his selections to top genre publications. He read all sorts of obscure publication to find the best horror stories each year.

If you can find copies, which is getting harder and harder to do, grab them. Not onlyl are they an excellent survey of horror in the eighteis and early nineties, but reading them is a great informal course in how to write effective horror. You’ll recognize many of the authors Wagner included, many before they became famous. Others will be new to you. Continue reading →

Wandering with Melmoth

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Today, September 25, is the birthday of Charles Maturin (1782-1824). Maturin was the author of Melmoth the Wanderer. Karl Edward Wagner was influenced by the book when creating his character of Kane.

Published in 1820, Melmoth isn’t light reading but can be rewarding if the reader is diligent. The structure of the book is one of nested stories, or flashbacks within flashbacks. The book opens with John Melmoth being summoned to his dying uncle’s bedside. There he learns of a mysterious figure named Melmoth the Wanderer.  The Melmoth of the title sold his soul to the devil for an extra 150 years of life. His time is about up.

There are several spooky passages, such as early in the book when John Melmoth is waiting for his uncle to die and the Wanderer opens the door, looks into the room, and then shuts the door. No one but John sees him. Or the wedding officiated by an undead priest towards the end.

The flashback within flashback structure can be a bit hard to follow at times. Another feature that might make this challenging to modern readers is that in a modern novel a new paragraph starts if the character speaking changes. Not so in Melmoth. The paragraphs run long and can contain several changes of speaker without any breaks or indentations

All of which is to say, don’t read this book at bedtime or when you’re not alert. Not that it isn’t worth reading. It is. It’s just not going to be a quick, light read that you can daydream your way through. Melmoth the Wanderer is one of the important novels in the development of the Gothic. I enjoyed it. It won’t be for everyone, but if you like Gothics, give it a try.

It’s Frank Frazetta’s Birthday

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Frank Frazetta, one of the greatest fantasy artists to ever stride this land, was born on this date (February 9) in 1928.  I’m not even going to try to put the impact his art has had on my life into words, much less that of the fantasy field.  Here are a couple of my favorite works of Frazetta’s.

The image on the left is the promotional poster for a Frazetta exhibit I saw in Austin last spring.  That trip has really been on my mind today, maybe because the weather has been so unseasonably warm.  The image was used on the cover of one of Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane books.  You can read about my trip in this post.

Probably my favorite of the Frazetta Conan covers is the one shown on the right.  It’s  for Conan the Usurper.  I saw this one at the Frazetta exhibit, and let me tell you, none of the reproductions do the images justice.  It was awesome to stand in front of some of those paintings and see close up the detail and the brushwork.  The painting were larger than what you see on a book cover, of course, and the detail really stood out.

I think the thing that has always captured my imagination about this picture is the snake.  I hate snakes.  There’s just something evil about them.  I’m not sure why, but they’ve always given me the willies.

Frazetta is gone now, but his work lives on.  While it might be easy to think that with his popularity, there will always be copies available to enjoy, that’s a dangerous way to think.  Today hot property is too often tomorrow’s has-been, or worse completely forgotten.  So take a moment over the next few days to admire a Frazetta painting, especially if it’s one you’ve not seen before or not seen in a while.

Update:  Here are tributes by David J. West and Woelf Dietrich.  They’re both worth checking out.

A Short Collection by Karl Edward Wagner

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Little-Ochre-Book-596x596A Little Ochre Book of Occult Stories
Karl Edward Wagner
Stephen Jones, ed.
Borderlands Press
hardcover, 136 p., $30

I’ve been reading this slim volume this week.  Not that it should have taken me a week, but with the hours I’ve been keeping, a few minutes a night is the best I can do.

It’s been a while since I’ve read Wagner.  This collection reminded me why I like his work.

In addition to an introduction by Stephen Jones, there are four poems, three stories, and a brief, never published article. Continue reading →