Robert E Howard’s Solomon Kane

[@thatconspiracyguyagain9410]

From one of my favorite stories. "Through the eye ball and into the brain" "He knew not what took him and died without pain. God grant all our deaths be as easy" Solomon Kane, The Blue Flame of Vengeance.

[@angusorvid8840]

As much as I love Conan, my favorite Howard hero has always been Solomon Kane. Such a great, original, quirky character. He walks the earth looking for demons to slay, and he slays them.

[@ABFrank.]

I liked that Solomon Kane movie!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I did enjoy it.

[@maestro7058]

I had read this one and I think this is an absolute masterpiece and all thanks to you! Moreover I read Conan as well but something stuck me even like half a percentage point closer to heart even than Conan and Conan is one of the greatest things I have EVER read in my life. Solomon Kane is an absolute perfection, ideal an icon of wordsmith! This is beyond human, the ability to write like this Howard had a mysticism, he is more than human!

[@stews9]

Great tee shirt, great quotation on it. You'll intimidate in that shirt.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Ha! I don’t think I’ve ever intimidated anyone.

[@brenthatcher5748]

I had that first paperback you showed years ago. Hadn't seen it in probably 40 years. Thanks for the flashback.

[@Toracube]

My father was a Methodist Missionary out in the West Indies. I’m not sure he did a lot of smiting evil. But he could have been the Solomon Kane of his day... I just got this and the Omni. The movie didn’t grab me though. Thanks for. getting me intoHoward... oh..nice shirt. Belated Happy Birthday.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Toracube: Son of Solomon! Awesome.

[@Dems-fk8sh]

How did you appreciate this Omnibus ?

[@Steve-wo7gt]

Everytime you say "The Robert E. Howard Show" I get this image of REH coming out from behind the curtain cracking jokes in a monologue before bringing on tonight's special guests Walter Gibson, Lester Dent, and H!P! Looovvveeecraft!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

That would be a good show!

[@Steve-wo7gt]

@@michaelk.vaughan8617 I'd watch it.

[@jeremyfee]

You've sold me on Solomon Kane. I'm looking forward to these discussions!

[@Carlo-V.]

Happy (belated) birthday! Great T-shirt!

[@towerjunikeka-tet1979]

There's a italian comic book called Zagor,western sf horror mash up kind off thing,and in few episodes features character called Andrew Kane wich is obvious homage to Solomon since the guy is crazy whealing sword gun blazing preacher who fighst evil in all forms

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Yeah, that sounds like our guy!

[@fen938]

Well....I guess now I have to pick up Kane book as well...:) Got the complete chronicles of conan and cannot wait to jump in!

[@Carlo-V.]

I bought the Wandering Star Solomon Kane volume upon publication in the early 2000s. It was actually the first volume they published. The Internet wasnt't as sophisticated as it is now and they had this pretty "raw" web page dedicated to the book with "rolling skulls" adorning the Solomon Kane name, and some pics of the book to come. I'll never forget the thrill I got from this. Ah, the old times!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I didn’t know about the Wandering Star edition until long after I bought the Paperback.

[@BookBlather]

I’m definitely going to be reading some Solomon Kane in view of your discussions of him. 👍

[@mr_reborn]

For those inclined, I recommend finding some smooth midnight jazz to have on in the background, while you go on a binge of Michael's REH videos.

[@MrMojoRiiisin]

You’re the man, Michael!

[@JeffMPalermo]

Great intro! Bring on Red Shadows!!!

[@mb47ix]

I'm a huge REH fan. But I'm an even bigger Sherlock Holmes guy. Nice to see Baring Gould and Klinger annotated editions on your shelves.

[@cesareborgia6431]

"Men shall die for this" sounds a bit like what Billy the Kid said in front of the corpse of Tuntstall "I'll get some before I die"

[@bookfantastic]

Great book.

[@bookfantastic]

No mention of beautiful Centaur Press editions?

[@tuckernutter]

I like to think it's a long bloodline of warriors with their own code killing evil men and monsters: it started with Kull, then Conan, then Bran Mak Morn, then Solomon Kane. Obviously this theory isn't new but it's not one I've seen talked about.

[@indyatmn420]

Are there any non-Howard written Solomon Kane story collections you'd recommend? Or novels? After I've completed all the Howard ones?

[@Carlo-V.]

One thing to mention too: these paperback editions are taken from the original Wandering Star deluxe publications: very hard to find but, oh man, they're gorgeous!!!!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Do you know if Wandering Star ever did a third Conan volume? I’ve never seen one.

[@Carlo-V.]

yep! It was illustrated by Gregory Manchess. It was published in 2013.

[@jasonsantos3037]

Solomon Kane is a very interesting character right next to Conan.

[@tonygriego6382]

Great t-shirt! Have you covered Howard's Wolfshead yet?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Not yet.

[@linsqopiring6816]

Hi, I'm brand new to your channel and I wasn't sure where to ask so I thought I'd just ask here. On your channel do you read whole stories? I was looking through the playlists and can't find it there. Is that something you do?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I don’t read whole stories out loud. There are some good channels that do audio books for REH though.

[@linsqopiring6816]

@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Oh I see, well thanks for the reply anyway. If you have any personal recommendations for that type of channel for short stories I'd love to hear it.

[@Shagamaw-100]

Cool

[@DDB168]

Happy birthday, Milestone ? I had to look up who Ramsay Campbell is. 🙄 I must check out the movie, didnt know it existed ! This is what happens when you only watch booktube during a pandemic. I'm the most uninformed person on the planet these days 😂😂

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Ha! Ramsey Campbell is not exactly a writer of exciting action! I just found out he wrote the movie novelization! I really need to check that one out one of these days.

[@Dems-fk8sh]

Hello Michael, I've seen you mentioned Stephen King's racism in The Stand. You were surprised to find the black stereotypes in this book and so was I. Now this review of Solomon Kane gave me a lot of excitement to get into this character. However, I've seen a lot of reviews on Amazon that highlight the racism of these Robert E. Howard's stories. So why didn't you mention it this time ? What's your opinion about it ? Just wandering...

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I do mention it as the video series goes on. His depiction of Africans was typically stereotypical for a white pulp writer in the 1920s, at least at the start of the series. This really shouldn’t be a surprise, unfortunately. The interesting thing is that this does change as the stories continue and more Africans become main characters. Interestingly, Solomon Kane’s own xenophobic attitudes towards Africans change as well as he spends more time in Africa. In the last couple stories, where all the characters other than Kane himself are African, they are treated with sympathy. It’s interesting, and one wonders about Howard’s own personal attitudes and if they changed over time.

[@davidhawley3337]

@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Yeah, near the end of his life Kane's best and perhaps only friend was an African witchdoctor. At first he found N'Longa and his wizardry repugnant, but as he got to know him over time he began to see him as almost like an Old Testament prophet.

[@paulmonahawk4921]

Love these stories. The movie was pretty good but was an original story...that van helsing movie was a bit of a rip-off too...

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Yeah, I agree about that Van Helsing movie.