The Solomon Kane Mythos

by Robert E. Howard

A late 16th–early 17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a somber-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms...

193 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 30, 2016

About the author

Robert Ervin Howard was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror."

He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.

—Wikipedia

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solomon Kane, puritan swordsman, roams the Earth trying to exterminate great evils that lurk in hidden places. Some of the stories in this collection were pretty good, others seemed to be just half a tale, with Howard deciding he was done with the idea before developing it more. Most interesting were Kane's adventures in Africa where he stumbles across the final vestiges of legends—the last remaining colony of Atlantis, an evil imprisoned by the Biblical King Solomon, harpies that had been chased by Jason (of the Argonauts) into the dark continent.

That last story of the harpies was so gruesome and bloody that it turned me off. It crept more into the horror genre than swashbuckling adventure. The poem at the volume's end, of Kane returning to England and watching the gulls fly over the sea was a nice spirit cleanser after all the gore.

[David Cuatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very similar to the heroic fantasy style of his more famous Conan stories, Howard maintains the staples of evil sorcerers, beautiful damsels, etc. Most importantly, the hero Solomon Kane can be counted on to triumph over all enemies with his faith in God and cold steel. Stories can be a bit predictable, but they are well written and great fun to read.

[Éric Kasprak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good old Robert E. Howard, the father of sword and sorcery but moreso the father of kinetic and efficient writing. The short stories of Solomon Kane are infused with life and atmosphere that are the hallmark of REH. Solomon his more somber and existential than Conan but his adventures contains the same level of action, mystery, evil creatures and magic as the well known barbarian. As Solomon Kane travel the world to hunt and beat down evil in it's many form you have travel with him through the splendid writing of Robert E. Howard. Highly recommended.