The Hand of Kane

Solomon Kane (Time-Lost Series) #2

by Robert E. Howard

Four stories of the Robert E. Howard's puritan swordsman, Solomon Kane

Hills of the Dead
First published in Weird Tales, August 1930. In Africa, Kane's old friend N'Longa (the witch doctor from "Red Shadows") gives the Puritan a magic wooden staff, the Staff of Solomon, which will protect him in his travels. Kane enters the jungle and finds a city of vampires.

The Hawk of Basti
First published in Red Shadows. Kane's old acquaintance, Jeremy Hawk, was once the king of an African lost civilization, and wants to resume that role.

Wings in the Night
First published in Weird Tales, July 1932. In Africa again, Kane comes across an entire village wiped out, and all of the roofs have been ripped off, as if by something was trying to get inside from above.

The Children of Asshur
First published in Red Shadows. Kane comes across a lost city of Assyrians.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, Pulp, Science Fiction

127 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

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

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of three Solomon Kane collections by Howard edited by Glenn Lord that appeared from Centaur Press in the late 1960's. This one contains two excellent stories, The Hills of the Dead and Wings in the Night, and two that Howard left uncompleted. Kane was a dour 16th-century Puritan who devoted his life to seeking adventure in order to oppose evil, and though he never reached the level of popularity of Kull or Conan enjoyed, he was one of Howard's best developed and complex characters. Howard was the consummate pulp adventure horror writer, and though his work occasionally suffers from the casual and unfortunate racist attitudes of the time he's still worth studying.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pulp from Robert E. Howard, creator of Tarzan.

Solomon Kane is an English Puritan who goes to Africa and has various adventures fighting supernatural entities like vampires and harpies.

Really exciting.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minor spoiler upfront - Two of the tales in this book are unfinished; Hawk of Bashti and The Children of Asshur. The other two, Hills of the Dead and Wings in the Night are two of the better Solomon Kane tales with 'Wings' a favorite of mine. It is also, IMHO, one of the most horrific stories REH penned.

In 'Hills' REH introduces a fetish or ju-ju staff that figures significantly in Kane's ability to survive this Pulp World version of Africa. It is a device that Kane struggles to justify using, since black magic hardly fits in with his Puritan beliefs. In the end, he uses it since it does destroy evil creatures, sometimes far better than his rapier and pistols.

REH is considered one of the creators of American Pulp and far more (Conan anyone?), and the value of his contributions are on full display here. If you are unfamiliar with Solomon Kane or his other characters, this is a great place to start.

FIND IT. BUY IT. READ IT!

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The two unfinished stories are intriguing in their directions: where was Howard going with these, or didn't he know for certain?

Jeremy Hawk of "Hawk of Basti" is clearly not truthful, and at its abrupt end, Kane is sided with a man who is likely a tyrant, rebel, or madman.

"The Children of Asshur" heads straight up into H. Rider Haggard territory, making the most of Howard's right-to-the-action style. In _People of the Mist_, Haggard took over a hundred pages to reach the place Howard did in about five.

Of the three Time-Lost books (Centaur Press) devoted to Solomon Kane, only this one is illustrated. Ned Dameron's style here is unusual, even unique.

[Nathan Shumate · Rating 4 out of 5]

They just don't write 'em like this anymore. That's probably a good thing, I suppose, but I still loved it.

[Johnny · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strange book to write about. The writing brilliantly describes and creates the world in which these tales are spoken, which I enjoyed. But even the violent situations the main character gets involved in remained boring for me. Look forward to reading the next book

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

read between summer 1970 & summer 1974

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately this collection has 2 unfinished Solomon Kane stories in it and while its nice to get a taste of what could have been its also sort of a let down. The good news is that the completed stories in this collection are some of the best Ive read in the series, each one loosely related to the next and covering events from Kane's adventures in deepest darkest pulp Africa. You get more of the standard swashbuckling and mysticism that are the trademark of the series but with a little more meat to them which is nice.

[Little Timmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Robert E. Howard is my all time favorite writer, but for many years much of his work was heavily edited. This is another of the heavily edited collections of Robert E. Howard's stories. I am a purist when it comes to a writers works. I know some of these stories are no longer PC but they should be read as Howard wrote them and understood that he wrote in another time period. Don't read this book unless you just can't find any others of Howard's unedited books to read. Message me if you need a list of what is good from this awesome fantasy and action writer.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solomon Kane stories, from Centaur Press, a British publisher.