Karl Edward Wagner--what do YOU think?

[Mog Elffoe]

Hey, guys--I've loaned my two Karl Edward Wagner omnibus collections, Gods In Darkness, and Midnight Sun, to a pal and he's taking forever to get around to reading them. Help me to get him to read them. I personally think that Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories are truly fantasy classics, but I think he needs to hear it from folks aside from myself. Those of you that've read Wagner's Kane stories--what do you have to say about them?

Many thanks!

 

[Truth Seeker]

Well, the question is, how long ago, did you lend them to him? If more than a month or two, get them back .

 

[Mog Elffoe]

Well, the question is, how long ago, did you lend them to him? If more than a month or two, get them back .

It's been six months plus, so yeah, I DO want them back. I also want him to read them so I can talk about them!

 

[S. Baldrick]

I have only managed to get my hands on "Dark Crusade”, “Bloodstone”, and “At first, just Ghostly" and I enjoyed all three works immensely. Kane is inhuman with inhuman motivations and, despite that fact (or perhaps because of that) he is a completely fascinating character. He is brutal, heartless and completely compelling. I think that Kane is one of the best anti-heroes in fantasy literature right along side Moorcock’s Elric. I think that his appeal is similar to the characters that James Ellroy writes about in the L.A. quintet series (Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz.)

PS I do hope that you are able to get your books back.

 

[Rackhir]

Even though he does occasionally succumb to being humanized and not a complete bastard, he is the truest anti-hero I've ever read about in fantasy. But there is something I've found to be true in life and that is, what people care about they will make time for. If your friend has had them for 6 months+ and hasn't read them, then barring some sort of motivation he isn't going to.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Kane isn't even an anti-hero, he's a villain. In most of the stores, he is trying to take over the friggin world and doesn't decide not to, he's usually betrayed by something.

I love it. He's really the only character I've seen with this motivation. Elric pales in comparission to him as an anti-hero because most of Elric's 'evil' actions are accidental or thrust upon him by situation. He doesn't decide, "Hell with it, I'm destryoing my civilization because it's the first step in taking over the world." he decides to lead raiders there to get his lady love back.