Some of Wagner's work is set in
Robert E. Howard's universe (featuring
Conan the Barbarian and
Bran Mak Morn); he also edited three volumes of Howard's original Conan tales, important to purists for being the first to restore the texts to their originally published forms. His three volumes of
Echoes of Valor also featured restored versions of pulp-era fantasy stories by authors such as
Fritz Leiber,
C. L. Moore,
Henry Kuttner, and
Nictzin Dyalhis. Wagner wrote an unpublished Bran Mak Morn novel,
Queen of the Night, which was originally scheduled to be published by Zebra books during 1978 and Ace Books during 1980. [Refer to David Drake's Newsletter #105 in which he states 'Queen of the Night' was never written.]
Kane, the Mystic Swordsman Wagner created his own mystical and immortal pre-historical anti-hero,
Kane, whose name and background are based on traditional conceptions of the biblical
Cain. A powerful, left-handed warrior-sorcerer with red hair and blue eyes, the character was described by Wagner as one "who could master any situation intellectually, or rip heads off if push came to shove". Kane's character also includes elements of Robert E. Howard's
Solomon Kane. He is an immortal, cursed to wander the Earth until he is destroyed by the violence that he himself has created. He sells his loyalty as a fighter to the highest bidder. He is a well-read and intelligent man who has traveled the world for centuries and is able to discuss music, poetry, politics, and many other subjects. He is also amoral and a born killer. The Kane stories are often classified as tales of
sword and sorcery (although Wagner disliked the term), which some critics have compared favorably to those of
Robert E. Howard and
Michael Moorcock. The character Kane is considered one of the most memorable and original
anti-heroes of
heroic fantasy. Inspired by the sword and sorcery adventures of
Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and Robert E. Howard's mighty-thewed barbarian Conan the Cimmerian, Wagner set about creating his own fantasy character while still attending medical school. The result was initially published as a 1970 paperback original with a lurid cover by West Coast pornography publisher Powell Publications. After a novel featuring Howard's Pictish hero
Bran Mak Morn, Wagner's next Kane book was
Dark Crusade (1976). A Kane story published elsewhere, "Two Suns Setting", won the 1977
British Fantasy Award and was also a
World Fantasy Award nominee. Wagner published other Kane stories in magazines such as
Chacal,
Whispers and
Escape! during 1977. Gerald W. Page, then editor of DAW Books ''Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Stories
, began to reprint Kane tales in the anthology series Night Winds
; a collection of six previously published Kane tales followed (Warner Books, 1978). The publisher also reissued all previous Kane books including a new edition of Darkness Weaves'', which reinstated the author's preferred text.
The Book of Kane was the last published volume of Kane material (1985) until Night Shade Books' omnibus editions of novels and shorter tales. A proposed fourth Kane novel,
In the Wake of the Night, was never completed, although an excerpt was published as part of a
World Fantasy Convention souvenir book of 1981; this also appears in the collection
Midnight Sun (2003). In 2004, it was reported that movie producer Lauren Moews had "acquired ''Death Angel's Shadow
, and will produce a film based upon "Reflections for the Winter of My Soul," the first of three short stories comprising Death Angel's Shadow''. The other two short stories, "Cold Light" and "Mirage," are waiting in the wings to be developed into a possible KANE franchise for Tonic Films". Lauren Moews' Tonic Films Acquires Rights to Karl Edward Wagner's Tome Death Angel's Shadow As of 2020 the film had not entered production.
Other writings Besides the Kane books, Wagner wrote contemporary horror stories (some of which, like "At First Just Ghostly", also feature Kane). These were collected in the books
In a Lonely Place (1983),
Why Not You and I? (1987) and the posthumous
Exorcisms and Ecstasies (1997). They range from the very literate and allusive (such as "The River of Night's Dreaming", which refers to
Richard O'Brien's
The Rocky Horror Show and the myth of
Carcosa used in the work of
Ambrose Bierce and
Robert W. Chambers), to the pulpy and parodic (such as "Plan Ten from Inner Space", a crazed homage to
Ed Wood's
magnum opus Plan 9 from Outer Space). His later stories, such as "But You'll Never Follow Me" and "Silted In", were described by
Ramsey Campbell as tormented and deeply personal; some deal explicitly with
drug addiction (e.g. "More Sinned Against") and sexual subjects, including
psychological repression (e.g. "Brushed Away") and
transsexualism (e.g. "Lacunae"). During 1983 Wagner won the
World Fantasy Award for his horror novella "Beyond Any Measure" and the
British Fantasy Award during 1984 for his short story "Neither Brute Nor Human". With his friends Jim Groce and
David Drake, who were concerned that Arkham House would cease publication after the death of its founder,
August Derleth, Wagner formed the
Carcosa publishing house in North Carolina during 1973 to preserve the work of their favorite
pulp magazine horror writers in hardcovers. Carcosa Press published four substantial volumes of horror tales:
Murgunstrumm and Others by
Hugh B. Cave,
Far Lands, Other Days by
E. Hoffmann Price,
Worse Things Waiting and
Lonely Vigils, both by
Manly Wade Wellman. All books were edited by Wagner and illustrated profusely. A fifth collection was planned,
Death Stalks the Night, by
Hugh B. Cave;
Lee Brown Coye was working on illustrating it when he died, causing Carcosa to abandon the project. The book was eventually published by
Fedogan & Bremer. Wagner later acted as the literary agent for Manly Wade Wellman's estate. Wagner collaborated with Drake on
Killer, a
science fiction horror novel set during the reign of the
Roman emperor
Domitian. The illustrator of
Murgunstrumm and
Worse Things Waiting was the noted
Weird Tales artist
Lee Brown Coye. Coye's macabre designs, incorporating mysterious lattices of twigs, were the inspiration for Wagner's
British Fantasy Award-winning story "
Sticks". The story was later included in a revised edition of
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. A connoisseur of rare horror stories, Wagner perspicaciously edited many horror and fantasy
anthologies; perhaps his greatest achievement of this topic was the annual anthology series ''
The Year's Best Horror Stories'' (
DAW Books), which he edited for fourteen years from volume VIII (1980) until volume XXII (1994). The series was canceled after Wagner's death. However, while the original editions were paperback originals, Underwood-Miller preserved the series in a set of three limited-edition hardcovers. Wagner was a frequent visitor to
London to attend fantasy and horror conventions. Though he continued to edit, producing three volumes of the heroic fantasy anthology
Echoes of Valor for Tor Books during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and published a steady sequence of short stories (most of which were apparently written some years earlier), his most productive time was finished. In the story "The Gothic Touch", Kane teams up with the albino warrior-sorcerer
Elric in a tribute anthology honoring the fiction of
Michael Moorcock (
Tales of the White Wolf). Wagner provided the foreword to "Fat Face", a
Cthulhu Mythos tale by
Michael Shea published as a standalone book by Axolotl Press, 1987.
Audio, television and comics adaptations Audio Several Wagner works were adapted for audio cassette readings, including: • "Sticks" Adapted by Meatball Fulton, as part of the radio series
The Cabinet of Dr. Fritz. Directed by Bill Raymond. Fort Edward, NY: ZBS Foundation, 1984. (A dramatic reading of Wagner's story plus two stories by
Craig Strete). This recording was re-issued by ZBZ Foundation on audio CD in 1998, combined with a story by Meatball Fulton and Tom Lopez. • "Sticks" Unabridged reading by
Patrick Macnee on Dove Audo four-cassette anthology
The Greatest Horror of the 20th Century, ed. Martin Greenberg. LA: New Star Publishing, 1998. •
Night Winds. A Kane audio collection containing three stories on two cassettes; narrated by
Roger Zelazny. Santa Fe, NM: Sunset Productions, 1993. • ''Raven's Eyrie''. A Kane story on two audio cassettes; narrated by
Roger Zelazny. Santa Fe, NM: Sunset Productions, 1993.
Television "The River of Night's Dreaming" was adapted for the TV series
The Hunger during 1998.
Sticks provided the inspiration for the lattice type structures used in the television series
True Detective.
Graphic novels Wagner was involved with several comics ventures. His Kane story "In the Lair of Yslsl" (which was later incorporated into the Kane novel
Dark Crusade) was adapted by Bill Whitcomb and Steve Vance, and illustrated by Vance, Wes Smith, and Bill Black for the graphic medium in
Dark Phantasms 1, Summer 1976. During 1993 Wagner co-wrote the graphic novel
Tell Me Dark with John Ney Reiber and Kent Williams, contributing original characters and situations. It was published by DC Comics in both hardcover and trade paperback. At the time of his death, he had just finished compiling
Exorcisms and Ecstasies, and had started working on two novels,
The Fourth Seal and
Tell Me, Dark, the latter based on the graphic novel he disowned. ==Bibliography==