Karl Edward Wagner: The Black Prometheus The Kane novels are rare as heck. Cost me a small fortune to gather them all, some basic 2nd hand "fair condition" paperbacks cost me around £25 a pop over a decade ago. The only book I haven't got was going for £200-£300 minimum back in the day - They are dark and violent and Kane is a brilliantly amoral anti-hero. It is a shame his work is so hard to come by for people wanting to get in on it...somebody needs to do a proper reprint of his tales. There is was a crossover with Elric in a short story collection once as well. But owning all Moorcocks stuff as well, this was just a bonus for me! Any Kane tales are worth having though. Please stick with human voices, I enjoy the authenticity.
@@balinthebrave9996 Wiki is genuinely your best bet here, his page is well maintained. There were around half a dozen proper Kane novels/collections, but there were another dozen or so Kane short stories that can only be found in old, obscure horror/fantasy compilations. As I said in my previous post, his work is really hard to collect (took me years to get it all) and needs a full reprint by somebody like "Del Rey" (their work on reprinting Robert E Howards library is the definitive product and very reasonably priced, "Nightshade Books" did amazing work with Clark Ashton Smiths published works as well).
@@balinthebrave9996 Kane: Darkness Weaves (novel) (published in abridged and altered form 1970 as Darkness Weaves with Many Shades; restored text 1978) Death Angel's Shadow (collection) (1973) Bloodstone (novel) (1975) Dark Crusade (novel) (1976) Night Winds (collection) (1978) The Book of Kane (collection) (1985) Gods in Darkness (omnibus collection of the three novels) (2002). Issued as a 1200 copy trade edition and also as a 150 copy edition signed by the artist with an additional illustration. Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane (collection) (2003). Introduction "Raising Kane" by Stephen Jones. Collection of all Kane material except the three novels; companion publication to Gods in Darkness. Robert E. Howard Pastiches: Legion from the Shadows (Bran Mak Morn novel) (1976) The Road of Kings (Conan novel) (1979) Collections: Far Lands, Other Days by E. Hoffmann Price (1975) Murgunstrumm and Others, by Hugh B. Cave (1977) Worse Things Waiting, by Manly Wade Wellman (1973) Lonely Vigils by Manly Wade Wellman (1981) The Valley So Low: Southern Mountain Stories by Manly Wade Wellman (1987) John the Balladeer by Manly Wade Wellman (1988) Conan: The Hour of the Dragon, by Robert E. Howard (1977) The People of the Black Circle, by Robert E. Howard (1977) Red Nails, by Robert E. Howard (1977) The Essential Conan by Robert E. Howard. NY: SFBC Fantasy, 1998. The Year's Best Horror Stories The Year's Best Horror Stories, VIII (1980) The Year's Best Horror Stories, IX (1981) The Year's Best Horror Stories, X (1982) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XI (1983) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XII (1984) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XIII (1985) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XIV (1986) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XV (1987) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XVI (1988) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XVII (1989) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XVIII (1990) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XIX (1991) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XX (1992) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XXI (1993) The Year's Best Horror Stories, XXII (1994) Echoes of Valor (Sword and Sorcery Anthologies) Echoes of Valor (1987) Echoes of Valor II (1989) Echoes of Valor III (1991)
This is the first video I've ever viewed of yours and your narration was perfect. Authenticity is a critical aspect to what you're doing and resorting to AI doesn't honor the subject matter appropriately. Thanks for introducing me to Kane. I've seen many of the art pieces here in the past, but never read anything about him, nor have I read any Karl Edward Wagner. I'm excited to add this author and character to my queue. I really love Conan and have collected all of Robert E. Howard's works on him back when Del Rey republished several omnibus books in the early 2000s. I also grabbed the Solomon Kane book, the Bran Mak Morn and Kull the Conqueror. Certainly interested in viewing more of your videos. Thanks for this one.
I just finished Karl Edward Wagner's Conan pastiche Conan: The Road of Kings. Wagner does a brilliant job capturing the voice and style of Robert E. Howard. It is definitely the best non Howard version of Conan I've read so far.
@@joezar33 It DOES stick out like a sore thumb now. We were experimenting a lot in the beginning, but we feel more comfortable now using our real voices for narration, albeit not being perfect.
Some time ago, I think on goodreads, I saw someone describe Kane as "the love-child of Conan and Elric". That description seemed perfect. I wish I liked the Kane books and stories better. Years ago, I bought the two Night Shade volumes, and while I felt a couple of the novels and a few short stories were good, I found a lot of them tedious - Bloodstone was the worst for me. Still, I've kept those books on the shelf and maybe I'll revisit them in a few years! Good video - a lot of your viewers will probably like Kane!
I quite enjoyed *Bloodstone* -- it had a little crossover quality to E.E. "Doc" Smith or H.P. Lovecraft (as did *Darkness Weaves,* which ties into Bloodstone). I am fortunate to have bought the bulk of the Kane stories in trade paperback, either new (at $1.25 to $1.95) or used (half cover price or less) by the early 1980s, and I've read the five volumes roundly a dozen times. And honestly, I've liked even the least of the Kane stories better than any of the Conan stories I've been able to read. I think my favorite stories are "Lynortis Reprise" and "Raven's Eyrie", both found (in the editions I have) in the *Night Winds* collection.
Elric like Conan is an anti-hero, but Kane is a straight up villain protagonist. I would say he's more a mix of Conan and a classic Howard or CAS style evil sorcerer. Like if Conan lived so long he forfeited all honor and principles out of sheer boredom with them.
i enjoyed these stories very much, and it's about time that they were reprinted. however, "legion from the shadows"also by wagner, is the best howard pastiche ever.
Love Kane! Admittedly, not sure KEW's long-form fiction was up to the standard of his short stories, but I certainly enjoyed reading the tales of Kane as a kid. Wagner might have been an even better editor than writer, but even if you find his fiction a little uneven, I still think his Kane short "Undertow" is as good a sword-and-sorcery story as any I ever read. Finding the original paperbacks can be a challenge these days. "Undertow" gets anthologized quite a bit - recently in the 2012 Tachyon "Sword and Sorcery Anthology" edited by Hartwell and Weisman. And keep an eye out on Valancourt Books: they managed to get rights to reprint Wagner's now classic horror-short collection "In A Lonely Place" (so you can pick up "Sticks" relatively cheap!) and I think they may be working on getting some Kane out as well.
So Kane is from the *OT* Genesis era..? Wouldn't that make him older than Conan story wise ? I assume Conan is supposed to be around that *book of Enoch* timeline ? Would explain "Thulsa Doom" and reptilian people aka fallen Angel
The world-building in Kane is somewhat enigmatic. Unlike Howard's detailed Hyborian Genesis, Wagner's depiction of the world remains ambiguous. While the map of his realm bears resemblance to the American and European continents, it is never explicitly stated whether it is meant to represent a prehistoric Earth. The biblical references within the narrative stand out amidst Wagner's predominantly polytheistic mythology, which is replete with deities and eldritch horrors from other dimensions. This world is distinct from Conan and the Hyborian Age, existing as a separate entity with its own unique lore and cosmology. BUT Kane and Elric are connected in some interdimensional way and they meet in Wagner's short story "The Gothic Touch".
The AI voice could be really cool if the voice is that of Ólafur Darri Ólafasson or something of the like but if it's easier to do the real voice then just do that.
@@EternalCrusader-it1jn That's interesting. I hadn't really even noticed that. The only problem would be if your accent is too thick to understand, and yours is fine. There's no problem at all with accented English, it's very common, especially on YT, where you find content from people around the world. What's difficult is listening to the computer tones, because it feels like some kind of con or scam is underway. At least that's how I take it.
Videos that do an analysis of real things with real life voices. Videos that present fluff as if done in setting by a 3rd party individual with AI voices.
Before you even start, I recommend your own voice. There is so much AI generated junk out there, as soon as I hear one of the characteristic mispronunciations I assume the script is AI and skip to the next.
I'm sick of AI voices and the constant, idiotic mispronunciations that creators seem not to even notice before they upload them. Good choice on ditching the AI, and another good choice doing a vid on Kane who is, IMO, one of the most original and interesting sword and sorcery characters ever, along with Fafhrd and the Mouser.
Thank you so much for the confirmation. The mispronunciations as well as the monotonous timbre was a huge reason we came out of the woodwork with our real albeit flawed voices. Sure, AI voice sound cool and very professional at first, but it gets tiresome fast if you listen to it for a longer span of time.
@@EternalCrusader-it1jn I've always felt AI voices sound anything BUT professional. I also prefer unaugmented breasts over ones with implants, so what do I know?
Karl Edward Wagner: The Black Prometheus
The Kane novels are rare as heck. Cost me a small fortune to gather them all, some basic 2nd hand "fair condition" paperbacks cost me around £25 a pop over a decade ago. The only book I haven't got was going for £200-£300 minimum back in the day - They are dark and violent and Kane is a brilliantly amoral anti-hero. It is a shame his work is so hard to come by for people wanting to get in on it...somebody needs to do a proper reprint of his tales.
There is was a crossover with Elric in a short story collection once as well. But owning all Moorcocks stuff as well, this was just a bonus for me! Any Kane tales are worth having though.
Please stick with human voices, I enjoy the authenticity.
Chance of a list of his works?
@@balinthebrave9996 Wiki is genuinely your best bet here, his page is well maintained.
There were around half a dozen proper Kane novels/collections, but there were another dozen or so Kane short stories that can only be found in old, obscure horror/fantasy compilations. As I said in my previous post, his work is really hard to collect (took me years to get it all) and needs a full reprint by somebody like "Del Rey" (their work on reprinting Robert E Howards library is the definitive product and very reasonably priced, "Nightshade Books" did amazing work with Clark Ashton Smiths published works as well).
@@balinthebrave9996
Kane:
Darkness Weaves (novel) (published in abridged and altered form 1970 as Darkness Weaves with Many Shades; restored text 1978)
Death Angel's Shadow (collection) (1973)
Bloodstone (novel) (1975)
Dark Crusade (novel) (1976)
Night Winds (collection) (1978)
The Book of Kane (collection) (1985)
Gods in Darkness (omnibus collection of the three novels) (2002). Issued as a 1200 copy trade edition and also as a 150 copy edition signed by the artist with an additional illustration.
Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane (collection) (2003). Introduction "Raising Kane" by Stephen Jones. Collection of all Kane material except the three novels; companion publication to Gods in Darkness.
Robert E. Howard Pastiches:
Legion from the Shadows (Bran Mak Morn novel) (1976)
The Road of Kings (Conan novel) (1979)
Collections:
Far Lands, Other Days by E. Hoffmann Price (1975)
Murgunstrumm and Others, by Hugh B. Cave (1977)
Worse Things Waiting, by Manly Wade Wellman (1973)
Lonely Vigils by Manly Wade Wellman (1981)
The Valley So Low: Southern Mountain Stories by Manly Wade Wellman (1987)
John the Balladeer by Manly Wade Wellman (1988)
Conan:
The Hour of the Dragon, by Robert E. Howard (1977)
The People of the Black Circle, by Robert E. Howard (1977)
Red Nails, by Robert E. Howard (1977)
The Essential Conan by Robert E. Howard. NY: SFBC Fantasy, 1998.
The Year's Best Horror Stories
The Year's Best Horror Stories, VIII (1980)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, IX (1981)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, X (1982)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XI (1983)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XII (1984)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XIII (1985)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XIV (1986)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XV (1987)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XVI (1988)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XVII (1989)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XVIII (1990)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XIX (1991)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XX (1992)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XXI (1993)
The Year's Best Horror Stories, XXII (1994)
Echoes of Valor (Sword and Sorcery Anthologies)
Echoes of Valor (1987)
Echoes of Valor II (1989)
Echoes of Valor III (1991)
Good luck on your quest, man.
@@EternalCrusader-it1jn Thank you so much I have the books published in the 70’s Night winds is still one of the best books I have ever read
Kane was a fantastic character! Was lucky enough to read the books in the 70s...regarded Kane as highly as Conan and Elric.
Too bad we only got so little of Kane.
All natural brother. Good all natural … always. You can’t go wrong with it, but one can whenever one does the other. Thank you for the video.
Thank you so much for your kind words. You're welcome.
This is the first video I've ever viewed of yours and your narration was perfect. Authenticity is a critical aspect to what you're doing and resorting to AI doesn't honor the subject matter appropriately.
Thanks for introducing me to Kane. I've seen many of the art pieces here in the past, but never read anything about him, nor have I read any Karl Edward Wagner. I'm excited to add this author and character to my queue.
I really love Conan and have collected all of Robert E. Howard's works on him back when Del Rey republished several omnibus books in the early 2000s. I also grabbed the Solomon Kane book, the Bran Mak Morn and Kull the Conqueror.
Certainly interested in viewing more of your videos. Thanks for this one.
Thank you! I'm deeply skeptical of AI myself, so it's heartwarming and wholesome to read those takes as confirmation.
I just finished Karl Edward Wagner's Conan pastiche Conan: The Road of Kings. Wagner does a brilliant job capturing the voice and style of Robert E. Howard. It is definitely the best non Howard version of Conan I've read so far.
I'm doing a reread of all the Kane novels rn, will tackle his Conan and Bran Mak Morn Pastiches after that.
Real voice is better in my opinion
Thank you for your opinion.
Agree , A.I. Voices gets annoying to listen to after a while .
@@joezar33 It DOES stick out like a sore thumb now. We were experimenting a lot in the beginning, but we feel more comfortable now using our real voices for narration, albeit not being perfect.
Some time ago, I think on goodreads, I saw someone describe Kane as "the love-child of Conan and Elric". That description seemed perfect.
I wish I liked the Kane books and stories better. Years ago, I bought the two Night Shade volumes, and while I felt a couple of the novels and a few short stories were good, I found a lot of them tedious - Bloodstone was the worst for me. Still, I've kept those books on the shelf and maybe I'll revisit them in a few years!
Good video - a lot of your viewers will probably like Kane!
Thank you for chiming in. Your take on Kane is spot on.
I quite enjoyed *Bloodstone* -- it had a little crossover quality to E.E. "Doc" Smith or H.P. Lovecraft (as did *Darkness Weaves,* which ties into Bloodstone). I am fortunate to have bought the bulk of the Kane stories in trade paperback, either new (at $1.25 to $1.95) or used (half cover price or less) by the early 1980s, and I've read the five volumes roundly a dozen times. And honestly, I've liked even the least of the Kane stories better than any of the Conan stories I've been able to read. I think my favorite stories are "Lynortis Reprise" and "Raven's Eyrie", both found (in the editions I have) in the *Night Winds* collection.
@@SilntObsvr No problem at all preferring one author over another. Conan walked, so Kane could run.
Elric like Conan is an anti-hero, but Kane is a straight up villain protagonist. I would say he's more a mix of Conan and a classic Howard or CAS style evil sorcerer. Like if Conan lived so long he forfeited all honor and principles out of sheer boredom with them.
A real voice is better than an AI voice.
Agreed. We'll keep it that way. The feedback was very positive.
i enjoyed these stories very much, and it's about time that they were reprinted. however, "legion from the shadows"also by wagner, is the best howard pastiche ever.
First of your videos that I've ever seen. Keep using your real voice.
Thank you, we'll do!
You know I think the Character Kane is a mix of Conan and Elric.
There are definitely elements of both characters present, but Kane is by far the most amoral character of the bunch.
Pretty sure I have them all but got them like 40 years ago and have kept hold of them great books Dark Passionate and Bloody
Yeah, they lean way more into the grimdark aspect of fantasy if compared to Conan, Elric or the very lofty Thongor novels by Lin Carter.
Love Kane! Admittedly, not sure KEW's long-form fiction was up to the standard of his short stories, but I certainly enjoyed reading the tales of Kane as a kid. Wagner might have been an even better editor than writer, but even if you find his fiction a little uneven, I still think his Kane short "Undertow" is as good a sword-and-sorcery story as any I ever read.
Finding the original paperbacks can be a challenge these days. "Undertow" gets anthologized quite a bit - recently in the 2012 Tachyon "Sword and Sorcery Anthology" edited by Hartwell and Weisman. And keep an eye out on Valancourt Books: they managed to get rights to reprint Wagner's now classic horror-short collection "In A Lonely Place" (so you can pick up "Sticks" relatively cheap!) and I think they may be working on getting some Kane out as well.
Read all these in the 70s and 80s, absolute badass, smart, amoral, despicable. Killed a werewolf barehanded and pissed! Loved the character.
I read somewhere that Wagner even hated the term "anti-hero". He thought of Kane as a straight villain in a world full of evil.
The books are good. I enjoyed the story.
❤❤❤
Devinitely für real voice, it je great!
Thanks a lot.
Famous drunk... awesome character creator!
True detective stole the stick designs, used as macguffins. From his cthulhu mythos story "sticks".
"Sticks" is one of the best horror short stories out there. Really weird and creepy.
So Kane is from the *OT* Genesis era..? Wouldn't that make him older than Conan story wise ? I assume Conan is supposed to be around that *book of Enoch* timeline ? Would explain "Thulsa Doom" and reptilian people aka fallen Angel
The world-building in Kane is somewhat enigmatic. Unlike Howard's detailed Hyborian Genesis, Wagner's depiction of the world remains ambiguous. While the map of his realm bears resemblance to the American and European continents, it is never explicitly stated whether it is meant to represent a prehistoric Earth. The biblical references within the narrative stand out amidst Wagner's predominantly polytheistic mythology, which is replete with deities and eldritch horrors from other dimensions. This world is distinct from Conan and the Hyborian Age, existing as a separate entity with its own unique lore and cosmology.
BUT Kane and Elric are connected in some interdimensional way and they meet in Wagner's short story "The Gothic Touch".
I absolutely do not listen to AI voice videos. Good job switching
Thank you, we'll keep it that way and work on our accents.
I hate canned AI voice overs. I much prefer organics to machines.
Agreed friend!
Screw the AI. Your own voice makes the video better
Thank you so much.
AI slurps peter.
The AI voice could be really cool if the voice is that of Ólafur Darri Ólafasson or something of the like but if it's easier to do the real voice then just do that.
Heinzlichsten Kanesmalkonsalik
Personally, I hate AI voices. BE REAL.
We only relied on AI voices before because we thought people might dislike the german accent, since we are not native English Speakers
@@EternalCrusader-it1jn That's interesting. I hadn't really even noticed that. The only problem would be if your accent is too thick to understand, and yours is fine. There's no problem at all with accented English, it's very common, especially on YT, where you find content from people around the world. What's difficult is listening to the computer tones, because it feels like some kind of con or scam is underway. At least that's how I take it.
I prefer your real voice.
Thank you, we will keep it that way.
Real voice is better, no question!
Thank you for the opinion. We agree!
Don’t want ai at all.
Keep your natural voices, they are way better!
Thank you. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, so we'll stick with our real voices.
Definitely keep your real voice. What would Conan think of your false voices? 🤔 Black sorcery, I would imagine...
You're right. And we don't want to provoke the wrath of the Cimmerian. By Crom!
prefer real voices
Videos that do an analysis of real things with real life voices.
Videos that present fluff as if done in setting by a 3rd party individual with AI voices.
Before you even start, I recommend your own voice. There is so much AI generated junk out there, as soon as I hear one of the characteristic mispronunciations I assume the script is AI and skip to the next.
I'm sick of AI voices and the constant, idiotic mispronunciations that creators seem not to even notice before they upload them. Good choice on ditching the AI, and another good choice doing a vid on Kane who is, IMO, one of the most original and interesting sword and sorcery characters ever, along with Fafhrd and the Mouser.
Thank you so much for the confirmation. The mispronunciations as well as the monotonous timbre was a huge reason we came out of the woodwork with our real albeit flawed voices. Sure, AI voice sound cool and very professional at first, but it gets tiresome fast if you listen to it for a longer span of time.
@@EternalCrusader-it1jn I've always felt AI voices sound anything BUT professional. I also prefer unaugmented breasts over ones with implants, so what do I know?
@@rrsjr hard to argue with that :D