Wagner's Kane books

[Bifi]

Dear all,

does anyone know what is the order of the following Kane books (recommended in S&Sw)?

Darkness Weaves
Death Angel's Shadow
Bloodstone
Dark Crusade
Night Winds

A friend gave them to me as e-books, I started to read Darkness Weaves but it looks like it's not the first that introduces Kane. Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Michal

[Ron Edwards]

Yup! Read'em in this order:

Night Winds, Bloodstone, Dark Crusade, Death Angel's Shadow, Darkness Weaves

That follows the in-story chronology. It doesn't follow the order in which the stories were written, but since they are thematically so unified (unlike Howard & Moorcock), in this case I recommend enjoying the saga in its own time-scheme.

Hey everyone, clearly Bifi is in for a treat. Let's hold off on the spoilers until he (she? uh, Bifi, real name please?) gets a chance to post about it.

Best,
Ron

[Bifi]

Thanks Ron,

Thanks,
Michal

the name is Michal Sedlacko, alias Bifi (mutation of Bigfoot). I live in Slovakia (Central Europe).

[Sean]

Are all the stories in Night Winds also in the recent Midnight Sun collection? Vice versa? What is the overlap between the two? (I'm trying to (a) figure out if I need to buy Midnight Sun and (b) possibly spare newcomers to Kane extra expense if the new collection is the old stuff plus some extra, as I suspect.)

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

I don't know what's in the Midnight Sun collection, although I think it's been mentioned in this forum before.

I do know that Wagner wrote a few Kane stories besides those in the five books, later. One, "Misericorde," was published in an issue of The Sorcerer's Apprentice (my favorite gaming mag from the late 70s, early 80s), and another in, I believe, a fantasy/horror magazine whose name escapes me right now. I'm not sure if there are any beyond these two.

Best,
Ron

[Sean]

I guess I should have looked farther down the page at Amazon - it has the ToC for Midnight Sun printed right there:

Book Description: The Complete Stories of Kane.

Table of Contents:
Death Angel's Shadow (Poem)
Undertow
Two Suns Setting
The Dark Muse
Sing a Last Song of Valdese
Misericorde
Lynortis Reprise
Raven's Eyrie
In the Lair of Yslsl
Reflections for the Winter of My Soul
Cold Light
Mirage
The Other One
The Gothic Touch
Midnight Sun (Poem)
Lacunae
Deep in the Depths of the Acme Warehouse
At First Just Ghostly
The Treasure of Lynortis (Early version of "Lynotris Reprise")
In the Wake of the Night (lost novel fragment)
The Once and Future Kane (Non-fiction essay)

[Ron Edwards]

OK, I can help out a little with this one:

The Dark Muse, Sing a Last Song of Valdese, Lynortis Reprise, Raven's Eyrie: in Night Winds (omitting a few stories from that book)
 
In the Lair of Yslsl: part of Dark Crusade, unless it's an independent story utilizing a character/thing that's in Dark Crusade (? don't know)

Reflections for the Winter of My Soul, Cold Light, Mirage: in (and fully comprising) Death Angel's Shadow

Misericorde, The Other One, The Gothic Touch, Midnight Sun (Poem), Lacunae, Deep in the Depths of the Acme Warehouse, At First Just Ghostly, The Treasure of Lynortis (Early version of "Lynotris Reprise"), In the Wake of the Night (lost novel fragment), The Once and Future Kane (Non-fiction essay): not in the 5 books. I think the story I've read in addition to Misericorde is The Gothic Touch.

I'm a little puzzled about the choices for this volume - they don't seem to follow the in-story chronology or organization of the five books. But I don't know much about the order in which Wagner wrote the stories, either, and who knows, maybe the editors are going by some perfectly valid organizing factor that I'm just not seeing. So it's a mystery.

Best,
Ron

[BPetroff93]

I have the Gods in Darkness novel collection (Bloodstone, Dark Crusade, Darkness Weaves).  I would like to pick up all the short stories without purchasing the complete works compilation.  Does anyone know what books the various short stories are in by themselves?

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

I'm not sure how possible this is going to be.

If you're talking about the five ("original?") books, then getting Night Winds and Death Angel's Shadow will do you just fine. The former is all short stories and the latter is three novellas.

If you're talking about all those other short stories, which I presume were mostly written after the five books were available, then I think you're screwed: either you pick up the big compilations, duplicating your novels; or you find about ten different out-of-print issues of various fantasy mags.

Best,
Ron

[BPetroff93]

Okay, I guess I'll just have to buy the big compilation, thanks Ron.