This review originally appeared on Goodreads on May 8, 2011.

Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane

By Karl Edward Wagner – Night Shade Books – September 15, 2003

Review by Robin Marx

This volume is packed with excellent sword & sorcery yarns in the tradition of Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock. The Kane short stories are even better than the novels (collected in another Night Shade Books companion volume).

I appreciated the inclusion of the modern-day horror Kane stories. They're quite different from the “barbarian fantasy” tales, and the transition from those to the Clive Barker-style stories was a bit abrupt, but Kane's presence just somehow works. Karl Edward Wagner's essay regarding the creation of Kane was also very enlightening. It's absolutely tragic that he didn't live to write dozens more stories.

★★★★☆

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