Karl Edward Wagner | |
|---|---|
 Karl on porch, mid-1970s. Photo byDavid Drake. | |
| Born | (1945-12-12)December 12, 1945 |
| Died | October 14, 1994(1994-10-14) (aged 48) |
| Spouse | Barbara Ruth Mott (1974-1986) |
Karl Edward Wagner (12 December 1945 – 14 October 1994) was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher ofhorror,science fiction, andheroic fantasy, who was born inKnoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as apsychiatrist. He wrote numerous dark fantasy and horror stories. As an editor, he created a three-volume set ofRobert E. Howard'sConan the Barbarian fiction restored to its original form as written, and edited the long-running and genre-definingThe Year's Best Horror Stories series forDAW Books. HisCarcosa publishing company issued four volumes of the best stories by some of the major authors of the so-called Golden Agepulp magazines. He is possibly best known for his creation of a series of stories featuring the characterKane, the Mystic Swordsman.
Although he held a degree in psychiatry, he became disillusioned with the medical profession, a disenchantment evident in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into Whose Hands". He described his personal philosophy asnihilistic,anarchistic andabsurdist, and claimed, not entirely seriously, to be related to "an opera composer named "Richard".[1] Wagner also admired the cinema ofSam Peckinpah, stating "I worship the filmThe Wild Bunch".[2]
Wagner was the fourth and youngest child of Aubrey J. Wagner and Dorothea Huber. His father was an official of theTennessee Valley Authority. Wagner earned a history degree fromKenyon College in 1967, and apsychiatry M.D. fromUniversity of North Carolina School of Medicine.[3] Wagner completed his residency and practiced for several years, and also studied toward a Ph.D in neurobiology. As noted above, Wagner ultimately disliked the medical profession, which he abandoned upon establishing himself as a writer.
Wagner was productive as both a writer and editor/anthologist; see below. His friends included the writerManly Wade Wellman, two of whose collections he published with theCarcosa publishing imprint.
Wagner died in his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on October 14, 1994, essentially due to the consequences of longtermalcoholism.[4][5] It was reported in a late 1994 issue of the Newsletter of theHorror Writers of America that Wagner's causes of death wereheart failure andliver failure.[6]
Exorcisms and Ecstasies, a posthumous volume of uncollected stories, miscellany, and tributes was published by small press publisherFedogan & Bremer in 1997. Night Shade Books has published the complete Kane stories (novels and shorts) in two hardcover volumes.
In 2020, a documentary on Wagner,The Last Wolf was released onVimeo.[7][8][9]
Some of Wagner's work is set inRobert E. Howard's universe (featuringConan the Barbarian andBran 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 ofEchoes of Valor also featured restored versions of pulp-era fantasy stories by authors such asFritz Leiber,C. L. Moore,Henry Kuttner, andNictzin 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.[10] [Refer to David Drake's Newsletter #105 in which he states 'Queen of the Night' was never written.]
Wagner created his own mystical and immortal pre-historical anti-hero,Kane, whose name and background are based on traditional conceptions of the biblicalCain. 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".[1] Kane is an immortal, somewhat like theWandering Jew (or more specifically,Charles Maturin'sMelmoth the Wanderer, a novel which Wagner cites as a major influence in his essay "The Once and Future Kane").[11] Kane's character also includes elements of Robert E. Howard'sSolomon 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 ofsword and sorcery (although Wagner disliked the term), which some critics have compared favorably to those ofRobert E. Howard andMichael Moorcock.[2] In his story "The Gothic Touch", Kane actually encounters Moorcock's albino anti-heroElric.[12] The character Kane is considered one of the most memorable and originalanti-heroes ofheroic fantasy.[13]
Inspired by the sword and sorcery adventures ofFritz 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.[13] The novel's text was altered by an unknown copy editor to conform with the cover art.
After publishing a pseudonymous pornographic novel with a small New York company, Wagner relinquished his chance to become a doctor and instead decided to write full-time. During 1973, Warner Paperback library publishedDeath Angel's Shadow, which collected the three original Kane tales (one novella, one novelette, and one short story). He also began selling his stories and poems regularly to the growing small press magazine market. Several of his tales were published in Gary Hoppenstand'sMidnight Sunn, a magazine initially devoted to Kane and the new school of epic fantasy writers. This was followed by publication of the first Kane novel,Bloodstone, during 1975. Warner Books commissioned a cover painting byFrank Frazetta (who had helped revive the Conan franchise, and who would paint a number of future covers for the series) and Wagner's writing career improved.[14]
After a novel featuring Howard's Pictish heroBran Mak Morn, Wagner's next Kane book wasDark Crusade (1976). A Kane story published elsewhere, "Two Suns Setting", won the 1977British Fantasy Award and was also aWorld Fantasy Award nominee. Wagner published other Kane stories in magazines such asChacal,Whispers andEscape! during 1977. Gerald W. Page, then editor of DAW BooksYear's Best Fantasy and Horror Stories, began to reprint Kane tales in the anthology seriesNight 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 ofDarkness 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 aWorld Fantasy Convention souvenir book of 1981; this also appears in the collectionMidnight Sun (2003).[15]
In 2004, it was reported that movie producer Lauren Moews had "acquiredDeath Angel's Shadow, and will produce a film based upon "Reflections for the Winter of My Soul," the first of three short stories comprisingDeath 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.
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 booksIn a Lonely Place (1983),Why Not You and I? (1987) and the posthumousExorcisms and Ecstasies (1997). They range from the very literate and allusive (such as "The River of Night's Dreaming", which refers toRichard O'Brien'sThe Rocky Horror Show and the myth ofCarcosa used in the work ofAmbrose Bierce andRobert W. Chambers), to the pulpy and parodic (such as "Plan Ten from Inner Space", a crazed homage toEd Wood'smagnum opusPlan 9 from Outer Space). His later stories, such as "But You'll Never Follow Me" and "Silted In", were described byRamsey Campbell[16] as tormented and deeply personal; some deal explicitly withdrug addiction (e.g. "More Sinned Against") and sexual subjects, includingpsychological repression (e.g. "Brushed Away") andtranssexualism (e.g. "Lacunae").
During 1983 Wagner won theWorld Fantasy Award for his horror novella "Beyond Any Measure"[17] and theBritish Fantasy Award during 1984 for his short story "Neither Brute Nor Human".[18]
With his friends Jim Groce andDavid Drake, who were concerned that Arkham House would cease publication after the death of its founder,August Derleth, Wagner formed theCarcosa publishing house in North Carolina during 1973 to preserve the work of their favoritepulp magazine horror writers in hardcovers. Carcosa Press published four substantial volumes of horror tales:Murgunstrumm and Others byHugh B. Cave,Far Lands, Other Days byE. Hoffmann Price,Worse Things Waiting andLonely Vigils, both byManly Wade Wellman. All books were edited by Wagner and illustrated profusely. A fifth collection was planned,Death Stalks the Night, byHugh B. Cave;Lee Brown Coye was working on illustrating it when he died, causing Carcosa to abandon the project. The book was eventually published byFedogan & Bremer. Wagner later acted as the literary agent for Manly Wade Wellman's estate.
Wagner collaborated with Drake onKiller, ascience fiction horror novel set during the reign of theRoman emperorDomitian.
The illustrator ofMurgunstrumm andWorse Things Waiting was the notedWeird Tales artistLee Brown Coye. Coye's macabre designs, incorporating mysterious lattices of twigs, were the inspiration for Wagner'sBritish Fantasy Award-winning story "Sticks". The story was later included in a revised edition ofTales of the Cthulhu Mythos.
A connoisseur of rare horror stories, Wagner perspicaciously edited many horror and fantasyanthologies; perhaps his greatest achievement of this topic was the annual anthology seriesThe 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 toLondon to attend fantasy and horror conventions. Though he continued to edit, producing three volumes of the heroic fantasy anthologyEchoes 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.[19] In the story "The Gothic Touch", Kane teams up with the albino warrior-sorcererElric in a tribute anthology honoring the fiction ofMichael Moorcock (Tales of the White Wolf).
Wagner provided the foreword to "Fat Face", aCthulhu Mythos tale byMichael Shea published as a standalone book by Axolotl Press, 1987.
Several Wagner works were adapted for audio cassette readings, including:
"The River of Night's Dreaming" was adapted for the TV seriesThe Hunger during 1998.[20]
Sticks provided the inspiration for the lattice type structures used in the television seriesTrue Detective.[21]
Wagner was involved with several comics ventures. His Kane story "In the Lair of Yslsl" (which was later incorporated into the Kane novelDark Crusade) was adapted by Bill Whitcomb and Steve Vance, and illustrated by Vance, Wes Smith, and Bill Black for the graphic medium inDark Phantasms 1, Summer 1976. During 1993 Wagner co-wrote the graphic novelTell 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.[22]
At the time of his death, he had just finished compilingExorcisms and Ecstasies, and had started working on two novels,The Fourth Seal andTell Me, Dark, the latter based on the graphic novel he disowned.[23]
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