Karl Edward Wagner
Encyclopedia
Karl Edward Wagner was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer, editor and publisher of horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, and heroic fantasy
Heroic fantasy
Heroic fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy which chronicles the tales of heroes in imaginary lands. Unlike stories of sword and sorcery, heroic fantasy narratives tend to be intricate in plot, often involving many peoples, nations and lands. Grand battles and the fate of the world are common themes,...

, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

 and originally trained as a psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into Whose Hands". He described his world view as nihilistic
Nihilism
Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...

, anarchistic
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...

 and absurdist
Absurdism
In philosophy, "The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any...

, and claimed, not entirely seriously, to be related to "an opera composer named Richard
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

". Wagner also admired the cinema of Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...

, stating "I worship the film The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...

".

Biography

Wagner was the fourth and youngest child of Aubrey J. Wagner and Dorothea Huber; his father was an official in the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...

. Wagner earned a history degree from Kenyon College in 1967, and a psychiatry degree from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. As noted above, he 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.

Wagner died in 1994, of tick fever compounded by longtime alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

.

Published works

Some of Wagner's work is set in Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....

's universe (featuring Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...

 and Bran Mak Morn
Bran Mak Morn
Bran Mak Morn is a hero of several pulp fiction short stories by Robert E. Howard. In the stories, most of which were first published in Weird Tales, Bran is the last king of Howard's romanticized version of the tribal race of Picts....

); 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 form. His three volumes of Echoes of Valor
Echoes of Valor
Echoes of Valor is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in February 1987.The book collects three classic fantasy novellas by Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, and Henry Kuttner...

also featured restored versions of pulp-era fantasy stories by authors such as Fritz Leiber
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...

, C. L. Moore
C. L. Moore
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction....

, Henry Kuttner
Henry Kuttner
Henry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.-Early life:Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915...

, and Nictzin Dyalhis
Nictzin Dyalhis
Nictzin Wilstone Dyalhis was an American chemist and short story writer who specialized in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. He wrote as Nictzin Dyalhis...

.

Wagner created his own mystical and pre-historical hero, Kane
Kane (fantasy)
Kane is a literary character created by Karl Edward Wagner in a series of sword and sorcery novels and short stories between 1970 and 1985. The stories are set in a grim, pre-medieval world which is nonetheless ancient and rich in history...

, whose name and background are based on traditional conceptions of the biblical Cain. A powerful, left-handed man with red hair and blue eyes which people find it difficult to meet (the Mark of Kane), the character was described by Wagner as one "who could master any situation intellectually, or rip heads off if push came to shove". The Kane stories were classified as tales of sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural...

 (although Wagner disliked the term), which some critics have favourably compared to those of Howard and Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....

.

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 highly literate and allusive (such as "The River of Night's Dreaming", which refers to Richard O'Brien
Richard O'Brien
Richard Timothy Smith , better known under his stage name Richard O'Brien, is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for writing the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and for his role in presenting the popular TV show The Crystal Maze...

's The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...

and the myth of Carcosa
Carcosa
Carcosa is a fictional city in the Ambrose Bierce short story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" . In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described, and is viewed only in hindsight by a character who once lived there....

 used in the work of Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...

 and Robert W. Chambers
Robert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...

), to the pulpy and parodic (such as "Plan Ten from Inner Space", a crazed homage to Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s magnum opus Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...

). His later stories, such as "But You'll Never Follow Me" and "Silted In", were described by Ramsey Campbell
Ramsey Campbell
John Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...

 as tormented and deeply personal; some deal explicitly with drug addiction (e.g. "More Sinned Against") and sexual subjects, including repression
Psychological repression
Psychological repression, also psychic repression or simply repression, is the psychological attempt by an individual to repel one's own desires and impulses towards pleasurable instincts by excluding the desire from one's consciousness and holding or subduing it in the unconscious...

 (e.g. "Brushed Away") and transsexualism
Transsexualism
Transsexualism is an individual's identification with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their biological sex. Simply put, it defines a person whose biological birth sex conflicts with their psychological gender...

 (e.g. "Lacunae").

With his friends Jim Groce and David Drake
David Drake
David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the premier authors of the military science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...

, Wagner formed the Carcosa
Carcosa
Carcosa is a fictional city in the Ambrose Bierce short story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" . In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described, and is viewed only in hindsight by a character who once lived there....

 Press publishing house to preserve the work of their favorite pulp
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...

 horror writers in hard covers. Carcosa Press put out four substantial volumes of pulp horror tales: Murgunstrumm and Others
Murgunstrumm and Others
Murgunstrumm and Others is a collection of horror short stories by author Hugh B. Cave. It was released in 1977 by Carcosa in an edition of 2,578 copies of which the 597 copies, that were pre-ordered, were signed by the author and artist...

by Hugh B. Cave
Hugh B. Cave
Hugh Barnett Cave was a prolific writer of pulp fiction who also excelled in other genres.-Life:Born in Chester, England, Hugh B. Cave moved during his childhood with his family to Boston, Massachusetts, following the outbreak of World War I...

, Far Lands, Other Days
Far Lands, Other Days
Far Lands, Other Days is a collection of fantasy, horror and mystery short stories by author E. Hoffmann Price. It was released in 1975 by Carcosa in an edition of 2,593 copies of which 615 copies, that were pre-ordered, were signed by the author and artist...

by E. Hoffmann Price, Worse Things Waiting
Worse Things Waiting
Worse Things Waiting is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. It was released in 1973 by Carcosa in an edition of 2,867 copies, of which 536 pre-ordered copies were signed by the author and artist...

and Lonely Vigils
Lonely Vigils
Lonely Vigils is a collection of fantasy, horror and mystery short stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. It was released in 1981 by Carcosa in an edition of 1,548 copies, of which the 566 pre-ordered copies were signed by the author and artist...

, both by Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...

. All books were edited by Wagner and profusely illustrated. Wagner collaborated with Drake on Killer, a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 horror novel set during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian
Domitian
Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...

.

The illustrator of Murgunstrumm and Worse Things Waiting was the noted Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....

artist Lee Brown Coye
Lee Brown Coye
Lee Brown Coye was an American artist.Coye is probably best remembered for his black-and-white illustrations for pulp magazines and horror fiction, but he produced many other works in other media.-Biography:...

. Coye's macabre designs, incorporating mysterious lattices of twigs, were the inspiration for Wagner's British Fantasy Award
British Fantasy Award
The British Fantasy Awards are administered annually by the British Fantasy Society and were first awarded in 1971. The membership of the BFS vote to determine recommendations, short-lists and winners of the awards...

-winning story "Sticks
Sticks (short story)
"Sticks" is a short story by horror fiction writer Karl Edward Wagner, first published in the March 1974 issue of Whispers. It has been reprinted in several anthologies, including the revised edition of Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, indicating that it is part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre.The...

". In the mid-1980s, "Sticks" received a chilling audio adaptation on the radio series The Cabinet of Dr. Fritz
The Cabinet of Dr. Fritz
The Cabinet of Dr. Fritz was a 1984-85 binaural radio drama series produced by Thomas Lopez and the ZBS Foundation. At the beginning of each show, it was suggested that listeners wear headphones....

. "The River of Night's Dreaming" was adapted for the TV series The Hunger in 1998.

A connoisseur of rare horror gems, Wagner edited many horror and fantasy anthologies; perhaps his greatest achievement in this area was the annual anthology series The Year's Best Horror Stories
The Year's Best Horror Stories
The Year’s Best Horror Stories was a series of annual anthologies published by DAW Books from 1971 to 1994 under the successive editorships of Richard Davis from 1971 to 1973, and, after a two year hiatus, Gerald W. Page from 1976 to 1979, and Karl Edward Wagner from 1980 to 1994. The series was...

(DAW Books
DAW Books
DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...

), which he edited from volume VIII (1980) until volume XXII (1994). The series was canceled after Wagner's death.

Collections

  • In a Lonely Place (1983)
  • Why Not You and I? (1987)
  • Unthreatened by the Morning Light (chapbook) (1989)
  • Exorcisms and Ecstasies
    Exorcisms and Ecstasies
    Exorcisms and Ecstasies is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by author Karl Edward Wagner. The collection also includes a number of memoirs and articles about Wagner and is edited by Stephen Jones. It was released in 1997 by Fedogan & Bremer in an edition of 2,100 copies, of which...

    (1997)

Short Stories

  • .220 Swift (1980)
  • An Awareness of Angels (1988)
  • At First Just Ghostly (1988)
  • Beyond Any Measure (1982)
  • Blue Lady, Come Back (1985)
  • Brushed Away (1997)
  • But You'll Never Follow Me (1990)
  • Cedar Lane (1990)
  • The Coming of Ghor (1977)
  • Deep in the Depths of the Acme Warehouse (1994)
  • Did They Get You to Trade? (1992)
  • The Education of Gergy-doo-doo (1997)
  • Endless Night (1987)
  • A Fair Cop (1991)
  • Final Cut (1996)
  • The Gothic Touch (1994)
  • Gremlin (1995)
  • Hell Creek (1993)
  • I’ve Come to Talk With You Again (1995)
  • In the Lair of Yslsl (1973)
  • In the Middle of a Snow Dream (1994)
  • In the Pines (1973, novelette)
  • In the Wake of the Night (1981)
  • Into Whose Hands (1983)
  • Killer (1974, with David Drake)
  • The Kind Men Like (1990)
  • Lacunae (1986)
  • Little Lessons in Gardening (1993)
  • Locked Away (1995)
  • More Sinned Against (1984)
  • Neither Brute Nor Human (1983)
  • Old Loves (1985)
  • One Paris Night (1992)
  • Passages (1993)
  • The Picture of Jonathan Collins (1995)
  • Plan 10 From Inner Space (1996)
  • Prince of the Punks (1995)
  • The River of Night’s Dreaming (1981)
  • Satan’s Gun (1987)
  • Shrapnel (1985)
  • Sing a Last Song of Valdese (1976)
  • The Slug (1991)
  • Stardust (1959)
  • Sticks (1974)
  • The Treasure of Lynortis (1984)
  • Two Suns Setting (1976)
  • Undertow (1977)
  • A Walk on the Wild Side (1993)
  • Where the Summer Ends (1980)

  • Kane

    • Darkness Weaves (novel) (published in abridged and altered form 1970; restored text 1978)
    • Death Angel's Shadow (collection) (1973)
    • Bloodstone (novel) (1975)
    • Dark Crusade (novel) (1976)
    • Night Winds
      Night Winds, collection
      Night Winds is a 1978 fantasy horror collection of short stories by Karl Edward Wagner about his character Kane. The stories are Undertow, Two suns setting, The dark muse, Raven's Eyrie, Lynortis Reprise, and Sing a last song of Valdese....

      (collection) (1978)
    • The Book of Kane
      The Book of Kane
      The Book of Kane is a collection of fantasy short stories by Karl Edward Wagner featuring his character Kane. It was first published in 1985 by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in an edition of 2,125 copies, of which 425 copies were signed and slipcased. The first story first appeared in Wagner's...

      (collection) (1985)
    • Gods in Darkness (collection of the three novels) (2002)
    • Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane (collection) (2003)

    Robert E. Howard pastiches

    • Legion from the Shadows (Bran Mak Morn novel) (1976)
    • The Road of Kings
      The Road of Kings
      The Road of Kings is a fantasy novel written by Karl Edward Wagner featuring Robert E. Howard's seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in paperback by Bantam Books in October 1979. Later paperback editions were issued by Ace Books and Tor Books 2001. The first...

      (Conan novel) (1979)

    Collections edited

    • Murgunstrumm and Others
      Murgunstrumm and Others
      Murgunstrumm and Others is a collection of horror short stories by author Hugh B. Cave. It was released in 1977 by Carcosa in an edition of 2,578 copies of which the 597 copies, that were pre-ordered, were signed by the author and artist...

      , by Hugh B. Cave
      Hugh B. Cave
      Hugh Barnett Cave was a prolific writer of pulp fiction who also excelled in other genres.-Life:Born in Chester, England, Hugh B. Cave moved during his childhood with his family to Boston, Massachusetts, following the outbreak of World War I...

       (1977)
    • Worse Things Waiting
      Worse Things Waiting
      Worse Things Waiting is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. It was released in 1973 by Carcosa in an edition of 2,867 copies, of which 536 pre-ordered copies were signed by the author and artist...

      , by Manly Wade Wellman
      Manly Wade Wellman
      Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...

       (1973)
    • Conan
      Conan the Barbarian
      Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...

      :
      • The Hour of the Dragon
        The Hour of the Dragon
        The Hour of the Dragon, also known as Conan the Conqueror, is a fantasy novel written by Robert E. Howard featuring his seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian. It was first published in serial form in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1935 through 1936; and in book form in 1950 by Gnome...

        , by Robert E. Howard
        Robert E. Howard
        Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....

         (1977)
      • The People of the Black Circle
        The People of the Black Circle (collection)
        The People of the Black Circle is a 1977 collection of four fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The collection was edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was first published in hardcover by Berkley/Putnam in 1977, and in...

        , by Robert E. Howard (1977)
      • Red Nails
        Red Nails (collection)
        Red Nails is a 1977 collection of three fantasy short stories and one essay written by Robert E. Howard featuring his seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The collection was edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was first published in hardcover by Berkley/Putnam in 1977, and in paperback...

        , by Robert E. Howard (1977)
    • The Year's Best Horror Stories
      The Year's Best Horror Stories
      The Year’s Best Horror Stories was a series of annual anthologies published by DAW Books from 1971 to 1994 under the successive editorships of Richard Davis from 1971 to 1973, and, after a two year hiatus, Gerald W. Page from 1976 to 1979, and Karl Edward Wagner from 1980 to 1994. The series was...

      • 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
        Echoes of Valor
        Echoes of Valor is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in February 1987.The book collects three classic fantasy novellas by Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, and Henry Kuttner...

        (1987)
      • Echoes of Valor II
        Echoes of Valor II
        Echoes of Valor II is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was first published in hardcover by Tor Books in August 1989. Tor subsequently issued a trade paperback edition in 1993....

        (1989)
      • Echoes of Valor III
        Echoes of Valor III
        Echoes of Valor III is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in September 1991....

        (1991)

    Critical

    • Black Prometheus: A Critical Study of Karl Edward Wagner, ed. Benjamin Szumskyj (Gothic Press
      Gary William Crawford
      Gary William Crawford is an American writer and small press publisher.He is the founder and editor of Gothic Press, which since 1979 has published books and periodicals in the field of Gothic literature. From 1979 to 1987, Crawford produced six issues of the journal Gothic, which features...

      2007; ISBN 0-913045-14-4)

    External links

    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
    x
    OK