With Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard created more than the greatest action hero of the twentieth century&#8212;he also launched a genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery. But Conan wasn&#8217;t the first archetypal <br>adventurer to spring from Howard&#8217;s fertile imagination. <br><br><i>&#8220;He was . . . a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan. . . . A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things. . . . Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only one respect&#8212;he was true to his ideals of justice and right. Such was Solomon Kane.&#8221;<br><br></i>Collected in this volume, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Gary Gianni, are all of the stories and poems that make up the thrilling saga of the dour and deadly Puritan, Solomon Kane. Together they constitute a sprawling epic of weird fantasy adventure that stretches from sixteenth-century England to remote African jungles where no white man has set foot. Here are shudder-inducing tales of vengeful ghosts and bloodthirsty demons, of dark sorceries wielded by evil men and women, all opposed by a grim avenger armed with a fanatic&#8217;s faith and a warrior&#8217;s savage heart.<br><br><b><i>This edition also features exclusive story fragments, a biography of Howard by scholar Rusty Burke, and &#8220;In Memoriam,&#8221; H. P. Lovecraft&#8217;s moving tribute to his friend and fellow literary genius.<br></i></b>