Red Shadows: A Savage Tale of Solomon Kane with Alberto Fernandez
Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick is joined by the always wonderful Alberto Fernandez to discuss “Red Shadows,” a salvage tale of Solomon Kane by Robert E. Howard.
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Dcn. Garlick and Alberto discuss Robert E. Howard’s 1928 Solomon Kane tale “Red Shadows,” a pulp adventure chosen as a lively Short Story September “palette cleanser” after heavier classical reading. Howard (1906–1936), the Texas-born creator of Conan the Barbarian, produced hundreds of stories in a short life. Alberto first encountered him through the 1960s–70s Lancer paperbacks with Frank Frazetta covers. Kane, Howard’s only recurring explicitly Christian series character, is described as a grim Puritan-Cavalier mix with pagan and philosophical streaks—“God’s angry swordsman”—a remorseless wandering avenger who rights wrongs he encounters by chance.
The story opens in the French countryside when Kane finds a dying young Catholic woman assaulted by bandits led by Le Loup (“the Wolf”). The stranger’s death prompts Kane’s vow that “Men shall die for this,” launching a relentless pursuit that takes him from France across Europe to the West African jungle.
There the narrative juxtaposes Kane’s grim, driven sense of justice (he sees himself as a “vessel of wrath”) against Le Loup’s cynical evil, tribal politics, the witch-doctor N’Longa, voodoo, jungle drums, and “blood memory.” Unlike the mirthful, vitalistic Conan, Kane is cold and mysterious even to himself. The climax features a duel framed as cosmic justice versus injustice, followed by a second, primal coda in which a gorilla avenges his mate—showing that nature itself can enact justice and that Kane often needs allies to complete vengeance.
Alberto highlights Howard’s youthful ambition (he wrote the story at 21), his debt to adventure writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard, and the way Africa becomes a recurring, almost inescapable landscape in later Kane tales. He recommends the Del Rey edition and especially the later novella “Wings in the Night” as Howard’s finest Kane story. Both hosts note the stories’ value as high-energy, well-crafted adventure that can later be shared with sons, and they close by pointing listeners toward the next Short Story September episode on Neil Gaiman’s “Chivalry.”
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Robert E. Howard and Solomon Kane
02:13 Howard’s Background and Literary Influence
04:37 The Character of Solomon Kane and His Morality
08:36 Howard’s Philosophy and Moral Duality
11:02 Why Red Shadows Was Chosen for Discussion
14:48 Beginning of the Story: France and the Dying Girl
16:52 Stranger Motif and the Western Influence
19:10 Cain’s Vengeance and Inner Drive
22:50 Primal Justice and the African Setting
26:53 Howard’s Use of Africa and Its Significance
32:52 Howard’s Publishing Journey and African Themes
36:07 The Role of Ilonga and African Characters
43:49 Eternal Forces: Justice and Injustice
45:58 The Ending: Gorilla and Primal Justice
50:49 Howard’s Final Warning and Blood Memory
54:41 Recommended Follow-up Stories and Howard’s Legacy
Keywords
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NEXT WEEK we discuss Neil Gaiman’s “Chivalry” with His Excellency Eduard Habsburg, the Archduke of Austria.
