Solomon Kane Pastiche I Read in April 2026

Somehow this turned into a Solomon Kane pastiche month with me reading one comic book collection and four short stories. 

Solomon Kane: The Serpent King by Patrick Zircher (Titan Comics, 2025) 

This collects the four issue Soloman Kane: The Serpent King series in which Kane and a group of companions search for the lost Serpent Ring of Thoth-Amon. Patrick Zircher delivers a fantastic combination of story and art with lots of elements from the works of Robert E. Howard. This was a thrilling and fun read. 

Rating: 5/5

This put me in the mood to catch up with the Solomon Kane digital short stories from Titan Books, so here they are. 

Solomon Kane: The Hound of God by Jonathan Mayberry (Titan Books, 2023) 

Solomon Kane goes on the hunt after he comes across a village that has been brutally massacred by some kind of beast. Although he thinks he’s figured everything out, he learns that things aren’t quite as simple as they seem. I really enjoyed the prose and where the story led. 

Rating: 4/5

Solomon Kane: The Banquet of Souls by Steven Savile (Titan Books, 2024) 

After a shipwreck, Soloman Kane washes up on the shores of Japan and winds up helping a clan defend against demons. Solomon Kane in Japan sounds interesting to me but at no point did it feel like the character was actually in feudal Japan. Everyone speaks English, Japanese words are inserted randomly (no futon or kimono though), and the descriptions of almost everything come across as half-hearted. On top of that, the character felt off, the plot felt weak, and the prose didn’t grab me. 

Rating: 2/5

Solomon Kane: The Lair of the Mari Lwyd by Shaun Hamill (Titan Books, 2025) 

I first read this back in December, but I figured I’d give it a re-read since I was reading all the other Titan Books Solomon Kane short stories anyway. This story set during Christmas gives background on the character's Puritan beliefs and mixes sword & sorcery with Welsh folklore really well. A very fun read.

Rating: 4/5

Solomon Kane: Where the Whitehorn Meets the Black by Cavan Scott (Titan Books, 2026)

Solomon Kane returns to his home in Devonshire, England and along with a mysterious woodcutter, winds up searching for a missing child. Fair folk, cursed woods, and dark nursery rhymes. Fast paced, engaging prose, and an ending that stuck the landing. Fantastic story. 

Rating: 5/5

Shaun Hamill has also written Solomon Kane: Suffer the Witch, a full-length novel that was released at the beginning of this year. I’m not sure when I’ll get to it, but I’ll be picking it up eventually.

Books I Read in December 2025

 Noir, Christmas hauntings, and sword & sorcery for December. 

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2011. First published in 1935)

I first read this a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Tightly plotted and suspenseful with twists and some sharp prose. A masterpiece of crime fiction. I also highly recommend the 1944 film adaptation, which I wrote about in last month’s post. 

Film Noir: A Very Short Introduction by James Naremore (Oxford University Press, 2019)

A well-done and concise overview of film noir. I found the first few chapters more interesting than the last, but overall, this was an enjoyable and informative read.

Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, Revised and Expanded Edition by Eddie Muller (Running Press, 2021)

In this book author and noir scholar Eddie Muller looks at film noir as if it were a city, with each chapter covering a different theme or aspect. For example, “The Precinct” covers noir films about cops, “Shamus Flats” covers private eyes, and “Knockover Square” covers heists and holdups. It’s written in the style of hard-boiled novels and short stories which I found hit and miss and the text is tiny, but the book is loaded with behind-the-scenes info, photos, and movie posters. Also included are sidebars covering famous noir figures. Entertaining and quite informative.

Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights edited by Lucy Evans and Tanya Kirk (British Library Publishing, 2021) 

This is another great anthology of Christmas hauntings from the British Library Tales of the Weird series. I’ll post a full review soon.

Soloman Kane: The Lair of the Mari Lwyd by Shaun Hamill (The Heroic Legends Series, Titan Books, 2025)

This Solomon Kane story set during Christmas gives background on the character's Puritan beliefs and mixes sword & sorcery with Welsh folklore really well. What a fun read. 

Looking Ahead

I didn’t read or post as much as I had hoped to this year. Here’s to doing more in 2026!