Howard's universe (featuring Conan the Barbarian and Bran 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 form. Some of Wagner's work is set in Robert E. Night Shade Books has published the complete Kane stories (novels and shorts) in two hardcover volumes. Įxorcisms and Ecstasies, a posthumous volume of uncollected stories, miscellany and tributes was published by small press publisher Fedogan & Bremer during 1997. It was reported in a late 1994 issue of the Newsletter of the Horror Writers of America that Wagner's causes of death were heart failure and liver failure. Wagner died in his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on October 14, 1994, essentially of the consequences of longterm alcoholism. His friends included the writer Manly Wade Wellman, two of whose collections he published with the Carcosa publishing imprint. Wagner was productive as both a writer and editor/anthologist see below. As noted above, he disliked the medical profession, which he abandoned upon establishing himself as a writer. Wagner earned a history degree from Kenyon College in 1967, and a psychiatry degree from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His father was an official of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Wagner was the fourth and youngest child of Aubrey J. 2.3 Audio, television and comics adaptations.Wagner also admired the cinema of Sam Peckinpah, stating 'I worship the film The Wild Bunch'. He described his personal philosophy as nihilistic, anarchistic and absurdist, and claimed, not entirely seriously, to be related to 'an opera composer named ' Richard'. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be detected in the stories 'The Fourth Seal' and 'Into Whose Hands'. He is possibly best known for his creation of a series of stories featuring the character Kane, the Mystic Swordsman.

His Carcosa publishing company issued four volumes of the best stories by some of the major authors of the so-called Golden Age pulp magazines. Howard's Conan the Barbarian fiction restored to its original form as written, and edited the long-running and genre-defining The Year's Best Horror Stories series for DAW Books. As an editor, he created a three-volume set of Robert E. He wrote numerous dark fantasy and horror stories. Karl Edward Wagner (12 December 1945 – 14 October 1994) was an American writer, poet, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist.

Karl edward wagner written works