One Ring Rules Them All: A Comparison of Karl Edward Wagner’s Bloodstone and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

Karl Edward Wagner (1945-1994) began a draft of Bloodstone and its immortal protagonist Kane in 1960, while just a freshman in high school. Wagner finished the draft of Bloodstone in 1970 while enrolled as a PhD student in neurobiology. By then, J.R.R. Tolkien was everywhere—including, as I argue, in the published version of Wagner’s 1975 novel.

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The Compatibility of Dwassllir’s Romanticism with Kane’s Pragmatism: Thoughts on Karl Edward Wagner’s “Two Suns Setting”

“Two Suns Setting” has held a grip on me for a couple of decades now. The dichotomy of the city of Carsultyal, that being progression built on the conservation of cultural fundamentals, is expressed throughout the story in the relationship between Kane and Dwassllir.  Furthermore, it is the harmony of this duplexity that has drawn me to “Two Suns Setting” from the start. But why?

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