You knew Solomon Kane was a puritan, but did you know he's English? Robert E. Howard makes sure we all know in "Wings in the Night":

"Already a winged fiend was at his throat and there was no time to draw and fire his other pistol.  Kane saw, in a maze of thrashing wings, a devilish, semi-human face--he felt those wings battering at him--he felt cruel talons sink deep into his breast; then he was dragged off his feet and felt empty space beneath him.

The winged man had wrapped his limbs about the Englishman's legs, and the talons he had driven into Kane's breast muscles held like fanged vises.  The wolf-like fangs drove at Kane's throat but the Puritan gripped the bony throat and thrust back the grisly head, while with his right hand he strove to draw his dirk.  The bird-man was mounting slowly and a fleeting glance showed Kane that they were already high above the trees.  The Englishman did not hope to survive this battle in the sky, for even if he slew his foe, he would be dashed to death in the fall.  But with the innate ferocity of the fighting Anglo-Saxon he set himself grimly to take his captor with him."

(Robert E. Howard. The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane. New York: Ballantine, 1998: 291)

(image via The Pulp Reader)

Solomon Kane screens at TIFF on: Wednesday, Sept. 16 11:59PM - RYERSON / Thursday Sept. 17 3:15 PM - SCOTIABANK 1