Kull (short story collection)

Kull

Cover of the first edition
Author	Robert E. Howard
Cover artist	Roy Krenkel
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Kull of Atlantis
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	Lancer Books
Publication date	1967
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	223 pp
OCLC	426080

Kull is a collection of Fantasy short stories by Robert E. Howard. It was first published in 1967 by Lancer Books under the title King Kull. This edition included three stories completed by Lin Carter from unfinished fragments and drafts by Howard. Later editions, retitled as Kull, replaced the stories with the uncompleted fragments. Two of the stories, and the poem, "The King and the Oak", originally appeared in the magazine Weird Tales.

Contents

• Prologue
• "Exile of Atlantis"
• "The Shadow Kingdom"
• "The Altar and the Scorpion"
• "Black Abyss" (completed by Lin Carter from an unfinished draft entitled "The Black City")
• "Delcardes’ Cat"
• "The Skull of Silence"
• "Riders Beyond the Sunrise" (completed by Lin Carter from an untitled fragment)
• "By This Axe I Rule!"
• "The Striking of the Gong"
• "Swords of the Purple Kingdom"
• "Wizard and Warrior" (completed by Lin Carter from an untitled fragment)
• "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune"
• "The King and the Oak"

Reception

Algis Budrys reviewed the collection favorably, describing Howard's writing as "combining a masochistic megalomania with a strong streak of horror writing." He noted that Carter's pastiche-completion of "Black Abyss" was surprisingly successful.

Publication history

• 1967, US, Lancer Books 73-650 OCLC 426080, Pub date 1967, Paperback, as King Kull by Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter
• 1976, UK, Sphere Books ISBN 0-7221-4716-3, Pub date 1976, Paperback, as King Kull
• 1978, US, Bantam Books ISBN 0553120190, Pub date September 1978, as Kull, removes Carter edits
• 1985, US, Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. ISBN 0-937986-75-5, Pub date November 1985, Hardcover, as Kull, removes Carter edits
• 1995, US, Baen Books ISBN 0-671-87673-2, Pub date July 1995, Paperback, as Kull, removes Carter edits, adds story "The Curse of Golden Skull"
• 2006, US. Del Rey ISBN 0-345-49017-7, Pub. date 2006, Trade paperback, as "Kull, Exile of Atlantis", includes early non-Kull work from 1924, as well as biographical essays detailing Kull's creation.

Sources

• Brown, Charles N.; William G. Contento (2007-11-20). "The Locus Index to Science Fiction (1984-1998)". Retrieved 2008-06-06.
• Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. pp. 330–331.
• Contento, William G. (2008-01-26). "Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections". Retrieved 2008-06-06.
• Woods, Todd A. (2000). "King Kull". Howard Works. Retrieved 2008-06-06.

Further reading

"Lin Carter on Kull". Savage Sword of Conan No 3 (Dec 1974). Online at: [1]