Kull (short story collection) explained

Kull
Author:	Robert E. Howard
Cover Artist:	Roy Krenkel
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Series:	Kull of Atlantis
Publisher:	Lancer Books
Release 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.^[1]

Publication history

• 1967, US, Lancer Books 73-650, Pub date 1967, Paperback, as King Kull by Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter
• 1976, UK, Sphere Books, Pub date 1976, Paperback, as King Kull
• 1978, US, Bantam Books, Pub date September 1978, as Kull, removes Carter edits
• 1985, US, Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc., Pub date November 1985, Hardcover, as Kull, removes Carter edits
• 1995, US, Baen Books, Pub date July 1995, Paperback, as Kull, removes Carter edits, adds story "The Curse of Golden Skull"
• 2006, US. Del Rey, 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

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

Further reading

"Lin Carter on Kull". Savage Sword of Conan No 3 (Dec 1974). Online at: https://web.archive.org/web/20140427010930/http://www.gwthomas.org/lincarteronkull.htm

Notes and References

1. "Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1968, pp.158 - 59.