by Henry Kuttner, with an introduction by Joe R. Lansdale

Swords and Spells in Lost Atlantis!

Explore the origins of sword and sorcery with Henry Kuttner’s Elak of Atlantis! Published in Weird Tales to satisfy fans of Conan the Barbarian in the wake of Robert E. Howard’s death, these four stories depict a brutal world of flashing swords and primal magic, touched by a hint of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Never collected in a mass-market edition since their publication in the late 1930s, these exciting tales helped to establish a genre and are a critical part of any fantasy library. Also included in this collection are Kuttner’s two rare and equally groundbreaking Prince Raynor stories from 1939’s Strange Tales.

Dive into these seminal, thrilling adventure tales from one of the most important writers in science fiction and fantasy, and discover for yourself why Elak of Atlantis is renowned by scholars as a major step in the evolution of a genre.

“He had a kind of magic all writers wish they possessed. Some of us can fake it a little, but Kuttner, he wasn’t faking. He was the real deal.” —Joe R. Lansdale, award-winning author of “Bubba Ho-Tep”

Contents:

• Introduction: "Kuttner Sharpens His Literary Sword" by Joe R. Lansdale
• Elak of Atlantis:
  • "Thunder in the Dawn"
  • "The Spawn of Dagon"
  • "Beyond the Phoenix"
  • "Dragon Moon"
• Prince Raynor:
  • "Cursed be the City"
  • "The Citadel of Darkness"

224-page softcover trade paperback
ISBN: 1-60125-046-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-046-9

"I rather liked them very much, as Kuttner's imagination is every bit as sharp as C. L. Moore's though it takes a different direction, and because his prose is much the cleaner and the stories move. —Dave Truesdale, Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine

"An entertaining collection of sword & sorcery tales." —George T. Dodds, SFSite.com

About the Author

Ray Bradbury once referred to Henry Kuttner as "a neglected master... a man who shaped science fiction and fantasy in its most important years." Born in Los Angeles, Henry Kuttner (1915–1958) sold his first story, "The Graveyard Rats," to Weird Tales in 1936, the same year in which he wrote a fan letter to rising science fiction author C.L. Moore, mistakenly believing her to be a man. The two were married in 1940, and in the years that followed they collaborated constantly, publishing under at least 17 pseudonyms, most notably Lewis Padgett and Keith Hammond. Along with Elak of Atlantis and Prince Raynor, both of which were created before his marriage to Moore, Kuttner's most popular solo works were the Gallegher stories, tales about an inventor who could only build robots while drunk, and who upon sobering immediately forgot their purposes. As a friend of H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, Kuttner also contributed several stories to the Cthulhu mythos. In addition to writing scripts for television in collaboration with Moore, Kuttner wrote several stories that have since been translated to film, most recently "Mimsy Were the Borogroves," released as The Last Mimsy. In the years since his untimely death from a heart attack at 43, Kuttner has been cited as an influence by everyone from Marion Zimmer Bradley to Roger Zelazny, and both Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury have dedicated novels to him.