Kull: Exile of Atlantis Read online

  Patrice Louinet

  Many thanks to Marcelo, for sharing with me the vision of the REH Library of Classics and allowing me aboard; to Jack and Barbara Baum, for sharing and promoting that vision and for many kindnesses to me and Shelly; to the entire Wandering Star gang but in particular this time to Stuart and Patrice (as well as Marcelo) for all their hard work under a tight deadline; to Steve Tompkins for his enthusiasm and a fine introductory essay; to Glenn Lord, Robert E. Howard’s greatest champion; and of course to Shelly, mi corazon, for her love, encouragement, and support. Ka nama kaa lajerama!

  Rusty Burke

  Thanks once again to Marcelo, Patrice and Rusty for making things easier with each passing book. Thanks also to Mandy and Emma for being patient with me, Fishburn Hedges for allowing me to use their design studio after hours and at weekends again for the last time–I’m buying a laptop for the next one–and, finally, to Chris Crump, Howard fan and illustrator of The Secret Valley, with whom I’ve exchanged Howard books and fanzines for many years. All the best with the sequel, Chris!

  Stuart Williams

  I’d like to thank everyone who has been involved and helped with this Robert E. Howard library of classics especially Stuart, Patrice and Rusty, without whom it may not have happened. And to Graziana, for your patience, love, and support. Thank you.

  Marcelo Anciano

  THE FULLY ILLUSTRATED ROBERT E. HOWARD LIBRARY

  from Del Rey Books

  The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian

  The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

  The Bloody Crown of Conan

  Bran Mak Morn: The Last King

  The Conquering Sword of Conan

  Kull: Exile of Atlantis

  PRAISE FOR ROBERT E. HOWARD

  “I adore these books. Howard had a gritty, vibrant style—broadsword writing that cut its way to the heart, with heroes who are truly larger than life. I heartily recommend them to anyone who loves fantasy.”

  —DAVID GEMMELL,

  author of Legend and White Wolf

  “The voice of Robert E. Howard still resonates after decades with readers—equal parts ringing steel, thunderous horse hooves, and spattered blood. Far from being a stereotype, his creation of Conan is the high heroic adventurer. His raw muscle and sinews, boiling temper, and lusty laughs are the gauge by which all modern heroes must be measured.”

  —ERIC NYLUND,

  author of Halo: The Fall of Reach and Signal to Noise

  “That teller of marvelous tales, Robert Howard, did indeed create a giant [Conan] in whose shadow other ‘hero tales’ must stand.”

  —JOHN JAKES,

  New York Times bestselling author of the North and South trilogy

  “For stark, living fear…what other writer is even in the running with Robert E. Howard?”

  —H. P. LOVECRAFT

  “Howard…painted in the broadest strokes imaginable. A mass of glimmering black for the menace, an ice-blue cascade for the hero, between them a swath of crimson for battle, passion, blood.”

  —FRITZ LIEBER

  “Forget Schwarzenegger and the movies. This is pure pulp fiction from the 1930s, before political corrections and focus groups dictated the direction of our art. Swords spin, entrails spill, and women swoon.”

  —Men’s Health

  “Howard wrote pulp adventure stories of every kind, for every market he could find, but his real love was for supernatural adventure and he brought a brash, tough element to the epic fantasy which did as much to change the course of the American school away from precious writing and static imagery as Hammett, Chandler, and the Black Mask pulp writers were to change the course of American detective fiction.”

  —MICHAEL MOORCOCK,

  award-winning author of the Elric saga

  “In this, I think, the art of Robert E. Howard was hard to surpass: vigor, speed, vividness. And always there is that furious, galloping narrative pace.”

  —POUL ANDERSON

  “Howard honestly believed the basic truth of the stories he was telling. It’s as if he’d said, ‘This is how life really was lived in those former savage times!’”

  —DAVID DRAKE,

  author of Grimmer Than Hell and Dogs of War

  “For headlong, nonstop adventure and for vivid, even florid, scenery, no one even comes close to Howard.”

  —HARRY TURTLEDOVE

  Kull is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  A Del Rey Trade Paperback Original

  Copyright © 2006 by Kull Productions, LLC

  Illustrations © 2006 by Justin Sweet

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  Kull, Kull of Atlantis, King Kull, and related logos, names, characters, and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Kull Productions, LLC, unless otherwise noted.

  All rights reserved.

  This edition published by arrangement with Kull Productions, LLC.

  www.delreybooks.com

  eISBN: 978-0-345-49559-4

  v3.0

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  About this Book

  Plates

  Foreword

  Introduction

  Untitled Story (previously published as “Exile of Atlantis”)

  The Shadow Kingdom

  The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune

  Untitled Draft

  The Cat and the Skull

  The Screaming Skull of Silence

  The Striking of the Gong

  The Altar and the Scorpion

  The Curse of the Golden Skull

  The Black City (Unfinished Fragment)

  Untitled Fragment

  By This Axe I Rule!

  Swords of the Purple Kingdom

  The King and the Oak

  Kings of the Night

  Miscellanea

  The “Am-ra of the Ta-an” Fragments

  Summer Morn

  Am-ra the Ta-an

  The Tale of Am-ra

  Untitled and Unfinished Fragment

  Untitled and Incomplete Fragment

  The Shadow Kingdom (Draft)

  Delcardes’ Cat

  The King and the Oak (Draft)

  Appendices

  Atlantean Genesis

  Notes on the Original Howard Texts

  The Fully Illustrated Robert E. Howard Library from Del Rey Books

  Praise for Robert E. Howard

  Copyright