Elak of Atlantis (Planet Stories) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Aug 06, 2011 S.E. Lindberg rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed-by-se, sword-and-sorcery

Kuttner’s Elak and Raynor - A “Must Read” for Leiber, Lovecraft, Smith, and Howard fans

Context: The Father of Sword & Sorcery Robert E. Howard dies 1936, and the Weird Tales market needs weird adventures. By 1938, Henry Kuttner stepped up, in part, with his Elak and Raynor characters. These have been reprinted in Elak of Atlantis. Kuttner is later known to have produced many tales, especially with his wife C.L. Moore, who partnered with Kuttner after these stories were published. Kuttner also co ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Oct 26, 2014 Charles rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Elak of Atlantis, by Henry Kuttner. Planet Stories, 2007, with an introduction by Joe Lansdale.

This anthology of some of Henry Kuttner’s early work contains the four Elak of Atlantis stories that he wrote, plus two Prince Raynor tales. The Elak stories are: in order of first publication in Weird Tales, “Thunder in the Dawn,” “Spawn of Dagon,” “Beyond the Phoenix,” and “Dragon Moon.” The Raynor tales are: “Cursed be the City,” and “The Citadel of Darkness.” All these fall firmly into the genre of Elak of Atlantis, by Henry Kuttner. Planet Stories, 2007, with an introduction by Joe Lansdale.

This anthology of some of Henry Kuttner’s early work contains the four Elak of Atlantis stories that he wrote, plus two Prince Raynor tales. The Elak stories are: in order of first publication in Weird Tales, “Thunder in the Dawn,” “Spawn of Dagon,” “Beyond the Phoenix,” and “Dragon Moon.” The Raynor tales are: “Cursed be the City,” and “The Citadel of Darkness.” All these fall firmly into the genre of Sword & Sorcery, and they fit well together in this anthology because the characters of Raynor and Elak are quite similar. In fact, Elak just seems to me like an Older Raynor.

From what I had read previously to actually perusing these stories, Kuttner’s Elak tales were written in part to capitalize on the success of Robert E. Howard’s Sword & Sorcery works, particularly Conan. There is some clear influence there it seems to me, but these certainly aren’t pastiches of Conan, like the Brak stories of John Jakes. Both Elak and Raynor are far more cultured characters than Conan. Both are from the nobility. Elak certainly has some roguish elements to his character, especially where women are concerned, but neither Elak nor Raynor would be considered a loner like Conan. Each has a boon companion that travels always with them.

In fact, I see more influence on these stories from H. P. Lovecraft than from Howard. All the pieces in this book have clear “elder god” elements, and when I looked up Kuttner on Wikipedia I found that he was a big fan of Lovecraft and was considered part of the “Lovecraft circle.” That’s how he ended up meeting his future wife and collaborator, C. L. Moore, although the Elak and Raynor stories were written prior that joining.

The nice thing about the Elak tales is that they combine the eldritch elements from Lovecraft with the more action based adventure work of Howard. This makes for a fine pairing of elements, in my opinion. Kuttner could also pull this off prose-wise. Although I didn’t find his writing as beautiful or as dramatic as either Howard or Lovecraft, there were some very nice turns of phrase and the mood of the prose fit well with the stories. Here’s one of the nicer phrasings: “Piercingly sweet, throbbing almost articulately, a harpstring murmured through the gloom.”

All in all, I liked these stories pretty well. I understand that Adrian Cole has written a story or two with the Elak character, though I’ve not read them. These were entitled “Blood of the Moon God,” which appeared in Strange Tales, Vol. 4. No. 3., and “Witch Queen of Doom Island.” More can be found on this at Cole’s website.

Links below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_K...

http://www.adriancscole.com/shortstor...
...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2016 Robin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

The four stories contained in this book were entertaining, but a mixed bag.

The two longest stories, "Thunder in the Dawn" and "Dragon Moon" felt a bit unfocused, with extended, almost psychedelic interludes that reminded me of C. L. Moore's (Kuttner's wife) "Black God's Kiss." Unfortunately, this aspect of Kuttner's stories compare unfavorably to Moore's.

"The Spawn of Dagon" was the shortest story in the book, but also the most interesting. Elak and his erstwhile companion the perpetually drunk ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 25, 2014 Derek rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sword-and-sorcery

The Diversion Books ebook does not feature the Prince Raynor stories, instead holding them for a separate 64 page, $3 download, which on a cost-density basis seems a dubious proposition. The Gateway books edition may contain both Elak and Raynor, but isn't available to me, to the US, or something.

I've come to expect immersion in this style of work, and it's jarring when the author has other ideas, or hasn't thought it through enough to have any ideas. Kuttner prefaces chapters with biblical quot ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 10, 2015 Lee Broderick rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-fantasy, fiction-short-stories, fiction, fiction-adventure

Henry Kuttner was primarily a sci-fi writer and my ignorance of him can be laid firmly at that door. This book though contains a collection of his sword & sorcery tales which were apparently published to fill a Conan-shaped void in Weird Tales following Robert E. Howard's demise.

Kuttner's chief hero is the titular Elak who, wiry and wielding a rapier, does not conform to that physical shape. Assisted by his boon companion Lycon, the influence on Fritz Leiber is plain - the duo drink, womanise, s Henry Kuttner was primarily a sci-fi writer and my ignorance of him can be laid firmly at that door. This book though contains a collection of his sword & sorcery tales which were apparently published to fill a Conan-shaped void in Weird Tales following Robert E. Howard's demise.

Kuttner's chief hero is the titular Elak who, wiry and wielding a rapier, does not conform to that physical shape. Assisted by his boon companion Lycon, the influence on Fritz Leiber is plain - the duo drink, womanise, steal and , most significantly, joke their way through their adventures. I also feel that the tales influenced others in more subtle ways - the slightly built prince in self-exile foreshadows Michael Moorcock's Elric, the integration of Lovecraftian horror would later be carried out by many but none more so than Karl Edward Wagner when he wrote his Kane adventures, and his depiction of Atlantis hints at Pat Mills's Tír nan Óg, where Ukko could be said to be an amped up Lycon, stripped of his bravery and fighting skills.

Whilst Kuttner was writing the Elak stories for Weird Tales, he also wrote his two Prince Raynor pieces for Strange Stories. I had to look that up. I really thought that these were two earlier pieces when I was reading them. The Elak adventures can sometimes appear rushed. It's perhaps a problem of the pulp format, rather than of the writer's, that can sometimes force too many events into too few words. The best writers overcome this though and Kuttner comes close to doing so in his Elak pieces. He fails miserably with Prince Raynor though and I'm forced to wonder why - did he just care less? About his character? Or about the publication venue?

Prince Raynor is physically similar to Elak but more priggish and less rounded. The stories clunk along with little regard for narrative development and, most uncomfortably for this 21st century reader, there's an undeniable racist component. Like Elak, Prince Raynor has a companion. Rather than a drinking buddy though, this character (whose name I can't remember, twelve hours after finishing the book, itself a damning fact) is a servant, described as a big ugly Nubian, who constantly says 'Thankyou Master' whenever Raynor saves him (curiously, this courtesy is never returned - the thanks, not the act) and is referred to at least once by another character when talking to Raynor as 'your black'. There are other examples, not related to that character, which (like his name) I've now forgotten.

Overall, the Elak stories, at least, are something that fans of swords and sorcery and of pulp fiction will probably still enjoy - eighty years after publication! ...more

1 like · Like · see review