Book Review: Elak of Atlantis
Sword and Sorcery at it's finest
Classic stories of blood and thunder, the very essence of sword and sorcery, and if you enjoy Robert Howard’s Conan, you might even like these better.
This edition of Elak of Atlantis is the four short works written by Henry Kuttner, with meticulous formatting and a wonderful introduction by D. Jason Fleming. Not all introductions are worth reading (and some introduce major spoilers, I’m looking at you, British Crime Library), but this one delves into interesting territory and sets up the book for the aficionado.
Elak is a former prince of Atlantis, wandering in exile with a drunken sot of a fighter as a sidekick. A Druid priest, Dalan, seems to turn up with annoying (for Elak) regularity and trouble is always in his wake. Unless he’s there to fish Elak out of a sticky situation. There are strange religions, creatures never meant to see the light of day, mad wizards, and cutting a bloody path through it all is Elak. While there are mystical planes described in beautiful detail, the stories are never confusing or hard to follow. These are popcorn stories, enjoyable to spend an hour or two stepping into the theater of the mind, far from the humdrum daily routine.
As a writer, reading these in succession will show you the mechanics of how it’s done. There are repetitions, not of scenes, but of concepts like self-sacrifice and honor, played out in most of the stories. The women may not be repeating characters, but they are strong, sweet, and noble. The sidekick Lycaon will get drunk, save Elak’s hide, and the battle will be won.
Seriously, this is a book worth reading and studying. Go! Enjoy!
I suspect he was 'told' by the people publishing his stories that he 'needed to be under a different name'. Which is a thing that publishers are STILL doing to this day. I suspect it's so they can pay the author less, but I've talked with authors who went through this, QUIT writing because of it as well, because they could never gain a following and make good money.
Then of course Indy came about and they brought back all of their stuff, under their own name, with the tag line 'Writing as <penname>' And, all of the sudden, they started making serious money as enough people remembered their pen names that they were able to bring their scattered fans together.
Reading his wikipedia entry I had to scowl at the line about arkhaven continually promising to publish him, but never getting around to it. Yeah, that's called 'stringing him along' and only evil people do that.
Kuttner didn't live long but he authored plenty of great short fiction works, on his own, with others and under various pseudonyms.