When I want a shot of straight Howard, and don't feel able to commit to rereading the entire Conan saga (as I have done several times), I turn to King Kull --he has almost exactly the same feel as Conan (at least one story has appeared in both Kull and Conan versions) --since most of the Kull stories take place after he is already king, they are closest to the Conan stores that are late In his life sequence. One or two are meditative (The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune) but most are the kind of action you would expect from Howard. This version (like most of the Lancer Howard) passed through the hands of Lin Carter, so it may not be absolutely pure Howard, but it is close enough. This copy I bought simply because I was craving a rereading and could not find my original copy. It should be in my game room somewhere, but I just couldn't wait. ( )

This Lancer edition has cover art by Frazetta & all the original Howard fragments finished up by DeCamp & Carter (I think). I read this first & always liked their take on the stories the best.

Kull is a predecessor to Conan - the same kind of guy. He's a barbarian that took over the country by his honor & fighting skills.

One story is almost identical to a Conan story - the one where the king is attacked in his bed chamber & kills them all. He stands sorely wounded with an ax in one hand asking, "Who dies next?" Lots of gory fun. ( )

Howard's stories about Kull of Atlantis are generally more reflective than his better-known Conan tales, and have an air of melancholy that, personally, I think contrasts well with the more conventional "hack-and-slash" elements.

Although Kull's world is not as fleshed out as Conan's Hyborian Age, this works to the tales' advantage, as it adds to the age-lost mystery and atmosphere of degeneracy of a world in its last throes, about to be washed away by geological upheavals, a slate wiped clean ready for a new age.

There's a fair admixture of cosmic horror of the kind H.P. Lovecraft admired in Howard's works, and also a sprinkling of the sardonic humour that fans of Howard's non-fantasy works will recognise, but which may come as a surprise to those who only know him as a Sword-and-Sorcery writer.

Whilst not as commercially successful in their day (in fact, Howard only saw three, I think, published in his lifetime) as the later Conan stories, I think the Kull stories are some of Howard's best. ( )