Lacking Natural Simplicity

Kull: Exile of Alantis, by Robert E. Howard, copyright 2006 Kull Productions, LLC; illustrations copyright 2006 Justin Sweet; Del Rey Books/The Random House Publishing Group/Random House, Inc.; first printing; ISBN 0-345-49017-7.

Well worth reading, and not just as a precursor to Conan. The essay “Atlantean Genesis” by Patrice Louinet, included in the book, argues on p. 288 that with the three Kull tales that were published during Howard's life, Howard had invented a new literary subgenre: “Heroic Fantasy”, “Epic Fantasy”, or “Sword & Sorcery” by modernizing fantasy through eliminating “…the chivalrous aspects, the flowery language, and stilted personalities, writing violent tales in a realistic style…” and that seems reasonable.