Elak of Atlantis
Books 4 books Status Complete 1938–1941 Reading commitment Medium Henry Kuttner Last reviewed 2026-09-05
Overview
Elak of Atlantis is Henry Kuttner's own entry in the sword-and-sorcery mode Robert E. Howard had established a few years earlier with Conan: a wandering, sword-wielding heir to a throne he does not want, adventuring across an invented, antediluvian Atlantean world of sorcery, sunken cities and rival kingdoms.
The four stories appeared in Weird Tales between May 1938 and January 1941, entirely under Kuttner's own name; they predate his 1940 marriage to fellow pulp writer C.L. Moore, so none of the collaborative pseudonyms (such as Lewis Padgett) the couple later shared apply here. The stories went uncollected in book form for decades, first gathered as a single volume in 1985.
Sword & sorcery · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (4 works) counts toward ranking
Elak of Atlantis Henry Kuttner
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunder in the Dawn | 1938 | 1 | core | N/A | |
| The Spawn of Dagon | 1938 | 2 | core | N/A | |
| Beyond the Phoenix | 1938 | 3 | core | N/A | |
| Dragon Moon | 1941 | 4 | core | N/A |
All four stories were first published in Weird Tales (May-June 1938 through January 1941), each a self-contained novelette-length adventure; registered here as Core Canon under the same collection-as-Core exception this project applies to other pulp-era short-fiction cycles: the primary reading unit for this universe is the short fiction itself, later gathered into book form, not a novel.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Elak of Atlantis? Elak of Atlantis's Core Canon is 4 books.
- What is the reading order for Elak of Atlantis? Publication order, starting with Thunder in the Dawn. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Elak of Atlantis finished? Complete (1938–1941).
- How much reading does Elak of Atlantis take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 4 Core Canon books).
Why this rank?
Not yet ranked: awaiting reader-rating data collection. None of its Core Canon books has a recorded reader rating yet. See the Rankings page for which universes are currently ranked.
Why explore this universe?
4 books · Complete
Good choice if you want a moderate-length sword-and-sorcery universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (4 Core Canon books)
- Beyond the Phoenix (1938)
- The Spawn of Dagon (1938)
- Thunder in the Dawn (1938)
- Dragon Moon (1941)
Documented internal/story order
- Thunder in the Dawn (1938)
- The Spawn of Dagon (1938)
- Beyond the Phoenix (1938)
- Dragon Moon (1941)
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Elak of Atlantis and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Capitale du Sud Epic fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.28
- The Gentleman Bastards Sword & sorcery · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.27
- Night Angel Trilogy Epic fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.21
- Les Sentiers des Astres Sword & sorcery / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.20
Official resources
Research details
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Elak of Atlantis (Henry Kuttner) accepted 2026-09-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-09-05
Rule: Core Canon = all four Elak stories, read in original magazine-publication order (the only order any source establishes). No internal-chronology dispute exists; this reflects the same short-fiction-as-Core reasoning already applied to other pulp-era story cycles in this canon.