Anyone here a Michael Moorcock fan?

[Wurm]

I have all his books but one (friend borrowed it, got drunk and left it in the bar ) and was wondering if anyone else here likes his work?

I like his Heroes Hawkmoon and von Bek the most, from his vast collection of characters..

Figures my friend would lose "The Sword of the Dawn" [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[imperial dwarf]

Originally posted by Wurm: I have all his books but one (friend borrowed it, got drunk and left it in the bar ) and was wondering if anyone else here likes his work? I like his Heroes Hawkmoon and von Bek the most, from his vast collection of characters.. Figures my friend would lose "The Sword of the Dawn" [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Really all? Congratulations pard, that's no mean feat, looking at the mass of books he's written over the last forty years. I'm still searching for some of his very early books like "Kane of old Mars", "Ice schooner", and "Distant Suns".

So...yeah, I'm a big fan of his writing. I started, like nearly everyone, with the Elric books and then explored the rest of the multiverse. I'm now approaching his literaric efforts, the "Between the wars" tetralogy and his London novels.
So far he never failed to entertain and astonish me with the broad variety of ideas, characters and styles...just compare "Queen of Swords" with "An Alien Heat" with "The Brothel in Rosenstrasse" with "The Peking Junction"!
IMHO he's one of the best and most prolific English writers of the 20th century.
Pity many folks only know his Elric...
However "Stormbringer" and "Elric of Melnibone" still remain some of my favorite books, as I've yet to encounter a book that matches them for their imagination, mood and sheer energy of writing.
Apart from them I like nearly all of his stuff, except maybe "Fortress of the Pearl" and some of his early works like the "Sundered Worlds".
Therefore I don't really have a favorite character, although I can understand why Hawkmoon and von Bek charmed you, Wurm.

BTW
War das eine englische Einzelausgabe von "Sword of the Dawn"? Wenn ja, hoffe ich du hast ihm anständig die Meinung gesagt, weil's diese meines Wissens nämlich gar nicht mehr gibt. Hätte er mal lieber 'nen Sack voll Gold verloren... . Solltest ihn aber auch so deine Missgunst spüren lassen, man verliert nicht einfach so ein Moorcock Buch

[ 11-08-2002, 06:16 AM: Message edited by: imperial dwarf ]

[Attalus]

Had to post here. I really cannot say that I liked all of his books. I have never managed to finish The Warlord of the Air or its sequels, and I found The Brothel on Rosenkranz way too weird. But, yes, I like the Elric and Stormbringer books, and I liked the Dorian Hawkmoon series.

[Wurm]

Originally posted by imperial dwarf: BTW War das eine englische Einzelausgabe von "Sword of the Dawn"? Wenn ja, hoffe ich du hast ihm anständig die Meinung gesagt, weil's diese meines Wissens nämlich gar nicht mehr gibt. Hätte er mal lieber 'nen Sack voll Gold verloren... . Solltest ihn aber auch so deine Missgunst spüren lassen, man verliert nicht einfach so ein Moorcock Buch

LOL nein aber ich habe ihn einmal kräftig ins Gesicht gehaut ... er hat das verdient meine Meinung nach.

And I found a used copy of the book today on the internet for 8 dollars so I am ordering it!

<font color="#33cc33">I have many of his books, I liked the Elric series the best, The Count Brass ones were good, and ...Hawkmoon comes to mind. Some of his writing is ust plain weird though. I liked the concept of the Champion Eternal [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

[Attalus]

The best thing about the Elric books was the novel concept of a man who is dependant on his evil blade in order to be a (mostly) good hero. Sort of the reverse of Frodo's delimma in LOTR. They still read well today, I think.

Originally posted by Attalus: The best thing about the Elric books was the novel concept of a man who is dependant on his evil blade in order to be a (mostly) good hero. Sort of the reverse of Frodo's delimma in LOTR. They still read well today, I think.

<font color="#33cc33">Well really StormBringer didn't come into his hands untill the middle book somewhere I think. He was always takingpotions and drugs to sustain his health. </font>

[Memnoch]

I know it's an old thread, sorry to bump it back up, but I'm thinking of buying some Moorcock novels (I need a change from the WotC stuff for a while [img]smile.gif[/img] ). I did an Amazon search and a HUNDRED SIXTY EIGHT novels came up - FIFTEEN of the Eternal Champion series, which each appear to be a set of sub-novels about various characters. Where on earth do I start?? [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img]

Is there a sequence at all to this? I'd like to start with Elric - is there an Elric series or something?

[imperial dwarf]

Oi pard, that's a difficult question you ask, let's see if I can help you.

Moorcock has written lots of series staring different heroes, some of whom appear in trilogies(Corum, Hawkmoon), single stories(the von Beks) or a vast assembly of stories and novels(Elric). They're all linked in that they live in the Multiverse and are all incarnations of the CHAMPION ETERNAL, which fights in his or her respective world against or with the two fundamental powers, Chaos and Order. The ultimate goal is to strike a balance between these two forces. And the different tales of the different aspects of the champion form the tale of the Champion Eternal.

Ahh...hope that makes some sense . There is no proper place to start, just pick out the books dealing with one specific hero to read a coherent story.
The main heroes are Dorian Hawkmoon, Corum, Elric, Erekose, the family von Bek, Jherek Carnelian, Oswald Bastable and Jerry Cornelius.

Concerning Elric:
Ace has the pre 90s Elric stuff out in a series of 6 slim volumes which fit perfectly into a coat pocket, and thus make it a fine travel reading, besides sporting some very nice art by Robert Gould. However, purchasing all six is a considerable strain on the purse.
The titles are as follows: “Elric of Melnibone”, “Sailor on the Seas of Fate”, “The Weird of the White Wolf”, “The Vanishing Tower”, “Bane of the Black Sword” and “Stormbringer”.
That edition misses two Elric stories that Moorcock did in the 90s, to wit, “Fortress of the Pearl” and “Revenge of the Rose” which are taking place somewhere within the series and are, I believe, no longer available as single volumes. It is, however, questionable whether they are necessary for enjoying Elric as they were written a long time after the original stories and differ in style and content. Many people, in fact, stick to the old stories and I personally would advise these as a start, the other two are really a bit advanced. Moorcock unearthes the Albino from time to time to use him as a vessel for ideas and thoughts he has, quite interesting, but far away from the original spirit (even now he’s writing another trilogy featuring him ).

Gollancz and White Wolf both have published all Elric stories in two hefty volumes except for a short story("Elric at the end of Time") that appears elsewhere. “Song of the Black Sword” and “Stealer of Souls” are the White Wolf titles and “Elric of Melnibone” and “Stormbringer” Gollancz’.
These are doorstoppers and both editions have their faults. The Gollanczes are not high quality, seem quite fragile and imo appear ugly, White Wolf uses the big paperback sizes and horrible covers...yet both editions are a lot cheaper than the six single volumes.
The decision is yours

Well, pard, hope that helps a bit, sorry for the lenghty explanations, MM is a topic I could talk days about .

[Memnoch]

Thanks for that, mate - so are all these disparate novels/characters/plots connected somehow or are they all separate and just happen to inhabit the same world? I don't know very much about Michael Moorcock to tell you the truth... [img]redface.gif[/img]