Ahira's Hangar

I've been a Moorcock fan for a very looong time...but here's a strange thing.

A month or so back I started reading Silverheart by Moorcock & Storm Constantine, and I just couldn't get into it. I haven't given up on it totally yet, (it's still book-marked at page 172,) but it's the first Moorcock I haven't been able to finish.

The odd thing is that I've read Constantine's Wraeththu trilogy and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Adios
Rockin' & in The Land of Oz
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Michael Moorcock's recent stuff isn't nearly half as his older books, which is a shame because at his peak he was very good indeed.

I think I prefer his pseudo-historical novels, and liked Jerry Cornelius and Oswald Bastable. Of course, since, they and Elric and Corum and all the rest are all elements of the Champion Eternal, then to appreciate one you have to read them all (or so says his publishing agent).

Seriously, the more I think about the philosophy behind Law, Chaos, and the Balance the more I think it can actually be applied to the real world. The only difficulty is determining what elements are Lawful and which Chaotic - and its not as easy as it might seem at first glance <i></i>

Wikipedia has:

Original series

* Elric of Melniboné (novel, Hutchinson 1972, cut vt The Dreaming City 1972 US; DAW 1977)
* The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (collection, Quartet 1976; DAW 1977)
* The Weird of the White Wolf (collection, DAW 1977)
* The Sleeping Sorceress (novel, NEL 1971; Ace 1971 as The Vanishing Tower; DAW 1977)
* The Bane of the Black Sword (collection, DAW 1977)
* Stormbringer (novel, fix-up, cut, Herbet Jenkins 1965; restored, DAW 1977)

Later novels

* Fortress of the Pearl (novel, Gollancz 1989)
* Revenge of the Rose (novel, Grafton 1991 as The Revenge of the Rose: A Tale of the Albino Prince in the Years of his Wandering)

Later trilogy

* The Dreamthief's Daughter (2001)
* The Skrayling Tree (2003)
* The White Wolf's Son (2005)


Which is the same as your list, Duchess, but without those last three (which don't sound like novels, from the titles--are those the graphic novel adaptations?).

FYI, there's a brand new Elric novella in the anniversary issue of Weird Tales out soon.

There's a new mass-market Elric omnibus out in the UK as part of a whole load of fantasy reissues by Gollancz (which include Lankhmar, Amber, Conan and Lyonesse).
The Elric volume has, I think, all the novels up to Stormbringer.

I have started reading the graphic novel Elric: Making of a Sorceror as a prelude to a reread of the novels/first read of the novels after Stormbringer. So far I am enjoying it very much.

Like many here I first got into Moorcock (too many) decades ago, and devoured everything in sight, especially the Elric and Hawkmoon series. Then I lost touch, but then started getting into his 'historical' stuff (Byzantium endures etc). Now I'm just about ready to get back into it all. I think Moorcock's reputation suffered because he was so prolific - no one who wrote so many novels so quickly could be any good surely? - but now he's being taken seriously, and with justification. I hope this 'overnight' success doesn't go to his head though!

I have also managed to reread the first of the novels, but have not had time yet to start rereading the second.

Moorcock really shines in his atmosphere, does he not? So far there is this huge feeling of impending doom hanging over the city of Melnibone...a dying city in a dying empire, presided over by princes who are the play things of the gods...

Managed to get Count Brass, The Champion of Garathorm, all four volumes of the History of the Runestaff (go Hawkmoon!!!), Revenge of the Rose, and Behold the Man, Moorcock's take on the Crucifixion, 28 bucks the lot.

I am perhaps now a third of the way into Sailor on the Seas of Fate, the second Elric novel. Have encountered the concept of the eternal champion, and met three other incarnations of him. I have never encountered other Moorcock books other than Elric - does he do crossovers between series like that often?

Have now made it to The Vanishing Tower.

Can't possibly get into the Moorcock books until I finish War in Heaven!