Michael Moorcock fans?

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

Hey, so I recently discovered this used bookstore in my hometown and, as a consequence, I've been reading ALOT of Michael Moorcock books lately.

Now, I'm a huge speculative fiction fan, but there's something about Moorcock's work that seems so....unique. I can't quite put my finger on it. Even when he's being derivative (like with his 'Kane of Old Mars' trilogy), he's a good read.

It has something to do with his prose. It has this poetic, almost lyrical quality to it. It kind of reminds me of Robert E. Howard with a strong Clark Ashton Smith influence (especially when involving his famous Elric character). He's also a poet and a musician, and it shows. He genuinely enjoys his work and puts a lot of passion into his novels and stories, and that enthusiasm also shows.

I also love the fact that his works often show a left-wing ideology and that he is consciously trying to move away from the Tolkien influence (though I do like Tolkien). His 'A Nomad of the Time Streams' trilogy is pretty explicit in its left-wing views.

So, any other fans out there?

[Popular Front of Judea]

Loved 'Behold The Man'. Haven't got to his longer fiction. Is there a novel that you would suggest starting with?

[ANTIFA GATE-9]

Read a couple of his older ones, Behold the Man and the Black Corridor. Also read the Vengeance of Rome but not the rest of the Pyat Quartet.They were great and I see what you mean that he is trying to move away from the Tolkien influence. I read the first book of the "A Nomad of the Times Streams" a few years ago. It was awesome when it said the enemies were colonized people with socialists and anarchists against their imperialist states. I forgot to read the sequels, I'll try and find them at the bookstore. Michael moorcock is a great author and obviously a leftist, anarchist:thumbup1:

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

Loved 'Behold The Man'. Haven't got to his longer fiction. Is there a novel that you would suggest starting with?

Pretty much anything Elric related is a good start, especially if you like heroic fantasy. I'd go with the original cycle of seven books, which is made up of two complete novels, a fix-up book, and four short story collections.

Elric is a brilliant character, as he was designed by Moorcock to be the exact opposite of Robert E. Howard's Conan character. Whereas Conan is a swarthy, muscular barbarian of a proud warrior race who is distrustful of sorcery and a master of swords, Elric is a skinny and sickly-looking albino of a decadent and collapsing empire who is a skilled sorcerer and owns a sword that is a master over him.


One of the neat things about Moorcock's work is that almost all of it is interconnected in his famous 'multiverse', so family names and even characters will appear in other series (though his series can be read pretty much independently). All of his stories take place in our world (more or less). They either take place in known history (like his historical novels), the distant past (most of the Elric stories), the far future (Dorian Hawkmoon and others), or just a little sideways in time (Nomad of the Time Streams).

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

Recently got this book called Moorcock's Book of Martyrs, which is a collection of stories that revolve around the theme of life and death. The stories span numerous genres, from ghost stories to historical fiction to sci-fi, and includes his famous story "Behold the Man".


In my view, Moorcock turned the cheap sci-fi/fantasy paperback into an art form. One of the reasons he was so prolific in his early days was due to monetary needs, but even then you can see a lot of passion into these pot-boilers. Most famously, whilst he was editor of New Worlds magazine he had to finance it by writing the Dorian Hawkmoon/Runestaff quartet (he wrote each volume in three days apiece). Yet even here, his gift for world-building and imagination shows itself. For Moorcock, it's almost effortless.

[Ceallach_the_Witch]

I'm a big Moorcock fan myself, haven't got so many of his books atm (I had a lot in my big "to read" box before 2007 but it all got destroyed in the floods (I kept the box in the garage at the time)) Undisputed psychadelic warlord of the swords-and-sorcery genre imo.