[jasers]

Hi everyone. I was looking through the pages of this site and could not find anything about Moorcock and his Elric (is that right?) series. Does anybody know anything about it? I was talking with a customer today and he said he liked it. Does anyone know what kind of fantasy it is? Did you enjoy it? How many books are in his series? Thanks for the info. Because of all you guys, I have started reading the Coldfire Trilogy, and so far it is wonderful. I also already bought Tad Williams Memory Sorrow and Thorn and Hobb's Farseer Trilogy. I respect everyone's opinions here, and any input on this author would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot!

[FitzChivalry]

Michael Moorcock writes a kind of tragic swords & sorcery fantasy with a lot of philosophy bits thrown in.
Most of his books are included in the Eternal Champion Cycle, which is a "superseries" that include many series inside of it that tell the stories of various heroes in various worlds in Moorcock's Multiverse, the connection between those heroes is that they are all incarnations of the Eternal Champion, a sould that is destined to fight forever for balance between the forces of law and the forces of chaos.
Some of the better series are about Elric, Corum and Hawkmoon.
Moorcock is an excellent author in my opinion, great books, try them.

[neologik]

Tad Williams loves Mike Moocock.

John Marco loves Mike Moorcok.

China Miéville loves Mike Moorcock.

Tons of other writers love Mike Moorcock.

Check his work out. It's as important as Tolkien.

--gabe chouinard

[Cadfael]

More to the point...

Dennis Miller loves Michael Moorcock http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Rob B]

I knew FitzChivalry and Gabe/neologik would be chiming in! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

I will giving him another try after a difficult first try a couple of years ago.

[Ntschotschi]

When I remeber correctly there have been quite a few posts about Moorcock on this forum.
Elric of Melnibone is definately one of the most impressive figure of his genre.As a tragic hero he's quite singular and I couldn't compare him to another character.
When I first read the novels I found him both abhorrent and fascinating but definatly worth reading. Maybe not when you're in a dark mood yourself http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Steven Savile]

Moorcock pretty much created the idea of the Anti Hero which has become prevelant in modern fantasy. FYI the entire chronicles of Elric of Melnibone have been gathered into a single volume for the Gollancz FantasyMasterworks series. Mike's a great writer, and a vey generous and giving person. He's given me a lot of solid advice over the last couple of years. He's in the process of relaunching New Worlds magazine which is a big piece of news for the genre. I know a lot of folks have been very worried about his health over the last few months as he was so ill over the summer he was forced to cancel his signing tour that celebrated the launch of The Dreamthief's Daughter. Amazingly Mike used to write a book in a fortnight. Again though, he was one of those writers working before the new wave and such some readers might find him simplistic in places... the magic is in the many layers of the multiverse. I'm a big fan of both Elric, and Jerry Cornelius, but the strength of Moorcock is his ability to write in and out of the genre. Check out KING OF THE STREETS which is AMAZING.

[jasers]

thx for the input. i think I might check out the elric saga, as well as some of the other titles mentioned. I looked on bn.com and his eternal champion seems to be a very long series. I might have to look at that later....thx again guys.

[FitzChivalry]

If it the length of the Eternal Champion scares you, you should know that there is no need to read all the books, you can read the Elric books which are two volumes in the Fantast Masterworks release and that will conclude the story of Elric, other parts are about other heroes and totally different stories.

[Rob B]

Boy, I must have been in some funk when I first tried Moorcock, I just didn't get it. I'm about 1/2 way finished with the omnibus I have The Elric Saga, Part I and it is superb.

Must add more of his books to my to-read pile and my amazon.com wish list.