[STHayden]

So I'm interested in reading more Michael Moorcock. So far I have read The Nomad of Time: The War Lord of the Air; The Land Leviathan; The Steel Tsar (http://www.booksiamreading.com/stefanhayden/book/1003914216). I wanted to read his Elric books but it seems the earliest is out of print. Well it seems I'm not the only one who thought that cause they did come out with Elric The Stealer of Souls (Chronicles of Sthe Last Emperor of Melnibone) (http://www.booksiamreading.com/stefanhayden/book/1154453148).

But I'm super confused. The books seems to have a lot of commentary and not being familiar with the work I can't even figure out where the book starts? What chapters do I need to read? I feel like there are only a bunch of short stories in the book. I was flipping through the book at the book store and was so confused that I didn't buy it.

can some one explain to me what is going on in that book? Is it even what I'm looking for if I'm trying to read the first Elric book?

thanks!

[fluffy bunny]

Ah Elric. Excellent choice.

The basic Elric Saga (before you add on the fact Moorcock was prolific and has created a multiverse which covers the fact that many of his characters crossover with time travel screwing with continuity further):

Elric of Melnibone
The Sailor of the Seas of Fate
The Weird of the White Wolf
The Vanishing Tower
The Bane of the Black Sword
Stormbringer
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melnibon%C3%A9)
Each of those books cover a number of shortish stories. Quite easy to find on ebay for a cheap price. Different anthologies cover different stories (and commonly bits of book 3 and 4 get chopped out).



http://sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19639 for a big links item covering a lot of the previous Elric threads.


However if you're new to the cycle, they're currently reprinting the definitive Elric from the beginning to the end starting with Elric: Stealer of Souls (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elric-Stealer-Chronicles-Emperor-Melnibone/dp/0345498623/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215810618&sr=8-3)

[STHayden]

However if you're new to the cycle, they're currently reprinting the definitive Elric from the beginning to the end starting with Elric: Stealer of Souls (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elric-Stealer-Chronicles-Emperor-Melnibone/dp/0345498623/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215810618&sr=8-3)

Hi. Thanks for all the links but you did not really answer my questions and non of the links seem very helpful.

I am aware they are reprint the series. I was looking at the series in the book store and found it very confusing.

I really need help from some one who has read the new reprint. There seems to be a lot of text in the book about Elric. So much about Elric that I can't figure out what parts are the story and what parts are about the story. I would like to avoid reading about the story's impact before I actually read the story.

I know Michael Moorcock has been talked about in previous threads but this question has not been addressed.please help!

[anansi]

That book is a relatively new one. It does seem to be the first volume of a collection of all of the Elric stories (which is a very convoluted chronology). However, it also seems to be full of essays about the stories and the character (which could be seen as fluff to pad out a book, YMMV). If you are not interested in that, I would suggest these two volumes as a start, they contain most of the Elric stories except for the last few standalone novels: Elric: Song of the Black Sword (http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?qwork=2009227&wtit=elric&matches=19&qsort=c&cm_re=works*listing*title) and Elric: Stealer of Souls (http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?qwork=2009228&wtit=elric&matches=6&qsort=c&cm_re=works*listing*title). Ignore the book description on that second one, its incorrect. Stealer of Souls is actually the 11th book in the series and contains the second half of the stories, I'm positive about this 'cause I own both of them. If you like these two, then it may be worth it to track down the last few standalone novels.




BTW, if you are price conscious, then I would suggest looking for the mass market paperback versions of these two books, they are considerably cheaper and you can often find them on Ebay, Alibris or Amazon.

[PeterWilliam]

I've got the new Del Rey 'defiitive' reprint series on the wishlist, but does anyone know whether or not it will contain the entire series? In reading the descriptions to each addition, it seems like it has a smattering of some of the stories combined with art work and commentary upon Moorcock and the Elric phenomenon. Is there any easy way to acquire the series for reading?

[bluetyson]

It has been changed, modified etc. over time, so that (6 book I think it will be) series would do fine to start you with, speaking as someone who has read close to 100 Moorcock books.

Or as the Elric titles mentioned earlier, you could pick those up second hand really cheaply if you don't want any background, illustrations, etc.

There are many other books, too, and variants - Moorcock is about the most confusing author you could come across.

Do these, then see how you go :-

Elric of Melnibone
The Sailor of the Seas of Fate
The Weird of the White Wolf
The Vanishing Tower
The Bane of the Black Sword
Stormbringer

[NickeeCoco]

I have the new reprints. There's a whole commentary/introduction/foreward thing at the beginning and then it's a series of short stories. I had never read Elric before, but had run out of authors to read, so I decided to take a gander. I was a little surprised at realizing that, really, they're just a series of short stories about the same character. Once I got over the shock and confusion that what I was reading was not just one novel, but an anthology of short stories, I took them for what they were and enjoyed them.