Michael Moorcock: The Elric Saga

[Krystal]

Is the first time I read anything from this author, but I just finished reading The Elric Saga Part I. Totally love it. It was interesting and have me wanting to read more. Now I'm going to read the Part II. Incredible story. :smiliea:

Krystal :rain:

[Dave]

I agree.

Though I haven't read the whole series, I've read some of his other series too -- Castle Brass, Hawkmoon.

'Dancers at the End of Time', part of the Eternal Champion series is very good too.

Universal Pictures, together with brothers Chris and Paul Weitz's production company 'Depth of Field' have optioned the rights to the first 11 books according to 'Dreamwatch' #104.

Producers are planning a LOTRs style trilogy of sword-and-socery films based on the brooding albino hero, betrayed by his cousin and cast into exile.

Writers and Directors are yet to be approached.

[Krystal]

Originally posted by Dave

Producers are planning a LOTRs style trilogy of sword-and-socery films based on the brooding albino hero, betrayed by his cousin and cast into exile.

Cool idea! Well, is they took good writers and directors. I think his story is great. I end reading the other part. And I'm still wanting to read more so I hope he doesn't stop there.

So you think his other series are good, I probably will check the others I really like his writing.

Krystal

[Rahl Windsong]

Aye! Well I just discovered that my local library has the entire Elric saga on their shelves and yesteday I started to read the first book, Elric of Melnibone. My god this man can write! This is one of the best stories I have read in a long time.

Rahl

[j. d. worthington]

Well, for those who enjoy Elric (and Moorcock's writing) there's plenty of it. Elric crops up in the darnedest places throughout his work. While this isn't entirely up-to-date (for example, they don't have the complete listing of the White Wolf Eternal Champion books, nor the fourth volume of Between the Wars -- actually it was supposed to be "Some Reminiscences of Mrs. Cornelius Between the Wars", a slightly misleading title, though she's a thread that runs through the thing -- for starters), this is still a fairy helpful guide:

Michael Moorcock - Summary Bibliography

(And my, wasn't that a convoluted sentence?)

The complete White Wolf (U.S.) edition of the Eternal Champion series is as follows:

1. The Eternal Champion
2. Von Bek
3. Hawkmoon
4. A Nomad of the Time Streams
5. Elric: The Song of the Black Sword
6. The Roads Between the Worlds
7. Corum: The Coming of Chaos
8. Sailing to Utopia
9. Kane of Old Mars
10. The Dancers at the End of Time
11. Elric: The Stealer of Souls
12. The Prince with the Silver Hand
13. Legends from the End of Time
14. Earl Aubec
15. Count Brass

Each of these is an omnibus volume. Elric also plays a major role in some of the more recent Von Bek-related books: The Dreamthief's Daughter, The Skraeling Tree, and White Wolf's Son.

Depending on how much you want to get into, you can either take just the Elric books as a single set, or as a part of a much larger tapestry -- either the series listed above (Millennium or White Wolf); and, in fact, nearly the whole of Moorcock's fiction ties into it in some way, if you're really looking for a looong series!

[Rahl Windsong]

The only one on that list that I have read is Von Bek, and what an interesting story that was, the Devil/Lucifer seeking forgivness from God. I read that book in a few days simply because it was nearly impossible to put down.

[Rahl Windsong]

Ok, I am reading book 3 now and this is seriously one of the best stories I have read in a long, long time. I read book 2 in one sitting.

[j. d. worthington]

LOL. Glad you're enjoying it, Rahl. While I'd say the writing on the Elric tales is uneven (especially since they've been spread throughout Moorcock's career -- the first story (as published, not in series-chronological sequence... that one was done about 10 years later) being written about 1960/61, as I recall, the most recent, if you include the recent trilogy, being done about 2 years ago) nonetheless, I find the character quite interesting and, at times, very complex. I'd be curious to see what you think of the rest of the stories of the Champion....

Anyway, hope you enjoy the rest of the Elric saga as much as these....

[Urlik]

I love the Elric saga. it has everything and on so many levels

but to appreciate Elric and the writings of Moorcock, you have to read as many of the other Eternal Champion books as possible but leave the actual Eternal Champion/Erekose saga till last then read them all again

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Urlik

I love the Elric saga. it has everything and on so many levels

but to appreciate Elric and the writings of Moorcock, you have to read as many of the other Eternal Champion books as possible but leave the actual Eternal Champion/Erekose saga till last then read them all again

I'm not quite sure I'd go that far, really... I read a few of the Elric stories first, then (oddly) Phoenix in Obsidian (The Eternal Champion I couldn't find at the time), then a few others of Moorcock's work, and then back to The Eternal Champion and onward from there.

Of course, I began reading them around 1972, and he's added quite a bit to it since then, which I've (generally speaking) picked up and read as they came out. To me, one of the best things about Moorcock's concept is that, because the multiverse is the way it is, you can come in at almost any point, and you'll have a different but equally valid view of the various things he's dealing with; and the more you read of them, of course, the more fully you appreciate it, and the richer it becomes.

I do have a preferred reading order, but that's a personal thing, because I think it builds things thematically into an interesting structure culminating with the final books of the cycle (though not his most recent, obviously, as the actual books that end the cycle were done back around the early 1970s).

But ... the way you propose is an interesting way to approach it and, as I said, certainly a valid one; I would only differ in that I think it's not necessary to fully appreciate them, but would be quite a good way, nonetheless.

I think, for myself, reading The Eternal Champion first actually works very well at introducing a lot of the themes and concepts he deals with, and works quite nicely as a way to discover the multiverse....

At any rate, it's always nice to run into more fans of the man's work, especially those who've read widely in it and can discuss it more intensively....

[Urlik]

I had read all the books of Corum, Hawkmoon and most of the Elric and Jerry C books before I found an Eternal Champion book and so I had picked most of it up along the way with the characters then it is all made crystal clear about his fate and burden of knowledge that he carries that none of the other incarnations have to bear