Michael Moorcock Books

Corum has gained himself a new moniker in this book, The Prince of the Silver Hand, thanks to a bit of an accident with one of his arms that required some mystical aid to restore an arm to usefulness.

He is moving up the ladder, and has to take on the Queen this time, to try and protect his own plane. The ever faithful Companion to Champions is with him, pet included.

Singing Citadel : The Singing Citadel [SS] - Michael Moorcock
Singing Citadel : Master of Chaos - Michael Moorcock
Singing Citadel : The Greater Conqueror - Michael Moorcock
Singing Citadel : To Rescue Tanelorn - Michael Moorcock


Elric meets Theleb K'aarna, and summons Arioch to rid him of a minor Lord.

4.5 out of 5


Earl Aubec finds a sword, some monsters, and a woman of Law.

3 out of 5


Simon of Byzantium looks to hire his sword out to Alexander, and they both have a bigger problem to deal with.

3 out of 5


Rackhir the Red Archer needs help to save his home.

4.5 out of 5

Corum has been ensnared in a trap, but is set free by an unlikely encounter due to an enemy. Entrapment is not his only problem, as an evil twin of his has been created, and has been working to oppose his old allies. A considerable amount of time has passed and said allies now think he is a bad, bad man, so Corum really has nowhere to turn.

Shor snippets of tales that only Moorcock can dream of and write of. Entertaining examples of a master's art in both story telling and thinking.

What else can one say... a distinct Moorcock... in more ways then one

This book is also called The Fireclown, and that is the first version that I saw. The Fireclown is a force for change, a chaotic agent with an agenda all his own.

He comes into a static situation politically, and shakes it up, bigtime. Not too many appreciate him for what he is.

The Wrecks of Time (or the Rituals of Infinity) are strange things, what remains in various worlds, stuck in a weird place like subspace. In this odd environment are two men diametrically opposed.

Professor Faustaff works for the positive side of things, Steifflomeis for the negative.

Mr Barbieri is clearly unfamiliar with my work and also with this particular edition in which I discuss the problems I had with including the rape in the penultimate chapter. From the beginning of my career I have been writing some form of moral fable and I am also on record for my support of feminists, many of whom are close personal friends (indeed, I'm married to one). I have written a great deal about sexual and domestic abuse, with particular attention to pornography as justification for rape. It is unsophisticated at best to take one of my fables, which shows how imperial power is maintained by hypocrisy and crime, and fail to understand it for what it is. I can only assume that Mr Barbieri has been offended by the polemic of my critical study Wizardry and Wild Romance which takes issue with the moral attitudes to be discovered in the likes of Tolkien and Lewis. I have no problem with morality, but I believe I have a right to disagree with another writer's moral intentions.

I happened to like Gloriana, by Michael Moorcock. Certainly not a brilliant and perfect novel, it was still entertaining to me. I thought it was absolutely creative, and greatly enjoyed the history of Gloriana's Albion. The characters were colorful and interesting, and the idea of a city of a castle was really neat.

The writing to me was fine, and I found myself only marginally confused with which characters were who in Gloriana's court, and I greatly enjoyed the political dishiness of the story.

Some parts were rather graphic, but I still found it to be highly enjoyable. It was really just an interesting "alternate history", if you could even call it that!

I haven't read a whole lot of Moorcock's stuff, but I've been collecting it, trying to get all of the Elric books before I start in on them craving the kind of dark, fatalistic feeling that I associate with his work... this book is very different in the way it feels, and I'm no Moorcock expert, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

All of that aside, I really liked a lot of this book, I liked a lot of the IDEAS of this book, but there are problems with the realization of those ideas, and problems with the ending - and the problems I had with it were not the same sort of problems that many people have. I actually think the inclusion of an alternate ending does a lot of harm to the book itself.

I'd warn you to watch out for spoilers, but if you've read any of these reviews, the end has been spoiled plenty.

Rape fantasies are very popular among women and men, and many people find that playing this out in a consensual setting allows them to deal with very damaging, nonconsensual experiences they have had. The problem that I have is that the rape scene was somewhat clumsily written - and the alternate ending incredibly clumsily written. Also, some of the loose ends get tied up rather hastily at the end, kind of swept under the rug... Oh, everybody just forgives him at the end for no real reason. La dee da.

Being actually raped by someone is probably not going to allow anyone to work through their issues - but it's very easy for me to fill in some blanks here, especially in Gloriana's mind that make this consensual on some level - they've been in love for a while, he just saved her life - think 9 1/2 weeks, when he takes her on that table - tell me you didn't think that was hot - spare me the strawberries and honey. Moorcock just didn't really express that very well, especially for people who are uncomfortable with the subject to begin with. And the second ending, well, I can play that out in my head where it works, too - but the specifics would have gone down very differently. And it makes you question the specifics of the original ending a lot more too.

As far as Quire coming into power at the end, of course he does - someone who manages to nearly destroy a golden age in a matter of months in addition to having a long history of being very loyal to his employer... hell, the whole book demonstrates how you want HIM on YOUR team, not someone else's - and to kill him, what a waste of resources.

I first read this book as a teenager some twenty five years ago. At that time, I found the haunting atmosphere of Elizabethan sensuality to be extremely arousing and stimulating. Moorcock serves up a rich pageant of decadence, luxury and pleasure, with every variety of sex either shown explicitly or hinted at.

The problem is that Moorcock is the kind of guy who gets all the little things right -- but can't create a big picture story-line to save his life! Tiny episodes are scorchingly erotic, like Queen Gloriana's offhand caressing of Lady Mary, or Captain Quire's hypnotic conquest of pouty-lipped boy Phil Starling.

But the major plot of the book -- Quire ruins Gloriana, then saves her, then seduces her -- just doesn't ring true. Without making any judgments, it's fair to say that Quire is much more convincing as a gay anti-hero than a heterosexual stud for hire. The scenes where he seduces Phil Starling are a lot tighter, realistic, and more convincing than the scenes where he supposedly beds Gloriana. Moreover, Moorcock never succeeds in establishing Quire as a credible tough guy -- all the rowdies in the wrong part of town are supposedly in awe of this guy, but then he shows up to the big infernal jamboree with a teenage boy as his heavy date! You would think some benighted soul would wonder aloud just how masculine Quire really is. Moorcock carefully shields his hero from such impertinence. And believability goes right out the window!

Speaking of believability . . . Gloriana is supposed to be a great queen, an able statesman, and a woman of high principles, but she comes across much more Marilyn Monroe, all jiggles and weepy quivering. Moorcock really has no insight at all into her character. Seems like she'd fall for a stern father figure like Montfallcon much sooner than a closet queen like Quire. All her love scenes are sexy . . . except for the ones with Quire!

The maddening thing is that after you've read this book you keep thinking about all the other, better characters. There were about a dozen people in this book I actually liked, but where did they go? Countess Una of Scaith, Lady Mary Perrott, Tinkler the snaggle-toothed ruffian, Wheldrake the poet, Lady Lyst, . . .

There were enough characters here for a half dozen good novels, but instead they all got stuck in one bad one!

Moorcock is not my type of fantasy writer. His worldbuilding is lousy, if only because he professes to be the direct descendant of such revered writers as Mervyn Peake. I had heard around that _Gloriana_ is his tribute to that master--indeed, it is dedicated to him--and as I love Peake with a passion, coming across the 1978 Avon edition of _Gloriana_ seemed very lucky, and I thought myself fortunate to have some good reading ahead of me.

But _Gloriana_ was, alas, not good reading. It was a duty. Silly at parts, boring at others, it tries to be something grand and baroque (and allegorical--but of what?), and falls flat on its face.

The eponymous heroine represents Albion, the pseudo-British empire that dominates the world of the book. Ambassadors from Arabia to Japan show up at court, quite improbably, and carry on, quite ridiculously. Everybody in Albion loves the queen in one way or another, and she loves them too, but something terrible and very much in the spirit of our modern age plagues the poor, benificent queen: she is sexually unfullfilled. And, incidentally, determined to fullfill herself somehow...whether by debauching her handmaids or putting to use her vast and varied harem...

But on top of these personal troubles, Gloriana also has to contend with politics and of course suitors...

Before the story begins, Gloriana (not anything like Queen Elizabeth I--let's get that straight) succeeded her cruel and evil father King Hern and ushered in a Golden Age of prosperity and relative Virtue--supposedly. Now, unbeknowst to her (she who has abolished capital punishment), her trusted chancellor Montfallcon, the man who helped her through the abuses of her father and eventually instated her as queen, is still using less than idyllic methods to keep her in power. Montfallcon uses the twisted Captain Quire to execute some less than savory acts necessary (somehow) to keep things working neatly, on the surface, for Albion.

Quire is an inveterate creep, who considers himself an artist--in Evil. He is the opposite of Gloriana. He kills babies and ravishes maidens (I will not use the word "rape" because it just might make me hysterical). One particularly offensive (to me) passage involves Quire teasing a poor laundry maid. The dialogue is so particularly distasteful and typical of a psychologically troubled adolescent's wet dream, it was all I could do not to throw this book away from me. I suppose Quire is meant to come across as a despicable person. He does. But Moorcock seems to intend that we be attracted to this vision of evil the way we are to Steerpike of the _Gormenghast_ books. And this just didn't work, because Quire has none of Steerpike's weird brilliant cunning. But even more fatally, he doesn't have a Gormenghastian world to plot in--Moorcock's worldbuilding skills aren't up to it--and that makes all the difference.

What's wrong with _Gloriana_ in the end is probably that I am not the sort of person meant to read it, but instead am the sort of person singularly incapable of enjoying it. It may be clever for all I know, but I haven't read Spenser, and I don't care for really blatant postmodern aimless pseudo-wit. Nor do I find Moorcock's apparent attitudes about sexuality and morals appealing. I'm openminded, yes, but sometimes being so puts me in the way of distasteful books like this. Books displeasing on both a personal and aesthetic level. (_Gloriana_, for instance, seems to condone pederasty, or at least deals with it so casually that I am put off. But it seems this is fashionable lately: Mary Gentle anyone?)

Moorcock's descriptions are nothing like Peake's. The pomp and splendor of Gloriana's court are laundry-listed. Emeralds, rubies, topaz, bombazine, and covering our mouths when we yawn. Something bland, remote, so improbable that I couldn't suspend my disbelief,--found myself doubting that anything I got from doing that would be worthwhile.

I recommend this to about 80% of the literate fantasy audience out there. _Gloriana_ is pretty well tailored to our increasingly unimaginative tastes. It's in no way formulaic fantasy, so it has that dubious crackle,-- and it has just enough disregard for "conventional" morality to be enjoyed by selfrighteous pomo bloggers (this one excepted).

PS. Is there a more senseless, dumb ending in all fantasy than the ending of Gloriana? All right, shoot me, but I didn't get it!
PPS. As I've said, take this with a grain of salt: you may not share my prejudices and fancies!
PPPS. The art inside the book is superb; I pondered keeping the book for that alone: but no, disgust won out, and I gave it to a more openminded friend of mine.

There are three parts to this book. Sailing to the Future includes the crossover where Elric meets, Erekose, Hawkmoon and Corum aboard the Dark Ship of the Captain.

Then there is Sailing to the Present, and Sailing to the Past. The latter is a reworked version of the Jade God's Eyes.

Let me start by saying that I read the 1976 DAW version of this novel. The Sailor on The Seas of Fate begins with our hero Elric escaping from one of the nations of the Young Kingdoms which took him captive between books 1 and 2. He finally loses his pursuers on a lonely unknown beach. Hungry and cold Elric encounters a strange ship with a blind captain and a crew made up of several of the Eternal Champions. Once aboard, Elric begins a long journey through an alternate world where the boarder between dream and reality becomes blurred. The book is really one story told through 3 separate adventures.

During these adventures, Elric makes new friends, fights powerful supernatural creatures and does his usual summoning of demons and elementals. As usual in the Elric novels the line between good and evil is not clear, nor should it be since Elric's world is based around the conflict between Chaos and Order. Because of this good and evil somtimes share the same host. Elric learns more about the strange black sword Stormbringer and how it's lust for blood has the power to influence his relationships.

This book has the same crisp clean writing style of other Moorcock books. Moorcock's writing style is straight forward and to the point. No wasted dialogue or breathy descriptions. Some people don't like Moorcock because or his tendency to be brief and to the point. I however love this style of writing. Moorcock is a master of the english language and as a result his text and dialogue have a medieval flavor while at the same time being very easy for the reader to understand. Of course at the center of any Moorcock novel is his incredible imagination and his ability to keep you turning the page.

I must confess that I am a major Elric and Moorcock fan. His work moves me in a way Tolkien never has. I recommend this book to all fans of good literature and Fantasy. Now i'm off to read Wierd of the White Wolf !

This book is devided into three sections with three different plots. While they are loosely related to each other they could stand alone (I have a feeling Moorcock published them seperately). This is an observation not a criticism. The first and last are excelent. The middle one drags a bit. The first is interesting since Elric teams with three other incarnations of the Eternal Champion (Erekose, Corum, and Hawkmoon). The last fleshes out the multiverse more.

Michael Moorcock, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (DAW, 1974)

The second novel of the Elric series picks up where the first left off. (There is one major detail regarding Elric's betrothed, Cymoril, that seems to have shifted back in time, but Moorcock resolves it later; still, it seems to have been something of a gaffe.) Here we are introduced, for those who have never read any of Moorcock's other fantasy series, to the idea of the Eternal Champion, and that many of Moorcock's heroes and antiheroes are facets of the same personality throughout time and space. Moorcock meets up with three other incarnations of the Eternal Champion-Corum, Hawkmoon, and Erekose. (Excellent advertising for the other series, whether intended that way or not.) Things get confusing here, as some of the others mention events that haven't happened yet in the Elric series, but just ride with it. It'll all come clear eventually. Needless to say, having read (or reading just after the Elric books) the Hawkoon, Corum, and Erekose series will deepen one's appreciation for this part of the Elric series.

The main complaint I have about Moorcock's writing, while not to be found solely in this novel, is most notable here. Moorcock's action scenes, for all that they are some of the book's turning points, are often described minimally, even sparely. The climax of a battle is often given one sentence, as is the death of a companion, no matter how long that companion has known the characters in the story. (I have made mention many times of what I call characters who enter stories with "kill me now" tattooed on their foreheads. This is the opposite extreme-Moorcock will sometimes spend chapters building up a character, only to treat him as if he did have "kill me now" tattooed on his forehead. It can be disconcerting, to say the least.)

Still, the originalities in the premise, the unique take on the antihero along with the whole concept of the Eternal Champion, coupled with the simple readability of the series, make them all worth picking up. Each can be gotten through in a single afternoon, for most people. ****

As much as I love Elric and the Melnibonean mythology, SAILER ON THE SEAS OF FATE is a disappointing follow up to ELRIC OF MELNIBONE.

The book starts with Elric finding himself in a strange land. He boards a mysterious ship and sails off to the first of three unrelated, convenient adventures which do little to progress the overall saga. The stories serve more to explain the whole ETERNAL CHAMPION concept, along with giving details of MELNIBONE'S history and the interaction of all the planes of existence. And ultimately, after 160 pages, nothing really happens.

Though the book is about Elric and his adventures, I found myself really wishing to hear news of Melnibone and the characters who Elric left behind. They are all as much a part of the fun and adventure in the first volume as is Elric. They should have been given some attention.

I really liked Baxter's "In the Un-Black", Moorcock's "A Slow Saturday Night at the Surrealist Sporting Club" and Wells's "'Bassador", and liked the stories by Whitton, Kelly, Rucker+Shirley and Niven. But 7 stories out of 30 is not a good yield.

While I am a big fan of several of the authors included in this anthology, this book was a disappointment. "Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction"? I'm afraid not. This is not hard sci-fi, or even good fiction. With stories like "what if Marilyn Monroe and James Dean dated, and nothing out-of-the-ordinary happened?" or "A girl who turns people into bugs", the tales in this anthology consistently fail to satisfy. All in all, I have to say that Sarrantonio did a very poor job of selecting stories, and then gave the book a title that sets completely inappropriate expectations.

A good collection of 'speculative' fiction. Mainly sci-fi, but some just 'what if' type scenarios. The one about James Dean and Marilyn Monroe was just boring, and there was one less than a page long that seemed rather pointless. Overall though, good to try out some stories like this that you might not come across in mainstream science fiction. I definitely recommend it.

Great stuff, a little on the fantasy side at times. The title of the book "Redshift" apparently refers to the measure of planets and the solar systems moving apart from each other, and though I didn't see anything in the collection on that particular subject really, it's a great collection.

"Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction," edited by Al Sarrantonio, brings together 30 pieces of fiction of varying lengths; in his intro the editor breaks the pieces down as 22 short stories, 3 novellas, and 5 novelettes. Mainly science fiction, the collection also encompasses fantasy, horror and satire.

In his intro, Sarrantonio notes that he was inspired by Harlan Ellison's important 1967 anthology "Dangerous Visions." Many of the stories in this book deal with adult themes: rape, addiction, bondage, war, etc. There is some graphic sex and violence, but I did not find these elements to be gratuitous.

Some of the most memorable pieces in the collection include Laura Whitton's "Froggies," about the difficulty of interspecies communication; Harry Turtledove's "Black Tulip," a stylish tale set during the Soviet-Afghan conflict; Robert E. Vardeman's "Feedback," a stunning tale about telepaths and illicit sexuality; Rudy Rucker & John Shirley's "Pockets," a story of higher dimensions which draws on the classic "Flatland"; and Joe Haldeman's "Road Kill," about "a serial murderer with an interesting specialty."

Other authors represented in the anthology include Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Joyce Carol Oates. Overall, this is a solid collection. There are some vivid characters, intriguing sci-fi concepts, and memorable scenes.

I have to agree with Oakshaman that The City in the Autumn Stars is one of the most interesting "fantasy" novels I have read.

I place "fantasy" in quotations because the first two von Bek books seem to be Jungian dream narratives told in the form of the Gothic Romance rather than pulp fantasy like some of Michael Moorcock's earlier work. By the way I love the Elric and Hawkmoon series and I am not demeaning them.

To mine the Jungian vein, Moorcock presents the usual suspects-the self, the anima, the animus, the shadow (or many shadow-like entities), the archetypal gods (Lucifer here), the symbols- the grail, the sword, the eternal female-and the journey or quest that leads to individuation.

Alchemy here is not a scientific or pseudo scientific experiment to manufacture gold or find the philosopher's stone, its purpose is to meld the feminine with the masculine to create the whole man, which occurs at the end of the novel.

What fascinates me about Moorcock is that he is like Ingmar Bergman. He has a stock company of actors (characters) and they reappear in all of his works in virtually the same plot but because of his sheer inventiveness each retelling of the same story is unique and entertaining.

The wrapping of this novel is particularly pleasing. It is the time of the French Revolution. Tom Paine, a Gothic hero by the way, Robespierre and the guillotine all play a role as von Bek flees France and travels through Revolutionary Europe. The first half of the novel is realistic; the second is fantastic. It the swashbuckling first half that entices and delights. We follow the hero faithfully and happily to hell and back.

The Von Bek family is still involved with that whole Heaven and Hell thing. This time it is one of the descendants, named Manfred.

The French Revolution doesn't suit Von Bek, so he leaves, quickly. Going to Mirenberg, he gets involved with a Duchess, and an Angel?

...for one very simple reason--it's too damned long, and not very satisfying. None of the characters are at all sympathetic (quite the opposite in "The War Hound and the World's Pain," as I liked Ulrich von Bek very much), save Lucifer himself...sympathy for the Devil, you say? Maybe. I also gotbored rather quickly with Manfred von Bek's wanderings about the Deeper City; I really think Moorcock could have pared back quite a few of the details here, and the narrative would have improved immeasurably.

This is not an easy read, and it's probably too long by half, but it's far from Moorcock's worst. (See "The Sailor on the Seas of Fate" for a good example of Moorcock at his hastiest.) The pacing here is languid but the hallmarks of Moorcock's best work are here, albeit fitfully: his unique feel for the period and thorough knowledge of history and culture, and his ability to blend the historical elements with the fantastic. Casual readers should stick with the first book (Warhound and the World's Pain), but Moorcock aficionados should at least give this one a try.

This volume is not strictly a sequel to _The Warhound and the World's Pain_, since it takes place 150 years later. The hero is not Ulrich von Bek but his descendent, Manfred. The world, and the von Beks, have changed much in this interval- or have they? Instead of holy war tearing Europe apart, it is now the Terror and the spirit of Regicide that threatens to destroy it. Indeed, Manfred von Bek is a man of this new world. He has rejected Magic and the Mysteries (though he was once initiated into the Illuminati.) His Gods are now Revolution, The Rights of Man, and Science. Or rather they were, until his dreams of an enlightened utopia died in the blood filled gutters of revolutionary Paris. Now, he is now simply a wandering cynic out to secure his own fortune by any means necessary.
At least he was all this before a chance encounter with the Dutchess of Crete. This fascinating creature becomes an obsession with him. Indeed, he begins to doubt his own sanity in his relentless search for her. While he, himself, represents democracy, reason, and cynicism, the elusive countess is the symbol of royalty, magic, and idealism. Indeed she seems to be the mirror of everything he is not, or has renounced. It is almost like this mysterious, androgenous creature is his own female soul- his anima....

In his heated pursuit across Europe, the Ritter von Bek finds himself drawn to Mirenberg, which is paradoxically both the most magical and the most enlightened city in all of Europe. It is also the meeting place for the greatest gathering of alchemists that the world has ever seen. It is here that von Bek tries to cool his obsession for the countess, while filling his own pockets. It almost works, until one night he is abducted and taken to the catacombs deep beneath the city. It is here that he learns that the old tales concerning the Grail, and the Devil, are not foolishness after all. Moreover, he is about to find that the doors to the Mittlemarch are once again open to one of his ancient blood....

This hardcover edition has one of the most attractive dust jackets that I've ever seen. Moreover, I have read the book three times now- and even had it signed by the author. I considerate it to be something special for a novel.