Michael Moorcock Books

From Millenium, it is also subtitled The Tale of the Eternal Champion 1.

It contains The Warhound and the World's Pain, The City in the Autumn Stars and the Pleasure Gardens of Felipe Sagittarius.

This omnibus collection contains two Von Bek novels and ends with a short story that features yet another of the Von Bek clan. This time it is Minos Von Bek, who is a metatemporal investigator in Europe.

He comes across Adolf Hitler, and ends up supplying Eva Braun with some useful toys

Though this is the second volume of the series, the stories are probably stronger, so if you haven't read Moorcock it is a good place to start. For some mysterious reason (see his multiverse.org website) Mr Moorcock has seen fit to withdraw all his fantasy novels but the new Elric stories from circulation and these are no longer published, so I'd advise you to pick up copies while you can. Hinted is the chance of them becoming available again as single volumes sometime in the future. Meanwhile there is the Elric movie to look forward to (see universal website).
The War Hound and the World's Pain is the first Von Bek story in the book and describes a war-weary veteran of the Hundred Years War who loses his soul to the devil and is offered it back if he can help reconcile Satan and God. This has become a fairly common theme in modern fantasy, but was startling and new when it first appeared and still retains its freshness.
The City in the Autumn Stars is about another member of the Von Bek family, this time a cynic, rogue and soldier of fortune, who escapes the horrors of the French Revolution and comes to the city of Mirenburg where he falls in with another rogue, the charming balloonist St Odhran. Together they concoct a scam, which goes wrong when their balloon actually takes them to another Mirenburg, the City in the Autumn Stars, where a variety of mystical and alchemical action takes place. The ending's a little weak (apparently Moorcock reduced this book from a much longer original narrative) but the atmosphere of the city and the strangeness of the characters dominates. A very fine tale.
The Dragon in the Sword is more like a conventional fantasy adventure in which Moorcock's eternal champion is thrown into a world of warring factions and intelligent bears.
Anyone who finds these books a little like Philip Pullman would be right. They were written years before Pullman but most of the ideas in His Dark Materials can be found here, including, of course, characters who travel between different planes of existence.
The Pleasure Garden of Felipe Sagittarius is a great short story which exemplifies another strand of Moorcock's extraordinary multiverse and ties in with his 'metatemporal detective' stories such as the one recently published in McSweeney's (The Case of the Nazi Canary). In this a Von Bek who is a detective investigates the murder of Bismarck and is helped by police chief, one Adolf Hitler. Some of Moorcock's most fun stories are in this kind of setting, including his Nomad of the Time Streams stories, which are a later volume in this same series.
All in all tremendous value for money and highly recommended.

I would rank War Hound and the World's Pain among Moorcock's top 5 (along with The Quest for Tanelorn, Stormbringer, The King of Swords, etc.).

The book was, alone, worth the price of the omnibus.

The atmosphere of the book, though, shows it's authorship in the 60's, and it's style of writing is also of that era. And while this is not in any way bad to me, I have run into a few who dislike all non-modern styles. For me, this was good, because it evoked feelings of my first reads of Elric and Corum, taking me back to faraway days.

The three full-length novels contained within this volume are each so different, one from the other, that the reader cannot help but be amazed that the same author wrote all three!

In "The Warhound and the World's Pain," Moorcock's usual themes of "chaos" vs. "law" are put in more the familiar terms (at least for us earthlings) of the Devil vs. God. Like his more popular Elric character, Moorcock has his "hero" Ulrich von Bek allied with chaos--the devil. The reader is treated to watching a master of fantasy play with common themes (the hero descends into Hell, and comes out with a quest that he must fulfill in order to save all humanity) that he rearranges in order to ask some penetrating questions about the nature of God, the Devil, faith, and religion in our lives.

The second novel, "The City in the Autumn Stars," is written in a completely different style from the first. Set in Germany (mostly) in the late 1700's, the book makes many references to actual historical happenings, in particular the French and American revolutions and the Industrial Revolution. The motivating factors behind these and other events are examined in extensive dialogs between characters as well as through internal monologues of the protagonist, Manfred von Bek. Someone a little better versed in English literature than I am could place the exact style Moorcock takes up with this novel, but it reminds me of Jules Verne. The chapter headings are long ("Chapter Sixteen: In which house rules are broken. An infestation and a visitation. Vermin destroyed. The Red O'Dowd's fish. Some useful attributes of a magic sword.") And the author manages quite capably to maintain this tone throughout the entire novel. Until the end, that is, when the multiverses start to conjoin, devil worshippers take center stage, and the feeling that one is reading a conventional historical novel rapidly disappears. The ending was not quite satisfactory, but nevertheless a tour de force by Moorcock.

The third novel, "The Dragon in the Sword," is one of my favorites, and I have reviewed it separately on the Amazon site.

The volume is capped off with a very short story, "The Pleasure Garden of Felipe Saggitarius." Although the main character is nominally a von Bek, and Hitler the Holy Grail, and some other toss-away references to familiar Moorcock characters are mentioned, there is no clear reason why this story was ever written, or indeed, why it was included in this volume.

If you only know (as most people do) Michael Moorcock through his Elric series, this will be quite a different take on the Eternal Champion. gone are the massive oddities of most of his volumes, gone are the gods and slimey monsters on every page. Instead this is as close as Moorcock comes to writing Historical fiction, which he does to mixed effect. It is not until the third section that we find Moorcock consciously tying the series into his Eternal Champion run.

Moorcock is a passable, but far from stellar, writer. His Elric series has some intriguing ideas, but he wastes a lot of space on pointless battles. This book has fewer battles, but still you feel as if there is a lot of empty space to it. While it is definitely a cut above most fantasy, it is far from Tolkein, Kay, LeGuin or any of the other talents of the genre. Hidden within this volume are many fascinating nuggets, but it still feels like a roleplaying game written down with a bit of filler.

This book includes four novellas. China Mieville takes a look at a bleak, blasted out London full of not very nice things. Avatars of death and politics collide in Paul Di Filipo's A Year in the Linear City, which is really quite good. Ryman's V A O is shorter, and not as interesting.

Of most interest to me is yet another outing for the fabled Jerry Cornelius. In Firing the Catherdral, Moorcock is attempting a scatching satirical take on our post 9/11 type world, as seen by all the newspaper quotes at the start of chapters, from both 2002 and also from decades in the past.

Jerry is running around doing his thing, happy to be back and functioning. So is the omnipresent Una Persson, travelling at Jerry's side for much of the time. The usual brothers, sisters, bishops and even Colonel Pyat make an appearance. It is ok, but maybe more than a touch heavyhanded, at times.

This collection edited by Peter Crowther, contains four stories by some of the best known fantasists of today...IMHO only the Moorcock piece is weak, but they are as follows:

A Year in Linear City-Paul DiFilippo: Reminds me of Ringworld, except this one seems to be on a straight line, bordered by water on two side and a railway (subway?) that runs down the west side of the City. It's millions of blocks long, and few people have been outside of their own town (each is made up of 10k blocks),not does anyone know who or what is building/built it. Great idea and well carried out.

The Tain-China Mieville: China has Stephen King's nightmares. This one details the revenge of the people we see in our mirrors. After having to perform for us for centuries, they decide to strike back, devastating whole cities and murdering their dopplegangers where they can. They are almost unstopable since we can't go into their world.

Firing the Cathedral-Michael Moorcock: As best I can figure (with my limited mentality), this is a story of time coming unstuck and people living in different time periods at the same time. On the other hand it could be an old acid dream of Moorcock's left over from the sixties.

V.A.O-Geoff Ryman: If you've read "Was" or any of Ryman's books, you know that he likes to take a known premise and bend it to it's breaking point and then go over the top with it. In this one, "old" people shut themselves up in Homes (the one called Happy Farm) to protect them in their old age. It cost $100K per year to stay on the Farm. Because so many of the 'residents' are ex-programmers, all of their computers are spied on stroke by stroke and the place is monitored by cameras and bio- reading equipment 24-7-365. The property is protected by 'Victim Activated Ordanance'; in other words, the inside perimeter looks like the East German side of the old Berlin Wall.

For me, I would love to see DeFillipo's story turned into a full novel. It has classic written (pun intended) all over it.

Cities is a compilation of four stories by authors who are all masters of their craft; Paul Di Filippo, China Mieville, Michael Moorcock, and Geoff Ryman.

Beginning with Paul Di Filippo's `A Year In The Linear City', the book takes off like a bullet from a gun. Di Filippo's envisioned city is hundreds of thousands of blocks long, but bordered on one side by a river and on the other side by railroad tracks. Beyond these boundaries exist The Wrong Side Of The Tracks and The Other Shore, places of myth and superstition. The world is cleansed of their dead by the Fisherwives and the Yardbulls, celestial beings who come for the spirits of the dead. This is a truly outstanding tale of a strange city in a strange world, with compelling characters and original plotline. Need I say more?

Next is China Mieville's `The Tain', a unique and horrifying tale of what lays in wait behind our own mirrors. Call it a tale of vampires, or a tale of spectral imagery, a curse behind vanity, or a strange sci-fi-fantasy yarn of alternate universe/reality, but what it really amounts to is a chilling tale that is well worth picking up this book strictly for `The Tain' by itself.

Michel Moorcock's `Firing The Cathedral' would be the one letdown in the book, regardless of what high esteem I hold Moorcock in. This is a `Jerry Cornelius' adventure, but I think even fans of Moorcock's `Jerry' will find this short story to be just a tad too meandering. Moorcock is an extremely talented writer whom I felt was merely left wandering through the haze of useless obliqueness when this story was conceived. `Cathedral' touches down into the prose style of "guess what I'm thinking" sci-fi jumbles that I usually try to avoid. The writing was just a little too disjointed, and Moorcock is normally much better than this individual story.

Last of the collection is `V.A.O.' by Geoff Ryman, perhaps not as well known as the other three authors, but he writes a masterpiece with this tale of elderly inhabitants of a nursing home. V.A.O. stands for Victim Activated Ordinance, a security system put into place to protect the wealthy elders from the violent youths of the time. Or is it the elderly who are violent? In a closely monitored `home', these aged folks hide their computer codes beneath videos of golf matches, codes that launder money and track the activities of The Silhouette, leader of the `Age Rage' gang.

Cities is an outstanding addition to your collection of strange places to go, and I highly recommend you pick up a copy if you are a fan of any one of these four talented authors. If you aren't now, you soon will be. Enjoy!

What you get here is a good dose of high-quality literature that happens to be science fiction as well. What you don't get is any kind of real exploration of the concept of 'cities', which the title implies. The arbitrary title doesn't detract from the contents.

Peter Crowther (ed.), Cities (Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003)

You're most likely going to either love this book or hate it. When it's good, it's very very good. But when it's bad, man, does it blow goat.

Paul diFilippo starts things off with "A Year in the Linear City," and while it's not the weakest story in the collection, it's just this side of unreadable. None of the characters is in any way engaging; the protagonist seems to attempt, over the course of it, to break out of his own self-absorbed shell (one of which surrounds every character here), but never really manages the sort of transformation that would be necessary to make the story worthwhile. Worse, everyone else is completely static.

China Mieville then provides us with "The Tain." Not Mieville's best work, to be sure, but certainly a refreshing change from the last bit. Readable, with the best spin on vampires since Brian Lumley took them on.

The mighty Michael Moorcock chimes in third, with "Firing the Cathedral." I've read hundreds of pieces of Moorcock's fiction, both short and long, and when he's on his game, he's one of the best writers on the planet. The Ice Schooner, Gloriana, the Elric novels... the one place where his writing has always been, to me, consistently lacking is in the Jerry Cornelius material. All of it that I've read, the sum total of which is the seven novels collected in Berkley's "The Cornelius Chronicles," was disjointed, unreadable political screed masquerading as fiction. "Firing the Cathedral" is even more so than the stuff that preceded it. To call it disappointing would be a major understatement; Jerry Cornelius fans will probably like it, but if you've never read Moorcock, whatever you do, do not let this be your introduction to his work.

Geoff Ryman rounds things out with "V. A. O.," which is the only story in the book that demanded I sit and read it in one gulp. Imagine George Clayton Johnson's wonderful "Kick the Can" set in the world of cyberpunk and given a mystery plot. It is-- even with the presence of Mieville-- the highlight of the collection.

Overall, though, the warm glow you get after you've finished Ryman's tale will quickly be overshadowed by your despair that you wasted valuable time reading two of the stories in here. **

This is a very baroque South. Sam Oakenhurst is looking to encounter a lost love, the Rose. The Roe has her own strange agenda.

The same can be said of the best of the best of the jugadors, Jack Karaquazarian, who is also looking for a lost love. More importantly though, for such a gaming talent, there is the Game of Time.

The Game of Time will have important consequences for the multiverse.

This book represents a new departure for Moorcock. It is the first book in which he began to amplify and rationalize his ideas about the Multiverse, drawing on Chaos math as created by Mandelbrot. At the same time it looks backward to the entire Eternal Champion saga, further amplifying and resolving that! If you read this sequence beginning with FABULOUS HARBORS, going on to BLOOD and winding up with THE WAR AMONGST THE ANGELS (maybe take a peek at Moorcock's Multiverse graphic novel!) you will IMHO get a far more coherent picture of the multiverse. Given that Moorcock is telling a multitude of narratives (he once said that an ideal story contains as many narratives as words!) and exploring an extraordinary idea in a classic 'hard science' way, yet also, as in the Cornelius books, DEMONSTRATING the thought processes of the kind of people who would live in such an environment, how they would form relationships, achieve personal stability and so on. Another life lesson for the 21st century ? Urban life requires constant minor shifts of identity and perspective, just as work demands increasing response to immediate stimulii, just as good games do. Moorcock is one of the few writers to celebrate the coming age and isn't a bit scared by the prospect of conventional literacy being under threat. He is already discussing alternatives, as he did in the Cornelius books -- predicting what the technology does and predicting what the technology can do to make human life and love rich, profound and -- totally HUMAN. What always marks Moorcock, in his imaginative fiction as well as his social fiction, is his focus on humanity. Ultimately it is why he stands head and shoulders above most of his contemporaries and is doomed, like Leiber, Dick and Ballard, to name a few, to be forever ahead of his time. Get these books while they are still around. You might not completely understand them now, but you will!

Okay, it's not the Cornelius books (my personal favorite), it's not the Elric saga, it's not really even Corum, but hey's this is Michael Moorcock we're talking about here. What we seem to have here is Moorcock attempting something new with his tried and true concept of Law versus Chaos and the multiverse and spinning it into something different. So we're faced with a drastically different South where the war between those two opposing factions has basically spilled over onto Earth. Into this comes a bizarre cast of characters such as Jack K (not even attempting that last name), Sam Oakenherst and the Rose, who all wind up being sucked into the Game of Time, whether they want to or not. The book turns out to be highly confusing in parts and the beginning is quite slow, introducing the characters and barely moving the plot forward while doing so. However once everyone gets together and things start happening, the book takes on an almost breakneck pace, almost like it's trying to compensate for the sloth like start. Ideas fly fast and furious around here even in the slow moments, and it sometimes feels like Moorcock is trying to cram several books into one. Surprisingly, I found myself actually caring about the main characters, especially the driven and passionate Jack. Toward the end the book takes on a careening quality, not at all helped by the rather strange Corsairs of the Second Ether sections, which, while good at introducing situations and characters that will become important later in the book, are deeply weird and border on incoherent. The book is almost contradictory, on one hand his descriptions and situations (especially the Second Ether) are almost brilliant in conveying the strange nature of these places, but sometimes you can barely figure out what's going on because so many ideas are being thrown at you for what seems to be little reason. It's a readable, highly enjoyable book which seems to polarize fans something fierce, judging by reaction. Some of that might be because this is such a radical departure for the multiverse concept and something he would run with in other books, but with a little fine tuning, a pretty good book could become a near masterpiece. Give it your time though and you'll find many small rewards to be found.

Blood is a book that seems to have too many interesting ideas. Sadly it never focuses on any one of them long enough to become interesting. Too many elements seem to have been tossed in without having any impact on the story, stretching suspension of disbelief beyond all bounds. The attempt at "non-linearity" simply creates a jumble that, while ultimately having a certain underlying logic, is not a very entertaining or engrossing read.

"Blood" is a well written, somewhat contemporary view of Moorcock's Multiverse Mythos. The backdrop is an imaginative future America (patterned after the Post-Civil War U.S.) where the mining of a power source called "Color" has created a tear in the fabric of reality. Entropy runs rampant and we get an idea of what would happen if the War between Chaos and Law spilled over into OUR world. But the perspective is fresh and incorporates some modern physics such as "fractals" and "scale" to add a degree of science to the fantasy. Even the Gods of Moorcock's Pantheon have been recast as both players and characters in a hugely complex RPG called the "Game of Time." After a somewhat slow start, I found myself really sucked into this book. It's a tough read and can be confusing at times, although it pulls itself together nicely towards the end. It's basically a fresh spin on classic Moorcock. The sheer creativity of "Blood" shows why Moorcock was, and still is, one of the pioneers in Fantasy/Fiction.

It's like Moorcock wrote fan fiction based on a work that doesn't exist. The writing is dreadful, the stories make little sense, there's not a lick of suspense or excitement or urgency anywhere, the only memorable character is a sword, and it's all so boring.

God I love Michael Moorcock. I was a little suspicious at first because of a negative review here, but thankfully I kept an open mind and I have reaped the reward now. Please try it out!

Anything done by Michael Moorcock is good but Elric is by far my favorites and he never disappoints me

Moorcock was the first Sword & Sorcery author I was ever introduced to. I began with the Dreamthief's Daughter about five years ago and was ever since in love with his writing. I became fascinated with his Von Bek characters, not to mention Elric. So when I picked up the Von Bek omnibus, I found that not only was his imagination extensive, but he is also an erudite historian. With the Dragon in the Sword and the little bit of research into the Eternal Champion, I wanted to know more about the first Eternal Champion, but I quickly learned that there were no Elric copies in print, so, having my spirits been shot, I decided to read other stuff I could scrounge up (fortunately for me, my brother was a fan so I got a lot of his books). Now, Del Ray and Moorcock have collaborated to make an exquisite book that not only gives us fans the classic Elric stories, but also historic facts around the conceiving of Elric, one of the first icons of Sword & Sorcery. I found Elric very cerebral and cathartic as a character. I could only imagine how powerful he must have seemed back in the 60's and 70's.

Extras: Some great introductions and an insightful afterword of sorts by the man himself that explains the growth of the serials and Stormbringer. I always found Mike's writing process interesting in general, ever since I learned that his earlier long works were sometimes written in under a month. Some of Picacio's illustrations are acceptable at best, most of them mediocre. They feel like mere page filler, which is unfortunate because some of these illustrations really prove how deft a hand Picacio has. I hope with the next book we see some prettier ones.

The 1961 novellas show us the incipient toil of Moorcock; they are easily not as well-hewn as his later stuff, but that fact doesn't precisely ruin the experience. The stories are not only an exploration of who Elric is but also the universe (or Multiverse) in which the albino presides. Overall, 1961 serials are quick little thrills to have on those long periods between class or lunch-breaks at work or obviously for pleasure. They are very, very formulaic and often dry of narrative energy (especially after the first two novellas), but there are frequently moments filled with sword swinging and nasty spells that summon the aid of hellish Chaos. All together they're easily the best introduction to Elric. We get quick-as-a-knuckle-crack adventures that are usually as satisfying as cracking your knuckles.

As for Stormbringer, I was quickly gripped as we have much a larger narrative with a writer who is more enthusiastic about his very own world. In the novel, Elric is justified completely in character and action: his ruthless escapades throw him into the thick of war against man and Chaos. It's an epic war story with morbid imagery (I especially love the bits of macabre warping of the world) and intriguing characters, especially Sepiriz who can be found in many of Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories. The balance, perhaps Moorcock's most entertaining concept in his stories, is the very focus of the narrative. The story is much like his serials though: episodic, which isn't a bad thing in this iteration. Each part takes an obstacle to overcome and a character who directly or indirectly reveals a part of the Balance, and they are far more entertaining than the quickies of the 1961 novellas.

Michael Moorcock's Elric is one of those fantasy cult-classics that's hovered in my peripherals for several years. And after being greatly pleased with Del Rey's recent trade-paper back editions of the The Fully Illustrated Robert E. Howard Library, their new publications of the Moorcock' s Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melnibone seemed the perfect opportunity for a Sword & Sorcery fan, like myself, to finally read them, (especially since I'm a sucker for illustrated books too). So I started this book with very high expectations. But maybe, just a little too high.

Elric is the last prince of a dying race and his royal blood carries a genetic defect that makes him a pure albino and physically frail. He possesses, or more accurately, is possessed by, the evil soul-stealing-sword; Stormbringer, which grants him power but also, makes Elric physically dependent. As the last prince of a fallen and advanced civilization, Elric has the knowledge of generations studied in dark sorceries at his disposal. He's a brooding and vengeful character who is haunted by past, unforgivable deeds. But he is also the dark savior whose destiny is to stop total domination by the forces of chaos and maintain the universal balance. This also means the complete destruction of himself and his world.

I especially enjoy the connection between Elric's fantasy world and our real one. I also found myself intrigued almost as much by Elric's side-kick, Moonglum, as I do by Elric himself. Throughout the stories, I delightfully wonder just what makes a free-booting, adventurer like Moonglum, so faithful to a self-destructive soul like Elric. Granted, there is sometimes profit to be gained, but Elric isn't really a likeable guy and Stormbringer can be just as likely to kill friends as it does enemies.

As literary value to the genre, I personally feel that these stories are well worthy of more then five stars. With Elric, Mr. Moorcock was one of the pioneers in modern fantasy fiction in the early 60's. It's easy to see his influence in fantasy today (not too mention that a few early 70's hard-rock bands reference Elric in their music). From what I understand, when Moorcock first wrote the Elric stories, he set out to create something totally different from the standard Sword & Sorcery heroes that came before. Elric is most defiantly that. In Fact, he's one of the most unique fantasy characters, I've ever read. However, I try to reserve that fifth star for the books that just "blow-me-away" and despite Stealer of Souls having all the ingredients I like in a fantasy story, it just didn't do that for me. Maybe it's simply just dated, or maybe it was the magazine format these stories were originally written for, but, overall, Stealer.. was missing that "grab-me-by-the-guts" "keep-me-up-past bedtime" reading. In some parts, the indented mind-blowing incomprehensibility, just ended-up being too over-the-top and forgettable, if not boring, to me. It's still an enjoyable read and there's definite potential for the following books to be even better.

_Then the Earth grew old, its landscapes mellowing and showing signs of age, its ways becoming whimsical and strange in the manner of a man in his last years_

So begins the first of Michael Moorcock's four-part series, History of the Runestaff, a pulp adventure set in a far-flung future Europe, where high technology is all but a memory and fedalistic empires wage bloody wars across the lands. The greatest, most blood-mad of these empires, Granbretan, has by the start of the book nearly overrun all the western nations; only the Kamarg, home province of the mighty Count Brass, holds out. Baron Meliadus, Granbretan's most successful general, rather than choosing to attack the province directly, devises a plot to wheedle his way into Castle Brass in order to abduct Brass's daughter, Yisselda, and hold her to ransom. Learning of the plot, the Count drives Meliadus from his lands with a strict warning never to return. Meliadus (not a chap to take things lying down) vows upon the sacred Runestaff that by hook or by crook he will... get... his... revenge...

By this time of course we're well into the meat of the tale. There's already an encounter with a slime-monster, mutant flamingos, laser towers and beast-masked freakos before we even _get_ to the main hero of the tale. And that's not the end of it. Brain-sucking jewels, giant midgets, thousand year old fetuses in jars -- there's no denying Moorcock's imagination is in full flight here. He writes with a furious energy, flinging off ideas left right and center. Shame then that the hero in question, Duke Dorian Hawkmoon of Koln, is somewhat bland. It's not that he's boring. Rather, he's just not unique enough to stand out amidst such weird settings with any degree of authority. Supporting characters aren't much better, being in most instances mere sword-arms with amusing quips to bring up as required. But not to matter. This is pulp, and it ticks all the right boxes. There are noble heroes, winsome beauties and fiendish villains. Events move thick and fast. Battles occur almost every other chapter. Plenty of exotic locales too -- from the marshlands of southern France to the steppes of Russia to the deserts of Persia -- in which to involve our heroes as they battle to save the day. Excitement we're promised and excitement we get.

Of course as with most of Moorcock's work there's a little more going on behind the scenes. The Runestaff itself, with its imparting of a fixed destiny upon those who invoke it, is an interesting concept (though one which isn't really expanded upon in this or any of the subsequent books). Likewise, the Warrior in Jet and Gold, with his enigmatic spoutings of chaos and law, of champions maintaining the balance of the Universe, echoes themes that recur throughout much of his later work. It's not terribly deep stuff, mind, but it does serve to provide a bit of philosophical fluff to what are, essentially, boy's own adventures.

Anyway, check this out. It's short, clocking in at a little over 150 pages, and a lot of fun. Also, unlike many fantasy series today, all four of these books can be more or less read apart; so if they're not your cup of tea you can stop here without feeling like you've wasted your time on yet another neverending story.

Michael Moorcock, The Jewel in the Skull (DAW, 1967)

Dorian Hawkmoon, the last Duke of Koln, is another of Moorcock's instances of the Eternal Champion. Hawkmoon's tales are especially amusing, as the world on which Hawkmoon adventures is the nearest allegory to the world we know in Moorcock's sword-and-sorcery writing.

Count Brass, protector of the south-Provence country of Kamarg, is content to be left in peace in his castle as the Dark Empire sweeps down over Europe from the island nation of Granbretan. His neutrality is questioned by an emissary from Granbretan, Baron Meliadus. While Meliadus is at Brass' castle, he falls in love with Brass' daughter Yisselda, and attempts to kidnap her. Meliadus is forcibly ejected from the Kamarg, and begins to plot revenge.

That's where Hawkmoon enters the story, but to say how would be to spoil the fun. Read it for yourself.

The Hawkmoon novels are, of the "classic" Eternal Champion books (Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon, John Daker, and Erekose), those which best approach the brilliance of the Elric series. Where the problems lie in the DAW editions are in the pervasive and annoying typographical errors. Someone at DAW was asleep at the wheel the day The Jewel in the Skull landed on their desk. Hardly a page goes by without an ugly typo that, if the reader is skimming, will change the meaning of a sentence. Very sloppy work from the publisher. Unfortunately, Murphy's Law dictates that the better the book, the more likely this sort of thing is to happen. And make no mistake, The Jewel in the Skull is a very good book. Would that it had been treated as such by its publisher. *** ½

I've had very mixed feelings about Moorcock. I remember enjoying the Runestaff series as a young teen, but being really turned off by the ugly prurience of some later book of his I read. I was actually expecting to find nothing but tripe upon rereading this book, but have to admit it wasn't too bad. Sure the characters are stereotypical, but this is quite conscious and deliberate. The world is hardly as richly and deeply painted as the Middle Earth, but then again, which other world is? It's a workable distant future, and the feel of the settings isn't too far from that of Leiber's Swords series (a comparison Moorcock would be happy with), as is the sense that there are whimsically enigmatic and powerful forces tooling about with our protagonist.
 
He also rights some classic annoying conventions of fantasy - a bit like having someone re-shoot a roadrunner/coyote cartoon when the insufferable bird finally gets what's coming to him. One is that when the hero has a virtual spy camera planted in his forehead, the supposedly intelligent goodies who are being spied on don't just fall for it or wring their hands at the problem. Rather they do what the reader has done - establish that it only does vision, not sound, and have some good conversations in the dark in working out how to deal with it. Another is that a thousand year old character manages to lose his life relatively easily - something that happens far too often in fantasy - yet Moorcock at least has the consistency have him mystically return to life: how else has he survived this long unless he's got the hang of resurrection or got better survival techniques? And finally he sets up the standard mutually attracted hero and heroine who just can't seem to speak their feelings - and rather than spin this out for a book (or several) with increasingly implausible reasoning, the girl has the sense to make her feelings abundantly clear the night before the hero is liable to head off on a doomed quest. Ahhh. The way Hawkmoon meets his offsider is also nice - ironic, humorous, realistic, anti-climactic.
 
Sure, it's pulp, but pulp without a lot of annoying gritty bits you often have to suffer (pulp without the pulp if you like).
 
Maybe I've been nicer than it deserves because my expectations were so low.
 
Maybe not (I'll give Volume 2 another look anyway).

Michael Moorcock, The Jewel in The Skull (DAW 1977)

Moorcock's Jewel In The Skull is the first book in the runestaff series of novels. Unlike most fantasy tales this story takes place thousands of years in Earth's future. For some reason not described in the book, western civilization collapsed during a period known as the Tragic Millennium. During this time modern civilization was replaced by a new feudalism very similar to the system that dominated Europe during the Middle Ages. Magic is in use and plays an important role in society and the landscape is populated by many strange, monstrous creatures.The continent of Europe is now divided into many micro kingdoms. Modern advanced technology has disappeared and has been replaced by Iron Age technology and weapons.

The one exception to this rule is the evil empire of Granbretan which is a totalitarian state located on the island of Great Britain. Granbretan's technology is slightly more advanced than that which is in use on the continent. For example the Granbretans have flying machines. The Granbretans have used this tech advantage to conquer the very fractionalized nations of Europe and place them under their harsh yoke. One of Granbretan's leaders, Baron Meliadus attempts to use the book's hero, Dorian Hawkmoon in an attempt to avenge the insult dealt to him by another of the books main characters, Count Brass. Hawkmoon is another of Moorcock's Eternal Champions, the metaphysically related heroes who populate many of Moorcock's novels.

Throughout this book Hawkmoon leads an army in battle, fights monsters and duels against mighty foes. The Hawkmoon character is very different as compared to Elric. Hawkmoon isn't as dark a character as Elric. He fights to liberate is country and free his people. In this sense Hawkmoon is more of a traditional Fantasy hero. This book is a sample of Moorcock's earlier work and as such lacks some of the literary subtleness that I have come to love in his later works. The characters seem to be more standard in nature and somewhat predictable in behavior. Despite this however Moorcock demonstrates once again his mastery of the English language and as a result one finds it difficult to put the book down.

I must admit that I am not very comfortable with the idea of a futuristic iron age. I guess it's just my 21st century mind refusing to accept the idea of a society without electric lights and super highways. If one needs to write a tale of medieval fantasy then why not place it in the middle ages where it belongs ? Never the less, The Jewel in The Skull is a wonderful book and I look forward to reading the other books in this saga.

The vigor and richness of the writing, the ironic sub-texts and use of current political and entertainment figures of the day, the fact that each of the four books in the series took three days to write (i.e. the whole thing took twelve days) and were not taken with any great seriousness by the author, make these the first and the best. David Eddings, Robert Jordan and the rest simply don't have the raw genius to produce throw-away books of this quality. Moorcock wrote these, like the Kane novels, as an homage to his childhood pulp enthusiasms and they have inspired rafts and rafts of imitators. This is the first book of the set now generally available as HAWKMOON, which are nice editions and rather better value than buying the books individually. They are also introduced and lightly revised by Moorcock who has said many times that these early fantasy books were like the early days of rock and roll -- you were experimenting as you worked and your main job was to keep the audience dancing. Hawkwind and their Chronicles albums came out of this series, too. However many authors have taken their buckets to Moorcock's well, they can never drain him of his originality, his vitality and his sheer, glorious intelligence.

This is another Elric book that was published around 1990, quite a time after the the others, and after The Fortress of the Pearl.

Elri must locate the soul of his father, to enable him to stop his doomed wandering. At least, according to a dragon, anyway. With him will be the female warrior Rose. As is often the case, agents of Chaos, and the Duke Arioch will stand in their way.

The true motivations of the Rose will decide Elric's actions.

This book--being a Moorcock work--I felt would surely be well-written but, alas, it largely was not the case. A lot of the action is glossed over, much like the "Yada, yada, yada" episode of "Seinfeld" so that left me wanting at several potentially interesting and exciting points. The tense shifts that irked Kirkus didn't bother me so much as the clear lacking of the book's drive. A lot of poetry was espoused but not to much effect. There was a lot of insinuations as to Sotrmbringer's power and purpose and that helped, I guess, to shed some light on the sword's true motives, etc. But, in all, this book lacked the clear energy of the earlier books--and I can't help but wonder why that is so? Is Moorcock getting old and can't fight the urge to ramble on like a senile septuagenarian? I hope not.

Buy this book if you are a true Elric fan, otherwise content yourself with the first six books. (I haven't read "The Fortress of the Pearl" so I can't comment on that one.)

Elric has always been my favorite of the Champions. This book just didn't seem the same as the earlier ones, though. Of course, I've changed a lot since then, too. This one seemed overly contemplative, and Elric was too conveniently whisked through the multiverse to keep the plot together. Also lacking in action, and the final battle seemed a formality.

I'm currently reading _Stormbringer_ so I can't say anything about that book but this is my favorite Elric book out of the other 7. It's not as pulpy because it was written as a novel, not as short episodes for a magazine and the gypsy caravan was absolutely ingenious. Rose was cool too.

I really didn't have as much of a problem with the "talky" format of this book. After all, Elric tends to be a pretty contemplative guy. It filled in some background for me on Elric and his father,Sadric, which was welcome. Although we hear about Sadric in other books this is, as far as I know having read everything, but the Fortress of Pearl, the only time we see him in action. This book also provided some background on how Melnibone came to be what it was, as well as clarifying where its citizens may have come from. I liked seeing a female character, the Rose, who is quite capable of taking care of herself, who aside from Myshella Emporess of the Dawn and maybe Queen Yishana, tend to be absent from the other books. I'd like to see more stories in the future covering her other adventures.I love Wheldrake,as well, perhaps because I am a writer myself, albeit a definite amateur. He asked some of the questions I would ask and made some of the comments I would make, if I were able to talk to Elric. I also related to his poetic ramblings, being prone to them myself, and other aspects of his personality. I actually like the narrative style of this book better than the style of the earlier books, it seemed richer somehow. I would recommend reading it, but only if you've read at least the first few books, just to get an idea of the nature of Stormbringer, which is Elric's sword, the concept of the multiverse, and who, or what Elric's patron is and the relationship of the rulers of Melnibone to chaos. Chronologically, although not in order of publication, Revenge of the Rose follows book 4: Bane of the Black Sword.

As a further note, there is a mistake in the Kirkus review. The agent of chaos is named Gaynor the Damned, not Charion. Charion is a clairvoyant whom Elric and his companions meet in the Gypsy Nation.

This was my first foray into the work of Michael Moorcock, and he doesn't disappoint. The vision and storytelling demonstrated in this series suggests Russian writers of an earlier age. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

This is the first book in Moorcock's Pyat quarter, something that took him quite a while to finish. Not that this is a shock to anybody familiar with this work.

The protagonist in this series is a bit half and half, in JC terms. Half Jerry Cornelius, half John Constantine, and full of a lot of rubbish as a consequence, without being as useful or competent as either.

He is living through some harrowing times in pre WWI Russia, and is just trying to slide on through. He has a fairly serious problem with s*x and dr*gs though, and does some not nice things as a result.

The reader knows from the beginning that Col. Pyat a is disturbed and wounded character. I initially accepted this and watched him gradually lose his innocence as WW1 unfolds and darkness falls on Russia, but when he brutally seduces and attacks two young women while in a cocaine induced psychosis he became just another one of the many criminals littering the landscape. I lost all sympathy for him and closed the book. Perhaps Pyat is supposed to represent the descent into madness that occurred more generally in Europe at that time, but I'd rather examine that horror though the eyes of a morally strong character that I can continue to care about.

Moorcock is a writers writer, admired both for his popular vitality and his literary subtlety and as such he is more like Balzac or Zola than any modern novelist. The edition advertised here is the full text. Only the first American edition, as far as I'm aware, was very badly cut. The adventures of the anti-Semitic but very evidently Jewish Colonel Maxim Arturovitch Pyat, self-styled White Cossack officer and scientific genius, but actually a B-picture movie actor and con-man, lying, cheating and stealing his bizarre and somehow heroic way to the very gates of Auschwitz is an Everyman for the 20th century, denying the evidence of his own birth if necessary, trying to reinvent reality with every breath and at every turn reality descends upon him, as it does all who avoid it so thoroughly! This is a chilling comedy of our times in four long, fast-moving volumes, each independent in Moorcock's familiar popular style, but profoundly probing the origins of the Nazi Holocaust. There are few absolute heroes and villains in Pyat's eventful times, but many shades and combinations of both. Moorcock's deconstruction of modern myth figures is subtle and intelligent (look out for a youthful Stalin in Byzantium Endures) and when he gets to America in The Laughter of Carthage and Jerusalem Commands, keep your attention on those cameos and little notes in the margin. Moorcock has a Wagnerian habit of suddenly bringing up the leitmotif to colour and change your whole understanding of what you have experienced before. He is a master novelist, admired around the world, and these books, with Mother London, are his masterpieces. Every educated reader should at least have an informed opinion of them. They should be required reading, both for the vivid and accurate historical pictures they paint and for the example of the European moral tradition in fiction triumphantly alive and well in the hands of a man Angela Carter, Peter Ackroyd and many others among his peers have called the master storyteller of our times.

Byzantium Endures captures a slice of early twentieth century reality from a very unsuspecting source: That of a Russian youth caught in the riptides of history and his dreams. These forces would eventually cast him out of his homeland into unknown worlds and adventures unimagined by the mainstream. Michael Moorcock builds a story of not just one man, but of an entire civilized world, and the metamorphosis from fledgling western-world hegemony to self-fullfilling prophesy. Moorcock's grasp of world history and the forces that moved chaotically during the early twentieth century is brilliant when captured through the eyes of one character's neurosis. This book is not the climax of his entire story, but a superb entrance into the mindset and the stage of modern humanity, leading to the maturity of the main character, Col. Pyat, in the second of the series, The Laughter of Carthage. I have read the other fantasies by Moorcock, and none compare, to me, with the historical depth created in the Pyat series. It takes more effort and research and countless hours of detailed analysis to write books of this magnitude, and Moorcock is one of the unsung masters of historical fiction in his time, though his notoriety comes from pure fantasy and science fiction. I have grown to appreciate his historical works as I grow older and wiser and look forward to his interpretations of a growing global society.

A collection compiling all of the tales, whether modified old, or newly constructed, of Sir Seaton Begg versus his nemesis the albino Monsieur Zenith.

Or, the Metatemporal Detective vs The Eternal Champion as Elric in one of his other incarnations in worlds a little more similar to our own than those which contain Melnibone or Tanelorn.

So, something here for whacky alternate history fans, Sexton Blake buffs, as well as Eternal Champion afficionados, or even those who don't mind a little along the lines of Sherlock Holmes pastiche.

Metatemporal Detective : 01 The Affair of the Seven Virgins - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 02 Crimson Eyes - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 03 The Ghost Warriors - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 04 The Girl Who Killed Sylvia Blade - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 05 The Case of the Ratzi Canary - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 06 Sir Milk-and-Blood - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 07 The Mystery of the Texas Twister - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 08 London Flesh - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 09 The Pleasure Garden of Felipe Sagittarius - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 10 The Affair of the Bassin des Hivers - Michael Moorcock
Metatemporal Detective : 11 The Flaneur des Arcades de l'Opera - Michael Moorcock


The consulting detective, Seaton Begg, has an albino visitor, and things get complicated.

3.5 out of 5


Seaton Begg, in the course of investigating some murders, runs into Count von Bek and his black blade.

3.5 out of 5


A bit of a teamup with The Masked Buckaroo, and an Apache leader to find, named Pale Wolf.

3.5 out of 5


A shooting, and Klosterheim's kinky club.

3 out of 5


Begg is called in to assist when Hitler's girlfriend is killed, but there are Von Beks and albinos around.

3 out of 5


A pair of IRA bombers don't realise that their 'release from active duty' involves The Black Sword.

3.5 out of 5


Seaton Begg becomes enmeshed in a Texas political plot, wherein Zenith has sold his aeronautircal engineering expertise. It is Rose to the rescue.

3.5 out of 5


A blood sacrifice, and an outlaw and Christmas interruptus for Begg and Sinclair.

3.5 out of 5


Sam Begg is a metatemporal investigator in Europe.

He comes across Klosterheim and Eva Braun.


3 out of 5

Each story in the Metatemporal Detective carries with it a powerful blend of detective cases which mirror worlds like our own and a blend of fantasy and science fiction challenging one's deductive abilities. Seaton Begg and his companion pathologist Dr. 'Taffy' Sinclair head the secret British Home Office section of the Metatemporal Investigation Department, and covers crimes in dozens of alternate worlds. His travels take him to strange universes, challenging settings, and mind-boggling crime puzzles in a collection recommended not just for science fiction collections, but for libraries patronized by mystery and detective fans as well.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

New fiction from Michael Moorcock is always a treat and no less so for this latest, chronicling the encounters of the intrepid metatemporal detective Seaton Begg of the von Bek/Aubec/Begg family and Zenith the Albino (also known as Elric of Melnibone and also of the same family). The multiverse is a-swirl through these roughly interconnected stories, culminating in a (perhaps --- one is never quite sure with Moorcock) major and forever shift in the organization of everything. Moorcock's characters have never been more appealing in all their antiheroism and futziness. Stylistically, narrative power and descriptive aplomb are at peak and keep the pages turning. If you are a fan already, this is essential reading and yet further development of long-established Moorcockian themes. If you aren't familiar with the multiverse and its quirky fun, this is not a bad place to jump in and on (although again with Moorcock, one can never be just quite certain, even in this sort of recommendation) this scary, exhilarating ride through everything.

If anyone new to Moorcock's work read this book, his or her head would spin for weeks with the comings and goings of Bek, Begg, von Bek, von Beck, so on, so forth. Holy Grail and Black Sword together again in yet another twist in a branch of a branch of a branch of more than 30 years of genius work. Splendid!, but yet again? Yes, again. Moorcock at his best for connoisseurs.

The eleven tales that make up this fascinating (for fans of the Moorcock multiverse) short story collection are predominately written in the last fifteen years with two of them from 1966 They all obviously involve adventures of The Metatemporal Detective on worlds similar yet dissimilar to ours. Although the hero's name slightly varies but for the most part he is British Home Office Metatemporal Investigation Department agent Seaton Begg; his prime adversary is Count Zenith the Albino (Elric by any other name?) although Hitler is an opponent/client in "The Case of the Nazi Canary". His sidekick is MID pathologist Dr. Taffy Sinclair

The satirical entries are fun especially as the skins of politicians better be thick with characters like George Putz, Dicky Shiner and Wolfy Paulowitz (see "The Mystery of the Texas Twister"). However, they are also often difficult to follow with obscure references in a pseudo historical setting on an alternate world. Mr. Moorcock also pays tribute to pulp fiction magazine detective Sexton Blake (never read) and the 1966 tales seem to have served as a prototype for Elric. This is definitely for the Moorcock mob, but not a good entry point for newcomers.

Harriet Klausner

First of all, I am a voracious reader of pulp and adventure. When the two are combined, magic happens! Chris Roberson, thank you! I really enjoyed your Van Helsing story. Beware, there be tygers has never been truer...but then I love anything to do with mysterious jungles.

Going down the rest of the list:

Island of Annoyed Souls - Funny little piece that pokes fun at Wells' Island of Dr. Moreau. I enjoyed most the carefree adventurer-narrator and would look forward to reading his exploits in the future. The story didn't grab me so much as that.

Ghulistan Bust Out - One of the only stories I felt here that was really lacking. No real oomph

Lost Time - Science fiction entry I found had more interesting details than characters

The Mad Lands - Surreal and bizarre alternate-ish world storytelling. I liked the foreshadowing and although it's merely part 1, I like the direction of the anthology which provides snippets of stories much like old pulp mags would.

The Unfortunate Gytt - Wonderful time travel story! Kage Baker always pulls through. Rock em sock em mystery meets "oh by the way we're with a time traveller, old chap" story. Anyway, it involves ruins and a dash of steampunk.

Pacing White Stallion - Needed some oomph, too. Your in the desert and coming of age...yeah we get it.

Eel Pie Stall - Completely surreal and rather disturbing entry revolving around Buddhist concepts of soul journey, fate, and time.

The Bridge of Teeth - All right! Now this is what I came here for! Fights and jungles! That's right, it doesn't get better than this. Oh wait, Aztec gods you say? Well sign me right up, then!

Richard Riddle: Boy Detective - My favorite of all the stories. Wonderful children's book mystery meets historical fiction meets fantasy but with charming British wit/aplomb! Go go, kid evolutionist detectives go!

Silence of the Sea - Meh. Not bad.

Four Hundred Slaves - If Perry Mason lived in third century Roman empire and was surrounded by political intrigue. Marvelous.

Acephelous Dreams - I'm sort of up in the air about Neal Asher's work in general. On the one hand, neat ideas. On the other...I get the feeling of disconnection from all emotions in all of his work that I've read. It's disconcerting.

Ghosts of Christmas - Why yes, I would like some angsty horror, noirish, spooky house and poltergeist filled, knuckle dragging fight scenes. More please!

Dogfight Donovan's Day Off - Dang it, Michael Moorcock, since when did you write something I actually cared for? Okay okay, the Queen book you wrote was awesome. This rules.

Johnny Come Lately - Delightfully smarmy

Paris is Burning - The only reason I didn't read this was because of burnout on all the Troy stuff. It feels like everyone's doing it, Dan Simmons, Brad Pitt, Tad Williams. I'm spent, baby.

This is a decent book (stories 3.47 average), but with an editorial flaw. Proclaiming, with a guns blazing cross between The Shadow and The Question on the cover to be pulp adventure, for some reason, everal of the stories most definitely are not.

Without those, the book would be better as far as the theme goes, and the rating woul be half a point higher, or going from decent to good if you want to put it that way.

Di Filippo for example, is not someone I would think of as 'pulp', quirky, sure, and an exellent writer, but not pulp adventure. Resnick's is a maybe, and Pacing White Stallion more of a kid's fable, and Paris is Burning a mythological reminiscence. None of them in the style you might expect. You could also say Neal Asher and John Meaney's pieces were fairly standard SF, but a bit closer. Four hundred slaves is a garden variety English style mystery in a Roman setting, and while a good mystery story, no adventure to be seen.

None of those are bad, just out of place.

Whereas there are some fine adventures, 'Ghulistan Bust-Out' you could see Mack Bolan enjoying. Dogfight Donovan's Day Off, by Moorcock, played with a wonderfully straight bat, likewise would have probably brought a smile to Robert J. Hogan's lips. Johnny Come Lately is a good superhero story and Mark Finn possibly wrote his tale while sitting in his Conan undies.

Adventure Volume 1 : 01 Island of Annoyed Souls - Mike Resnick
Adventure Volume 1 : 02 Ghulistan Bust-out - Chris Nakashima-Brown
Adventure Volume 1 : 03 Lost Time - John Meaney
Adventure Volume 1 : 04 The Mad Lands Part 1: Death Wish - Lou Anders
Adventure Volume 1 : 05 The Unfortunate Gytt - Kage Baker
Adventure Volume 1 : 06 Pacing White Stallion - John Edward Ames
Adventure Volume 1 : 07 Eel Pie Stall - Paul Di Filippo
Adventure Volume 1 : 08 The Bridge of Teeth - Mark Finn
Adventure Volume 1 : 09 Richard Riddle Boy Detective in The Case of the French Spy - Kim Newman
Adventure Volume 1 : 10 Silence of the Sea - O'Neil De Noux
Adventure Volume 1 : 11 Four Hundred Slaves - Michael Kurland
Adventure Volume 1 : 12 Prowl Unceasing - Chris Roberson
Adventure Volume 1 : 13 Acephalous Dreams - Neal Asher
Adventure Volume 1 : 14 Ghosts of Christmas - Matthew Rossi
Adventure Volume 1 : 15 Dogfight Donovan's Day Off - Michael Moorcock
Adventure Volume 1 : 16 Johnny Come Lately - Marc Singer
Adventure Volume 1 : 17 Paris Is Burning - Barry Baldwin


Dr Mirbeau's Circe-Moreau circus.

3 out of 5


Tv producer's El Borakian unknowing necromantic raid's forward observing.

4 out of 5


Freezing flashback failure succoured by snuggly sea monster?

3 out of 5


Lucky bloke escapes the noose via mechanimals and metal men.

4 out of 5


Secret society seeks marvellous metal.

3 out of 5


Gait suited to riding, but boys decide no arses should ever be astride this legendary beast.

3.5 out of 5


Prefer beef.

3 out of 5


Bad tempered brujah and a boxing spirits session.

4 out of 5


Dodgy priest happens to have one of those really good swimmers from Arkham in an oubliette.

3.5 out of 5


Heroic dogs, raptors and Rexes.

3 out of 5


A Roman investigator looks into the death of an administrator in what looks like a frame-up of a slave involved.

4 out of 5


British imperialism bad for weretigers, as a young Van Helsing watches.

3 out of 5


Abused religious cult murderer's execution given AI exchange for hive mind implantation and multiplicitous disintegration.

4 out of 5


Spine serpent man's resurrections not what he wanted.

3 out of 5


WWI ace hero can't fly new plane straight enough to hit German bomber zeppelin. Throws himself at it instead

4 out of 5


An affectionate Green Lantern homage as the last of the time powered Silverglasses meets his fate in an heroic manner.

4 out of 5


Trojan travails.

3 out of 5

Well, overall, I enjoyed it...or some of it. The compilation bills itself as a return to the pulpy days of high adventure, thereby conjuring up images of Indiana Jones. Some of these stories pull this off. Others don't. Some are much too "literary" in their form and some seem rather juvenile. Some fell short of their mark - "The 400 Slaves" comes to mind. Only one or two left me thinking, "Wow!" I might...just might...buy another volume (if one comes out) but I would have to think about it. Too much "modern short story" (pinkies out now) and not enough adventure.

First, the pro-s: -
1. The introductory story by Mike Resnick was fabulous. It has been a long time since a pulp aventure was so funny.
2. Some of the stories made me wish for more works by the same authors, something rare nowadays.
3. The publication-features are superb, as in all other Monkeybrain books.
Now, the con:-
Despite the tall claims of Chris Roberson, this anthology contains several non-pulp high-brow items that fit more properly into Gardner Dozois anthologies, rather than into books claiming to be pulp-style.
However, in these barren times, I would definitely look forward to purchasing the 2nd volume next year. Maybe, there will be some more jewels!

This handsomely produced volume (with excellent cover art) from MonkeyBrain Books purports to be the first in a series of annual anthologies. However, I would guess that the sales figures didn't merit a follow-up, or the publisher has since had better things to do.

It's supposed to be packed full of pulpy goodness, featuring heroes and insidious villains and plots from those low-grade magazines of yore with their two-fisted tough guys and the dangerous dames that loved them, but only a few of the stories seem to really belong in the pulp genre. (There's a bit of a feel here that the selections were based on which of the editor's friends, or friends of friends, had something to hand at the time.) Paul Di Filippo's "Eel Pie Stall" is a complete mismatch, since it's an epic tale of...a soul's karmic progress through Tibetan-style reincarnation. So, very little in the way of gunplay, fisticuffs, or scantily-clad women in need of rescue. Meanwhile, Michael Kurland's "Four Hundred Slaves" isn't really that bad, but it feels like it would've been better placed in a collection of detective fiction set in ancient Rome (a suprisingly crowded field these days). And "Paris Is Burning", by Barry Baldwin, while exceptionally well-told, just doesn't seem to belong, since it is a pretty straightforward summary (albeit in vigorous contemporary language) of the life of the famous Paris from the Trojan War.

Of those that better succeed in capturing the genre, Kim Newman's Victorian-era "Richard Riddle, Boy Detective" is an affectionate homage to the Boy's Own-style of thrilling yarns, and Michael Moorcock's "Dogfight Donovan" has quite the same feel but a WWI setting in which the good guys are much given to saying "Gosh" and "Gee" and are keen to give the Boche a sound wallop to the jaw. Mike Resnick, a past master at exactly this sort of thing, contributes "Island Of Annoyed Souls", his take on Doctor Moreau, and Mark Finn offers "Bridge Of Teeth", in which boxing meets Mexican sorcery.

Chris Roberson, the editor, includes his own story "Prowl Unceasing", in which his recurring protagonist, Abraham Van Helsing, teams up with a mysterious fugitive from India (who should be well-known to Verne fans) to fight jungle monsters in the historical kingdom of the White Rajah on Borneo. In a much more bizarre mode, Lou Anders proffers his "Death Wish", which was to have been the first installment in a serial novel set in some kind of post-Apocalypse Old West. I would've liked to have seen this play out further, but there's no indication that Part 2 of his story has been released anywhere.

I found Marc "Not the Beastmaster" Singer's "Johnny Come Lately" to be the best of the lot, although it is much enhanced if the reader has a pretty good knowledge of the lore of the Green Lantern from DC Comics. Dealing with the adventures of a superhero called the Silverglass, it's essentially his take on the much-maligned GL Kyle Rayner, the successor to the best-known GL, Hal Jordan. Very well-done and highly rewarding to the comic book fan.

Not the greatest collection ever, but there are certainly some worthy selections here.

There is a whole bunch more Jerry Cornelius weirdness here. He is still roaming around 1960s London, among other places, and in conflict with the villainous Bishop Beesley.

Some people are certainly going to find it too weird, or too impenetrable to enjoy, I think, as it is by no means straightforward, but this is part of JC's appeal.

Good artists may break the rules after proving they can create within them. We know Moorcock can write, so we can guess that he wrote "A Cure For Cancer" as an experiment in a chaotic, vague vein. Unfortunately, as with many experiments, wading through the results can be a chore.

Social satire? Sure. Interesting sci-fi vignettes? Absolutely. Incisive glances at the sounds, styles, and feel of a parallel world subjectively based on a late-1960s London? You bet. But be warned that if you're looking for more than the faintest shred of plot to capture your interest, look elsewhere in the Eternal Champion multiverse. Perhaps ACFC is Moorcock's idea of what happens to a novel dipped in the primordial Chaos described in his other works.

I can appreciate what Moorcock is trying to get across. I even get a kick out of the *idea* of the novel's structure, in theory, anyway. However, it's difficult to actually enjoy a work in which a) every stitch of dialogue is so vague that, if you had no grasp of Moorcock's other works, the book would seem a nearly interminable string of highly stylish non sequiturs, and b) characters that live and (suddenly) die so guided by random chance and urges from the id that the joke pales early on. The chapter headlines culled from sensational tabloids did give me a chuckle, though.

It's certainly possible that you may find great enjoyment and provocative thoughts aplenty in ACFC. You certainly will in other Moorcock novels. And if you're looking for the pinnacle of social satire in an "unconventional" novel, check out the far superior "Catch-22" by Joe Heller. But unless you're the type who relishes flipping through TV channels for hours on end in an altered state of consciousness, or tends to convince yourself after reading a work such as ACFC that your time was well spent and the emperor is indeed wearing clothes, don't waste your time. This patient is terminal.

Quite an astonishing book. Unlike the previous Jerry Cornelius book (The final programme), the plot is significant to the book. Thats not to say its any easier to understand. It concerns Jerrys hunt for a mysterious device of his, and the attempts of others, particularly the grotesque Bishop Beesly, to get hold of the device for their own ends.

This book, though often humourous, has a far more serious tone than its predecessor, and some very harsh satire. Targets include the irrelevence of the popular press and corruption within the Catholic Church.

The title refers to both a literal cure (as described in the section headings), and more importantly, to "Social Cancer" which is cured by Ethnic Cleansing. The image of hoardes of NATO helicopters napalming London, screaming "BURN OUT THE CANCER" will stay with you a long time.

I think that the way that michael moorcock writes this book makes to the fact that yet again he has come up with a best selling book, even some of the less inteligent people in my school have read it and have been able to comment on it posititvely. well done.

And why a generation that avoided napalm, now is bombing the hell out of the Balkins? This book will not give a direct answer, but it can give you a rare deep look into the darker side of the countercluture at the time of its creation, not a cheesy, moralistic look back by some ultra-repentant, dew eyed hippy. You can hear the NATO copters with loudspeakers screaming LETS FIND A CURE FOR CANCER LETS FIND A CURE FOR CANCER LETS FIND A CURE FOR CANCER