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Post by geoffrey on Jan 28, 2021 13:51:57 GMT -6
Elric sometimes gets a bad rap, but I think 99% of what can be said against Elric comes from the stories published after 1962 with their boring philosophical baggage and Eternal Champion stuff. The first five Elric stories are excellent and compulsively readable sword & sorcery stories, belonging on the same shelf as REH's Conan stories, the better Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales, The Dying Earth, etc. I wish there were 365 such Elric stories, one for each day of the year. Here is the good stuff: "The Dreaming City" (first published in Science Fantasy #47, June 1961) "While the Gods Laugh" (first published in Science Fantasy #49, October 1961) "The Stealer of Souls" (first published in Science Fantasy #51, February 1962) "Kings in Darkness" (first published in Science Fantasy #54, August 1962) "The Flame Bringers" [later retitled "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams"] (first published in Science Fantasy #55, October 1962) Here are the original covers. You will notice that Elric is on the first and last of them.      The above five stories were collected in 1967 in this Lancer paperback:  "Blood and souls for my lord Arioch!" |
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Post by retrorob on Jan 28, 2021 16:16:06 GMT -6
In my country Elric stories were translated and published after 1989, so we got the whole saga at once, set in internal chronological order (same thing for Howard and Leiber, what is not good). I guess I've read 2 or 3 books, fortunately including "The Dreaming City", "Kings in Darkness" and "While the Gods Laugh". I remember that the older stories were far better. Need to read them in English now  |
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Post by tdenmark on Feb 2, 2021 15:35:06 GMT -6
Michael Moorcock is hit or miss for me. Mostly miss.
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Post by tkdco2 on Feb 2, 2021 16:29:28 GMT -6
I enjoyed the original Elric cycle; the later stories, not so much. I also enjoyed the Corum stories. The End of Time cycle was okay. I have yet to read the books featuring the other incarnations of the Eternal Champion.
That said, the Stormbringer rpg (I have the 1st edition) is still one of my all-time favorites.
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Post by Finarvyn on Feb 2, 2021 17:28:49 GMT -6
www.amazon.com/Elric-Stealer-Chronicles-Emperor-Melnibon%C3%A9/dp/0345498623/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1612308398&refinements=p_lbr_books_series_browse-bin%3AElric&s=books&sr=1-1This is my favorite Elric book of all time. It's a trade paperback collection of the original short stories (as I understand it) exactly the way they were presented in the magazines. Well, I think the artwork is new, but the text is exact. If I had to pick one volume and get rid of all other Elric, this is the one I would keep. There are other volumes in the series, but I wasn't as thrilled with those. Michael Moocock is hit or miss for me. Mostly miss. I think you have to pick carefully, as some of his works are highly philosophical and I don't enjoy them, either. I think that the original Elric is my favorite, but I liked the first three Corum books (there are six, but I originally red the "Swords Trilogy" and would rather stop there). THe Hawkmoon series (Runestaff?) is pretty good as well. The Bastible books are neat in concept, as I love airships and such, but I don't like them as well as the others I've listed.
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Post by geoffrey on Feb 2, 2021 20:30:00 GMT -6
Michael Moorcock is hit or miss for me. Mostly miss. What do you think of the original five Elric stories (listed in my opening post) from 1961-62? To me they feel like more psychedelic versions of REH's Conan stories. |
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Post by geoffrey on Feb 2, 2021 20:31:16 GMT -6
Does this volume include all five of the 1961-62 Elric stories? Does it include any additional stories? |
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Post by stevemitchell on Feb 2, 2021 21:28:48 GMT -6
It has the five stories from your list, plus the original magazine versions of the stories that were included in the second Elric book, Stormbringer.
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Post by retrorob on Feb 3, 2021 11:42:01 GMT -6
I forgot to mention the "Runestaff" cycle. I've read it, IIRC, around 2001-2002, but only volume 1-2. It was OK, but Elric stories were better.
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Post by tdenmark on Feb 3, 2021 20:27:36 GMT -6
Michael Moorcock is hit or miss for me. Mostly miss. What do you think of the original five Elric stories (listed in my opening post) from 1961-62? To me they feel like more psychedelic versions of REH's Conan stories. Apparently, as I've learned from this thread, I have not read these. Though I've read about half a dozen of his books including Stormbringer and Weird of the White Wolf, and his Barsoom pastiches (not good). So I ordered the one @finarvyn recommended. I'll get back after reading it. |
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Feb 9, 2021 7:33:42 GMT -6
The first Elric novel I read was Stormbringer, and it was one of those odd sized novels maybe two thirds of trade size. I can't find a picture of the cover but I think this later cover was inspired from it. Elric looked utterly alien and Stormbringer was immense.  |
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