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MICHAEL MOORCOCK is a legend of science fiction and fantasy. Period. Despite the fact that he has written quite a few distinguished literary novels (he never dedicated himself fully to fantasy or science fiction) he is nevertheless most known for his recurrent creation of the the Eternal Champion, where "Elric of Melniboné" and his adventures represent only one part of the Multiverse, but they are undoubtedly his most popular works to date. Elric is an anti-hero (he is the actual prototype for the anti-hero characters that came after him) written as a deliberate reversal of what Moorcock saw as clichés commonly found in fantasy adventure novels at that time (think Lord of the Rings or Conan).
In 2008, Del Rey Books reprinted the original, classic Elric material as a series of three illustrated books: "The Stealer of Souls", "To Rescue Tanelorn", and "The Sleeping Sorceress". Subsequent volumes appearing in 2009 (Duke Elric and Elric in the Dream Realms) and 2010 will reprint later material.
And now, "The Stealer of Souls" (the first reprinted book), is available for free and you can download it via following links: Download, Kindle, Sony Reader, Scribd.com
And if you are interested in synopsis:
When Michael Moorcock began chronicling the adventures of the albino sorcerer Elric, last king of decadent Melniboné, and his sentient vampiric sword, Stormbringer, he set out to create a new kind of fantasy adventure, one that broke with tradition and reflected a more up-to-date sophistication of theme and style. The result was a bold and unique hero’”weak in body, subtle in mind, dependent on drugs for the vitality to sustain himself’”with great crimes behind him and a greater destiny ahead: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the sixties into one enduring archetype.
Now, with a major film in development, here is the first volume of a dazzling collection of stories containing the seminal appearances of Elric and lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist John Picacio’”plus essays, letters, maps, and other material. Adventures include ‘The Dreaming City,’ ‘While the Gods Laugh,’ ‘Kings in Darkness,’ ‘Dead God’s Homecoming,’ ‘Black Sword’s Brothers,’ and ‘Sad Giant’s Shield.’
An indispensable addition to any fantasy collection, Elric: The Stealer of Souls is an unmatched introduction to a brilliant writer and his most famous’”or infamous’”creation.
3 Comments:
you write so advanced in the article, I am very happy to visit your blog and learn more after you read any posts
Great post. You cannot pretend to understand modern fantasy without having read some Moorcock!
Thanks for dropping by guys and for the compliments.
Moorcock is certainly one of the more important equations when trying to understand modern fantasy, and it's even more important to be familiar with his work when you are trying to review -- as we are striving to do here :) -- 'his bastardly offsprings', if I may be so bold and call that the works he influenced.
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