Elric: A reader's guide

[blackbladebitch]

Originally, much of the Elric saga appeared as short stories and novellas in various fantasy magazines. In the 1970s, DAW grouped together the short stories alongside the complete novels and published them as follows with iconic covers by artist Michael Whelan; they were later republished in this same order and grouping by Berkeley, with covers by Robert Gould. The silver or white Berkeley editions are the ones you'll know if you're my age:

• Elric of Melniboné (novel, 1972): How Elric found Stormbringer in a giant pulsating cavern underneath a marsh. No, seriously.
  
• The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (collection, 1976): In which, among other things, Elric goes on an adventure with other incarnations of the Eternal Champion.
  
  • Sailing to the Future
  • Sailing to the Present
  • Sailing to the Past
• The Weird of the White Wolf (collection, 1977): In which Elric returns to Melniboné and things really go to shit for him. He then strikes out as a mercenary, beginning a long series of misadventures: gaining some implacable enemies, loving and leaving a few women, and making a name for himself as a dangerous guy.
  
  • The Dream of Earl Aubec (aka Master of Chaos)
  • The Dreaming City
  • While the Gods Laugh
  • The Singing Citadel
• The Sleeping Sorceress (novel, 1971, also released as The Vanishing Tower): In which Elric meets a sorcerous femme fatale and falls in love again, fails to find peace in Tanelorn, goes on another adventure with incarnations of the Champion, and eventually loses his love to his archenemy of the moment.
  
• The Bane of the Black Sword (collection, 1977): In which Elric finally gets revenge on his archenemy, meets the last great love of his life, Zarozinia, and tries to give up Stormbringer for her. It doesn't go well.
  
  • The Stealer of Souls
  • Kings in Darkness
  • The Flamebringers
  • To Rescue Tanelorn
• Stormbringer (novel, 1965): In which Elric learns that he's fated to bring about the end of his world. And does so, like a boss.
  

This sequence follows the internal chronology of the series from Elric's youth to his death, but as you can see from the dates, the publication order was different. You can find all of these books quite readily, and often dirt-cheap, at used bookstores and at abebooks.com.

A novella and two additional Elric books appeared later.

• Elric at the End of Time (1984): fits in sometime just before the beginning of The Weird of the White Wolf. Links Elric to the Dancers at the End of Time books, and also throws in Una Persson for good measure. The collection in which this appeared also included a short story called "The Last Enchantment", which takes place during Elric's mercenary years.
• Fortress of the Pearl (novel, 1989): fits in between Elric of Melniboné and The Weird of the White Wolf. In which Elric goes on a quest into the dream world (which may or may not be a backroad into the rest of the Multiverse) and also meets Oone the Dreamthief, who is described as being a pretty woman with a heart-shaped face, grey eyes, and brown hair. Kind of like another Moorcock heroine. (It is said of the lady in The Dreamthief's Daughter that she spends a lot of time at the End of Time. Ahem.)
  
• Revenge of the Rose (novel, 1991): fits in between The Sleeping Sorceress and before The Bane of the Black Sword. In which Elric goes on a big adventure across the Multiverse with the Rose (who appears in the Second Ether books) and Wheldrake (late of Gloriana and the Dancers at the End of Time books).
  

In the early 2000s, Moorcock revisited Elric and continued his work of retconning him into the greater scheme of the Multiverse, populated by the Von Bek family (of The War Hound and the World's Pain, The City in the Autumn Stars, and more), Una Persson, Dorian Hawkmoon, and all the rest. This trilogy gets kind of complicated; suffice it to say that it expands on the mythos of the Eternal Champion and Elric's role as such, and his resulting psychic link with other manifestations of the Champion. This trilogy is where we learn that Oone the Dreamthief from The Fortress of the Pearl bore Elric twin children, Oona von Bek (the Dreamthief's Daughter, later wife of Ulrich von Bek, who shares a link with Elric) and John Daker.

• The Dreamthief's Daughter (2001)
• The Skrayling Tree (2003) (Moorcock's love letter to America)
  
• The White Wolf's Son (2005)

Finally, there's also The Metatemporal Detective, stories of Sir Seaton Begg (based on Sexton Blake) and his adversary Zenith the Albino. Zenith was a master criminal created by writer Anthony Skene in the original Sexton Blake pulp stories of the early 20th century, and is acknowledged by Moorcock to be a direct inspiration for the creation of Elric. In the Seaton Begg stories, it eventually is spelled out explicitly in "The Flaneur des Arcades de l'Opera" that Elric and Zenith are indeed one and the same.

Oh, but wait, there's more!

There's an Elric RPG, originally published by Chaosium as Stormbringer! It's not canon, but the books contain some useful reference for nerds like me.

There are a couple of graphic novels, too. A bit hard to find, as they're now out of print, but worth the legwork.

• Michael Moorcock's Multiverse (with Walt Simonson and John Ridgway) (1999): a wild and crazy ride through the Multiverse with Moorcock himself, Jack Karaquazian (of Blood), the Rose, Elric in an assortment of incarnations, Sir Seaton Begg, and more.
  
• Elric: Making of a Sorcerer (with Walt Simonson) (2007): Fits in before Elric of Melniboné, and follows the dream-quests in which Elric proved himself as a young man.

And guess what? THERE'S STILL MORE.

Well, sort of. In the late 2000s, Del Ray published what MM considers as the definitive editions of the Elric stories, The Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melniboné, this time presenting them in the original publication order. Each volume contains more than just the Elric stories listed here (which I post for cross-referencing purposes with the list at the beginning of this article); for example, some volumes include Sir Seaton Begg stories, and To Rescue Tanelorn includes the first section of the Jerry Cornelius novel The Final Programme. Elric in the Dream Realms also includes Neil Gaiman's lovely homage, "One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock" (which you can also read here).

• Elric: The Stealer of Souls
  • The Dreaming City
  • While the Gods Laugh
  • The Stealer of Souls
  • Kings in Darkness
  • The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams (aka The Flame Bringers)
  • Stormbringer
• Elric: To Rescue Tanelorn
• To Rescue Tanelorn
• The Singing Citadel
• The Jade Man's Eyes
• Elric at the End of Time
  
• Elric: The Sleeping Sorceress
• The Sleeping Sorceress (aka The Vanishing Tower)
• Elric of Melniboné
  
• Duke Elric
• The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
• The script for the "Duke Elric" comics serial that appeared in the Michael Moorcock's Multiverse graphic novel.
  
• Elric in the Dream Realms
• The Fortress of the Pearl
  
• Elric: Swords and Roses
• The Revenge of the Rose

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT.

So, if you're new? Decide whether you want to read the stories in chronological order or publication order, and hit up your local library or bookstore accordingly. Both approaches have their merits; I first read them in chronological order, myself. However, it's by no means necessary. And I will say that I recommed very, very highly the Del Rey Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melniboné ; they are all beautifully illustrated and are full of all kinds of fabulous bonus material, much of which will guide your way to the rest of the Moorcock Multiverse. (Think of them as the special Director's Cut Blu-Ray versions.) And, as ever, if you want to ask any questions, please do feel free to hit me up here or on AIM.

Oh, and one last thing. Just a little one. Some links for you, if you want 'em:

• More about Michael Moorcock's oeuvre, filed under another of his characters who I RP.
• Elric of Melniboné on Wikipedia
• The Elric Saga on TVTropes
• Elric at the Multiverse.org wiki

POSTSCRIPT, added 2/15/2011:
I cannot believe I forgot this.

My introduction to the Elric saga actually came not through the original novels themselves, but through Law and Chaos, a book that Wendy Pini published in the late 1980s, with all of her artwork from a Stormbringer animated film that she began working on while at university, and which was never finished. When I was thirteen, the book caught my eye because of its beauty, and several months later I finally conned my father into buying it for me. Thus began an obsession.

The entirety of Law and Chaos has been published online; check it out here.

Comments

[darknessb4me]

um xcuse me last link arthas made you a chart

[blackbladebitch.livejournal.com]

...well, I lol'ed.

Elric would like to point out that there is the potential for overlap between "basket of dicks" and "badass", thank you very much.

[darknessb4me]

"Don't argue with me, argue with science."