Elric left the Young Kingdoms too soon...

[Jack]

I loved the Elric series of books. For what its worth, they are my personal favorites. Elric is my favorite dark fantasy character and I personally feel that there aren't many story lines out there that can touch the doomed albino and his exploits.

That having been said, the last Elric book I picked up, The Dreamthief's Daughter had Elric dealing with WWII and other multiverse situations. The writing was certainly good and I enjoyed it but I miss the Young Kingdoms and all they had to offer. The known elements of them and their colorful characters were great.

I failed to pick up the Skrayling Tree because the back cover started to talk about American Indians or some such multiverse no Young Kingdoms storyline.

I am new to the website having just discovered it in a Chaosium rulebook, "Stormbringer". I already had the rules but noticed that the cover art had changed and I'm an Elric fanatic. I have many iterations of the various books just for the covers. Glad to hear there will be a movie and sad to hear that Michael Moorcock is retiring.

Is there any possibility that there will be future books where Elric will visit the Purple Towns or Pan Tang incognito or somewhere in the Young Kingdoms. A real Young Kingdoms, before book six and after book one, storyline if you know what I mean.

Thanks,
Jack

[Bob]

Hey there, Jack.

Not knowing how much MM you've read, it's hard to compare, but most of his fantasy works are just as vibrant as the Young Kingdoms. I can't remember the names, but the places Corum passes throughout his travels are just as vibrant and wildy imaginative. Hawkmoon's world is also of note (though it's largely based on Europe).

But yeah, another tale or two would have been good. That said, I was thoroughly entertained with Elric and Ulric's story being written around 'truths' of World War Two and Nazi Germany.

Welcome to the forum! :D

[Anonymous]

Moorcock is changing

Hey there, Jack.

But yeah, another tale or two would have been good. That said, I was thoroughly entertained with Elric and Ulric's story being written around 'truths' of World War Two and Nazi Germany.

Welcome to the forum! :D

I've had the first messages view expressed to me a few times by Moorcock fans.Namely that they enjoyed the first elric stories more than the later ones.
I think that it is good that Moorcock isn't stuck in a rut and that he has changed over the years.His newer Elric stories are an expression of that change.Besides when Mike first started the Elric stories there wasn't the massive overload of fantasy that is available now.Having read his latest Elric novels it seems to me that Moorcock has had enough of the Young Kingdoms and to go back to them might be too restrictive for him.
But then again who can tell?
Only Mike.


Paul.

[Dead-Air]

Not reading The Skrayling Tree would be a big mistake. It's a great book, and while set entirely outside the Young Kingdoms has much to add to the Elric myth and the history of the character.

I find that Moorcock's newer books set outside the Young Kingdom's stand up much better to the early classics than the one's set inside such as Revenge of the Rose and Fortress of the Pearl. Of course, that's just me, and everybody has different tastes.

[flutegirlrockz]

My main problem with the books is that there's not enough Elric but there still great books. :)

[Bob]

I'm reading The Skrayling Tree at the moment. I started it immediately after finishing The Dreamthief's Daughter. And yes, it is excellent and I'm only about half way through!

[Jack]

You've convinced me to go pick up the Skrayling Tree. I'll get to it eventually. Reading H.P. Lovecraft right now and I have the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books next. First experience with Lovecraft. Good reading but sometimes hard to hold on to.

[Dead-Air]

Ironically, the Skrayling Tree is (sort of!) set in the same location geographically as most of Lovecraft's work, though that's where the similiarity ends.

[Anonymous]

Out of the YK.

Not reading The Skrayling Tree would be a big mistake. It's a great book, and while set entirely outside the Young Kingdoms has much to add to the Elric myth and the history of the character.

I find that Moorcock's newer books set outside the Young Kingdom's stand up much better to the early classics than the one's set inside such as Revenge of the Rose and Fortress of the Pearl. Of course, that's just me, and everybody has different tastes.

It seems that Mike is actually adding to the earlier books with little bits and pieces of new information on Melnibonean culture and physiology tucked cunningly into the newer tomes and the up and coming Elric comic.I enjoyed The Revenge of the Rose so much that I reread it many times without becoming bored.Something I rarely do.I think it was the expansion of Melnibonean history and the meeting between Prince Gaynor and Elric and...oh bugger it! It was everything about the damned excellent book,everything including Gran'ma Phatt! It's a crackin' read!

Paul

[Bob]

Paul:

It's such a shame that a few readers seem to be underwhlemed by that particular tale. It doesn't have much in the way of action, granted, but some of the imagery and ideas are breathtaking!

[Skafloc]

Revenge of the Rose...underwhelming????

Paul:

It's such a shame that a few readers seem to be underwhlemed by that particular tale. It doesn't have much in the way of action, granted, but some of the imagery and ideas are breathtaking!

I'm with Paul on this matter. Any readers that are underwhelmed by ROTR are probably still attached to the earlier Elric stories (which I have no problem with). ROTR is a tad more philosophical and I enjoyed the change of pace from the Young Kingdoms slaughter and doom.


Skafloc

[white wolf's son]

Elric

I have read the Dreamthief's Daughter and The Skrayling Tree, been reading Mike's books since I was a boy and i thoroughly enjoyed both books, about to start The White Wolf's Son when I return home to Spain. I think it would be a BIG mistake not to read these books, Elric's character has matured through the years and I have enjoyed reading all the stories.

[Tobias Von Bek]

I'm with Paul on this matter. Any readers that are underwhelmed by ROTR are probably still attached to the earlier Elric stories (which I have no problem with). ROTR is a tad more philosophical and I enjoyed the change of pace from the Young Kingdoms slaughter and doom.

I think the problems I had when reading ROTR (and to a lesser extent Fortress Of The Pearl) is that I read them as part of the 2 complete Elric omnibus editions and the style of writing really jarrs with the other stories.

If I'd read those 2 stories after all the others I'd probably have enjoyed them more but, aside from Wheldrake, ROTR left me cold. I'm currently reading Blood and I'm finding the Rose in that to be far more interesting!

I actually think that the character of Elric works better in the small doses of short stories (or clearly segmented longer works like Sailor On The Seas Of Fate and Stormbringer) than he does in full-length novels.

That is why I really enjoyed the final Elric trilogy as it knew when to use Elric (and the sections told from his point of view) sparingly for maximum impact.

[Michael Moorcock]

That's a good point, which hadn't occurred to me. Might be the reason why I'm enjoying writer shorter pieces, like the Rakhir story in Cross Plains Universe or the upcoming Elric story A Portrait in Ivory. I'm working on a story for Dark Horse's Conan which, for my own pleasure, I started as I might write a novella, and again I feel more at home in that form. It struck me that while 'Conan the Conqueror'/'Hour of the Wolf' was the only (short) novel Howard ever wrote, all the other Conan stories (indeed pretty much all Howard's fiction) were done to novella length. It's a form which helps you concentrate your prose, too. Oddly enough, I'm inclined to think the best Maigret stories by Simenon are the shorter ones. And it's worth remembering that much of Hammett and Chandler appeared originally in shorter form, to be 'cannibalised' for novels later. A good topic for discussion, there, in some wider-ranging thread...
That said, by the way, Revenge is one of my own very favourite Elric stories! Fortress is one of my least favourites.

[Tobias Von Bek]

That said, by the way, Revenge is one of my own very favourite Elric stories! Fortress is one of my least favourites.

I'm curious as to why you aren't so keen on Fortress (especially as the Dreamthief backstory was used for the most recent trilogy)?

While it is nowhere near your best book I find Elric's final vengeance on Quarzhasaat to be one of the most exhilarating and unsettling parts of the whole saga.

As for the whole short story/novella issue I was struck when I recently re-read The Sign Of Four that there really isn't any more plot than in the shorter Sherlock Holmes stories - its just that everything takes longer to be resolved!