With his tales of Elric of MeIInibone, Michael Moorcock created a brooding masterpiece featuring a complex hero and an exotic world of surpassing beauty, wonder, menace, and treachery.
From World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Michael Moorcock comes the first book in his famous Elric of Melniboné series, brought to vivid new life with stunning illustrations. In one of the most well-known and well-loved fantasy epics of the 20th century, Elric is the brooding, albino emperor of the dying Kingdom of Melnibone. With Melnibone’s years of grandeur and decadence long since passed, Elric’s amoral cousin Yrkoon sets his eyes on the throne. Elric, realizing he is his country’s best hope, must face his nefarious cousin in an epic battle for the right to rule. Elric of Melnibone is the first in Michael Moorcock’s incredible series, which created fantasy archetypes that have echoed through the genre for generations. The beautiful, vivid illustrations bring new life to the story and are sure to captivate fans, new and old.
Kinslayer. Soul reaver. Sorcerer. Thief. And last emperor of a cruel, decadent race. Elric of Melniboné is all of these–and more. His life is sustained by drugs and magic–and energy sucked from the victims of his vampiric black sword, Stormbringer, a weapon feared by men and gods alike. Denied the oblivion he seeks, poised between a tragic past he cannot escape and a terrifying future he is doomed to bring about, Elric is a hero like no other. Del Rey is proud to present the fifth installment in its definitive collection featuring the immortal creation of Michael Moorcock, named Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Highlights include an epic novel of Elric’s early years, The Fortress of the Pearl; the script of the graphic novel Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer; a previously unpublished proposal for a new series; and Hugo Award—winning author Neil Gaiman’s moving fictional tribute to Elric, the short story “One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock.” Gorgeously illustrated by Michael Wm. Kaluta, Elric: In the Dream Realms is a dream come true for sword-and-sorcery fans.
Featuring some of Moorcock's earliest works, MOORCOCK'S MULTIVERSE contains the seeds of the overarching concepts that tie all of his varied worlds together. Here, in THE SUNDERED WORLDS, THE FIRECLOWN and THE TWILIGHT MAN, the multiverse is introduced and various aspects of the eternal champion, Moorcock's great and enduring creation, are explored. In THE FIRECLOWN, a totalitarian regime is enraged by the appearance of the fireclown, a man from the lower levels of the great city whose pyroclastic displays threaten to enflame the subdued population. In THE SUNDERED WORLDS, we are introduced to the concept of the multiverse, as Count Renark von Bek seeks to save the human race from the collapse of the universe itself. And in THE TWILIGHT MAN, the last man born on earth dares to leave for the stars, in search of a cure for the malaise inflicting the remaining members of mankind.
“The stories here are the raw heart of Michael Moorcock. They are the spells that first drew me and all the numerous admirers of his work with whom I am acquainted into Moorcock’s luminous and captivating web.” –from the Foreword by Alan Moore, creator of V for Vendetta 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. “The most significant UK author of sword and sorcery, a form he has both borrowed from and transformed.” –The Encyclopedia of Fantasy From the Trade Paperback edition.
The first new "Eternal Champion" novel in ten years and a major fantasy publishing event, "The Dreamthief's Daughter" continues the highly successful Elrick Saga. The Count Ulric von Bek meets a figure known to him only in dreams--Elrick of Melnibon, the wandering Prince of Ruins. Somehow the same person, yet separate, their very beings fuse spectacularly. Now the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos must be fought in both their universes.
After much wandering and seeking Elric finally discovers the location of the sorcerer who had earlier inconvenienced him. A meeting of old friends and scattered brothers evolves into a union of vengeance. A demon sent hoping to devour an albino is thwarted, but it's master's aim's are met with Elric's capture. A bargain made with a well intentioned merchant wins Elric his freedom, but only half of him is allowed to escape. Elric restored with his symbiotic blade calls upon unholy aide to finally vanquish his meddlesome sorceress enemy. The final assault brings a grievous death as the dragon caves will no longer have a master. A promise broken and an unwanted soul taken by Elric's hungry companion. Another hollow victory causes Elric much discomfort.
Book two in Michael Moorcock's celebrated sword and sorcery series set in the stagnating island civilization of Melnibone. A remarkable epic of conflict and adventure at the dawn of human history.