Michael Moorcock

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(1939 --)

Michael John Moorcock is a British SF and fantasy author. He was born in Mitcham, Surrey, England, and was educated at English schools until he quit at age 15.

Moorcock, who has also published under the pseudonyms of Michael Barrington, Bill Barclay, Edward P. Bradbury, James Colvin, and Desmond Reid, is one of Britain's most popular and prolific authors. He became involved with SF and fantasy at an early age, editing Tarzan Adventures at age 17. He was the editor of the SF magazine New Worlds, off and on, from 1964 until 1971 (and in other manifestations until 1979), and is credited with the development of "New Wave" SF during the 1960s.

Moorcock's work can be divided into three broad categories of speculative fiction: SF, sword and sorcery, and fantasies. Several of his SF novels were written under the pseudonym of Edward P. Bradbury. First publication: "Sojan the Swordsman" in Tarzan Adventures (May, 1957); First SF publication: "Peace on Earth" in New Worlds #89 (December, 1959) [with Barrington Bayley, and writing as Michael Barrington]; First novel: Caribbean Crisis (Fleetway, 1962) [with James Cawthorn, and writing as Desmond Reid]; First collection: The Stealer of Souls (Spearman, 1963).

Most of Moorcock's fiction has been bound together under the overall title of the "The Tale of the Eternal Champion" series. This champion has taken the form of other Moorcock sub-series: Jerry Cornelius, Elric of Melnibone, Corum, Hawkmoon, Jerek Carnelian, and Von Bek, among others. He has written many novels. His most popular SF novels are The Final Programme (1968) and The Dancers at the End of Time, a trilogy consisting of An Alien Heat (1972), The Hollow Lands (1974), and The End of All Songs (1976); both of which are included in Pringle's Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels. The British movie The Last Days of Man on Earth, released in 1974, was based on Moorcock's novel The Final Programme [which began the series of stories involving Jerry Cornelius, a modern version of Elric]. Fabulous Harbors, a collection of eleven stories, was published in 1995. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers Guild of America

A celebration of his 60th birthday, moorcock@60.com, consisting of 60 congratulatory and/or reminiscent non-fiction pieces, appeared in 2000. The King of the City, London Bone [collection of eight stories set primarily in London], and The Dreamthief's Daughter all were published in 2001, and a new "Jerry Cornelius" novel, Firing the Cathedral, was issued in 2002. The Skrayling Tree, the second book in his new trilogy, was published in 2003. The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius: Stories of the Comic Apocalypse, containing both earlier and more recent pieces, was published in 2003.

The non-fiction work, Love: A Memoir of Mervyn and Maeve Peake [from Methuen] and the novel, The White Wolf's Son, both appeared in 2005. Wizardry & Wild Romance: A Study of Epic Fantasy, an examination of fantasy from Monkey Brain Books, appeared in 2004, with an introduction by China Miéville and an afterword by Jeff VanderMeer.

Moorcock published a one-shot fanzine, Ergo Ego, that contained his unpublished poems, stories, and belles lettres up to about 1961. He also published the fanzines Burroughsania, Con-Shot, A Fanzine Called Eustace, Flail, Fantasiana, and Jazz Fan. He published Perindeus for OMPA. He was also an editor of Vector. With Jim Linwood he published the fanzines Rambler and Typo.

Interviews with Moorcock have appeared in Luna #59 (November 1975), in Speaking of Science Fiction (1978), in the January-February 1979 issue (#29) of Science Fiction Review and in Locus, including "Movements & Myths," in the March, 2003, issue (#506). The January, 2000, issue of Interzone (#151) was a "Special Michael Moorcock Issue" and featured two of his stories.

Nomads of the Time Stream is a Michael Moorcock appreciation society.

New Worlds under his editorship was nominated for the Best Professional Magazine Hugo in 1967 through 1970.

Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

Person Website 1939—
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