Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Dying for Tomorrow by Michael Moorcock: Death Is No Obstacle. When John Steinbeck was once asked how he went about writing, he replied, ‘With a pencil.’ Some writers are reluctant to give away too much about their inspiration, their influences, their thinking and writing and editing processes, as if wanting to perpetuate the Romantic fallacy that genius and inspiration just strike and that the lucky, ‘gifted’ individual is driven to pick up a pen and write down what the Muse dictates. Despite his prodigious gifts and his long-standing success as a novelist, Michael Moorcock is only too happy to share the secrets of his craft. In a 1992 book, Death Is No Obstacle , which is essentially a long transcript of interviews the writer Colin Greenland had with Moorcock in 1990, Moorcock happily reveals some of the ‘tricks of the trade’ of writing genre fiction, as well as thoughtfully exploring his own relationship with various genres of popular fiction. The book isn’t easy to get hold of – copies tend to go for around £50 online. I’m indebted to my university library, which owns a signed copy. In a previous post on Interesting Literature , I’ve outlined some of Moorcock’s top tips for writing a genre novel in a matter of days, which are taken from the first chapter of Death Is No Obstacle . The rest of the book covers, in order, comedy and science fiction (including a revealing discussion about Moorcock’s own self-confessed failure to write straight science fiction, partly because he has no great love for much mid-century SF), comic strips and commedia dell’Arte, didactic fiction (featuring , Moorcock’s remarkable novel about a time traveller who ends up living in the time of the Crucifixion), non-linear fiction, where it went wrong (featuring, perhaps surprisingly, a discussion of the ‘failure’ of ), and imitating and remodelling (Conrad et al). ‘Where It Went Wrong’ might almost be a subtitle for Death Is No Obstacle , offsetting that main title’s triumphalism: Michael Moorcock is one of the most self-effacing and self-critical authors, who is always acknowledging that his penchant for experimenting – with genre, with form, with subject matter – doesn’t always result in a successful novel. As he says somewhere, ‘I think of myself as a bad writer with big ideas, but I’d rather be that than a big writer with bad ideas.’ There are some surprising revelations here, such as Moorcock’s assertion that, despite his admiration for the work of Mervyn Peake, he wasn’t all that influenced by Peake in his own writing, occasional works such as The Golden Barge (Moorcock’s first novel, written when he was still a teenager) and his original ‘farewell’ to fantasy, the 1978 novel Gloriana , excepted. Instead, what emerges is Moorcock’s fondness for writers of adventure fiction: Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs (whose Barsoom novels Moorcock paid homage to in a trilogy of planetary adventures from the 1960s), and Joseph Conrad. Indeed, Moorcock talks at length with Colin Greenland in Death Is No Obstacle about his ‘use’ of Conrad: rather than copying Conrad’s plots per se , Moorcock would take his cue from the general form and structure of Conrad’s narratives in order to find a framework for the story he wanted to tell. (There’s a detailed, and fascinating, discussion of how Moorcock did this with his own novel The Ice Schooner , which owes a debt to Conrad’s little-known late adventure novel The Rescue .) What Moorcock advises writers to do here is to find the right ‘plot’, or at least kind of story, in the work of another writer which you, the young writer, can use as a vehicle to tell your story. Rather than a fantasy author imitating other fantasy authors such as Tolkien, the budding author of fantasy fiction should turn to earlier writers who were writing very different novels, including social realist fiction (Moorcock name-checks figures as different as Benjamin Disraeli, Joseph Conrad, H. G. Wells, and Von Grimmelshausen), and find the right structure for the fantasy novel they want to write. This is why reading as much as possible is important. At one point in Death Is No Obstacle , Moorcock effectively paraphrases T. S. Eliot’s famous statement that ‘immature poets imitate; mature poets steal’. Rather than plagiarising the exact stories of other writers, the well-read author develops an almost intuitive understanding of the form and shape of the novel, and can then plunder earlier writers – and sometimes, the earlier the better – for ideas. One of the things to emerge from the book is the importance of writing as improvisation and the ability to think on your feet. True, Moorcock encourages the writer to plan meticulously before sitting down to write – you need a plot outline if not advance knowledge of everything that’s going to happen, and a list of images for your invented fantasy world that makes it coherent and consistent – but as you write you also need to know how to introduce things which you ‘might need later’. Both Moorcock and Greenland praise Dickens for being able to do this so well, particularly in Bleak House , where the opening paragraphs set up a number of details which Dickens will later return to and use as part of the story. In a sense, Moorcock’s ability to write a prodigious amount of work at a rapid rate, his self-identification as a writer of popular fiction, and his almost instinctive understanding of form and plot, make him much closer to Dickens than to J. R. R. Tolkien. Oliver Tearle is the author of The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers’ Journey Through Curiosities of History , available now from Michael O’Mara Books. Michael Moorcock. From World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award–winner Michael Moorcock, comes the first book in his famous Elric of Melnibone series, brought to vivid new life with stunning illustrations.In one of the most well-known and well-loved fantasy epic. The White Wolf. From World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award–winner Michael Moorcock comes the final installment of the Elric of Melnibone series, brought to vivid new life with stunning illustrations.In one of the most well-known and well-loved fantasy epics. The Michael Moorcock Library: The History of Volume 2. Published for the first time ever, Titan Comics is proud to present the concluding chapter of Michael Moorcock’s epic fantasy masterpiece, The Chronicles of Hawkmoon. Adapted and illustrated by the critically lauded and acclaimed artist and wr. The Michael Moorcock Library - The James Cawthorn Collection - The History of the Runestaff Vol. 1. In a post-apocalyptic world where sorcery and science live side by side, the Dark Empire of Granbretan, formerly Great Britain, has risen from the ashes of nuclear Armageddon to become the mightiest empire the world has ever known. Now under the desp. . The world is sick. The Forces of Chaos have energised the planet. Leaders, fhrers, duces, prophets, visionaries, gurus, and politicians are all at each others' throats. And Chaos leers over the broken body of Order. So Ryan freezes his family into su. MICHAEL MOORCOCK WITH SPIRITS BURNING. Spirits Burning is a musical collective that has released a combination of ambient, jazz and full-on with input from many of the genre's luminaries, most notably Gong's and members of . Spirits Burning is overse. Swords and Deviltry. Here is the beginning of the legendary epic that has become a classic of fantasy adventure. At first, they seemed like an unlikely pair: Fafhrd, the white-robed princeling of the barbaric cold waste; and the Gray Mouser, a wizardling suspended betwee. Michael Moorcock's Legends of the Multiverse. Elric of Melinoboné. Duke Dorian Hawkmoon of Köln. Prince Corum Jhaelen Irsei of the Scarlet Robe. The unflappable English Assassin . Time-lost Oswald Bastable. Count Renark von Bek of the Sundered Worlds. Over the years. London Bone and Other Stories. Mysterious fossils found deep under London's streets create a whole new 'heritage' industry - but what does selling London's history mean for the city? In these remarkable stories Moorcock explores the parts of London most of us will never see, and c. The Condition of Muzak. Civilization as we know it has been annihilated. The decay and chaos of the multiverse have left Europe in a surreal, yet ever-fashionable, mess. Jerry Cornelius finds himself in an increasingly futile series of guises, part of a cast of characters d. A Cure for Cancer. A mirror-image of his former self, Jerry Cornelius returns to a parallel London, armed with a vibragun and his infamous charisma and charm to boot. On the trail of the grotesque Bishop Beesley, Jerry hunts for a mysterious device capable of manipula. The King of Swords. The old races have perished. Across the fifteen planes of reality, the ceaseless struggle between continues. Corum, the Prince in the Scarlet Robe, has destroyed two of the company of Chaos, but Mabelode the Faceless will not see his a. The Queen of Swords. Prince Corum has defeated the Chaos Lord Arioch. But any peace for him and his faithful Rhalina is brief. His actions have evoked the murderous anger of Arioch’s sister, the dreaded Xiombarg. The Prince in the Scarlet Robe must continue his odysse. The Knight of Swords. A dazzling and brilliant fantasy from one of the true giants of the genre. The first book in the legendary Corum series by Michael Moorcock!Corum is the last survivor of the Vadhagh race and an incarnation aspect of the Eternal Champion, a being th. and Other Stories. Phoenix In Obsidian. The second legendary instalment of the classic Erekosë trilogy by the master of fantasy Michael Moorcock, all reissued by Titan Books.First published in 1970, The Silver Warriors is a classic staple of the sword and sorcery genre, followed by The. My Experiences in the Third World War and Other Stories. A Nomad of the Time Streams. A brand-new edition of the second novel in Moorcock's acclaimed steampunk series.Oswald Bastable visits an alternate 1904. Here, he discovers that most of the Western world has been devastated by a short, yet horrific, war fought with futuristic devi. Elric of Melnibone and Other Stories. Gollancz is very proud to present the author's definitive editions of the saga of Elric, the last emperor of Melniboné. Michael Moorcock and his long-time friend and bibliographer John Davey have collaborated to produce the most consistent and coher. Showing best matches for "michael moorcock" in All Categories. The ancient races, the Vadhagh and the Nhadragh, are dying. By creating Mankind, the universe has condemned Earth to a pestilence of destruction and fear. Prince Corum is the last remaining Vadhagh. He sets out on a crusade of vengeance against the forces that slaughtered his family and his race, to challenge the unjust power of the puppet masters of Man: the Lords of Chaos. Along the way he will barter with his soul for the limbs of gods to repair his mutilated body and will encounter a member of the very race who caused the mutilation, the irresistible Rhalina. FAHRENHEIT 451. In the early 70s, artists the likes of Jeffrey Jones and Michael Kaluta congregated at Neal Adams’ studio in New York City. There they would speculate about some theoretical kid walking in off the street, fresh from who knows where, and blowing them all away with a style they’d never seen before. That was the background chatter when Michael Whelan arrived from California in late 1974 to show Neal his portfolio, and indeed Whelan went on to transform the landscape of illustration for decades to come. He accepted his first paperback cover assignment, The Enchantress of World’s End , from Donald A. Wollheim of DAW Books. He would soon add ACE and Del Rey to his list of clients making the ’70s busy years. By the turn of the decade, Whelan was churning out iconic images: the consummate anti-hero Elric, the majestic dragons of Pern, and the vibrant landscapes of John Carter’s Mars. The early ’80s continued that trend in Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010 , Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, and the first volume of Stephen King’s Dark Tower opus. Whelan’s ascent was meteoric, earning him a Hugo by 1980. It would be the first of 13, not including a SuperHugo for the Best Artist of the Last 50 Years in 1992. Readers of Locus Magazine voted him Best Artist a staggering 21 years in a row. In 2009, his induction in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame was the first for a living artist. But awards alone fail to convey Michael Whelan’s impact on the publishing industry. Whelan advanced illustration through a vibrant palette, a masterful grasp of anatomy, and an uncanny sense of wonder deeply grounded in realism. His influence can be seen in the work of so many fine illustrators today. EDITOR’S NOTE: Many thanks to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for their exhaustive list of publications. Book covers that sprang from secondary right sales are not listed here, but likely can be found on ISFDB. Goodreads has also been an excellent resource. If you’re interested in reading any of these books (and really that’s the best way to fully appreciate Michael’s illustrations), please check out your local library or bookstore. Or if you prefer, we’ve included links to these online retailers: