Elric Swords and Roses - Michael Moorcock [0]
“A mythological cycle … highly relevant to the twentieth century … The figure of Elric often resembles many purely contemporary figureheads from Charles Manson to James Dean.”
—Time Out
“Elric is back! Herald the event!”
—Los Angeles Daily News, on The Fortress of the Pearl
“[The Elric] novels are totally enthralling.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Among the most memorable characters in fantasy literature.”
—Science Fiction Chronicle
“If you are at all interested in fantastic fiction, you must read Michael Moorcock. He changed the field single-handedly: He is a giant.”
—TAD WILLIAMS
“A work of powerful and sustained imagination … The vast, tragic symbols by which Mr. Moorcock continually illuminates the metaphysical quest of his hero are a measure of the author’s remarkable talents.”
—J. G. BALLARD, author of Crash
“A giant of fantasy.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A superb writer.”
—Locus
Elric: Swords and Roses is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Del Rey Trade Paperback Original
Copyright © 2010 by Michael Moorcock and Linda Moorcock
Foreword copyright © 2010 by Tad Williams
Illustrations copyright © 2010 by John Picacio
All rights reserved.
Cover design: David Stevenson
Cover illustration: John Picacio
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
The stories contained in this work originally appeared in various science fiction magazines and books, as noted on the following acknowledgments page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moorcock, Michael.
Elric : swords and roses / Michael Moorcock.
p. cm.—(Chronicles of the last emperor of Melniboné; 6)
eISBN: 978-0-345-51898-9
1. Elric of Melniboné (Fictitious character)—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6063.O59E459 2010
823′.914—dc22
2010039723
www.delreybooks.com
Cover design: David Stevenson
Cover illustration: John Picacio
v3.1
The Revenge of the Rose was first published in the UK by Grafton Books in 1991. “Stormbringer: First Draft Screenplay” appears here for the first time.
“Black Petals” first appeared in Weird Tales magazine (edited by Stephen H. Segal and Ann VanderMeer) No. 349, March/April 2008.
“Aspects of Fantasy” (conclusion) first appeared in Science Fantasy magazine (edited by John Carnell) No. 64, April 1964. The introduction to The Skrayling Tree was first written for Borders, Inc., 2003. The introduction to the French edition of Elric first appeared in Le Cycle d’Elric, Éditions Omnibus, France, 2006.
“Elric: A New Reader’s Guide,” by John Davey, appears (in this form) here for the first time.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
La Revanche de la Rose, Pocket Books, cover artwork © 2006 by Marc Moreno; La Forteresse de la Perle, Pocket Books, cover artwork © 2005 by Marc Moreno; and Elric et la Porte des Mondes, Fleuve Noir Books, cover artwork © 2006 by Guillaume Sorel. Reprinted by permission of Univers Poche.
(“Empire [of] Melniboné”) map by H. , 1992, appeared in (The Dreaming City/The Sleeping Sorceress), Terra Fantastica, 2001. Artwork reprinted by permission of Maureen Bell on behalf of James Cawthorn.
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, Yanshuf Books, cover artwork © 2005 by Yael Bar-Dayan. Reprinted by permission of Yanshuf Publishing.
Cover artwork by Howard V. Chaykin, for Elric, self-published portfolio, © 1975. Reprinted by permission of Howard V. Chaykin.
Elric portrait for Star*Reach Greatest Hits cover © 1979, 2009 by Frank Brunner. Reprinted by permission of Frank Brunner.
A page from “The Green Empress of Melniboné,” by Barry Windsor-Smith and Roy Thomas, first appearing in Conan the Barbarian Nos. 14 and