Online Communication

[Marca]

Mr. M

I'm sure I speak for many when I say what a pleasure it is to be able to communicate with you online. The closest I would have got to meeting you was when you opened the Andromeda bookshop in Suffolk Street, Birmingham, England around 1981. Unfortunately I couldn't make it but I did order a signed book or two from your appearance there (including a signed Granada edition of Stormbringer which still sits proudly on my bookshelf). Back then, internet communication would have seemed like science fiction in itself. Nevertheless I find this is a much more relaxed way of conversing and feel as if I have met you, if only in cyberspace. It also allows us to ask many more questions than would be possible in a face to face meeting. So many thanks for your input on the site, I've certainly learnt a lot in the few months I've been here.

:)

[Michael Moorcock]

Yes, it's a good way of extending the kind of 'conversations' it's possible to have at bookstore readings, though I don't intend to give those up. I have largely given up attending conventions, since I always found those weren't particularly good ways of meeting readers. I always enjoy meeting readers and I'm sorry you couldn't make it to Andromeda that time. To tell you the truth I didn't much enjoy that signing, since the way it was set up put a sort of barrier between me and the reader and the shop insisted on people buying a new book, which is very much against my principles. People will often bring entire collections for me to sign and, as long as it doesn't hold up a line, I'm happy to sign them all. The
rule I usually make is 'four books at a time' which means that a person with one book, say, doesn't have to wait forever while I sign a lot. So thanks for joining in now! We tend to post new signings on the site when they're coming up. I probably won't be doing any more in the US
this year, but I could well do some in the UK if all goes well. I won't know for a while, though.

[Hapimeses]

Have to agree that you deserve all the thanks we can supply for breaking down the barriers between author and reader here.

This is a rare site, and I am very glad you support it.

And I look forward to your next UK visit to do some signing. I can't travel all that far now that I have a daughter, but if you get anywhere near Scotland, I'll be there (but I won't take a whole collection, just a couple of favourites). I only have one signed copy by you, that I randomly picked up in James Thins (now, horribly, Blackstones) in Edinburgh, which is The Dancers at the End of Time.

Not sure what I'd say if I met you though...

"Uh... Hi! Can you sign this? Really cool to meet you..."

*shuffles off*

How lame is that?

:D

H.

[Governor of Rowe Island]

I agree!

I've met you twice Mr. M. In Brighton at the Worldcon in '87, and when you did a signing in my hometown when the Millenium edition omnibuses first came out. (All I could think of to say was that I'd met you before. Duh!) This site gives you time to consider a question, which is something everybody in one of those queues would love to have.
It takes away the stagefright while leaving untouched the awe. :oops:

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Online? Gee! Why Don't We Do The Show Right Here?

There's been quite a lot of posting on the Moorcock's Weekly Miscellany Forum about 'experimental writing' and the like. And aren't modern Internet 'Message Boards', like this very Forum, only the very best place for "Experimental Writing"?

Subjects to explore, shared interests and common pursuits. Things to get fired up about, time to reflect, compose, edit and publish into and onto an ongoing, online, MasterClass of an edition.

Feedback? Possibly immediate. :)

[Dead-Air]

It truly is wondrous to have a friendly relationship with one of your childhood influences (not that the influence is at all limited to early years, but it starts there for me at least.) It is great to see all these interesting folks communicating with you on this site on an in depth personal level that probably wouldn't be possilbe at a busy book signing. The internet is certainly an amazing invention for making this possible for all of us.

[Whiskers]

Re: Online? Gee! Why Don't We Do The Show Right Here?

There's been quite a lot of posting on the Moorcock's Weekly Miscellany Forum about 'experimental writing' and the like. And aren't modern Internet 'Message Boards', like this very Forum, only the very best place for "Experimental Writing"?

Subjects to explore, shared interests and common pursuits. Things to get fired up about, time to reflect, compose, edit and publish into and onto an ongoing, online, MasterClass of an edition.

Feedback? Possibly immediate. :)

I'm hoping that word will get out to Mike's friends who once engaged in experimental writing and kick it up a notch here, but I think there is a generational barrier that few leap, as Mike has, and it's the allegoric wall holding the water back. Jerico really went with it, and I've been going with it since 98, though outside of the forum (I'll have to dig up the site we did for KING OF THE CITY). Others here are beginning to see this whole thing as a garden bed ready for seeding. Alas the site doesn't offer the allure of money and so we do a lot of long term germination without always getting to bud. The Internet is a colossal and complex loom that draws threads of informaiton into logical patterns. We can use these patterns to create context for ideas, experimental projects and creative endeavors. We can also develop arbitrary and ad hoc groups, groups that support the experimentation by consuming it and feeding back into it. If something experimental fails to draw a supporting group, it probably wasn't meant to be. What I do here is try to provide a system that can contain the resources for experimentation, a framework for communication and aliases so that anyone can participate with relative anonimty in groups that support superior experiments. I in turn am a part of a group of people who have learned how to manage and adapt what is basically a data collection system. Those further along the line (any other way of putting this sounds arrogant) are hooked into programming languages and only those superior languages make it into systems like these. End to end there is a great deal of enjoyment to be had by all.

But it's serious business too. This chain of activities, these groups supporting other kinds of groups exist to proliferate focused chunks of data into the future and into future technologies. If it sounds like I'm tooting my horn, please excuse me, because I think the result of my work here is that people can produce some really intersting stuff that I enjoy emmensely. The entire chain of dependencies and relationships are further enhanced by Mr. Moorcock's presence. He adds density to the whole thing, generating relevance thus drawing more valuable contributors to the mix. It's the opposite of a vacuum. It's more like a swarm. :)

EDIT: "more valuable contributors" as in "more" + "valuable contributors"

[Dead-Air]

Very well put Berry. We all owe you the thanks for running this site, and in addition it's great that you aren't just the anonymous admin doing the dirty work so Michael can have a presence online without all the hassles. Obviously you do take care of that too, but it sure 'aint anonymous, and your own input is an asset to this community. If you are secretly breeding bees, let the honey drip!

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Yes. I like your atitude, Berry. You and Mr M. have done something rather amazing with this site. Every so often, in the past, I've had a browse around the Web, searching for information and news of Michael Moorcock and his work. There are one, or two very good sites out there too. But, this one stopped me in my tracks. I'm a fan of alternative publications, underground magazines, fanzines, small distribution comics and other, slightly oddball and off the wall, but individual and fresh works, and I'm very interested in the history and aims of popular literature, so I got a real buzz off the aims and concept behind, Moorcock's Weekly Miscellany. And I just loved the title!

An online Message Board site like this one, also represents something quite new. Something that the World Wide Web is absolutely ideal for. A form of publication which offers the opportunity for immediate and valuable input from its readers, who then become published contributors themselves, to further inform, delight and spur other readers to take part. This is something like a fanzine should be! What I find really great is that Michael Moorcock is here alongside, as one of the contributors.

Beyond that, as an archive resource, not just about the life and work of Mr M. but, also about huge areas of popular and 'serious' literature and related subjects of interest, what can I say? Superlatives are insufficient. Lit. and Cult. Hist. students really could write their dissertations from the information here, hardly having to stray from the site. It's also an excellent info. and promotional site for news about new and upcoming work from Michael Moorcock's corner. Plus, I just love the idea that fans posting here have the chance to influence possible future events in the Multiverse.


Excellent. :)

[CandyFlossCow]

Excellent. :)

I agree absolutely. I'm only an occasional contributor, but this is a wonderful site. Thanks for all the hard work, Berry. Thanks Mr M!

[xidrep]

Very eloquent and accurate, Berry! The site is a crucible of red-hot ideas; it has an endogenous energy, partly the inspiration and creativity of MM, partly the excellent management and conceptualisation of BS, and partly the entwining zephyrs of original thought spun by the contributors. Unique :D

[The New One]

I too would like to thank you Mr Sizemore. I have often wondered about writing to Mr Moorcock. This site has proved the perfect medium.

I also agree that it is a magnificent crucible for emerging talent and ideas, MM being a tremendous inspiration. His presence and invaluble input I am certain is greatly appreciated by all members.

In my experience this is a rare site indeed one that can lead the way not only for writers but all those involved in "The People Business" Music, Film, Sport and entertainment in general.

Thankyou once again Berry and hats off to you Michael, how you find the time is beyond me. Perhaps you have discovered the secrets you write about in your stories of the multiverse!

[DeeCrowSeer]

I won't pretend to understand half of what I read in the various sections across this site, but it's comforting to know that there are other people out there who understand it and are using this site as inspiration for great and complex works of fiction, or noble academic endeavours... my only complaint would be that a lot of the posts are making me hungry.

Seriously though, there are a number of projects in the pipeline, and already a few "successes" under our belts, so there is much that we can be proud of and look forward to.

I haven't mentioned this before, but when I first signed up here I didn't have much of a "gallery" at all... but the fact that I could link to it from my profile gave me the incentive to add more pictures and improve my drawing "skills", so I owe a great deal to MWM and the kind posters out there who took the time to look at my doodles.

Bless every one of the threads in your cotton socks. :D

[Dead-Air]

Dee, if you ever are looking for something different to sketch, I'd be honored if you wandered over to my band's site and did a drawing based upon one of the pictures of me there. If you ever find the time, then I would want to switch it out for my avatar. I love all the characiture avatars people have on here, and was very moved by your rendition of Jerico.

[DeeCrowSeer]

DeadAir: Thank you, that's very kind of you. Could you e-mail me using the address on my site? Just attach a photo (or photos) you'd like to see in cartoon form. All of the masks on your site confused me... I'm not a very bright lad, you see?

I agree with Hapimeses about attending signings though. I wouldn't be able to decide if I should mention the name I use on this site, or just play it safe and keep my head down. Strangely, the forum provides a more "natural" space for us all to converse in. We're sitting around having a chat about bagels, and Mr M can wander over to the table and chime in if he wishes... I don't know how signings feel from the other side of the table, but it's a little too much like a trial for my liking... or an audition of some sort... NEXT!!!

I notice that a lot of readers suggest meeting up for dinner, which is a good idea in theory (where possible) but imagine being for ever known as the one who choked on his garlic bread during an intense conversation about the nature of existence!

Sorry, I tend to overthink things like this. :oops: