Moorcock Bibliography: 1955-1960

[David Mosley]

As mentioned in another thread ([broken link]here) I've recently been compiling a 'definitive' bibliography of Mike's work in order to help me sort of dates and things for the biography that I'm working on. What follows is the part of the bibliography that relates to the 1950s, which I takes as starting in 1951 and ending in 1960 (because I'm pedantic like that). Of course, it can't hope to be exhaustive but I post it here so people can review it, point out errors and/or omissions, and (hopefully) post additions.

Note: I only include work by Mike that I have been able to verify (one way or another) - for example, information on work appearing in the early MJM fanzines is taken from the Image Gallery (I don't own any copies myself )

Key:
(ss) = Short story
(nf) = Non-fiction
(n.) = Novel
(cs) = Comic strip
(lt) = Letter
(ar) = Article
(rv) = Review

Revisions to original post

• Klan The Spoiler, (ss) c. 1955 [Published in 'Tarzan Adventures' c.1958?]
• Edits a number of self-published fanzines, including 'Fantasiana', 'Jazz Fan', 'Burroughsania' and 'Book Collectors News', c.1956-7
• Sojan the Mercenary, (ss) Burroughsania v1 #2, May 1956 [1]
• Johnny Lonesome Comes to Town, (ss) The Searchlight Book for Boys, 1956
• The Flame Bringers, (ss) The Searchlight Book for Boys, 1956
• Records a demo '78 disc at HMV, 5 Feb 1957
• Edits Typo, a fanzine with Jim Linwood, Spr 1957
• 3 Chords, (ss) Jazz Fan v1 # 8, June 1957
• Meeting Edgar Rice Burroughs, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 27 Jul 1957
• At The Earth's Core, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 3 Aug 1957
• Warlord Of Mars, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 10 Aug 1957
• Carson Napier Of Venus, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 17 Aug 1957
• War Chiefs Of The Apaches, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 24 Aug 1957
• Sojan the Swordsman, (ss) Tarzan Adventures v7 #22, 31 Aug 1957 [2]
• The Cure, (ss) Tarzan Adventures v7 #23, 7 Sep 1957
• Mission to Asno, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 21 Sep 1957 [3]
• The Sword of Life, (ss) [3a]; For Your Information, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 5 Oct 1957
• The Worldcon of 1957, 2 Nov 1957
• By Raft To Tokyo, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 16 Nov 1957
• Revolt in Hatnor, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 23 Nov 1957
• Four Famous Fighters Of World War I, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 14 Dec 1957
• The Hordes Attack, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 21 Dec 1957
• Checkmate, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 28 Dec 1957
• The Hungry Dreamers (n.) circa. 1957 [ms. lost]
• Canvas And Wire, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 4 Jan 1958
• Matthew and Mars, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 18 Jan 1958
• Life On Other Worlds No. 3, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 8 Feb 1958
• The Purple Galley, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 22 Feb 1958
• The Sea Wolves!, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 1 Mar 1958
• Nine-Ten-But Not Out, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 1 Mar 1958
• Sojan at Sea, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 8 Mar 1958
• The Sea of Demons, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 15 Mar 1958
• Prisoners in Stone, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 22 Mar 1958
• Freaks Of Flying, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 10 May 1958
• Sojan and the Plain of Mystery, (ss) Tarzan Adventures v8 #9, 31 May 1958
• More Freaks Of Flying, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 14 Jun 1958
• Sojan and the Sons of the Snake-God, (ss) Tarzan Adventures v8 #12, 21 Jun 1958
• The Siege Of Noothar, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 28 Jun 1958 [4]
• Sojan and the Hunters of Norj, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 12 Jul 1958
• Rens Karto of Bersnol, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 8 Sep 1958 [5]
• The Golden Barge: A Fable, (n.) circa. 1958 [Published Savoy 1979]
• The Battle Of Apache Canyon, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 24 Jan 1959
• Renegade Terror, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 7 Mar 1959
• Dutch Cassidy The Laughing Rustler, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 18 Apr 1959 [6]
• Captain Jack, (nf) Tarzan Adventures, 2 May 1959
• Something New, (lt) Sexton Blake Library #429, May 1959
• Professor Merit's Monster, (ss) Tarzan Adventures, 6 Jul 1959
• Vector Explanation, Oct 1959 [A4 sheet explaining delay in publication]
• Edits Vector #5, Aut 1959
• SF for Junior, (ar) Vector #5, Aut 1959
• The World, the Flesh and the Devil, (rv) Vector #5, Aut 1959
• 'A Case of Conscience' by James Blish, (rv) Vector #5, Aut 1959
• Peace on Earth, (ss) New Worlds #89, Dec 1959 [7]
• Dick Daring and the Hired Gunman, (cs) Mounted Policemen Comic Library, c.1959
• Olac the Gladiator, (cs) Tiger, c. 1959 [8]
• S.B.L.-S.F!, (lt) Sexton Blake Library #443, Jan 1960
• Edits Vector #6, Jan 1960
• Viagens and Harold Shea Stories, (ar) Vector #6, Jan 1960
• The Complete Enchanter, (ar) Vector #6, Jan 1960
• Review of British Edition Fantasy & Science Fiction No. 1, (rv) Vector #6, Jan 1960
• Edits Vector #7, Spr 1960
• Architect of the Extraordinary: The Work of Mervyn Peake, (ar) Vector #8, Jun 1960
• Blast-Off 1960, (ar) Bastion #1, Aug 1960
• The Dark Rider, (ss) Eldritch Dreamquest #1, Nov 1960

Footnotes:
[1] As John Wisdom - Retitled 'Sojan the Swordsman' for Tarzan Adventures, Aug 31 1957
[2] Previously appeared in Burroughsania v1 #2, May 1956 - Also 'Daughter of a Warrior King'?
[3] Also 'Adventures of Sojan'?
[3a] As John Wisdom - Also 'Dek of Noothar'
[4] As John Wisdom
[5] Plot by Richard W. Ellingsworth ('Tarzan Adventures' competition winner)
[6] 'Dutch' is a printer's error for 'Butch' (of 'Butch and Sundance' fame).
[7] As Michael Barrington - Co-written with Barrington Bayley
[8] MM denies writing any 'regular' Olac strips, but says he did most of the Annual stories - See Q&A Archive Article #3310

Observations:
One of my questions with regards to the Biography was how long Mike spent as editor of Tarzan Adventures; Mike couldn't remember precisely but said it felt like a long time. The Introduction in the Savoy 'Sojan' collection says the Sojan (and related) material 'corresponds roughly to the period during which the magazine was under Moorcock's editorial control', which would make Mike's tenure about 1 year (Aug '57-Sep '58 ), which would be 'a long time' when you're 17. :)

There appears to be a 'gap' between Sep 1958 and May 1959 - presumably this was because Mike was hitch-hiking around Europe? Is this also the period of Mike's time in Sweden I wonder? (1960 seems to have been too busy a period for him to have been in Sweden that year, unless he was there for less time than I thought. (Wasn't it about a year?))

Mike appears to have been in the UK during most of 1960 as he was editing the Vector fanzine from Autumn 1959 to Spring 1960. The article 'Blast-Off 1960' appears to have been inspired by the BSFA Eastercon that year where "Moorcock had been surprised by how many people at the 1960 Eastercon had expressed their general dissatisfaction with the state of current SF". (Source: Then by Rob Hansen) Does anyone know the actual publication dates for Vector #5, #6, and #7 which Mike edited? (#8 came out in June 1960, and was edited by Jim Groves.)

Apart from a couple of letters from Mike to Sexton Blake Library I realise I haven't really covered Mike's time at SBL. :oops:

And other than Dick Daring and Olac there may be other comic strips that Mike worked on during this period that I haven't been able to document.
So, I'm still confused about where precisely Sweden fits into all this. :? Any thoughts? Anyone?

Part 2 of this Bibliography (covering 1961-1970) will be posted over the weekend.

Bibliography 1955-1960
Bibliography 1961-1965
Bibliography 1966-1970

[Marca]

You're a brave man demos for attempting this :D

The stories roughly correspond to a list of my own that I made; I can't see the story Klan The Spoiler in yours though. This appears in the original Sojan book and is dated 1958, although I can't find a first appearance for it (maybe in Tarzan Adventures?). At the end of the story it says 'written c. 1955', which would make it one of Mike's earliest stories. The story The Lovebeast is also missing - although not published until the mid 60s, this was written around 1957.

Here's a list of non-fiction 57-59 I compiled from The Tanelorn Archives book, almost all of it from Tarzan Adventures:

The Huckster's Delusion summer 57 BIPED (fanz)
Meeting Edgar Rice Burroughs 27/7/57 - TA
At The Earth's Core 3/8/57 TA
Warlord Of Mars 10/8/57 - TA
Carson Napier Of Venus 17/8/57 TA
War Chiefs Of The Apaches 24/8/57 - TA
For Your Information 5/10/57 - TA
The Worldcon of 1957 2/11/57 - TA
By Raft To Tokyo 16/11/57 - TA
Four Famous Fighters Of World War I 14/12/57 - TA
Canvas And Wire 4/1/58 - TA
Life On Other Worlds No. 3 8/2/58 - TA
Nine-Ten-But Not Out 1/3/58 - TA
Freaks Of Flying 10/5/58 - TA
More Freaks Of Flying 14/6/58 - TA
The Battle Of Apache Canyon 24/1/59 - TA
Renegade Terror 7/3/59 - TA
Dutch Cassidy The Laughing Rustler 18/4/59 - TA
Captain Jack 2/5/59 TA
SF For Junior Autumn 59 - Vector

The MM fanzine Ergo Ego includes an imaginary jokey 'list' of foreign publications by Mike, presumably corresponding to the dates he was in Europe, which would mean he was in Paris in 1958 & 59 and Stockholm and Uppsala in 1961 if the dates are correct. If you want further details of Mike's 50s fanzine work I can post details here from the ones I have or send them to you personally. Let me know.

[Marca]

Also, here's a link to the BSFA Index of Mike's work in Vector over the years (you might have to scroll down to Mike's entry):

http://www.mjckeh.demon.co.uk/aut0144.htm#2876

This includes details of the issues he edited and articles he contributed, including stuff from 1959 & 60.

[David Mosley]

Excellent follow up, Aral. Thanks. As soon as I get a moment away from the family (never easy over the weekend ;)) I'll start updating my lists. :clap:

[DeeCrowSeer]

I salute you both... I'll admit I'm a little scared by such thoroughness, but you're building something deeply impressive. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Of course, it also underlines just how little of Mike's work many of us could ever hope to see... but we don't have to see every tree that exists to enjoy the one in our own back garden, as it were.

Sorry, it's early and my brain doesn't usually clock-in until after lunch.

But hail the fact checkers!!! :clap:

[Michael Moorcock]

That list triggered a memory. I also did a series called something like 'Building Your Own Army' which was about collecting toy soldiers!
That tended to appear on the inside back page of TA, as I recall.

[Michael Moorcock]

Oh, and 'Dutch' Cassidy was a printer's error for, of course, 'Butch' Cassidy (or the famous team w. Sundance). I'd forgotten about some of those Westerns, too.

[Michael Moorcock]

I'll have a closer look at that other list when I get the chance but I did spot one error for a Dick Daring story in 'Mounted Policemen Comic Library' -- I'm pretty sure it was in Thriller Picture Library.

[Michael Moorcock]

Other series I did were Zip Nolan, Skid Solo, The Man from TIGER, Danny and his Time Machine, On Safari and various others in LION and TIGER weeklies, as well as various annual jobs.