A few quick questions for anyone who knows about Elric..

[alexrollo]

Hi there.

Ive been checking this forum out for a while and have finally got round to creating my first post.

Basically i need to know a few bits about elric.

The first question is does anyone know the correct order that the elric books should be read?

and secondly does anyone have any info about the white wolf picture by Robert Gould as someone i know has had a signed copy of this for a few years and they would be keen on any extra information anyone has on this amazing bit of art..

Many thanks for your time

alex

[Marca]

It depends whether you want to read them in the order they were written, or whether you want to follow the internal chronology of the stories. Here's a site which gives some background on the Elric books, and which has the original six volume DAW/Grafton series of books listed:

http://www.stormbringer.net/elric.html

Further books have been written which fit into the chronology (Fortress Of The Pearl and Revenge Of The Rose, so the sequence now reads:

Elric of Melnibone
Fortress of the Pearl
Sailor on the Seas of Fate
Weird of the White Wolf
The Vanishing Tower
Revenge of the Rose
The Bane of the Black Sword
Stormbringer

If you want to read them in the order they were written, then you have:

Stealer Of Souls (the stories were split up and included in Weird Of The White Wolf and Bane Of The Black Sword)
Stormbringer
The Sleeping Sorceress (The Vanishing Tower)
Elric of Melnibone
Sailor on the Seas of Fate
Fortress of the Pearl
Revenge of the Rose

The two volume Millenium and White Wolf editions have all the stories in chronological order.

[Anonymous]

Where do Dreamthief's Daughter, Scrayling Tree, and White Wolf's Son fit into the chronology?

[Dead-Air]

While they squeeze in along the way, Michael himself has reccomended reading them after the original series.

[GuyLawley]

While they squeeze in along the way, Michael himself has reccomended reading them after the original series.

Quite so. According to a note added by Elric himself to one of the manuscripts, The Dreamthief's Daughter and The Skrayling Tree are to be considered "apocrypha"? to the main Saga. They wholly or partly happen in Melnibonean "dream-time"? (but we know that the dreams of a Melnibonean sorcerer king may be powerful enough to create new realities in the multiverse).

Thus in Dreamthief's we find Elric helplessly sleeping under a powerful spell in Tanelorn, reaching out in his dream to Von Bek in another plane of the Multiverse, and merging with Von Bek's body to carry on the struggle. This brings him back to Tanelorn in material form, his spirit inhabiting another body while his own body continues to sleep.

I will leave it to Elric scholars more thorough than myself to speculate exactly when in the Saga the albino made this visit to Tanelorn. Certainly Moonglum is with him and it is after the fall of Immryr, and the death of Cymoril.

In Skrayling Tree, if memory serves, Elric participates in the story, in a dream, while hanging near death on the mast of Jagreen Lern's ship. This incident takes place in Stormbringer, in the section Black Sword's Brothers, between chapters 5 and 6. This dream (or Dream) is necessary for Elric to find within himself the power to summon Stormbringer (the sword, not the book!) back to his hand from another plane of the Multiverse.

Again, if I'm remembering correctly from the end of Skrayling, events in White Wolf's Son may well be a continuation of this "Dream Of A Thousand Years."?

Few, I suspect, would find it necessary to pause in their reading of Stormbringer, at that point in Black Sword's Brothers, to read The Skrayling Tree (and wait for the publication of White Wolf's Son!) before tackling chapter 6 and the rest of Stormbringer.

It does seem to make sense to read the apocrypha after the main Saga. They clearly fit well together.

[Dead-Air]

Very well explained Guy. Another reason to do so would be that the writing style of the new series is quite different from all of the older books with the possible exception of Revenge of the Rose which is a bit of a transition in literary approaches on Michael's part. Revenge still fits in well with the chronology of Elric's life though as it isn't a dream sequence and is still centered around Elric. The newer books are equally centered around Elric, Oona, and Von Bek.

[GuyLawley]

Very well explained Guy. Another reason to do so would be that the writing style of the new series is quite different from all of the older books with the possible exception of Revenge of the Rose which is a bit of a transition in literary approaches on Michael's part. Revenge still fits in well with the chronology of Elric's life though as it isn't a dream sequence and is still centered around Elric. The newer books are equally centered around Elric, Oona, and Von Bek.

Good points, well made.

[Michael Moorcock]

You're right, Guy, about the third book being a continuation of the Dream of a Thousand Years. And one other reason for reading these books after the main series is that there might be a better tension involved if you know everything Elric (and others) are fighting for...

[GuyLawley]

You're right, Guy, about the third book being a continuation of the Dream of a Thousand Years. And one other reason for reading these books after the main series is that there might be a better tension involved if you know everything Elric (and others) are fighting for...

I for one am getting very impatient to read White Wolf's Son and have started re-reading Skrayling Tree in the interim.

Enjoying it hugely so far, by the way. First time around I got impatient (that word again) waiting for the Albino to make his entrance (and/or for White Crow to be explained). Now I don't have that problem.

I think all of your books bear several readings, or even benefit therefrom, even the pure entertainment entries in the canon. There are a variety of reasons why. Some to do with the structure (or various different structures) of the Multiverse and/or Time which the books relate. Others which have more to do with the Champion's increasingly sophisticated understanding of his / her role in the Scheme (or schemes) Of Things.

The notion that the Elric Apocrypha series (as it shall henceforth be known (???)) is better read after we know what Elric and others are fighting for thus falls very neatly into place.

[Dead-Air]

The notion that the Elric Apocrypha series (as it shall henceforth be known (???))

Perhaps not fair to the other 2/3s of the Albino Eternal who share at least as much of the first two books as Elric! That was the biggest shock for me reading The Dreamthief's Daughter, that I was well into the book before Elric made even a ghostly appearance. Of course he is the biggest star on the bill, but he doesn't get any more lines that Oona and Von Bek to be sure.

[Ant]

... Perhaps not fair to the other 2/3s of the Albino Eternal who share at least as much of the first two books as Elric! ...

Well, The Dreamthief's Daughter is subtitled "a tale of the albino" not "a tale of Elric"...

Ciao,
Ant

[EverKing]

Let's not forget the "Making of a Sorcerer" graphic series. These are a prequel to the entire Elric saga, but in my opinion (like the Elric Apocrypha series) are best read after completing the rest of the tale for much the same reason as Mike says the Dreamthief's, et al. should be read after: knowing the fates of the characters builds good tension...and (for me anyway) an increased appreciation and understanding of many of the things going on.

[Anonymous]

The What?

Let's not forget the "Making of a Sorcerer" graphic series.

I've never heard of this "Making of a Sorcerer" your mentioned. 8O

I searched Amazon.com and BN.com and didn't find it., Any suggestions on where I could find a copy? If so, send me an e-mail. [email protected]

[Krimson]

Re: The What?

Let's not forget the "Making of a Sorcerer" graphic series.

I've never heard of this "Making of a Sorcerer" your mentioned. 8O

I searched Amazon.com and BN.com and didn't find it., Any suggestions on where I could find a copy? If so, send me an e-mail. [email protected]

Try your local comics shop. Its published by DC comics and should be easy to find.

[GuyLawley]

May not be all that easy to find. Initial stocks of no's 1 and 2 may well have sold out during the wait for issue 3! And smaller comic shops will not have stocked it at all.

But shop managers might be able to order copies as back issues for customers who ask.

The book collection will (we trust) be out eventually, after the comics ahve been and gone.

Guy