The Eternal Champion: A Guide for Newbies

[dlackey]

Introduction

A lot of newcomers to the forum and to Mr. Moorcock's work in general are probably wondering just where the heck they should start when attempting to read the Eternal Champion sequence. The White Wolf Omnibus editions are Mr. Moorcock's suggested reading order, and this list has been put together to reflect that list. The Omnibus editions are becoming scarce, but all of the books collected with in the Omnibus editions should be relatively easy to find via Amazon, Abe and other second hand bookstores. If you are collecting old paperbacks and don't know where to start, this list has been posted with you in mind. Enjoy the Multiverse!

What order should I read the books in?

The first thing you should do is read the books collected in the 15 omnibus editions. The name of the Omnibus edition is listed first, then the names of the books within that collection are listed. These are what you should look for when you are looking for used paperbacks. In cases where there are multiple titles, I have tried to include the alternates. The bibliography also has this list (and had it first I might add): [broken link]

The Eternal Champion:

The Eternal Champion
The Sundered Worlds (The Blood Red Game)
Phoenix in Obsidian (The Silver Warriors)

Von Bek:

The Warhound and the World's Pain
The City in the Autumn Stars
The Dragon in the Sword

Hawkmoon:

The Jewel in the Skull
The Mad God's Amulet
The Sword of the Dawn
The Runestaff

A Nomad of the Time Streams:

The Warlord of Air
The Land Leviathan
The Steel Tsar

Elric: Song of the Black Sword:

Elric of Melnibone
Fortress of the Pearl
Sailor on the Seas of Fate
Weird of the White Wolf

(The Elric books are collected as the Elric Saga I-III through the Sci-Fi book club)

The Roads Between the Worlds:

The Wrecks of Time (The Rituals of Infinity)
The Winds of Limbo (The Fireclown)
The Shores of Death (The Twilight Man)

Corum: The Coming of Chaos:

The Knight of Swords
The Queen of Swords
The King of Swords

(also collected in paperback as The Swords Trilogy)

Sailing to Utopia:

The Ice Schooner
The Black Corridor
The Distant Suns

Kane of Old Mars:

City of the Beast (Warriors of Mars)
Lord of the Spiders (Blades of Mars)
Masters of the Pit (Barbarians of Mars)

The Dancers at the End of Time:

An Alien Heat
The Hollow Lands
The End of All Songs

Elric: The Stealer of Souls:

The Vanishing Tower
Revenge of the Rose
The Bane of the Blacksword
Stormbringer

Corum: The Prince with the Silver Hand:

The Bull and the Spear
The Oak and the Ram
The Sword and the Stallion

(also collected in paperback as the Chronicles of Corum)

Count Brass:

Count Brass
The Champion of Garathorm
The Quest for Tanelorn

After you have finished the above books, I recommend you read the Cornelius books, the Second Ether Trilogy, and the new Elric books.

Cornelius:

The Final Programme
A Cure for Cancer
The English Assassain
The Condition of Muzak

(also collected in paperback as The Cornelius Quartet)

The Second Ether:

Blood
Fabulous Harbors
The War Amongst the Angels

The new Elric books:

The Dreamthief's Daughter
The Skrayling Tree

Please note that two volumes of the Omnibus sequence are collections of short stories. These volumes are entitled Legends From the End of Time and Earl Aubec. If you can't find the Omnibus editions, I suggest you read Elric at the End of Time, Lunching With the Antichrist, Dying For Tomorrow, The Time Dweller, Casablanca, My Experiences in the Third World War, The Deep Fix, The Opium General, Tales From the Texas woods, and Legends From the End of Time, as well as the novel The Golden Barge. You will be able to find the all of the stories in those books. Some stories appear in various books. For a complete list, go to this page: [broken link]

I found an old Moorcock book in the bookstore the other day. Can I read it?

This order is the preferred order, but if you want to read Cornelius before the Eternal Champion, enjoy!!! I do strongly recommend that you read the stories in a given series in order. Then again, I read King of Swords and the Chronicles of Corum before I read the first two swords book, and I read The Quest for Tanelorn before Count Brass and The Champion of Garathorm! If you don't mind spoiling the end of a trilogy for yourself, read in whatever order you want.

[dlackey]

Wow, isn't that a lot of books?

Most of these books are less than two hundred pages. Some of my friends are flabbergasted by the number of books, until they see how short most of them are. Short and stuffed with plenty of goodness. If you are interested, check out my condensed guide, which is designed to take you from The Eternal Champion to The Skrayling Tree in as few books as possible (all based on my own opinions and preferences).

Okay, so where can I find all these books?

You can find most or all of them at www.abebooks.com, the Advanced Book Exchange.

Amazon offers second hand books as well. I am in the process of posting links from the Condensed Guide to Amazon. I will also link the main guide to Amazon when I get the chance.

Also try www.ebay.com. Ebay users often sell collections of Moorcock paperbacks for very cheap.

Jon Davey at Jayde designs seems to have plenty of good stuff. Here is his email: [email protected]

Is it going to be expensive to collect them all?

It might be, but most of the paperbacks go for about a buck or two at the Advanced Book Exchange. Order a bunch at once to save on shipping!

The Condensed Guide

This is my own list, based on my preferences. You can take it or leave it. Think of it as a different perspective on the matter (namely, mine). I am working on linking these to Amazon so you can find them quickly.

John Daker

The Eternal Champion
Phoenix in Obsidian
The Dragon in the Sword

Elric

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

Corum

The Knight of Swords
The Queen of Swords
The King of Swords
The Bull and the Spear
The Oak and the Ram
The Sword and the Stallion

Hawkmoon

The Jewel in the Skull
The Mad God's Amulet
The Warriors of the Dawn
The Runestaff

Bastable

The Warlord of Air
The Land Leviathan
The Steel Tsar

Von Bek

The Warhound and the World's Pain
The City in the Autumn Stars

Count Brass/Hawkmoon

Count Brass
The Champion of Garathorm
The Quest for Tanelorn

Cornelius

The Final Programme
A Cure for Cancer
The English Assassain
The Condition of Muzak

The 2nd Ether

Blood
Fabulous Harbours
The War Amongst the Angels

Elric/Oona/VonBek

The Dreamthief's Daughter
The Skrayling Tree

[jimmyjestor]

thanks for the list you provided.it has been 20 years since a friend of mine first piqued my curiosity by uttering the name :
"stormbringer" and i've just recently been trying to grab copies.i live in wichita,ks and it has been tring to say the least searching for the books.i have found a few(the local libraries never have all of what i'm looking for unless i try an interlibrary loan which can take a while to recieve)and without some kind of reference list most of my searching had been limited to just "elric" titles because that was what i remembered.i understand your friends frustration at reading books out of sequence because i had the same problem when i first picked up the skrayling tree,not knowing about "the dreamthiefs daughter"(which i recieved for christmas thankfully and read before the turkey was devoured).the search is on.one question though;are there(or will there be)any books that surround mournblade as involved as stormbringer?

[dlackey]

Not really a "Mournblade" book per se, but several books make reference to it. You'll find that Stormbringer shows up in various incarnations throughout the series and sometimes the reference is very subtle (as in "The Sword and the Stallion").

[lordmarioh]

Re: The Eternal Champion: A Guide for Newbies

Bastable*:

The Warlord of Air
The Land Leviathan

*I did not include the Steel Tsar. I hated that book, and Mr. M. once stated to me in the Q&A that he didn't like it either. Therefore, I am leaving it off. Read if you so desire.

Does that mean that we can leave it off without much damage done?

[dlackey]

edited 1-28-04

I am adding the Steel Tsar to the list. Some people might want to compete the trilogy. My opinion on the book is irrelavant.

[Shadowheart]

Being somewhat of a newbie (I've just read the Elric stories so far) lists like these are handy to have. Not that my collecting technique requires lists, since it boils down to entering any bookstore I see and taking every book that says "Moorcock" on it. I'm not sure how many such books the are in US bookstores, but here in the Netherlands it's typically rather few.

Could be years before I find The Mad God's Amulet and get to complete the Hawkmoon set.

[dlackey]

You know, Shadowheart, I read many of the above series out of order for pretty much the same reason- I would walk into a used bookstore and grab anything that said Moorcock on the cover. My guide is just a guide, but if you have to read out of order, go for it. I have found a used bookstore near me that has lots of Moorcock paperbacks come through it and even some Harlan Ellisons, which are even harder to find for some reason. Damn things sold millions of copies in the 60's and 70's, now you can't find them! By the way, if you don't mind ordering from the States, I recommend www.abe.com. They draw their catalog from hundreds of used bookstores all over the US. If you can't find it there, it can't be found

[dlackey]

The newbie guide has been updated into more of a "FAQ" style post now. Hope it helps guys/gals!!!

[dlackey]

Bumped...

I have changed this list to reflect the author's preferred order (based on the WW editions). I added some books at the end that I think you should read as well.

[L'Etranger]

Wow, isn't that a lot of books?

Dear Dlackey,

that isn't all yet by far!
You've left out:

The Brothel in Rosenstrasse
The Golden Barge
Gloriana
Mother London
King of the City
Behold the Man
The Pyat Series 1-3 (Nآ°4 is to follow shortly, I understand)

All of them important books of Moorcock's and also possible "entries" to his world.
I find they should definitely be listed way up in the first list. The might seem "non-affiliated" with the other cycles, but certain familiar characters and incarnations also show up in most of these. They have also been reviewed very well in serious papers like "Guardian" or have received awards like the "WORLD FANTASY AWARD" - and therefore shouldn't be missed.
Thanks,
L'E

[dlackey]

I left them out on purpose. I was trying to focus on the fantasy/sci-fi books, and the books you listed are all more serious liteary endeavors. Great books all, and highly recommended, but they don't quite fit in with the spirit of what I was tryinig to do.

Thanks for the suggestion though!!!

[L'Etranger]

I left them out on purpose. I was trying to focus on the fantasy/sci-fi books, and the books you listed are all more serious literary endeavors. Great books all, and highly recommended, but they don't quite fit in with the spirit of what I was tryinig to do.

Thanks for the suggestion though!!!

You're welcome.

However - maybe there are "newbies" out there who come along just that path - that of more "serious literary endeavor"?

[Whiskers]

I'm hoping someone will start a thread that leans toward what LE was suggesting. I haven't got the time for it. And since no one really contributed to this thread, it felt like there was a community concensus. That is why I made the "Reading List" link to this thread. If another one is created, I can snap a quick page out to inform people of the alternate threads. Perhaps we could have themed lists.

:idea: hint hint :idea:

[dlackey]

I left them out on purpose. I was trying to focus on the fantasy/sci-fi books, and the books you listed are all more serious literary endeavors. Great books all, and highly recommended, but they don't quite fit in with the spirit of what I was tryinig to do.

Thanks for the suggestion though!!!

You're welcome.

However - maybe there are "newbies" out there who come along just that path - that of more "serious literary endeavor"?

I'm not disputing that. I switch between both myself- ER Burroughs one day, William S Burroughs the next. But Mr. M clearly distinguishes between his literary novels and his fantasy novels- just look at the front of King of the City and see the "other books by this author" list. Other than Jerry Cornelius, there is nary a hint of his Eternal Champion books.

I agree with Berry- there should be other themed lists. I'm more into the EC stuff than than the literary novels that he has written (although I do like them, especially King of the City), so that is where more of my focus goes. When I finally have some time to get into the Moorcockopedia, I'm going to have to get others to help me with the literary novels, because there are others with a far greater knowledge of them than myself. I know a lot about the Multiverse (although Carter vastly exceeds my knowledge of the 2nd ether), but I can barely remember Mother London.