Tieflings of Melnibone

[Mark Hope]

The question of whether Melnibonean morals are Evil by D&D standards is dependent precisely upon that: D&D standards.

And by those standards, they're Evil.


Neither are orcs, drow, yuan-ti, mind flayers, beholders, devils, demons...

They're still Evil.

You don't have to think of yourself as Evil to be Evil. Thinking other people are cattle to be tortured and used for your enjoyment is qualification enough.

Completely agree. Moral relativism is all well and good, but it's not really part of D&D alignments. And even from a relatavistic point of view, I'd say that some things are pretty rotten no matter how you look at it.

I want to read some Elric stuff. What's the best place to start?

Well, you could do worse than to head on over to http://www.multiverse.org/ - that's Moorcock's site, a very friendly place filled with folks like me who like nothing better than to bang on about this stuff all day long

That said, though, I'll try to give you a quick answer to a slightly complicated bunch of books...

Moorcock wrote the first Elric tales back in the 60s (a few short stories and a novella.) These comprised the latter half of what would become the Elric saga. Yeah, he wrote the ending first. Over the following years, he filled in the blanks, through short stories and novels. As the years went by, his style has changed a bit too. Most recently, he did a spin-off trilogy that features Elric in our world and an awesome graphic novel with Walt Simonson that is a prequel to the whole saga.

Terramotus' advice is very good. The books he lists are collections of the main entries in the saga, and are very good. The first one on his list Elric of Melnibone is the first in the series (not including the recent graphic novel), despite being written later. Definitely read it, definitely read Weird of the White Wolf and definitely definitely read Stormbringer. It rocks.

Other than that, you could also conceivably start with the graphic novel (Making of a Sorcerer) which is both the most recent as well as the first chronological entry in the saga.

You could also just read the original stories that came out in the 60s (recently collected by Gollancz Masterworks in an omnibus just called Elric.) This comprises the second half of the saga, more or less, from Weird of the White Wolf onwards.

You could go the whole hog and track down a couple of omnibus collections by White Wolf Publishing called Elric: Song of the Black Sword and Elric: Stealer of Souls. These contain everything, apart from the recent spin-off series and the graphic novel. They can be hard to find, and are uneven in style (being collected from across several decades) but are as complete a collection as it gets. (There are a few other bits and pieces here and there I haven't mentioned, but only Moorcock obsessives like me tend to worry about that kind of thing...)

Or you could wait until next year, when Del Rey are re-releasing all the Elric stuff in deluxe illustrated editions, with "director's cut" extras and the works.

 

[Elphilm]

You could also just read the original stories that came out in the 60s (recently collected by Gollancz Masterworks in an omnibus just called Elric.) This comprises the second half of the saga, more or less, from Weird of the White Wolf onwards.

I second this recommendation. The short stories Moorcock wrote at the beginning of the sixties comprise my favorite Elric books. The string of stories starts with The Dreaming City and terminates with the novel Stormbringer.

The omnibus in question is volume 17 of the fabulous Fantasy Masterworks series: see here.

 

[Terramotus]

Or you could wait until next year, when Del Rey are re-releasing all the Elric stuff in deluxe illustrated editions, with "director's cut" extras and the works.

Oh, man, count me in for that. That sounds freakin' awesome. Also, maybe it's just because I was first exposed to Elric that way, but I still prefer the 6 novels in order to the short stories, not only because they're easier to find, but also because I think the story is... more well rounded that way. YMMV. That may be sacrelige in some circles.

I was hooked from the first few paragraphs of Elric of Melnibone. That was a good year - read LotR, Dune, and Elric for the first time back to back.

 

[pawsplay]

Read the original series. It starts with Elric of Melnibone. In lots of the printings, it's 6 books long, but it's been occasionally bound up together.

The order is, 1) Elric of Melnibone, 2) Sailor on the Seas of Fate, 3)The Weird of the White Wolf, 4)The Sleeping Sorceress, 5) The Vanishing Tower, 6) Stormbringer. If nothing else, read the first one.

As a bonus, SailorOnTheSeasOfFate I remember as the strongest in the series.