Michael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels. Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his "Second Ether" fiction.
Songwriter and member of various rock bands, including Greenhorns, The Hawkwind , Blue yster Cult , and Deep Fix.
Prolific science fiction and fantasy author who has won the British Science Fiction Association Award , the Nebula Award , the Derleth Award (1972, 1974, 1975, 1976), the Guardian Fiction Prize , the Campbell Memorial Award , and the World Fantasy Award .
Has published fiction under the pseudonyms Bill Barclay, Edward P. Bradbury, James Colvin, and Desmond Reid.
In 1971, Wendy Pini (of Elfquest fame) was working on an animated version of Moorcocks popular "Stormbringer" novels. Work stopped in 1973 after Pini decided the project was overwhelming her. Moorcock showed limited enthusiasm when shown preliminary work in 1976, and the animation has not been returned to since. Artwork and a rough plot description are available in Law And Chaos, now out of print.
Became editor of New Worlds magazine in 1964, which would be known for the New Wave of science fiction.
(March 2003) Living with his wife in Austin, Texas, and Majorca, Spain.
That John Boorman movie Hope and Glory (1987) is actually very,similar to my own life. You grow up in ruins. You grow up in a very,malleable landscape that was constantly changing. Something would be,gone, but at the same time that opened up vistas of new landscape, so,you were constantly getting these very peculiar changes of environment.
Time is the enemy of identity,Elric knew that everything that existed had its opposite. In danger he might find peace. And yet, of course, in peace there was danger. Being an imperfect creature in an imperfect world he would always know paradox. And that was why in paradox there was always a kind of truth. That was why philosophers and soothsayers flourished. In a perfect world there would be no place for them. In an imperfect world the mysteries were always without solution and that was why there was always a great choice of solutions.
For the mind of man alone is free to explore the lofty vastness of the cosmic infinite, to transcend ordinary consciousness, to roam the secret corridors of the brain where past and future melt into one. . . And universe and individual are linked, the one mirrored in the other, and each contains the other.
Why should their pain produce such marvelous beauty? he wonders. Or is all beauty created through pain? Is that the secret of great art, both human and Melnibonen?,Therefore it seemed a dreadful injustice that these wise races should perish at the hands of creatures who were still little more than animals. It was as if vultures feasted on and squabbled over the paralyzed body of the youthful poet who could only stare at them with puzzled eyes as they slowly robbed him of an exquisite existence they would never appreciate, never know they were taking.
Ah, the world was ever so. How sad are heroes when their tasks are done. . .
The subtlest lie of all is the full truth.
The sentiment may perceive and love the universe, but the universe cannot perceive and love the sentiment. The universe sees no distinction between the multitude of creatures and elements which comprise it. All are equal. None is favoured. The universe, equipped with nothing but the materials and the power of creation, continues to create: something of this, something of that. It cannot control what it creates and it cannot, it seems, be controlled by its creations (though a few might deceive themselves otherwise). Those who curse the workings of the universe curse that which is deaf. Those who strike out at those workings fight that which is inviolate. Those who shake their fists, shake their fists at blind stars.
You Mabden seem to think that happiness must be bought with misery. . . It is not easy for Vadhagh to understand that. We believe -- believed -- that happiness was a natural condition of reasoning beings.
Corum knew that he was mad, in Vadhagh terms. But he supposed that he was sane enough in Mabden terms. And this was, after all, now a Mabden world. He must learn to accept its peculiar disorders as normal, if he were going to survive.
There was no more dangerous kind of madman than one who devoted a good brain and a courageous heart to unhealthy ambitions.
We were all serious readers, sitting on wooden chairs at rows of lecterns, turning the pages, united in mutual love of isolation. .
