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Elric: The Stealer Of Souls by Michael Moorcock
01/06/2008 . Source: Eamonn Murphy 
pub: Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 458 page illustrated enlarged paperback. Price: $15.00 (US), $17.00 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-345-49862-5. Buy Elric: The Stealer Of Souls in the USA - or Buy Elric: The Stealer Of Souls in the UK  check out website: www.delreybooks.com and www.johnpicacio.com
'Elric: The Stealer of Souls' is volume I in 'The Chronicles Of The Last Emperor Of Melbiboné'. Unlike the numerous multi-volume chronicles which make bookshelves sag nowadays these were not pre-planned as such. Moorcock wrote some Elric stories for magazines as a kind of serial, every story independent. They were successful and he got a contract to write novels so he started turning out 'The Eternal Champion' series, ripping yarns of sword and sorcery. Since then Moorcock has got all literary, don't you know, winning Guardian prizes and critical acclaim. To his credit, he has never disowned the early works, especially Elric, though he has sometimes disparaged them as knocked off in a fortnight. They were, though, which accounts for the often patchy quality of the writing.
This volume is made up of two novels, 'Stealer Of Souls' and 'Stormbringer'. 'Stealer of Souls' is more a collection of long stories than a novel, though none the worse for that. 'Stormbringer' is also episodic but with a central story that was more planned, and it's great. 'Stormbringer' was absolutely stunning to me as a teenager ('Wow! Cosmic, man!') and led me to devour all of Moorcock's 'Eternal Champion' series wherever I could find it in cheap second-hand paperback. I imagine younger readers today will feel the same way and envy them the joy of first contact. The other books in the series, 'Corum', 'Hawkmoon', 'Count Brass', etc were released a few years ago in big clumpy multi-volume editions that swiftly found their way into the remaindered bookshops. I snapped up several for under a fiver.
The book has a foreword, an introduction and various essays about the creation of Elric, behind the scenes stuff which is very interesting to old fans. The foreword is by Alan Moore, comic-writing genius and shaggy bearded Moorcock look-a-like. The other stuff is by the author himself. He writes of Freudian symbols, caves as wombs and magic swords as metaphors for alcohol and dependency. He denies any significant influence by Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs or Tolkien. Well, he can deny two of them credibly but the stuff reeks of Howard. It is fast-paced, melodramatic and loaded with adjectives.
Elric is the last Emperor of Meliboné and is an albino weakling. To make himself strong he uses sorcery, potions and the terrible sword Stormbringer which drinks the souls of those it slays and passes some of their strength to Elric. Stormbringer has a malevolent mind of its own and particularly likes killing Elric's friends. This makes him tragic. The Melibonéan Empire is reduced to one island city now, which Elric destroys with a load of attacking humans after his cousin steals the throne. Then he wanders the Earth having adventures. His world is ruled by the Lords of Chaos, god-like beings, who are at war with the Lords of Law. The humans struggle along as best they can. There are so many separate stories that to describe the plots would take forever. Suffice to say Elric encounters wizards, conquerors, cunning Queens, corrupt Kings, malevolent merchants and all the other characters of epic fantasy. Old hat now but Moorcock is probably stepfather to the genre, the father being, forever, Tolkien. I prefer Moorcock's books. One would probably rather go for a pint with nice chaps like Tolkien and Lewis but it has to be admitted that slightly wacky fellows like Moore and Moorcock are more interesting writers.
It is perfectly suitable for young adult readers. It's gory and exciting but there is romance rather than sex. Elric is all tormented and yearning and confused and doomed, the way adolescents often feel. Apparently, the author felt a bit this way himself when he was writing the first stories. He turned out pulp fiction to pay the rent and it turned out pretty good. Here it is, illustrated, for the next generation to enjoy.
Eamonn Murphy
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