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The Metatemporal Detective
The Metatemporal Detective
Seaton Begg and his constant companion, pathologist Dr "Taffy" Sinclair, both head the secret British Home Office section of the Metatemporal Investigation Department — an organization whose function is understood only by the most high-ranking government people around the world — and a number of powerful criminals.
Begg's cases cover a multitude of crimes in dozens of alternate worlds, generally where transport is run by electricity, where the internal combustion engine is unknown, and where giant airships are the chief form of international carrier. He investigates the murder of English Prime Minister "Lady Ratchet," the kidnaping of the king of a country taken over by a totalitarian regime, and the death of Geli Raubel, Adolf Hitler's mistress. Other adventures take him to a wild west where "the Masked Buckaroo" is tracking down a mysterious red-eyed Apache known as the White Wolf; to 1960s' Chicago where a girl has been killed in a sordid disco; and to an independent state of Texas controlled by neocon Christians with oily (and bloody) hands. He visits Paris, where he links up with his French colleagues of the Sûreté du Temps Perdu. In several cases the fanatical Adolf Hitler is his opponent, but his arch-enemy is the mysterious black sword wielding aristocrat known as Zenith the Albino, a drug-dependent, charismatic exile from a distant realm he once ruled.
In each story the Metatemporal Detectives' cases take them to worlds at once like and unlike our own, sometimes at odds with and sometimes in league with the beautiful adventuresses Mrs. Una Persson or Lady Rosie von Bek. At last Begg and Sinclair come face to face with their nemesis on the moonbeam roads which cross between the universes, where the great Eternal Balance itself is threatened with destruction and from which only the luckiest and most daring of metatemporal adventurers will return.
These fast-paced mysteries pay homage to Moorcock's many literary enthusiasms for authors as diverse as Clarence E. Mulford, Dashiell Hammett, Georges Simenon, and his boyhood hero, Sexton Blake.
Begg's cases cover a multitude of crimes in dozens of alternate worlds, generally where transport is run by electricity, where the internal combustion engine is unknown, and where giant airships are the chief form of international carrier. He investigates the murder of English Prime Minister "Lady Ratchet," the kidnaping of the king of a country taken over by a totalitarian regime, and the death of Geli Raubel, Adolf Hitler's mistress. Other adventures take him to a wild west where "the Masked Buckaroo" is tracking down a mysterious red-eyed Apache known as the White Wolf; to 1960s' Chicago where a girl has been killed in a sordid disco; and to an independent state of Texas controlled by neocon Christians with oily (and bloody) hands. He visits Paris, where he links up with his French colleagues of the Sûreté du Temps Perdu. In several cases the fanatical Adolf Hitler is his opponent, but his arch-enemy is the mysterious black sword wielding aristocrat known as Zenith the Albino, a drug-dependent, charismatic exile from a distant realm he once ruled.
In each story the Metatemporal Detectives' cases take them to worlds at once like and unlike our own, sometimes at odds with and sometimes in league with the beautiful adventuresses Mrs. Una Persson or Lady Rosie von Bek. At last Begg and Sinclair come face to face with their nemesis on the moonbeam roads which cross between the universes, where the great Eternal Balance itself is threatened with destruction and from which only the luckiest and most daring of metatemporal adventurers will return.
These fast-paced mysteries pay homage to Moorcock's many literary enthusiasms for authors as diverse as Clarence E. Mulford, Dashiell Hammett, Georges Simenon, and his boyhood hero, Sexton Blake.
327 pages, Hardcover
First published October 31, 2007
6 people are currently reading
219 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moorcock
1,205 books3,743 followersMichael 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 7, 2019
These Moorcock stories work better together. The crimson-eyed albino, his soul-destroying black blade, and the clever English detective appear in every story--often subtly altered (e.g.,the blade may be a spear, a broadsword, a rapier)--enriching the individual works but also giving them a new unity, connected by Moorcock's conception of the multiverse and the continual struggle between Law and Chaos.
Each story is a pulp pastiche, derived from different genres--Holmesian consulting detective, hard boiled American detective, European Nazi spy tale, the cowboy yarn of Old West adventure, to name a few--set principally in a pseudo-Edwardian steam-punk environment. The effect of all this is to make it seem as if popular literature is a multiverse in itself through which shadows of the achetypal hero and villain chase each other to the end of time.
Moorcock's language wittily parodies the various pulp styles, but many of the stories are not completely successful, and the worst have narratives more contrived than imaginative, the mythic element a mere overlay for an uninspired plot. I found "The Mystery of the Texas Twister" particularly tedious; it tries to be contemporary political satire and loses its narrative focus.
My advice is to read only the best stories: "The Affair of the Seven Virgins," "Crimson Eyes," "The Case of the Nazi Canary," "London Flesh" and "The Flaneur des Arcades de L'Opera." This is about half the book, and reading these stories will be more enjoyable than wading though the entire 327 pages.
December 2, 2021
This is a collection of more-or-less linked stories (yes, I believe you can define "more-or-less linked stories" as "Michael Moorcock" and vice-versa), most of which feature his character Seaton Begg, who's a pastiche of the famous fictional English detective Sexton Blake. Begg is the titular metatemporal detective, and his exploits and adventures take place in worlds somewhat similar to our own in a variety of pulpish literary genres. I liked the mystery and fantasy stories the best and the ones set in the American West the least. He is at different times opposed or aided by Count Zenith, a variant Elric albino who wields a magical black rune-sword, and we have other familiar characters occasionally on hand as well, such as Mrs. Una Persson and members of the von Bek family. Hitler appears a couple of times, too. The earliest two stories were published in 1966 and one was original to the volume in 2007, so we're presented with a good sampling of the major span of Moorcock's career. It's not a major piece of the law vs. chaos puzzle, which is the foundation of his complex multiverse tapestry, but reading them side-by-side like this is fun and leads to interesting comparisons.
April 26, 2012
This collection of short fictions consists of pastiches of several genres woven into the framework of Moorcock's gargantuan Eternal Champion "series". They are competent enough except that the detective story elements are not well done, being too predictable. The other problem is that the whole Law vs. Chaos/Eternal Champion/Cosmic Balance/Multiverse thing is now so overdone as to be boring. Unless you haven't read much Moorcock, of course.
Some of the earlier Eternal Champion sagas contained more or less cryptic satires of Britain and Europe and the USA. Here we have blatant Nazi and IRA bashing. Easy targets. The former may be part of the homage to the pulp fiction era where cartoon Nazis featured as bad guys, in a similar way to Inglourious Basterds' homage to a certain era of WWII adventure movies.
I get the feeling that Moorcock has been able to turn out material like this in his sleep for two or three decades...
Some of the earlier Eternal Champion sagas contained more or less cryptic satires of Britain and Europe and the USA. Here we have blatant Nazi and IRA bashing. Easy targets. The former may be part of the homage to the pulp fiction era where cartoon Nazis featured as bad guys, in a similar way to Inglourious Basterds' homage to a certain era of WWII adventure movies.
I get the feeling that Moorcock has been able to turn out material like this in his sleep for two or three decades...
December 7, 2008
A collection of pulp tales that are amusing, campy , and of course lots of fun(but for those who don’t love pulp and Moorcock neophytes may want to steer clear.) Taking elements and characters from his Bastable political steampunk adventures, Elric’s decadent sword and sorcery adventures, and the metaphysical weirdness of the Von Bek stories and then filtering through his love for Sexton Blake(and especially his adversary Monsier Zenith the Albino), Moorcock manages to write works that are parodies, alternative history, metafiction, and great adventures and mysteries. I have heard accusations of a lack of political subtlety, but when is pulp subtle? “The Mystery of the Texas Twister” casting of Bush and his cronies as pulp villains is decidedly not a stretch, and its also great pulp romp with steampunk gadgetry(which to extant all these stories feature) in an intriguing alternative United States. For fans of Moorcock and of course pulp fiction.
November 23, 2007
Everybody’s got their favorite Moorcock, usually coinciding with the first Moorcock story they read. Some love Jerry Cornelius (Hi, Rick!). Some favor Von Bek.. And quite a few go gaga for Elric. Me? Don’t get me wrong; I’m looking forward to the upcoming Elric: The Stealer of Souls as much as any other breathless fangirl. But truthfully, I like pulp adventure Moorcock the best. You get all the advantages of the multiverse setting served up with a heaping helping of action, adventure, and fun.
The Metatemporal Detective features numerous stories of Sir Seaton Begg and his jousting through various time streams with his kinsman and archenemy, Zenith the Albino (who bears a sword-cane of a strange pulsing black metal). Moorcock grew up reading and loving the pulps, and it shows. When an author is really having fun with their work, you can tell, and that adds to the enjoyment of the reader.
These stories are fun, and in some cases, even funny, but that doesn’t mean that Moorcock isn’t talking about some serious topics. He has no compunctions about casting certain members of our current government as ruthless Old West-style politicos in a satire as painful as it is funny. You won’t finish this book wondering where Moorcock’s political sympathies lie. But the political commentary never overpowers the action/adventure plot, making for a quick and entertaining read.
So however you came to Moorcock, you need to give these stories a try, because even if you don’t recognize whatever drew you to Moorcock’s work in the first place (which is highly unlikely), you’ll find a rollicking good ride through the timestreams in these little gems.
The Metatemporal Detective features numerous stories of Sir Seaton Begg and his jousting through various time streams with his kinsman and archenemy, Zenith the Albino (who bears a sword-cane of a strange pulsing black metal). Moorcock grew up reading and loving the pulps, and it shows. When an author is really having fun with their work, you can tell, and that adds to the enjoyment of the reader.
These stories are fun, and in some cases, even funny, but that doesn’t mean that Moorcock isn’t talking about some serious topics. He has no compunctions about casting certain members of our current government as ruthless Old West-style politicos in a satire as painful as it is funny. You won’t finish this book wondering where Moorcock’s political sympathies lie. But the political commentary never overpowers the action/adventure plot, making for a quick and entertaining read.
So however you came to Moorcock, you need to give these stories a try, because even if you don’t recognize whatever drew you to Moorcock’s work in the first place (which is highly unlikely), you’ll find a rollicking good ride through the timestreams in these little gems.
June 12, 2017
This book is a collection of only loosely related stories. While the stories all deal with the same characters, Sir Seaton Begg, his companion 'Taffy' Sinclair, and their adversary, and Begg's cousin, Monsieur Zenith , each tale is told in a slightly different reality of the multiverse that are connected by the Moonbeam Roads or The Roads Between Worlds. So each may or may not be related to the others in this compendium. This makes the anthology a unique reading experience, reminiscent of the Jerry Cornelius books, and leaves the reader wondering about all the other hinted at cases and adventures that are only tantalizingly mentioned. While these stories may not be as fresh and raw as those dealing with earlier Moorcock characters like Elric, Corum or Hawkmoon, there is a greater level of sophistication to these tales. The accumulation is a remarkable collection and a wonderful addition to Moorcock's Chronicles of the Eternal Champion.
September 14, 2014
"The Affair of the Seven Virgins". This starts out as a period detective story that's OK, but it pretty suddenly rises up to be much more interesting in the last few pages when it's revealed as a Von Bek story after all [6/10].
"Crimson Eyes". In many ways, this story was entirely puzzling for its expansion of the Crimson Eyes character, but it was a cool puzzlement that promised interesting revelations in the future [7/10].
"Ghost Warriors". This story isn't particularly original: the idea of Elric using the sword and some other artifacts to open a path to the multiverse has been done before. Nonetheless, it's delightful to see him in the Wild West, and overall the western genre is carried off well [7+/10].
"The Girl Who Killed Sylvia Blade". A bit too pastiched at times, but in the end, a nice noir piece [6/10].
"The Case of the Nazi Canary". An interesting mystery that highlights the fact that Begg is a metatemporal detective [7/10].
"Sir Milk-and-Blood". Great to see the real-world politics, but this is just a vignette [5/10].
"The Mystery of the Texas Twister". This return to Texas unfortunately isn't nearly as evocative as "Ghost Warriors", possibly because of its heavy focus on satirizing George Bush and the rest of his corrupt administration [5/10].
"The Pleasure Garden of Felipe Sagittarius". An extremely bizarre story that's wonderful for its wacky multiversal ideas of a very different WWII. There's tons that is just thrown out there [7/10].
"The Affair of Le Bassin des Hivers." Unfortunately, the trope of Zenith fighting someone then wandering off has gotten a bit stale by this story, which leaves it flat [5/10].
"The Flaneur des Arcades de l'Opera". Though this story reuses the same 'ole tropes and characters from the Metatemporal series, it brings everything up to a cosmic level, providing a different take on the characters in their final outing [7/10].
Overall, The Metatemporal Detective gets a little repetitive in its schtict of Begg vs. Elric, but at its best the stories are interesting weird take on recent history, and that shines through.
"Crimson Eyes". In many ways, this story was entirely puzzling for its expansion of the Crimson Eyes character, but it was a cool puzzlement that promised interesting revelations in the future [7/10].
"Ghost Warriors". This story isn't particularly original: the idea of Elric using the sword and some other artifacts to open a path to the multiverse has been done before. Nonetheless, it's delightful to see him in the Wild West, and overall the western genre is carried off well [7+/10].
"The Girl Who Killed Sylvia Blade". A bit too pastiched at times, but in the end, a nice noir piece [6/10].
"The Case of the Nazi Canary". An interesting mystery that highlights the fact that Begg is a metatemporal detective [7/10].
"Sir Milk-and-Blood". Great to see the real-world politics, but this is just a vignette [5/10].
"The Mystery of the Texas Twister". This return to Texas unfortunately isn't nearly as evocative as "Ghost Warriors", possibly because of its heavy focus on satirizing George Bush and the rest of his corrupt administration [5/10].
"The Pleasure Garden of Felipe Sagittarius". An extremely bizarre story that's wonderful for its wacky multiversal ideas of a very different WWII. There's tons that is just thrown out there [7/10].
"The Affair of Le Bassin des Hivers." Unfortunately, the trope of Zenith fighting someone then wandering off has gotten a bit stale by this story, which leaves it flat [5/10].
"The Flaneur des Arcades de l'Opera". Though this story reuses the same 'ole tropes and characters from the Metatemporal series, it brings everything up to a cosmic level, providing a different take on the characters in their final outing [7/10].
Overall, The Metatemporal Detective gets a little repetitive in its schtict of Begg vs. Elric, but at its best the stories are interesting weird take on recent history, and that shines through.
November 17, 2016
I was familiar with the name Michael Moorcock, but I'd never read anything of his, until "The Metatemporal Detective" pinged on my radar.
The book is an anthology of Moorcock stories about Sir Seaton Begg aka Sexton Blake and his distant cousin, and not so distant sometime adversary, Monsieur Zenith, as they either battle or work together across the multiverses to solve crimes and save lives.
"The Metatemporal Detective" is a weirdly charming book and also charmingly weird. It mixes detective fiction with fantasy, a touch of steampunk, and seasons it with the Holy Grail. It is possibly one of the, if not THE, oddest book I have ever read.
I loved it.
However, I have no idea who to recommend it to, except to say if you love well written books that are more than a little offbeat, then "The Metatemporal Detective" is for you.
The book is an anthology of Moorcock stories about Sir Seaton Begg aka Sexton Blake and his distant cousin, and not so distant sometime adversary, Monsieur Zenith, as they either battle or work together across the multiverses to solve crimes and save lives.
"The Metatemporal Detective" is a weirdly charming book and also charmingly weird. It mixes detective fiction with fantasy, a touch of steampunk, and seasons it with the Holy Grail. It is possibly one of the, if not THE, oddest book I have ever read.
I loved it.
However, I have no idea who to recommend it to, except to say if you love well written books that are more than a little offbeat, then "The Metatemporal Detective" is for you.
August 17, 2008
Some of the stories in this aren’t his best work, but a couple such as “The Mystery of the Texas Twister” and “Sir Milk-and-Blood” are Moorcock at his best. It also has a lot of shots on various politicians, including Margaret Thatcher and George W. Bush. Some of my favorite Moorcock stories are in this book.
April 21, 2024
The okayest pulp ever. If you long for the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Doc Savage, Seaton Begg is your pal.
June 23, 2022
The Metatemporal Detective is Seaton Begg, a consulting detective who sometimes uses cocaine to boost his brain power and is frequently employed by the British and other governments for delicate tasks. When visited by Monsieur Zenith at the start of ‘The Affair of the Seven Virgins’ he can deduce from the calluses on Zenith’s fingers that the fellow plays the fiddle and is having some trouble with E sharp. Does that ring any bells?
Monsieur Zenith, a pale bloke with red eyes seems a bit familiar too, especially when he whips out his big black sword. He and Begg are distantly related, members of a European family with its roots in antiquity. Begg is sometimes assisted by ‘Taffy’ Sinclair, a Home Office pathologist and they live in a world where the internal combustion engine was never invented. Flight is by zeppelins and the cars are electric. History, too, is not quite the same as ours in this part of Moorcock’s Multiverse.
The story of saving the virgins is followed by one where several corrupt British MP’s and top businessmen are murdered by a single stab wound and left with terrified expressions on their faces as if the very souls had been sucked out of them! Begg gets involved again and once again encounters that albino chap. This story is fun because of Mrs Ratchet, or ‘Mad Maggie’, a former government minister who gets involved.
Moorcock pokes some fun at the American right wing too in the ‘The Mystery of the Texas Twister’ which has a gang of ruthless businessmen taking over the state and trying to foment war in order to increase their profits. Imagine!
In another story set in Texas the Masked Buckaroo and his pals, an assortment of western movie stereotypes, must contend with an Apache rising led by the White Wolf, an albino with a black lance who is reputed to have magic powers. Seaton Begg comes in halfway through the story to assist. Moorcock lives in Texas now but you wouldn’t need to go anywhere near it to come up with this hokum. A week of afternoons watching Randolph Scott films on Channel 4 would suffice.
One longer tale involves a scandal about Mr. Hitler in Germany. The little fellow is on the brink of power and his niece, with whom he is rumoured to have had an unsavoury relationship, has been murdered. Or was it suicide? Sir Seaton Begg and his able assistant ‘Taffy’ take a Zeppelin over to Berlin to investigate and once again run into their old chum the albino. I had heard about this scandal in real life but I think the unsavoury part rests on the testimony of one disgruntled guard who fled to America. In another yarn Hitler is a police captain who falls out with Police Chief Bismarck over nightclub singer Eva Braun. In these stories there is the lure of famous names put in different settings, a clever trick. Gore Vidal opened one essay by putting Kennedy, Monroe and others in one paragraph and then jeered at the reader for being drawn in while admitting he would be himself. We are all conditioned to relish new material about the very famous. Also the different versions of Hitler demonstrate that the Metatemporal detective visits different parts of the Multiverse - or maybe it’s different versions of him.
Michael Moorcock obviously had fun doing these short stories over the years. Whether the reader enjoys it or not depends on the reader, but some knowledge of the rest of his oeuvre certainly helps. Personally, I loved it. Really chaps, we must acknowledge that great writers can get self indulgent once there’s enough money in the bank, put it down to good old English eccentricity. He is doing what he loves and you can either go along for the ride or not. I have to say the ride is quite jolly but palls if taken in big doses.
Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt but can instil boredom. These stories were written over a period of years and probably best read over a period of weeks, at least. Read one and then put the book away for a while. It’s jolly and worth having but it won’t be on anyone’s list of classic Moorcock.
Monsieur Zenith, a pale bloke with red eyes seems a bit familiar too, especially when he whips out his big black sword. He and Begg are distantly related, members of a European family with its roots in antiquity. Begg is sometimes assisted by ‘Taffy’ Sinclair, a Home Office pathologist and they live in a world where the internal combustion engine was never invented. Flight is by zeppelins and the cars are electric. History, too, is not quite the same as ours in this part of Moorcock’s Multiverse.
The story of saving the virgins is followed by one where several corrupt British MP’s and top businessmen are murdered by a single stab wound and left with terrified expressions on their faces as if the very souls had been sucked out of them! Begg gets involved again and once again encounters that albino chap. This story is fun because of Mrs Ratchet, or ‘Mad Maggie’, a former government minister who gets involved.
Moorcock pokes some fun at the American right wing too in the ‘The Mystery of the Texas Twister’ which has a gang of ruthless businessmen taking over the state and trying to foment war in order to increase their profits. Imagine!
In another story set in Texas the Masked Buckaroo and his pals, an assortment of western movie stereotypes, must contend with an Apache rising led by the White Wolf, an albino with a black lance who is reputed to have magic powers. Seaton Begg comes in halfway through the story to assist. Moorcock lives in Texas now but you wouldn’t need to go anywhere near it to come up with this hokum. A week of afternoons watching Randolph Scott films on Channel 4 would suffice.
One longer tale involves a scandal about Mr. Hitler in Germany. The little fellow is on the brink of power and his niece, with whom he is rumoured to have had an unsavoury relationship, has been murdered. Or was it suicide? Sir Seaton Begg and his able assistant ‘Taffy’ take a Zeppelin over to Berlin to investigate and once again run into their old chum the albino. I had heard about this scandal in real life but I think the unsavoury part rests on the testimony of one disgruntled guard who fled to America. In another yarn Hitler is a police captain who falls out with Police Chief Bismarck over nightclub singer Eva Braun. In these stories there is the lure of famous names put in different settings, a clever trick. Gore Vidal opened one essay by putting Kennedy, Monroe and others in one paragraph and then jeered at the reader for being drawn in while admitting he would be himself. We are all conditioned to relish new material about the very famous. Also the different versions of Hitler demonstrate that the Metatemporal detective visits different parts of the Multiverse - or maybe it’s different versions of him.
Michael Moorcock obviously had fun doing these short stories over the years. Whether the reader enjoys it or not depends on the reader, but some knowledge of the rest of his oeuvre certainly helps. Personally, I loved it. Really chaps, we must acknowledge that great writers can get self indulgent once there’s enough money in the bank, put it down to good old English eccentricity. He is doing what he loves and you can either go along for the ride or not. I have to say the ride is quite jolly but palls if taken in big doses.
Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt but can instil boredom. These stories were written over a period of years and probably best read over a period of weeks, at least. Read one and then put the book away for a while. It’s jolly and worth having but it won’t be on anyone’s list of classic Moorcock.
December 14, 2020
As a collection it perches on two long poles: Moorcock's extensive Multiverse with all its trappings and extended character set, and the genre history from which he borrows wholesale, including the "gentleman detective" trope. It would be hard to find the attraction for a reader not versed in at least one of these things. If versed in both then the reader winds up playing a game of "find the obscure reference" throughout, or commenting about how this thing is very similar to this other thing.
As a whole, this is an exploration of genre and event, with each story containing a version of Begg and Zenith and the way that their interactions are framed by the tropes and style of that story, from Holmsian "gentleman detective" to "hard boiled" to "western" and on and on.
It's a fascinating conceit that Moorcock plays with further with the notion of the "metatemporal detective", which is only given real life by the last stories in the collection: a set of parallel worlds/planes with pseudo-temporal relationship to one another and pathways between. Certain individuals--Begg, Zenith, Una Persson, the usual cast and crew--walk the "moonbeam roads" or use technological contrivances to travel them. Secret (?) government agencies deal with their relations. For most of the book this is a slippery concept given only strange statements and allusions and incompatibilities between stories and requiring the reader re-adjust expectations and forget what was known. It's playful and clever, but given Moorcock's historical output it's impossible to tell what was intentional at the time and what was retrofitted.
As a whole, this is an exploration of genre and event, with each story containing a version of Begg and Zenith and the way that their interactions are framed by the tropes and style of that story, from Holmsian "gentleman detective" to "hard boiled" to "western" and on and on.
It's a fascinating conceit that Moorcock plays with further with the notion of the "metatemporal detective", which is only given real life by the last stories in the collection: a set of parallel worlds/planes with pseudo-temporal relationship to one another and pathways between. Certain individuals--Begg, Zenith, Una Persson, the usual cast and crew--walk the "moonbeam roads" or use technological contrivances to travel them. Secret (?) government agencies deal with their relations. For most of the book this is a slippery concept given only strange statements and allusions and incompatibilities between stories and requiring the reader re-adjust expectations and forget what was known. It's playful and clever, but given Moorcock's historical output it's impossible to tell what was intentional at the time and what was retrofitted.
November 19, 2017
This book is not part of the official Gollanz collection. In fact, many (if not most) stories from it have been published in other parts of the Michael Moorcock collection. However, this book presented a thematic collection, pitting Moorcock's genius detective archetype, Seaton Begg against his distant cousin, the white-haired albino Monsieur Zenith.
The book is a short and entertaining read. The stories don't pretend to maintain internal coherency. We are looking at multiple versions of Earth, with deviations from history that nod back to other moorcock works. Seaton Begg is a "metatemporal" detective, meaning he works across the Multiverse, in parallel timelines, and so internal consistency is never a serious question.
The whole book is an homage to pulpy detective fiction, but it's got its high points, and nice nods to the "Eternal Champion" mythos, which makes it a non-essential, but useful reading for those looking for the complete picture.
The book is a short and entertaining read. The stories don't pretend to maintain internal coherency. We are looking at multiple versions of Earth, with deviations from history that nod back to other moorcock works. Seaton Begg is a "metatemporal" detective, meaning he works across the Multiverse, in parallel timelines, and so internal consistency is never a serious question.
The whole book is an homage to pulpy detective fiction, but it's got its high points, and nice nods to the "Eternal Champion" mythos, which makes it a non-essential, but useful reading for those looking for the complete picture.
July 9, 2020
An odd thing about the hero, Seaton Begg, is that what makes him a ‘metatemporal detective’ isn’t made very distinct until the last couple of stories explain it. Until then it’s more of an alternative universe in the 1940s where zeppelins are the primary source of major transportation. The solutions hinge on his intuition more than deduction. Keeping that in mind, the stories are still uniquely entertaining, genre-bending, humorous and have fun, comic book action scenes.
If you’re interested in the Second Ether series, you might want to start here. It slowly introduces that framework based on scale from Chaos Theory, and some of Moorcock’s tropes of Law Chaos, The Balance, Eternals and the Black Blade.
The themes of creeping fascism, neutrality and self-interest, the staple of the author—who grew up during the WW2 London bombings—keeps the themes grounded and more valuable than simple escapist fantasy
If you’re interested in the Second Ether series, you might want to start here. It slowly introduces that framework based on scale from Chaos Theory, and some of Moorcock’s tropes of Law Chaos, The Balance, Eternals and the Black Blade.
The themes of creeping fascism, neutrality and self-interest, the staple of the author—who grew up during the WW2 London bombings—keeps the themes grounded and more valuable than simple escapist fantasy
April 21, 2022
Nuts. Simply nuts. An exercise more in style than content, but MAN what style! Loosely related to Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone stories (which I haven't read) and the Jerry Cornelius stories (which I have), but all that, played into a steampunk-western-detective-super villain-type pastiche.
A fantastic read! Don't start this up if you don't like books that leave many, many plot points dangling, unresolved.
A fantastic read! Don't start this up if you don't like books that leave many, many plot points dangling, unresolved.
November 23, 2023
I was anticipating this - a Sherlock Holmes-style protagonist plus supernatural elements. But, it's terrible. Bad in the way old movies can OTT and very short on logic. Almost embarassingly bad. I tried a few chapters and then gave up, disgusted. I didn't give it a 1 star because .. well, I've read worse.
September 13, 2017
Not exactly detective mystery work, but definitely full of supernatural concepts
January 23, 2023
A must for any Eternal Champion follower.
December 28, 2025
The writing was a pastiche of Sherlock Holmes, the multiverse, and early 29th century acton genres. It was interesting and we’ll written but I don’t think I’ll ever want to read it again
December 22, 2013
Meh.
I've read a few Moorcocks, enough to be familiar with Begg and Elric and Jerry Cornelius. Enough already. There can only be so many variations on the same theme. As others have noted, I wonder if Moorcock churns out another one when he's between ideas, just to keep in practice.
A few plus marks for the idea of each story here being a tribute. But really, they are all the same story. Heroic not-quite-Holmes saunters urbanely through the story, dull sidekick stumbles along going "duh! der!", we are shown a situation, our heroes travel somewhere in luxury, two or three von Beks show up *just* in time and we try to guess whose side they're on, Begg smiles and does nothing, and eventually the Omnipresent Albino shows up, waves his sword, and it's over. Yawn.
Too often, a character plays the "Aha, I am all-powerful!" card only to hear "heh, heh" behind him.
And the multiverse? Feh. I've read LOTS of multiverse work by various authors, and this one feels weak to me. Begg and Zenith are clearly travellers in time and space, just like Doctor Who, but in Moorcock's version Begg is known by all and sundry everywhere he goes. A pub off Hampstead Heath, a coffee bar here, a French police station - always "ah, my old friend Begg." So .. is he in all the multiverses simultaneously? If so, there's no need to be able to cross over. Is there already a version of him in each one, and if so what happens to it when the multiverse-crossing Begg arrives?
Having President George Washington Putz living in Crawford, Texas - assisted by Dick Shiner (read into that what you will) - was amusing for a moment but became juvenile when extended.
In one story, Begg examines his car then drives away. Just before the border, he stops and casually deals with a bomb that had been in the car all along. He explains that he smelled cordite and heard ticking. The bomb was on a timer set to go off when they crossed the border at either of two places. No, not a proximity detector, a timer. When the bomber didn't know how fast Begg would be going, or to which border. Unacceptable. Was there no editor? Although .... we know nothing will ever happen to Begg anyway, not so much as a hangnail, so why worry about details?
Nor was there a copy editor. This publication is riddled with simple errors such as misused plurals, wrong words, strange spellings and omitted words. Sloppy.
I won't be reading any more of these. There's so much other good stuff out there.
I've read a few Moorcocks, enough to be familiar with Begg and Elric and Jerry Cornelius. Enough already. There can only be so many variations on the same theme. As others have noted, I wonder if Moorcock churns out another one when he's between ideas, just to keep in practice.
A few plus marks for the idea of each story here being a tribute. But really, they are all the same story. Heroic not-quite-Holmes saunters urbanely through the story, dull sidekick stumbles along going "duh! der!", we are shown a situation, our heroes travel somewhere in luxury, two or three von Beks show up *just* in time and we try to guess whose side they're on, Begg smiles and does nothing, and eventually the Omnipresent Albino shows up, waves his sword, and it's over. Yawn.
Too often, a character plays the "Aha, I am all-powerful!" card only to hear "heh, heh" behind him.
And the multiverse? Feh. I've read LOTS of multiverse work by various authors, and this one feels weak to me. Begg and Zenith are clearly travellers in time and space, just like Doctor Who, but in Moorcock's version Begg is known by all and sundry everywhere he goes. A pub off Hampstead Heath, a coffee bar here, a French police station - always "ah, my old friend Begg." So .. is he in all the multiverses simultaneously? If so, there's no need to be able to cross over. Is there already a version of him in each one, and if so what happens to it when the multiverse-crossing Begg arrives?
Having President George Washington Putz living in Crawford, Texas - assisted by Dick Shiner (read into that what you will) - was amusing for a moment but became juvenile when extended.
In one story, Begg examines his car then drives away. Just before the border, he stops and casually deals with a bomb that had been in the car all along. He explains that he smelled cordite and heard ticking. The bomb was on a timer set to go off when they crossed the border at either of two places. No, not a proximity detector, a timer. When the bomber didn't know how fast Begg would be going, or to which border. Unacceptable. Was there no editor? Although .... we know nothing will ever happen to Begg anyway, not so much as a hangnail, so why worry about details?
Nor was there a copy editor. This publication is riddled with simple errors such as misused plurals, wrong words, strange spellings and omitted words. Sloppy.
I won't be reading any more of these. There's so much other good stuff out there.
March 14, 2008
Well, what is it about Moorcock and albinos, anyway?
It's been a looong time since I've read one of his books, having read just about everything he wrote prior to the 80's. Elric and all the other Eternal Champion series, the end-of-time books, etc.
The non-Moorcock reader will probably be confused by this collection of stories. It starts out with a Sherlock-like detective sparring with an albino nemesis, (his cousin) in an alternative England. Then the stories jump to a 1930's-40's alternative featuring Hitler as a police inspector, or a washed-up functionary in a failing Nazi party. Electric airships abound. Or some rather strange cowboy stories in an alternative America crisscrossed with a grand electric interurban railway network (I liked that). It isn't until the final story that you start seeing the workings of the multiverse, and can figure out why things are so strange.
This would make a poor first Moorcock read, IMO. If not, you will have a fun time with them, and enjoy seeing some of the old gang in different guises, and get a chance to tinker with the very fabric of the multiverse.
It's been a looong time since I've read one of his books, having read just about everything he wrote prior to the 80's. Elric and all the other Eternal Champion series, the end-of-time books, etc.
The non-Moorcock reader will probably be confused by this collection of stories. It starts out with a Sherlock-like detective sparring with an albino nemesis, (his cousin) in an alternative England. Then the stories jump to a 1930's-40's alternative featuring Hitler as a police inspector, or a washed-up functionary in a failing Nazi party. Electric airships abound. Or some rather strange cowboy stories in an alternative America crisscrossed with a grand electric interurban railway network (I liked that). It isn't until the final story that you start seeing the workings of the multiverse, and can figure out why things are so strange.
This would make a poor first Moorcock read, IMO. If not, you will have a fun time with them, and enjoy seeing some of the old gang in different guises, and get a chance to tinker with the very fabric of the multiverse.
Read
August 3, 2011Although it was interesting to see Elric in what is basically akin to a historical 'real world' setting, the timeline and parallell universe jumping was very disorientating. I wasn't familiar with the author(s) Moorcock was imitiating either, so perhaps someone who was would enjoy it more. At times I found the narration infuriating, especially when little to no explanation was given as to the setting of the current story. For me, being able to imagine the setting, characters and events is what makes reading so pleasurable. While the language was often clever the setting was casually disregarded many times, meaning that I felt more like I was skim-reading as my identification with what was on the page was so shallow.
I believe that this collection is more for long-standing Moorcock fans who have read all or most of his novels, rather than those who are only interested in one or two of his series'. A newcomer, either to his fantasy works or Moorcock in general, should leave this well alone for now.
I believe that this collection is more for long-standing Moorcock fans who have read all or most of his novels, rather than those who are only interested in one or two of his series'. A newcomer, either to his fantasy works or Moorcock in general, should leave this well alone for now.
May 4, 2008
A collection of short stories in which Seaton Begg, an homage to a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, squares off in various universes against Monsieur Zenith, an albino-like Moriarity figure who bears more than a slight resemblance to Elric of Melnibone. Some of the stories are fairly obvious, like the one set in a Republic of Texas where "George Washington Putz" and his cabal plot to invade neighboring California under false pretenses, but longtime Moorcock fans will be entertained by how he ties together threads in his work that have been laid out over decades.
Read
February 28, 2008I gave up very near the end of this confusing collection. The volume spans several decades of short stories about several reoccurring characters in the infinite 'multi-verse'. The worlds, eras and technology weren't clearly defined and the characters were too fluid from story to story. I'm sure there are people out there who would really enjoy this one but I'm too confused and unconcerned about the protagonist to get attached.
May 16, 2011
This was a bunch of short stories. They were supposed to be mysteries but I don't feel like they were the type where you could gather clues yourself and figure anything out. This author has created his own universe with recurring characters and I had no idea who anyone was. Perhaps if I had read everything he has written, I would have known what was going on better.
February 26, 2010
A short story collection about Michael Moorcock's time traveling detective Sir Seaton Begg. In my experience, Moorcock is usually either fantastic or incomprehensible. This definitely fit into the latter category.
July 1, 2011
A very enjoyable collection of stories! At times this encompasses Lansdale and traditional steampunk, while at others is more contemporary. This was not a terribly fast read, but it was entertaining. I am eager to read more of Moorcock's books.
January 12, 2016
I did not enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped I would. Perhaps it was the short-story form that prevented any real developments of characters, situation, or environment from happening. The last few stories were okay, but this definitely wasn't my favorite collection of Moorcock stories.
April 4, 2016
AWESOME! I'd like to find more Zenith-centered books, if they exist. I understand he's a main antagonist in the Sexton Blake stories, but honestly I found Zenith much more interesting than the "inspiration" for Mr. Blake in this book, Sir Seaton Begg.
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