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Tale of the Eternal Champion #13
Earl Aubec: A Collection of Stories Including: "Earl Aubec", "The Great Conqueror", "To Rescue Tanelorn", "The Deep Fix", "The Real Life", "Mr Newman", ... Others
Here is a collection of stories animated 'by the same vision, whether on a small or large scale...he is so easily able to move from contemporary realism to futuristic fantasy; both worlds share the same colour of dreams, and follow an imagination that conceives the world in symbolic terms...'Peter Ackroyd
Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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477 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moorcock
1,208 books3,748 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 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 22, 2017
Other than the short novel, The Golden Barge, included in this volume, this is a pretty good collection of stories. While the tales deal with incarnations of the Eternal Champion, don't expect to find many featuring the likes of Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum or even Erekose. These are more like tangents to those larger, and longer, tales of the Eternal Champion. Because there is not as much time spent on the characters, they do not as readily draw the reader in to the world of the character, and just as you might be getting into a story, it ends and you move on to another incarnation. Frustrating? Not really, these are short stories after all. Some forgettable, some are good and some are great. You be the judge of which is which.
March 26, 2019
These are the rest of the stories that could be fit into the Eternal Champion universe. Some were written when Moorcock was fifteen. As he says in the book's introduction, "Some are a little embarrassing, a bit loud, a bit coarse..." I have read all the Eternal Champion books and most of the rest of Moorcock's work. This one I didn't care for.
December 22, 2022
A few interesting stories, but most of them didn't work for me. I enjoyed rereading the Eternal Champion books, but his other stuff still doesn't grab me.
September 23, 2015
I'm not a big fan of random shorts, so I'll only read a smattering of these stories — the ones that seemed the most closely related to the rest of Moorcock's writing. Here are my thoughts on what I've read ...
Stories of the Eternal Champion & The Multiverse:
Earl Aubec (Master of Chaos). I've always enjoyed this story because of its evocative myth telling. It's shallow, sure, but it's memorable [7/10].
The Greater Conquerer. Seeing Moorcock write a historical fantasy in the early '60s is interesting, and I would have loved to see more of his take on Zoroastrian myths. However, this story has too many flaws for me to truly love it — including an incomplete take on the theme of belief, too much time spent without the hero having much agency, and a bit too much muddled philosophy. Only the historical setting really carries the story. [6/10]
Jesting with Chaos (The Last Enchantment). An interesting Elric artifact, since it was lost for so long. The core of the story is a little overly philosophical and new-wavey, but it's good to have it available again [5+/10].
Mars. This nostalgic tale of Mars rather delightfully turns classic Planetary Romance tropes on their head. It's one of Moorcock's better shorts from the era (even if the ending is another twist that's not needed) [7+/10].
Sir Milk-and-Blood. Only in the US edition. Great to see the real-world politics, but this is just a vignette [5/10].
The Stone Thing. This is hilarious satire of Elric & Corum alike [8/10].
To Rescue Tanelorn ... Only in the UK edition. An OK story about Tanelorn and Rackhir the Red Archer. It's mostly a simple macguffin quest without a lot of depth (except for some philosophy) [5/10].
The Time Dweller. An interesting post-apocalyptic story, though a bit heavy on the philosophy [6/10].
Escape from Evening. More engaging than its predecessor, "The Time Dweller", which is set in the same world, but it fizzles out in an entirely philosophical finale [6/10].
Waiting for the End of Time ... A nicely written end-of-the-universe tale that touches upon philosophy and creates some greater as a result [8/10].
Others:
Consuming Passion. This starts off quite nicely as a true-crime piece, but it takes a bizarre right-hand turn at the end which feels out-of-place [4/10].
The Mountain. A fun boy's adventure tale after a holocaust, with some mystery, but a disappointing ending [5/10].
The Ruins. Interesting to see Moorcock's obsession with ruins once more, but this is too New Wave to have a point or much interest to me [3/10].
Stories of the Eternal Champion & The Multiverse:
Earl Aubec (Master of Chaos). I've always enjoyed this story because of its evocative myth telling. It's shallow, sure, but it's memorable [7/10].
The Greater Conquerer. Seeing Moorcock write a historical fantasy in the early '60s is interesting, and I would have loved to see more of his take on Zoroastrian myths. However, this story has too many flaws for me to truly love it — including an incomplete take on the theme of belief, too much time spent without the hero having much agency, and a bit too much muddled philosophy. Only the historical setting really carries the story. [6/10]
Jesting with Chaos (The Last Enchantment). An interesting Elric artifact, since it was lost for so long. The core of the story is a little overly philosophical and new-wavey, but it's good to have it available again [5+/10].
Mars. This nostalgic tale of Mars rather delightfully turns classic Planetary Romance tropes on their head. It's one of Moorcock's better shorts from the era (even if the ending is another twist that's not needed) [7+/10].
Sir Milk-and-Blood. Only in the US edition. Great to see the real-world politics, but this is just a vignette [5/10].
The Stone Thing. This is hilarious satire of Elric & Corum alike [8/10].
To Rescue Tanelorn ... Only in the UK edition. An OK story about Tanelorn and Rackhir the Red Archer. It's mostly a simple macguffin quest without a lot of depth (except for some philosophy) [5/10].
The Time Dweller. An interesting post-apocalyptic story, though a bit heavy on the philosophy [6/10].
Escape from Evening. More engaging than its predecessor, "The Time Dweller", which is set in the same world, but it fizzles out in an entirely philosophical finale [6/10].
Waiting for the End of Time ... A nicely written end-of-the-universe tale that touches upon philosophy and creates some greater as a result [8/10].
Others:
Consuming Passion. This starts off quite nicely as a true-crime piece, but it takes a bizarre right-hand turn at the end which feels out-of-place [4/10].
The Mountain. A fun boy's adventure tale after a holocaust, with some mystery, but a disappointing ending [5/10].
The Ruins. Interesting to see Moorcock's obsession with ruins once more, but this is too New Wave to have a point or much interest to me [3/10].
October 16, 2022
This is primarily focused on standalone short stories which weren't integrated into one of Moorcock's longer series, and largely makes the case that such standalone pieces by him aren't actually up to much. Generally speaking, if Moorcock had a really good idea, he'd develop it into a full novel or series - so what you get here is a grab-bag of stuff which, for the most part, he didn't see much point in developing further. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
July 24, 2012
Although I was disappointed that the majority of the stories in this collection have anything to do with the Eternal Champion, I did enjoy many of them: The Deep Fix, the Real Life Mr. Newman, The Time Dweller, Escape from Evening and Peace on Earth to name a few. Others, like The Golden Barge, I had difficulty getting through but will likely try reading again at some point.
Read
September 14, 2023A collection of Mike's short fiction. Some of these I’ve read before, I don’t mind reading 'em again.
Want to read
October 26, 2008going to read it, want to read the 13th volume first.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews