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The Roads Between the Worlds #2
The Fireclown
From some unknown section of the galaxy The Fireclown emerged. To the citizens of the sunless Solar Planet he promised a return to freedom — if they would join him.
Was he a charlatan — or a savior? And what was the source of his mysterious fire — the heat of the sun or the fury of atomic power?
As the galaxy raced to the brink of catastrophe, only Alan Powys has the one chance in a million to reveal The Fireclown's secret!
Was he a charlatan — or a savior? And what was the source of his mysterious fire — the heat of the sun or the fury of atomic power?
As the galaxy raced to the brink of catastrophe, only Alan Powys has the one chance in a million to reveal The Fireclown's secret!
158 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
9 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moorcock
1,209 books3,753 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 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 10, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in January 2004.
Early Moorcock is usually interesting, but less individual and more straightforward than his later writing. The Winds of Limbo is no exception. It is set in a huge underground city of the future, underneath what is now Switzerland (possibly not somewhere ideally suited to such a construction), a background which is reminiscent of Isaac Asimov's Trantor if on a smaller scale. The city is capital of the solar system, a class-ridden rigid state, clearly meant to be a satire on early sixties Britain. The sudden appearance of a charismatic anarchist demagogue, the Fireclown, shakes the status quo until those in power decide that they should go to any lengths to stop him gaining more influence.
The plot seems as though it will be typical of left wing anti-establishment science fiction, with an idealistic young couple on hand to expose the government's machinations, allowing the Fireclown to sweep to power and turn out not to be as dangerous as everybody expected. However, the last bit does not happen; the Fireclown is far too nihilistic to be interested in taking over the state. He doesn't just criticise the bureaucratic rigidity of the world and its class system; he opposes the very idea of human society and even the existence of intelligence itself. This makes the heart of The Winds of Limbo interestingly different, and foreshadows some of Moorcock's later ideas about conflict between Law and Chaos, but it does mean that the ending of the novel fizzles out in an anti-climactic and unresolved manner which may be more likely but is less satisfying to read.
Like, say, Rituals of Infinity, The Winds of Limbo shows signs of inexperience; Moorcock was at this time clearly someone who had lots of ideas he wanted to get down quickly. The background is sketchy, lacking detail - the lower classes, for example, are a stereotypical mass of easily lead uneducated labourers, which means that the reader is left feeling that they are being told that there is class conflict without really feeling that it affects anyone. Even though one of the main characters is not from the top bracket, being considered inferior to the woman he loves, he is still distinctly privileged. He is the grandson of a senior politician but of illegitimate birth because his grandfather refused to let his mother marry out of her class. This makes him an outsider of the whole class system, and this position could have been exploited more cleverly to tell us about this future society and its tensions.
The shallowness of the background - a problem Moorcock quickly learned how to overcome - also lies at the core of other problems that The Winds of Limbo has. It weakens the satire; although class is obviously the target, it remains unclear exactly what Moorcock wants to say about it (other than that it is a bad thing). By 1965, far more penetrating and effective satire had made its impact. The Fireclown's nihilism was either not really the answer Moorcock saw to society's problems, or it was one he lacked the conviction to ram home (it may also of course have been his publisher who required the novel be toned down). The novel reads like the vague ideas of a left wing middle class intellectual, not something inspired by real knowledge of the life of the labouring classes.
The Winds of Limbo is an interesting and frustrating novel; so much more could have been made of the ideas it contains.
Early Moorcock is usually interesting, but less individual and more straightforward than his later writing. The Winds of Limbo is no exception. It is set in a huge underground city of the future, underneath what is now Switzerland (possibly not somewhere ideally suited to such a construction), a background which is reminiscent of Isaac Asimov's Trantor if on a smaller scale. The city is capital of the solar system, a class-ridden rigid state, clearly meant to be a satire on early sixties Britain. The sudden appearance of a charismatic anarchist demagogue, the Fireclown, shakes the status quo until those in power decide that they should go to any lengths to stop him gaining more influence.
The plot seems as though it will be typical of left wing anti-establishment science fiction, with an idealistic young couple on hand to expose the government's machinations, allowing the Fireclown to sweep to power and turn out not to be as dangerous as everybody expected. However, the last bit does not happen; the Fireclown is far too nihilistic to be interested in taking over the state. He doesn't just criticise the bureaucratic rigidity of the world and its class system; he opposes the very idea of human society and even the existence of intelligence itself. This makes the heart of The Winds of Limbo interestingly different, and foreshadows some of Moorcock's later ideas about conflict between Law and Chaos, but it does mean that the ending of the novel fizzles out in an anti-climactic and unresolved manner which may be more likely but is less satisfying to read.
Like, say, Rituals of Infinity, The Winds of Limbo shows signs of inexperience; Moorcock was at this time clearly someone who had lots of ideas he wanted to get down quickly. The background is sketchy, lacking detail - the lower classes, for example, are a stereotypical mass of easily lead uneducated labourers, which means that the reader is left feeling that they are being told that there is class conflict without really feeling that it affects anyone. Even though one of the main characters is not from the top bracket, being considered inferior to the woman he loves, he is still distinctly privileged. He is the grandson of a senior politician but of illegitimate birth because his grandfather refused to let his mother marry out of her class. This makes him an outsider of the whole class system, and this position could have been exploited more cleverly to tell us about this future society and its tensions.
The shallowness of the background - a problem Moorcock quickly learned how to overcome - also lies at the core of other problems that The Winds of Limbo has. It weakens the satire; although class is obviously the target, it remains unclear exactly what Moorcock wants to say about it (other than that it is a bad thing). By 1965, far more penetrating and effective satire had made its impact. The Fireclown's nihilism was either not really the answer Moorcock saw to society's problems, or it was one he lacked the conviction to ram home (it may also of course have been his publisher who required the novel be toned down). The novel reads like the vague ideas of a left wing middle class intellectual, not something inspired by real knowledge of the life of the labouring classes.
The Winds of Limbo is an interesting and frustrating novel; so much more could have been made of the ideas it contains.
February 21, 2016
I don't generally like Moorcock.. he's a bit too clever for my tastes in general.. Eternal Champion books are generally decent on their own, but the whole is just too convoluted for me. I specifically picked this up to see how he is without the baggage of his great work.
There are bits of the 'too clever' in here. The Fireclown (who reads alot like Asimov's Mule with more pretensions), prattles on about not understanding that consciousness is better than intelligence, and he wants to burn the world down, etc.
There are some fun future predictions, some right on (top tier female presidential candidate with a male sidekick, a near royal family in a democracy), some common but wrong (colonies on Mars, giant cities in a building, world govenment) and some silly (nicotine illegal in favor of pot, talking posters). but if you've not read this book, and recently, you'd not give it 5 stars.
The 5 stars come from the uncanny analysis of the current presidental race... with Fireclown playing the role of Donald Trump (a demogague who doesn't quite understand what he's unleashed) and Simon Powys playing the role of everyone else (he's got the pedigree of the Bush family and the back room slickness of Ted Cruz). It's a truly amazing coincidence.
It true you have to slog through a bit of Moorcockian pseudo-psychoanalytic tripe, but it's totally worth it. The plot is decent, but requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief as the government beauracrat that is sorta the main character turns into a super spy action hero in a few pages. It's really the commentary on how society deals with politics and political scandal that makes the book.
Even the quote at the end of the book attempts to explain Trump:
'Sociologists and Psychologists attempted to explain the sudden ebb of hysteria that had seized the people. There were a dozen theories, all complex, all with their merits...Perhaps the world had just been---bored.'
There are bits of the 'too clever' in here. The Fireclown (who reads alot like Asimov's Mule with more pretensions), prattles on about not understanding that consciousness is better than intelligence, and he wants to burn the world down, etc.
There are some fun future predictions, some right on (top tier female presidential candidate with a male sidekick, a near royal family in a democracy), some common but wrong (colonies on Mars, giant cities in a building, world govenment) and some silly (nicotine illegal in favor of pot, talking posters). but if you've not read this book, and recently, you'd not give it 5 stars.
The 5 stars come from the uncanny analysis of the current presidental race... with Fireclown playing the role of Donald Trump (a demogague who doesn't quite understand what he's unleashed) and Simon Powys playing the role of everyone else (he's got the pedigree of the Bush family and the back room slickness of Ted Cruz). It's a truly amazing coincidence.
It true you have to slog through a bit of Moorcockian pseudo-psychoanalytic tripe, but it's totally worth it. The plot is decent, but requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief as the government beauracrat that is sorta the main character turns into a super spy action hero in a few pages. It's really the commentary on how society deals with politics and political scandal that makes the book.
Even the quote at the end of the book attempts to explain Trump:
'Sociologists and Psychologists attempted to explain the sudden ebb of hysteria that had seized the people. There were a dozen theories, all complex, all with their merits...Perhaps the world had just been---bored.'
June 23, 2015
I really enjoyed this. Most of the Moorcock I've read is fantasty rather than science fiction so it was nice to see him write in a totally different setting. This was a delightful distopian future. I loved that even though it was written in the 60s there was a woman presidential candidate. There was corrupt governments, and protests, and destruction. Thoroughly enjoyed it and reminded me to read more of his books!
January 2, 2026
One Piece if Buggy, Ace and Dragon were the same guy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2017
The Winds of Limbo is a science fiction novel concerning the appearance of a mad prophet known as the Fireclown in the City of Switzerland and the ensuing war scare as the Fireclown is implicated in a plot to extinguish all life on Earth with nuclear weapons.
The plot is stupid and rather aimless. In brief the main arc is about how an illegal arms syndicate in conjunction with a corrupt politician planted nuclear devices in the Fireclown's den to portray him as a terrorist bent on destroying the world, and use the resulting panic to sell nuclear weapons to the government for their protection. Yes, nuclear weapons to protect against terrorists. Not ISIL-style de facto governments, mind you, but domestic terrorists. Imagine the Red Army Faction shooting a banker in Dusseldorf, and the Bonn government retaliating by reducing the Rhineland to a nuclear wasteland. Such a premise would only work in a very particular kind of book, and this is not it. A secondary arc concerns the Fireclown's quest to eradicate intelligence from the universe. It's equally stupid, but it doesn't come up very often and has little bearing on the rest of the book. Which, of course, means that it really shouldn't be there in the first place.
The writing feels very stilted, especially when it comes to dialogue and portraying the sense of the moment. For example, there is a scene where one character is giving an (extremely poorly written) speech to an audience, another standing off to the side. In between the oration they exchange remarks like "It's not working" and "Keep going". How is that supposed to work? You're on stage, all eyes are on you, you won't exactly step off the podium to go whisper with some guy who really has no reason to be on stage in the first place.
The characters in general are very infantile. In one scene they storm into a meeting with the world government to tell them that the Fireclown is innocent. When asked for their evidence, they realise they have nothing. A similar episode repeats later with the police chief. Dispirited, the team goes back to muse:
"'But all this needs proof to back it up.' Denholm Curtis pursued his lips thoughtfully.
'It comes back to that every time.' Helen sighed."
Yes indeed, Helen. If you're going to challenge the official record, you're going to have to bring evidence. That's just the way things work. You should know, since you're running for bloody president.
The plot is stupid and rather aimless. In brief the main arc is about how an illegal arms syndicate in conjunction with a corrupt politician planted nuclear devices in the Fireclown's den to portray him as a terrorist bent on destroying the world, and use the resulting panic to sell nuclear weapons to the government for their protection. Yes, nuclear weapons to protect against terrorists. Not ISIL-style de facto governments, mind you, but domestic terrorists. Imagine the Red Army Faction shooting a banker in Dusseldorf, and the Bonn government retaliating by reducing the Rhineland to a nuclear wasteland. Such a premise would only work in a very particular kind of book, and this is not it. A secondary arc concerns the Fireclown's quest to eradicate intelligence from the universe. It's equally stupid, but it doesn't come up very often and has little bearing on the rest of the book. Which, of course, means that it really shouldn't be there in the first place.
The writing feels very stilted, especially when it comes to dialogue and portraying the sense of the moment. For example, there is a scene where one character is giving an (extremely poorly written) speech to an audience, another standing off to the side. In between the oration they exchange remarks like "It's not working" and "Keep going". How is that supposed to work? You're on stage, all eyes are on you, you won't exactly step off the podium to go whisper with some guy who really has no reason to be on stage in the first place.
The characters in general are very infantile. In one scene they storm into a meeting with the world government to tell them that the Fireclown is innocent. When asked for their evidence, they realise they have nothing. A similar episode repeats later with the police chief. Dispirited, the team goes back to muse:
"'But all this needs proof to back it up.' Denholm Curtis pursued his lips thoughtfully.
'It comes back to that every time.' Helen sighed."
Yes indeed, Helen. If you're going to challenge the official record, you're going to have to bring evidence. That's just the way things work. You should know, since you're running for bloody president.
June 17, 2021
I got this from a used book store and obviously, it was because of the cover.
Not really a sci-fi, this novel is more a speculative political thriller about a man attempting to understand why he, and the population of the mega-city he lives in, are drawn towards a strange man called only The Fireclown.
Simultaneously slow and fascinating, The Winds of Limbo is an interesting yet underdeveloped speculative political thriller. It’s clearly a commentary on government systems at the time, focusing on a sort of anti-establishment take on class disparity. Unfortunately, the message is pretty much lost, because we’re not shown the other classes and why they are suffering and the only corruption is of a very small subset of the government. In 2021, this “one bad guy taking over” mentality rings very hollow given what we know about the breadth of corruption at the top.
Likewise, we don’t get enough of the setting to really understand how the super-city (called Swiss City) functions or is organized. And if the political figures are running for reelection of the entire world, why are they only campaigning in this one city? And how can Helen just take off for days at a time at such a pivotal moment?
In terms of the characters, I was impressed with the number of women in positions of power and male-dominated spaces. It was a long way from gender parity, but it was far better than I was expecting. Alan is … not the most likeable. Both wishy-washy and demanding, he’s a hard protagonist to care for. Helen is not much better, though the point of the novel is the concepts rather than the people. I understood everyone’s motivations, even the villain and the Fireclown’s, but none of them are that memorable. I did enjoy the twist with the Fireclown as well as his backstory. There are also some outdated notions that just don’t ring true today, like “illegitimate” births. Like who gives a crap about that now?
Overall, while the book isn’t terrible by any means, dare I say it came off .. half moorcocked?
For more of my bad jokes, and a deep dive into the novel, check out my Booktube Review!
Not really a sci-fi, this novel is more a speculative political thriller about a man attempting to understand why he, and the population of the mega-city he lives in, are drawn towards a strange man called only The Fireclown.
Simultaneously slow and fascinating, The Winds of Limbo is an interesting yet underdeveloped speculative political thriller. It’s clearly a commentary on government systems at the time, focusing on a sort of anti-establishment take on class disparity. Unfortunately, the message is pretty much lost, because we’re not shown the other classes and why they are suffering and the only corruption is of a very small subset of the government. In 2021, this “one bad guy taking over” mentality rings very hollow given what we know about the breadth of corruption at the top.
Likewise, we don’t get enough of the setting to really understand how the super-city (called Swiss City) functions or is organized. And if the political figures are running for reelection of the entire world, why are they only campaigning in this one city? And how can Helen just take off for days at a time at such a pivotal moment?
In terms of the characters, I was impressed with the number of women in positions of power and male-dominated spaces. It was a long way from gender parity, but it was far better than I was expecting. Alan is … not the most likeable. Both wishy-washy and demanding, he’s a hard protagonist to care for. Helen is not much better, though the point of the novel is the concepts rather than the people. I understood everyone’s motivations, even the villain and the Fireclown’s, but none of them are that memorable. I did enjoy the twist with the Fireclown as well as his backstory. There are also some outdated notions that just don’t ring true today, like “illegitimate” births. Like who gives a crap about that now?
Overall, while the book isn’t terrible by any means, dare I say it came off .. half moorcocked?
For more of my bad jokes, and a deep dive into the novel, check out my Booktube Review!
November 11, 2019
Some fabulous imagery, a smattering of acute sociological observations and many lovely turns of phrase cannot hide the fact that Winds of Limbo is a garbled mess of underdeveloped ideas, and features some of the most contrived plotting and ludicrous political dialogue ever committed to paper.
I think it wants to be a satire, and it was certainly sold as such, but what it's supposed to be satirising, other than the aesthetic of 1960s BBC science fiction, god only knows.
Moorcock wrote a ton of great science fiction and fantasy: I rank The Black Corridor and the Eternal champion books amongst all time faves - but steer well clear of this one.
I think it wants to be a satire, and it was certainly sold as such, but what it's supposed to be satirising, other than the aesthetic of 1960s BBC science fiction, god only knows.
Moorcock wrote a ton of great science fiction and fantasy: I rank The Black Corridor and the Eternal champion books amongst all time faves - but steer well clear of this one.
April 20, 2020
The Winds of Limbo is an early dystopian Michael Moorcock novel; it was originally published as The Fireclown in 1965. It's very politically oriented, and is a far simpler and more straight-forward narrative than his later ambiguous and complex multiverse works. It fits thematically and more-or-less contiguously with other works, but stands quite well on its own. It's a fast read, and has a hasty feel that he was typing as fast as he could in order to get his thoughts down before time ran out on them. It's a very different Moorcock for people just familiar with his heroic fantasy stories or complex alternate-history romances.
July 16, 2023
One of Moorcock's better early novels, despite a somewhat unpolished ending. A mashup of science fiction setting and Victorian aesthetic which, if taken a little further, could have started creeping into steampunk territory. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
May 2, 2022
3 / 5 for 'The Winds Of Limbo' by Michael Moorcock
Another interesting little sci-fi novel from Moorcock, which seems to carry the exact same pros and cons as the other couple of his books that I've read.
From the rear cover blurb - "The Fireclown was capable of saving the earth from almost certain doom... or destroying it. Alan Powys and Helen Curtis believed in the vision of the Fireclown, but he had vanished and the greatest space chase in history was on."
That's a slightly misleading blurb in all honesty - I enjoyed all 160 pages of this book, but there wasn't a single, solitary space chase in sight. The blurb paints this book as some form of sci-fi/action novel, when in reality it's really a socio-political thriller, set a few hundred years in the future, in a sci-fi setting. Don't let this knowledge put you off though - it certainly is thrilling, and the story has enough twists and turns to keep things genuinely interesting.
Alan Powys makes a somewhat whiney protagonist, whose occasional flashes of bravery keep him from being consistently annoying and his sidekick, Ms Curtis is even more whiney. The Fireclown is as reasonably enigmatic and as philosophical as you'd expect from a human-turned-space-mutant-who-is-viewed-as-the-new-messiah. After a riot and a terrible fire following one of the Fireclown's sermons, he is painted as the big bad guy by the government, but this story doesn't seem to feel right to Powys and Curtis, so they risk life and limb (and their respective political careers) to investigate. The plot progresses in a pleasantly convoluted manner and when the denouement arrives, it still manages to offer a couple of surprises, despite the identity of the real bad guy being pretty obvious from early on. An exciting socio-political thriller, in a futuristic sci-fi setting then...all good, yeah?
Well...no, and for the exact same negatives that have hindered previous Moorcock books that I've read. It's weird...it's almost like Moorcock is that eager and in that much of a rush, to get the story told as soon as possible, that he decides not to bother with such trivial things as characterisation, worldbuilding, or even palatable exposition. Everything just rushes past, in a thrilling yet beige blur; none of the characters sound unique - every single character, whether they're male or female, seems to speak with exactly the same voice, which makes the dialogue uninspired and samey throughout. Any exposition is delivered as an unwieldy chunk of monologue, which sounds bland and formulaic. Worldbuilding is almost non-existent...why is the capital of the world Swiss City? Why are the major cities of the world now just city-sized tower blocks, with most people living on the underground levels? When were Ganymede and Mars colonized? How does the Fireclown travel by spaceship to our sun in a matter of moments? Nobody knows, as nothing is ever explained, which is infuriating.
Yet, bizarrely, despite these relatively big negatives, this remains an exciting book with some enjoyable twists and turns along the way. Even Moorcock's philosophising on nuclear weapons and violence in general (violence begets violence etc) are, for once, non-controversial and agreeable.
An interesting sci-fi/socio-political thriller, which remains engrossing despite the samey dialogue, the clunky exposition and the lack of characterisation and worldbuilding.
3 / 5
Another interesting little sci-fi novel from Moorcock, which seems to carry the exact same pros and cons as the other couple of his books that I've read.
From the rear cover blurb - "The Fireclown was capable of saving the earth from almost certain doom... or destroying it. Alan Powys and Helen Curtis believed in the vision of the Fireclown, but he had vanished and the greatest space chase in history was on."
That's a slightly misleading blurb in all honesty - I enjoyed all 160 pages of this book, but there wasn't a single, solitary space chase in sight. The blurb paints this book as some form of sci-fi/action novel, when in reality it's really a socio-political thriller, set a few hundred years in the future, in a sci-fi setting. Don't let this knowledge put you off though - it certainly is thrilling, and the story has enough twists and turns to keep things genuinely interesting.
Alan Powys makes a somewhat whiney protagonist, whose occasional flashes of bravery keep him from being consistently annoying and his sidekick, Ms Curtis is even more whiney. The Fireclown is as reasonably enigmatic and as philosophical as you'd expect from a human-turned-space-mutant-who-is-viewed-as-the-new-messiah. After a riot and a terrible fire following one of the Fireclown's sermons, he is painted as the big bad guy by the government, but this story doesn't seem to feel right to Powys and Curtis, so they risk life and limb (and their respective political careers) to investigate. The plot progresses in a pleasantly convoluted manner and when the denouement arrives, it still manages to offer a couple of surprises, despite the identity of the real bad guy being pretty obvious from early on. An exciting socio-political thriller, in a futuristic sci-fi setting then...all good, yeah?
Well...no, and for the exact same negatives that have hindered previous Moorcock books that I've read. It's weird...it's almost like Moorcock is that eager and in that much of a rush, to get the story told as soon as possible, that he decides not to bother with such trivial things as characterisation, worldbuilding, or even palatable exposition. Everything just rushes past, in a thrilling yet beige blur; none of the characters sound unique - every single character, whether they're male or female, seems to speak with exactly the same voice, which makes the dialogue uninspired and samey throughout. Any exposition is delivered as an unwieldy chunk of monologue, which sounds bland and formulaic. Worldbuilding is almost non-existent...why is the capital of the world Swiss City? Why are the major cities of the world now just city-sized tower blocks, with most people living on the underground levels? When were Ganymede and Mars colonized? How does the Fireclown travel by spaceship to our sun in a matter of moments? Nobody knows, as nothing is ever explained, which is infuriating.
Yet, bizarrely, despite these relatively big negatives, this remains an exciting book with some enjoyable twists and turns along the way. Even Moorcock's philosophising on nuclear weapons and violence in general (violence begets violence etc) are, for once, non-controversial and agreeable.
An interesting sci-fi/socio-political thriller, which remains engrossing despite the samey dialogue, the clunky exposition and the lack of characterisation and worldbuilding.
3 / 5
November 1, 2025
Читать раннего Муркока обычно скучновато, но все равно нравится наблюдать, как в этих простецких ученических книгах, словно в юношеских карандашных набросках, постепенно проступает рука будущего Мастера.
Вот казалось бы, совершенно бестолковый сюжет, запредельно наивный. Некоего подпольщика-анархиста подозревают в том, что он собрался при помощи новейших технологий уничтожить аж все человечество. Но при этом как бы в целом всем пофиг. Спецслужбы, полиция, никто не спешит его задержать, допросить, проверить реальность обвинений. Только один немолодой политик — не очень понятно почему — параноидально убежден в виновности Огненного Шута и любыми способами, вплоть до классического «подбрасывания пакетика с порошком», пытается нейтрализовать угрозу. Внук политика (главный герой, от лица которого ведется повествование) столь же параноидально убежден в невиновности Шута и, рискуя жизнью, сражается за его права и свободу. При этом ни у кого нет ни малейших реальных фактов, просто один чувак встал в театральную позу и кричит «он негодяй, верьте мне на слово», а другой встал в симметрично театральную позу и восклицает «нет, верьте на слово мне, мамой клянусь, он невинная жертва». В итоге демагогия внука берет верх над демагогией деда, он убеждает Мировой Совет в невиновности Шута, но тут ВНЕЗАПНО оказывается, что Шут все же намерен уничтожить человечество, причем вот уже прямо сейчас. Все изумлены. Конец книги.
Ну это же полный треш, верно? Кому вообще придет в голову такое читать? А вот поди ж ты — несмотря на сомнительную фабулу, роман битком набит яркими образами, которые еще надолго останутся с читателем после того, как будет перевернута последняя страница этого невеликого чтива. Стальные коридоры мега-города, разросшегося на всю Швейцарию. Сверкающие корпуса ракет, стартующих из-под воды. Орбитальный монастырь нео-саентологов. И, конечно, сам Огненный Шут, здоровенный детина в несмываемом клоунском гриме, мечтатель, философ, романтик космических дорог, а по совместительству массовый убийца, чья пылающая жизнь по сути началась в фотосфере Солнца и закончилась в ней же.
Очень жаль, что Муркок, несмотря на свою неуемную любовь к кроссоверам, ни в одной книге так и не вернулся к образу Шута. Про этого парня я бы с огромным удовольствием почитал еще.
Вот казалось бы, совершенно бестолковый сюжет, запредельно наивный. Некоего подпольщика-анархиста подозревают в том, что он собрался при помощи новейших технологий уничтожить аж все человечество. Но при этом как бы в целом всем пофиг. Спецслужбы, полиция, никто не спешит его задержать, допросить, проверить реальность обвинений. Только один немолодой политик — не очень понятно почему — параноидально убежден в виновности Огненного Шута и любыми способами, вплоть до классического «подбрасывания пакетика с порошком», пытается нейтрализовать угрозу. Внук политика (главный герой, от лица которого ведется повествование) столь же параноидально убежден в невиновности Шута и, рискуя жизнью, сражается за его права и свободу. При этом ни у кого нет ни малейших реальных фактов, просто один чувак встал в театральную позу и кричит «он негодяй, верьте мне на слово», а другой встал в симметрично театральную позу и восклицает «нет, верьте на слово мне, мамой клянусь, он невинная жертва». В итоге демагогия внука берет верх над демагогией деда, он убеждает Мировой Совет в невиновности Шута, но тут ВНЕЗАПНО оказывается, что Шут все же намерен уничтожить человечество, причем вот уже прямо сейчас. Все изумлены. Конец книги.
Ну это же полный треш, верно? Кому вообще придет в голову такое читать? А вот поди ж ты — несмотря на сомнительную фабулу, роман битком набит яркими образами, которые еще надолго останутся с читателем после того, как будет перевернута последняя страница этого невеликого чтива. Стальные коридоры мега-города, разросшегося на всю Швейцарию. Сверкающие корпуса ракет, стартующих из-под воды. Орбитальный монастырь нео-саентологов. И, конечно, сам Огненный Шут, здоровенный детина в несмываемом клоунском гриме, мечтатель, философ, романтик космических дорог, а по совместительству массовый убийца, чья пылающая жизнь по сути началась в фотосфере Солнца и закончилась в ней же.
Очень жаль, что Муркок, несмотря на свою неуемную любовь к кроссоверам, ни в одной книге так и не вернулся к образу Шута. Про этого парня я бы с огромным удовольствием почитал еще.
March 30, 2025
On one level, this is a kind of science fiction political thriller set in the immense City of Switzerland, the capital city of Earth and the solar system. But at the same time, it’s an examination of the concept and possibility of utopia. The main character struggles to understand why people who live in a peaceful, prosperous and well governed society flock to listen to the bizarre prophet-like figure known as the Fireclown. The Fireclown preaches a return to nature and a turn away from rationality, but at the same time, he serves as a kind of projection of individuals’ subconscious wishes. Everyone sees in him what they want to see. Is it inevitable that humans will rebel against predictability and stability, in favor of novelty and variety, even to the point of harming themselves and the society they’ve built?
August 22, 2025
The Fireclown is essentially two novels. One is a fairly by-the-numbers Moorcock mid-1960's Science Fiction offering - a bit all over the place, with social commentary sprinkled in. The other is an eerily prophetic tale of an orange-tinged demagogue. Consider passages like this:
"The fact reamined that the Fireclown had beome the mob's symbol and its leader. Whatever he told them they would do - unless, perhaps, he told them to do nothing at all."
"He talks of our speeech having no meaning and turns sensible individuals into a maddened mob with the choice of a few emotional phrases that say nothing to the mind and everything to the belly!"
Highly recommend for both Moorcock fans and those interested in a Science Fiction-tingled political thriller.
"The fact reamined that the Fireclown had beome the mob's symbol and its leader. Whatever he told them they would do - unless, perhaps, he told them to do nothing at all."
"He talks of our speeech having no meaning and turns sensible individuals into a maddened mob with the choice of a few emotional phrases that say nothing to the mind and everything to the belly!"
Highly recommend for both Moorcock fans and those interested in a Science Fiction-tingled political thriller.
April 12, 2023
Weird. Weird even for Moorcock.
Not totally unenjoyable. I gave it 2 stars because there is a ton of better Moorcock out there, and almost nothing I ever read by him rated four stars or better. (I grade on a curve. 5 means 'one of the best'. 4 means 'incredibly good.' 3 stars is a good review. This means that 2 stars signify, in essence, not bad, but debatably not worth reading.) This one is probably going to be of interest only to Moorcock completists.
Not totally unenjoyable. I gave it 2 stars because there is a ton of better Moorcock out there, and almost nothing I ever read by him rated four stars or better. (I grade on a curve. 5 means 'one of the best'. 4 means 'incredibly good.' 3 stars is a good review. This means that 2 stars signify, in essence, not bad, but debatably not worth reading.) This one is probably going to be of interest only to Moorcock completists.
April 16, 2021
I really wish a good writer had taken up these themes.
May 10, 2021
This is a question for MM fans. I want to know why the book title got changed from The Fireclown? It seems like the original title fits the story so well. Anyone know why the title changed?
December 9, 2011
I am the Fireclown, equipped for your salvation. I am the gift bearer, alive with the Fire of Life, from which the Earth itself was formed! I am the Earth's brother...."
A woman in a padded dress representing the body of a lion cried shrilly: "And what are we?"
"You are the maggots feeding off your mother. When you mate it is like corpses coupling. When you laugh it is the sound of the winds of limbo!"
A science fiction novel set in an enclosed city that covers most of Switzerland. Most of the city's inhabitants have never left the city, since although it isn't forbidden, they get feelings of agoraphobia at the thought of going outside. In the lower depths of Switzerland City, the Fireclown appears as if from nowhere, preaching against the ordered, artificial, machine-driven society and for a return to a more natural way of life. His speeches trigger something unexpected in the hearts of the people who attend his audiences and when the city council acts to suppress the Fireclown's influence, things turn ugly.
An interesting story of politics, cults and mass hysteria, but I think it was all wrapped up a little too quickly and neatly at the end. And I'm always annoyed when a protagonist gets himself into trouble by doing something really stupid. If you were a well-known figure who was often recognised on the street and you were trying to infiltrate a secret organisation in the area where the main baddie was holed up, and the first contact you made actually told you that they wore masks to their meetings to protect their identities, you would make sure you got hold of a mask before the meeting wouldn't you?
A woman in a padded dress representing the body of a lion cried shrilly: "And what are we?"
"You are the maggots feeding off your mother. When you mate it is like corpses coupling. When you laugh it is the sound of the winds of limbo!"
A science fiction novel set in an enclosed city that covers most of Switzerland. Most of the city's inhabitants have never left the city, since although it isn't forbidden, they get feelings of agoraphobia at the thought of going outside. In the lower depths of Switzerland City, the Fireclown appears as if from nowhere, preaching against the ordered, artificial, machine-driven society and for a return to a more natural way of life. His speeches trigger something unexpected in the hearts of the people who attend his audiences and when the city council acts to suppress the Fireclown's influence, things turn ugly.
An interesting story of politics, cults and mass hysteria, but I think it was all wrapped up a little too quickly and neatly at the end. And I'm always annoyed when a protagonist gets himself into trouble by doing something really stupid. If you were a well-known figure who was often recognised on the street and you were trying to infiltrate a secret organisation in the area where the main baddie was holed up, and the first contact you made actually told you that they wore masks to their meetings to protect their identities, you would make sure you got hold of a mask before the meeting wouldn't you?
May 5, 2016
The book concerns a young politician. His grandfather and his lover are competing to be the next president of a utopian City of Switzerland. The appearance the Fireclown, seemingly a cult leader who can make artificial suns, throws a wildcard into the proceedings.
Much of the content is a prolonged discussion between rather thinly painted characters about whether the Fireclown is willingly evil, or innocent of the violence done in his name. The protagonist favours the latter view explaining the cult represents something already existing under the surface of social life. The Fireclown is just a figure onto which feelings of discontent are projected, and is not responsible. This dimension is not explained in great depth as mostly the book is enclosed in rooms and in conversations. Everything is stated quite plainly and asides from the Fireclown himself there are only fleeting moments of brilliant imagery. There are no detailed portraits of characters, nor of the social life of the city. It is difficult to be interested in the debates surrounding the Fireclowns role in social order because we get no context.
The Fireclown as a character is wonderfully conceived. In fact his inscrutable, borderline supernatural persona seems to demand a superior narrative in which to flourish. He is let down by a blunted "twist" revelation near the middle of the book which serves only to explicit the already un-subtle Freudian current.
Much of the content is a prolonged discussion between rather thinly painted characters about whether the Fireclown is willingly evil, or innocent of the violence done in his name. The protagonist favours the latter view explaining the cult represents something already existing under the surface of social life. The Fireclown is just a figure onto which feelings of discontent are projected, and is not responsible. This dimension is not explained in great depth as mostly the book is enclosed in rooms and in conversations. Everything is stated quite plainly and asides from the Fireclown himself there are only fleeting moments of brilliant imagery. There are no detailed portraits of characters, nor of the social life of the city. It is difficult to be interested in the debates surrounding the Fireclowns role in social order because we get no context.
The Fireclown as a character is wonderfully conceived. In fact his inscrutable, borderline supernatural persona seems to demand a superior narrative in which to flourish. He is let down by a blunted "twist" revelation near the middle of the book which serves only to explicit the already un-subtle Freudian current.
June 9, 2013
A pretty slight entertainment from Moorcock. A grotesque clown preaches salvation to those who are the losers in this far future economy. But he may also be stockpiling nuclear weapons. (He really is, by the way, dressed as a clown, and he does know some pretty nifty tricks with fire.) The society itself is facing an important political election, although both candidates come from different branches and generations of the same family. Adding to the somewhat Jacobean feel of the political machinations, there is even a bastard grandson playing a major role.
The story here takes some pretty obvious turns, but as is often the case, the main character will be making additional appearances in Moorcock's Multiverse. Although he exits the solar system at the end of the novel, he will return as The Messiah at the End of Time, whose encounter with the jaded sophisticates from the Dancers at the End of Time trilogy I really look forward to.
The story here takes some pretty obvious turns, but as is often the case, the main character will be making additional appearances in Moorcock's Multiverse. Although he exits the solar system at the end of the novel, he will return as The Messiah at the End of Time, whose encounter with the jaded sophisticates from the Dancers at the End of Time trilogy I really look forward to.
January 2, 2014
Another early SF novel that's kind of discordant and seems to be going all over the place. The central ideas about the multiverse hating intelligence come out of nowhere and the Fire Clown leaves and reenters the story in a pretty random feeling way. There are some interesting ideas here, but not necessarily coherent ones.
September 18, 2014
The first half of the book moves at rapid pace and is engaging. By the mid-point of the novel, it starts to slow down. It does pick up at the end, however. Intriguing and entertaining, but not necessarily an essential work.
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February 15, 2011fantastic tense allmost lovecraftian sci fi, following reading this i wanted for years to form a band called fireclown, read it and you'll know why.
September 17, 2011
Fireclown serves nicely as the "misunderstood prophet" in Moorcock's story of a stratified future society lacking in freedom and dignity.
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