Four years ago I went through a Michael Moorcock phase and raided every local bookstore for his work. I ended up with 40+ paperbacks, all of which I felt obligated to read and ever since they've had a pretty steady rotation out to friends who've never read any of the Eternal Champion books. One of those books was Elric at the End of Time, a collection of Elric odds and ends (the title story is pretty good, expecially if you like the Dancers at the End of Time books) and a short story from Moorcock's early days called Sojan the Shield-bearer. Out of the 40+ books, the only thing I couldn't finish was that short story. I cut Moorcock a break on that story because he was probably little more than a kid when he wrote it, but I remember it being poorly writen, highly derivative, and just plain dull. Is anyone else of that opinion or am I way off about Sojan and should give him another chance?
I remember reading about Sojan the Shieldbearer about 25 years ago, and thats all. It will be interesting to see what Moorcock has done to the story with 45 years or so to think about it.
...rewrite and expand Sojan the Swordsman for our Planet Stories edition....
Whew.
...am I way off about Sojan and should give him another chance?I think Moorcock asked that very question himself, because he chose to rewrite and expand Sojan the Swordsman for our Planet Stories edition. Perhaps he has solved the problems you had with it.
That's really cool, I didn't realize that he went back and expanded it, perhaps I should improve my reading comprehension skills before reading product descriptions :). How does something like that work though, did Planet Stories approach MM and ask if he'd do a rewrite or did he approach PS with an updated Sojan which you were more than happy to publish?
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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It was a little of both, actually. The Planet Stories editorial staff has been talking with Mike for years, as he was one of our first introducers and we like to get together when we're in Texas, where Mike lives. We needled him for a while about publishing these stories, and he finally agreed under the condition that he could go in and make a few changes.
There are fewer changes that you might have expected him to make, to be completely honest, and it's pretty obvious that these are some of the formative tales from early in Mike's career. That said, Mike did contribute a completely new framing sequence that unambiguously ties Sojan into the "Eternal Champion" mythos, and that I thought was a real treat.
So I can't say for sure that the new material changes the original stories to the degree that you might hope, but there IS some new stuff throughout and the Joe Lansdale novella is 100% new. I think you'll find the whole book an enjoyable package.
I cut Moorcock a break on that story because he was probably little more than a kid when he wrote it, but I remember it being poorly writen, highly derivative, and just plain dull. Is anyone else of that opinion or am I way off about Sojan and should give him another chance?
I just reread "Elric at the End of Time" and I have to agree with your comments. I was especially bemused by the occasions where he brought the action (such as it was) to a screeching halt to toss out some factoids about the planet Zylor (e.g. cavalry officers often serve as first mates about Zyloran ships!).