Gollancz announces major new Michael Moorcock publishing project for 2013/14

[demos99]

This might be of interest to readers here:

Gollancz has announced a major two-year publishing project to release the entire science fiction and fantasy back catalogue of Michael Moorcock in both print and eBook editions, as well as a substantial amount of his literary fiction.

Starting in February 2013, the programme will bring back all of Moorcock’s genre works including Hawkmoon, Corum, Von Bek, the Eternal Champion books and, of course, his most famous creation, Elric. At the same time Gollancz will also publish Moorcock’s Jerry Cornelius novels, The Brothel in Rosenstrasse and other non-genre fiction.

The newly published books are definitive editions, carefully prepared with the author and his long-standing friend, bibliographer and editor, John Davey. The new versions will be particularly important to fans as they will present the Elric stories in a consistent internal chronological order together with associational material never previously published.

The books will be published by Gollancz as print omnibus editions with a matching livery. Individual eBooks will be published by SF Gateway, Gollancz’s ground-breaking online SF&F digital library of classic genre fiction. The programme begins with the publication of the last three Elric novels: Daughter of Dreams, Destiny’s Brother and Son of the Wolf.

“I am extremely pleased to be continuing a relationship with Victor Gollancz which began nearly fifty years ago,” said Moorcock. “This new programme will make available many of my books which have been hard to obtain in any form and will now be available in both print and electronic form in newly revised definitive editions prepared by myself and my long-standing friend and editor John Davey.”

We know a few details about the new editions courtesy of John Davey. The 'last three Elric novels' were previously published in the US as The Dreamthief's Daughter, The Skrayling Tree & The White Wolf's Son but are being re-titled and revised (as is Moorcock's frequent wont) for these new UK editions.

Amazon UK already have some titles listed for pre-order:

• Daughter of Dreams: Book One of Elric: The Moonbeam Roads (Feb. 2013)
• Destiny's Brother: Book Two of Elric: The Moonbeam Roads (Feb. 2013)
• Son of the Wolf: Book Three of Elric: The Moonbeam Roads (Feb. 2013)
• Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe (Fed. 2013)
• Corum: The Prince with the Silver Hand (Mar. 2013)
• Gloriana; or, The Unfulfill'd Queen (Mar. 2013)
• Hawkmoon: The History of the Runestaff (Mar. 2013)
• Hawkmoon: Count Brass (Apr. 2013)
• Elric of Melniboné and Other Stories (May 2013)
• The Cornelius Quartet (Jun. 2013)
• Elric: The Fortress of the Pearl (Jul. 2013)
• Von Bek (Aug. 2013)

While the Gollancz site has initial details of the ebooks due next February:

• Daughter of Dreams (£7.99)
• Destiny's Brother (£7.99)
• Son of the Wolf (£7.99)
• The Knight of the Swords (£4.99)
• The Queen of the Swords (£4.99)
• The King of the Swords (£4.99)
• The Distant Suns (£4.99)
• The Golden Barge (£4.99)
• Sojan (£4.99)
• The Chinese Agent (£4.99)
• The Russian Intelligence (£4.99)

Unfortunately for readers in North America (inc. Canada) the books/ebooks won't be marketed in those territories although I don't suppose it will prove too difficult to buy the physical books online.

 

[Connavar]

This is good news for me who is interested in new versions of Corum series, The Cornelius Quartet. Cornelius interest me much more than Elric.

 

[Fried Egg]

Sounds interesting. Might be a good excuse to re-read Elric.

I must admit that my attempts to read the "Cornelius" stuff in the past hasn't been successful, I just couldn't get on with it.

 

[J-WO]

Be nice to see the entire Elric cycle placed into order. I could never make head nor tail of which one to read next.

 

[j d worthington]

Very good news indeed. I'm always interested in seeing what Moorcock has done with new editions of his material. The changes (when they are there) are usually small and subtle, but often have quite a significant role to play nonetheless (at least to my mind).

F.E.: The Cornelius stories are not to everyone's taste, so they may just never "hit" you right. I hope this is not the case, however, as I think at least some of them are among Moorcock's best work, and the majority are very good works in their own right.

 

[Grimward]

Also looking forward to this. Always time to get new editions when your paperback pages can no longer be considered any shade resembling "white". And while I have just about all of the Elric and Corum stuff, I've never picked up any of the Jerry Cornelius or Hawkmoon stories. Much like the complete Zelazny set a couple years ago, therefore, I will be hopping on this one. Thanks for sharing, Demos.