Cool Micheal Moorcock Interview
I just read a cool interview with Michael Moorcock, the ground-breaking sf author of 70s UK Glam SF. For those of you who don't know him,
a) go and buy one of his books straight away, and,
b) he is something a little unusual - you'll like it.
He tries to write SF that isn't too science-fictiony. His most famous fantasy protagonist isn't some Conan like brute, but a degenerate weakling. We're talking about the super famous Elric here. Games Workhsop made a role-playing game called Stormbringer (named after Elric's sword - the metaphorical monkey on his back), and in the art, they got Elric right. Skinny, exotic and degenerately strange. I do a bit of fantasy game inspired painting myself.
Elric isn't my favourite Moorcock creation though; I prefer the dancers at the end of time. It is about a small group of humans who are all that are left of humanity, and whose technology is so advanced that they would seem to be magicians of infinite power to cave people like you and me (unless this blog post has made it into the far future and is being read by some historian who belongs to a community of advanced technology humans who has almost infinite power at his or her control (if the distinction his/hers has any meaning anymore)).
It's a great book, and it rings true. I'd prefer to think that we evolve as a society into a small band of degenerate fops desperately trying to think of ways to amuse their ancient and jaded souls, rather than radioactive zombies searching a post-apocalypse wasteland for carrion.
The second scenario is much more common in SF, but I like to think this society has what it takes to get to a more Moorcockian future. The full interview with this sci-fi legend is at the interviewer's blog.
a) go and buy one of his books straight away, and,
b) he is something a little unusual - you'll like it.
He tries to write SF that isn't too science-fictiony. His most famous fantasy protagonist isn't some Conan like brute, but a degenerate weakling. We're talking about the super famous Elric here. Games Workhsop made a role-playing game called Stormbringer (named after Elric's sword - the metaphorical monkey on his back), and in the art, they got Elric right. Skinny, exotic and degenerately strange. I do a bit of fantasy game inspired painting myself.
Elric isn't my favourite Moorcock creation though; I prefer the dancers at the end of time. It is about a small group of humans who are all that are left of humanity, and whose technology is so advanced that they would seem to be magicians of infinite power to cave people like you and me (unless this blog post has made it into the far future and is being read by some historian who belongs to a community of advanced technology humans who has almost infinite power at his or her control (if the distinction his/hers has any meaning anymore)).
It's a great book, and it rings true. I'd prefer to think that we evolve as a society into a small band of degenerate fops desperately trying to think of ways to amuse their ancient and jaded souls, rather than radioactive zombies searching a post-apocalypse wasteland for carrion.
The second scenario is much more common in SF, but I like to think this society has what it takes to get to a more Moorcockian future. The full interview with this sci-fi legend is at the interviewer's blog.
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