Background The world of Earl Aubec is The Age of the Bright Empire-the same as the world of Elric, only set some time earlier than the Elric stories. The Bright Empire is flourishing. It is the most powerful on Earth and the influence of the Dragon Princes of Imrryr is felt everywhere (though whenever possible they disdain contact with the race of true human beings of the Young Kingdoms). Elric's ancestor, Gadric the Eleventh, moody son of Terhali, the Green Empress, sits on the Dragon Throne, close consort, it is rumoured, of the Dukes of Hell, particularly Arioch.

The Lords of Chaos, in fact, still have the greater part of the power over Earth. At the edges of the world, Chaos Unbound still exists (in "Master of Chaos," Earl Aubec's task was to make a little of that Chaosmatter stable).

The cosmology, therefore, is the same as the cosmology of the Elric stories, as is the basic geography [see attached map], but the Young Kingdoms have not yet risen to power and the Dreaming City of Imrryr dominates the world by virtue of her sorcery, her Dragon Masters, her golden battle-barges and her pact with Chaos.

Central Character Earl Aubec of Malador is a big, powerful warrior in middle years, his sole companion his cat, who travels everywhere with him and has a great sense for danger when it threatens.

Aubec's patron gods are the Lords of Law, and he has something of an ally in the sorceress Micella of Kaneloon whom he loves secretly and hopelessly, hardly daring to admit it to himself, for his loyalty, according to tradition, must be to the dead Queen Eloarde of Lormyr. (These characters also originally appear in "Master of Chaos.") Events Earl Aubec, deprived of his lands by the machinations of Queen Eloarde's half-brother Aradard, is an exile, roaming the world, sought by Aradard's assassins (only Aubec witnessed the murder of Eloarde by her half-brother's men), selling his sword, ready for a chance to win the fortune that will enable him to finance an army that he can lead back to Lormyr. His one abiding hope is that he will be able to wreak vengeance on Aradard, restore the throne to Eloarde's young son Prince Haminak (who is, in fact, Aubec's son, too) whom Aubec believes is still alive, having smuggled him from the palace himself before Aradard's men found the boy.

All Aubec's motivations, therefore, involve his need to raise an army to attack Aradard, his willingness to rob, murder or in other ways destroy or discomfort Aradard's men, his wish to find his lost son Haminak.

But Micella has other motivations. She knows that Aubec has a particular quality of character which makes him an able champion against the Lords of Chaos and their efforts to retain control of the Earth as their domain. While she can never convince Aubec of the fact that he is a somewhat extraordinary kind of man, she can sometimes help him in his ambitions concerning Aradard and Haminak and therefore where her interests and his self-interest combine, she can sway him to work on behalf of her masters, the Lords of Law.

The first book, therefore, deals with these main events and concerns.

Aubec arrives in Tanelorn (also described in an earlier story about Rackhir the Red Archer, "To Rescue Tanelorn..." in Science Fantasy Science Fantasy No. 56) which is a city on the edge of the Sighing Desert. Tanelorn shelters many outcasts and has a peculiar nature, in that neither the forces of Law nor Chaos have any influence over the inhabitants. Here Aubec learns from a man who has come to recruit mercenaries that an army is being raised in Hikach, capital city of Argimiliar (a near neighbour of Lormyr), with a view to attacking Kachor, chief port of Lormyr. Aubec himself, as a much respected tactician and leader of warriors, is offered a fifth share of all loot if he will come in with the Argimilites. No. 56) which is a city on the edge of the Sighing Desert. Tanelorn shelters many outcasts and has a peculiar nature, in that neither the forces of Law nor Chaos have any influence over the inhabitants. Here Aubec learns from a man who has come to recruit mercenaries that an army is being raised in Hikach, capital city of Argimiliar (a near neighbour of Lormyr), with a view to attacking Kachor, chief port of Lormyr. Aubec himself, as a much respected tactician and leader of warriors, is offered a fifth share of all loot if he will come in with the Argimilites.

Aubec has no love for the folk of Argimiliar, for they are the Lormyrians' traditional foes, but the prospect of striking a blow at Aradard and raising money for his own army convinces him that he will throw in with the Argimilites.

In two weeks a boat will be leaving the port of Shad in Ilmiora. All the warriors must arrive by that time. The boat will take them to Hikach.

Several days later, as he readies himself for the journey, Aubec is approached by Micella the sorceress of Kaneloon. She tells him that the Melniboneans, under the direction of the Lords of Chaos, are fomenting civil war amongst the Young Kingdoms. The raid on Kachor will spark this off and soon all the Young Kingdoms will be at war, threatening the development of the power of true human beings and enabling the Lords of Chaos to increase their power. Aubec must not help the Argimilites. He must, instead, try to stop the raid.

Aubec will have none of this. He is wary of the sorceress, knowing that her professed motives and her actual motives are not always the same. He sets off for Shad, arrives and boards the ship.

Their voyage takes them across the Dragon Sea, close to the Isle of the Dragon, Melnibone.

A storm-evidently of supernatural origin-blows up. The ship is wrecked on the dreadful coast of the Dragon Isle where no true human being would willingly set foot. Aubec and a small party of warriors survive. Everyone, including Aubec, is extremely fearful. Aubec sets them to building a raft, hoping that he will be able to get off the Dragon Isle before the inhuman Melniboneans discover the intruders.

But it is too late. Dragon riders appear in the sky. Some of the warriors run and are destroyed by the flaming venom. Aubec stands his ground. The dragons land. Dyvim Kang, Dragon Prince, dismounts and haughtily approaches the little band, questioning them.

"Likely meat to feed our lord Arioch," smiles one of the inhumanly handsome Melniboneans. "Or perhaps they will furnish some more elaborate form of entertainment to lighten King Gadric's gloom."

Dyvim Kang silences the man. He is interested in Aubec. Perhaps he recognizes in Aubec that peculiar quality of character already noted by Micella. "Are you a sorcerer?" he asks. "You have not the sorcerer's manner?"

"I disdain sorcery," answers Aubec, "just as I disdain all that Melnibone stands for. But my quarrel is not with the Bright Empire. Let me go on about my own business and you concern yourselves with yours. A small skiff's all I need to get me to Hikach."

"We are not in the habit of dispensing gifts to human folk," Dyvim Kang says. "Why do you journey to Hikach?"

Aubec briefly tells him of the projected raid. Dyvim Kang nods. He already appears to know something of the Argimilites' plans. He seems half-prepared to let Aubec have his skiff, but then thinks better of it and orders that the few remaining warriors be used for sport and Aubec be brought before the Dragon Throne.

There follows Aubec's first confrontation with King Gadric the Eleventh, whose deep green pupilless eyes are a reminder that his mother was the near-immortal Terhali, the Green Empress. Gadric, too, is impressed with Aubec and summons a "friend." The friend ap-pears-actually Lord Balan of Chaos-a youth of frightening beauty. Balan knows of Aubec, knows that the earl serves Donblas of Law (though Aubec is not aware of this). They ascertain that Aubec really is bent on aiding the Argimilites and this amuses them greatly. It dawns on Aubec that Micella was right-this raid is the creation of Melnibone and her gods. But Aubec, always obstinate, refuses to consider the implications. He will continue with his original plans.

Aubec, by sorcerous means that he finds distasteful, is transported to Hikach. Here he prepares to sail against Kachor. The fleet sets sail. Micella appears with evidence that his son is held by King Ronon of Argimiliar-to ensure Aubec's good faith should he change his mind en route.

Aubec is in a quandary. He doesn't know whether to trust Micella's word or not, whether to continue with the raid or rescue his son.

"Even if I did turn back now," he tells Micella, "Ronon would have word of my coming and Haminak would be put to the sword-"

"-or worse," agrees Micella. But she then tells him that he has an ally in a "certain person possessed of considerable power."

"Why should this person aid me?"

"Because you aid him," she replies.

Aubec is more than ordinarily suspicious as she hands him a bracelet of oddly glowing metal and tells him to wear it. Instead he casually places it as a collar around the neck of his cat. "Whose bracelet is this?" he asks. "Yours?"

"No." She smiles mysteriously. "Where would you wish to be now?"

"Naturally, I would wish to be in Hikach, madam!" he replies pettishly.

The ship fades. He is in the streets of Hikach, his cat looking as startled as he feels. He is furious, convinced he has been duped by Micella. The cat runs off in fright. Aubec decides to investigate Ronon's castle and manages to sneak in. Searching the castle at night he can find no trace of his son and is doubly convinced of Micella's treachery.

Seized suddenly by Ronon's guards, Aubec fights his way free. But then he is trapped by Ronan's tame Pan Tang sorcerer. Ronon is furious. Aubec's son is not in the castle-the sorcerer has seen to that. He is in the city of Nieva, in the Argimilian hinterland, bound by spells. Now the boy will perish!

Ronon has Aubec chained in his armour over a slow fire. "We are going to cook you in your own shell."

The sorcerer leaves for Nieva to deal with the boy.

Ronon glowers. Aubec's turncoat trick might well have lost him the spoils of Kachor.

Aubec roasts. He is half-dead when his cat arrives, somewhat sheepishly, having found his master at last. Aubec decides to try out the bracelet and orders himself free. The chains drop off him. He uses the brazier as a weapon to fight Ronon's guards, gets his own great sword back, mounts a horse, the cat clinging to his shoulder, and rides for Nieva.

But in Nieva the sorcerer has gone, taking Aubec's son with him, for the sorcerer has plans to use the boy for his own purposes, as a pawn in a plot to rob Ronon of the Treasure of the Pikaraydians, which Ronon himself stole from his neighbouring monarch in the last great border battle on the banks of the River Jepchak. By holding the Pikaraydian Treasure (which has a mystical significance as well as a material value) Ronon ensures that he keeps Pikarayd in thrall. The sorcerer knows that with the Treasure he will have power over both Ronon and Pikarayd. But he needs Aubec's help in his scheme and has thus kidnapped the boy with a view to ensuring that Aubec will work for him (he has heard that Aubec was on his way).

Aubec meets the sorcerer and reluctantly agrees to aid him.

The Pikarayd Treasure lies in Ronon's secret vaults hidden in the caverns of the Shivering Cliffs that flank the River Marr far to the south of Nieva.

Aubec and his cat set off for the Shivering Cliffs, Aubec unreasonably blaming his present plight on Micella, for he suspects her hand in the plot since Kaneloon is not far from the Shivering Cliffs.

He reaches the Shivering Cliffs and enters battle with the various sorcerous and semi-sorcerous guardians (the Pan Tang sorcerer has given him a couple of protective runes), eventually reaching the Treasure. Lashing the treasure chests to the backs of the strange half-human creatures he has released at the same time, Aubec begins the slow journey back to Nieva. Soon he will be reunited with his son. He is also considering a scheme whereby, once he has his son, he can turn the tables on the sorcerer and get the Treasure for himself, thus enabling him to raise an army against Aradard.

On the second night of his journey back, he stops at the walled town of Oonak-Rass.

Unbeknownst to Aubec, Count Palag Fhak and his men have been trailing him. Palag Fhak is the cleverest and most courageous of Aradard's assassins. He had heard that Aubec was in the Southlands and has at last tracked him down.

In a tavern Aubec's cat warns him of the danger. Aubec is set upon by Palag Fhak's men. There is a brutal fight. Wounded, Aubec manages to escape from Oonak-Rass with the best part of the treasure train, running into the night.

Count Palag Fhak pursues him, but he manages to keep ahead of the assassins, eventually getting back to the tower where he has agreed to meet the sorcerer.

To ensure that the sorcerer keeps his part of the bargain, Aubec has left his treasure train hidden in a forest. He will tell the sorcerer where the Treasure is when he sees his son free. The sorcerer is disconcerted. Palag Fhak's men attack the tower.

There is a big battle, involving the assassins in fighting the sorcerer and the minions he summons from the nether regions. Aubec uses the confusion to get to the room where his son is kept.

He embraces the boy and then lets out a shout of horror.

The sorcerer has duped him. The boy is nothing more than a changeling-a creature created by sorcery-a simulacrum of the actual child. Aubec weeps and returns to have his vengeance on the sorcerer, who tells him that there was no real child. Ronon had him create the mindless and soulless changeling. Aubec destroys the sorcerer and leaves Palag Fhak to be devoured by the last and mightiest of the sorcerer's creatures. Aubec wants only vengeance on Ronon now, for the terrible trick played on him.

He returns to Hikach just as the defeated fleet is docking. Ronon is furious. Aubec is again captured on the quayside but notes that there are several Pikaraydian ships there, full of evil-tempered Pikaraydian sailors who have joined the venture only because Ronon has forced them to. Aubec tells them that the Treasure of Pikarayd is no longer in Ronon's keeping. If they aid him, he will tell them where it is.

A battle begins, with most of the mercenaries siding with Aubec and the Pikaraydians against Ronon.

Ronon is slain and his city is sacked.

Micella appears, telling Aubec that Ronon was the chief threat to the uneasy stability of the Southern Young Kingdoms. Now Ronon is dead, the main threat is over. But the Lords of Chaos are still scheming to create more trouble.

Aubec is sour. He has been cheated of a reconciliation with his son. He has lost the Treasure of Pikarayd. He has been duped and used as a pawn by half a score of different interests. All he has is his cat and the ridiculous bracelet, which he mistrusts.

Micella begs him to join forces with her, telling Aubec that it is in his own interest. But Aubec will have none of her.

Completely unimpressed that he has been the means of stopping a destructive war, Aubec rides off with his cat on his shoulder, still bent on finding his lost son and the means of having his vengeance on his old enemy Aradard.

As he goes, Micella smiles to herself as she sees the sun glint on the collar that the cat still wears.

Rest of the Series Through three further books-The Chronicle of Earl Aubec-we will trace Aubec's adventures, his quest for his son and his attempts to avenge Eloarde. Gradually the issues will build until the final book where he is responsible for exiling the Lords of Chaos from Earth and sowing the seeds that will eventually lead to the decline of Melnibonean power: The formation of the Lormyrian Confederacy which throws off the shackles of the Bright Empire.

This will also leave room for further tales concerning The Age of the Bright Empire, gradually, perhaps, leading up to The Age of the Young Kingdoms and the earlier adventures of Elric of Melnibone.

INTRODUCTION TO THE.

TAIWAN EDITION OF ELRIC.

INTRODUCTION TO THE.

TAIWAN EDITION OF.

ELRIC.

(2007).

I HAVE TO HAVE TO say that it is a great pleasure for my Elric books to be appearing in Taiwan after so many years. Chinese-language editions of my work have been rare and the only major language in which Elric has not appeared, so I feel honoured that they can at last be read by people whose culture I have always held in considerable esteem. say that it is a great pleasure for my Elric books to be appearing in Taiwan after so many years. Chinese-language editions of my work have been rare and the only major language in which Elric has not appeared, so I feel honoured that they can at last be read by people whose culture I have always held in considerable esteem.

While Elric was never influenced by the few Chinese stories available to me as a child and young man, I have always felt that they have something in common with many of the legends and folk-tales I have since read and which have appeared, in various forms, on the screen or in graphic novels. My chief influence for the stories were the Norse and Celtic epics which I enjoyed as a child, before I discovered the supernatural adventure fiction of writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber and others. I had begun writing such stories long before I had heard, for instance, of J.R.R. Tolkien who began to publish his great trilogy around the time when I was fourteen and fifteen and editing my fantasy fanzine Burroughsania Burroughsania, originally based on my youthful enthusiasm for the fantasy stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs (most famous as the author of Tarzan) Tarzan), but I am probably one of the few surviving writers of fantasy who was not not influenced by influenced by The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings. Instead my influences in fantasy were writers like Lord Dunsany, T. H. White and Mervyn Peake, as well as Poul Anderson, whose novel The Broken Sword The Broken Sword had the same tragic elements I found in the great Icelandic tales. had the same tragic elements I found in the great Icelandic tales.

By the time I was asked to write a series of fantasy novellas for the magazine Science Fantasy Science Fantasy, which prided itself on the literary qualities of its fiction, I was reading very little fantasy fiction at all, but had developed an enthusiasm for modernists like Conrad, Proust, Woolf and contemporaries such as Elizabeth Bowen and Angus Wilson. However, I suspect my exposure to French existentialism coloured much of what I was writing around the age of nineteen, when I first began to develop the Elric character. I was a huge Camus and Sartre fan at twenty when I wrote those early short stories and by the time I was twenty-three I had, I believed, killed my hero off and had no plans to write more stories.

The demand for more stories from editors and readers-as well as a continuing love for my character-meant, of course, that I came to write another ten volumes over the years and though I write mostly non-fantasy fiction, these days, I still find myself moved to write further short stories about Elric. During the forty years or so in which I have depicted his adventures I have seen my hero's influence grow, as he has appeared in almost every media, including radio, games and comics, but I resisted, until very recently, allowing him to appear in a movie, largely because I had already seen other work of mine translated to the screen and had been unhappy with the translation. Recently, however, Universal purchased the film rights on behalf of the Weitz brothers, whom I believe could probably do justice to the character, and as I write a movie is in production. In some ways my ambiguous albino has already appeared on the screen because he has influenced many similar characters (for instance in Japanese anime) but I have no reason to complain of that "borrowing," since Elric himself was an homage to a character who helped me while away my boyhood with such pleasure. That character appeared in a long-running series of Sexton Blake detective stories which were published before the Second World War and whose name was Zenith the Albino, a villain who plagued the existence of Sexton Blake from 1918 until 1940. I found them late, needless to say, and bought second-hand all the copies I could find. I have not only given credit to Zenith's influence, I have in later Elric stories, and my series of Metatemporal Detective tales, done my best to show that they are actually one and the same character!

Zenith, of course, did not have either the power nor the heritage of Elric but I am glad that I have kept him alive, at least in some form, being instrumental in republishing his only adventure in novel form in a recent edition by Savoy Books, who are a firm dedicated to publishing only work about which they feel enthusiastic, irrespective of cost. So strong has Elric's influence been, some readers believed that I had invented Zenith as well as Elric! Many authors have been good enough to tell me how their own wish to write was encouraged by the Elric stories, so it feels good to pass on a torch which Anthony Skene (Zenith's creator) first passed to me.

Of course, when I began writing Elric, there was no defined genre of "fantasy" and publishers did not know really what to call the kind of stories I was writing. Even Tolkien was seen by critics as creating some sort of post-nuclear disaster world because they were used to "serious" science fiction by the mid-1950s but could not conceive of a world set in a mythical alternative place like "Middle-earth." Indeed, none of us could imagine the popularity of what became known as epic fantasy (my choice of term) or "sword and sorcery" (Fritz Leiber's choice) which was why I happily allowed games companies and others to use my characters and world, to the point when two companies (Dungeons & Dragons being one) used them in their gaming scenarios. Later those companies would go to law over who owned rights to material which I had freely given away and only then did I begin to realize that, from being the enthusiasm of a few, fantasy fiction was growing into "big business." As a result I was forced to formalize by own work and institute trademarks and copyrights which, in those early days, had seemed both unnecessary and against the spirit of what I was trying to create. For many years Tolkien and myself were, in the public mind, the only writers of our kind and it would not be until the 1970s, with a new generation of authors, that we began to see the creation of what is, in most respects, a fresh genre. I had originally been attracted to writing supernatural fantasy fiction because it was, like certain kinds of science fiction, a "clean canvas" on which I could create work that was unlike anything I had previously read. I did the same with my Jerry Cornelius stories.

Cornelius, initially, was an attempt to produce a kind of myth-hero for modern times and his first novel, The Final Programme The Final Programme (sometimes known by its strange film title of (sometimes known by its strange film title of The Last Days of Man on Earth The Last Days of Man on Earth!) actually paralleled Elric's first adventures. Again, the stories were an attempt to write a new kind of fiction, this time one that engaged with the present without calling on the methods of "modernism" which, in my view, had become merely generic, having very little to say to me, at least. Jerry was the epitome (with Ballard's "condensed fiction") of what others called the New Wave in SF, where we tried to use science fiction in subtler, more complex ways than before, to confront rather than avoid the issues of the modern world. The authors who gathered around my magazine New Worlds New Worlds shared my feelings that through literary SF we could regenerate Anglophone fiction. I am glad to say that this experiment largely succeeded, so that most of our best-known literary writers employ techniques which we were responsible for developing. The latest Thomas Pynchon novel, shared my feelings that through literary SF we could regenerate Anglophone fiction. I am glad to say that this experiment largely succeeded, so that most of our best-known literary writers employ techniques which we were responsible for developing. The latest Thomas Pynchon novel, Against the Day Against the Day, as well as work by Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Don DeLillo, Brett Easton Ellis and many, many other writers contains methods first developed in New Worlds New Worlds. We were all, of course, part of the general zeitgeist which was also influenced by non-European fiction and created what some came to call "magic realism."

Elric, of course, contains more magic than realism, but I do hope there is enough realism in his stories to help you suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy them as they were intended-a way of passing a few hours in an agreeable "other world" where the big issues are a matter of sorcery and battle, rather than mortgages and politics! These stories were first and foremost intended as escapism in the manner of the great romances and folk-stories of the world-and so I wish you "a happy escape."

With best wishes to all my new Chinese readers.

Sincerely, Michael Moorcock Lost Pines, Texas January 2007

ONE LIFE, FURNISHED.

IN EARLY MOORCOCK.

ONE LIFE, FURNISHED.

IN EARLY MOORCOCK.

(1994).

by Neil Gaiman The Pale albino prince lofted on high his great black sword "This is Stormbringer" he said "and it will suck your soul right out."The Princess sihged. "Very well!" she said. "If that is what you need to get the energy you need to fight the Dragon Warriors, then you must kill me and let your broad sword feed on my soul.""I do not want to do this" he said to her."That's okay" said the princess and with that she ripped her flimsy gown and beared her chest to him. "That is my heart" she said, pointing with her finger. "and that is where you must plunge."

HE HAD NEVER got any further than that. That had been the day he had been told he was being moved up a year, and there hadn't been much point after that. He'd learned not to try and continue stories from one year to another. Now, he was twelve. got any further than that. That had been the day he had been told he was being moved up a year, and there hadn't been much point after that. He'd learned not to try and continue stories from one year to another. Now, he was twelve.

It was a pity, though.

The essay title had been Meeting My Favourite Literary Character Meeting My Favourite Literary Character, and he'd picked Elric. He'd toyed with Corum, or Jerry Cornelius, or even Conan The Barbarian, but Elric of Melnibone won, hands down, just like he always did.

Richard had first read Stormbringer Stormbringer three years ago, at the age of nine. He'd saved up for a copy of three years ago, at the age of nine. He'd saved up for a copy of The Singing Citadel The Singing Citadel (something of a cheat, he decided, on finishing: only one Elric story), and then borrowed the money from his father to buy (something of a cheat, he decided, on finishing: only one Elric story), and then borrowed the money from his father to buy The Sleeping Sorceress The Sleeping Sorceress, found in a spin-rack while they were on holiday in Scotland last summer. In The Sleeping Sorceress The Sleeping Sorceress Elric met Erekose and Corum, two other aspects of the Eternal Champion, and they all got together. Elric met Erekose and Corum, two other aspects of the Eternal Champion, and they all got together.

Which meant, he realized, when he finished the book, that the Corum books and the Erekose books, and even the Dorian Hawk-moon books were really Elric books too, so he began buying them, and he enjoyed them.

They weren't as good as Elric, though. Elric was the best.

Sometimes he'd sit and draw Elric, trying to get him right. None of the paintings of Elric on the covers of the books looked like the Elric that lived in his head. He drew the Elric's with a fountain pen in empty school exercise books he had obtained by deceit. On the front cover he'd write his name: Richard Grey, Do Not Steal Richard Grey, Do Not Steal.

Sometimes he thought he ought to go back and finish writing his Elric story. Maybe he could even sell it to a magazine. But then, what if Moorcock found out? What if he got into trouble?

The classroom was large, filled with wooden desks. Each desk was carved and scored and ink-stained by its occupant, an important process. There was a blackboard on the wall, with a chalk-drawing on it: a fairly accurate representation of a male penis, heading towards a Y shape, intended to represent the female genitalia.

The door downstairs banged, and someone ran up the stairs. "Grey, you spazmo, what're you doing up here? We're meant to be down on the Lower Acre. You're playing football today."

"We are? I am?"

"It was announced at assembly this morning. And the list is up on the games notice board." J.B.C. MacBride was sandy-haired, bespectacled, only marginally more organized than Richard Grey. There were two J. MacBrides, which was how he ranked a full set of initials.

"Oh."

Grey picked up a book (Tarzan at the Earth's Core) (Tarzan at the Earth's Core) and headed off after him. The clouds were dark grey, promising rain or snow. and headed off after him. The clouds were dark grey, promising rain or snow.