Progenitors (inspiration and source material)

[Urson]

You've got more self-control than me, CP. I'd be awake all night, reading 'just one more chapter'.

[ChubbyPixie]

You've got more self-control than me, CP. I'd be awake all night, reading 'just one more chapter'.

Trust me, I would have, just RL work has been a bear, leaving me no time for reading, or posting... or having a life. Still, I'm grateful to have a job in these crazy times, so not complaining.

Well, maybe a little bit.

[Inferno]

Kaiju





The only thing better than dinosaurs is dinosaur monsters. Add to that, the end of the world caused by blowback from our atomic folly, and a vengeful Mother Nature, and you've got Japanese giant monster movies. How I loved these as a kid.





The Japanese elements lost in translation just made them that much more mysterious, strange and powerful.





As an adult I was struck that most of the Japanese monsters transition from villains to heroes during their run of films. Audiences are rooting for the harbingers of apocalypse. People want to see civilization destroyed.





It reminds me that Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the barbarian, often opined that civilization was not Man's natural state. It was only a matter of time before things would self-correct and we would revert to our preferred, instinctive condition of savagery and chaos.





And of course these films remind me of Robert Oppenheimer, who led the U.S. development of the atomic bomb. After the first successful test detonation on July 16, 1945, Oppenheimer quoted Hindu scripture: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."




A month later, his weapons were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Finally, there's this bit of awesomeness, the quintessential Saturday Morning soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvQWBXJOgAI
Jump to the one minute mark and enjoy!

[Scott308]

I'll see your Godzilla and raise you a Mothra!
https://youtu.be/iw8_Dz4cI-k

[Urson]

I don't know about anyone else, but I loved Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Got a definite sense of the Japanese "protector Godzilla" vibe.

[ravenn4544]

Godzilla is cool and all, but I thought this guy was the ultimate protector???

https://youtu.be/QL1p1iGZYb8?t=1

[Inferno]

I'll see your Godzilla and raise you a Mothra!
https://youtu.be/iw8_Dz4cI-k

Anvil makes Blue Oyster Cult sound like easy listening! How did Blue Oyster Cult ever make it onto the soundtrack of a movie called Heavy Metal? (let alone Don Felder, Devo, Journey and Donald Fagan!)

King of the Monsters was awesome. And I love me some Ultraman!

[SpinwardMarch]

I saw BOC as part of a triple bill... August 2005, I think. Doobie Brothers, Joan Jett, and Blue Oyster Cult; great show, outside at Konocti Harbor Resort (now closed, or barely open). I live across Clear Lake from the venue. Got comp tickets, and it was the last concert we went to, before my late husband went on dialysis. <sad face>

[Inferno]

That's a hell of a triple bill.

[SpinwardMarch]

It was. I don't remember much of it, but that it was a great concert. My memory is not good, and has been made worse by long episodes of depression.

[Inferno]

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully Unseen Servant provides some relief, fun and escapism.

Doobie Brothers, Joan Jett, and Blue Oyster Cult: Tough to imagine a combination of three rock bands from 1970-1980 more diverse than that!

Let's see... Pink Floyd, the Sex Pistols and Captain & Tennille.

[Inferno]

Michael Moorcock

The adventurers speak with the celestial healer McCoy, who sails a sea that spans many worlds!

Sure, it's only a passing reference to the Dark Ship that sails the Multiverse in Moorcock's ingenious 'The Sailor on the Seas of Fate'...



...but I'll take it.

I wish there was more of Moorcock in this game but, on the other hand, it is science fantasy adjacent to our own world, blending past and future across many realms (i.e. source materials), in a bleak universe of unknowable, disinterested gods.



Elsewhere I said...

I wonder if the best possible time to read an author's work is at the age they were when they wrote it.
Read Robert E. Howard in your 20s.
Michael Moorcock in your 20s and 30s.
Lovecraft in your 30s and 40s.
Tolkien in your 40s and 50s.
And one could probably safely err on the side of being older than them, given their genius!

I came to Moorcock at the perfect time. Right in my sullen, moody, broody young adult years. I was insufferably ripe for everything sarcastic, misanthropic and yes... sardonic.

Despite my advanced age, I still have fond memories of the Elric books. The Daw paperbacks with the Michael Whelan covers.




And of the Chaosium game, Stormbringer, with art by Frank Brunner.







It must be my arrested adolescence. Honestly, if I wasn't running four games now, I'd run a Young Kingdoms campaign.

There's still time yet.

Any Elric fans out there? In addition to Yyrkoon, I mean!

[Yrkoon]

I reread Elric a couple years ago right around the time I joined Unseen Servant, so the moniker was an easy choice. I recommend the series to anyone who hasn't yet.

[Scott308]

I've not read any of it, but I did play a session of Stormbringer and got a pretty good rundown on Elric and his world. And I enjoyed the game. They are books that I want to check out at some point.

[Inferno]

I recommend the Elric books to any roleplayer. They're in Appendix N, Tom Moldvay's reading list in B/X, and Deities and Demigods! So what are you waiting for?

Begun in 1961, Moorcock seems to have written Elric as a criticism and a rebuke of the central pillar of fantasy in whose shadow he lived: Tolkien. And perhaps Robert E. Howard.

Spoilers:

Instead of strong and certain protagonists like Aragorn and Conan, he wrote one that is physically and morally weak, and indecisive as Hamlet.
Instead of a brave warrior, Elric is a demon-summoning sorcerer.
Instead of bucolic hobbits in rural villages working good tilled earth, or a rugged barbarian, Elric is an urbane, sophisticated, ironic city dweller.
Instead of heroes driven by faith, hope and bravery, Elric is a sardonic, cynical fatalist who believes in nothing.
Instead of winning his true love, Elric kills her.
Instead of gaining a throne, Elric starts as an emperor and abandons his throne and betrays his subjects.
Instead of destroying the One Ring, Elric makes a pact with an evil artifact that corrupts him further.
Instead of opposing a Dark Lord, Elric aligns himself with one.
Instead of a battle of good and evil, Moorcock stages a war between law and chaos where only a balance between the two can allow mankind to survive.
Instead of saving the world, Elric destroys it.

The books are collections of short stories originally written for fantasy magazines, like the anthologies of Howard's Conan stories, or of Lovecraft's work.

Elric of Melnibone is the first book, and the natural place to start.

Sailors on the Seas of Fate is the second book, but was written later than many of the Elric stories. It starts the Eternal Champion cycle, and the multiverse. It is a stand alone book and can be read out of order, and is perhaps the most unique.

Weird of the White Wolf is book three, and includes the first Elric story written, The Dreaming City. It's likely the best book.

Books four and five are great fun, but not critical.

Book six, Stormbringer, wraps up the original saga, and is pretty epic.

Minimum reading: Books 1, 3 and 6. But book 2 pioneers new territory. They are each pretty slender volumes by today's standards.

[Inferno]

Also, Moorcock is really good at coming up with unique, flavorful names:

Terarn Gashtek
Yyrkoon
Rackhir the Red Archer
Moonglum of Elwher
Agak and Gagak
Chardros the Reaper
Xiombarg
Arioch
Theleb K'aarna
Jagreen Lern
Saxif D'Aan
Jhary-a-Conel
Voilodion Ghagnasdiak

Love all those apostrophes, hard K sounds, unnecessary Hs, and double letters.

[ChubbyPixie]

I missed this as a kid and... man is it silly, angsty stuff (in a good way). Probably best first encountered as a teenager.

I've only read Stormbringer, and enjoyed it, but would venture to say it is not the best place to start. I'll follow your list and try the first one.

[Urson]

I should give these another shot, too. I tried to read ...something.. from Moorcock sometime in the mid 80's. I don't remember what it was, just that I couldn't get into it- maybe I just came in in the middle.

[SpinwardMarch]

Another book series for my list.

I will have to look in the shed to see if there is any of Moorcock's books...in between a bunch of other stuff, including just trying to breathe. The air quality is terrible from all the smoke. I live downwind from the LNU Lightning Complex fire.

[Inferno]

Yow. Keep safe, Spinward!