Yes, as I said in the video. Davey is usually spot on and a quick look back at those two novellas - which I've read numerous times- seemed to confirm what he said.

They meant saga books 1 and 2, from the same publisher, which would land this between Weird of the White Wolf and The Vanishing Tower.

@@js90001 -Yes, for the US edition, but this is the UK Gollancz edition and the Saga omnibuses are not published and distributed in the UK for copyright and market reasons - Gollancz publish all the Elric material in different, non-Omnibus editions in Britain, so this is just lazy copy editing by Gollancz, cut and pasting the text over from the US edition blurb, where the Saga connection is market-relevant. The Saga editions can only be bought in the UK as online imports and - of Gollancz wanted to be strict about this (they won't bother, as quantities selling in the UK via online sellers will be small) they could theoretically sue UK online sellers for selling the Saga editions in the UK, which is an infringement of Gollancz' UK copyright on the works.

Did he? Great. I must get in touch with him, it's been some time since I last interacted with him online, any chance of a link, mate?

Wow. If he means 8 novellas in the original style, that means two or two and one third books. I'd like to see him stick to the this, as I felt the longer third section of the new book wasn't as strong as the first two pieces.

That's amazing news! Where has he said this? Do you have a source?

I had a feeling that is what was meant by 'between the first and second books' - of course the Gallery Saga omnibuses are not published in the UK and technically should not be purchasable over here for legal reasons (at least in a shop). Obviously, they're obtainable online. Of course, you could argue that they are different texts to the Gollancz UK editions, which are a multiple volume series, not 3 omnibi. To my eyes and those of the notable experts who study the texts closely, it seems the book falls between "Kings In Darkness" and "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams" aka "The Flame Bringers" (two of the segments of 'Bane of the Black Sword'. It's very much a work of two parts, the first two 'books' being similar in length to the classic Elric novellas of 15,000 words, while the third part is less in keeping with the early stories and, in my view so far, the weaker part of the book as I feel it's too long- plus for other reasons I don't want to mention here as they'd be spoilers.

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I think the statement was definitely in the marketing sense: Can I read this one alone? What comes before it if I want to be prepared? How much do I *have to* read? And in today's market it really only makes sense - if you're in the States the Omni's are the only Elrics you'll find in a new bookstore. Thank you and I'll take my answer off the air. . .

@@salty-walt -yes, it makes sense for the USA, but it's typical of declining copy editing standards in UK publishing over here!

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Oh it's not like OUR standards aren't swirling in a narrowing gyre as well.

I aimed to avoid spoilers and just give a general theme. Post here when you've read it and we can discuss!

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I knew there wouldn’t be any story spoilers but I wanted to avoid contextual spoilers as well! I’m thinking that the best reading order for Elric is the original publication order rather than the internal chronological order. Moorcock’s style, and indeed what he is interested in, changes so much between the earlier stuff and even ‘The Fortress of the Pearl’ that it can make reading it in the internal chronology a bit jarring.

@@timcoombs2780 -I completely agree. If reading the 'saga' I tend to skip 'Fortress' and 'Rose', as much as I like the latter. It's a Von Bek book to me.

Thanks Walt, be good to see the variations!

I want to re-read the third part, as I feel I rushed it a tad. But books 1 and 2 really worked for me.

So presumably you managed to land a proof copy?

@@outlawbookselleroriginal yes. Gift from Mike: he's a really nice guy.

@@andymackie8283 -I haven't seen him for around 25 years. We did three events together between 87 and 92 and met a couple of times aside from that.

@@outlawbookselleroriginal yeah he and I played the NASR 2019 festival in Austin TX.

Didn't know that, thanks for the detail! Glad you liked the review. I actually felt I didn't do it justice, as I was pretty tired that day.

Thanks for that - very Howardesque titles, those. I definitely felt the primal S&S influences re-exterting themselves over MM in the first one particularly.

Agreed. The Quartet Moorcocks are particularly gorgeous: "See the amazing steel bird fly," as Huw Llloyf-Langton sang in "Moonglum" by Hawkwind, directly referencing this story as you know.

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Patrick Woodroffe artist? Saw a comprehensive exhibition of his work a few years ago in Falmouth. I love the weird photo worked ones like the Stealer one, Panther edition?. 1960s Compact books often have strange things like a paper clip and an abstract shape!

@@keithreynolds Yep, it's Woodroffe. I like the psychedelic/modernist 60s covers too, genuinely strange and jarring.

My pleasure as always mate! Let's meet up early next year and go for a swift (or leisurely) afternoon pint!

Glad you're enjoying the channel, Paul! Welcome aboard the Ship of Dreams!

Yep, BB had class. Hope you enjoy the new MM, I did!

I think many people felt this and ultimately, I am one of them- I rushed to finish the book to get the video done to beat the competition and I also felt the opening tales were so good I wanted to praise it. But the novella that comprised much of the volume needed serious editing, I feel.

They don't fit into the chronology of the Elric Saga per se seems to be the consensus, they stand sideways in time as it were to it.

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Thank you.

OB will have More on this, but HC is probably better & SOONEST is best b/c it effects the books figures & standing & often percentages. Buying 5 copies 6 months from now will effect things less. To a publisher a book isn't a thing, it's a concept & only valuable when it's new. In a short time they'll be deciding how much of the run will get marked as a remainder & sold off as old paper. First two weeks is KEY. Soonest is best.

I fundamentally agree with Walt's answer below from the perspective of maintaing the author and quality work in the genres. Personally, of course, money will always be the deciding factor. From a collecting viewpoint, hardcover is ideal, but as a collector you must set your own rules, I think.

I think that's what I meant, Richard! SAGA is correct. My bad!

@@jerrycornelius2261 By "active" I meant that its roster was comprised of authors then (mid 70s) actively writing s&s fiction. Which not many pros were still doing. Not that it was in any way an active organisation. At most it was a convenience for Carter in facilitating his compilation of the Flashing Swords anthologies. I'm sure the good writers on the roster couldn't give two hoots whether they were in it or not. Particularly MM who once caricatured Carter as Cran Liret, the Thief of Spells.

My personal faves are 'The Garments of Caean' and 'The Grand Wheel', though I'm a huge fan of 'The Fall of Chronopolis' and 'Collision With Chronos'. Critical opinions tend to focus on 'The Soul of the Robot' (aka 'The Soul of A Robot') which for a Fnatasy reader has an attraction due to its 'Candide'-like structure and quixotic feel, plus his stories 'Knights of the Limits' which are more experimental at times.

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Thank you for the recommendations. Do you recall where you placed him in the Top 100 Science Fiction book?

@@captainnolan5062 -It's not a ranked list - the book is more than just a list, it is an historical and thematic overview of the genre in 100 books, the idea being that you read my book (and then the books detailed in it) for an overview of what SF is. This is why its title does not include 'best' or 'top' anywhere. The most important part of the book is the introductory material, which is historical and contextual, which is more important than the list itself.

@@outlawbookselleroriginal That sounds even better. I don't understand how your publishers thought readers could get that kind of information (re: your Fantasy 100 book) by googling it.

Where do you live? It's published in the UK tomorrow (8th) and I believe it came out on tuesday in the states. Quite a few bookshops will not stock it in the UK- at least initially- as Moorcock's commercial star has faded significantly over the last 30 years due to poor handling of his work by publishers. But any bookshop can order it for you and it's freely available online.

@@jerrycornelius2261 Gollancz seem to do very little these days for key authors of quality- similar issues seem to be affecting Chris Priest and even authors a generation or two younger with established followings and critical acclaim like Paul J Mcauley go unregarded too. Everything in SFF is pretty much being ignored in the British book industry these days unless it's written for the young female audience emerging out of YA and into a morass of poorly written cliched fantasy. Many new books are not even getting into the bookshops. Sad to say things are in the worst state I can remember in this way. I've requested a stack of 'Citadel' for my shelves to ensure the faithful are rewarded.

No, I gave up reading Genre Fantasy a long time ago, basically- Moorcock is an exception for me. I'm far more interested in Genre Fantasy published before the start of the boom in 1977. Watch my video 'The artifical fantasy trilogy since 1977' to find out why.

Barrington J Bayley.

Where do I buy these what? Please specify what you want to buy- book title/edition, whatever- if you can be clear, I'd be happy to help.

Elric of melinbone, Stormbringer and The citadel of forgotten myths. The newest edition.

@@aba3647 'The Citadel of Forgotten Myths' is widely available in the USA and UK in all the usual outlets and webstes. The Gallery Saga editions of 'Elric of Melnibone' and 'Stormbringer' are US editions, I would suggest checking the usual websites like amazon-as you don['t speciify where you live (US, UK, elsewhere) I can't be more specific.

Thanks