Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
I think you would have to put some work into reading it the original DAW way. The thing to remember is that it's really a series of short stories and novellas with a couple of novels added later. As far as I can tell, as long as you read the original story that introduces the character and world first, and the final book last, it doesn't matter all that much what order you read it in, it's a bit like the Conan stories in that respect.
The eBook version that was put out a few years ago has all of the original stories plus the stuff that has been written since then. I've got the original DAW books in paper and the eBooks. The eBooks seem to have the original stories with some edits, some intros and the novels that were written later.
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One second. That didn't quite help. Maybe my introduction of the ebook question at the end mixed things up some.
Elric was first published (in the US) by Lancer in the '60's. This was a two book set. The Daw books you mention came later.
The two Lancer books, collecting the original stories and novellas were:
Stealer of Souls, which collected:
- "The Dreaming City"
- "While the Gods Laugh"
- "The Stealer of Souls"
- "Kings in Darkness"
- "The Flame Bringers" or "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams"
and
Stormbringer collected:
- "Dead God's Homecoming"
- "Black Sword's Brothers"
- "Sad Giant's Shield"
- "Doomed Lord's Passing"
Later, in the seventies, DAW republished the work as six books. Moorcock reworked and expanded The Dreaming City into the first book, Elric of Melibone and the final book Stormbringer is also somewhat reworked (I've been studying it a bit). There's also lots of additional material in the middle books.
Honestly, I'm not worried about sequential order or reading every last word written. Both versions of the story seem to have some merit: The earlier Lancer collections are Moorcock's raw, original writing. The later DAW reissues are redone by a more mature writer.
I'm mainly hoping that someone out there that has read both versions could say which they prefer.
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The ebook titled
Elric: The Stealer of Souls (Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melniboné, Vol. 1) actually collects all the stories from the two Lancer books mentioned above.