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 Tannhauser42 wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
Someone care to copypasta the White Wolf Publishing Order here?

Sorry for not copypasting, but here is a link to the Wikipedia entry for it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Champion
The upshot is that it collects many of the stories into omnibus editions.

Thanks for the link!

That's actually a really good order to 'read them all' in, if you're going to read them all!

If not, I stand by my recommendation - ELRIC, CORUM (all 6) then HAWKMOON (all 7), in the order listed there!

I think I read them in the order Corum, Elric, Hawkmoon/Count Brass, Warlord of the Air, Dancers at the End of Time, in blocks, over a period of about 15 years, starting at school and continuing to my early 30s.

What I read depended on what was available at the time, partly because stuff went into and out of print, and also because Moorcock wrote it over a period of about 35 years and a lot of it came out during the period I was reading it.

Warlord of the Air is more like Steampunk, and Dancers at the End of Time is science fantasy.

Some of the books and compilations are available on Kindle but it is very spotty. Secondhand bookshops are probably the best way to find all of them cheaply.

I don't think I retained any of my copies. Books seem to me to have been a lot cheaper when I was young. In 1975 you could buy a paperback novel for 20p, which now would cost £8.

Interestingly, an online historical inflation calculator has just told me that 20p in 1975 is the equivalent of £1.86 in 2015.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html

(This is a useful link for when you want to argue about GW prices.)

Prestor Jon wrote:

Conan's necklace in the movie is the symbol for the wheel of pain, the giant grain mill Conan is forced to operate when he is young.

Hmmm. I never really put those two together. Always seemed rather pointless to push a wheel in the middle of nowhere when you could have them doing other slave things like carry stuff around, or just have them start fighting each other as children (Spartans did). And why would someone continue to wear a symbol of that subjugation after they had been freed? Especially when they had been put into that position by the ones who slew his parents- the very ones he was hunting?

 jmurph wrote:

Hmmm. I never really put those two together. Always seemed rather pointless to push a wheel in the middle of nowhere when you could have them doing other slave things like carry stuff around, or just have them start fighting each other as children (Spartans did). And why would someone continue to wear a symbol of that subjugation after they had been freed? Especially when they had been put into that position by the ones who slew his parents- the very ones he was hunting?

That one's easy - as a symbol of defiance, strength and victory!

Also, as a reminder and insult to your foes!

How much will it spoil things if I start out with Corum? I spent a reasonable time searching through my boxes of books, but the only Moorcock books I could find were the Swords Trilogy (Corum) and Elric at the End of Time, which didn't sound like a good starting point.

I started with Corum. It didn't to me.

I'm not sure reading order is all that big of a deal with Moorcock's work, at least between series. Some of the links between series are tenuous and reading them out of order would further heighten the dreamlike, nebulous quality his works contain.

My favourites will always remian Elric and his stories - played SO much rpgs set in that/those world/s - I love my Melniboneans - bored, decadent and sadistic - they are what what many Elves would become in many worlds

Hawkmoon is a good second and wonderful cross over potential - really great bad guys

Corum is ok - great ending

Reading order doesn't really matter, but I'd still go in the order I suggested earlier, and I would definitely save the last three HAWKMOON books for the 'end'.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
How much will it spoil things if I start out with Corum? I spent a reasonable time searching through my boxes of books, but the only Moorcock books I could find were the Swords Trilogy (Corum) and Elric at the End of Time, which didn't sound like a good starting point.

Elric at the End of Time is fun but not really that relevant to the others - apart from a interesting reverlation about Arioch and how a high fantasy doomed prince relates and interacts with a decadent near Culture level mini civilisation.