Elric of Melniboné question, a parody by Moorcock?

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**Kid_Kyoto**

OK so I'm figuring all y'all know who Elric is. Albino decadent demon sorcerer with a soul-eating demon sword who ultimately kills everyone he loves, then all the chaos gods, then destroys the world, then kills himself, and they we learn that he evil demon sword was at the root of it all.

Oh uh, spoilers.

So yeah he's a parody of Conan (et al) and the cliche of the tan barbarian who kills demon sorcerers and such.

In college we had a set of Elric books (with awesome covers, OMG!)

and I seem to recall one of them had a parody of Elric (written by Moorcock IIRC) a barbarian swordsman with a magic gem for an eye and an arm of steel and howling moaning rune sword, and this and that and something else. Anyway I cannot seem to find any evidence this ever existed so does anyone else here remember it?

**BobtheInquisitor**

I think you're describing Corum. But Corum is not a parody so much as...a slightly better Elric on similar adventures so Moorcock can pay off his debts? I dunno. I prefer the Corum books I've read so far (3 of 6?) to the Elric books I've read so far (one fat-yet-not-comprehensive omnibus). Also, from the omnibus intro, I gather that young Moorcock had quite an attitude about his fiction; Corum may signify his mellowing out or abject surrender.

**harlokin**

I remember what the OP is refering to. Moorcock wrote a very funny parody of Corum, as a short story. Sadly, my google-fu has failed me and I can't find it.

**Kid_Kyoto**

IIRC there was an intro to the effect of Moorcocks fan take his stuff more seriously than the author so he wrote this.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK I may have found the name at least!

"Never one to take himself too seriously, Moorcock parodies the whole business of a hero outfitted with supernatural add-ons and carrying sentient weapons in the 1974 squib The Stone Thing"

Reprinted in Eliric at the end of Time.

Now just have to find a digital copy...

https://books.google.com.eg/books?id=LGtECwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=corum+moorcock+parody&source=bl&ots=TQrCcForrf&sig=ACfU3U3sM-B8M2a9ofb8wMy8sUmCwBQWSw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjey7Oy0ZLqAhWLlhQKHQKACxAQ6AEwAHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=corum%20moorcock%20parody&f=false

**Vermis**

Moorcock wrote a parody of Moorcock's Corum, who was a parody of Moorcock's Elric, who was a parody of Conan?

My head hurts.

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I gather that young Moorcock had quite an attitude about his fiction;

Not so much a chip on his shoulder as a whole sack of potatoes.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Perfection.

The Stone Thing

1975

A Tale of Strange Parts

Out of the dark places; out of the howling mists; out of the lands without sun; out of Ghonorea came tall Catharz, with the moody sword Oakslayer in his right hand, the cursed spear Bloodlicker in his left hand, the evil bow Deathsinger on his back together with his quiver of fearful rune-fletched arrows, Heartseeker, Goregreedy, Soulsnatcher, Orphanmaker, Eyeblinder, Sorrowsower, Beanslicer, and several others.

Where his right eye should have been there was a jewel of slumbering scarlet whose colour sometimes shifted to smouldering blue, and in the place of his left eye was a many-faceted crystal, which pulsed as if possessed of independent life. Where Catharz had once had a right hand, now a thing of iron, wood and carved amethyst sat upon his stump; nine-fingered, alien, cut by Catharz from the creature who had sliced off his own hand. Catharz' left hand was at first merely gauntleted, but when one looked further it could be observed that the gauntlet was in fact a many jointed limb of silver, gold and lapis lazuli, but as Catharz rode by, those who saw him pass remarked not on the murmuring sword in his right hand, not on the whispering spear in his left hand, not on the whining bow upon his back or the grumbling arrows in the quiver; neither did they remark on his right eye of slumbering scarlet, his left eye of pulsing crystal, his nine-fingered right hand, his shining metallic left hand; they saw only the fearful foot of Cwlwwymwn which throbbed in the stirrup at his mount's right flank.

There's like a whole army worth of Chaos Champion names in the first paragraph alone.

**Voss**

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I think you're describing Corum. But Corum is not a parody so much as...a slightly better Elric on similar adventures so Moorcock can pay off his debts? I dunno. I prefer the Corum books I've read so far (3 of 6?) to the Elric books I've read so far (one fat-yet-not-comprehensive omnibus). Also, from the omnibus intro, I gather that young Moorcock had quite an attitude about his fiction; Corum may signify his mellowing out or abject surrender.

Not at all. If anything, he gets weirder and... sharper later on. Corum and Hawkmoon are probably his most comfortable books (in terms of how relatable they are to the rest of the genre, and accessibility to the general audience).
Though I'll admit that 'later on' isn't quite accurate either, his various series overlap as to when he was writing them.

Personally, what I've read of his 90s and 2000s stuff is pretty off the rails entirely. Most... well, a fair bit... of his 60s/70s/80s stuff is relatable to the scifi/fantasy genre, but past Revenge of the Rose it goes... wibbly. (though some of it has definite precursors in the short fiction and some of the minor series, even during his heyday)

I pretty much wrecked on Blood: A Southern Fantasy. It was just completely inaccessible to me- lots of navel gazing about cardplaying forming the fundamental structure of the universe and whatever.

**harlokin**

My favourite is his Von Bek stuff, really excellent.

Jerry Cornelius is pretty "off the rails" but a fun read nontheless.

**Vermis**

Kid_Kyoto wrote:There's like a whole army worth of Chaos Champion names in the first paragraph alone.

Reads kind of like a mathammered GW character.

Voss wrote:I pretty much wrecked on Blood: A Southern Fantasy. It was just completely inaccessible to me- lots of navel gazing about cardplaying forming the fundamental structure of the universe and whatever.

Oh.... like Pratchett.

**Voss**

Vermis wrote:
Kid_Kyoto wrote:There's like a whole army worth of Chaos Champion names in the first paragraph alone.

Reads kind of like a mathammered GW character.

Voss wrote:I pretty much wrecked on Blood: A Southern Fantasy. It was just completely inaccessible to me- lots of navel gazing about cardplaying forming the fundamental structure of the universe and whatever.

Oh.... like Pratchett.

More like the opposite of Pratchett. Or rather, Pratchett is the opposite of Moorcock. The early Discworld books are more parody than comedy, and they're specifically parodies of authors like Moorcock, Howard, Leiber and the like.
It took him several books before he focused on being funny, rather than sharpening his claws on the genre