Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock | |
|---|---|
Moorcock in 2012 | |
| Born | Michael John Moorcock 18 December 1939 London, England |
| Pen name |
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| Occupation | Novelist, journalist, script writer, musician, editor |
| Period | 1957–present |
| Genre | Science fiction, fantasy, weird fiction |
| Subject | Science fiction (as editor) |
| Literary movement | New Wave science fiction |
| Notable works | The Elric Saga (novels) |
| Website | |
| www | |
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, originally of science fiction and fantasy, who has published many well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worked as an editor and is also a successful musician. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, which were a seminal influence on the field of fantasy in the 1960s and 1970s.[1][2]
As editor of the British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States, leading to the advent of cyberpunk.[3][4] His publication of Bug Jack Barron (1969) by Norman Spinrad as a serial novel was notorious; in Parliament, some British MPs condemned the Arts Council of Great Britain for funding the magazine.[5] In 2008, The Times named Moorcock in its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".[6]
Moorcock is also a recording musician; he has contributed to the music acts Hawkwind, Blue Öyster Cult, Robert Calvert and Spirits Burning, and to his own project, Michael Moorcock & The Deep Fix.
- ^ "Michael Moorcock". The Nebula Awards. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Archived from the original on 2 April 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ Lacey, Hester (22 July 2016). "The Inventory: Michael Moorcock". Financial Times. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
butler-2003was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
latham-2007was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Michael Ashley, Transformations: Volume 2 in the History of the Science Fiction Magazine, 1950–1970 (Liverpool, England: Liverpool University Press, 2005), p. 250.
- ^ "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". www.thetimes.com. 5 January 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2025.