Today, the influential and acclaimed Michael Moorcock turns 75.

Not only did he create numerous legendary characters such as the definitive fantasy anti-hero Elric, the proto-cyberpunk Jerry Cornelius, and arguably the first modern steampunk protagonist Oswald Bastable, but Moorcock pioneered the concepts of the multiverse and as the editor of New Worlds, ushered in the New Wave literary movement.

For a fan wanting to relive some of this extraordinary writer’s finest works, or introducing a neophyte to this living legend, The Very Best of Michael Moorcock is the perfect  book.

“The 17 stories in this collection demonstrate the breadth of scope and the excellence in storytelling of SF Grand Master and multigenre author Moorcock…. Moorcock crosses genres, bends boundaries, and breaks rules as only a master storyteller can.” 
—Library Journal

From the legendary author of the Elric saga, a Science Fiction Grand Master, a platinum album–receiving rock star, and the
controversial editor of the new wave’s New Worlds, this definitive collection captures the incomparable short fiction of one of science fiction and literature’s most important contemporary writers.

These exceptional stories range effortlessly from the genre tales that continue to define fantasy to the author’s critically acclaimed mainstream works. Classic offerings include the Nebula Award–winning novella “Behold the Man,” which introduces a time traveler and unlikely messiah that H.G. Wells never imagined; “The Visible Men,” a recent tale of the ambiguous and androgynous secret agent Jerry Cornelius; the trilogy “My Experiences in the Third World War,” where a Russian agent in an alternate Cambodia is powerless to prevent an inevitable march toward nuclear disaster; and “A Portrait in Ivory,” a Melibone story of troubled anti-hero Elric and his soul-stealing sword, Stormbringer.

Newer work handpicked by the expert editing team includes one previously unpublished story and three uncollected stories. With his finest stories finally collected in one volume, this book is a long-overdue tribute to an extraordinarily gifted, versatile, and much-beloved author.

“…Moorcock is a throwback to such outsized 19th-century novelistic talents as Dickens and Tolstoy.” 
—Locus

 “[Moorcock] introduced me to the ridiculously powerful things that happen when you put a sophisticated, contemporary literary vocabulary at the service of a blackly grim high-fantasy imagination. A giant of the genre in every possible sense.” 
—TIME Magazine

“It is all quintessential Moorcock—a wild, fascinating batch of stories fairly balancing the fantastic and the nearly ordinary, and showcasing Moorcock’s talent very well, thank you.” 
—Booklist

“…a handy, one-volume collection that serves as a superb introduction to the boundless imagination of this unique and fascinating author….” 
—Bookgasm

“..something for everyone to love…. This collection illustrates the breadth of Moorcock’s talent. A long-overdue retrospective.” 
—The Guardian

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction by John Davey
• A Portrait in Ivory
• The Visible Men
• A Dead Singer
• Lunching With the Antichrist
• The Opium General
• Behold the Man
• A Winter Admiral
• London Bone
• Colour
• My Experiences in the Third World War:
  • Going to Canada 
  • Leaving Pasadena 
  • Crossing Into Cambodia 
• Doves in the Circle
• The Deep Fix
• The Birds of the Moon
• The Cairene Purse
• A Slow Saturday Night at the Surrealist Sporting Club
• Afterword by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

Cover by Ann Monn