London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Voted by the London Times as one of the best writers since 1945, Michael Moorcock was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and won the Guardian Fiction Prize. He has won almost all the major Science Fiction, Fantasy, and lifetime achievement awards including the “Howie,” the Prix Utopiales and the Stoker. Best known for his rule-breaking SF and Fantasy, including the classic Elric and Hawkmoon series, he is also the author of several graphic novels.
Now, in London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction, Michael Moorcock personally selects the best of his published, unpublished, and uncensored essays, articles, reviews, and opinions covering a wide range of subjects: books, films, politics, reminiscences of old friends, and attacks on new foes. Drawn from over fifty years of writing, including his most recent work from the pages of the Los Angeles Times, and the Guardian, along with obscure and now unobtainable sources, the pieces in London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction showcase Moorcock at his acerbic best. They include:
“London Peculiar,” an impassioned statement of Moorcock’s memories of wartime London. The architectural “improvements” wrought by the rebuilding of the city after World War Two brought cultural changes as well, many to the detriment of the city’s inhabitants.
Review of R. Crumb’s Genesis, previously unavailable in English, this lengthy review of the underground comic artist’s retelling of the first book of the Bible leads Moorcock to address nostalgia for the sixties.
“A Child’s Christmas in the Blitz”—An autobiographical recounting of Moorcock’s childhood in wartime London, with memories of the freedom and hardships he encountered during the bombings, and the happy times he spent with his parents.
These, along with dozens more, make this a collection Moorcock fans won’t want to miss, and the perfect introduction for new readers who will soon discover why Alan Moore (Watchmen) says: “Moorcock seizes the 21st century bull by its horns and wrestles it into submission with a Texan rodeo confidence.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wry and dry are Moorcock's (Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles) modus operandi in this collection of nonfiction selected by the author and Allan Kausch. Among the old book reviews, meditations on London, and diary entries are personal musings, wherein the author points out, for example, the parallel between Willie Nelson and God, noting that the former was once arrested for marijuana in Texas (where Moorcock lives for half the year) and immediately acquitted, whereas the cop who did the cuffing was fired. Moorcock also has a generous selection of portraits and remembrances of his contemporary literary friends, including JG Ballard and Andrea Dworkin. The lengthy, lyrical rumination on the ruined landscape of his childhood in Blitz-era London (where he found "the camaraderie of hopelessness") is of particular note, as it is neither romanticized nor diluted, vividly presenting the discovery of buried treasure and dead bodies in the rubble of bombed houses. Most of the selections are taken from the author's regular contributions to English magazines and newspapers, particularly the Guardian and the Financial Times, and have a distinctly political air. Though his assertions can get repetitive, Moorcock's charming curmudgeonliness makes this collection a true pleasure, balancing scathing wit with flashes of nostalgia and melancholy.
