The Stealer of Souls (29 page)

ORIGINS

Early artwork associated with Elric’s first appearances in magazines and books

Title page illustration by James Cawthorn, for “Mission to Asno!”
Tarzan Adventures
, vol. 7, no. 25, September 1957.

Cover artwork by Eric Parker, for “The Affair of the Bronze Basilisk,”
Sexton Blake Library
, 3rd series, no. 49, June 1943; this was Monsieur Zenith the Albino’s very last story.

Cover artwork by Brian Lewis, for “The Dreaming City,”
Science Fantasy
, vol. 16, no. 47, June 1961; this was Elric of Melniboné’s very first story.

Cover artwork by James Cawthorn, for “The Flame Bringers,”
Science Fantasy
, vol. 19, no. 55, October 1962.

Cover artwork by James Cawthorn, for “Sad Giant’s Shield,”
Science Fantasy
, vol. 21, no. 63, February 1964.

“The Age of the Young Kingdoms” map by James Cawthorn, 1962; first published accompanying “The Singing Citadel,” in
The Fantastic Swordsmen
, edited by L. Sprague de Camp, Pyramid Books, 1967.

Cover artwork by James Cawthorn, for
Stormbringer
, first edition, Herbert Jenkins, 1965.

STORMBRINGER

To our great surprise, the series was hugely popular with readers. Ted Carnell, still at a point where I think he was trying anything to get the magazine’s circulation back up, commissioned an Elric serial. We planned four quasi-independent episodes, separately titled, which would fit together and become a novel, though any story could be read individually. Then came the news from Ted that the magazines were going under unless buyers could be found. He, at any rate, had found a new job editing a quarterly SF anthology
New Writings in SF.
We would run the final Elric story in the final issue of
Science Fantasy,
even though it meant also featuring my more New Wave story “The Deep Fix” under the James Colvin name and cutting short my “Aspects of Fantasy” series. No more Elric stories in future, I sighed. I was glad I’d had a chance to finish the series with a bit of a bang. Happily Compact Books bought the titles, and
New Worlds
went to me and
Science Fantasy
to the heroic-fantasy-hating Kyril Bonfiglioli, a friend of mine. Friendship didn’t come between Bon and his ferocious dislike of the burgeoning genre. Asked if he’d like a supernatural adventure story in his new start-up, he shuddered. “No way, Mike. I would wather take cyanide,” he lisped with his usual courtesy. He saw Lovecraft and Peake as the same: “All wight, Mike, if you like your dahkness
uttah!”
he would add in his over-the-top affected voice, fixing himself another whisky and milk (“foh my ulcah…” he explained). So Elric appeared in book form, in hardback in the UK and paperback in the United States. Eventually new stories were commissioned. But not for a while. For quite some time, these were all there were, with
Stormbringer
trimmed to fit the page requirements of the book publisher who still had circulating libraries as a main customer. That was another reason for returning to the original magazine narrative which appears here pretty much as it did in the early 1960s. At the time the first stories were being published comment about them was appearing almost as swiftly as it might these days on the web, via the great network of fanzines which, while mainly produced in the United States and UK also appeared in Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Japan and elsewhere.

For J. G. Ballard, whose enthusiasm for Elric gave me encouragement to begin this particular book, my first attempt at a full-length novel, and for Jim Cawthorn, whose illustrations based on my ideas in turn gave me inspiration for certain scenes in this book, and for Dave Britton, who kept the magazines in which the serial first appeared and who kindly loaned them to me so that I could restore this novel to its original shape and length.

So far, the earlier Elric stories have dealt with his random and rather aimless wanderings in the ancient world, but, in fact, they were all part of a larger pattern which begins to become apparent in the following novelette. It is the beginning of the big battle between Order and Chaos.

—John Carnell, SCIENCE FANTASY No. 59, June 1963

P
ROLOGUE

T
HERE CAME A
time when there was great movement upon the Earth and above it, when the destiny of Men and Gods was hammered out upon the forge of Fate, when monstrous wars were brewed and mighty deeds were designed. And there rose up in this time, which was called the Age of the Young Kingdoms, heroes. Greatest of these heroes was a doom-driven adventurer who bore a crooning runeblade that he loathed.

His name was Elric of Melniboné, king of ruins, lord of a scattered race that had once ruled the ancient world. Elric, sorcerer and swordsman, slayer of kin, despoiler of his homeland, white-faced albino, last of his line.

Elric, who had come to Karlaak by the Weeping Waste and had married a wife in whom he found some peace, some surcease from the torment in him.

And Elric, who had within him a greater destiny than he knew, now dwelt in Karlaak with Zarozinia, his wife, and his sleep was troubled, his dream dark, one brooding night in the Month of Anemone…