CFP: Exploring the Multiverse: A Study of the Works of Michael Moorcock
(Collection). Editor: Thomas Fortenberry.

Submissions are invited for a new collection of essays studying the writings
of British author Michael Moorcock. Moorcock has had a long and amazingly
successful career as both editor and author. Winner of numerous awards
(including the British Fantasy Award, World Fantasy Award, and being shortlisted for
the Whitbread), he is most famous for having created a vast and fantastic
multiverse of interconnected realities centered around the concept of a recurrent
Eternal Champion. This collection endeavors to explore that multiverse on many
levels and examine the many incarnations of the EternalChampion. Moorcock,
much like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, and J. R. R.
Tolkien, has created unique worlds and memorable characters that have become
archetypal and influenced a generation of readers and writers. There is an
entire gaming universe and fiction subgenre of fantasy based around his doomed
albino prince Elric of Melnibone and his giant, sentinent, magical, black
rune-covered sword. However, Moorcock's fiction and its widespread impact have yet
to be the subject of a major critical study, which this collection hopes to
rectify. With over 50 novels, including dozens of series and recurrent
characters, plus his hundreds of imitators in the fantasy genre, there is ample ground
to explore.

Possible topics (though certainly not all inclusive):

The Multiverse

The Eternal Champion

The Eternal City

Reincarnation/ Immortality

Transdimensional Existence / Alternate Realities

Doppleganger

Magic/ Elementals

Good and Evil

War and Peace

Balance, Chaos, and Order

Gods, Devils, Demons / Deals and pacts with demigods

The Antihero

The Doomed Prince / Kinslayer / Destroyer

The Swordsman, the Archer

The Possessed Sword, Eye, Hand, etc.

The Journey

The Companion

The Lover

The Villian / Betrayer / Evil Kinsman

TheRomance of the Rose

The Grail / Grail Quest

Influence of Medieval, Biblical, and Ancient Epic Literature in Moorcock

Influence of Moorcock on modern fiction, music, film

War and Peace

Airships/ Steamboats

Time Travel /End of Time / Timelessness

Baroque Europe

Nazi Germany

Literary London

Imaginary American South

There is no deadline for submissions. Abstracts and full essays welcomed by
interested scholars, writers, and critics in all areas. Work should be of
serious depth yet relatively jargon free for all readers. Because of the immense
amount of topics, essays should be 10 pages or less due to space
restrictions. Please include a cover letter explaining your proposed topic, with CV and
bibliography included. Within a few months I will begin assigning topics,
characters, and series, on a relatively first come, first serve basis. Be
explicit if you are requesting a specific area for study.

Submissions should be .RTF attachments or snailmail documents.

ThomasFortenberry
e: kurvanas_at_aol.com

Address:
Multiverse Project
6011-F Delta Crossing Lane
Charlotte, NC 28212 USA

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Received on Mon Mar 15 2004 - 21:25:35 EST