Into the Media Web: Selected Short Non-fiction, 1956-2006 [Hardcover]

Michael Moorcock (Author), John Davey (Editor)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.

Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Certificate, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more.

› See more product promotions

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Elric Of Melnibone: "The Stealer of Souls" AND …
Michael Moorcock

4.3 out of 5 stars (16)

Paperback

�6.99
London Peculiar: And Other Nonfiction
› Michael Moorcock

Paperback

�17.09
Modem Times 2.0 (PM Press Outspoken Authors)
› Michael Moorcock

3.0 out of 5 stars (1)

Paperback

�8.26

Product details

Hardcover: 720 pages
Publisher: Savoy Books (2 Aug 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 086130120X
ISBN-13: 978-0861301201
Product Dimensions: 24.8 x 17.6 x 5.4 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 595,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Michael Moorcock Page

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

5.0 out of 5 stars

1 review

5.0 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Big Book of Everything (Enquire Within) 22 Jan 2011

By Guy Lawley

Format:Hardcover

What a magnificent, and indeed gigantic, book this is! Into the Media Web is a beautifully designed, 720-page object with high production values. But it is the excellent content which really makes it worth every penny, and more, of its price.

Like Alan Moore, who provides an excellent foreword, I have been a fan of Moorcock's fiction for some decades. During that time I have read quite a bit of his non-fiction here and there; book reviews and other articles in magazines and newspapers, pieces from fanzines collected in books of his short stories, etc.. Moorcock is known as a prolific writer. I had no idea, though, just how much of this journalistic material he had produced. This book, huge though it is, is only a selection of some of that writing, not a complete collection.

The variety is phenomenal, as one might expect from a writer whose published work spans fantasy juvenilia, pulp detective fiction, fantasy and science fiction which transformed and revitalised both fields, and mainstream novels. There is some autobiography (raw and revealing), many book reviews, and introductions to books by other writers. There is an editorial from the comic Tarzan Adventures which Moorcock edited when still a teenager, and several fanzine pieces from the same era, on diverse topics such as SF, jazz, and fandom itself.

There are pieces from and about the revolutionary science fiction magazine New Worlds, which Moorcock edited in the 1960s. During his tenure, writers like J G Ballard, Brian Aldiss and Norman Spinrad (among many others) were given free rein to produce exciting new kinds of SF, truly breaking new literary ground. Moorcock himself found a daring new authorial voice in the pages of New Worlds, and also wrote a variety of articles in its pages.... His original 1968 essay Into the Media Web is included here, and essays on both his greatest creation of that era, Jerry Cornelius, and his fantasy progenitor, Elric of Melnibone.

There are also pages about literary and artistic friends of Moorcock's like Mervyn Peake, Jack Trevor Story, Angela Carter, Jim Cawthorn and Ted Carnell; and about Moorcock's enthusiasms for Victorian and Edwardian SF, for writers like Leigh Brackett, and many others, which really bring their subjects to life.

As well as all this important stuff, there are thoughtful essays about life's little trivia; sex, drugs, rockn'n'roll (& skiffle!) and more than a little bit of politics (from a writer whose journeys through the Liberal party, leftish anarchism and feminism can be glimpsed herein).

Editor John Davey writes of the difficulty of deciding how to order all this material. Eventually he decides on alphabetical order by title of each piece, an eccentric choice which works to stir the pot of this delightful collection, defying most casual attempts at thematic or chronological reading. Into the Media Web is a book which can be read straight through (though not in one sitting!) or randomly sampled over and over again; either way it is a lucky dip in which none of the prizes is naff. In this the book does of course reflect both its name and its superb design, borrowed from the famous diagrammatic map of the London Underground. There are some intelligent exceptions to this scheme; the New Worlds extracts are laid out together, and if an entry is mainly about one person, that person's name appears in bold on the content page listing, which is helpful. One might cavil that such a large and diverse collection really should have an index, but Davey has achieved a nice balance between Order and Chaos in laying the book out, as befits his subject.

From its 720 pages shines the personality of a brilliant writer, a voracious reader, a perceptive and constructive critic, an important editor, an astute political thinker. More, you will find herein laid bare the heart and mind of a very human being; Michael Moorcock, whom, if a gentile were allowed to call him a true mensch, I most certainly would. Read more ›

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

› See the customer review

Write a customer review

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }