Nomad Of Time Streams (Tale of the Eternal Champion) [Paperback]

Philip Pullman's Amber Knife, Moore's From Hell, Talbot's Luther Arkwright, Mieville's Perdido Street Station, Morrison's Invisibles -- you name them, they all recognise Moorcock as the originator of what is sometimes called 'steam punk' but which I call 'alternate urban adventure' since they tend to focus on the darker aspects of City Life. But what Moorcock also shares with these authors is his constant, unwavering suspicion of authority. Before this there were no steam-driven airships and the like,
no alternative futures, no examination of the underbelly of government, no dark, alternate Londons. This looks at three imperial dreams -- the British, the American and the Russian -- and shows in the first -- and by far the best -- Warlord of the Air how those empires are maintained by injustice, brutality and hypocrisy. Moorcock has not just given us a lot of good, original stories -- he has given many different authors who followed him a range of different methods. This is one method (the future as seen from the past) but Jerry Cornelius is another, Dancers at the End of Time are another and, of course, he changed the whole face of fantasy fiction with Elric and Co -- and that's without mentioning the literary fiction, the Pyat books, Mother London and all the non-fiction. In the 60s and early 70s Moorcock anticipated Black Holes and the Multiverse, both ideas once considered too outrageous by science, now highly respectable ideas debated in NATURE and NEW SCIENTIST. His scientific vision alone ranks him beside Wells and Clarke and his words have entered the language in the same way.
Oswald Bastable is a decent, idealistic young Army officer on the North West Frontier, circa 1900.
After some Haggard-like funny business in an old Temple, he awakes to find himself in the future --
a future he has anticipated in his own self-sacrifice -- i.e. a perfect Pax Britannica maintained by the mighty airships of a benign Britain. Why on earth would 'terrorists' wish to attack this perfect system ? No doubt from jealousy ? And why would Joseph Conrad (here
Korzeniowski the airship captain) support such
people ? This is also a very early example, if not the first, of post-modernist 'intervention' in genre. As well as playing games with Lord Jim and his creator, Moorcock takes Kipling's With The Night Mail and turns it on his head. Kipling supported his elite republican heroes against 'the mob'. As ever, Moorcock's heart is decidedly on the side of 'the mob' and that, again, is what makes this science fiction in the honourable tradition of Wells, London, Huxley and Orwell -- and just as influential on both literary and popular culture. The first novel is still the best. The others are excellent riffs on the main tune and worth reading. It still has the excitement of a new form being discovered and tried which gives it a special authority, makes it a particular joy.

The first of these stories, "Warlord of the Air" can be taken in two ways; either as a brilliant and imaginative stand-alone work in the steampunk sci-fi genre (one of the first of its kind), or as part of the Eternal Champion Saga for which Moorcock is famous. Steampunk concerns iself with alternate futures where technology has taken distinctly differnet routes (usually steam power), and this novel plays it out in a wonderfully real way, blowing your mind with its great airships, and charmingly British feel to it!

The second story, "The Land Leviathan", is not bad in many respects, is shows Bastable's moral evolution, though it just seems to lack the finesse of the first, and is clearly not as well thought out. It does however begin to show Bastable's role as the Eternal Champion towards the end.

The third story is an all out sequel to the first book, and is undoubtably an eternal champion novel, complete with all the complex multiverse metaphysics that can really bog the story down. The story in this book is electric and should be fast paced if not for the pages and pages of pointless dialogue that you wouldn't find outside of a world summit of philosophy PHD's, or an episode of Dawson's Creek.

Despite seeming a little sterile in places where characterisation is weak, this is a great novel and well worth the time, even if you aren't a Moorcock verteran the first story is worth the price of the book alone

This book is probably the most science-fictional of the four books in the series I have read thus far, and I'd probably consider it the best. The three tales of Oswald Bastable are rife with ideas and imagination. As usual, here are comments on the individual books:

Warlord of the Air: Great introduction to Bastable. I thought Moorcock in the beginning was him, so it was neat to see Bastable actually show up later. The future of 1973 that he goes to is great on the surface, but dark underneath, and the political arguments are anything but one-sided, highlighting both sides. Oh, and Oswald drops a bomb.

The Land Leviatian: This one reminded me of Heinlein's novel Farnham's Freehold, for some reason. The premise of blacks taking over the world in response to the crimes against them by whites is an interesting study of our world. Still, Bastable still feels lousy for helping to destroy the obviously unrepentant whites. Go figure.

The Steel Tsarr: Longest of the three, and probably the most complex, set in a democratic Russia at war with its Cossacks. Poor Bastable finally gets some peace with the help of Mrs Perrson. And is it me, or is the Steel Tsar a dead ringer for Stalin?

I enjoyed reading about Bastable and hopefully Moorcock will include more about him in the later book in the series. In this one, he mentions that Bastable is mentioned in Warriors at the End of Time, so perhaps he's there. I can't wait.