Thursday, December 18, 2008

Happy B-Day, Mike Moorcock

He's a living legend and one of our true and few gentle giants. He may not have coined today's hot buzzword "multiverse", but he popularized it, and built entire civilizations there long before today's cool kids arrived. (Edit: MM himself kindly clarifies that he indeed coined the term to describe multiple universes, while William James coined it in 1895 to describe states of mind. The truth -- straight from the source!:)) I don't want to get too gushy, but simply put, Mike's a hero and a true friend, and quite frankly, I'd take a bullet for the man.

I suppose the best b-day gift an author can receive is for folks to buy his/her books, and since we're in the gift-giving season, the new Del Rey editions of Mike's classic ELRIC work make excellent stocking stuffers. :) The first three of a six-book series are available here, here, and here. If you're reading this, please join me in leaving a comment below, or on your own blog, and wishing Mike a birthday salute.

One last thing -- this past April, I had the honor (along with Betsy Mitchell) of presenting Mike with SFWA's Grandmaster Award at the Nebula Ceremony. My speech was a collage of tributes from not only myself, but Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, Jeff Ford, Jeff Vandermeer and Chris Roberson. In honor of Mike's b-day, here it is again.

9 Comments:

Blogger Paul Cornell said...

Happy birthday, Mr. M. What a charming and generous man in correspondence. I hope to meet him.

8:31 AM  
Blogger ces said...

Happy Birthday Mr. Moorcock!!!

10:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks, John, and everyone. Can't tell you how touched I am. People are so generous. I hope to meet soon, too, Paul. Anyone else going to be in Biloxi next March with John and me ?

1:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry! That's me up there as anonymous, if you hadn't guessed!

1:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

PS Actually, I DID coin the term multiverse to describe multiple universe. I just didn't realise William James coined it first in the 19th century to describe different states of mind!

1:55 PM  
Blogger John Picacio said...

Right on, Mike. Thanks for stopping by.....I'm gonna go back and edit the text and insert that correction, so that the record reflects the truth about the coining of the word. Thanks for clarifying....I trusted Wikipedia, but hell, I should've just gone straight to the source. :)

2:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Mike. Seasons Greetings to you and Linda as well as to John and Traci

2:26 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Happy birthday, Mike. I wish you and Linda the best this holiday season.

8:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Mike! We have yet to meet in this 'verse but hope to some day. Your work has inspired countless dreams and visions. Thanks John! Happy Holidays to all - now back to work!

10:07 AM  

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