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.