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| Compact, 1965 |
In the 1960s, Moorcock learned that writing science-fiction was harder than it looked. Worse yet, the destruction of the universe was on its way. Being a fairly resourceful person, he decided to save it by shunting it into new iterations of reality.
“I soon learned I was no good at space fiction, but, before I did, I wrote a two-parter for 'Science Fiction Adventures' in which I came up with rough ideas about black holes (very crudely predicted) and a particular kind of alternate world structure, which I called "the multiverse"...
"...the second law of thermodynamics -- entropy -- was showing us where the future lay: in the ultimate end of everything. For a while this was a delightful idea, given I was also flirting with the French existentialists, but I didn’t really like the idea of everything dissipating like that. I came up with the multiverse in direct opposition to the idea of the heat death of the universe."
- LA Times ("Siren’s Call: A talk with Michael Moorcock", 2009)
"As someone who can't stand the idea of unused space, I think I was psychologically prepared for the multiverse before I described it."
- Michael Moorcock on Politics, Punk, Tolkien, and Everything Else, 2002
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| Science Fiction Adventures, No. 29 Art: Singleton |
At this point it's probably worth noting that on this site I'm going to be using the terms "universe", "continuum", "sphere", "reality", "time-space", "realm" and "so-and-so's world" to probably mean the same thing.
Knights of the Multiverse
"These beings appeared not wholly solid, seemed to exist on all layers of the multiverse! Could it be possible? He wondered. Did these beings exist on all planes and thus experience the full knowledge of reality, unlike the denizens who only saw their own particular universe and only experienced a fraction of the multiverse?"The multiverse concept is closely tied to Moorcock’s concept of his Eternal Champion’s fight to restore Balance between Law and Chaos. Each multiversal sphere has its own state of balance/imbalance, and therefore an Eternal Champion is always fated to fight for (or sometimes against) this equilibrium in that sphere. Additionally, some Champions are called to fight in more than one sphere (John Daker, for example). The tragic fate of the Eternal Champion has been explored in previous chapters, with the multiverse being kind of a background myth or plot device, but in “The Sundered Worlds” (and its sequel, “The Blood Red Game”), the implications of "intercontinua travel" are integral to the plot. Perhaps because it was already enough of a challenge to present the concept of the multiverse, there is no mention of the Eternal Champion or the Balance - although later revisions would cite the main characters Renark and Asquiol as Champion Eternals (or at least blood relatives).
Science Fiction Adventures
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| Science Fiction Adventures, No. 32 Art: Gerard Quinn |
"The Blood Red Game was an ignorant imitation of pulp science fiction. The second part of it was just impossible. I floundered around, I rewrote it . . . There were philosophical ideas in there, but I had no idea how to get a narrative around them. There didn’t seem to be a basic form I could teach myself. No one could tell me, “This is a science fiction structure”, because in fact there isn’t any such thing. That’s one reason why it’s so hard to teach people how to write science fiction."
- Death Is No Obstacle, 1992
"I wrote it in thirty-six hours and have a feeling that the best bits were inspired by my friend Barrington Bayley. It is a space opera in the tradition of the fiction I always preferred to the more respectable stuff found in my boyhood’s interminable introductory anthologies which sought to broaden the popularity and literary acceptability of science-fiction. I liked PLANET STORIES best, then STARTLING STORIES and then THRILLlNG WONDER STORIES."
- The Eternal Champion Omnibus Introduction, 1994In more recent decades, Moorcock has reportedly "perfected" this early multiverse story by resurrecting some of its plot elements into his 2010 Doctor Who novel The Coming of the Terraphiles (which I haven't read yet).
“The Sundered Worlds”
IN BRIEF: A psychic deep space ranger named Renark learns that his universe will soon shrink into nothingness (due to reverse Big Bang gravitational contraction). He manages to reach a “Shifter”, a universe which continuously passes through other realities, during which time "locals" can escape to the Shifter universe. After making contact with several highly advanced races from different universes, Renark is given the technology to enable the entire population of his own universe to shift (migrate) to another sphere. In the end, Renark alone remains behind to witness the death of his universe."Space seemed to peel back on itself as great, blossoming splashes of colour poured through as if from the broken sides of a vat, merging with the darkness of space and making it iridescent so that sections shone like brass and others like silver, gold or rubies, the whole thing changing, changing constantly, erupting, flickering, vanishing, reappearing."
Sphere 1970, Art: Bill Botten
"The Sundered Worlds" is fascinating for its depiction of co-existing realities which can be traversed and even explored, but even more interesting to me is the introduction of the idea of the Sundered Worlds itself, which, despite what one may initially assume, is not just another name for "multiverse". The Sundered Worlds are a binary star system belonging to a Shifter "bubble" universe which has been artificially thrown into a multiversal orbit whose path intersects with other universes. It's a mind-boggling concept and not always part of the now-ubiquitous alternate universe trope at all. In fact, this initial story really only just scratches the surface of the possibilities of such a device. Here, the Shaarn have punished their enemies the Thron by literally pitching their solar system into an eternal limbo. If one really thinks about it, this premise opens up questions relating to power, empiricism and native identity. This "Flying Dutchman universe" makes the parallel worlds of other literary franchises seem to be almost provincial in comparison.
Additionally, in Moorcock's corpus, the Shifter universe also appears (at least conceptually) most obviously as the Ghost Worlds in "The Eternal Champion" and in the form of Voilodion Ghagnasdiak’s vanishing tower in The Sleeping Sorceress. In some sense the Shifter concept could describe eternal Tanelorn itself, although it's hard to say whether Tanelorn is elusive specifically due to a mobile nature or to its seekers' state of mind).
Renark also has a special ability which often gets lost in the shuffle - he has some form of "cosmic awareness" which gives him the ability to psychically locate anything in the universe. This alone seems worthy of a whole novel, but here it's just a bit of icing on the cake.
“The Blood Red Game”
IN BRIEF: Mankind arrives at a new universe which it hopes to settle, but is immediately confronted by its hostile native civilizations. The new leader of Mankind, Asquiol, agrees to the local aliens’ demand to settle their territorial dispute through a form of psychic warfare. Ultimately, Mankind prevails thanks to Asquiol's expanded consciousness, aided by a woman who has gained special abilities from earlier mind-shattering ordeals in the Sundered Worlds."The ship shuddered as the guns sent a deadly stream of anti-neutrons towards the monster. Meanwhile, the beast seemed, impossibly, to be absorbing the beams and new heads had grown on its shoulders - disgusting, half-human faces gibbering and yelling, and they could hear the cries!"
1966, Art: Jack Gaughan
"The Blood Red Game" is notable for its depiction of psychic warfare through proxy mind-warriors. Anticipating the "remote-control combat" of such famed books as Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Moorcock's warriors are situated "on the ground" so to speak, and use technology to launch imagery and emotion-based attacks against their opponents in the titular Blood Red Game. As opposed to the more conventional application of explosives or energy beams, the fate of Mankind hinges on sheer imagination, emotional fortitude, and ultimately, trauma-induced psychosis. On top of this mix of cosmic military drama and phrenic psychedelia, Asquiol and a "mad woman" first encountered in "The Sundered Worlds" evolve into god-like soulmates whose duty is to guide the rest of Mankind into becoming guardians of the multiverse. Asquiol even hints at being an incarnation of the Eternal Champion at one point ("But Asquiol of Pompeii was no longer a man. He had become many men and was therefore complete.").
There's no denying it's alot of bang for your buck (especially for a 50 cent paperback).
A detailed synopsis of The Sundered Worlds and The Blood Red Game can be read HERE.
In some editions of The Sundered Worlds novel, “The Sundered Worlds” novella is labelled “Book One: The Fractured Universe”, while “The Blood Red Game” novella is labelled “Book Two: The Blood Red Game”. Knowing ahead of time that this book was originally two novellas published half a year apart probably helped me accept its structural design (especially its jarring change of main protagonists). Frankly, it’s a pretty cool read and chock full of ideas, both cosmological and psychological. There’s definitely a “kitchen sink” vibe and the events are so over-the-top as to be unbelievable, but there’s enough interesting imagery and pulp storytelling craft that I found it memorable. The whole affair is thrown together with such unselfconscious abandon that it ends up being enjoyable even when it seems to be flailing a bit. It's often cited for its introduction of the "multiverse" term, but I think also worth a read just for its turbo-charged pulp stylings (put on Jimi Hendrix's "Third Stone From the Sun" for an appropriate sonic accompaniment).
The Sundered Worlds Wikiverse Entry
The Sundered Worlds at Apple Books
The Sundered Worlds at Jayde Design
Next Chapter: Shorts from New Worlds and Others (1959-65)
Previous Chapter: Earl Aubec of Malador, Rackhir of Tanelorn, and Alexander of Macedon (1964-66)
