As he says somewhere, ‘I think of myself as a bad writer with big ideas, but I’d rather be that than a big writer with bad ideas.’ ‘Where It Went Wrong’ might almost be a subtitle for Death Is No Obstacle, offsetting that main title’s triumphalism: Michael Moorcock is one of the most self-effacing and self-critical authors, who is always acknowledging that his penchant for experimenting – with genre, with form, with subject matter – doesn’t always result in a successful novel. The rest of the book covers, in order, comedy and science fiction (including a revealing discussion about Moorcock’s own self-confessed failure to write straight science fiction, partly because he has no great love for much mid-century SF), comic strips and commedia dell’Arte, didactic fiction (featuring Behold the Man, Moorcock’s remarkable novel about a time traveller who ends up living in the time of the Crucifixion), non-linear fiction, where it went wrong (featuring, perhaps surprisingly, a discussion of the ‘failure’ of Gloriana), and imitating and remodelling (Conrad et al). In a previous post on Interesting Literature, I’ve outlined some of Moorcock’s top tips for writing a genre novel in a matter of days, which are taken from the first chapter of Death Is No Obstacle. I’m indebted to my university library, which owns a signed copy. The book isn’t easy to get hold of – copies tend to go for around £50 online. In a 1992 book, Death Is No Obstacle, which is essentially a long transcript of interviews the writer Colin Greenland had with Moorcock in 1990, Moorcock happily reveals some of the ‘tricks of the trade’ of writing genre fiction, as well as thoughtfully exploring his own relationship with various genres of popular fiction. In 2008, The Times named Moorcock in its list of 'The 50 greatest British writers since 1945'.Despite his prodigious gifts and his long-standing success as a novelist, Michael Moorcock is only too happy to share the secrets of his craft. He is also a recording musician, contributing to the bands Hawkwind, Blue Öyster Cult, Robert Calvert, Spirits Burning, and his own project, Michael Moorcock & The Deep Fix.

His publication of Bug Jack Barron (1969) by Norman Spinrad as a serial novel was notorious in Parliament, some British MPs condemned the Arts Council of Great Britain for funding the magazine. Science fiction, fantasy, literary fictionĪs editor of the British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction 'New Wave' in the UK and indirectly in the United States, leading to the advent of cyberpunk. Novelist, journalist, script writer, musician, editor Michael Barrington (with Barrington J.