Miscellaneous novels of the Seventies

The Shores of Death

(1970)

Earth's Last Dark Age.

With Earth teetering on the brink of extinction, only one man dares to defy the legacy of the Spaceraiders - Clovis Marca, the twilight man.

Long ago Earth, now fixed on her axis, with eternal day on one side, eternal night on the other and a ribbon of twilight in between, was ravaged by galactic raiders. Earthlings recovered, grew stronger. But now, unable to reproduce, the last humans are frenzied with final decadence. And fear.

Only Clovis Marca, the last man born on Earth, dares to brave infected space to seek the impossible solution. His dark quest leads him to face Orland Sharvis, the scientist whose insane experiments on his own mind and body might just save the human race… but would that race then be more, or less, human?

The Shores of Death. Herts: Mayflower, 1974.

This is a re-titling of The Twilight Man.

The Blood Red Game

(1970)

Renark the Wanderer

Renark was born to wander under the diamond glare of a myriad suns. He was never alone because he sensed the power of the unseen hands which guided the ebb and flow of the universe. Then, after two years of watching and waiting, he was ready for the great journey to the rim of the galaxy - and beyond. There he found himself in the arena of the Blood Red Game. The stakes were high: for the human race it meant extinction - or rebirth.

The Blood Red Game. Herts: Mayflower, 1974.

This is a re-titling of The Sundered Worlds.

The Rituals of Infinity

(1971)

Outside time, outside space, the planets hung in limbo.

One was all desert, one covered in freshwater oceans, one in grey volcanic dust. Jungle covered another. Fifteen planets in all, each called Earth and each under threat.

Once upon a time there had been twenty-four alternate Earths, all similar, but one by one they had broken down into space dust and oblivion. And men had done this: the mysterious D-squads who travelled through subspace, attacking, destabilising, destroying...

Now one man stood between them and the total planetary break-up: Dr. Faustaff, brilliant, overweight, Buick-driving, Hawaiian-shirted, space-commuting, always-on-call, Earth repair man and physicist. Who was `Frisco-bound with a hitch-hiking redhead when the first off-Earth Emergency call came in...

The Rituals of Infinity. London: New English Library, 1986.

It is nearly three decades since the discovery of the sub-spacial alternatives - twenty-four lumps of matter hanging in a limbo outside of space and time, each sharing the name of Earth.

Now there are only fifteen of them - the rest blown to extinction by the ruthless attacks of the D-squads. Even the surviving planets are doomed to a cruel, mutilated existence.

Standing between them and their final destruction at the hands of the merciless demolition teams is Michael Moorcock's zaniest hero - the brilliant, offbeat physicist Professor Faustaff.

The Rituals of Infinity. London: Arrow Books, 1979.

The Distant Suns

(1975)

with James Cawthorn

Jerry Cornelius lay back and thought of Earth.

Ten seconds to go. The countdown boomed over the intercom. Beside him his wife Cathy moved in her seat. Helmet to helmet, they exchanged reassuring smiles.

He thought of what they were leaving behind: the overcrowding, the creeping starvation, the threat of worldwide catastrophe.

He thought of why they were leaving: humanity's last chance, the first voyage beyond the solar system, Alpha Centauri-bound to search out a habitable planet.

Colonel Jerry Cornelius of the United Nations Space Command thought of how confident he'd sounded at the pre-launch press conference. And how uncertain his future - everyone's future - really was.

The Distant Suns. London: New English Library, 1989.

Gloriana, Or The Unfuldill'd Queen

(1978)

Queen Gloriana rules Albion whose empire embraces America and most of Asia. A new Golden Age of peace, enlightenment and prosperity has dawned, in dazzling contrast with the brutal austerity Albion endured under the iron hand of Gloriana's father, King Hern.

Gloriana is Albion, and Albion is Gloriana; if one falls, so will the other. Much depends on Montfallcon, Gloriana's Chancellor, and his network of spies and assassins - in particular cold-hearted Captain Quire, seducer of virtue and murderer of innocence. When the two fall out and Arabia conceives a plan to ruin Gloriana, a huge intrigue is hatched, threatening to destroy Albion, the Empire, and the Golden Age itself, in a love affair between the Queen of Virtue and the King of Vice.

Gloriana. London: Flamingo, 1988.