When Michael Moorcock began chronicling the adventures of the albino sorcerer Elric, last king of decadent Melnibone, and his sentient vampiric sword, Stormbringer, he set out to create a new kind of fantasy adventure, one that broke with tradition and reflected a more up-to-date sophistication of theme and style. The result was a bold and unique hero-weak in body, subtle in mind, dependent on drugs for the vitality to sustain himself-with great crimes behind him and a greater destiny ahead: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the sixties into one enduring archetype.

Now, with a major film in development, here is the first volume of a dazzling collection of stories containing the seminal appearances of Elric and lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist John Picacio-plus essays, letters, maps, and other material. Adventures include "The Dreaming City," "While the Gods Laugh," "Kings in Darkness," "Dead God's Homecoming," "Black Sword's Brothers," and "Sad Giant's Shield."

An indispensable addition to any fantasy collection, Elric: The Stealer of Souls is an unmatched introduction to a brilliant writer and his most famous-or infamous-creation.

"The most significant UK author of sword and sorcery, a form he has both borrowed from and transformed."-The Encyclopedia of Fantasy