General Editor
John Davey

Series Artists
Vance Kovacs, Julien Delval, Marc Simonetti, and Others 

Title Calligraphy & Decorations
Svetlana Molodchenko

“It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby.”

Elric of Melniboné • The Fortress of the Pearl • The Sailor on the Seas of Fate • The Sleeping Sorceress • The Revenge of the Rose • Stormbringer

These six novels—alongside novellas, short stories, and interludes—comprise the dark and storied saga of Elric, the doomed emperor of a dying race and bearer of the soul-devouring blade, Stormbringer.

Conversation Tree Press is proud to present The Chronicles of Elric, a six-volume, letterpress-printed edition of Michael Moorcock’s seminal work. Featuring twenty tales arranged in narrative order—including The Folk of the Forest, Moorcock’s most recent Elric story published in 2024—this will be the most complete and cohesive presentation of the core Elric saga to date.

Set within a multiverse shaped by arcane forces, ancient empires, and cosmic imbalance, the Elric stories shattered the conventions of sword and sorcery. Moorcock’s melancholy hero—philosopher, sorcerer, outcast—helped redefine fantasy literature, offering a complex counterpoint to the archetypal hero and inspiring generations of writers, artists, and game designers.

At once villain and victim, Elric is a study in contradiction: a man who despises the empire he rules, who longs for justice while serving Chaos, who hungers for love yet brings ruin to all he touches. His story is a meditation on power, fate, and the fragile boundaries of identity in a world governed by forces far beyond mortal control.

Whether you’re discovering Elric for the first time or long familiar with his tale, The Chronicles of Elric offers a definitive journey through one of speculative fiction’s most enduring and influential myths.

Edition Details

All six volumes of The Chronicles of Elric will be letterpress-printed and feature newly commissioned artwork. It will be limited to 776 copies in three states: 500 unnumbered copies of the Collector’s Edition; 250 copies of the Deluxe Edition, each hand-numbered #1-250; and 26 copies of the Lettered Edition, individually inscribed A–Z.

All copies will be signed by the artist of the respective volume, and Michael Moorcock will be signing all Deluxe and Lettered copies.

The collection will feature:

• Printing on luxurious paper, upgraded on the Deluxe and Lettered states.
• Durable, Smyth-sewn bindings with a ribbon marker and head and tail bands.
• Premium binding materials, upgraded on the Deluxe and Lettered states.
• Handmade slipcases/enclosures included at no additional cost.
• Hand binding by Ludlow Bookbinders.
• All artwork included in all states, in full colour.

Subscribe to the newsletter at the bottom of this page to stay updated on our plans for The Chronicles of Elric and other titles.

Schedule

The first volume in The Chronicles of Elric—Elric of Melniboné—is currently planned to open for pre-orders at the end of 2026. We are working on all six volumes concurrently as part of our broader effort to reduce the time between pre-orders and deliveries. We’ve already had excellent results with this approach, as our Short Stops titles begin shipping the same day they become available to order.

See the Schedule page for more information on our upcoming releases, including:

• Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana
• Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and Empire
• Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility
• China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station
• Octavia Butler’s Kindred
• Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash

Artwork

Each of the six volumes will feature newly commissioned artwork by a different artist—six of today’s most talented illustrators—each bringing a distinct visual interpretation to their respective novel. As Elric is but one incarnation of the Eternal Champion, who takes many forms across the multiverse, these six artistic visions reflect the layered complexity and mythic scope of Moorcock’s creation.

Three of the artists are below.

Vance Kovacs

Selected portfolio pieces by Vance Kovacs.

Vance Kovacs is a Professional Concept Artist and Illustrator with over 30 years of experience. Working in the broad field of entertainment spanning Games, Film, Publishing, Theme parks, and Interactive media.  Vance brings an eclectic skillset, fresh thinking, and creativity to every collaborative project or production.

Julien Delval

Selected portfolio pieces by Julien Delval.

Julien Delval is a talented painter and illustrator known for his distinctive fantasy artwork. After studying fine art, he began his career illustrating for the role-playing company Multisim, which led to numerous book covers for various publishers. He later worked in comics and continues to contribute to the gaming industry. Represented by the Daniel Maghen Gallery, Delval also devotes time to personal work that explores ancient worlds, mythology, and fantasy, drawing inspiration from classical painting and 20th-century imagery.

Marc Simonetti

Selected portfolio pieces by Marc Simonetti.

Marc Simonetti is a French concept artist/ illustrator. Best known for his work on G.R.R. Martin’s books A Song of Ice and Fire and The Iron Throne, Marc has also illustrated some of the best known fantasy and Sci-Fi novels, such as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, Robin Hobb’s The Royal Assassin trilogy, Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind, Terry Brook’s  Shannara Cycle and Frank Herbert’s Dune. Marc regularly works for many video games companies including Activision, Ubisoft, Magic: The Gathering, EA, Square Enix and King Isle Entertainment, creating compelling concept art, illustrations and marketing campaigns.

Title Calligraphy & Decorations

Svetlana Molodchenko returns for The Chronicles of Elric, having previously contributed the title calligraphy for our edition of Ramsey Campbell’s Cold Print & Others, and her work here is once again exceptional.

She has created an intricate title page design that draws on ornamental traditions of the past while channeling the mythic energy of Elric’s world. Decorative borders evoke arcane scrollwork and crumbling imperial grandeur, setting the tone for the dark, opulent journey to come. Each volume also features a custom, hand-drawn title in Molodchenko’s calligraphy.

 

Letterpress Printing 

We’ll be collaborating once again with Pat Randle and Ellen Bills at Nomad Letterpress and Phil Abel and Robert Hetherington at Hand & Eye Letterpress on The Chronicles of Elric. We have worked together on many other Conversation Tree Press Books, including Joe Hill’s Faun, Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, and Ramsey Campbell’s Cold Print & Others.

Hand Binding by Ludlow Bookbinders

Ludlow Bookbinders, located in Shropshire, England have been keeping the craft of English bookbinding alive for generations. They’ve hand bound a number of Conversation Tree Press editions, and we’re looking forward to collaborating with them on The Chronicles of Elric.

Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock is one of the most important and influential figures in speculative fiction and fantasy literature. Listed recently by The Times (London) as among the fifty greatest British writers since 1945, he is the author of 100 books and more than 150 shorter stories in practically every genre. He has been the recipient of several lifetime achievement awards, including the Prix Utopiales, the SFWA Grand Master, the Stoker, and the World Fantasy, and has been inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. He has been awarded the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Guardian Fiction Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Whitbread Award. He has been compared to Balzac, Dickens, Dumas, Ian Fleming, Joyce, and Robert E. Howard, to name a few.