Metatemporal Detective

Robert M. Tilendis calls Michael Moorcock’s The Metatemporal Detectivea “series of delightful burlesques of Conan Doyle, noir detective fiction, the American Western (with special mention for the Masked Buckaroo, who rapidly became one of my favorite characters), spy thrillers, and of Moorcock himself” in a piece for Green Man Review.

His conclusion: “These are light fare compared to the bulk of Moorcock’s work, although the connections are certainly there for those who are concerned with such things. They are, however, for those who appreciate things like Flash Gordon, a lot of fun.”

Love this review! Margaret Cannon is reviewing crime fiction for The Globe and Mail. She says she remembers “the utter delight of mysteries set in a perfectly realized alternative universe,” but apart from a story by Robert J. Sawyer, hasn’t found anything else to scratch this itch. Until now, that is, and Michael Moorcock’s The Metatemporal Detective,which is a “wonderful collection…Seaton Begg and pathologist Taffy Sinclair, of the Metatemporal Investigation Department of the British Home Office, are pure imagination at its finest.”

I knew this book would appeal to mystery aficionados, and it’s great to see how well it worked for Margaret, who I gather has never heard of Elric, whom she calls “the beastly aristo Zenith the Albino, from some strange place in the galaxy,” but who catches all the homages “to everyone from Dashiell Hammett to the nearly forgotten Sexton Blake.”

Her conclusion? “For pure fun, this alternative universe is the place to explore.”

Rob H. Bedford, over on SFFWorld, reviews Michael Moorcock’s The Metatemporal Detective.Rob says, “While each entry is a story in its own right, they do fit together to give an overall tapestry of Moorcock’s multiverse. Stories range from turn-of-the 20^th Century England to The Wild West of the 1800s to Nazi-era Germany. Though each of these time frames for the stories have an air of familiarity, each takes place on a world parallel to our own with slight differences. The Nazis in one world don’t quite escalate to power the way they did here, the United States of America isn’t so United in another. This is how Moorcock’s multiverse works, the worlds resemble our own but really aren’t. It is a neat trick and one of the strong points of much of Moorcock’s fiction – the intersection of history and fiction. Two elements, that when in the hands of a deft writer like Moorcock, makes for a very good story.”

I was particularly gratified to see that Rob’s favorite story was “The Mystery of the Texas Twister,” since I have a history with that story predating this collection. It might be my favorite as well, tied perhaps with the final entry in the book. Meanwhile, Rob concludes that, “The strengths of these stories are many. The twisting plots, the quippy dialogue between Begg and Taffy, the interactions between Begg and Zenith, and the cool settings to name just a few. The stories are entertaining and range across the spectrum of Moorcock’s wide canvas. This book will appeal to Moorcock’s many fans as well as fans of dashing, pulpy stories and will fit very comfortably alongside and within Moorcock’s Eternal Champion saga.”