‘The Distant Suns’

Jerry Cornelius — the ambiguous, amoral, androgynous English Assassin — or not, as the case may be. Although featuring Cornelius, et al., The Distant Suns has no direct link, as such, with that series.

Its first appearance was the eighteen-part weekly serialisation of the entire novel in The Illustrated Weekly Of India in 1969, the book itself being published in March 1975. It was written in collaboration with (and illustrated by) James Cawthon, although the serial was credited Moorcock alone who “was approached by the London editor … who told me that he and his colleagues in the firm were very concerned about the slowness of Indian society’s acceptance of practical science and its benefits. He asked me if I would be interested in writing a serial for the weekly whose huge audience was unfamiliar with science fiction as a moral or didactic medium … The use of various characters from the Cornelius stories … was inspired by the notion of putting the same characters in thoroughly different periods and backgrounds and seeing what happened.”

First appearance: The Illustrated Weekly Of India Vol. 90  Nos 26–41 and 43 & 44
Bombay, Pyarelal Sah, 1969 (June–November) magazines,
edited by Khushwant Singh;
price:  85 paise;
72 pages;
I.S.S.N.: none;
cover artist: J. Cawthorn (first appearance only [see below]).

Vol. 90 No. 26, June (29th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns’: pp. 19, 21 & 23;

Vol. 90 No. 27, July (6th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—2’: pp. 55, 57 & 59;

Vol. 90 No. 28, July (13th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—3’: pp. 32, 33 & 35;

Vol. 90 No. 29, July (20th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—4’: pp. 39 & 41;

Vol. 90 No. 30, July (27th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—5’: pp. 38 & 39;

Vol. 90 No. 31, August (3rd) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—6’: pp. 38–40;

Vol. 90 No. 32, August (10th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—7’: pp. 32 & 33;

Vol. 90 No. 33, August (17th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—8’: pp. 43, 45 & 67;

Vol. 90 No. 34, August (24th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—9’: pp. 36 & 37;

Vol. 90 No. 35, August (31st) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—10’: pp. 45 & 47;

Vol. 90 No. 36, September (7th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—11’: pp. 37 & 39;

Vol. 90 No. 37, September (14th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—12’: pp. 31 & 33;

Vol. 90 No. 38, September (21st) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—13’: pp. 40 & 41;

Vol. 90 No. 39, September (28th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—14’: pp. 29 & 31;

Vol. 90 No. 40, October (5th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—15’: pp. 49 & 51;

Vol. 90 No. 41, October (12th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—16’: pp. 47 & 49;

(Vol. 90 No. 42, October [19th] 1969);

Vol. 90 No. 43, October (26th) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—17’: pp. 33 & 35;

Vol. 90 No. 44, November (2nd) 1969,
‘The Distant Suns—18’: pp. 37 & 39.