Butterworth, Michael
Entry updated 30 January 2023. Tagged: Author, Editor.
(1947- ) UK author, poet, publisher and editor, in the latter capacity initially of the semiprofessional magazine Concentrate (one issue, 1968), devoted to very short stories and poems (see Flash Fiction); then of the underground Corridor (five issues 1971-1974), later called Wordworks (two issues 1975-1976), which he re-launched in 2010 as a contemporary visual arts and writing journal under the title Corridor8, first in print form and then as a website. He was cofounder and codirector with David Britton (and briefly Charles Partington) of Savoy Books; more recently, he began also to release books under his own Michael Butterworth imprint. His Poetry, mostly sharp narrative takes on a 1960s Zone somewhere between New Wave and Midlands, was assembled as Complete Poems 1965-2020 (coll 2023).
He began publishing sf with "Girl" for New Worlds in May 1966, and contributed regularly to that magazine for the rest of its existence. HIs first novel introduced the Hawklords sequence, The Time of the Hawklords (1976), with Michael Moorcock credited on the title-page and cover as co-author, though the "List of Credits" at the end of the volume lists Moorcock as Producer/Director and Butterworth as Writer: Butterworth was fundamentally responsible for the book, as well as for its sequel, Queens of Deliria (1977), with Moorcock also credited (this time unwillingly). The sequence, based on the real-life rock group Hawkwind, focuses on an electronic instrument that allays all pain and tension (see Inventions). The Space 1999 series of Ties [see Checklist below], which covers the whole of Year 2, is of less interest than his other work.
With Britton, Butterworth co-edited two defiant anthologies drawn from the world of Savoy Books, a firm which more than once suffered in the Manchester police force's battle against "obscenity": The Savoy Book (anth 1978) and Savoy Dreams: The Secret Life of Savoy Books (anth 1984). Uncredited, he also co-authored with Britton (who see for details) the first volume of the Lord Horror sequence, Lord Horror (dated 1990 but 1989), and edited the further volumes in the sequence. Lord Horror was the first novel to be banned in the UK since Hugh Selby Jr's Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964); Butterworth organized a successful 1992 appeal against the ban. [JC]
Michael Butterworth
born Manchester, England: 24 April 1947
works
series
Hawklords
- The Time of the Hawklords (Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire: Aidan Ellis, 1976) with Michael Moorcock [Hawklords: hb/]
- The Time of the Hawklords (Munich, Germany: Apex-Verlag, 2021) [credited to Butterworth alone "from an idea by Michael Moorcock": Hawklords: hb/]
- Queens of Deliria (London: Star Books, 1977) [Hawklords: pb/]
- Queens of Deliria (Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing, 1995) [rev of the above: pb/]
- Queens of Deliria (Munich, Germany: Apex-Verlag, 2021) [rev of the above: hb/]
- Queens of Deliria (Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing, 1995) [rev of the above: pb/]
Space 1999: Year 2
- Space 1999: Year 2: Planets of Peril (London: Allen Wingate, 1977) [tie to Space: 1999: Space 1999: Year 2: hb/]
- Space 1999: Year 2: Mind-Breaks of Space (London: Allen Wingate, 1977) with J Jeff Jones [tie to Space: 1999: Space 1999: Year 2: hb/]
- Space 1999: Year 2: The Space-Jackers (London: Star Books, 1977) [tie to Space: 1999: Space 1999: Year 2: pb/]
- Space 1999: Year 2: The Psychomorph (London: Star Books, 1977) [tie to Space: 1999: Space 1999: Year 2: pb/]
- Space 1999: Year 2: The Time Fighters (London: Star Books, 1977) [tie to Space: 1999: Space 1999: Year 2: pb/still from tv show]
- Space 1999: Year 2: The Edge of the Infinite (New York: Warner Books, 1977) [tie to Space: 1999: Space 1999: Year 2: pb/still from tv show]
- Space 1999: Year Two (Huntington Park, California: Powys Media, 2006) [omni of the above six: all texts revised: hb/]
Lord Horror (selected)
- Lord Horror (Manchester, England: Savoy Books, 1989) with David Britton [dated 1990 but published 1989: Lord Horror: hb/Harry Douthwaite]
individual titles
- My Servant the Wind (Brookline, Massachusetts: International Authors/Null23, 2019) [pb/Gareth Jackson]
collections
- Butterworth (Brookline, Massachusetts: International Authors/Null23, 2019) [coll: illus/pb/Gareth Jackson]
- Complete Poems 1965-2020 (Joshua Tree, California: Space Cowboy Books, 2023) [poetry: coll: hb/photographic]
works as editor
- The Savoy Book (London: Savoy Books, 1978) with David Britton [anth: pb/from Holman Hunt]
- Savoy Dreams: The Secret Life of Savoy Books (Manchester, England: Savoy Books, 1984) with David Britton [anth: hb/]
links
previous versions of this entry