I found this book hard to get through. The stories were written in a prose style I couldn't connect to. I hope to try again with this book because I like the author.

I'm going to be honest, I barely got through this one. I love a collection of sci fi short stories, but these didn't grasp me, and I found it hard to finish all of them.

Alan Moore collected a good variety of stories from his career. I am not the biggest fan of Moore's style, so many of the stories just did not work for me, but I can't say that it is particularly bad. But if you are a fan of Moore's work or want to read a short story collection that covers many genres and themes then this may be a good choice.

Illuminations: Stories is an interesting collection of short fiction from Alan Moore. Released 11th Oct 2022 by Bloomsbury, it's 464 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out 4th quarter 2023.

Alan Moore is a peerless writer, a true and rare wordsmith. This is a collection of 9 stories of varying length; one of them, What We Can Know About Thunderman, more of a short novel than novella at 241 pages. All of them are indelibly Moore, with complex language and ideas, well rendered and all-enveloping. 

The thing which struck me during the read was that the author pulls no punches. He brings his best to the work and expects the audience to do the same. The language is richly nuanced and wonderfully wrought. The vocabulary is precise and robust. It isn't easy however. I enjoy language and precise writing. Readers who prefer easy reads might want to have a good dictionary at their fingertips. 

Solidly four stars. Difficult (not necessarily thematically) and demanding writing. Reminds a bit of the Laurie Anderson lyrics: "Good evening. Welcome to Difficult Listening Hour. The spot on your dial for that relentless and impenetrable sound of difficult music. So sit bolt upright in that straight-backed chair, button that top button, and get set for some difficult music". 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Hey kiddos! Did you know that Alan Moore likes sex? And doesn't like the time he spent in the comics industry? Do you want to read a three hundred page novella about all of that, more sleaze, and a bunch of delusional manchildren and a side of conspiracy bullshit? oh and there's a few other stories that are genuinely interesting, but also have a 75% chance of featuring weird sex shit? Then hoo boy this is for you! Like, there's some genuinely interesting ideas here but it just feels overwhelmingly bogged down by the novella, which he probably could have released independently of these short stories. Ehhhhhhhh.

A collection of stories that were written and collected by Alan Moore throughout his tenure as a writer of comics/graphic novels. Alan Moore can be a little gratuitous to me, and this collection was a mixed bag. A few stories early on were amazing, but the longer the stories the more tedious and boring they became.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay so I DNF'd this. I was expecting more short stories that I could pick up and read one per sitting. This was not that. I love Alan Moore's comics, and I thought the writing was really good, but I felt like I was having to slog through this because nothing was memorable enough to last past one sitting. It was frustrating because I kept having to go back and remind myself what was happening.

I think dedicated Alan Moore fans will love this, but I don't recommend just picking it up if you're not a big fan.

In a Nutshell: This anthology will find its niche audience. But it wasn’t for me. Too longwinded and slow-paced.

I grabbed this from NetGalley mainly for the author (‘Watchmen’ is almost like a master class for adult comic lovers), and partly for the concept. The first story, “A Hypothetical Lizard” mostly met my expectations. From there, it was a slide downhill. The stories were too meandering and verbose to present a submersive experience.

To add to the fact, I go in for anthologies with certain length expectations as I read the stories whenever I can squeeze a few minutes out of my schedule. With 9 stories spread over 464 pages, the tales were more novella length than short fiction. I especially wasn’t prepared for a 200+ page “novella” (‘What We Can Know About Thunderman’) to be included herein; that’s like reading a whole book by itself! It threw my reading schedule for a toss.

On the pro side, the vocabulary is outstanding! The bizarre creativity of the author shows up in glimpses.
This might have clicked differently with me had I picked it up in a different mindspace. But the current read did nothing for my spirit.

I did rate the stories individually as I always do, but except for the first story – a 4 star, none of the others reached satisfying ratings. These ratings ranged from 1 star to 3 stars.

2 stars, rounding up from my average rating for each of the stories.

My thanks to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for the DRC of “Illuminations: Stories”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Delighted to include this kaleidoscopic Moore collection in the October instalment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

Weird and wonderful.
If you are a fan of Moore,
get it right away!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Note: I write Haiku reviews on my Instagram account, whattoreadnow, but am happy to do something different (more detailed) for the purposes of Netgalley, if that’s what’s required. Many thanks!

This is a mixed bag, as far as story quality is concerned, but I also understand that that is a bit of the nature of the beast. Moore's work in this seems to span a large time period across which he could have written. I appreciate it when things are placed back into print for the fans who desire access to the work while it has been unavailable. I hope it finds its audience, I am not entirely sure I was the right one for some of these.

I wanted to enjoy this book but I found the prose hard to interpret and understand and the overall narrative left something to be desired. There was one story I enjoyed, but the rest were not what I was expecting from Alan Moore.

The following review will be posted on GateCrashers a week before release date. Link will be updated upon publication:

I read Alan Moore’s Jerusalem the month before my Poppi died. He had been going in and out of the hospital for the entire year before he passed. Lung problems from a youth building houses. There were periods where he would be out of the hospital and had to walk around with an oxygen machine. He couldn’t work in his workshop in the basement anymore—couldn’t even go down there due to the machine. (I will always remember him working on something or other in that basement workshop. A swingset, a chair, or something I wasn’t familiar with. I would sometimes watch him work.) Eventually, he had to be moved into our house for the simple fact that the house he lived in with Nonna was in the middle of the woods. He started to have lung problems around the week of my 21st birthday. I was in London at the time, mooching off of my brother getting lessons from famed cinematographer Janus Kamiński about the craft of filmmaking. I spent most of my time wandering the streets trying to find new, interesting things. On my birthday in particular, I attempted to follow the Jack the Ripper murders without a working map or a clear idea where the bodies were actually located. I ended up giving up after a couple of hours. Curiously, my attempt began with me witnessing a Gull fly in the air. While I was getting lost in Whitechapel, my Poppi was admitted into the hospital for the first of many times. Even before the end finally came, I noticed a degree of weakness to his body. A frailty other members of the family never truly saw. I wasn’t meant to see it. Despite my loud steps, I have a tendency of sneaking up on people. I remember it as clearly as a new pair of glasses: he was standing in the hallway of the house I had always known him to live in, the house he built when he was a young man, looking away from me. The lights were dark, though not dark enough to be pitch black. Rather, the shadows overtook the hall, but the light’s contrast made him visible. It wasn’t the look in his eye or the contemplative shape his mouth made. It was how he held himself. He sagged rather than stood tall. He didn’t look at me, though I saw his face. He looked weak, like he was on the verge of the end. I was 19 at the time. I was 21 when he actually did die. It was a January afternoon when I last saw him. My brother and I were going to the movies the day we all knew would be his last. No one but his wife and three kids were to be at the hospital the day it happened. My last intended words to him were “Be seeing you.” (Though I suspect the last words he heard from me were “GAH, MY FUCKING FOREHEAD!” spoken shortly after an attempt to rest my forehead onto my aunt’s head ended up becoming a headbutt, which, all things considered, is the more apt portrayal of who I am than a reference to a television show from the 60s.) Carmine DeVita died a few hours later. I finished Jerusalem a week or two prior.

In short, I read Jerusalem at the absolute wrong time to read Jerusalem. I did not make that same mistake with Illuminations. It is a fascinating collection of short stories ranging from reprints of older material like Hypothetical Lizard to engagements with older periods in Moore’s career like Cold Reading. And, of course, riffs on other works of literary fiction such as And, at the last, Just to be Done with Silence.

But perhaps what will become the most discussed story within the collection is What We Can Know About Thunderman. Not simply because it’s the longest story within it—a novella within a novel—or even the subject matter—look at the title. But rather, it’s the format Moore takes with it. For the majority of the collection, Moore opts to go for traditional first and third person narration to portray the events of his stories. With What We Can Know About Thunderman, Moore uses that approach, but also engages in epistolatory fiction.

Throughout his career, Moore has utilized epistolatory fiction as a means of worldbuilding or criticism in works like 1969 or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And while here it’s no different, there’s an air of confidence and control that is lacking in those earlier texts. Moore knows when to present the history of unions being busted straight and when to make an entire portion of it a bunch of fanboys arguing over continuity. (To say nothing about the entire section that’s basically Moore reviewing every single piece of non-comics Superman media with the sole exception of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini’s efforts.)

But I would like to close this review not on the big talking point, but rather on something smaller in the book: the title story, Illuminations. It tells of a man going through old photographs of days gone by and feeling quite miserable. But not the kind of misery of a horrible thing occurring, but one of it no longer being there. Of remembering going to a shitty holiday camp that was (and perhaps still is) hell. But you’re alone now with all those god awful memories. Those horrid days gone by.

I actually went to one of those camps (well, a crap American remake of one) with my Poppi when I was a kid (along with my brother, my mom, and my Nonna). It rained every day we were there that week in July, apart from the last one. There was a pool that was so deep, you could go down to the basement and see people swimming. One of the days we were there, some of the camp counselors asked for our assistance with a fun “summer Halloween” thing for the little kids (I was 8 at the time). They had my brother dressed up in a gorilla costume. I was painted up to look like a zombie. All things considered, it was the best part of that miserable experience.

I could not finish this book. I have enjoyed Alan Moore stories many times before. I enjoy the journey of pushing boundaries in his tales. But this was too far. Cringy and far too disturbing. Especially the Location, Location, Location story.

I hate not finishing a book but this was the exception. I cannot recommend. I will not be sharing this review with any of my followers. This is strictly for NetGalley.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Bloomsbury USA for an advanced copy of this collection of short stories and one novella by the incomparable Alan Moore.

As I long time comic book reader I would like to brag that I first read Alan Moore in Swamp Thing, being an American I had no idea that Britain even had comic books at the time, however I would be lying. Swamp Thing even though it had a movie was too close to Man-Thing over at Marvel, and neither had any appeal. I am sure it was in Vigilante, more famous now for his appearance in the DC show Peacemaker, that I read him, and I don't think I was impressed. Too much talking, not enough shooting. However Watchman made me take notice, and annoyed me when the art was delaying the final issues. The story, the art, the words, the panels. Somehow I thought everything would change, and Alan Moore would be at the forefront of it. I was wrong, and Alan Moore was forced away from comics due to greed from corporate, and pride from the author. This is why I was excited to read this new collection Illuminations, a collection of short stories from one of my favorite writers.

This book contains nine stories from short about to novella length encompassing about 40 years of writing, but most it seems from this century. The earliest and oddest is Hypothetical Lizard, about a brothel for people of magic and two friends who work for it. This story still has that craziness in the writing that Moore has learned to control over the years, the sheer I can't believe what is coming out of my pen, oh look out I have a lot more. The longest is a piece on comics, their creators and history What We Can Know About The Thunderman, which covers a lot of different themes, and is based on real creators and real events. Plus the usual collection of ghosts, aliens, Twilight Zone- seeming stories all written with that Alan Moore uniqueness.

The writing is always excellent, words that you don't expect to fit suddenly appearing in dialogue that sounds so apt and perfect it is a wonder that no one ever thought about it before. Bits of magic and magik, a hint of the supernatural, and the sadness of being all too human. Some stories seem too short, but that is probably the selfish reader in me. A few the story about Jesus, and the simple story of a cryptid club, with a strange observer hit me and made me think about alot of things other than the story, And that is a good thing. The long story about comics, might be a little too inside baseball for some people, a lot of history and lore is mentioned in it, about real people and real events, but still even a little Wikipedia should clear that up. A strong collection of stories, that flit and flirt with a lot of different themes and ideas.

A standout collection from a person who always put the most effort into writing stories that made a reader think, sometimes learn, sometimes to feel even a certain amount of disgust. Moore wrote one of the greatest stories about Superman ever, and to think that corporate avarice keeps us from enjoying his works in comic form are sad. However we can still enjoy his short stories, and his novel Jerusalem is one of the best novels I have ever read. For fans of his comic work, and for fans of great writing and great ideas.

Question for you: what was the first graphic novel or comic book you read?

Mine, fortunately or unfortunately depending on the way you look at it, was Watchmen. I remember sitting in my high school boyfriend’s bedroom, perusing his bookshelf, when something about that bloody smiley face just called to me. Jumping from that to V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it was established: I was a complete and total Moore Whore.

That’s why I completely freaked out when I got my newest ARC from the man, the mystical, the legend!

*My review below is based on the first 7 books in this collection

--

Hypothetical Lizard (46 pages) – 4 stars
Alan Moore has a way of weaving medical horrors grounded in Sci-Fi into everyday life in a way that is disturbing and completely unforgettable.

In Hypothetical Lizard, we meet our FMC, Som-Som, who is a Whore of Sorcerers at the House Without Clocks, which is basically a brothel dealing with exceptional requests. Som-Som was brought to the brothel and sold by her mother before having undergone a procedure where the connection between the two hemispheres of her brain were severed. A mask was placed over half her face, and a thick glove was installed on her hand. All of this acted to destroy the connections between her ability to intake things and output others in response (her thoughts and actions do not matchup). Essentially, she can see and hear, but any response is a non sequitur. This makes her perfect to be the Whore of Sorcerers, who apparently can’t be trusted to keep their mouths’ quiet during the act…

While this background is given, the story really focuses on Som-Som’s transexual friend Rawra Chin and her abusive partner Foral Yatt. We watch Rawra go from this courageous individual who leaves the House Without Clocks seeking (and finding) success, only to come back for love and be reminded of why no one can be trusted, especially with a smile like his.

Side note: I just read Moore’s Fashion Beast and I definitely got the feeling these were written around the same time in his career. If you enjoyed the overall feel of that one, you’ll love this one!

--

Not Even Legend (15 pages) – 3 stars
This short was obviously more current than the last, given there was the reference to COVID, but also because of Moore’s more modern style of writing. While this story still had his elements of sci-fi and general what-the-fuck-is-going-on -ness, it was definitely less chaotic and intellectual than his normal writing style. I loved the ideas of what was happening in this story (different alien lifeforms and whatnot), but I’m not sure I loved it as a Moore story. I also felt this should have been much longer. I would read more of this though, as I feel it has potential (uuugggghhhhh and now I just feel pretentious saying that about Alan Fucking Moore! Who SAYS that!?!?)

--

Location, Location, Location (35 pages) - 5 stars
Jesus is inheriting the family business and it’s fantastic! I loved this one the most given it was quick, it was cerebral, and it brought that beautiful sexual undertone that Moore has to the surface, complete with a cinnamon-roll Jez.

This one had me feeling all kinds of things (I should mention that my sexual awakening came from the hands of Alan Moore in the form of Black Dossier, because, you know, I’m not a big enough nerd as it is…). I loved the ending, where, if I’m interpreting correctly, she was led into the Garden of Eden hungry. I do not know why this spelled out the perfect set up for reverse harem Jesus-Devil-Angie scenario, but now I, someone who does not like sharing, need this devil’s threeway in my life!!!

--

Cold Reading (17 pages) – 5 stars
An “opportunistic” medium gets more than he bargained for in this ghastly tale!
This was witty, character-driven, and a sure start to a horror novel that I would push everything in my life away to read.

Moore’s ability to take common, reality-based fears and turn them into something disconcerting is one of my favorite talents of his. For real though, what’s scarier than something that could happen? Ghosts, aliens, and unknowns? Something about these subjects gets me a little more on the edge of my seat than the definite non-realities of zombies, vampires, etc. And, boy, does he craft them well.
Also, his ability to develop a character and his/her traits within minutes of reading is so good and probably the reason I refuse to like stories with characters reminiscent of cardboard. I’ve been spoiled as a Moore Whore, thus I have standards…

--

The Improbably Complex High-Energy State (37 pages) – 5 stars
I found this story to be peak Moore: full of scientific processes that tickle your cerebral cortex while normalizing sex.

The best way to describe this one is the evolution of a being, starting from nothing and eventually falling into the normal pitfalls of arrogance, judgment, and yearning for omnipotence. Definitely not lite reading, but definitely interesting.

--

Illuminations (17 pages) – 2 stars
The titular short left a lot to be desired for me. I can’t even fully articulate what the hell this was about, other than a man having a mid-life crisis and never coming back from it. This draaaagged hardcore for me.

--

What We Can Know About Thunderman (241 pages) – 4 stars
This story, which takes up a majority of the total page count, shows an interesting set of interconnected lives belonging to persons in the comic industry.

I liked the shifting of timelines and perspectives in this. It definitely had a very Pulp Fiction feel to me, which is always a plus.

It had death, murder, pornography, Americana, and pop culture. This definitely also had Moore’s feelings towards movies never being able to live up to the comic books they try to recreate expressed, which was cool to see.

Overall, I feel I would have enjoyed this better if I had any idea who these people were supposed to represent or knew more about the comic book industry itself, but it was still a fun, easy read.

--

Final (Average) Rating: 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Alan Moore for this book in exchange for my honest review!

Moore has a great reputation, and has been writing for a long time. So, this will likely sell well, and be highly rated. There are a lot of good stories here, along with a nice variety of kinds of stories and topics.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

I love Alan Moore. He is the greatest things that happened to comics ever, and he is a damned good writer in his own right.
And I wanted to love this collection, but...
I couldn't. The first story - 'Hypothetical Lizard' about an abusive relationship was a masterpiece. Wonderfully imagined and beautifully told. The following stories were mostly OK - fun, well-written, but not as good.
And then came 'What We Can Know About Thunderman' - 200+ pages about comicbook scene. Imagined one at that. I guess, it will be loved by people with great knowledge of ins and outs of the industry. While I get from the mention of fatal car accident, that Andrew Donald meens to be Alex Raymond, I'm sure that most allusions to real people, comics and events, important to the industry I didn't get. The story is well-written, but overlong. Also, for some reason it is not told in chronological order. We jump decades forward or backward from one character to another. Moores' musing on the industry are interesting, but I would prefer him to write an essay on it.
After this overlong comedy of comics we get an analysis of an imagined beatnik poem. While it is clever it... well, I think it is easy to write a clever piece, if you do it with analysis in mind. Also, I didn't really see the point of the whole thing. A critique of literary critics perhaps?
The final story is mostly OK.
To conclude, we have one masterpiecewhich takes about 10 % of the book total. I'm not sure it is worth the price of admission.
But I will still read anything Alan Moore will write.

Alan Moore! Wow! The imagination and creativity of that author is just phenomenal!! Do yourself a favor and read this book!

At the outset of Illuminations, the new short story collection from Alan Moore, it is impossible not to think about his early career. The fact that it begins with his 1987 ”Hypothetical Lizard,” originally published in one of Will Shetterly and Emma Bull’s Liavek anthologies, later adapted to comics by Avatar, cements the backward looking quality, although in practice it’s the only 20th century work in the collection, and one of only two not from within the last couple of years.

The sense continues with the next couple of stories. “Not Even Legend” is a twist ending story that recycles a conceit from one of Alan Moore’s old 2000 AD pieces, an era where he was mostly writing twist ending short stories. The rationalist ghost story “Cold Reading” is similarly based on delivering the reader to its climactic reveal. “Location , Location, Location” and “The Improbably Complex High Energy State” meanwhile, each take whimsical high concept premises and rigorously explore their implications before taking relatively straightforward exits, another structure Moore talked about back in his 2000 AD days.

Reading these, one is put in mind of William Blake, who in his later years produced one, occasionally two final copies of each of his great prophetic works, painting them with a new level of richness and detail compared to his earlier executions. That Blake described his self-invented medium as illuminated printing is surely not a coincidence, especially from a man whose previous book shared a title with Blake’s magnum opus.
Things shift, however, with the title story—one of four written specially for the volume—an oblique and indeed simply bleak look at childhood nostalgia, working class holidays, aging, and death that comes off as a holiday camp remix of one of Moore’s final comic works, Cinema Purgatorio.

And speaking of comics, there is the baroque centerpiece of the collection, the novella “What We Can Know About Thunderman,” which occupies more than half of the book. This is a furious roman a clef of the American comics industry, a righteous exorcism that seems at times to be Alan Moore scoffing “oh, you think my interview quotes about comics are harsh?“ It’s decadent in its flaying of Moore’s former medium, at one point digressing to offer individual reviews of the various Thunderman films, all of which can be trivially decoded into reviews of Superman films. (Moore’s opinions on Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice are possibly the book’s biggest laugh.) The novella at times feels as though a futuristic nanotech wonder that can meticulously construct things atom by atom is being used to create a crudely drawn cock and balls, a description I stress that I mean as the highest of compliments.

The final two stories see Moore completing the book’s arc of breaking from his past into a future, offering a Borgesian take on the San Francisco beat poet scene in “American Light: An Appreciation,” and finally into a piece of Samuel Beckett style absurdity, “And, At The Last, Just To Be Done With Silence,” both takes on the short form that have no real roots in Moore’s early career, but seem instead to point forward to his late self-reinvention as a prose writer.

At 68, then, with more magnum opuses already behind him than most writers have in a career, Alan Moore has reinvented himself anew. With the Long London series looming a year away, it’d be a foolish critic indeed who bet against this latest act in his career.