SCSC: C/C; AM: The Books

Intro:

While Alan Moore (henceforth refered, somewhat jokingly, to as “The Original Writer”), is obviously mostly known for his astoundingly influential work within the field of comics, he´s never exactly been a stranger to other creative pursuits either... 

    Over the years, he´s been doing music, poetry (some of which I´ve been “adapting” into videos, along with those respective comics on my fan-based YT-channel), short films & a movie (which I might review later on), but in-between all that, also books...

    & each of those particular prose novels, I´ll now go a bit further on about...:

Voice of the Fire (1996, Gollancz books/ 2004 &, Top Shelf Productions) :

The first one of the bunch... Centered on/ in his hometown of Northampton, this one takes the reader on a (sort of) travel through time, with each chapter set in a particular period & with a varying cast of characters...

    From a retarded caveman, through a guy who thinks he´s a duck, a roman legionaire tracking down a group of money-forgers, a couple of burning “witches”, & a conversating couple of heads-on-spikes, all the way to a contemporary appearance of the “Original Writer” himself, etc. !... Each written in a style, fitting the portrayed period of time...

& in certain editions, with hauntingly beautiful color plates by José Villarrubia...

Jerusalem (2016, Knockabout/ Liveright) :

Having gotten even more ambitious, this totally titanic tome, took me about 3 years to get through!... He might as well have published it as an actual trilogy, it can be available in such a set, anyway...

    But, while the size increased, the scope however, narrowed further, now focusing in on the Burroughs neighbourghood where the “Original Writer” grew up...

    It basically amounts down to his own anecdotal family-history, but involving angels, the afterlife, “& everything”...

Illuminations (2022, Bloomsbury) :

This is a collection/ an anthology of short stories (with a poem/ annotations at the end of it), unrelated to each other... About half of which he´d already written for other publications... & I pretty much only really understood the other half of the bunch, to varying degrees...

    Comparisons/ contrasts to his works in comics, is rather unavoidable... & all of this just to mention a few (of the more note-worthy ones)...

    “Hypothetical Lizard”; I´ve already read in the comics adaptation from Avatar Press... Yeah, I still don´t get it...

    “Location, Location, Location”; This one comes-off similar to his work in “Promethea”/ “Providence”...

    “Cold Reading”; This one, a ghost story, I´ve already read in that one issue of his local, underground magazine Dodgem Logic... I still barely get it...

    “What We Can Know About Thunderman”; This one is the very centerpiece of the other course-meals... Big enough to be an entire book in & of itself... A brilliantly biting satire of the comic-book-industry as a whole...

    While the “Original Writer”, has previously expressed his love for the medium (& potential) of comics, he´s also clearly expressed his disdain for the industry of it all (& sure, there are points to be made)... Which is why, he has now decided to quit the whole business, which comes into play in this long chapter, in a sort-of meta-sense...

    This comes-off as being similar to his other work in comics, such as “Cinema Purgatorio”/ “1963”/ maybe parts of his run on “Supreme”...

    Some of my favourite specific parts were the juxtaposition of 4-color escapism & a domestic dispute, the therapy session, the courtroom drama, the conspiracy-ridden riffing on Stan Lee, the true origin of the meta-fictional character, etc.

    Now, at some point I should probably get around to reading seemingly similarly satirical stuff, such as; Michael Chabons “Kavalier & Klay”/ Howard Chaykins “Hey, Kids... Comics”/ Chip Zdarskys “Public Domain”...

Conclusion:

While “The Original Writer” have never been afraid to challenge his readership, or at least expecting some effort of their own part, neither have he ever shied away from doing so, himself...

    He´s always been a great imitator of different styles of writing, like with genres, other writers or the aforementioned skips between periods of time...

    Apart from being a big believer in the inherent, cyclical, deterministic, nature of things, he´s also a big believer in the “psycho-geography” of things... How our surrounding environment may afflict us & vice-versa...

    & that´s certainly an element often incorporated into his literary works!... He is a self-declared wizard, after all (I will, eventually/ hopefully get around to read that “The Moon & Serpent Bumper Book of Magic”)!...

    & while he can certainly seem bleak & cynical, he´s never too afraid to joke around a bit...

    If it seems like I´m skipping something it´s partly to avoid spoilers for the books, which are at least a few years old (& you really should read them for yourself)... But, also, look... They´re long & it´s been a while, okay?... It might go over my head sometimes, but it is always interesting!...

    As for the future, I should probably also get around to reading his newer trilogy “Long London”...

    So, yeah... Even in his literary works, he still proves that “Alan Moore knows the score”!...