Illuminations - by Alan Moore

About the Book

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE

From New York Times bestselling author Alan Moore-one of the most influential writers in the history of comics- "a dynamite story collection" (The New York Times Book Review) which takes us to the fantastical underside of reality.

Book Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling author Alan Moore-one of the most influential writers in the history of comics- "a dynamite story collection" (The New York Times Book Review) which takes us to the fantastical underside of reality.

In his first-ever short story collection, which spans forty years of work, Alan Moore presents a series of wildly different and equally unforgettable characters who discover--and in some cases even make and unmake--the various uncharted parts of existence.

In "A Hypothetical Lizard," two concubines in a brothel of fantastical specialists fall in love with tragic ramifications. In "Not Even Legend," a paranormal study group is infiltrated by one of the otherworldly beings they seek to investigate. In "Illuminations," a nostalgic older man decides to visit a seaside resort from his youth and finds the past all too close at hand. And in the monumental novella "What We Can Know About Thunderman," which charts the surreal and Kafkaesque history of the comics industry's major players over the last seventy-five years, Moore reveals the dark, beating heart of the superhero business.

From ghosts and otherworldly creatures to theoretical Boltzmann brains fashioning the universe at the big bang, Illuminations is exactly that--a series of bright, startling tales from a contemporary legend that reveal the full power of imagination and magic.

Review Quotes

"Mr. Moore's writing is as brilliant as ever-from dizzying wordplay in scene-setting detail to cuttingly succinct summaries . . . As for the stories themselves, there is no shortage of wild invention . . . Fans of Mr. Moore in all his incarnations will love this collection." --Wall Street Journal

"Burn[s] with Moore's soaring intelligence and riotous humanity . . . Illuminations, Moore's first collection of short fiction, finds the writer working on a smaller scale but still swinging for the firmament . . . the book showcases all of Moore's strengths as a fantasist . . . Moore has written both a dynamite story collection and a dynamite monster manual . . . Moore's failures are few, his radiances many . . . Remarkable." --Junot Diaz, The New York Times Book Review

About the Author