Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, IDW | Tagged: Alan Moore, Dennis Knuckleyard, long london, moon and serpent

Alan Moore Has a Bumper October Coming With Dennis Knuckleyard

This October will be a bumper month for Alan Moore, his third novel, The Great When and The Moon And Serpent Bumper Book Of Magic.

There is a big secret towards the end of this article so keep reading. This October will be a bumper month for Alan Moore. He has his third novel published, The Great When, the first part of his five-part Long London series. And his twenty-years-in-the-making final graphic novel work, The Moon And Serpent Bumper Book Of Magic with the late Steve Moore and Kevin O'Neill will see publication from Knockabout in the UK and Top Shelf/IDW in the USA in the same month. All in time for his 71st birthday in November.

Bloomsbury USA:

The Great When: A Long London Novel Hardcover – October 1, 2024. From the New York Times bestselling author and legendary storyteller Alan Moore, the first book in an enthralling new fantasy series about murder, magic, and madness in post-WWII London. Dennis Knuckleyard is a hapless eighteen-year-old who works and lives in a second-hand bookstore. One day, his boss and landlady, Coffin Ada, sends him to retrieve some rare books, one of which, Dennis discovers, should not exist. A London Walk by Rev. Thomas Hampole is a fictitious book that appears in a real novel by another author. Yet A London Walk is physically there in his hands, nonetheless. Coffin Ada tells Dennis the book comes from the other London, the Great When, a version of the city that is beyond time. In the Great When, epochs blend and realities and unrealities blur, while concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous and terrible beings. But, Coffin Ada tells Dennis, if he does not return the book to this other London, he will be killed. So begins Dennis' adventure in Long London. Delving deep into the city's occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers, Dennis finds himself at the center of an explosive series of events that may endanger both Londons. Mystical, hilarious, and magnificently imagined, The Great When is an unforgettable introduction to the consciousness-altering world of Long London.

Bloomsbury UK:

The Great When: A Long London Novel Hardcover – 1 Oct. 2024. A dark and beguiling tour through the streets of a magical London by the Sunday Times bestselling master of modern fantasy, Alan Moore. The year is 1949, the city London. Dennis Knuckleyard is a hapless eighteen-year-old who works and lives in a second-hand bookstore. One day, on an errand to retrieve rare books, Dennis discovers that one of them does not exist. It is a fictitious book, yet it is physically there in his hands nonetheless. How? It comes from the Great When, a dark and magical version of the city that is beyond time. There, epochs blend and realities and unrealities blur. If Dennis does not take this book back to the other London, he will be killed. So begins a journey delving deep into the city's occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers, many of whom have their own nefarious intentions. Soon Dennis finds himself at the center of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons. Mystical, magnificently written and hilarious, The Great When is Moore's most imaginative work yet and the first in the fantastic new Long London series.

Top Shelf/IDW USA:

The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic Hardcover – October 15, 2024

Knockabout UK:

The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic Hardcover – 17 Oct. 2024
by Alan Moore, Steve Moore, John Coulthart, Ben Wickey, Kevin O'Neill, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch
The most acclaimed writer in comics history, Alan Moore, joins his late mentor Steve Moore (no relation) for one last graphic grimoire: a sprawling and stunning introduction to magic in all its timeless forms, brought to life by five wondrous and whimsical artists. Splendid news for enquiring minds, and guaranteed salvation for humanity! Messrs. Steve and Alan Moore, current proprietors of the celebrated Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels (sorcery by appointment since circa 150 AD), have produced a clear and practical grimoire of the occult sciences that offers endless necromantic fun. Exquisitely illuminated by a host of adepts including Kevin O'Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, and Ben Wickey, this marvellous and unprecedented tome promises to provide all that the reader could conceivably need in order to commence a fulfilling new career as a diabolist. Its contents include profusely illustrated instructional essays upon this ancient sect's theories of magic, notably the key dissertation "Adventures in Thinking," which gives reliable advice as to how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved. Further to this, a number of "Rainy Day" activity pages present lively and entertaining things to do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel, and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of spirits, deities, dead people, and infernal entities from the pit, all of whom are sure to become your new best friends. Also contained within this extravagant compendium of thaumaturgic lore is a history of magic from the last ice age to the present day, told in a series of easy-to-absorb pictorial biographies of fifty great enchanters and complemented by a variety of picture stories depicting events ranging from the Palaeolithic origins of art, magic, language, and consciousness to the rib-tickling comedy exploits of Moon and Serpent founder Alexander the False Prophet ("He's fun, he's fake, he's got a talking snake!"). In addition to these manifold delights, the adventurous reader will also discover a series of helpful travel guides to mind-wrenching alien dimensions that are within comfortable walking distance, as well as profiles of the many quaint local inhabitants that one might bump into at these exotic resorts. A full range of entertainments will be provided, encompassing such diverse novelties and pursuits as a lavishly decorated, decadent pulp tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form. Completing this almost-unimaginable treasure trove is a lengthy thesis revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent in a manner that makes transparent the much-obscured secret of magic, happiness, sex, creativity, and the known Universe, while at the same time explaining why these lunar and ophidian symbols feature so prominently in the order's peculiar name. (Manufacturer's disclaimer: This edition does not, however, reveal why the titular cabal of magicians consider themselves to be either grand or Egyptian. Let the buyer beware.) A colossal and audacious publishing triumph of three hundred and fifty-two pages, beautifully produced in the finest tradition of educational literature for young people, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic will transform your lives, your reality, and any spare lead that you happen to have lying around into the purest and most radiant gold. Book design by John Coulthart. Co-published by Knockabout &Top Shelf Productions(US).

So what to do while you are waiting? Well there is a certain something that some might like to try and track down.

So what is coming?

Bleeding Cool previously noted that the protagonist of The Great When was one Dennis Knuckleyard, and that Alan Moore came up with the name from a dream diary of his. "The only promising item that they've thrown up so far is an intriguing sounding name: Dennis Knuckleyard. I may find a place to use this in the future, or I may not." But it seems the name was also used as a pseudonym for Moore in a Northampton fanzine called Dream, with a story titled "My Protocol", listed – and then withdrawn – on eBay for £400, described as being "very rare, approx. 50 copies were made and sold mostly at local poetry reading events." Good luck hunting that!

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