The Book Report #76

Episode #75

Illuminations By Alan Moore

The Book

The book was first published by Bloomsbury in 2022. My copy is a first printing paperback printed in 2023.

This copy has 458 pages with some acknowledgements at the end of the book.

What Did I Think

This is a series of stories, some short, some long. I will go through each story as I read it.

Hypothetical Lizard

It is a story that starts with Som-Som. She was sold to the people who run The House Without Clocks. A house of ill repute. But this house mutilates the workers. Creating a brand new creature. And Som-Som is changed and given brain damage. Her speech is compromised, so she doesn’t do it often. Because what comes out is gibberish.

Som-Som is our point of view as she witnesses the good and bad of the establishment, from childhood to adult life. This story is about the love and betrayal of two members of the household.

This story would be something Tim Burton could sink his teeth into.

I couldn’t get into it. I liked the idea behind it, but this wasn’t for me.

Not Even Legend

A meeting of the local paranormal group is about to start. But unbeknownst to them, the real hidden creatures, for some reason, have a problem with them. Was someone getting too close? We will never know. Something is going to happen, and they will never be caught.

This story was short and sweet, and although I would have liked to know more behind the scenes. Or perhaps have a little more information about the people in the paranormal group and the reason why someone might have had a problem with them. But what I read was just enough.

Location, Location, Location

The end is nigh, and an estate agent has arrived to show the devil’s son around his possible new home. Meanwhile, the world has come to an end, and a war over heaven and hell begins.

The agent has no clue until her client starts to talk about what is going on and begins to show her things.

This is my favourite story so far. There was no fear of anything, just a matter of fact that this was happening, and there was nothing you could do about it, so why not take a pew and enjoy whatever may happen next.

Cold reading

A local medium receives a call from a client seeking assistance. Who is this client? We will never know. It is a shame that it ends on a cliffhanger. I am not happy. I need more!

The story itself was okay, but for a short story, we are left with, What happens next? Is he okay? Who is it? One aspect of the story was predictable. But I still want answers. Oh, well, on to the next.

The Improbably Complex High-Energy State

This story is set within a time frame called a femtosecond, which is a millionth of a billionth of a second. Using various theories from various scientific methods, this story goes through the life cycle of a universe, observing the life forms going from birth to the end of the universe.

This was a lot to take in. There is a lot of detail to get in before the start of the storytelling, following the growth of a new species going through the usual ideas of life until the ultimate betrayal of an underling to a supposed dictator.

Illuminations

He has lost his parents, and after some mourning, has decided to revisit a place from his past that he used to visit with his family as a kid. And as much as he wants it to be the same as he remembers, he realises that things get older and that things change. And nothing can ever be the same… Or can they?

This was another I had trouble getting into. The idea and the story are simple, and the twist at the end wasn’t something I was looking for. Or expected.

What We Can Know About Thunderman

I’m unsure what to make of this story. It isn’t short and takes up most of the book.

This story is mainly about the comic industry, and Mr Moore not so subtly uses the big companies under a different name. If you have any knowledge of the world of comics, you know who he is writing about.

I know he has had some beef with certain aspects of the comic and film industry. So I am not sure if some of this is based on real events.

But there are some problems with this story. It doesn’t stay put. It is a mess of jumping around, where you have to work out where you are at the beginning of each chapter. I know there is a date at the beginning of each chapter, but you never know where you are starting from.

You don’t need half the stuff in this journey of madness. This could have been a great Biography of one of the characters and their journey, starting as a child fan reading about his favourite characters and a slow progression through the comics industry with the people who join him along the way, and where they all end up.

Instead, it ends with what could be either an LSD trip or he died, and he joins the character he grew up with. Or the reality he stepped into is true.

I was left confused, annoyed, and happy when I returned to the main story.

And then fed up again, at the end.

American Light: An Appreciation

I did not know what was going on here. From what I could vaguely work out, this is a poem, and as you read it, someone has written an essay. As you make your way through the poem, notes are written to give his view of why each piece is written.

It is also written with the arrogance that believes we all know exactly what he is talking about.

This was the story that broke me. I barely made it through the previous story, and this story made me put the book down and not return.

And, at the Last, Just to Be Done with Silence

I cannot review this story as I didn’t finish the book.

It is a shame as the beginning of the book gave such great stories and fired my imagination, and I expected it all to continue, but I don’t know what happened after that; it was a massive tailspin downhill.

Would I Recommend

As weird and the potential of some of the stories in this book, I couldn’t recommend it. The first half is pretty good, but the second half ruins it. It has some interesting ideas that could be evolved into bigger things. It could be so much better.

But never let me stop you from giving the book a go.

If you feel you can handle it. Please try this book.

Would you like to purchase your very own copy?

You could try these online stores: Amazon UK/USA. Waterstones. AbeBooks UK/USA, Barnes & Noble or eBay UK/USA.

Alternatively, you could try your local bookshop or even your local library.