The Great When

Alan Moore
Bloomsbury Publishing

Having completed his conjuring to place his hometown of Northampton at the centre of the country's collective historical consciousness with his epic tour de force, 'Jerusalem', Alan Moore now turns his sights on London and the creative hold it's had on generations of artists, seers and mad(wo)men; those who can walk the streets of it's mythic, sidereal counterpart, 'The Great When'.

In this, the first of what's intended to be a five book series, we meet the hapless hero, 'Dennis Knuckleyard', who is thrust, entirely unprepared, into a world of imagination and danger, of archetypes, avatars and artists.  Arriving at 'The Great When' through the imaginings of Arthur Machen and traversing it with the aid of Austin Osman Spare, Dennis is tasked with the return of a book, a fictional book removed somehow from 'The Great When', that has found its way into his possession and which, if he can't get rid of it, could be the cause of him being turned inside out.

Obviously this is the first step in what will be a long journey and so there's a lot of worldbuilding, but Moore is a master of such things, and you rarely feel bogged down in exposition as the story weaves its way across post-war London, setting up events that'll take decades to resolve.  The story at this early stage is relatively straightforward, playful and populated by a delightful cast of rascals, reprobates, ruffians and wrong uns who variously embrace or are embraced by that other London.

For those, like me, who are long time Moore devotees it's an absolute joy to know that we are setting out on another journey with him, and you'll see an obvious kinship here with some of his previous work.  The London of 'From Hell' is just behind the curtain - although a very different Ripper is held responsible - as is 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', particularly the 'Century' trilogy, and it's cultural crate-digging that allowed Moore to play with the very character of the times, rooting around in its basements, unveiling secrets and dusting off intrigues, but 'The Great When' is it's own thing and has it's own story to tell, and I for one cannot wait to revisit.

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Alan Moore discusses The Great When

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.

With the first book of his new 'Long London' series, 'The Great When', now out Northampton's finest Alan Moore has been appearing on various zoom interviews of late.  This one was hosted by a Canadian bookseller and in it we get an interesting overview of what the wizardly wordsmith is up to with the series.

It's a little tentative in parts and I look forward to other videos further down the line that have him in conversations with folks who are less in awe but this is still an interesting watch. 

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If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs.