The Great When: The fantastical first instalment of the genre-busting Long London series
Oct 2024 · Bloomsbury Publishing
star
2 reviews
Ebook
336
Pages
About this ebook
'It does what fantasy does best which is show us something beyond our experience... this shows us something absolutely new' Susanna Clarke
'A breathless time-travelling classic. Savage, humane, comic, terrifying' Iain Sinclair
'Unmistakably Alan' John Higgs
'A beautiful riot' Guardian
'I was in the wrong London. It was horrible. I'd fallen in by accident, and it was all alive and trying to eat me.'
The year 1949, the city London.
Hapless second-hand bookseller Dennis stumbles through a city still shaking off the war. While out procuring inventory, Dennis's life changes forever when he chances upon a novel that shouldn't exist; an entirely fictional book from inside another novel.
The book hails from The Great When, a magical shadow-London, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts like Crime, Poetry and Riot are incarnated as mystical beings that stalk the streets. This discovery brings terrible danger, as the book's presence leaves the doorway open between the two Londons, and The Great When must remain a secret.
Soon Dennis finds himself in the city's occult underbelly, negotiating sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers some imaginary, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. If Dennis cannot return the book and close the gate, he risks dire repercussions...
Neither London will ever be the same again.
History collides with magic in The Great When. Dark, ridiculous, propulsive, Sunday Times bestseller Alan Moore opens the gates to capital metafictional chaos in the genre-busting first instalment of the Long London series.
'Brilliant and so powerfully imaginative' Adam Curtis
'A weird book and a complete joy' Mariana Enríquez
'A masterful step from one of our very best, uncompromising storytellers' Heather Parry
'A breathless time-travelling classic. Savage, humane, comic, terrifying' Iain Sinclair
'Unmistakably Alan' John Higgs
'A beautiful riot' Guardian
'I was in the wrong London. It was horrible. I'd fallen in by accident, and it was all alive and trying to eat me.'
The year 1949, the city London.
Hapless second-hand bookseller Dennis stumbles through a city still shaking off the war. While out procuring inventory, Dennis's life changes forever when he chances upon a novel that shouldn't exist; an entirely fictional book from inside another novel.
The book hails from The Great When, a magical shadow-London, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts like Crime, Poetry and Riot are incarnated as mystical beings that stalk the streets. This discovery brings terrible danger, as the book's presence leaves the doorway open between the two Londons, and The Great When must remain a secret.
Soon Dennis finds himself in the city's occult underbelly, negotiating sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers some imaginary, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. If Dennis cannot return the book and close the gate, he risks dire repercussions...
Neither London will ever be the same again.
History collides with magic in The Great When. Dark, ridiculous, propulsive, Sunday Times bestseller Alan Moore opens the gates to capital metafictional chaos in the genre-busting first instalment of the Long London series.
'Brilliant and so powerfully imaginative' Adam Curtis
'A weird book and a complete joy' Mariana Enríquez
'A masterful step from one of our very best, uncompromising storytellers' Heather Parry
'It does what fantasy does best which is show us something beyond our experience... this shows us something absolutely new' Susanna Clarke
'A breathless time-travelling classic. Savage, humane, comic, terrifying' Iain Sinclair
'Unmistakably Alan' John Higgs
'A beautiful riot' Guardian
'I was i...
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Ratings and reviews
2 reviews
batcabbage
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January 24, 2025
Captivating. Moore paints a vivid picture of the indescribable, and makes it reality. Can't wait for further installments.
About the author
Alan Moore is an English writer widely regarded as the best and most influential writer in the history of comics. His seminal works include From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He is also the author of the bestselling Jerusalem. He was born in Northampton, and has lived there ever since.
Alan Moore is an English writer widely regarded as the best and most influential writer in the history of comics. His seminal works include From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He is also the author of the bestselling Jerusalem. He was born in Northampton, and has lived there ever...
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