Illuminations

Stories

By: Alan Moore

Narrated by: Laura Haddock, Rory Kinnear, Emilia Fox, Nina Sosanya, Samuel Barnett, Sian Clifford, Toby Jones, Matt Reeves, Clarke Peters, Alan Moore

Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents Illuminations by Alan Moore.

From New York Times bestselling author Alan Moore—one of the most influential writers in the history of comics—"a wonderful collection, brilliant and often moving" (Neil Gaiman) 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.

©2022 Alan Moore (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Illuminations is a wonderful collection, brilliant and moving... Both mind-expanding and cosmic while utterly rooted in our urban reality, written in language that coruscates, concatenates and glitters... [It] refuses to leave your head after you've read it." (Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods and Norse Mythology)

"One of the most significant fiction writers in English... Moore’s influence can be felt everywhere—in our literature, on our screens, in our politics" (Guardian)

"His bighearted passion for his people... and the whole monstrous endeavor of the human condition is infectious. I’m not sure there’s a God, but I thank Her for Alan Moore." (Entertainment Weekly)

Some stuff is awesome

But others leaves me like a question mark. Like the big part of book regard comics. Different stories/same? Or the poem analytic . Maybe it is a funny satiric peace or is it complete madness ..

Others are great! I. Loved the big bang story. Also several othets. Kinda half/half..

The cartoon stuff (half the book) I dont understand at all, so I will return it 🙁

Meh

Meh. Sort of interesting, but never much more than that. Felt like I ought to finish it, but found myself bored and decided that I had better things to do and read.

A good collection that makes you think.

Although I didn't fall in love with every entry, the majority of the stories lead you to think about them even after having finished. A couple times I found myself uninterested, but on the whole it was very entertaining. A large portion of the collection is a take down of the comics industry which was interesting. Fans of Moore's Watchmen may find themselves conflicted at the overall message but I found it to be a novel perspective.

its good

brilliantly written and performed… this needs 11 more words, i hope this will suffice



..word

Excellent Stories; Supremely Annoying Lack of Chapter Titles

It’s an excellent book of short stories with no chapter titles - Audible should fix this.

Too intellectual, experimenting or

or just plain boring for my taste.

Usually I rever Alan Moore as one of the masters, but here hope alone, that something good would turn out of the stories, kept me going through all of them.
Especially the loooong story about Thunderman/the comics industri, seemed to me to be for insiders only. Even though the dialogue here and there made me think of a Quentin Tarrantino movie.

The Hypothetical Lizard was by far my favorite story and not for it's plot, nor characters. But the bizarre setting.