In September, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alan Moore for this piece in the Irish Independent. It was my second time interviewing Moore - you can read my first, even longer chat with him here - and this time our conversation was supposed to be about his excellent new collection of short stories, Illuminations.
The article I filed cleaved to details of that book, as well as related ruminations on short story writing, fantasy and - given the subject of the collection’s tentpole novella, What We Can Know About Thunderman — yes, the nigh-on unavoidable subject of superheroes within popular culture.
That only scratched the surface of our chat, which lasted an hour and had much more detail besides, taking in topics as diverse as the Queen’s death, the dawning of a new century, favourite short stories, copaganda, and the secret history of post-war British magic’s lost generation.
In honour of Alan’s birthday, please enjoy the full conversation below.
Please note: I have included links to books and stories cited, as well as links to explanatory resources for people mentioned. I have incorporated images to illustrate certain points while supplying full credit to those artists, but will be happy to remove should anyone object.
This interview took place on 14th September. As it was six days after the Queen’s death, I began by offering what little consolation I could to one of Her Majesty’s most doting subjects.
As we speak, we’re all in mourning here in Walthamstow. How are you finding yourself in these sad times?