Northampton's Alan Moore to release 500 special edition copies of new book based on home town

A limited run of 500 bookplate copies of a new novel by Alan Moore based on his home town on Northampton is now on sale.
Alan Moore reading one of his stories in St Jame's Library in 2014 NNL-141017-154105001Alan Moore reading one of his stories in St Jame's Library in 2014 NNL-141017-154105001
Alan Moore reading one of his stories in St Jame's Library in 2014 NNL-141017-154105001

Jerusalem will be released in September this year and weaves a tale combining historical fiction and fantasy and, among other themes and ideas, looks to disprove the existence of death.

Writing about the book, Mr Moore said: “In the half a square mile of decay and demolition that was England’s Saxon capital, eternity is loitering between the firetrap tower blocks.

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“Embedded in the grubby amber of the district’s narrative among its saints, kings, prostitutes and derelicts a different kind of human time is happening, a soiled simultaneity that does not differentiate between the petrol-coloured puddles and the fractured dreams of those who navigate them.

Jerusalem, by Alan MooreJerusalem, by Alan Moore
Jerusalem, by Alan Moore

“Fiends last mentioned in the Book of Tobit wait in urine-scented stairwells, the delinquent spectres of unlucky children undermine a century with tunnels, and in upstairs parlours labourers with golden blood reduce fate to a snooker tournament.

“Disappeared lanes yield their own voices, built from lost words and forgotten dialect, to speak their broken legends and recount their startling genealogies, family histories of shame and madness and the marvellous. There is a conversation in the thunderstruck dome of St Paul’s cathedral, childbirth on the cobblestones of Lambeth Walk, an estranged couple sitting all night on the cold steps of a Gothic church-front, and an infant choking on a cough drop for eleven chapters.

“An art exhibition is in preparation, and above the world a naked old man and a beautiful dead baby race along the Attics of the Breath towards the heat death of the universe.

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“An opulent mythology for those without a pot to pee in, through the labyrinthine streets and pages of Jerusalem tread ghosts that sing of wealth and poverty; of Africa, and hymns, and our threadbare millennium.

Jerusalem, by Alan MooreJerusalem, by Alan Moore
Jerusalem, by Alan Moore

“They discuss English as a visionary language from John Bunyan to James Joyce, hold forth on the illusion of mortality post-Einstein, and insist upon the meanest slum as Blake’s eternal holy city. Fierce in its imagining and stupefying in its scope, this is the tale of everything, told from a vanished gutter,” he added.

A spokesman for the publishers said: “A limited run of 500 signed bookplated copies will be available. A portion of these will go to Alan’s friends family, and those who aided and abetted in the books creation. It will be distributed from just two places, Knockabout, the UK publisher, and ourselves right here at Gosh!

“There’s no premium on this edition and it will retail for the regular hardcover price of £25 (plus P&P where applicable).

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“This item is offered for pre-order. It will be dispatched on its anticipated release date of September 2016. Orders may be cancelled any time up until the date of release for a full refund. In the event of a drop in price before release, the excess paid will be refunded. No extra will be charged in the event of an increase in price,” he added.

For details, visit http://www.goshlondon.com/product/jerusalem-by-alan-moore-bookplate-edition-pre-order/ or http://www.knockabout.com/news/alan-moores-jerusalem/