The Long Awaited ‘Bumper Book Of Magic’ By Alan Moore And Steve Moore Finally Out In October

First mentioned back in 2007, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic by Alan Moore and Steve Moore will, finally, be out in October…

Yes, it’s been more than a decade since this one was first announced, two decades in the making, but this final collaboration between Alan Moore and his friend and his creative and magical mentor, the late Steve Moore (no relation – as always seems to get mentioned), will finally see a release from co-publishers Top Shelf and Knockabout in October 2024.

Based on both gentlemen’s dabblings with magic, and working with a rather star-studded collection of artists – Kevin O’Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, and Ben Wickey – The Moon And Serpent Bumper Book Of Magic is an exhaustive trawl through magic and the occult with a combination of prose, illustration, and comics.

For those of you who don’t know, both Moore’s are/were fully signed up magicians, part of the Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, and Moore (Alan) has produced several audio performance pieces on magic and magical workings that are well worth a listen to if you ever get the chance. This looks very much like an essential work on magic, through the wonderfully skewed views of both Moores – something equal parts historical, reverent, and tongue in cheek.

So, time to join in with the Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels (sorcery by appointment since circa 150 AD) in a clear and practical grimoire of the occult. Time to believe in magic once more!

Now, here’s the Top Shelf/Knockabout PR, in full because it’s so darned fun to read…

“Splendid news for enquiring minds, and guaranteed salvation for humanity! Messrs. Steve and Alan Moore, current proprietors of the celebrated Moon & Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels (sorcery by appointment since circa 150 AD) are presently engaged in producing a clear and practical grimoire of the occult sciences that offers endless necromantic fun for all the family. Exquisitely illuminated by a host of adepts including Kevin O’Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch and Ben Wickey, this marvellous and unprecedented tome promises to provide all that the reader could conceivably need in order to commence a fulfilling new career as a diabolist.

Its contents include profusely illustrated instructional essays upon this ancient sect’s theories of magic, notably the key dissertation “Adventures in Thinking,” which gives reliable advice as to how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved. Further to this, a number of “Rainy Day” activity pages present lively and entertaining things-to-do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of sprits, deities, dead people and infernal entities from the pit, all of whom are sure to become your new best friends.

Also contained within this extravagant compendium of thaumaturgic lore is a history of magic from the last ice age to the present day, told in a series of easy-to-absorb pictorial biographies of fifty great enchanters and complemented by a variety of picture stories depicting events ranging from the Palaeolithic origins of art, magic, language and consciousness to the rib-tickling comedy exploits of Moon & Serpent founder Alexander the False Prophet (“He’s fun, he’s fake, he’s got a talking snake!”).

In addition to these manifold delights, the adventurous reader will also discover a series of helpful travel guides to mind-wrenching alien dimensions that are within comfortable walking distance, as well as profiles of the many quaint local inhabitants that one might bump into at these exotic resorts. A full range of entertainments will be provided, encompassing such diverse novelties and pursuits as a lavishly decorated decadent pulp tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form. Completing this almost-unimaginable treasure trove is a lengthy thesis revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent in a manner that makes transparent the much-obscured secret of magic, happiness, sex, creativity and the known Universe, while at the same time explaining why these lunar and ophidian symbols feature so prominently in the order’s peculiar name. (Manufacturer’s disclaimer: this edition does not, however, reveal why the titular cabal of magicians consider themselves to be either grand or Egyptian. Let the buyer beware.)”

THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC

Written by Alan Moore & Steve Moore

Art by Kevin O’Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, and Ben Wickey

Book design by John Coulthart

Co-published by Knockabout Ltd & Top Shelf Productions on 15 October 2024

Now, time for a preview…