In this week's Endnotes, we take a look at The Great When, the new novel from comics legend Alan Moore. In a starred review of the epic fantasy and series starter, PW said, "The worldbuilding is extraordinary and the plot is utterly gripping. Readers are sure to be sucked in."

Here's how the book came together:

Alan Moore, Author

“A novel is more like a car crash of ideas. In this case I felt compelled to write something about London’s more spectral low-life figures, and to pick up on author Arthur Machen’s notion of a truer world concealed behind our own. I’d like the reader to know that, other than many of the characters and all of the historic detail, this book is an outrageous fantasy of things that never happened, and also that, in the riotous secret soul of London, every word of it is somehow true.”

James Wills, Managing Director and Agent, Watson, Little

“I have represented Alan’s supremely talented daughter, Leah Moore, for many years, and one day in 2019 she asked whether I could do her a massive favor. The massive favor turned out to be having a chat with Alan Moore about his proposed short story collection, which was later published as Illuminations. This was, and remains, by far the easiest and most ridiculously enjoyable favor anyone has ever asked me to do.”

Patti Ratchford, Creative Director, Bloomsbury

“This was a U.K.-U.S. team collaboration from the selection of the illustrator to the art direction. We went on separate paths when it came to the final color choice and the choice of fonts for our different market needs. Happily, we each ended up with a global cover that is suggestive of the magical transformations that happen in this fantastical story.”

Grace McNamee, Senior Editor, Bloomsbury

“I had the great fortune of inheriting the amazing Alan Moore right at the start of this new series. But, of course, I’ve long been a fan of his work in comics and of his recent story collection Illuminations, and it was such a privilege to get to encounter his epic worldbuilding and lyrical writing in this story so early in the process.”