I just heard the very sad news that British author Steve Moore passed away unexpectedly this weekend. He was 64. Mark Pilkington, who published Moore’s masterpiece Somnium, has written a nice tribute at the Strange Attractor site. For those familiar with Steve’s long obsession with the lunar goddess, Selene, it is fitting he left us under the beautiful full moon this weekend.
Writing numerous comics and short stories for the likes of 2000 AD and Dr. Who magazine as well as fascinating articles for Strange Attractor Journal and Dodgem Logic, Moore was also the subject of lifelong friend Alan Moore’s Unearthing. Steve was to be my second ever interview for The Quietus. I met him for the first time at his first ever public reading, shortly after the publication of Somnium, when Luminous Books held a ‘Moon evening’. Then and on subsequent occasions, I always found Steve to be a kind and very knowledgeable man. A few months later, Steve took a group of us (unexpectedly nine in total, the number of the Moon in Western occultism, Steve pointing out "another of Selene’s little jokes") on a wonderful guided tour around Shooter’s Hill, the environs that inspired the book. At the end of our trek, knowing I was a big fan of The Avengers television series, Steve gave me his spare set of the entire DVD collection! Earlier in the day, at Steve’s home, the eight of us marvelled at his impressive book collection, spanning the greater part of three rooms. My friend Alex, whom Steve had only met that day, commented on Clark Ashton Smith, and on parting Steve gave Alex two of his Tales From Telguuth privately printed pamphlets of Ashton Smith-inspired short fantasy stories. Later I would run into Steve at other Strange Attractor events and he was always a pleasure to talk to. In our last e-mail exchange in November he told me that he and Alan Moore had almost got the Bumper Book Of Magic written and that a paperback edition of Somnium was in the works. Read it. As I noted in our interview, it is a masterpiece.
Our interview here with a great excerpt from Somnium at the bottom.
