Moonlight Travellers

by Quentin Blake (Illustrator), Will Self

Bringing together two formidable talents for the first time, this literary and artistic collaboration on the theme of night travel features original artwork by Quentin Blake and text by Will Self. This breakthrough publication promises both to excite and haunt the reader’s imagination. Quentin Blake, the so-called Godfather of Illustration, combines his talents with novelist Will Self, “one of the most manically imaginative writers at work today” ( Financial Times ). The result is a book of irresistible appeal to literature and art lovers alike. Blake’s watercolors relate, with dark, fantastical humor, the experience of journeying across unknown landscapes in the dead of night. Accompanying this artistic narrative is an equally evocative text from the ever-brilliant mind of Will Self. With characteristic sharpness and wit, Self melds fact, fiction, and memory to transport the reader in the most radical way, departing on unexpected trajectories in response to Blake’s visual romp through time and space. Together, word and image connect with our deepest sensibilities in Moonlight Travellers as we journey through the landscapes and dreamscapes of night. 40 illustrations

Genres: Poetry, Fantasy

112 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2019

About the author

Sir Quentin Saxby Blake is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator he won the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. From 1999 to 2001, he was the inaugural British Children's Laureate. He is a patron of the Association of Illustrators.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

karen misjudged a book by its cover again.



i have loved quentin blake’s drawings ever since i was a little girl tearing through every roald dahl book i could find. they are the perfect visual complement to dahl’s whimsical and somewhat unsettling stories. which is precisely how i articulated my appreciation for it at age 7.



as for will self, i’ve read four books by him, and i was excited to see what kind of partnership these two fellows would make in what i thought would be a spooooky little novella for my october spookathon reading month.

but this isn’t meant to be spooky, nor is it, strictly speaking, collaborative. here’s the situation: in 2017, quentin blake had an exhibition of watercolors called “The Only Way to Travel,” featuring people riding unusual vehicles through scratchy quentin blake-y landscapes. then, the following year, he narrowed the theme and expanded the series—taking all of the nighttime scenes, with their candy-colored moons and grey-and-black-everything-elses, creating additional pieces to form a collection called “Moonlight Travellers.”

and then will self wrote some words inspired by them. and this is the book.

a decision was made by whomever designed this book that the chocolate and the peanut butter would be kept apart, so the first 39 pages are will self’s words, followed by many color pages of blake’s art. so, instead of looking at the art first, establishing a mood and a tone that lingers as you discover where will self’s mind went after ruminating on those same images, or—even better—integrating the words and images throughout the book in some sort of symbiotic creative dialogue, the formatting delivers a very uneven experience where you read a bunch of words without the context of the art that inspired them and then you look at a bunch of pictures, and then it’s all over and you go to the kitchen and make some toast.

the art is great—it’s everything i associate with blake, and because of my feelings about birds, i found it very spooky and foreboding.









will self went another way. the writing is fine, if you appreciate a wafty poetical tone full of alliteration:

Over this scintillating bush they throw a sheet—such that the great globe seems to have been drawn down into a cloudy chamber, over the eerily glowing billows of which worm the bamboozled muons and positrons, their antennae twitching, their tattered wings fluttering.

he definitely establishes an atmosphere with his hypnotic and dreamlike prose, and it’s all very lambent and descriptive, but reading it first, without having blake’s images nestled in my mind, it was a bit distancing. there are recurring motifs of the moon and flight and journeys, and there are some very striking images, but it’s predominantly the kind of porous abstract sense-writing that makes me have to stop and reread sentences before i can get my bearings. and it is not spooky at all, which kite he shot down decisively.

The moon drives everyone mad—you know that, well enough. But this is no lycanthropic or otherwise spooky metamorphosis: it’s far stranger than that. You rise from your bed and, leaving your nightclothes lying coiled and cooling on the floor, you flee out the back door into the garden. The moonlight has electroplated the frivolous flowers, and so they range along their narrow beds, sentinel and sinisterly beautiful. You stand, confused by such clarity: is this nighttime at all, or a scene being shot in full daylight, in such a way that all concerned—actors, directors, producers, designers and audience—can readily suspend disbelief?

so. all love for the art, especially this cutie-monster:



but the writing isn't my kind of thing, and it's already sliding out of my mind. lucky for you, you are not me, so you will probably enjoy it so much more!

come to my blog!

[Clare Snow · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to read a story told in Quentin Blake's pictures - they are sublime - and the visual story was almost that. They just needed some words to link the spaces inbetween. The textual chapters from Will Self were not that.

I only read the first chapter of the text, because if I wanted to read the story with the pictures, I would have to flick back and forth. An illustrated story is a collaboration between word and image. I love a wordless story, but the visuals didn't have enough linkage to be that.

I don't know who the audience for this is. People who went to the exhibition, I guess? It is a beautifully designed book.

[Gab Hausi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is definitely not my style, but I think I enjoyed it nevertheless. It was nice seeing a different face of a very known and loved graphic artist, letting them play me an ode to those night travellers. It was a dream-like sequence, where only the moon was a constant. As a fellow night traveller I can relate to the adoration of the moon. Nevertheless, it didn't really catch me. Read it in a hurry; maybe I need more time to appreciate the sway of the moon into this dream-like sequence of a story.

[Liliana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have literally no idea what happened in this book. At all.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the coming together of two very different artistic minds. Firstly we have Quentin Blake's wonderful, macabre, watercolours depicting travelers on fantastical machines travelling by moonlight. To accompany the artwork Will Self has drempt up a tale of dreams, travelling within them, and the power of the moon. It was an enjoyable read, although I felt a little lost at times.

[Kira Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read within an hour. The prose is beautiful and poetic and it made me quite wonder what the meaning of it all is. I often caught myself thinking, “I wish I could write like this” and “I wish all books were written like this”. I wish that in the sense that every sentence seemed to be intentional, with well-thought-out and thought-provoking elements to every sentence. There were many words that I did not know the meaning of, but instead of that being frustrated, there was a sense of curiosity to know more. The accompanying illustrations were indeed also hauntingly beautiful. They transversed boundaries of man, animal, and machine. It sparked a sense of mysterious adventure. Both mediums left me imagining more. Though the writing and imaging were separate, they fit together. One might think that a more immersed combination would have been better, but the division let my mind adapt to each in their own way. I really liked it.

[Lore Van Humbeeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

´Moonlight Travellers´ bestaat uit twee delen. Het eerste deel bevat 6 surreële kortverhalen van Will Self. Deze speelden in op enkele kernthema´s: voertuigen, reizen, de maan, andere dimensies en alternatieve werking van zintuigen. Daarna volgt het deel met tekeningen van Quentin Blake. Die zijn prachtig. De tweedeling voelde als een gemiste kans. Het had beter gewerkt als de kortverhalen afgewisseld werden met tekeningen van Blake.

In de kortverhalen zaten enkele intrigerende poëtische ideeën, maar bruut gezegd raakten ze me meestal niet. De tekeningen waren uiteraard wel allemaal mooi en inspirerend en het is een bijzonder mooie uitgave.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book read like a strange dream - one where you wake up and you remember bits and pieces and it was weird but also kind of beautiful. The first half reminded me a bit of a mix between The Wasteland and The Descent of Alette, which, if you haven't read either and like to go on strange journeys, I highly recommend. The art was interesting and dark, but I wished it had been inserted between the chapters of the story. Overall a quick and strange read if you're looking for something different.

[T P Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really nicely presented volume. The art is fantastic - grotesque and provocative. However, the reflections from Will Self didn't add to the book for me. It's easy to see the inspiration from the art but the words are a pale reflection of some inspiring art work.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it would be better than it was. Quentin's art is exquisite.

[Nicklas von · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can you not love this book?
The disposition of the book could have been better, but when the art is as good as it is in this book, who cares...

[Abdulaziz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice catalogue of watercolors. As for the text, I did not understand anything.

[Liesl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice! It's short, but it really feels like you're on an intimate journey together with the author. Very nicely done indeed.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strangely beautiful book of drawings by Quentin Blake and the dreamlike stories of Will Self, depicting amazing travellers travelling through the night, accompanied at all times by the moon.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe this was long form poetry but it went way over my head. But the few lines I understood I quite liked. Like a fever dream. Also good art.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only 29 pages to read in this book. The rest of the pages consist of illustrations of only the full moon phase. The other 7 moon phases were not shown in the illustrations.

[Vokino · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't really care for the writing - Will Self's portion of the book. The prose was pretty well written, though often more flowery and "try-hard" poetic than I'd have liked, but I think it did what it tried to achieve: to create a dreamy sense of wonderous atmosphere.
The "story" or narrative itself was extremely unclear and I'd maybe even say nonexistent other than some reacurring motifs with travel, modes of travel, and the moon.
The art by Quentin Blake is cool even if I'm not the biggest fan of watercolour paintings. I liked the dark atmosphere in them. The barren, dark, and monochromatic colors were nicely contrasted by the changing colours of the moon.