‘Slow Motion Ghosts’: Author Jeff Noon transitions seamlessly from science fiction to crime

In the early 1990s, Jeff Noon wrote a visionary science fiction novel that became a cult classic. Now he’s turned to crime. He confesses all to David Barnett

‘I’ve changed,’ says Noon. ‘And the world has changed’ (CC BY 2.0)

A little over a quarter of a century ago, a tiny Manchester press published its first book. It was called Vurt, and was written by debut author Jeff Noon.

Noon, a native of Droylsden and Ashton-under-Lyne, worked at Waterstones in nearby Manchester at the time, and the small press, Ringpull, was the brainchild of his colleague Steve Powell, who asked Noon if he was working on anything that might fit the fledgling publisher’s bill.

He was, but he was working on a play, because that’s where his ambitions lay. But he was persuaded to take the half-written piece and rework it as a novel.