Morrissey has released his first novel titled List Of The Lost, published by Penguin. The book is The Smiths star’s first work of fiction, following the success of his best-selling memoir Autobiography released in October 2013.
List Of The Lost portrays the tale of a cursed relay team in 1970s Boston, MA. Morrissey’s description of the book is as follows, ‘The theme is demonology … the left-handed path of black magic. It is about a sports relay team in 1970s America who accidentally kill a wretch who, in esoteric language, might be known as a Fetch … a discarnate entity in physical form. He appears, though, as an omen of the immediate deaths of each member of the relay team. He is a life force of a devil incarnate, yet in his astral shell he is one phase removed from life. The wretch begins a banishing ritual of the four main characters, and therefore his own death at the beginning of the book is illusory.’
Back in January 2014, Morrissey stated, ‘I am midway through my novel. I have my hopes. The actuality is that radio stations will not play my music, and the majority of people have lost faith in the music industry, and it’s generally assumed – quite rightly – that the Number One chart positions are ‘bought’ by the major labels, so there really is no passion left in pop or rock music, and I don’t think people believe for an instant that the faces we constantly see on television and in magazines are remotely popular.’
Penguin has released an extract from the book as a preview:
Enjoy a sneak peek at LIST OF THE LOST, Morrissey’s extraordinary novel, publishing on 24 September: pic.twitter.com/mrZvb5ORIM
— Penguin Books UK (@PenguinUKBooks) September 17, 2015
Last week the singer-songwriter-turned-writer said, ‘There is absolutely no way that we can generate any interest from record labels in the United Kingdom, therefore the imminent two nights at Hammersmith are likely to be our final ever UK shows.’
Morrissey closed the second show by telling the crowd ‘our UK days conclude, but there is no need for me to say goodbye because we will all be close for the rest of our days’.
