Jeff Noon is a British novelist, short story writer and playwright whose works make use of word play and fantasy. Noon's speculative fiction books have ties to the works of writers such as Lewis Carroll and Jorge Luis Borges. Prior to his relocation in 2000 to Brighton, Noon set most of his stories in some version of his native city of Manchester.

Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, 4.1 miles (6.6 km) east of Manchester city centre and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689.