HisDarkMaterials.org

This is a rather critical and negative article about Philip Pullman and his work coming from, naturally, the U.S. conservative right-wing.

I really don't like Philip Pullman, author of the popular His Dark Materials trilogy, but not because I don't think he is a good writer. Pullman is the anti-C.S. Lewis, using his books to promote Materialism, which is to say he is anti-Christian. And of course, being so, he is also a liberal.

But that doesn't mean he is a terrible writer. Reading the trilogy is enjoyable if you can get past the obvious God-hatred. I would have been able to, had his work been targeted at adults, much like most science fiction, which is often anti-religious and leftist. But Pullman's work is targeted at children, and that is just insidious. As if parents don't have enough rotten things to deal with!

We've been able to get our hands on Dr. Stanislaus Grumman (John Parry/Jopari)'s map of the North. It's a large A3 sized double sided poster with a map of the North and a few scribblings on the front and a complete guidebook to Northern Lights on the back.

We would like to thank the National Theatre and David Fickling Books for their kind permission to add the images to our gallery.

Lord Asriel received the map during his visit to the National Theatre last month.

Click on one of the images or here to view a full size scan of the poster.

Coincidentally he also donated a copy to the Jordan College Library, as it says on the back of the map.

I seriously do not believe my luck at times. In the final of the Elbakin Fantasy Tournament Lord Asriel beat Gandalf with 1206 votes against 1205. This has to be the closest victory I have ever seen!

Thank you to everyone who voted!

A followup of this earlier post, Lord Asriel is now in the finals of the Elbakin Fantasy tournament. In short, it's a competition to find out who the coolest fantasy character is. I'm sure you all agree that Lord Asriel has to win this, so please vote!

Click here to vote for Lord Asriel.

A followup of this earlier post, Lord Asriel is now in the semi finals of the Elbakin Fantasy tournament. In short, it's a competition to find out who the coolest fantasy character is. I'm sure you all agree that Lord Asriel has to win this, so please vote!

Click here to vote for Lord Asriel.

A followup of this earlier post, Lord Asriel is now in the quarter finals of the Elbakin Fantasy tournament. In short, it's a competition to find out who the coolest fantasy character is. I'm sure you all agree that Lord Asriel has to win this, so please vote!

Click here to vote for Lord Asriel.

This article from the Christianity Today Magazine is in fact a direct attack on His Dark Materials and Philip Pullman's religious views.

"Taylor was angered by His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman's young-adult trilogy. Pullman, who has said he despises C. S. Lewis's Narnia books, reworks Milton's Paradise Lost so that Satan is a hero—and God is senile."

I do not agree with this article at all, and I think that they have put it way too harsh. Lord Asriel isn't Satan, God is old and oppressed. But doesn't it really show how these two young children, in sheer compassion with this old and weak angel, try to set him free and comfort him? Isn't that what "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" really is about?

Read the full article below.

This March, the Oxford Literary festival is once again taking place.

If you live around the Oxford area and are able to attend, book your calendars - there are events scheduled from 23 March until 28 March. Highlights for Pullman fans include:

A discussion by Philip Pullman

A walking tour of "Lyra's Oxford"

Tours of the botanic gardens

Historical tour from "Alchemy to

Darwin".

Ever fancied a special leather cover for His Dark Materials?

Weitz & Coleman writes: "A collector of modern firsts commissioned this box to contain signed firsts of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. Featuring the great armored bear of "Northern Lights" on the cover."

Click here to view the cover design.

First Word

When you're a child, one of the most thrilling possibilities you can imagine is that, as in C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, you can step through the walls of this world and enter another. At that age, it not only seems wholly possible, but reasonable, too. And in that parallel universe, despite being puny and useless at hockey, we can conquer invaders, knock out bullies and save the planet.

In our formative years, fantasy of this otherworldly sort fulfils an important role, allowing the psyche to resolve inner conflicts through hypothetical scenarios. But what does it say about us when we continue to turn to it when we're grown-up?

For a Church of England minister, Rev GP Taylor was introduced on last night’s exploration of children’s literature as a bit of a thug. "My villain, if he had got to grips with Harry Potter, would have beaten the crap out of him," he said on Imagine, with such relish his dog collar wobbled with excitement. "He would have humiliated him completely, that’s what villains do."

The sight of a man of God taking pleasure in the imagined humiliation of a teenage boy - a fictitious one at that - was unedifying. And he wasn’t finished there. Not content with laying into JK’s villain Voldemort, he dismissed Philip Pullman’s Lord Asriel as "limp-wristed" and "a cheap pantomime dame".

Parallel universes. Fallen angels. An armored polar bear. Can this man's fantasy books for young readers sneak a visionary taste for the big themes of love and mortality back into literature?

A FRIDAY NIGHT in November 2000. The First Parish Unitarian Church in Concord, where Ralph Waldo Emerson used to preach before his radical "Divinity School Address" of 1838 alienated the orthodoxy, is packed with 600 people, standing room only.

A writer comes out to read from his newest book. The book begins with quotations from three notoriously difficult poets: William Blake, Rainer Maria Rilke, and John Ashbery. In its course it will quote Aquinas, Milton, and Heinrich von Kleist as well. It retells the story of the rebel angels in Milton's "Paradise Lost" from Blake's and Emerson's gnostic point of view: The rebels are right and the powers that regulate and rule the universe are evil usurpers of the creative energy to be found in all of us, in matter itself, till organized religion corrupts and misuses it.

Move over, Harry Potter.

The next British invasion of the American imagination is being led by a precocious young girl named Lyra who lives in a world of mystical animal companions, magical knives and talking bears.

Lyra Belacqua is the heroine of "His Dark Materials," a young-adult fantasy trilogy by Philip Pullman that has enthralled young Brits and inspired a perpetually sold-out, two-part, six-hour play at London's National Theatre.

With a three-movie deal by New Line Cinema, Lyra may join Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins and Luke Skywalker in Hollywood's pantheon of fantasy heroes.

Another alethiometer from this guy is for sale!

Bidding has ended with the winning bid being: $141.50

You can view the auction here.

You can view pictures of the item here.

Lord Asriel: The seller seems to have changed the object description since last time. Now it says: "Real alethiometer given at China movie premier as a gift. Was given only at lord of the rings 3 movie priemere in Asia. "

I emailed the guy, and he replied with:

Well while attending the movie premiere of Lord of the Rings they gave this out to movie theatre owners and said it was used as LOTR movie prop. This is what they told me, and since my distributor in china gave it to me I dont doubt it. That's all I know, and people have seen it and said it was authentic.

Tipped by Salcilia!

'Best Book' TV Quest Boosts Library Lending Figures

A TV search to find Britain’s best book was today credited with sparking an upsurge in library lending.

New figures for The Big Read show that library lending of the top 21 titles increased by 123%.

The Lord of the Rings was voted the nation’s favourite book on the BBC2 show, but sales of the top 21 titles increased by 575%, according to official statistics.

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice came second in the viewers’ poll, followed by His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams; and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.