HisDarkMaterials.org

Finally Amazon has corrected their Lyra's Oxford page. First they said it was a Baby/Preschool book, then they changed the name to: 'A Guide of Lyra's Oxford'. Now, after just a couple of month, Amazon have finally got things right. The book's reading level is 'Young Adult ', and the book's title is, you guessed it, 'Lyra's Oxford'.

Click here to see for yourself

This is a guardian article about some guy who wrote and published a book himself, and which turned out to be very successfull. It mentions Philip Pullman, and indirectly, His Dark Materials:

"... Shadowmancer, a fantasy for children that describes the battle between good and evil. Those who have read it say that it is the Church of England's answer to Philip Pullman."

Read the whole article below

The Observer profile of Philip Pullman:

"Last week's Whitbread Prize winner has created a world inspired by Milton and Blake that is populated by gay angels with a liking for Kendal Mint Cake, nice witches and a delicious villain not a million miles away from Mrs Thatcher. Is this really kids' stuff? I'm just telling stories, he claims "

It was announced that there is another His Dark Materials dramatisation, by Nicholas Wright, that will be staged at London's National Theatre in December 2003. The book of the dramatisation will be available then but is available to preorder now on the Nick Hern website.

Read the description below.

I found this article on Variety.com. It's about the future films that Newline Cinema is going to produce... it mentions His Dark Materials...

What's the answer to box office success for New Line Cinema after "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy is through? Variety writes:

"The company is set up so we don't need tentpoles," he says. "Historically, New Line has found them in places where you didn't expect."

At the same time, Emmerich is not willing to leave them entirely to chance. He's overseeing the development of a number of pics that have the potential to flutter balance sheets such as the His Dark Materials trilogy, "Shazam" and "Iron Man." All are earmarked for 2005 or later.

I was looking on the Amazon website for more information on Lyra's Oxford, and I came across a book: A Guide to Lyra's Oxford. Great! A guide! But wait... It's written by Philip Pullman, and it looks just like the normal Lyra's Oxford. *Shock!* It is Lyra's Oxford! First, Amazon decides that Lyra's Oxford is baby-preschool level, then they decide to change the title! Weird.

See it for yourself

And there's more...

Added another article, this is the one that confirmed the rumors: His Dark Materials was more popular than Harry Potter in 2002, with HDM outselling any Harry Potter title by more than 25%.

"Harry Potter is being displaced in the wallets as well as the hearts of British readers by Philip Pullman's indomitable child heroes Lyra and Will, according to new evidence."

I found this His Dark Materials review, by EQwomen

"As an avid reader, the discovery of a new author whose work you simply love is sublime. An impulse purchase in a supermarket introduced me to Philip Pullman, an author compared to Tolkien by highly respected reviewers such as those of the Times in the UK. Two of the books in this trilogy have been recipients of awards, the Whitbread book of the year for one."

Read more below.

I found an interesting page about "Fantasy writing". It talks about the definition of Fantay writing, the questions of Good and Bad in fantasy writing, and much more. It also mentions His Dark Materials.

Read the article here.

As a response to the article in the Times, that said that the screenplay for The Golden Compass/Northen Lights was finished, I asked Newline for confirmation. This was their reply:

"I know that a prelminary draft was discussed but I do not know at what stage they are in the development process with the script. I do know that there is no cast or director planned yet so there will still be quite a bit of a wait."

This is one of the articles that appeared heralding the announcement of the fourth His Dark Materials book: Lyra's Oxford. The most important part is: ''At the heart of it is a new short story called 'Lyra and the Birds', explained Pullman this weekend. 'It's set a couple of years after the end of The Amber Spyglass, and refers both back and forward - so it's a sort of bridge between the trilogy and a longer book coming later, to be called The Book of Dust.'"

Read the complete article below.

I found another interview with Philip Pullman, by the CBBC Newsround. In this interview Philip Pullman talks about The Book of Dust, his dæmon, the movies, the sad ending of HDM, and more.

A review of His Dark Materials by Cynthia Grenier. Like Peter Hitchens, she doesn't seem to happy about these books.

His Dark Materials is a trilogy: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. It is engaging, witty and imaginative, and features some very likeable characters. Unfortunately, the world-view is sophomoric and blatantly anti-Christian.

Melissa mailed me this article from the New Zealand Herald. It mentions the movies, and the Book of Dust. Read it below.