September saw the release of yet another companion book to Philip Pullman and his His Dark Materials trilogy. This new book, Discovering The Golden Compass: A Guide To Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials, is written by George Beahm and included within its pages are an autobiographical essay by Pullman talking about his life and work; a 16-page full color insert of new photos showing Oxford, the “city of dreaming spires,” in all its glory; 15 new pen-and-ink illustrations and a full color painting by former Disney artist and Imagineer, Tim Kirk; and complete coverage of Pullman’s talk at the Oxford Literary Festival, in which he and The Golden Compass film producer, Deborah Forte, talk about the considerable challenges in bringing the book to film. You can see the book’s Amazon listing here.
Discovering The Golden Compass
October 8, 2007
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It’s a whole industry – does that take the total to 13, 14, or more now? I wonder if this one will be available in Australia or will I have to import it?
I kind of like the fact that our favourite books provide so much inspiration for other authors. Almost makes spending so much time discussing them seem justified!
Below is a preview of the new trailer!! Click on Teaser 2. Here can can finally hear McKellan as Iorek.
http://media.movies.ign.com/media/686/686290/vids_1.html
As the author of DISCOVERING THE GOLDEN COMPASS, I wanted to add a few things to the discussion.
First, I think the U.S. publisher is importing copies to Australia, so you should be able to get it Down Under.
This book was especially gratifying to write because not only did we get permission to reprint Pullman’s long out of print essay, but we were able to get Tim Kirk to draw some lovely illustrations, in color and b&w, just for this project.
The purpose of the book is give the first-time movie-goer a sense of what Pullman’s universe is like. This is more a primer for the new reader than anything else; seasoned readers will probably find THE ELEMENTS OF HIS DARK MATERIALS (recommended by Pullman) a bit more useful.
In any event, I think the best thing is that, from all appearances, the film adaptation looks magnificent. I think it’ll do very, very well worldwide, and it’ll drive a lot of filmgoers to the bookstores to read the trilogy. That, to me, is wonderful: the movie will be a treat, but nothing can substitute for the books themselves.
I should point out, too, that Pullman will be speaking on October 30 in New York City at an event sponsored by Scholastic Books called “THE GOLDEN COMPASS: A CONVERSATION WITH PHILIP PULLMAN.” The place they’re holding it at is fairly small and holds fewer than 400 people, so it should be a small, intimate event, unlike the Rowling/King/Irving event in August of 2006 in NYC, which I also attended, at Radio City Hall, which holds several thousand people.
I do have a ticket to the Pullman talk and am looking forward to seeing him speak.
Thanks for the comments George. I’ll start badgering my bookshop soon. I’m presently working through Elements now, which I did have to import. This book fills out the backgrounds to the various worlds in a thorough, readable form, but it sounds like yours will have much of interest for the average sraffie as well (and let’s face it – we can’t get enough of HDM-related material).
The talk in New York should be enjoyable. I hope you or some other attendee will report on it; we will probably never see him in Australia for talks or book signings as I understand Mr Pullman no longer flies, and it’s a long way by boat!
I’ve queried my publisher about the import copies. The last I heard, the plan was to send copies to Australia. But I’ve written to the publisher to confirm it, and will let you know.
As far as I can tell, Pullman is not going to be at any other events except the talk in NYC, which is unfortunate. It seems a long way to fly just to talk to the media in NYC and then talk to a few hundred fans. Also, I think Scholastic is missing a bet by not professionally recording the talk and making it available online for a worldwide audience, or issuing it on DVD for immediate release.
From what I’ve been told, Pullman is an articulate and engaging speaker, but NONE of his talks have been available in video for his larger audience. Which, of course, is unfortunate.
I’ll be there and report on it for this website and post whatever pictures I am able to take, subject to whatever restrictions Scholastic is placing on photography.
I, too, have heard Pullman no longer flies. I wonder if he’s crossing the Atlantic on a boat for this event?
UPDATE:
For Australian readers, my book is available from Brumby Books Gemcraft, 10 Southfork Drive, Kilsyth South, Victoria, 3137. The phone number there is 61-03-9761-5535.