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New to The Golden Compass? Don’t feel lost--or alone! This accessible, illustrated guide is the only passport you’ll need to Philip Pullman’s imaginative world of His Dark Materials. Written especially for newcomers, Discovering The Golden Compass tells you everything you’d want to know in reader-friendly prose, supplemented with dozens of photographs and illustrations.
Book highlights: Pullman’s 10,000-word autobiographical essay 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.
Newcomers will especially welcome the book-by-book look at Pullman’s trilogy--The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Minimizing spoilers, Beahm explains what each book is about, discusses the key characters, places, and things, and also quotes Pullman, his fans, and critics on the work itself. Plus extensive information about Lyra’s Oxford and an advance peek at The Book of Dust.
With information about the various adaptations of The Golden Compass (film, theatrical, and audio), illuminating essays on daemons, the alethiometer, and Dust, and a section devoted to additional resources for readers who want to know where to go for more information, Beahm’s book is your ticket to Pullman’s imaginative universe.
Beahm, with 30 published books, has previously explored the fictional universes of noted writers, including Stephen King, Anne Rice, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and J. K. Rowling.
 George Beahm has published numerous books, among them The Essential J. R. R. Tolkien Sourcebook, The Stephen King Companion, The Unauthorized Anne Rice Companion, The Unofficial Patricia Cornwell Companion, Stephen King from A to Z: An Encyclopedia of His Life and Work, and War of Words: The Censorship Debate.
Actively involved in the book industry since 1975, Beahm has also been a self-publisher, regional publisher, book marketing director, book publishing consultant, and book packager. A lifelong fan of fantasy and science fiction, Beahm’s first two books focused on fantasy artists Vaughn Bode, Tim Kirk, and Richard Corben.
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"The New Line Cinema film adaptation of Philip Pullman's masterpiece, The Golden Compass (Knopf, 1995/VOYA June 1998) is scheduled for release in December. Fortunately for those who have not yet experienced the joy of entering Lyra"s world, this accessible guide to the author and His Dark Materials trilogy is the perfect passport to Pullman's imaginative universe. Fans will appreciate the information provided about the author and his world in all formats: books (including the sequel Lyra's Oxford [2003/VOYA June 2004], and the forthcoming companion novel, The Book of Dust), plays, audio books, and the upcoming movie. Beahm is the author of pop-culture works on subjects that range from Stephen King to Harry Potter, Narnia, and pirates. Kirk is a five-time Hugo award-winning illustrator who worked for Disney's famed Imagineering division. The attractive cover of their seventh collaboration engages the reader, and the text follows through with a work that's not too academic and not at all boring. In addition to diverse facts and figures about Pullman and the universe of His Dark Materials, the contents includes a color photo essay of Oxford, England, black-and-white illustrations and photos of memorabilia, quotes by and about Pullman, comments from actors and studio heads, an autobiographical essay, a lecture that Pullman gave about the upcoming movie, and helpful Web sites and resources.
This introduction to a controversial work that Pullman has called fantastical rather than a fantasy, his "Paradise Lost for teenagers,” is fascinating and well-written." Bonnie Kunzel, VOYA, August 2007 Hampton Roads Publishing
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Red Wheel Weiser Conari Press Hampton Roads
Weiser Books
