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The Collectors: A short story from the world of His Dark Materials and the Book of Dust

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A brand-new e-short, set in the world of Philip Pullman’s beloved and bestselling The Golden Compass The novella, set in the world of His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust, has already been published by Audible in an audiobook read by Bill Nighy. It was later released as an e-book.

One of the most interesting characters from the His Dark Materials trilogy is the manipulative and misunderstood Mrs. Coulter, whose dæmon (someone’s inner-self manifested as an animal) is a golden monkey. The Collectors dives deeper into Mrs. Coulter’s past and explores how she came to be who she is. The Collectors cuenta la historia de dos hombres discutiendo sobre arte mientras estaban sentados alrededor de un fuego en el Oxford College (el que está en este mundo), y durante la mitad del tiempo ni siquiera se siente como parte del mismo universo el resto de la serie. Son solo dos viejos que hablan de dos obras de arte antiguas: una pintura de una mujer hermosa y la otra una escultura de bronce de un mono de aspecto enojado. (Cualquiera que haya leído los libros reconocerá instantáneamente cómo se conectan la pintura y la escultura). Y a pesar de que son objetos inanimados, las dos piezas han estado inexplicablemente unidas durante décadas. Cuando un coleccionista compra uno, de alguna manera el otro siempre termina en su posesión también, meses o años más adelante. Pero debido a que estos movimientos abarcan años y continentes, nadie realmente nota esta extraña coincidencia. Previously released in e-book and audiobook forms, The Collectors is now available in print for the first time, making it a must for die-hard Pullman fans (who will have immediately recognized the young woman as Mrs. Coulter). It was originally published in 2015 – so don’t expect any hints about the content of The Book of Dust Book 3. But it’s nonetheless a bit of good fun, well-timed for spooky season and a welcome addition to any Pullman shelf.

A sad tale’s best for winter,” opines a character in The Winter’s Tale, thus confirming that the tradition for ghostly, tragic accounts has a long and distinguished pedigree. Many and varied are the expected ingredients for such narratives, their purpose to excite shivers of nervous anticipation. The author of this short story duly delivers the shivers with his particular concoction.

On a cold winter's night, two art collectors are settled before a fire in the Senior Common Room of a college in Oxford, discussing the unusual pieces one has recently added to his collection. What the two men don't know is that the portrait of a striking young woman and the bronze sculpture of a fearsome monkey are connected in mysterious ways. How could they imagine that they are about to be caught in the cross-fire of a story which has traveled time . . . and worlds. This is such a tight little tale, full of unanswered questions but also revelations. The young woman is identified as the 18-year-old Marisa van Zee, and fans of 'His Dark Materials' will gather this is the maiden name of Lyra’s mother Mrs Coulter, while readers of 'The Book of Dust' will link Marisa to her brother Marcel Delamare; both Delamare and van Zee mean “of the sea” in, respectively, French and Dutch, while Marisa is the Italian equivalent. The monkey then clearly represents her dæmon from which, in the trilogies, she is able to separate.Fans of young adult fantasy novels will be familiar with Philip Pullman’s work. As the author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, which includes Northern Lights (also known as The Golden Compass to readers in the U.S.), his books have been adapted into theatrical productions, movies, and TV shows. Now the prolific writer is bringing a new companion story from the His Dark Materials universe to your bookshelves. The synopsis says: “On a dark night in a college in Oxford, two men talk by the fire. Their conversation turns to two unusual pieces of art that one of them has recently added to his collection. But these pieces—a painting of a striking young woman and a bronze sculpture of a fearsome-looking monkey—are connected in mysterious and improbable ways and these art collectors are about to be caught up in a story which has travelled time and worlds.”

In this tale, two scholars and art collectors enjoy after-dinner drinks and conversation at Oxford. One recounts the unusual history of his latest acquisitions: a painting of a young blonde woman and a bronze sculpture of a monkey. Both works of art somehow exert a strange influence on the viewer, and both have a long history of ending up in the same collections, despite having no known connection. Yet strangely enough, no one seems to possess either painting or bronze for very long… What a very pretty girl. D’you know who she is?’ ‘No idea,’ said the Bursar, ‘but she looks mighty pleased with herself.’ When Horley takes Grinstead to see the portrait, Grinstead recognises the subject of the painting as an eighteen-year-old Marisa van Zee, a woman who was once his lover. This astounds Horley, as the painting is almost eighty years old and Grinstead is less than fifty. Grinstead explains that she was from another world and that time passes differently in different universes. Pullman’s Gothic novella The Collectors starts with a conversation between two art collectors, Horley and Grinstead, during a cold winter’s night in 1970 as they huddle by a fire in an Oxford College senior common room. Horley has recently added two pieces to his collection, a portrait of a beautiful young woman and a bronze sculpture of a terrifying monkey. Little do the two men realize the works have an interconnected and mysterious past that they, too, are now involved in. Like 2020’s Serpentine, The Collectors is a short story set in the universe of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, produced as a small hardcover book with illustrations by Tom Duxbury. Unlike Serpentine, this story doesn’t directly involve any familiar characters, instead playing upon readers’ existing knowledge to create a chilling effect.In this darkly delicious sliver of a tale, Philip Pullman offers a glimpse of the enigmatic girl who will become the sinister Mrs. Coulter. Pullman originally wanted to write a classic ghost story. It was Audible's idea to link it with His Dark Materials. [4] The ingredients, many chosen from late Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories, include a cloistered setting with academics, curious objects which exude a baleful influence, a hint of mysterious or even otherworldly origins, and of course an unexplained death or two. What gives The Collectors its especial flavour is its implicit link with the worlds of Pullman’s 'His Dark Materials' and 'The Book of Dust', but – as with any good winter’s tale – it has to stand on its own merits. Does it do so?

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