Some of the best news out of yesterday was that Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, has a new book coming out…

It is: The Good Man Jesus And The Scoundrel Christ. What a gorgeous title. Apparently the plot is a bit of what if (folks, your entire religion is based on wizards and magic and questions of “what if,” as you know) Mary had given birth to two sons, Jesus and Christ. The one who is Jesus is the good son, the one told about in the gospels. And the one called Christ? What if he was Jesus’ evil twin?

Ah, glorious. You know we love EVIL TWINS here at Counterforce.

Also, we love Philip Pullman. The His Dark Materials trilogy, if you’ve yet to read it, is brilliant and fun. Yes, it’s a bit (well, maybe more than a bit) of an attack on the catholic church, but it’s hardly just that. It’s some of the finest literature for children (and adults) in years, imaginative in it’s scope and smart in the design of it’s characters, and a beautiful reminder that the box you’re thrust into by those who claim to know better than you isn’t necessarily the world you have to accept, and the world you want is the one you have to create all around you…

They adapted the first novel in the series, The Golden Compass (as it was titled here in the US, but it’s called Northern Lights in Pullman’s native UK), was adapted as a movie a few years ago, and it’s not terrible, but it’s also not terribly fantastic either, despite strong casting. Really, it just suffers from poor execution and from what I would classify as a serious lack of balls on those who sought to bring it to life.

Sorry, I could really go on forever about that but I was too busy fantasizing about all the wacky shenanigans I could get into with my evil twin…