I’m a big fan of fiction. Fantasy, science-fiction, you know, the wild and imaginative stuff. I enjoy the Harry Potter Series, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narinia, works by Issac Assimov, short stories by Damon Knight, Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer, and the younger authors like Cory Doctorow…etc, etc.

So when His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman hit the news I thought I might enjoy them, too.

Sure, they are biting atheistic critiques of religious organization and thought. I’m not intimidated by that. In fact, I enjoy reading well thought out critiques on any topic. Arthur C. Clarke can be classed in this category to some degree. He’s an avowed humanist and pushes his imagination to the hilt to explore a world governed solely by natural laws that evolves far into the future. Breathtaking imagery. I respect him greatly. And the ideas are as fascinating as the man.

There’s a bit of controversy about the new movie, The Golden Compass. Apparently, the book is a blunt answer to blunt religious overtones in the Chronicles of Narnia. Many atheists and humanists have been hailing Pullman as *the* C.S. Lewis-like author for their side. “Finally,” they say, “fantasy children’s books we can read to our children!”

But the movie, in grand Hollywood fashion, waters down the language and graphic attack on organized religion…aka Churches. So the atheists are really pissed off. But wait…the watering down didn’t help at all among the religious crowd because the movie is still based on a book in a trilogy by a man who hates anything religious and wants to see it quashed. Show me a better example of, “you can’t please everybody”.

But they tried. Thus far, the box office results haven’t been good. The sequel movies may not get studio backing. But…that’s not why I’m writing this post.

Philip Pullman has raised the blood pressure of a key audience segment…fantasy buffs. Apparently, since he despises Lewis and Tolkien, he’s trying to distance himself from their genre. Check this out, straight from the FAQs on his website:

You once said that His Dark Materials is not a fantasy, but stark realism. What did you mean by that?

That comment got me into trouble with the fantasy people. What I mean by it was roughly this: that the story I was trying to write was about real people, not beings that don’t exist like elves or hobbits. Lyra and Will and the other characters are meant to be human beings like us, and the story is about a universal human experience, namely growing up. The ‘fantasy’ parts of the story were there as a picture of aspects of human nature, not as something alien and strange. For example, readers have told me that the daemons, which at first seem so utterly fantastic, soon become so familiar and essential a part of each character that they, the readers, feel as if they’ve got a daemon themselves. And my point is that they have, that we all have. It’s an aspect of our personality that we often overlook, but it’s there. that’s what I mean by realism: I was using the fantastical elements to say something that I thought was true about us and about our lives.

WTF?

I need to say that again.

WTF?!?!?

Does he really think he’s invented a new genre? Is he really that pissed at “fantasy” parts of stories? Who’s he kidding? His daemon characters aren’t real. He even says that. They are just as imaginary as elves and hobbits. They are part of a story that he believes relates to real life (starkly, as he puts it). Dude, give Lewis and Tolkien some slack! They at least believed they were doing the same thing. The hubris here is astounding.

Again, I have no problem with his desire to use fantasy as a tool to advance his concerns. He has that right in our country, and he has that obligation as an artist. But, hey, it IS fantasy! And that’s okay, Phil!

Philip Jose Farmer wrote an incredible sci-fi fantasy series revolving around Riverworld. To sum up, imagine for some unknown reason all humans that ever lived were resurrected on a single planet all at the same time. No one really dies and no one really knows why they are there. Yeah, this brief synopsis doesn’t do the plot lines justice. Bear with me, please.

Farmer’s plot is so fantastical that everyone knows it’s not supposed to be real. What’s wrong with that? That’s the point of fantasy. That doesn’t stop him from unwrapping all kinds of drama to reflect on the human condition. And Farmer is not pushing a religious agenda like Pullman accuses Lewis of doing.

In this instance, Pullman reminds me of “that guy” who easily grows agitated and ironically defends himself, “No I am NOT ANGRY. NO, I AM NOT SHOUTING!!!!”

Phil, you are a fantasy fiction writer. Yes your stuff is genre comparable to Lewis’. And yes, that’s okay. Get over it.