Philip Pullman

Once Upon a Time in the North, a fantasy novella by Philip Pullman functions as a prequel to Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The premise of the story involves the meeting of Iorek Byrnison and Lee Scoresby — an incident originally expected to appear in The Book of Dust: I've just finished a short book which will …

Lyra and her daemon are eavesdropping when they uncover a plot to murder Lord Asriel. He has returned from the far North where he tells of strange sights-a beautiful city hovering in the sky above the pole, a shimmering Dust that settles on and delineates all but human children. Lyra is scarcely able to save his life …