sage of years. His occasional short fiction remains
uncollected but includes some very fine stories
such as “Properties of the Beast” (1992) and
“Open Doors” (1997). He has also written several
science fiction novels and some nonfiction, al-
though none of his nonhorror work approaches the
stature of his supernatural novels.
The Subtle KnifePhilip Pullman(1997)
This is the middle volume of the His Dark Materials
trilogy that began with THE GOLDEN COMPASSand
concluded with THE AMBER SPYGLASS.Although os-
tensibly targeted at a young adult audience, the
books employ such sophisticated language, imagina-
tive extrapolation, and well-drawn characters that
they have become, if anything, even more popular
with adults. Lyra Belacqua returns to join forces
with a new protagonist, Will Parry, a 12-year-old boy
from our world whose father disappeared while ex-
ploring the Arctic and whose mother is under psy-
chiatric care. Mysterious strangers have been asking
about his father, and when he accidentally kills one
of them, Will becomes a fugitive. Then, in a scene
reminiscent of ALICE IN WONDERLAND(1865), by
Lewis CARROLL, he follows a cat through an invisi-
ble gateway into Lyra’s world.
Together and separately the two children ex-
perience a series of adventures, while the underly-
ing plot slowly advances around them. Lyra is
surprised to meet a child who is not bonded to a
demon, since that is unheard of in her world. For
his part, Will is confused by the strangeness around
him, particularly in the city of magpies, a region
ruled by children. Serafina Pekkala, a witch, and
other characters from the previous volume show
up, along with several new ones, the most signifi-
cant of whom is Mary Malone, a scientist. There
are also some new creatures, the Specters, and an-
other magical artifact, the subtle knife of the title,
which allows its wielder to cut windows between
realities. Once again, Philip PULLMAN demon-
strates that he is ready to kill off major characters,
sometimes surprisingly so, and there is consider-
able violence this time as well as a cliffhanger end-
ing in which Lyra is kidnapped.
Some readers and reviewers were troubled by
the concept of a war against God in a children’s
book. The author rarely describes anything or any-
one as wholly good or wholly evil, and that ambi-
guity is what makes his characters so rich. Some of
the religious undertones drawn from Milton’s Pa r -
adise Lostbecome more manifest this time, and we
learn that Lyra faces a challenge that could deter-
mine the fate of worlds. Although the novel suffers
from some of the structural necessities of the mid-
dle volume of a trilogy—no clear ending and the
assumption that the reader knows what has gone
before—it is still a remarkable achievement and a
major work of children’s fantasy.“The Surly Sullen Bell”Russell Kirk(1962)
The conservative columnist and commentator
Russell Kirk wrote a small but well-respected body
of short horror and ghost fiction, the best of which
has recently been reprinted as Ancestral Shadows
(2004). The best-known of these is “The Surly
Sullen Bell,” the title taken from one of the son-
nets of William Shakespeare, referring to the
tolling of a bell to announce the passage of a soul
from this life to the next. The protagonist is Frank
Loring, who receives an unusual request from the
man who married the woman Loring had loved
many years earlier, inviting him to have dinner at
their home.
Loring finds the Schumachers to be a most
unusual couple. Nancy is much as he remembers
her. He discovers he is still in love with her, but she
has become seriously ill and is almost an invalid.
Godfrey is a charming host and a doting husband
and seems perfectly happy taking care of his ailing
wife. In his absence she tells Loring that her hus-
band is intrusive and insistent and that his desire
to possess her has become so inflamed that he
wishes to gain access even to her past, which is
why he tendered the invitation to Loring, her one-
time suitor. Schumacher also claims to have aban-
doned traditional religion in favor of a much more
powerful mysticism, which sounds distinctly like
the occult, but Loring dismisses this as a harmless
idiosyncrasy.
After taking his leave, Loring experiences
what may be a hallucination, but which might also
be the result of a magical manipulation of his
mind. This ambiguity becomes more vivid after en-342 The Subtle Knife