Dark Adamant 7 http://darkadamant.betterversion.org Update Archives 2007.03.28 Italian fansite http://www.questeoscurematerie.it has the poster, and is linking back. Thanks! 2006.10.19 Flatteringly, http://myspace.com/alethiotheband is hotlinking. Requested a linkback. Done. Thanks! 2006.10.13 Finally corrected IE's rendering errors. 2006.09.25 Added full Haunted Storm cover scan from jessia (Jessica T. http://www.bridgetothestars.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page ) Update as of December 2005 DA is approaching five years of age, and still gets visitors. This is version 7; 5 and 6 were never online (I procrastinate). Since the last version, we've orbitted Sol a couple of times, Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ is out (which you should use for DA to look its best - or Opera http://www.opera.com), and consequently my appauling, table-based html has had to be put to bed. Now DA complies to all sorts of thrilling web standards http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer. This expand/collapse spiffiness is thanks to moo.fx http://moofx.mad4milk.net/. I've stripped it down to a single page, to save on maintenance. Bridge to the Stars http://www.bridgetothestars.net has a far superior cover gallery, so that has gone completely. The original intention was to distribute the Alethiometer poster, a scan of which is below. Also, a niche in the HDM community has always been the lack of knowledge about Philip Pullman's lesser-known work. Galatea and The Haunted Storm were PP's two earliest pieces of fiction, and they're both now out of print. Their (expanded) sections remain, alongside 2/3rds of the audio of Philip Pullman on the South Bank Show from 2003, and some more obscure PP-related links. A couple of updates on the Alethiometer poster: there're just two versions now online - larger and higher-quality than before, and (both to aid distribution and in case it's down here), Bridge to the Stars has the largest one too. Enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A His Dark Materials shrine, versions 1 - 6 05.09.03 - The National Theatre (this being London, England) is, of course, staging His Dark Materials from December 2003 to March 2004. It'll be two plays, and, well, link for details. Tickets (available from Sept 15th) are expected to be scarce: it will be very, very popular. (National Theatre link). Aack, I'm sorry for the month-late update.. :: shame :: ..lazing around all summer just got too tiring. I will likely update the site *proper-like* within the next couple of weeks. Coming soon: Dæmon Test, Fandom Notes, and Essays on Galatea. 28.05.03 - Linked jessia's excellent Haunted Storm page, which has high-res scans of both THS's cover and its blurb, which you won't find anywhere else. Also linked her main page, which is updating with HDM chapter annotations. 03.06.03 - Linked Steph's Mary Malone fanlisting site as well. Will update fully later; am examming atm. 26.06.03 - Linked Cindy's page (she made the alethiometer wallpaper), Fifth Essence. Exams over; proper update in about a week. 21.03.03 Unpublished John Howe TAS Cover Art here. 24.03.03 Plus, the new 'More' section holds fringe fandom stuff that doesn't go anywhere else. Currently, an audio transcript of this month's South Bank Show interview of PP, and my (bad) mulefa sketches. 8.03.03 At _last_ I've finished the transfer from the old design (which wasn't transfer-friendly at all). I've posted propaganda on two MBs to make sure DA doesn't sink into unvisited obscurity. This site apparently has a very old, low-res Alethiometer image of 'mine' (but I'll let it go, partly because I can't even say hi in Slovenian and partly because its so old). 2.03.03 Finally uploaded some of the rest of the cover galleries' contents and arranged both slightly better; upped some new buttons, and also allowed all big image links to open in their own window - site is now more complete than it was - will upload the rest of the cover galleries next weekend. 10.02.03 (Site v4) I was getting tired of the old DA's imbalance of design-over-substance; it was cluttered and all this site does is host the Alethiometer images and Cover Galleries, really. Plus Galatea and The Haunted Storm info, hurray. This new version, 4, is simpler, and tips the balance the other way, I hope. It's easier to get to everything, and there are fewer table lines. A good thing. It's also prettier than older versions (which does not say much at all). But a step upward, nonetheless. Not everything is online yet - it'll be next weekend before all the covers are up, I think. DA's minishrine status means its intention has never been to be The One Resource for HDM Stuff. Instead, I'm going to expand in other directions, mainly to continue offering original PP content. So, there are now new sections! Wheee! The Haunted Storm offers pretty much web-exclusive info on PP's first-ever book, There are Old Site Screenshots, More Links, Super-Improved! Cover Galleries which (along with dropping thumbnails to save me space and work), are expanding into PP's other books, and Philip Pullman Resources. I've also re-subscribed to Geocities Pro: remote image hosting is just too useful. Plus, I've found the artist of the Alethiometer image, and I'm sending a letter to him (David Scutt) making sure it's okay to have his Alethiometer on my page featuring so prominently on the poster (although I think it is: Fair Use is described here). Copyright info has been added. Hurray! 18/1/03 - Jose Luis emailed me with some better scans of the Spanish HDM covers I have. Finally, they're uploaded. Thanks!! 7/1/03 - The Sraf Awards look interesting, as does Paradise Lost, whose layout and BG image I love. 15/12/02 - Cindy from fifth essence has made an *excellent* wallpaper with the Alethiometer image. I've put it on the Alethiometer page. Thanks, Cindy! 5/12/02 - Am no longer paying for my geocities account. Have promised myself a *proper* site eventually. 26/11/02 - Daimonions (Spanish) now has the Alethiometer image. 28/9/02 - Joined The Guild, and added membership banner, which they let me design myself. 15/9/02 - Izzy from Torre Degli Angeli now has use of the Alethiometer image. 14/9/02 - Lord Asriel, from this site, now has the Alethiometer image. Linked ADDA (French) because they have a cool name and site concept. 2/9/02 - Added a link to the new HDM RPG, Tell Them Stories - thanks for linking, Anastacia! 1/9/02 - Up'ed useless Galatea trivia and G's back cover. 27/8/02 - Re-began Full Cover Gallery, starting with Sally Lockhart covers. 26/8/02 - Thanks for linking, reb. 25/8/02 - Up'ed the final Canadian (?) cover, TSK. Beginning Full Cover Gallery. Updated Galatea page with links. Discovered that Pullman's first novel (1972) might be called 'The Haunted Storm' - but have only one source so can't confirm yet. *Yips* Found a second source naming Pullman's first novel 'The Haunted Storm' pub 1973 (first said 1972, but near enough), confirming it with a reference to 'The British Library Catalogue'. Next step is to *get* a copy... ^_^ (24/8/02) With a couple of minor exceptions, site is now Opera-friendly (thanks Meeks). Upgraded to Geocities Plus and uploaded the slightly-odd Canadian TAS cover along with its TGC counterpart. Also uploaded a simplified version of the other side of the alethiometer poster, describing its history and how to read it. Finally, added link to Aesahaettr, another minishrine, this time to Will/Lyra. (18/8/02) Site v3; Major all-round update. It amazed me when I saw that this site is over a year old (but somehow it didn't amaze me that I hadn't properly updated in 11 months; I'm lazy like that). All that's really happened in the HDM community has been New Line's semi-movie-announcement and the Book of Dust announcement. Anyway. My new site design is boring, uninspired, and shows off my un-talent with PSP - but at least it's different. The updates. I've lent the Alethiometer image to several sites. I think some/most of them didn't bother uploading it, and I can only remember a few (meep!) but anyway: www.juri.nu (31/12/01); www.thenextworld.co.uk (20/7/02); www.cittagazze.net (14/8/02); www.cittagazze.fr.st (16/8/02). Added three new covers from Brazil courtesy of Christiano, revamped the cover gallery, added several new covers, added a section on Pullman's lesser-known novel, Galatea, rescanned and retouched the Alethiometer image, added buttons for linkage. (9/9/01) [Site v2]. A new site design is up - a genuine advance from the sloppy boringness of the old Dark Adamant. Slowly, this page is evolving into something more than a host for a single image (the pic of the Alethiometer you'll find below). My ultimate aim is to upload some of my own His Dark Materials fan art. That'll happen (hopefully) around Christmas or the New Year. Until then, I have the web's only Alethiometer pic with labels, and as many covers as I could find. Really, this place's tiny, but I'm working on it. (30/8/01) Meeks' site now has the Alethiometer image. (30/7/01) Added the TAS audio cast. Nick P darkadamant at gmail dot com