Daemon Voices
DAEMON VOICES: ESSAYS ON STORYTELLING is a collection of Phillip Pullman’s writing on the subjects of writing and writers. I was tempted by this collection despite never having read Pullman’s fiction–in my head, he’s catalogued as that guy who wrote the YA novel that was turned into the film with the polar bears. I haven’t even seen the film, but the visual of the polar bears has been stuck in my skull for a decade now. I have friends who are huge fans of Pullman’s Dark Materials books, though, and the first essay in the collection was more than enough to convince me it was worth ponying up the cash. The essay, Magic Carpets, details the responsibilities Pullman feels as a storyteller. He leads off with something unexpected: your first responsibility is financial. Like every other member of a capitalist society, you need money to support your loved ones. When we start writing books we’re all poor; we all have to
