'I used to work in a shed in my garden. But it got too crowded with books and manuscripts and all kinds of bits and pieces, and I got fed up with being down at the end of the garden, especially on rainy days; and then we moved house anyway, and I had to decide whether to take the shed with us or leave it there. In the end I gave it to a friend, the illustrator Ted Dewan - on condition that when he's finished with it, he'll give it to another writer. He's replaced the windows and some of the roof, and I like the idea that it'll get passed on to lots of other writers and illustrators, and each of them will replace this bit or that bit until there isn't an atom of the original shed left.'

blake, dickinson, and above all milton, who is turning 400 soon. a most fervent 'long live' for that last.

but to come back to what i was saying -- pullman and his dark materials. over the recent film.
(and some drawings from the books.)

i can see how to think pullman's thrust contradicts milton's, but the point is milton makes him think like that at all. i should say that i can see difference, but not what i would call contradiction. but i don't have to argue very hard. pullman is quite vocal about his affection.