The Collectors
This prequel short story to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series opens with Horley discussing a painting sold to him by Max Falcondale with his companion Grinstead, who loves a woman from another world named Marisa van Zee, despite her likely age at the time. The narrative quickly takes a few serious turns, following which is a brief history by Pullman on how he began telling stories, starting with listening to radio serials such as Superman. Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable story, although it most likely won’t make sense to those unfamiliar with Pullman’s main His Dark Materials novels.