Philip Pullman has announced a new companion to his Golden Compass trilogy.  To be released this spring, the companion book is entitled Once Upon a Time in the North.  The book details the history of Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison, the balloonist and the bear. 

Pullman will also be releasing a full-length novel in 2009, called The Book of Dust. 

Two things for Pullman fans to cheer about!