Last year, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy numbered among the ten most challenged titles of the year for its religious and political viewpoints, as did Alvin Schwartz's popular Scary Stories series for its violence and references to the occult. Below is the ALA's map of book bans and challenges in 2007-2009, which includes the removal of Robert Heinlein's The Day After Tomorrow (also known as Sixth Column) and Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. The ALA believes these represent only a fraction of bans and challenges, as the vast majority go unreported.

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2009 in a larger map

[Banned Books Week via Metafilter]

If you were one of the many unsatisfied with last year's movie version of Philip Pullman's parallel universe parable The Golden Compass, here's some cold comfort - At least you're unlikely to face similar disappointment from movies based upon the later two books in the His Dark Materials trilogy, given that it's looking like they'll never be made.

British newspaper The Independent is reporting that The Golden Compass prompting a combination of disappointing box office and outcries from Christian fundamentalists have resulted in all plans to produce movies based on The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass to be put on indefinite hold. Talking to Pullman as well as Compass director Chris Weitz, the Independent revealed the awkward status quo of the project:

Pullman told The Independent that he had not yet been contacted by Shepperton Studios and was not aware of any imminent plans to film the sequel, The Subtle Knife. When the first film was in production last year, he was regularly contacted by Chris Weitz, its writer and director.

"I know everyone would like to see a sequel and I know I'd like to see it. When the first film was in production, I was talking to the studio and to Chris Weitz and producers quite frequently. I'm sure I would be now if the sequel was in production," he said.

Weitz said yesterday he did not want talk about the project while the studio responsible for the first film was refusing to discuss the future of the trilogy.

While I don't doubt that upset from Christian fundamentalists did hurt the success of the movie, isn't there also the possibility that the real reason The Golden Compass the movie wasn't a bigger success because it just wasn't very good?

Christian protests may leave Philip Pullman's trilogy as one of a kind [The Independent]

• Say what you will about the meh movie version of comic book Constantine, but Tilda Swinton's awe-inspiring depiction of the fallen angel Gabriel makes up for Keanu Reeves' mumbles. This androgynous angel is more like a beautified version of Predator than a fluttery creature you read about in Sunday School. She punches, kicks, growls, and gets her wings burned down to goth-gorgeous stumps, and still keeps on fighting the bad guys. Or is she fighting the good guys?
• Lyda Morehouse has a series of Unitarianpunk novels, including Archangel Protocol and Fallen Host, about angels who suddenly start appearing on the immersive internet-like communication network of the late twenty-first century. In a world where you must be part of a religion (any religion, including Pagan) in order to have access to social services, the creatures become a political and social issue of the utmost importance. But are they genuine spiritual beings who have chosen to reveal themselves on the 'net? Or are they just AIs with alien connections who have gained self-awareness?
• In Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, including The Golden Compass, a young girl named Lyra and her companions fight to dethrone God (known as The Authority) and his band of fascist angels (known as angels). Although it's undeniable that the Authority and his angels have tremendous power — they can fly, have what seem to be spaceships, and are superstrong — they seem more like alien or mutant powers than spiritual ones. In fact, part of Pullman's point is that the creatures we think of as angels and gods may just be alien creatures with powers we don't understand. Deifying them may not be the best idea.
• One reason why so many science fiction fans love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel is that the shows' demons and devils (and occasional appearance from the godlike Powers That Be) are so damn alien-like. Hanging out in Sunnydale near the Hellmouth, or in that demon Karaoke bar in Los Angeles, is like walking into the sleazy bar on Tatooine where Luke met Han Solo. Buffy creator Joss Whedon is a known science fiction buff (he also created Firefly), and neither of his shows make any effort to give spiritual explanations for the rubber-headed baddies and goodies who haunt Buffy and her Scooby Gang. Basically, Buffy could be Buffy the Alien Hunter if you just called the Hellmouth the Dimension Doorway (or the Stargate).
• A favorite plotline in the Star Trek franchise is the God or angel who turns out to be nothing more than an annoying alien. Sometimes the alien calls the humans "ugly bags of mostly water," and sometimes it teaches them a lesson, and sometimes it just becomes the desktop background of people who like to laugh at the more embarrassing moments in cheesy SF. Nevertheless, Star Trek's ongoing obsession with unmasking spiritual beings as material ones marks it as one of the best places to find angels who are really aliens.

And don't even get me started on aliens who are really angels. That, as they say, is another post.