Fans of Philip Pullman, author of the richly imagined Dark Materials trilogy were overjoyed to hear this week that he is releasing a new companion series. The first book of the new series, which will collectively be called The Book of Dust, is set for publication on October 19, 2017. Pullman told NPR editor Glen Weldon that he wants readers to consider the new work not as a simple extension of the original trilogy, but as a “companion” to it.

“The story begins before His Dark Materials and continues after it,” he said, “… you don’t have to read it before you read … this is another story that comes after it, so it’s not a sequel, and it’s not a prequel, it’s an equal.”