Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

Supernaturalist
, the plot is set in a futuristic town controlled by one satellite. There, a gang of 
young people quests for allegedly evil blue creatures with the help of numerous technological 
marvels so fantastic that they resemble magic.
Eoin Colfer’s The Wish List, first published in 2000, narrates the story of 14-year-old 
Meg Finn and explores the consequences of world-crossing cooperation and interference in 
the light of a transfer of technical and magical achievements.
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Meg and her accomplice have 
broken into the flat of the widowed pensioner Lowrie McCall and have injured him in the 
process. On the run, they accidentally get killed in a gas explosion. Whereas the accomplice 
Belch goes straight to hell, Meg’s good and bad deeds are equal. So the girl’s salvation 
depends on her conscious choice between good and bad. Her acid test for admittance to 
heaven consists of augmenting her good potential. In case of failure, she must go to hell. 
Ironically, once back on earth, her quest is to help her terminally ill victim McCall to tick off 
his last wishes, compiled in the eponymous Wish List. Together, they are bound up in a race 
against time and their hellish pursuers, since McCall’s time is running out just as quickly as 
Meg’s.
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For instance technologies of communication, information or weaponry.
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In this objective, Colfer’s The Wish List and McGowan’s Hellbent share many similarities. Eoin Colfer. The 
Wish List
. London: Puffin, 2003; Anthony McGowan. Hellbent. London: Definitions, 2006.

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Even though the two adversary sides are equipped
with the latest technology, only hell 
appears to make use of their means. Interestingly, God does not play a role in this case. The 
victorious good side remains composed, while the defeated Devil and his minions are much 
more present and active. For instance, Beelzebub phones Saint Peter, not the other way round. 
This one-sided relationship is maintained throughout the book. Whereas heaven does not take 
any measures against the possible corruption of Meg’s soul, the evil side actively attempts to 
influence the events by putting the girl’s former criminal acquaintance Belch onto Meg and 
Lowrie. Admittedly, Belch as an adversary poses a threat, but he also has much comical 
potential. Fused with his bull dog Raptor to an only mildly intelligent entity, Belch is 
supported by a kind of virtual fairy, the schizophrenic computer program Elph.
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With a twinkle in his eye, Colfer presents the Devil as a businessman,
replete with 
filed nails, jet-black goatee and pinstripe suit.
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Hellish business transactions are settled via 
the ectonet,
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mobile phones or emails. Moreover, commercial campaigns and deals such as 
“Own your own soul after a century”
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emphasise the company-like structure of hell. Yet, 
despite its technical potential, the evil side hardly progresses at all. For one, this 
disproportionate unproductiveness stems from the sheer incompetence of the hellish personnel 
involved. Secondly, technical equipment becomes useless if it cannot be operated and 
maintained correctly, particularly as an abundance of means also entails a host of sources of 
error. Whereas The Wish List employs technical gadgets in more carefully measured doses, 
Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series lets off a true cascade of ideas.
With Artemis Fowl, Colfer has enriched modern children’s fantasy with a witty anti-
Harry Potter
. Whereas Rowling’s eponymous hero, in keeping with tradition, clearly stands 
on the good side and fights evil, Colfer’s main character, also a teenager, is above all an 
unscrupulous criminal mastermind.
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Having discovered the existence of the Little People, 
Artemis is bent on exploiting them and their technology for his own benefit. Where Harry 
Potter acts nobly for the benefit of others, Artemis focuses initially solely on his and his 
family’s prosperity. Instead of learning the use of magic like Rowling’s wizard, Artemis Fowl 
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Colfer, The Wish List, p. 51.
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Ibd., pp. 14, 16, 17.
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Ibd., p. 16.
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Ibd., p. 18. 
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Already Artemis’ only thinly disguised surname Fowl alludes to criminal energies, underworld contacts and 
little honesty. In Greek mythology, Artemis, the Roman equivalent being Diana, is the – female - goddess of 
both hunt and moon. The teenager of the same name does her name and hunting instinct credit at first in his 
pursuit of the People, then tracking down opponents, other criminals or magical beings. See also Thomas 
Kullmann. Englische Kinder- und Jugendliteratur: Eine Einführung. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2008. 

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relies on technical and mechanical means in order to pursue his goals. Even though magic 
remains beyond the personal reach of the young boy,
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he devises a strategy to circumvent 
this hindrance. If the active use of magic is denied him, Artemis chooses the indirect
way of 
using the magic powers of the fairies for his projects.
In a series of six volumes to date, Colfer deploys a magical underground subculture 
which exists undetected by humans. Below the surface of the earth, elves and other magical 
beings inhabit cities which are interconnected by an elaborate infrastructure network. Besides 
the already mentioned traditional magic powers, the fairy society and its organs make wide 
use of advanced technology and its devices. In particular, their operational fields are situated 
in areas of communication, including security and, closely linked to it, defence.
On creating the fantastical store of technical possibilities and devices Colfer orientates 
himself by the newest technical and scientific developments and inventions of the real world 
and combines them with fantastic fairy technology. Of all the real or imaginary devices 
employed in Artemis Fowl, the kaleidoscope of inventions stands out. In fact, it does to such 
an extent that the author’s creativity in gadgetry cannot but remind one strongly of James 
Bond, especially the films. With all the trimmings of the secret agent’s equipment, both the 
fairies and their young adversary Artemis Fowl can draw from a huge pool of gadgets. 
Among the most innovative and creative range electronic contact lenses,
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optionally 
mirrored, but also the good old artificial finger with an inbuilt dart.
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Persiflage or homage,
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the
effervescent source of devices contributes – in combination
with the situational comic and 
linguistic word plays of both centaur Foaly and kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch – to the 
amusement of the reader; providing for some funny moments in between the rush of action.
Communication between the Little People is based on the latest “real” inventions such 
as internet, including email, sms and mobile phones (with www.horsesense.gnom as a parody 
on the website-suffix .com.)
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Devices the reader might still marvel at due to their novelty, for 
example access to the internet via mobile phone, appear perfectly natural to the fairies. In 
general, Colfer suggests that - compared to the human state-of-the-art developments - fairy 
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It is only in Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony that Artemis usurps some magic. Which consequences this will 
have for sequels yet remains to be seen. Eoin Colfer. Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony. London: Penguin, 
2006. 
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Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl. London: Puffin, 2002, p. 150.
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Ibd., p. 149.
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The phonetic resemblance of Colfer’s Cube to Fleming’s tinkerer Q is just one of many potential allusions to