I spent a good deal of time in my talk about Catching Fire last night at Full Circle Books discussing the alchemical symbolism of that second novel in the Panem Saga — the Pearl imagery and references, especially, but also the novel as albedo in the series and its own three stage process in the Quell — and the questions afterwards were almost entirely on that subject. Which shouldn’t surprise me, especially inasmuch as the Ring Composition of the books augments the hermetic punch you never see coming in this wild reading experience.

‘A Different Drum Beat’ recently wrote a very kind post about my work (among others!) but especially concerning Travis Prinzi’s and my efforts to explain literary alchemy and its renaissance post Potter in popular literature like Twilight and The Hunger Games. She linked to three podcasts Mr. Prinzi and I did two years ago on the subject, and, though it couldn’t include discussion of Mockingjay, it is still a valuable look at the how’s and why’s of alchemical artistry.

So, if you want to get a grip on Hunger Games’ inner magic and meaning, check out those 2010 Hog’s Head Pubcasts about Literary Alchemy right here: parts I, II and III. The ‘Ring Composition supplement podcast can be heard here. And let me know what you think!