St. Hedwig’s Beaker and the Alchemists

September 22, 2010 by 1 Comment

Headwig BeakerTwo alchemy notes from HogPro All-Pros in the mailbag today: one from Lynn and another from Library Lisa of Accio Quotes. Let’s start with Lynn and some links to the obviously relevant St. Hedwig’s Beaker:

I meant to send you this information long ago-after Convention Alley 2008. I stopped by the Corning Museum of Glass on the way home. They had an exhibition opening soon called Glass of the Alchemists: Lead Crystal–Gold Ruby, 1650–1750

Here is the link to that exhibition.  And here is the link to the Exhibition Guidebook which had these entries: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Literary Alchemy

Shared Text: The Advent of ‘Parable Novel’ Mania

September 20, 2010 by 10 Comments

I was asked last week by a major periodical to share what my current thinking was about the Harry Potter novels. The editors were curious if I had anything ‘new’ on my mind about these books that they could publish in the run-up to the release of the first ‘Deathly Hallows’ film, at the beginning of the end, if you will. I’m not sure if they’ll be interested in publishing what I’m thinking these days, but I thought I’d share with you the preliminary notes I sent them. My thesis is this: Ms. Rowling’s success (and the success of Harry’s progeny, the books that probably wouldn’t have been published or found the audience they have except for Harry) has turned the literary world upside-up, with allegorical and serial ‘Young Adult’ books restoring the novel to its original popularity, power, and relevance. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Parable Novels, Shared Text

What Better Way To Spend $60,000?

September 18, 2010 by 2 Comments

Fan Pays $60k to Meet Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

It’s for charity, right? Three cheers for the donor of this generous gift.

I post this news item because it reflects the remarkable hold the Twilight books and the films made from them have on readers and viewers. I admit, too, that I also just found it remarkable that there are people with this kind of disposable income. Your thoughts?

Filed Under: Twilight

From the Mailbag: A Student’s Senior Thesis

September 16, 2010 by 10 Comments

I get on average a letter every other day from a reader who accepts the invitation to write me that I put in the introductions to my books. Most of them are very kind — I guess folks who hate books prefer to vent to the world on a tome’s Amazon page rather than to the author — and some ask questions or for help. The bulk of the help requests come, as you might expect, from students. It takes more time than I want to admit to answer these notes, but, of course, the whole Gilderoy experience is so flattering that it is a delight I can’t resist.

Earlier this week I received this kind of email note from a student, a Christian attending a Classical School who is writing her senior thesis on the artistic merits and spiritual content of the Hogwarts Saga. She has met some resistance at the school in even speaking about Harry Potter and asked for some advice and ideas. Here is her letter and my response:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes, Literary Alchemy

Reading Ideas: The Knife of Never Letting Go

September 14, 2010 by 13 Comments

The first book we will be reading in the Hogwarts Professor Book Club is Patrick Ness’ Monsters of Men, which will be published on 28 September. The thing is that Monsters is not a stand alone work; it’s the final novel in Mr. Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy. If you haven’t read the first two book, The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and The Answer, then you have a bunch of great reading to do in the next two weeks.

The bad news is “time is short!” The good news is that that’s the only bad news; the novels are wonderfully well written, challenging, and promise a huge pay-off ( a Monster pay-off?) in the series finale. My job this week and next is to provide “reading ideas,” questions and thoughts for your reflection on your first or second trip through the first and second books, ideas to foster return trips to the book that are spoiler free. In the days just prior to Monsters of Men‘s publication, I’ll put up some speculative notes about the last book that will assume you’ve read Knife and The Ask.

Here are my first five ideas to spur your thinking:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Chaos Walking, HogPro Book Club