We learned yesterday that all of the epigraphs in The Running Grave will be from the I Ching: Rowling Reveals Running Grave Epigraphs will All be from the I Ching. This was not a total surprise because of a previous twitter homepage header that featured the hexagrams and the manuscript’s cover page and its I Ching epigraph, but it was a break with the customary link of title author and book epigraphs that we have had in five of the six Strike novels. Chris Calderon responded to my post on this subject with an excellent review of articles written here and at StrikeFans about the relationship of Dylan Thomas with the Galbraithian themes of ‘morality and mortality’ as well as a possible link between the poet and the Book of Changes. I had three thoughts inspired by Mr Calderon’s notes which I share after the jump. See you there! [Read more…]

In a post early this morning, Rowling tweeted out an anniversary message and thank you:

The Cuckoo’s Calling (the first Strike book) was published ten years ago today! Thank you to @LittleBrownUK for taking on the unknown Robert Galbraith and every reader who’s helped make the books bestsellers. The seventh, The Running Grave, will be out later this year!

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 4, 2023

In a remarkably chatty and enthusiastic comment thread, Rowling shared this remarkable tidbit about The Running Grave’s epigraph source:

 

Rowling had hinted at this in her previous twitter header that featured the I Ching and we knew already that the book’s opening epigraph would be from this divinatory classic via the sleuthing of The Rowling Library.

 

You can read Beatrice Groves’ first thoughts on this subject, ‘The Running Grave: Strike 7, the I Ching and the Yarrow Stalks,’ one she wrote in anticipation of the news announced today. Indeed, we are back to the single source mother-lode of epigraphs, a la Lethal White and Rosmersholm as well as Troubled Blood and The Faerie Queene. 

I think this is a first, namely, Rowling revealing her sole source for epigraphs prior to publication. Will you be reading the I Ching and practicing the divinatory and reflective arts with stalks and coins in the run-up to The Running Grave?

 

Outrageous_Tomato_71 was visiting the St John’s Church in Aylmerton, Norfolk, and decided to check out the parish visitor’s book. And there it is — J. K. Rowling’s autograph, Edinburgh, 18 May 2022. Tomato shared this fun find on the Cormoran Strike Running Grave Reddit page.

My first thought was, “Of course she signed the book!” In her ‘Year in the Life’ BBC video filmed in the madness surrounding the publication of Deathly Hallows, she visited the church next door to her childhood home. They filmed her looking through the parish visitor book to find where she had signed it back in the day, which she had.

So… we know that she visited Aylmerton. Has she been to Cromer? All we need now is a selfie of The Presence in the Lion’s Mouth. Hat doffed to Outrageous_Tomato_71 for this great catch!

The Two of Cups, the second or “crossing” card of the Talbot Celtic Cross tarot spread in the ‘True Book’ of Troubled Blood, is a big deal, both with respect to its placement and its stand-alone meaning. Having listed all the cards that appear in Strike5, at least in spreads, in search of any pattern in their appearances, it’s time to review what Crowley and Waite say about the Two of Cups as well as how it is most often read today, take a longish look at what the second card in a Celtic Cross spread means, before offering my conclusions about its importance.

If you need an incentive to join me for that discussion, I’ll remind you that the Two of Cups is the only card to appear three times in Troubled Blood: in the crucial point of the Celtic Cross spread and as the final card in both of Robin Ellacott’s readings. I think Rowling uses it to point simultaneously to the Whodunnit of Strike5 and to the nature of Cormoran and Robin’s relationship. Stay tuned! [Read more…]