A newspaper piece about my talk last week at St. Francis University: Read the article here.
The mistake? The Ottoway daughter is at Davidson College; my oldest is at VMI. Other than that (and Mrs. Meyer’s $750,000 advance), it’s ‘spot on.’
Mail Bag: Best News Links From Around Fandom
November 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I’m just home from the second part of the HogPro ‘Deathly Hallows Speaking Tour’ — seventeen talks down, two to go! — and I found these fascinating links to news in the mountain of email in my inbox. Enjoy!
Quidditch World Cup in New York City, 13-14 November 2010: 46 Teams, 1 World Champion!
Invisibility Cloaks Coming to a Store Near You
The Nine Most Subversive Children’s Books
Carve Your Hunger Games Pumpkin!
HogPro All-Pro in Argentina reviews Deathly Hallows Lectures
A Peck of Owls: Beautiful Birds Endangered by and in Support of Harry Potter Global Fandom
November 5, 2010 by 2 Comments
According to a recent foxnews article, owls in India are being endangered by obsessive HP fans who want them as pets (though it seems that the real danger to the birds lies in their valuable body parts which are sold by Slughorn types to make a buck). In stark contrast to this odd situation, our very own headmaster’s excellent presentation at Lees-McRae College last week had special owl guest stars. The college hosts a wonderful wildlife rehab center, and some of its “stars” are beautiful owls who cannot be released back into the wild. The kind folks at the college cleverly decided to bring along a few of the owls to the program (which drew a large number of humans, too). Nob, in particular, was a big hit, as he is Pigwidgeon size. Follow the jump to see some great pictures (thanks Sarah Jane!) [Read more…]
‘So You Want to Get a PhD in the Humanities…’
November 4, 2010 by 7 Comments
An inside the Academy grin-and-giggle truth-telling that has gone viral —
I’m home for three days after two weeks on the road for my Deathly Hallows Speaking Tour. More on that tomorrow!
Let ‘The Deathly Hallows Speaking Tour’ Begin! Ring Composition Book Now Available Online
October 18, 2010 by 12 Comments
In celebration of the release of the first Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie on 19 November, I begin my Deathly Hallows Speaking Tour today. With stops as far west as Moline, Illinois, north as Milwaukee, Wisconsin, east as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and south as Columbia, South Carolina, the next four weeks promise great fun that will literally be all over the map!
I’m excited about this trip because of the number and variety of venues, of course, but also because I’ll be sharing for the first time with a larger audience the mind-blowing discovery that Ms. Rowling, as her name suggests, is a Ring Writer. Not only is her series a seven book cycle conforming to the four traditional markers of Ring Composition that we find in ancient, biblical, medieval, and modern works, but all seven books, to include every one of the 198 chapters and epilogue, are shaped by ring formula.
Below the jump you’ll find a list of the twenty stops I’ll be making in the next four weeks and the several topics I’ll be addressing. I hope to see you at one or more! If you cannot make it, say, because you live well west of the Mississippi, I have put together a Harry Potter as Ring Composition and Ring Cycle special limited edition book for this tour that is available either as a paperback book or pdf file to download. It’s an expanded version of my talk to TGTSNBN earlier this month and it will only be available until the much longer version is published early next year. It’s not as much fun as a talk — but it does have all the diagrams and charts detailing Ms. Rowling’s remarkable ring artistry.
Read on for details about The Deathly Hallows Speaking Tour and a brand new Potter pundits publication!
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