Bloomsbury announced last week that sales of Harry Potter books had crossed the 500 million copies sold threshhold.

Bloomsbury announced that 500 million copies of the Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide since the 1997 release of J.K. Rowling’s first installment, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in 80 languages. The milestone comes on the day of the annual Harry Potter Book Night across the UK, and two days before the same event in the United States. 

I don’t know if you follow these things. Part of me hopes very much that you don’t. And wishes that I didn’t have to.

Why not? Because news like this is to the mind what refined sugar and flour are to the body, i.e., not just ’empty calories,’ but anti-nutrients, food-like substances that require more energy and nutrients to digest than they provide. See Rolf Dobelli.

Most of the click-bait from Rowling, Inc., sadly has this quality. Rowling herself last week, in response to the substance free fire storm over the revelation that Dumbledore’s sexual identity would not be an “explicit” subject in ‘Crimes of Grindelwald,’ remarked on her Twitter feed that “believing every bit of Potter clickbait? Foolish. Just saying.”

The “500 million books sold” announcement is an excellent case in point.

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I am on my way this afternoon to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the Southwest Popular and American Culture Association conference (SWPACA) being held there this Wednesday to Saturday. I’d never heard of this annual gathering of Potter Pundits until this past year’s Chestnut Hill College Harry Potter Conference — and there is big news from them that we’ll be announcing later this week — where I met a gaggle of brilliant presenters that had taken part in SWPACA and heard more than once that it was a kind of west coast ‘sister conference’ to Chestnut Hill.

I really should have known about it, if only because the Harry Potter track of talks has been the source of several critical essay anthologies edited by Christopher E. Bell. I’m looking forward to listening to the talks, catching up with Chestnut Hill veterans (to include Patrick McCauley and Karen Wendling, CHC sponsors), and maybe even signing up a few guests for Katy McDaniel’s ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling’ podcast on MuggleNet.

Here is the program of speakers and talks for the SWPACA 2018 Harry Potter Track. If you’re coming, please say hello! If you’re not, please let me know what talks you’d love to hear more about.

I will be speaking about what a study of the writer Rowling says she “really loves,” Vladimir Nabokov, tells us about her work; in brief, that we have misunderstood her entirely insomuch as we think of her as a children’s book writer, a political partisan, or just the most successful of conventional story tellers. If you want to hear a recording of that, let me know in the boxes below!

Warner Brothers Home Entertainment asks us:

Ready to see the Wizarding World as you’ve never experienced it before? Then step through Newt Scamander’s case and explore the spectacular world of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in a breathtaking cinematic virtual reality experience. Meet and interact with 6 beasts, complete spells, and immerse yourself in the magic like never before.

With the new Pokemon Go Hogwarts game, I suspect these destroy-all-imaginative-experience devices, pre-packagedc” faux-experiences for your purchase akin to the theme parks and movie adaptations, spell (ahem) the end of the true magic of Rowling’s original artistry.

Your thoughts? Read more about the VR packaging here and here.

It’s set in the Hogwarts era before Harry arrives, “when Nymphadora Tonks and Bill Weasley were students”:

Before launching this spring, the title will be introduced to fans at the upcoming A Celebration of Harry Potter event at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida from January 26-28. There, attendees will be able to go behind the scenes via two panels hosted by the Jam City team as well as visiting the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery booth to receive exclusive swag, play the game, meet members of the game team, and experience other magical surprises.

“Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is a role playing experience about magic, friendship, and life as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” said Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and CEO of Jam City. “We can’t wait to give fans a first look at the game at A Celebration of Harry Potter, and this spring players will be able to explore Hogwarts fully in their journey toward becoming a witch or wizard.”

The game is set in the time between Harry Potter’s birth and his enrollment at Hogwarts, when Nymphadora Tonks and Bill Weasley were students. The avatar customization system allows you to continually upgrade your avatar as you gain new expertise and magical skills – you can even choose your own pet. You will join one of the four Houses before progressing through your years at Hogwarts, participating in magical classes and activities such as Potions and Transfiguration. Building your skills will come in handy as you solve mysteries and go on adventures. As players improve their skills, they will unlock new locations, spells and other magical abilities. 

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery features both large plot arcs and smaller stories such as relationship quests. The game features a new encounter system in which player’s decisions in both actions and narrative impact their quests, and how other characters regard and interact with them. These choices will allow Harry Potter fans to create the legacy of the witch or wizard they want to become. 

As Potter-Pokemon-Go, the Chicken Little in me screams that this will distance Potter-philes from the imaginative experience of the books as much and even more profoundly than the film ‘adaptations.’

You?