Thrilled to be here!

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 15, 2022

Yesterday’s ‘Barmy Book Army’ live Q&A with Rowling-Galbraith about The Ink Black Heart was a landmark event in the history of the author’s interviews and engagement with fans. Her previous live events were either recorded in advance with questions of her choosing or with children interviewers back in the days of Potter Mania. This really was live, unrehearsed, and, though The Presence got to pick and choose from the avalanche of tweets, Serious Strikers were on hand to ask challenging questions.

Understandably in light of her being hounded by Gender Theory Extremists wherever she appears online, this open door to her twitter feed was restricted to just the 8,600 followers of ‘JKR’s Barmy Book Army.’ The format was simple: 

Barmy Book Army then asked her seven questions to get things rolling, if you will, and the conversation really took off. Rowling began with a long thread of tweets about ‘Sickness in Ink Black Heart,’ which string I have to suspect she had prepared in advance, and then went into ‘reply’ mode. The moderator, true to her word, re-tweeted or flagged comments for her guest’s special attention. The first three and the fifth questions were actually for Barmy Book Army readers rather than Rowling specifically while the fourth, sixth, and the ‘Bonus’ question were for her alone.

After the jump, a review of the questions, Rowling’s most involved statement, the hits and misses among reader questions and Rowling responses, and an explanation of our debt to Nick Jeffery for deploying his skills and savvy to get Barmy Army’s attention and Rowling’s responses to HogwartsProfessor questions. [Read more…]

It's my great pleasure to confirm that the very special @jk_rowling, aka @RGalbraith, will be joining us live on Twitter THIS SATURDAY 4-5pm to discuss The Ink Black Heart! ARE YOU READY, MUKFLUKS? 🖤❤️📚 https://t.co/A4rgovdAVO

— JKR's Barmy Book Army (@JKRsBarmyBooks) October 13, 2022

Rowling-Galbraith’s previous ‘Live Ink Black Heart Q&A‘ tease turned out to be pre-recorded discussion; it was invaluable and a delight, don’t get me wrong, but the twenty-seven questions were chosen or approved by the author months in advance and there was nothing ‘live’ about her interaction with Ink Black Heart readers.

Tomorrow, though, it seems The Presence will be doing an honest-to-God open forum with Strike6 readers on Twitter in support of ‘JKR’s Barmy Book Army‘s discussion of Ink Black Heart. The posted time is 4-5 PM, British Summer Time (BST), which is five hours ahead of American Eastern Time, six of Central, and eight of Pacific. If you’re free tomorrow morning or afternoon, this Twitter feed will be your best shot at getting the questions you want Rowling-Galbraith to answer presented to her.

What will you be asking about Ink Black Heart? After the jump, I share my Top Three questions and one other structural surprise ‘Shot in the Dark’ which I hope someone will ask her (or all the HogPro All-Pros will ask her to flood the line?). What burning Strike6 question do you want her to answer? [Read more…]