Shared Text: Gringotts, China, and US Trillion Dollar Debts

November 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

China on the Brink of Bankruptcy is a recent article on The Catholic Reporter, of all places, where we can read about “Politics and Culture from a Catholic Perspective.” The article clincher? Not what you might expect in a traditionalist Catholic voice-on-line:

Go here to read [the original article on Chinese money woes] at The Epoch Times.   If the Obama administration is thinking that the Chinese will buy our increasingly worthless debt as far as the eye can see, they had better readjust their options. Perhaps Gringotts might be in the mood to buy paper from Uncle Sam?

H/T Peony!

Filed Under: Shared Text

Hogwarts Professor Loved in Sweden — No Joke.

November 30, 2011 by 3 Comments

When anyone on the Internet links to this site, I’m sent a “pingback” notice. It’s fun to see who is talking about what we’re talking about here (most of the time) but sometimes the link is more of a stretch than usual. In September I got pinged from Sweden and I couldn’t make heads or tails of the post from way, way over there. So I wrote Odd Sverre Hove, our man in Norway, and he sent me a translation.

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Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes, Shared Text

Guest Post: Hippogriffs, Epic Fantasy and Warrior Maidens

November 29, 2011 by 6 Comments

Today’s guest post — which comes with a wonderfully generous offer — is by long-time HogPro All-Pro and author of Quest of the Warrior Maid: A Romeo and Joan of Arc Love Story, Linda C. McCabe, aka ‘Pallas Athena.’ As she explains in her post, we have been corresponding since 2003; I am happily obliged to add that she ‘took me to school’ about the Hogwarts Saga and the world of Harry Potter fandom, a world in which more than once she has had my back in discussions with those wanting to run a virtual sword through me. I remain a grateful student, reader of her blog, and I love her book, which I hope Potter-philes will read alongside the original Orlando epics. Without further ado, then, I give you Linda McCabe!

John Granger is graciously allowing me a guest post to tell his HogPro readership about my debut novel, Quest of the Warrior Maid, and how it relates to the Harry Potter series.

The inspiration for my novel is directly related to my participation in the online Harry Potter fandom.  I spent several years re-reading and studying the series.  I formulated theories and shared them online with other likewise obsessed fans.  I wrote some fanfiction fleshing out my wacky theories as to where I thought things might go in the fifth year.  It was after that was completed that I wrote a post on the Harry Potter for Grown Ups list serv that dealt with shipping.  I thought it was a good post, so did others and I was asked for my permission to have my words quoted on another HP centered site. I started reading that board and began posting there as well.  That is what drew me into the shipping debates.

Yup, I was a shipper.

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Filed Under: Potter Fandom, Shared Text

Cyber Monday Deal on ‘Ring Composition:’ 30% Off

November 28, 2011 by 7 Comments

If you’ve been wanting to check out the charts and graphs detailing the relationships of the seven books in the Hogwarts Saga to one another as well as every single chapter as a reverse echo or parallel of another chapter in the book in which it appears, then today is the day to buy Harry Potter as Ring Composition and Ring Cycle at LuLu.com. Everything there, including Ring as book or pdf, is 30% off today until midnight PST. Just enter CYBERMONDAY305 when you check out.

Filed Under: Ring Composition

Come One, Come All (Maybe) to Erin Morgenstern’s Debut novel, The Night Circus

November 28, 2011 by 2 Comments

Several months ago, we posted a story about the debut of novelist Erin Morgenstern and her book, The Night Circus, which has been released, and which I have now gotten around to reading. When I wrote the initial article back in the summer, I was concerned about the way the publishing mavens (whom we call Gamemakers for their Capitol-esque approach) were manufacturing Morgenstern into their next cash cow. I was also amazed at all the hoopla surrounding the release of a book by a previously unpublished author, since such shenanigans are usually the norm for highly anticipated later installments of series like those of Rowling, Meyer, Riordan, and Collins. Yet, for her first novel (and it’s a stand-alone, not a series), Morgenstern got the whole bookstore-themes, entertainment, and costumed fans package we’ve come to expect from books 2, 4, or 7, rather than 1. Is the novel a magical must-read or the emperor’s new clothes? Follow me under the striped big top, and we’ll see.

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Filed Under: Elizabeth Baird Hardy Tagged With: ,