10:1 Book to Online Readership for Bree Tanner

June 22, 2010 by 1 Comment

Two quick notes and a question for y’all about Entertainment Weekly’s report on the sales of The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: (H/T Arabella!)

(1) “The new novella currently tops USA Today’s best-seller list and Little, Brown estimates they have already sold 700,000 copies in the United States. Deadline reports that that the British bookstore chain Waterstones expects to sell more copies of Bree Tanner than of any other book this year.”

EW then all but says that this is due to Twilight addicts needing a “fix” rather than anything inherently valuable or challenging in the story. Here’s hoping that more thoughtful readers will want to explore what it is about Stephenie Meyer’s books that cause such an addiction!

(2) EW expresses surprise that sales have been this brisk because the novella is available free online at BreeTanner.com until July 5th. “Little, Brown estimates that only 75,000 people have read the book in its entirety on the website.” Here’s my question: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Catholic Priest Reveals Harry is “Soft Occultism”

June 22, 2010 by 19 Comments

There are pockets of resistance to Harry Potter to this day, if, post Deathly Hallows, the equivalent of a surrender at Appomattox seems to have been signed and sealed — despite the absence of, say, Richard Abanes or Michael O’Brien at the ceremony. Here is Mark Shea’s critique of the latest Catholic Harry Hater, a Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, a Catholic priest and author who asserts that reading Harry Potter has helped “educate younger children in the language and symbolism of the occult,” an education that will “inundate” exorcists with work in the coming decades. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

Beneath the Surface: Continued Conversation on Bree Tanner

June 17, 2010 by 19 Comments

Well, our so-called surface level thread on the new Bree Tanner novella quickly went far beneath the surface, not a surprising development for our readers here! To make sure some of the great conversation, which went quickly into deep waters of the novella as an allegory or defense of Meyer’s faith, didn’t get lost in the pile of comments, we’re pulling them up here to continue the excellent discussion . Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on the deeper aspects of the text, with other posts along those lines to come soon!

   James on June 15, 2010 at 3:40 am

There are many insights into the vampire world, to be sure, as Stephenie promised. I realized that the Nomad vampires are actually homeless. Don’t know why I didn’t realize that before. Other than the Volturi and Cullens, all appear to be wanderers. Bummer.

I hope to talk on this with John and Steve Walker in another upcoming podcast, but I also noticed the great deal of hellish imagery associated with Riley’s coven/congregation. This led me to see that Riley is a misleading priest figure, lying to his congregants to keep them under his control, spreading superstition and lies so that they won’t realize they have the potential to live as beings of light (with love again as a potential path to glory/divinization).

So the questions arise, “Does the Creator know the truth? Is the Creator… wrong? Does the Creator assent to her priest/spokesman’s controlling lies and abuse?” And, of course, in any case, “what can/should be done about it?” How can you exercise your “free agency”/autonomy when you realize how ignorant and misled your religion truly is? I think with “Bree Tanner,” Meyer posits a remarkable allegory about what (not) to do when you realize your faith — or other beliefs — are untrue, in contrast with Bella’s finding a true path following the prophetic and godlike Carlisle. Remarkable.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Elizabeth Baird Hardy, Twilight

Hogwarts in Central Florida? Wizarding World Opens at Universal

June 16, 2010 by 8 Comments

Those of us who have not been living in Australia with modified memories to protect our children from Death Eaters are already probably well aware of the latest development in Harry Potter entertainment experiences, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Florida, which officially opens June 18. You can watch the opening festivities live here.  While many of us who will be at Infinitus next month may be planning a visit to the Wizarding World (I’m not; I’m generally opposed to amusement parks in Florida in July unless the kindly uncle sets us up with free Disney admission. The only thing worse than sweltering in line for hours is paying out the nose to do it, so I’ll wait until the cooler weather and the hubbub die-down.) For those who are not planning to go in person, the official website has some nice images and information to give you a feel for the place.

The excitement surrounding the opening of the WW, with rides ranging from a virtual reality experience inside Hogwarts Castle to a family-friendly Hippogriff coaster to racing dragon coasters, has been considerable, and the ambiance, including a snowy (!) Hogsmeade with familiar shops like Honeydukes, shows loving attention to detail that is intended to immerse visitors in the world we love visiting in books (and movies, since that’s the vision we get here).

 While it might be easy to dismiss this as yet another way to prise Galleons from the pockets of faithful Potter-philes by playing on their love for all things Harry and slapping a Bernie Botts label on bags of Jelly Belly Beans, there may also be something in this development that harks back to what we’ve discussed here before: the power of a truly immersive text. Yes, people will go just to ride the dragon coasters or just because they think some movie actor was cute, but others will go to experience, in three dimensions, the world we’ve pictured in our minds with the books in our hands. We want to peer into Dumbledore’s office or shop at Ollivander’s because these place already seem real to us. We may feel a thrill of delight as the steam issues from the Hogwarts Express, promising us a journey that we have all taken in our minds.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Musings from a L.O.O.N.: ‘Spotlight’ Review

June 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Linda McCabe was one of the first Harry Potter mavens at ‘Harry Potter for Grown-Ups’ to read Hidden Key to Harry Potter after its publication back in 2003. She wrote me to let me know where she thought I was right and brilliant, where she thought I was wrong and way off-base, and to make me aware of the many detail mistakes I had made. Linda was a founder of the League of Obsessive Nit-Pickers (L.O.O.N.) and Hidden Key must have been painful reading for her in regard to spelling and Capitalization errors — unless, of course, numerous nits to picks make reading such a book a delight. We have corresponded since that time about ‘shipping, alchemy, Renaissance epic (especially Orlando Furioso), and many other fandom and literary subjects. A writer herself, Ms. McCabe has never failed to stretch my thinking on whatever subject we’re discussing. I’m as grateful to her for this quality of our correspondence as I am for the several times she has prevented my making (another) public gaffe on a Potter subject and for those times she has ‘taken my back’ when fandom critics have said bizarre things about my books.

My high regard for Ms. McCabe’s opinion makes her positive review of Spotlight, posted Sunday at her ‘Musings of a L.O.O.N.’ website, only that much more meaningful to me. As I work to put together my Bree Tanner thoughts for a longish post here, this was a much needed boost!

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes