Podcasts about Casual vacancy

Nick and John have posted eight Hallmarked Man conversations since its publication last month and, as interesting as their back-and-forth talks have been, South Wales to American Fly Over Country, Lake to Shed, much of the best theorizing and interpreting of Strike 8 has been happening in the comment threads beneath those posts and in email messaging with John. Determined that these insights wouldn't be lost or invisible to Serious Strikers, they chose ten of the most challenging for a fun introduction to the fandom conversations readers not privy to the backchannel moderators network or who neglect the comment threads are missing.In addition, Nick shares the credible speculation that Rowling's weeklong absence from tweeting has been because she is on her Samsara yacht in the South Pacific, circling Bora Bora, believe it or don't. John quizzes Nick, too, about the election in South Wales, Caerphilly to be exact, and the reason the results in that dependably Labour area have the UK buzzing (and why Strike readers might expect the populist party victories will color Strikes 9 and 10).A quick ‘table of contents' for their hasty review, then, followed by links and transcripts! Enjoy — and, yes, have at in the comment threads, please, the locus of Strike fandom conversations.* Ed Shardlow: Gorilla Ryan* Vicky: Boxes and Plush Toys* Sandra Hope: Traditional Symbolism* Justin Clavet: Only Fans Gaffe (Ed Shardlow -- ‘Not Proven' error)* Bora Bora* Justin Clavet: On Manhood* Ed Shardlow: Ickabog Parallel Book Theory* Sandra Hope: Hallmarked Man as Rowling's ‘Greatest Hits' allusion collection* LC - Dorothy Sayers* Kathleen O'Connor -- Alternative Incest* Caerphilly elections -- UK meaning* Ring Composition ProjectPromised Links and Transcripts:* Ed Shardlow's ‘Gorilla Ryan' TheoryThe Ryan the Gorilla theory came to me at the point in the book where Robin has an epiphany following an impulse to look up the meaning of a name. I think this was the Jolanda-Violet realisation, but I thought she'd suddenly realised the full extent of Ryan's dark side, with the significance being the previously noted meaning of his name “Sea King” suggesting a connection between him and Wade King.That theory seemed very flimsy at first, but on further examination it might have some mileage. There are some notable differences between the attack in the Land Rover and the previous ones. Although we imagine the attacker wearing a gorilla mask, there's no mention of it, and in fact it says she can see his face. Also the Land Rover attacker makes no demands that she, “Stop” or, “Leave it”. She hits Wade with the pepper spray, which of course, would be difficult for Ryan to cover up, but she didn't inflict any such injuries on the gorilla attacker. Wade clearly intends to hurt her, whereas the other attacks had no physical violence and look very much like they were just intended to scare her.1) It's hinted that Branfoot knows about Robin's rape, and she says it's on the internet, but we never get any indication that King or Griffiths know about it. Strike and Robin never consider that the attacker might be someone who knows about it because they're close to Robin. That seems like an oversight.2) The gorilla attacker never refers to a specific case. Murphy may be scaring her into quitting the job and getting away from Strike, whereas a suspect would want her to stop investigating their specific case.3) The police don't take the rubber gorilla and dagger for DNA testing. That's pretty strange, unless there's someone on the inside blocking the investigation.There's a bit of an issue with the guy in the green jacket, who presumably Robin can see isn't Ryan when he's on the industrial estate and outside her flat. Presumably that was Wade.So, there would need to be some explanation for how or why Murphy is wearing the same jacket when he accosts her with the ceremonial dagger. But that's not insurmountable.Murphy would have been very surprised to encounter Matthew (sic, he means ‘Martin' -ed.), who he knows from Masham, outside Robin's flat. The narrative very much prompts us to think there's something going on with Murphy, but then we put this down to his work issues and associated relapse, but perhaps that blinds us (and Robin) to another possibility. And if it is the case, then Strike hasn't just let Robin go to dinner with his romantic rival, but she's heading into mortal danger. Were his instincts subconsciously alerting him to the threat? Did he leave it too late to shout, “Brake!” again?Nicola Reed's Objection to ‘Gorilla Ryan' (Sandy Hope, too)Kathleen O'Connor's Cogent Counterpoint to John's Incredulity about No One Noticing How Short Faux-Wright was in the Ramsay Silver footageVicky on the Interpretation of Robin's “Stuffed Toy” DreamBrenna Hill asks ‘Why is the New Ellacott Puppy Named Betty?'Sandra Hope Jumpstarts Conversation about Traditional Symbolism in Hallmarked Man* Masonic Orb Pendant for sale on Etsy ($795)* Jacob's Ladder Mosaic in Masonic Hall, London (Alamy)* The Bohun Swan (‘Chained Swan') (Wikipedia)Justin Clavet: The ‘Only Fans' Gaffe· I commented on the Hogwarts Professor gaffes pillar [Placeholder, ed.] post about the OnlyFans error - that the OnlyFans website was launched in November 2016, but in the book, the murdered Sofia is said to be a prolific OnlyFans poster before her disappearance in June of that same year. The OnlyFans account is only a small point in this large plot, but one that is repeatedly referred to, and Sofia's OnlyFans account is what ultimately brought her to the attention of her killer. For such a meticulous plotter and, as John would say, “OCD” author as Rowling is, does this real-world chronological impossibility give you pause? What other big historical error like this can be found in her books?· Did you notice that the interview with the pornstar occurs in chapter 69? I think Rowling was having a bit of (structural) fun and winking at the observant reader with that one.* Justin Clavet's 3 September ‘Gaffes' posting about ‘Only Fans'The reference to OnlyFans in chapter 33 (p. 269) felt anachronistic to me, as I don't remember ever hearing about the website before the pandemic era. And sure enough, according to Wikipedia (citing a New York Times article), the website didn't launch until November 2016. Therefore, Sofia – who was murdered in June 2016 – could not have been a prolific OnlyFans poster. Sofia's supposed OnlyFans account is referenced several further times throughout the book. Based on data from Google Trends, it seems incredibly unlikely that Strike and Robin would have readily known what OnlyFans was in late 2016/early 2017. So Where is Bora Bora?The Caerphilly 2025 Election: Victories for Left and Right Wing Populist Parties* 2025 Caerphilly Bi-Election (Wikipedia!)* UK's Ruling Labour Suffer Crushing Defeat Against Political Insurgents at Ballot Box (Breitbart)Justin Clavet ‘On Manhood in Hallmarked Man'The biggest thing that struck me in this book was the persistent themes of manhood woven throughout: the responsibilities, relationships, and hardships of men. * The central crime is linked with a secretive fraternal organization. * It opens with the death of Strike's father figure Ted, a “proper man” (p. 38), by whose maxims Strike is newly resolved to live. * We learn that Ted would've murdered (or been murdered by) his father Trevik if he hadn't left home and joined the army (p. 39), just like Strike would have come to blows (or worse) with his step-father Whittaker if he hadn't left home and joined the army. * While he loses the man he called his dad, he has a real meeting with his natural father for the first time. Rokeby shares that, in Strike, he had produced a proper man” (p. 747). * Strike celebrates not having fathered a child (while Robin is distraught in the wake of her own lost child, and devastated that the option to be a mother may no longer be hers to choose).* Richard de Leon says that his brother Danny was made the way he is because of his father's mistreatment. * Strike is bewildered that Danny (who integrates his brother's Christian name into his porn name, Dick de Lion) and Richard could be so close and share so much with each other, contrasting this with his own relationship with Al. * Leda and Rena are both shown to have suffered because of the absence of their more stable brothers. * Strike observes that “men are seen as disposable in certain contexts” (pp. 107f).* Wardle, who is shown to be a caring and dedicated father to his young child, opens up to Strike about his depression and his marriage troubles. * Strike reflects on the shallow friendships he has with other men, and later sees how this kind of friendship can be toxic with the wrong personalities (in Powell, Pratt, and Jones, p. 860). * Strike fears Wardle may be at risk of suicide. Niall is found to have committed suicide after his brother in arms was horrifically executed by Islamist combatants. The public can't be bothered to care about the tragic loss of this man who heroically put his life on the line for his country - preferring instead to lend their attention to the spectacle of another man, Branfoot, who went to extreme lengths to indulge his basest and most perverse desires (p. 873).Like many events in this book, this theme - with characters showing genuine concern and thoughtful consideration of complex men's issues - is a mirror image of one presented in Troubled Blood with the character of Carl Oakden and his cynical men's rights grift.This barely scratches the surface of the notes that I took on this theme, which I saw running deep through the whole book. I wondered if I was just seeing this in the text because of my own perspective as a man, or if it really was there. Indeed, you could find hints of this theme in each of the preceding seven books. But the structural clues left me convinced it was intentional. And when I watched this video (https://robert-galbraith.com/robert-galbraith-discusses-the-case-in-the-hallmarked-man/) the day after finishing the book, there was no doubt.Justin Clavet on the Hallmarked Man Dedication and Rokeby's Gratitude· I connected the book's dedication to Sean and Nadine Harris with Rokeby's statement on p. 748, “Not everyone's got a mate called Leo ‘oo stops ‘em livin' rough” and that he attributes his artistic and financial success to his friend's generosity and charity.Ed Shardlow on The Ickabog as Hallmarked Man's Parallel BookConscious of the links between the first 7 books of the series and the Potter books, and with three books purportedly remaining in the series, I was primed to see a connection between The Hallmarked Man and one of Casual Vacancy, Christmas Pig or the Ickabog. I didn't have any predisposition to it being any of those. Even if Rowling is taking them in some sort of chronological order, there's reason to believe the orders of conception, writing and publishing may differ.At the end of Part One, I thought the Ickabog looked like the best fit based on the fact that the central mystery of who the body in the vault was has a certain similarity to the mystery of the Ickabog itself and whether it was real or a myth. The importance of the truth and the damage done by lies are fundamental to the Ickabog story, and I thought from the start those were major themes in THM.The other correspondences I've spotted:* The police, in various guises, like the royal guard play an important part, largely inept, self-serving, and perpetrators of miscarriages of justice.* The aristocrats - Lord Branfoot, Lady Jenson, Dino Longcaster - lie and deceive to protect their own interests, causing untold damage in the process.* There's terrorism, and terrorism being used to spread fear and division.* Ultimately Rupert and Decima, two sexes but one entity, produce an offspring that may have been defective or corrupted by the state of the world he was born into, but seems to have emerged happy and healthy. Daisy Dovetail having persuaded Rupert the Ickabog that humanity was worth making compromises for.* The main antagonist traps a woman in his house. I thought their names were Esmeralda and Sapphire, but it's Lady Eslanda not Esmeralda… But apparently Eslanda can mean emerald, or VIOLET, or truth… So Eslanda corresponds to both Sapphire and Jolanda!* We visit a feudal state* Ben Liddell – the soldier killed in an incident in a land where there shouldn't have been any military conflict happening and it being covered up by the government* Sandra Hope: The Footprint!Ed Shardlow, I can't wait for your show on the parallels between THM and the Ickabog!!! I just finished rereading both of them and I'm losing my mind! Omg, the footprint: “The Flaw in the Plan (ch32) is that the footprint is hopping (not so much terrifying as ludicrously funny) and Strike noting that the bearer of the footprint in the vault has a limp!! Please let this conversation happen soon!!Sandra Hope: Strike 8 as a ‘Rowling's Greatest Hits Album' of Allusions:Allusions that took my breath away:* Ectopic pregnancy- TB* Schadenfreude- CC* “So many babies”- not just born, but what they're born into- Ickabog borndings* Human trafficking ring- RG* Woman buried in/under concrete- TB* Staged murder involving mutilation- Silkworm* Violent attacks & subsequent PTSD- a Rowling theme in every book, but especially CE & LW* DNA testing & fatherhood- CV, TB* Guys trying to find right time to ask a potential partner a question- GOF lol* Valentine's Day mishaps- CS, TB* Behavior of abandoned mothers-Silkworm (& HBP), specifically Merope, Leonora, Decima (also Leda)* Journalism as a weapon- GOF, OOP, Silkworm, RG* Potential ill usage of mirrors- SSNot a complete list by any means lolLC – Dorothy Sayers Connection?I don't know if there is anything in my seeing parallels between Cormoran and Robin and Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vance (Dorothy Sayers): Peter and Harriet had a very long acquaintance before they finally got engaged, with lots of twists and turns. Peter goes deep undercover in an ad agency in one novel; the feel of it was very similar to Robin going deep undercover in Lethal White. Also, the Sayers novel “Five Red Herrings” also features five men--in this case, five men who could have been the murderer (instead of the victim). Sayers also had very intricate plots that were puzzles--and was a Dante scholar. I believe Jo has mentioned that she admired Sayers. I don't know if these are just interesting parallels that Jo is having fun with or not, but they certainly seem to be more than coincidences. Thanks!Kathleen O'Connor – Alternative Incest Big Twist IdeasI'm impressed by your arguments that we will see some shocking twists – in addition to the shocking twist that Rokeby is actually, in his old age, a good father to his mature son, Cormoran, and not at all the image-focused a*****e we have seen through Strike's eyes up to now. I don't think, however, we will find that Rokeby is not Strike's father. That revelation would dilute Strike's growth in terms of his realizations that he has been mistaken about many things that he has taken for granted in his life. Instead, I think instead we will see a continuation of Robeby's rehabilitation until eventually, like Snape, Rokeby makes some kind of big sacrifice to aid Cormoran or someone/something else important to Cormoran. Also, even though Strike does not physically resemble Rokeby, he does resemble Prudence: * “Seeing them face to face, Robin spotted her partner's resemblance to Jonny Rokeby for the first time. He and his half-sister shared the same defined jaw, the same spacing of the eyes. She wondered – she who had three brothers, all of the same parentage – what it felt like, to make a first acquaintance with a blood relative in your forties. But there was something more there than a faint physical resemblance between brother and sister: they appeared, already, to have established an unspoken understanding.” - The Running Grave And: * “In youth, Strike knew, Rokeby had been exactly as tall as his oldest son, though he was now a little shorter.” - The Hallmarked Man Maybe the big twist and incest plot is connected to either Switch or Whittaker. As we learn from Wikipedia in Career of Evil, Jeff Whittaker never knew who his father was. A strong possibility could be that Patricia Whittaker's own father, Sir Randolph, had gotten her pregnant with Jeff. In that case, keeping that secret – as well as simply keeping the baby away from Leda – could have been the motive for a Whittaker family member to have killed Leda. An even bigger twist might be that Leda did commit suicide, using exactly the method of Krystal Weedon, after she realized that she was Whittaker's sister. Would it be possible for Trevik to have met up with Patricia Whitaker in London and gotten her pregnant? Regardless of the incest angle, I do think we might find that Leda, whose life choices have not allowed her to develop the strength or discipline to face hard truths, may have committed suicide rather than cope with some kind of guilt (maybe she found out what happened to Lucy?). There are multiple examples that foreshadow these possibilities – off the top of my head, there are “naughty boy” wealthy aristos (Freddy Chiswell, Alexander Graves, Will Edensor, Jago Ross) who might parallel Sir Randolph or Jeff Whittaker, and multiple characters who confuse suicide with sacrifice or who simply cannot face what they have done (Cherie Gittins, Krystal Weedon, Yasmin Weatherhead). Rhiannon Winn and Ellie Fancourt both commit suicide because they cannot cope with the shame they feel as a result of others' cruelty.Also, I can think of two points that support your idea that we will find out some bad things about Ted. Number one, the revelations that Dumbledore was extremely flawed are crucial to Harry's story. In fact, I suggest that writing characters who are not merely “gray” but who are simultaneously really good and really bad is a “golden thread” of Rowling's work. And, number two, we hear multiple times that Ted taught Strike, “There's no pride in having what you never worked for” while Rokeby says “I don't wanna die wivvout knowin' ya. You fink I 'aven't got the right to be proud, maybe, but I am. I'm proud of ya.” I don't think it is an accident that Rowling sets up this opposition, and I also think she wants us to admire Rokey's desire to know his son. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

It's been a month since the publication of Hallmarked Man so Nick and John decide to have a ‘Pit Pony Pickleball' match in which they serve and volley Strike 8 examples of Shed tools and Lake springs as fast as they can. After a round of back and forth between Team Lake and Team Shed, they do a flash round of Golden Threads against the clock and then John is given a ‘Final Jeopardy' tie-breaker question about the most controversial perennial plot point in Rowling's work.It's a reverse Kanreki exercise, in other words. In their conversations about each of Rowling's novels, screenplays, play script, text books, and short story collection, Nick and John discussed one Lake spring, a source point of story inspiration from Rowling's life experience and core beliefs, and one Shed tool, her deliberate artistry to craft that inspiration into edifying and engaging story. Here they have a ‘Blitz Chess' match, to switch sporting metaphors, to try and cover as many Lake, Shed, and Thread points with examples from Rowling's latest as possible.Perhaps the most important take-away, though, is the three conclusions about Hallmarked Man they've come to after a month of reading that they think will be the consensus view of Strike 8 after we have Strikes 9 and 10. Make some popcorn, find your score card and a comfortable place to watch and take notes; this is an episode for the ages! (Insert your preferred Wrestle-Mania or like programming promotional hyperbole here.)The Kanreki Index of Rowling's Shed Tools, Lake Springs and Golden ThreadsIn July 2025, Nick Jeffery and I logged a marathon of Kanreki ‘Lake and Shed' video posts at this site in celebration of Rowling's life and work at her 60th birthday. For listeners of this ‘Blitz' Lake and Shed reading of The Hallmarked Man, I repost below an easy-to-access-and-reference single place for readers to find much longer discussion of each Shed tool, Lake spring, and Golden Thread, as well as an introduction to Fourth Generation Rowling Studies hermeneutics. Enjoy!Introduction to the Kanreki Project* The Goal and the Methodology of the Hogwarts Professor Tag-Team Month-Long Birthday Party for Serious Readers of Rowling-GalbraithOn 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, celebrated her 60th birthday. This specific celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, 還暦, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, read through Rowling's more than twenty published works and reviewed them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' she said in 2019 and 2024 is the source of her inspiration and the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age.Join us after the jump for the complete compendium of the Harry Potter, Cormoran Strike, Fantastic Beast, ‘Stand Alone' stories, and Golden Thread posts!The Lake and Shed Conversations about the Harry Potter Novels and Extras* Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneNick discusses Hogsmeade Comprehensive School, as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry should be properly called, and John explains the ten different genres that Rowling uses in Philosopher's Stone* Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsJohn explores the Freudian parallels that Rowling paints into Chamber of Secrets, and Nick talks about her oldest, and probably best friend Sean Harris, the inspiration for Ron Weasley.* Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanNick shares the London institution of the (k)night bus. Part drunk carriage, part dormitory for the homeless in foul weather, zig-zaging across London between midnight and five in the morning. John shares the Parallel Series Idea (PSI) and compare Prisoner of Azkaban with Robert Galbraith's Career of Evil.* Harry Potter and the Goblet of FireNick talks about the trip Rowling made as a teenager to Cornwall as a young woman in which some Quidditch World Cup camping may have been involved and about her core beliefs about bigotry and prejudice. John reviews Rowling's tagging Goblet as a “crucial” and “pivotal” part of the seven book series and introduces how the ‘story turn' in a ring composition reflects the beginning and end of the story.* Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixNick talks about the darkest period in Jo Rowling's life, namely, her return to the UK from Portugal as a single mother in Edinburgh. With Order of the Phoenix in full nigredo mode John talks literary alchemy.* Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceNick reveals the real life model for Severus Snape, Rowling's Chemistry teacher at Wydean Comprehensive, and his remarkable story and melancholy end. John reviews Rowling's version of the so-called ‘Hero's Journey,' how she re-makes it into a life-after-death ‘Harry's Journey' ten step dance we see in every book — except for Half-Blood Prince with its two chapters before we begin at Privet Drive and its ending without a Dumbledore Denouement or trip to King's Cross.* Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsJohn and Nick discuss the ‘Deathly Hallows' symbol, a triangulated and vertically bisected circle, from both its biographical point of inspiration to its anagogical or sublime depths. Nick reveals Rowling's story about how she was watching the 1975 John Huston film ‘The Man Who Would Be King' the night her mother died and that believes the “Masonic tag” of the story-line was her sub-conscious source for the Deathly Hallows ‘“triangular eye.” John thinks Rowling is really reaching here, akin to her claim that the name ‘Hogwarts' came from a trip to a public garden rather than the Molesworth books. He reviews the five eyes of Deathly Hallows and explains how Rowling embeds both a key to the four-level interpretation of symbols in how characters respond to that image and a model of how we are to interpret and understand her ‘transformed vision' mission as a writer.* Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find ThemNick and John return to the books at a reader's suggestion in order to give a Lake and Shed reading of the original Newt Scamander textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Nick relays everything you need to know about the genesis of this work and John talks about Rowling's comments to Stephen Fry in a 2022 interview about “archetypal” animals and the importance of understanding them because human beings are story-telling animals. Her discussion of the Lethifold and Niffler are especially challenging and illuminating.* The Tales of Beedle the BardNick and John fulfill a reader request to discuss the book inside Deathly Hallows (one of three actually…), ‘Tales of Beedle the Bard,' a text that Albus Dumbledore leaves Hermione in his will for her to read and apply to the Horcrux Hunt. Nick tells the story of Rowling's creation of six hand-written copies as six-of-a-kind gifts for those who brought Harry Potter to life. John dives into the center story of the five tales, ‘The Hairy Heart,' and tells the meaning of Harry's heart to draw out what Rowling meant by describing Beedle as “the distillation” of the Hogwarts Saga.The Lake and Shed Conversations about the Cormoran Strike Novels* The Cuckoo's CallingThe ‘Lake' point that Nick explores is the identity of the real Deeby Mac, namely, Di Brooks, Rowling's former security director and currently her office manager, a veteran with years of experience in the SIB. John's ‘Shed' point is his pushback against the idea that Calling wasn't really the first book in the series because Rowling has said she had the idea for it after Silkworm and only chose it because the case would make her detective famous.* The SilkwormThe ‘Lake' point that Nick reveals is the probable identity of ‘Jenkins,' the mystery person to whom Strike 2 is dedicated, a revelation consequent to no little detective work (and a very close reading of Louisa May Alcott!). He also discusses some real-life literary infighting in contemporary London that might have been lifted from the pages of Silkworm. John argues that this ur-novel of the series, its point of conception, is Rowling's not especially opaque guide to how to understand a novelist's life and to appreciate their work, in short, her first ‘Lake and Shed' discussion (albeit one embedded in story).* Career of EvilThe ‘Lake' point that Nick explores is Rowling's personal experience of violence against women and her determination to push back against the misogynist age she believes we have been living in for decades. John details the litany of crimes committed against women in the third Strike novel and suggests that in time, when we have the series as a whole, appreciation of the artistry involved will counter-balance the shock first-time readers feel on entering this boucherie.* Lethal WhiteNick discusses the embedded class struggle in the book and its roots in Rowling's background before dropping the bomb of the real world identity of Jack O'Kent and his unhappy family. John is so taken aback by this revelation that Nick has to prompt the Shed portion of the conversation with a fun history of the Sonia Friedman production of Ibsen's Rosmersholm on London's West End, a show starring Thom Burke as Rosmer and which ended just before Bronte Studios beginning the filming of Lethal White.* Troubled Blood (A)Nick discusses Rowling's history with the divinatory art of astrology and the occult resources and reference works she brought into play in writing a novel whose primary embedded text is a murder scene's astrological chart. John talks about the astrological clock structure of twelve houses in which Galbraith tells this remarkable story.* Troubled Blood (B)Nick discusses Rowling's history with the Clerkenwell neighborhood. John talks about Troubled Blood as a double re-telling of The Faerie Queene, Book One, with Strike and Margot as the Redcrosse Knight and Oonaugh and Robin as Una.* Ink Black HeartNick covers the front and the back of making Lake readings of Strike6 without a lot of circumspection and John talks about the eerie feeling he had while reading this book that the author was ‘having a go' at him.* The Running GraveNick confesses to having felt stumped about what to say as his ‘Lake' contribution to the Strike7 discussion — before his epiphany on a long walk with Addie that almost every buoy or pillar in Rowling's metaphorical place of inspiration finds its reflection in the seventh Galbraith mystery. John refuses to go into any detail about the work's ‘wheels within wheels within wheels' ring structure but shares instead the symbolic depth of Mama Mazu's mother of pearl fish pendant.The Lake and Shed Conversations about the Stand-Alone Works* Casual VacancyNick explains all the projects we now know she was working on between 2007 and 2012, the dates of Deathly Hallows and Casual Vacancy's respective publication dates, as well as the degree to which readers can assume that the novel's Simon Price is a fictional portrait of her father, Peter Rowling. John describes the three Gospel parables embedded in Casual Vacancy and why he thinks the book was a project the author was working on before the Hogwarts Saga as well as why it reflects a religious crisis akin to Harry's ‘struggle to believe' in Deathly Hallows.* Harry Potter and the Cursed ChildNick reviews the history of how Rowling was sold on the idea of a Wizarding World stage production via a bit of bait and switch marketing and John reads the review of the Jack Thorn script by Pepperdine English Professor James Thomas. Neither John nor Nick is a big fan of the play but their back and forth about the several controversies connected with it and the question of its being “the eighth Harry Potter story” are still challenging and fun.* The IckabogNick takes the ‘Shed' point and lays out the controlled demolition of her reputation among Group Thinkers on the Left in the lead up to Ickabog's publication and John shares the meaning of ‘The Ickabog's Song,' the embedded text of the tale, as interpreted by Daisy Dovetail (an embedded author?).* The Christmas Pig (A)Nick discusses Rowling's many interview statements about the Things which were lost and how many of them match up with things she has lost; he takes a deep dive into the Blue Bunny episode outside the Gates of the City of the Missed and Rowling's embedding herself and her daughter Mackenzie in the story. John talks about the Blue Bunny and his being “found” or “saved” as an allegory of the human condition written in the Rowling shorthand-symbols for (and obsessions with) love, salvation, and what is real.* The Christmas Pig (B)Nick by the Lake shares the history of the Murray Family and their beanie pig toys as well as a likely source for the defenestration of DP (in Esquire magazine, no less). John talks about the promise and the limits of reading literature through a biographical lens and then explains the anagogical meaning of the Power palace kangaroo court trial of CP and Jack. Both share their reasons for thinking that The Christmas Pig is the perfect distillation of everything Rowling is doing as a writer, to include the relationship of her Lake inspiration to her final Shed product.The Lake and Shed Conversations about the Fantastic Beasts Screenplays* Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find ThemNick does his signature deep dive into the history of the Fantastic Beasts film franchise's origins in Warner Brothers' determination to keep the Wizarding World profit-pillar in their portfolio alive after the last Harry Potter adaptation — and Rowling's equal determination that they not use their copyright privilege to muck up her legacy with an Indiana Jones meets Crocodile Dundee knock-off. John takes the Shed pole in the conversation and shares his months long pursuit of the shooting text screenplay, the actual last screenplay over which Rowling had control.* The Crimes of GrindelwaldOn the Lake side of things, Nick explores the Johnny Depp casting scandal and the lead-up in 2018 to the 2019 Tweet Heard Round the World. John explains that the cut scenes from this dog's mess of a movie point that the shooting script, i.e., what Rowling wrote and approved before David Yates butchered the film in the editing room, was all about Leta Lestrange. More important, John makes the Shed point that every Rowling book features a text of some kind that the characters struggle to understand — and that Crimes of Grindelwald has ten of these, a veritable library of interior texts to interpret.* The Secrets of DumbledoreNick lays out the drama surrounding the third Fantastic Beasts franchise film and his favorite part of the movie (hint: it's about “confusion”). John reveals why Jacob gets a Snakewood wand and one without a core as well as why he thinks Kowalski is the embedded author in this series.The Lake and Shed Conversations about Rowling's Golden Threads and Shed Tools* Chiastic Structure, a.k.a. Ring CompositionJohn travels to his backyard Mongolian ger, the archetypal circular architectural form, to deliver a firehose introduction to the four essentials of ring writing. He uses slides to depict the structure of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as his brief ‘for instance' of how Rowling chooses to organize her stories and he provides a list of links (below!) for further reading.* Survey of Rowling's Golden Threads (A)In this first overview of the Golden Threads, Nick and John go back and fourth with four Threads each. Nick gives at least three examples for Bad Dad, Writing about Writing, Violence against Women, and the Evils of Fleet Street. John responds with three or more 'for instances' of Mother Love, Ghosts, Pregnancy Traps, and the Lost Child with Grieving Steward.* Survey of Rowling's Golden Threads (B)In this second overview of the Golden Threads, Nick and John talk about Kanreki red caps and tackle three Threads each. Nick gives at least three examples for Evil Government, Occult tropes, and the Embedded Author. John responds with three or more 'for instances' of the Search for the Real, Embedded Texts, and Shadow Doppelgangers.* The ‘Lost Child' Golden Thread Oeuvre ReviewFor the day before Rowling's 60th birthday, Nick and John tackle by reader request the never before discussed subject of the Lost Child theme in the author's more than twenty published works. They re-introduce the Golden Threads idea — see their Pregnancy Trap podcast or the two Kanreki series on this subject (links in post) — then they do a deep dive into the crowded waters of Lost Children in her work, and then they go out out on a high-wire to speculate about what specific spring in her Lake subconscious mind is responsible for this recurrent inspiration.* The ‘Lost Child' Golden Thread “So What?” ConversationAs a birthday gift of sorts, Nick and John close off their month-long celebration of Rowling-Galbraith's life and work with a follow-up look at yesterday's review of the ‘Lost Child' Golden Thread that runs through her stories. After cataloging the almost forty ‘for instances' taken from the opera omnia in the penultimate entry in this series, Nick and John ask, “So What?” How does the possibility that Rowling had an induced abortion and is sufficiently unsettled by it that it inspires many even most of her books at least in part make any difference in understanding their artistry and meaning?‘Strike Extended Play' or ‘How a Seven Book Series Can Be Stretched into Ten' Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back! John and Nick, having finished their Lake and Shed review of the seven Harry Potter novels, the first seven Strike-Ellacott adventures, the three Fantastic Beasts screenplays, and the three stand-alone stories Cursed Child, Casual Vacancy, and Christmas Pig, are open to suggestions about how to fill the remaining week of daily conversations until Rowling's birthday on July 31st. The first request we received was one asking for more on the ‘Twelve Golden Threads' in the work of J. K. Rowling, the plot points and story features that run through everything she writes.In this first overview of the Golden Threads, Nick and John go back and fourth with four Threads each. Nick gives at least three examples for Bad Dad, Writing about Writing, Violence against Women, and the Evils of Fleet Street. John responds with three or more 'for instances' of Mother Love, Ghosts, Pregnancy Traps, and the Lost Child with Grieving Steward. Enjoy!New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.Tomorrow? John and Nick talk about the six remaining Golden Threads, namely, Bad Government, Occult Tokens, the Search for the Real, Embedded Texts, the Embedded Author, and Shadow Doppelgangers. Stay tuned!Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:'Pregnancy Traps' in the Works of J. K. Rowling: A Rowling Studies Podcast* The Golden Thread of Coercive Love that Runs Through Everything She has WrittenThe seven Hogwarts Professor weblog posts that John and Nick reference in that conversation can be found here:Rowling Pregnancy Traps: Merope GauntRowling Pregnancy Traps: Casual Vacancy's Krystal Weedon, Kay BawdenRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Bellatrix Lestrange and the Cursed Child DelphiniRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Leda StrikeRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Four StrikesRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Last StrikesRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Fantastic Beasts, The Ickabog, The Christmas Pig Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about Rowling's remarkable “fairy-tale” and the history and meaning of its release during the “pandemic” hysteria of 2020. The Ickabog, along with Casual Vacancy and Ink Black Heart, is not only one of Rowling's most autobiographical works, but, with the Lake and Shed interview, the Solve et Coagula tattoo, her RFK Award speech, and the Trans Tweet Heard Round the World, a key to her self-understanding in the critical year 2019-2020. Nick takes the ‘Shed' point and lays out the controlled demolition of her reputation among Group Thinkers on the Left in the lead up to Ickabog's publication and John shares the meaning of ‘The Ickabog's Song,' the embedded text of the tale, as interpreted by Daisy Dovetail (an embedded author?).New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.Tomorrow? Perhaps the best single book by Rowling-Galbraith, Troubled Blood. Nick will be sharing Rowling's skills in and beliefs about astrology which plays an outsised role in the fifth Strike novel. John talks about the “Best Mate” scene in the Agency office and its important mythological backdrop. Stay tuned!Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:Nick Jeffery: Beginning at the Beginning A History of ‘Ickabog' and Christmas PigInk Black Heart and Deathly Hallows: The Heart is Not About Emotions and Affection but the Human Spiritual CenterWeek Seven of the Ickabog! Hurrah!* Last Chapters Comment‘The Song of the Ickabog' — Three NotesRowling Writes Trans Views Tell All Post; Fandom Divides ‘Team Jo,' ‘Team Trans'Reading, Writing, Rowling 44: Ickabog! John Granger's Last MuggleNet PodcastRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Fantastic Beasts, The Ickabog, The Christmas PigRowling Tweets Potter Fandom, IckabogThe Ickabog: Rowling Facebook EventGuest Post: Ickabog Notes & PredictionsThe Ickabog: JKR's Political Fairy TaleWas 2020 A Bad Year for J. K. Rowling? Nominated for 3 British Book AwardsGroves: The Rowling-Norton InterviewThe Names of “The Ickabog” – Part 1 (Beatrice GrovesThe Names of “The Ickabog” – Part 2: Ichabod (Beatrice Groves) Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about J. K. Rowling's first Cormoran Strike novel, The Cuckoo's Calling. Nick and John debate the degree of Rowling's dishonesty about writing a detective series before she was outed as ‘Robert Galbraith' to include whether she really had any other plan than for the book to be published by the company and edited by the editor who handled Casual Vacancy. The ‘Lake' point that Nick explores is the identity of the real Deeby Mac, namely, Di Brooks, Rowling's former security director and currently her office manager, a veteran with years of experience in the SIB. John's ‘Shed' point is his pushback against the idea that Calling wasn't really the first book in the series because Rowling has said she had the idea for it after Silkworm and only chose it because the case would make her detective famous. John argues that the many echoes that connect the first, fourth, and seventh books but especially Calling and Running Grave mean that Calling is the point of origin around which the ring of the first seven novels was constructed.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The eight HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* A Lake and Shed Reading of The Casual VacancyTomorrow? It's The Silkworm, the first Comoran Strike novel by conception, not publication, in Rowling's oeuvre (or ‘in Robert Galbraith's, if you prefer the second of Mrs. Murray's pseudonyms), in which Nick reveals the real-life feuding authors behind the Strike2 bitter battles between book-men (and Jenkins!) while John talks about the metaliterary heft of Silkworm's “novel inside a novel about novels.” See you then!Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:* Meet the Real ‘Deeby Mac:' Evidence from the Amanda Donaldson Lawsuit * Cuckoo's Calling and Running Grave: The Essential Echoes and Parallels Between the First and Seventh Strike Mysteries* Did Charlotte Campbell Commit Suicide or Was She Murdered? The Argument from the Faked Suicide-Murders in Cuckoo, Lethal White, and Running Grave* Rowling Says The Silkworm was the First Cormoran Strike Novel Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about J. K. Rowling's first adult novel and one Nick and John think she may have been writing before she was inspired to write Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It's that autobiographical, a transparency of sorts for the several unhappy women Jo Rowling Murray has been. Nick explains all the projects we now know she was working on between 2007 and 2012, the dates of Deathly Hallows and Casual Vacancy's respective publication dates, as well as the degree to which readers can assume that the novel's Simon Price is a fictional portrait of her father, Peter Rowling. John describes the three Gospel parables embedded in Casual Vacancy and why he thinks the book was a project the author was working on before the Hogwarts Saga as well as why it reflects a religious crisis akin to Harry's ‘struggle to believe' in Deathly Hallows.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The seven HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsTomorrow? It's Cuckoo's Calling, the first Comoran Strike publication in Rowling's oeuvre (or ‘in Robert Galbraith's, if you prefer the second of Mrs. Murray's pseudonyms), in which Nick reveals the real-life Deeby Mac to whom the book is dedicated and John talks about the parallels between the first and seventh Strike novels. See you then!Links from today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:* ‘Bad Dad:' A History of Rowling's Relationship with Peter Rowling, Her Father; * ‘Christmas Pig 1: Jack Jones, Peter, and John,' Rowling's Use of the Names ‘Peter' and ‘Simon' for Bad Guys in Her Stories;* ‘Exceptions to the Peter-John Rule: John Bristow, Dolores Umbridge, Matt Cunliffe;'* Casual Vacancy: The Characters Derived from Rowling's Life and Why the Book Should Not Be Read through a Biographical Lens;* The Christian Hypocrites and Sympathetic Sikhs in Casual Vacancy;* The Review of Casual Vacancy in Christianity Today (2012);* The Casual Vacancy and the ‘Good Samaritan' Gospel Parable; and* J. K. Rowling on the ‘Good Samaritan' Event in Casual Vacancy Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about the seventh and final Harry Potter novels Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. John and Nick discuss the ‘Deathly Hallows' symbol, a triangulated and vertically bisected circle, from both its biographical point of inspiration to its anagogical or sublime depths. Nick reveals Rowling's story about how she was watching the 1975 John Huston film ‘The Man Who Would Be King' the night her mother died and that believes the “Masonic tag” of the story-line was her sub-conscious source for the Deathly Hallows '“triangular eye.” John thinks Rowling is really reaching here, akin to her claim that the name ‘Hogwarts' came from a trip to a public garden rather than the Molesworth books. He reviews the five eyes of Deathly Hallows and explains how Rowling embeds both a key to the four-level interpretation of symbols in how characters respond to that image and a model of how we are to interpret and understand her ‘transformed vision' mission as a writer.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of post: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The six HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read here:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceTomorrow? It's Casual Vacancy, the first post-Potter publication in Rowling's oeuvre, the most transparently auto-biographical, and the book Rowling Readers with few exceptions (I'm one!) deny ever re-reading. See you then! Links from today's Lake and Shed conversation:* “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” Kipling, and the Origins of the Deathly Hallows Symbol (Beatrice Groves)* Beatrice Groves Archive at HogwartsProfessor.com* The Deathly Hallows Lectures (John Granger)* ‘The Eyes of Deathly Hallows' Lecture in NYC, 2010Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Get a preview of the latest Harry Potter academic anthology, featuring a diverse array of essays on the series. We're joined by Dr. Lana Whited (Ferrum College), editor of The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter (University of Missouri Press, 2002), one of the first anthologies focused on the series, and now the second volume, The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, and Beyond (University of Missouri Press, 2024). Quite a bit of Potter scholarship is contained in anthologies devoted entirely to the series, possibly due in part to the historical difficulty of getting Potter studies articles accepted by academic journals, but these anthologies have helped to develop a community around the subject. The first volume came out when there were only four books; by the time of the second, Lana was able to seek out chapters not only on the full series but also Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as well as The Casual Vacancy, the Cormoran Strike books, and even The Ickabog. The new anthology, coming over 20 years after the first, offers something of a retrospective on how far Potter studies has come. While early scholarship was mostly written by literary scholars, the field has grown to include religious, psychological, political, and scientific perspectives. Podcasts have also contributed a great deal to discourse. Of course, the author's changing reputation has had a major impact. Emily, Katy, and Lana discuss their respective chapters, "Parenting Models in the Potter Saga and Cursed Child: Human and Divine," "Secrecy and Segregation in the Wizarding World's Hidden Histories," and "The Ickabog, Monsters, and Monstrosity," offering a sample of the range of topics covered.

Today's motivation is about living your best life. Audio Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYPGkcwa6Tw More about JK: Joanne Rowling, also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has sold over 600 million copies, been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith. Quote of the Day: “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” ― J.K. Rowling Leave a review on Apple Podcasts Support via Patreon Check out my Personal Finance/Investing Podcast Join the Upcoming Newsletter Let's Stay Motivated On Discord --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/motiv8/support

Joanne Rowling CH OBE HonFRSE FRCPE FRSL (/ˈroʊlɪŋ/ ROH-ling; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote a seven-volume children's fantasy series, Harry Potter, published from 1997 to 2007. The series has been enormously successful: it has sold over 500 million copies, been translated into at least 70 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, as Robert Galbraith.Born in Yate, Rowling graduated with a degree in French from the University of Exeter in 1987 and began working temp jobs as a bilingual secretary. In 1990, the idea for the characters of Harry Potter came to her while she waited on a delayed train; later that year, her mother died of multiple sclerosis. In the seven years before publication of the first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), Rowling moved to Portugal, married, had a daughter, relocated to Scotland when her marriage failed, divorced, and earned a teaching certificate. She wrote while living on state assistance as a single parent, deeply affected by her mother's death. By 2008, Forbes had named her the world's highest-paid author.Rowling concluded the Harry Potter series with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). The novels follow a boy named Harry Potter as he attends Hogwarts, a school for wizards, and battles Lord Voldemort. Death and the divide between good and evil are the central themes of the series. Its influences include the Bildungsroman (coming-of-age story), school stories, fairy tales, and Christian allegory. The series revived fantasy as a genre in the children's market, spawned a host of imitators, and inspired an active fandom. Critical reception has been more mixed. Many reviewers see Rowling's writing as conventional; some regard her portrayal of gender and social division as regressive. There were also religious debates over Harry Potter.Rowling has won many accolades for her work. She was named to the Order of the British Empire and was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature and philanthropy. Harry Potter brought her wealth and recognition that she has used to advance philanthropic endeavours and political causes. She co-founded the charity Lumos and established the Volant Charitable Trust, named after her mother. Rowling's charitable giving centres on medical causes and supporting at-risk women and children. In politics, she has donated to Britain's Labour Party and opposed Scottish independence and Brexit. Since late 2019, she has publicly expressed her opinions on transgender people and related civil rights. These have been criticised as transphobic by LGBT rights organisations and some feminists, but have received support from other feminists and individuals.

Fan-fucking fiction at its finest. Today we are talking about 50 Shades of Gray, the instant cult obsession creating a huge literary fan base around the world. And even though it's been years (literally) since we've read the series, that doesn't matter. The prose aren't that great, but the sex scenes live on forever - how can they not? But we actually speak very little (well, kind of a little) about the sex, and mostly about how awkward it is to read romance novels in public places (primarily planes which = tight quarters). We do give full credit to James though because despite the terrible prose, she made the BDSM world much more accessible to all of us, and opened up this genre of romance for readers and other authors alike - BTW, Goop is hot on your tail. If Yoni eggs are your jam, stick one up the vajayjay, and let's talk about the following: 1. How James really did make it okay for anything to be okay between 2 consenting adults in the world-oh-sexy time. 2. How do you read romance novels in public, without everyone knowing it?? 3. The fan fiction lead up from Twilight to 50 Shades, and does writing such an instant and global success cause you to never be able to write again? We see you, J.K. and The Casual Vacancy. 4. And Bonus, why the male and female perspective of the world will literally NEVER line up. Ever. Ask our husbands. Or don't, they might not get it. Resources + Books Mentioned in Today's Episode: 50 Shades of Gray, EL James: https://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Shades-Trilogy-Darker-Freed/dp/034580404X Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, Jonathon Howard https://www.amazon.com/Johannes-Cabal-Necromancer/dp/0767930762

Discussing the book The Casual Vacancy without spoilers. Hope you all get a chance to read it. I would like to introduce each of our members in attendance briefly with their instagram tags. Please follow them all. Thank you. Erin - @erin_eatsbooks and Riffat - @booksection. Please note that Riffat also has a blog: www.teacrockery.blog/ *********************************************************************************************************************************** It does take a lot of effort to produce these episodes. Your support means the world to me. How about Buy Me A Coffee, I would greatly appreciate it. I can use all the caffeine I can get. LOL. And THANK YOU. If you have any questions about this or any other episode, please contact me by email at livingalifethroughbooks@gmail.com. Join Libro.FM and use code LLTBPODCAST to get 2 audiobooks for the price of one. When you click on the link, please double check that it says "Get 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 from Living A Life Through Books" at the top of the page. Or make sure you add the code. I had some issues in the past. If you enjoyed this episode or any of my previous episodes, please write me a review on Apple Podcasts. I thank you for it. My website is being worked on. I'm getting help. YAY. So, watch out for that. Please follow me on a new app called Swell. I'm @bookishpodcast. You can interact with me there also. On TikTok, I'm @drshahnazahmed. I'm so new to TikTok, I'll be fumbling with it for months to come. haha. Oh Clubhouse, look me up by name: Shahnaz Ahmed --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/livingalifethroughbooks/message

Welcome to L.o.C.O.S.! This week's Vibey Vibes: Space Jam, The Casual Vacancy, Find Us, Black Widow, Loki, Luca, Erased, The Hunt, Nobody, A Quiet Place 2, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Gunpowder Milkshake, Gotham, Harley Quinn. Animation & Entertainment News: Avatar: Last Airbender, Netflix, Live-Action Barbie Movie, Cartoon Network, Battu, The Croods A New Age, Inside Out, Disney, Pixar, Silverhawks and more. Gaming News: Activision, Blizzard, Bungee, Ubisoft, Far Cry 6, Riders Republic, Rainbox 6 Extraction, EA Games, Vin Diesel and more. Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you love it, spread the nonsense and share with your friends. Stay safe and take care! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thelocos/message

Joanne Rowling, known as JK Rowling, is known globally for writing one of the best selling book series in history. Harry Potter and his classmates now have their firm place in the collective imagination of a generation of readers. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith. In the shed, Jo Rowling discusses the joys and the pains of writing with fellow author Simon Armitage, explaining how she picked up a pen to start again after the huge success of her first series. She discusses myths and the truths that have grown up around the books, including the idea that she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London. Jo brings a very special 'show and tell' into the shed when she gives Simon the chance to dip into her very first notebooks, never before shown publicly, which she used to collect early ideas that might end up in a first Potter book, including the names of the pupils in Harry's class. The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. There were six further books in the series, of which the last was released in 2007. Since then, Jo has written several books for adult readers: The Casual Vacancy (2012) and - under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith - the crime-fiction Cormoran Strike series. She has lived a "rags to riches" life in which she progressed from living on benefits to being one of the best- selling writers of all time, giving away much of her earnings to charity. Produced by Susan Roberts

Removal of Directors and Casual Vacancy.

We continue our discussion on the most shocking moments in Harry Potter fandom history, with some stories you'll remember -- and others you probably forgot! In 2012, Micah discovered that JKR had announced she was actively working on a Harry Potter Encyclopedia, but it was quickly retracted once the story got out. In 2013, Rowling was outed as male author Robert Galbraith by a lawyer's... wife's... friend... and a British newspaper. Later that same year, only a week after MuggleCast "ended," the Fantastic Beasts film series was announced! Years later, can we all agree Fantastic Beasts IS a prequel? Dumbledore's appearance in Crimes of Grindelwald and the casting of Jude Law was a delightful surprise. In 2016, more Wizarding World schools were announced, and controversy may have prevented us from getting more that were promised. The same year, the stage show Cursed Child is announced, and debuts in 2 parts! We revisit the original description of the show, which is very different than the final product. Honorable mentions submitted by our listeners include Ron/Hermione regrets, Rowling on Twitter, and the Wizards Unite game. We also reflect on the actors we've lost over the years. To wrap up our discussion, each of the hosts speculates on which crazy "impossible" idea will be the next shocking news story in fandom. Quizzitch: Who portrayed the character of Barry Fairbrother on the BBC series adaptation of the Casual Vacancy? Visit MuggleCast.com/Quizzitch to submit your answer! This week's episode is sponsored by Support us on Patreon and receive magical benefits, like access to our recording studio, Bonus MuggleCast, a personalized thank you video from one of the hosts and more! On this month's Bonus MuggleCast, we share our thoughts on a Harry Potter cast reunion!

This episode we’re discussing the dreaded Did Not Finish! We talk about why we don’t finish books, specific titles we didn’t finish, why not finishing books can be good, what “finishing” a book even means, how you “finish” a cross-media property, and returning to books we stopped reading. Plus: Speedrunning books! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Books We Did Not Finish Reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand Little Women by Louisa May Alcott The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien Rivendale (Wikipedia) Shelob (Wikipedia) A Walking Song The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.” American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, translated by Reg Keeland Moby-Dick or, the Whale by Herman Melville Other Media We Mentioned (and may have finished!) The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling Highlander (film) (Wikipedia) Nart Sagas from the Caucasus: Myths and Legends from the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs by John Colarusso Overwatch (video game) (Wikipedia) Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wikipedia) Spyro the Dragon (Wikipedia) Later Alligator Final Fantasy VII (Wikipedia) Grand Theft Auto (Wikipedia) World of Warcraft (Wikipedia) Steven Universe (Wikipedia) Some of the pilot episode Vinyl soundtrack Other Friends Song Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Wikipedia) Once More, with Feeling (musical episode) (Wikipedia) Buffering the Vampire Slayer Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (Wikipedia) Everyday Madness: On Grief, Anger, Loss and Love by Lisa Appignanesi  Nightrunner Series by Lynn Flewelling Tamír Triad Series by Lynn Flewelling Fables, Vol. 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and James Jean RJ’s review Links, Articles, and Things Matthew made the spreadsheet of the least finished books for Episode 095 - Ratings, Reviews, and Tags (you can find more info in the show notes to that episode) Retro Hugo Awards (Wikipedia) Smart Bitches, Trashy Books - Reviews by Grade  Goodreads tags Put Aside Set Aside BC4M Bookclub4m Mangasplaining What do they mean by "tricks/strats/splits?" “Strats are strategies used to save time.” Questions Have you ever read a Highlander novel? Will you join us in reading “book twos” in 2022? 20 Religious Fiction by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here. This retroactive genre list is for our episode on Religious Fiction. As discussed in that episode, Religious Fiction may mean something very different to different readers. The books in this list are fiction with prominent religious or spiritual themes, but vary quite a bit in tone and include a wide range of perspectives. Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin Church Folk by Michele Andrea Bowen Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie, translated by by Adriana Hunter Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins Silence by Shūsaku Endō, translated by William Johnston Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Hamidou Kane, translated by Katherine Woods Ariel Samson: Freelance Rabbi by MaNishtana Deacon King Kong by James McBride Saint Young Men by Hikaru Nakamura, translated by Alethea & Athena Nibley God in Pink by Hasan Namir Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe  A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese Give us feedback! Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read! Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email! No book speedruns on our YouTube channel, but you can watch Matthew (and others) playthrough visual novels! Join us again on Tuesday, June 1st we’ll be discussing the genre of Crime Fiction! Then it’s almost time for our annual “We all read the same book” episode. So on Tuesday, June 15th we’ll each suggest and talk about one title and you’ll get to vote for which one we’ll read.

Welcome to Episode 9 of the Westmoreland Podcast!Well friends, it was only a matter of time before two sisters creating a podcast managed to talk about cycles...and Shakespeare? Yes. Per our usual, we cover a lot of bookish ground in one episode! But don't worry, the cycle talk is under 2 minutes and includes an awesome resource for teens. Otherwise, in this episode we discuss whether or not we collect books intentionally or just accumulate as many books as possible. It's maybe a little of both. Also, the outtakes are a whole conversation with strong opinions about chocolate, so don't miss that...and let us know your chocolate preferences! Thanks for listening!Stuff We MentionEaston Press BooksBooks We MentionA Fatal Grace, by Louise PennyTaking Charge of Your Fertility, by Toni WeschlerCycle Savvy, by Toni WeschlerUsborne Illustrated Stories from Shakespeare, illustrated by Christa UnznerHow to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, by Ken LudwigLisse's recommendation: Princess Academy, by Shannon HaleHeidi's recommendation: The Three Pines Series, Books 1-3, by Louise PennyNext up for Lisse: Britt-Marie Was Here, by Fredrik Backman...The Casual Vacancy, by JK RowlingNext up for Heidi: How Long Til Black Future Month? by NK JemisinOur next episode is scheduled to release March 5th, 2021 and we're talking about movie adaptations of books and our opinions of them. Happy reading!Affiliate disclaimer: all our links are Amazon affiliate links...your cost stays the same, but the little kickback from your clicks and purchases through our links helps us keep recording and provide fun things (in the future!) for our listeners too!

Hey WTAF-ers!It's another SuperFan episode and this time we chat to writer Sarah Phelps. After a little discussion about our favourite chocolate bars we delve into This Country and Sarah gives us her feelings on Martin's relationship with Kerry. We also find out what it's like to write some of those 'DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM' Eastenders moments!We have now rearranged the date for WTAF LIVE 4 : THE FAREWELL to Friday 28th May 2021! It would be great, with all that's going on in the world, that all the This Country fans could come together and have a night of fun and laughs. Grab your tickets here - http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/sundial Come and be a Patreon Peeper! You can support the podcast for as little as £1 a month and get great rewards such as : Early access to Podcast Episodes. Exclusive Content Early Live Show ticket accessCool new WTAF sticker Limited Edition WTAF enamel PinIncluding our NEW weekly show ‘TNHIS COUNTRY, THIS WEEK’ where you can take part!Go to www.patreon.com/wtaf to join the fun! We have some awesome Series 3 t shirts now available at https://www.podcastmerch.co.uk/wtaf-this-countrywww.wtafpodcast.comTwitter https://twitter.com/thiscountrypod Facebook https://facebook.com/thiscountrypodInstagram https://instagram.com/thiscountrypod You can also buy us a KOFI to help support the podcast.Just go to www.ko-fi.com/thiscountrypod Support the show (http://www.patreon.com/wtaf )

We do a deep dive into JK Rowling's anti-trans comments and how that has affected our feelings about Harry Potter. Can you separate the art from the artist and should you try? How do you balance something you love with the harm its creator is doing to people? There aren't easy answers but it's a subject worth grappling with. And, as a bonus, we recommend books you can read instead of hers. (Well, not The Casual Vacancy; people are already not reading that one.)LINKS:Joan He and her publisher's seeming breach of contract: https://twitter.com/joanhewrites/status/1325893647267729409 (Twitter thread)Romancing the Runoff on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RomancingRunoff Donate to them on ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/romancingrunoff The auction starts on Wednesday, November 18. Follow What You Should Read:Twitter:   @wysr_podcastInstagram:   @wysr_podcastGoodreads:   https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/115539912-what-you-should-read-podcastYouTube:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCfNtid_b0R14otSPRZTkmQwww.whatyoushouldread.comDon't forget about our book club! We're discussing The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult on December 8! You can email your thoughts or find us on social media! We're really excited for our debut pick.BOOKS DISCUSSED:Kendell: Ninth House (Leigh Bardugo)Julia: The Seep (Chana Porter), A Hat Full of Sky (Terry Pratchett), the Veronica Speedwell series (Deanna Raybourn)Rachael: The Book of Two Ways (Jodi Picoult), A Promised Land (Barack Obama), The Keeper of the Lost Cities (Shannon Messenger), The Poacher's Son (Paul Doiron)Kelly: The House in the Cerulean Sea (TJ Klune) and the VI Warshawski series (Sara Paretsky)

Actor Rufus Jones (writer and co-star of Channel 4's Home) has hardly answered the BobPhone before he confesses that, despite his Cambridge English degree, “Dylan still scares the hell out of me”. But he's relieved that “Bob's entering a 'jolly grandpa' phase. He seems less concerned with preserving the myth”.Rufus references Beyoncé, the Eagles (“the story of the Eagles is better than the sound of the Eagles”), T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Hieronymus Bosch and Christopher Ricks before moving on, via Desolation Row, to the enigma that is Murder Most Foul (“it reads like bad poetry but sings like good poetry”).In an episode recorded before the release of Rough And Rowdy Ways, theories are promulgated, lines dissected and numerology explored. Murder Most Foul is “a confounding song. He takes a piece of real life and spins it into something abstract and horrific.” Join us for a dark but enlightening day in Dallas.Rufus Jones began his career as part of the sketch comedy group Dutch Elm Conservatoire. In the West End, he appeared in the hit comedy Dead Funny. His acclaimed TV series Home was nominated for a BAFTA. Other television work includes three series as David Wilkes in W1A, Four Lives, Flack, Loaded, Stag, Fresh Meat, Trying Again, The Casual Vacancy, Bob Servant, Hunderby and Holy Flying Circus (as Terry Jones). His films include Stan And Ollie, The Foreigner, Paddington and Silent Night (due for a Christmas 2020 release).TwitterTrailerSpotify playlistListeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating.Twitter @isitrollingpodRecorded 15th June 2020This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Actor Rufus Jones (writer and co-star of Channel 4’s Home) has hardly answered the BobPhone before he confesses that, despite his Cambridge English degree, “Dylan still scares the hell out of me”. But he’s relieved that “Bob’s entering a 'jolly grandpa' phase. He seems less concerned with preserving the myth”. Rufus references Beyoncé, the Eagles (“the story of the Eagles is better than the sound of the Eagles”), T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Hieronymus Bosch and Christopher Ricks before moving on, via Desolation Row, to the enigma that is Murder Most Foul (“it reads like bad poetry but sings like good poetry”). In an episode recorded before the release of Rough And Rowdy Ways, theories are promulgated, lines dissected and numerology explored. Murder Most Foul is “a confounding song. He takes a piece of real life and spins it into something abstract and horrific.” Join us for a dark but enlightening day in Dallas. Rufus Jones began his career as part of the sketch comedy group Dutch Elm Conservatoire. In the West End, he appeared in the hit comedy Dead Funny. His acclaimed TV series Home was nominated for a BAFTA. Other television work includes three series as David Wilkes in W1A, Four Lives, Flack, Loaded, Stag, Fresh Meat, Trying Again, The Casual Vacancy, Bob Servant, Hunderby and Holy Flying Circus (as Terry Jones). His films include Stan And Ollie, The Foreigner, Paddington and Silent Night (due for a Christmas 2020 release). Twitter Trailer Spotify playlist Listeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating. Twitter @isitrollingpod Recorded 15th June 2020 This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Actor Rufus Jones (writer and co-star of Channel 4's Home) has hardly answered the BobPhone before he confesses that, despite his Cambridge English degree, “Dylan still scares the hell out of me”. But he's relieved that “Bob's entering a 'jolly grandpa' phase. He seems less concerned with preserving the myth”.Rufus references Beyoncé, the Eagles (“the story of the Eagles is better than the sound of the Eagles”), T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Hieronymus Bosch and Christopher Ricks before moving on, via Desolation Row, to the enigma that is Murder Most Foul (“it reads like bad poetry but sings like good poetry”).In an episode recorded before the release of Rough And Rowdy Ways, theories are promulgated, lines dissected and numerology explored. Murder Most Foul is “a confounding song. He takes a piece of real life and spins it into something abstract and horrific.” Join us for a dark but enlightening day in Dallas.Rufus Jones began his career as part of the sketch comedy group Dutch Elm Conservatoire. In the West End, he appeared in the hit comedy Dead Funny. His acclaimed TV series Home was nominated for a BAFTA. Other television work includes three series as David Wilkes in W1A, Four Lives, Flack, Loaded, Stag, Fresh Meat, Trying Again, The Casual Vacancy, Bob Servant, Hunderby and Holy Flying Circus (as Terry Jones). His films include Stan And Ollie, The Foreigner, Paddington and Silent Night (due for a Christmas 2020 release).TwitterTrailerEpisode playlist on AppleEpisode playlist on SpotifyListeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating.Twitter @isitrollingpodRecorded 15th June 2020This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Actor Rufus Jones (writer and co-star of Channel 4’s Home) has hardly answered the BobPhone before he confesses that, despite his Cambridge English degree, “Dylan still scares the hell out of me”. But he’s relieved that “Bob’s entering a 'jolly grandpa' phase. He seems less concerned with preserving the myth”. Rufus references Beyoncé, the Eagles (“the story of the Eagles is better than the sound of the Eagles”), T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Hieronymus Bosch and Christopher Ricks before moving on, via Desolation Row, to the enigma that is Murder Most Foul (“it reads like bad poetry but sings like good poetry”). In an episode recorded before the release of Rough And Rowdy Ways, theories are promulgated, lines dissected and numerology explored. Murder Most Foul is “a confounding song. He takes a piece of real life and spins it into something abstract and horrific.” Join us for a dark but enlightening day in Dallas. Rufus Jones began his career as part of the sketch comedy group Dutch Elm Conservatoire. In the West End, he appeared in the hit comedy Dead Funny. His acclaimed TV series Home was nominated for a BAFTA. Other television work includes three series as David Wilkes in W1A, Four Lives, Flack, Loaded, Stag, Fresh Meat, Trying Again, The Casual Vacancy, Bob Servant, Hunderby and Holy Flying Circus (as Terry Jones). His films include Stan And Ollie, The Foreigner, Paddington and Silent Night (due for a Christmas 2020 release). Twitter Trailer Spotify playlist Listeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating. Twitter @isitrollingpod Recorded 15th June 2020 This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

This week's playwright podcast hosted by Richard Wolinsky is with Simon McBurney as he discusses The Encounter, which ran at San Francisco's Curran Theatre in April and May 2017. The Encounter is streaming on-line for free through May 22, 2020, 2 pm Pacific on You Tube or through the sfcurran.com website. If you plan on watching, the best experience is through headphones. Richard Wolinsky and Simon McBurney. Simon McBurney is the director and performer of “The Encounter,” a theatrical piece inspired by the Book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu, that played at the Curran in San Francisco in spring, 2017. Simon McBurney is the artistic director of Complicite, a London based theatrical company. He's directed several plays and operas over the years, and acted in such films as The Theory of Everything, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and other films, as well as the TV series The Borgias and The Casual Vacancy. “The Encounter” came to San Francisco after a successful run in London and New York, and an American tour. Curran website. “The Encounter” involves the use of headphones and binaural sounds to not only tell the story of the photographer Loren McIntyre in the jungles of Peru but to take the audience on its own trip, The post Playwright Interview: Simon McBurney, “The Encounter” appeared first on KPFA.

Zoe reads The Riddle House and Robin reads The House of Gaunt. In these chapters: you can't be kissing someone's feet in a pandemic, Joanne is getting in some Casual Vacancy practice, Voldemort's making dad jokes, Snape is being very naughty, and horniness is a more powerful magic than love ever could be.

Please note: This episode was recorded prior to J.K. Rowling's controversial tweet (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/world/europe/jk-rowling-maya-forstater-transgender.html?searchResultPosition=1) , which was harmful to the transgender community and allies. As we stated (https://twitter.com/MuggleCast/status/1207715938906320896) on Twitter, trans rights are human rights. We see you, we love you. You are valid. We will always welcome you! We'll share additional thoughts on the situation in Episode 448. In our final episode of 2019, we take a look back at another Decade of Harry Potter by reliving the biggest moments and surprises of the past 10 years. What were we feeling then, how do we feel now, and what does it all mean for the decade ahead? Events discussed include:  June 18, 2010: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter officially opens in Orlando (and basically saves Universal theme parks)! November 19, 2010: Deathly Hallows: Part 1 hits theaters. It sets a trend for a single book to be split into two films, but this trend may've died this decade too. July 15, 2011: The final Harry Potter film, Deathly Hallows: Part 2, is released worldwide! The hosts share their feelings after the final movie, taking into consideration the number of years spent in the fandom. April 12, 2012: J.K. Rowling announces (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jk-rowlings-adult-post-harry-potter-book-casual-vacancy-311519) her first post-Potter novel, The Casual Vacancy. Only one person on the panel has finished it. April 14, 2012: Pottermore launches at a time when people truly craved more from J.K. Rowling. April 2013: In one of the most shocking moments of the decade, J.K. Rowling secretly publishes The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. We discuss how word leaked. August 27, 2013: MuggleCast ends... and then... two weeks later... Warner Bros. announces the Fantastic Beasts film series. December 19, 2013: We hear rumblings that a Harry Potter play is in development, and it looks nothing like what it became.  January 14, 2016: Wands raised! Alan Rickman, the actor who brilliantly portrayed Professor Severus Snape passes away at 69. November 18, 2016: Magic returns to the silver screen as Fantastic Beasts hits theaters November 19, 2018: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opens in theaters Spring 2019: J.K. Rowling leaves Twitter. Will she ever get back to her usual daily tweeting?  October 2, 2019: Pottermore officially shuts down. What do we expect in the decade ahead for Potter?  Quizzitch: What characters from the original Harry Potter series have also been in both Cursed Child and the Fantastic Beasts series? Bonus MuggleCast: We discuss the things we think will definitely NOT happen in the next decade in Potter! Join our community at http://www.Patreon.com/MuggleCast and receive magical benefits, including Bonus MuggleCast!

After nearly Nine ish Years of service as a promotion winning player, football league captain and phenomenal manager of the Academy – John Dempster has left the building, vacating the managers chair after just twenty-one games in the driving seat A 1-1 draw at Crewe Alexandra on Saturday proved the final nail in the coffin as promotion-fancied Mansfield, dropped to 18th just seven points from the one relegation place. Tonight on this managerial change Monday special episode, Cam, Nathan and Craig reflect on what went wrong for John Dempster in the gaffers chair and ponder what next for Mansfield Town – as conversations commence with Bristol Rovers’ boss Graham Coughlan about filling the vacant post. Would Coughlan be the right man for the job having had just 12 months in post at League One Rovers, or should the Radfords turn to a more experienced head – such as the five-time promotion winning Paul Tisdale, currently a free agent.

THE CASUAL VACANCY by J.K. Rowling & DEATH WITH INTERRUPTIONS by Jose Saramago We dig deep into lesser-known works by two of our favorite authors. Andrew covers DEATH WITH INTERRUPTIONS by Jose Saramago, while Bailey tackles THE CASUAL VACANCY, a novel by J.K. Rowling that has nothing to do with witchcraft or wizardry. We discuss miraculous puzzles, talking scythes, and how reading can be like eating beets. Plus, we reveal the results of our Halloween Instagram poll.

Both Mônica and Ceres grew up with the Harry Potter books, and they love the Wizarding World as much as the next millennial (as you have probably noticed already!). However, after not enjoying The Casual Vacancy that much, Mônica decided to give the Strike novels a chance - and she says those are the best novels J.K. Rowling has even written! In this Persuasion Check episode, her mission is to convince Ceres that, yes, Strike is better than Potter. Do you think her roll will be successful? Give us some love: www.dungeonsandenglish.com.br Instagram @dungeonsandenglish Twitter @DungeonsEnglish #persuasioncheck #mulherespodcasters #opodcastedelas #jkrowling #robertgalbraith #strike

How does Harry Potter get to class? He flies, of course . . . jk rowling. Nobody's ever made that pun before. It's 100 percent original and can only be found on the latest episode of Topicocalypse. That's right . . . we are back! On this episode, Josh wants to talk about JK Rowling's career and how she continues to inspire future generations. What happened when she tried to venture outside of the Harry Potter novels with books like Casual Vacancy and her Strike Cormoran novels written under the psuedo name Robert Galbraith. And should anybody really care what she has to say about politics? Then Danial wants to talk about big pharma and vaccine conspiracies. What sort of cures are out there that we don't know about because pharmaceutical companies want to keep making money? All of this and more on this episode of Topicocalypse. As always, you can find us on the web on humannequinmedia.com and on Instagram and Facebook. If you have a few bucks to give, we would love if you could donate to our patreon page at patreon.com/topicocalypse. You can subscribe, download and stream our podcast on iTunes, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, YouTube, podcasts.com and other great podcasting outlets worldwide. If you happen to be on any Apple products, we would love if you could rate and review us. We hope you enjoy. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Stephanie and Meghan tear themselves away from the US Open to read The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling! It's banned book month, so it seems a little appropriate to read a book by one of the most discussed "controversial" authors.  Especially with one of her most controversial books! This book has 34 "main" characters, and 300 pages of character development. We aren't sure if we enjoyed it, but we definitely had plenty to talk about.  Find us on the web: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Group | Instagram | Email: judgingcoverspodcast@gmail.com Find our hosts: Meghan's Twitter | Stephanie's Instagram

Recorded on June 20, 2018 Book Talk starts at 18:30 Get ready for our summer swap (slated to begin in late June), hosted by the wonderful Sandra (SweetSerendipity37).  Check out this thread and vote to let Sandra know you’d like to participate.   We are hosting our annual Mother Bear KAL starting June 1, and ending on August 31, 2018.  Any bears you have knit or crocheted in 2018 are eligible to be entered for prizes.  If you want more information about the Mother Bear Project, please go here.  Don't have a pattern?  Please go here to order a pattern!  It will be sent via US mail with a very short turn-around time.  Our FO thread is here - please post a separate photo for each bear you make!  And thank you to our wonderful listeners and vendor friends for donating prizes for the KAL.   KINITTING Tracie finished: Cumulus Bear - a Mother Bear in Juniper Moon Farms Cumulus to go with the baby hat for Tracie’s niece- or nephew-to-be Mother Bears 131, 132, 133, 134 and 135   Barb finished: Mother Bear 135 and 136 Misty Scarf by Kaffe Fassett, using 2 skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe (now discontinued) in a pale blue and pale pink colorway and a darker blue, cranberry and hot pink colorway.   Tracie continues to work on: Lake Effect by Amy Miller in Baah La Jolla in the California Poppy colorway Knitting at the Library Cowl by Cori Eichelberger in Invictus Yarns Beyond Mini-Set in the Forest colorway Bellora Tee by Samantha Kirby, using Knit Picks Lindy Chain in the Thicket and Harbor colorways Simple Skyp Socks by Addrienne Ku in Invictus Yarns Master of My Feet in NoCKRs 2015 colorway   Barb continues to work on: Tale as Old as Time Cowl by Anne Vally, using Must Stash Yarns & Fiber Perfect Self-Striping Sock in the Beauty and the Beast colorways 3.  Fragment Tee by Clare Mountain using Knit Picks Lindy Chain in the Blue Bell colorway 1.  Gilda scarf by Twisted Sisters using Fiesta Yarns Linette in the Tourmaline colorway 2.  Rose City Rollers by Mara Catherine Byner, using leftover Knit Picks Hawthorne Speckle Yarn in the Cosmic Speckle colorway       BOOKS   Tracie finished: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley   Barb finished: The House by the River by Lena Manta The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn   Tracie is reading: Calypso by David Sedaris Fatal Vision by Joe McGuinness   Barb is reading Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout   Tracie recommends The Office   Barb recommends Anne of Green Gables on Craftlit  

How does Harry Potter get to class? He flies, of course . . . jk rowling. Nobody's ever made that pun before. It's 100 percent original and can only be found on the latest episode of Topicocalypse. That's right . . . we are back! On this episode, Josh wants to talk about JK Rowling's career and how she continues to inspire future generations. What happened when she tried to venture outside of the Harry Potter novels with books like Casual Vacancy and her Strike Cormoran novels written under the psuedo name Robert Galbraith. And should anybody really care what she has to say about politics? Then Danial wants to talk about big pharma and vaccine conspiracies. What sort of cures are out there that we don't know about because pharmaceutical companies want to keep making money? All of this and more on this episode of Topicocalypse. As always, you can find us on the web on humannequinmedia.com and on Instagram and Facebook. If you have a few bucks to give, we would love if you could donate to our patreon page at patreon.com/topicocalypse. You can subscribe, download and stream our podcast on iTunes, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, YouTube, podcasts.com and other great podcasting outlets worldwide. If you happen to be on any Apple products, we would love if you could rate and review us. We hope you enjoy.

Tom Kingston and Joe Wilson are the UK-based musician/composing duo that may be better known for their amazing and unique songs in the electronic genre, but they are prominent new voices in the composing world as well. Tom unfortunately couldn't join us, but here Joe Wilson takes some time to chat about their score to the BBC/HBO co-production of The Casual Vacancy. This miniseries is adapted from the critically praised novel by J.K. Rowling. Joe describes one of the most inspiring and creatively liberating scoring processes you will hear about that is pretty much non-existent in Hollywood today. The duo traveled up and down the English and Irish countryside where the story takes place well before production started. There they recorded soundscapes, melodies and organic sounds with the local people and locations to build the score for The Casual Vacancy. This then became the blueprint for the show. Joe sharing their wonderful journey on this project is an amazing story and a must-listen for all aspiring filmmakers and composers. And it was great to hear from such a unique musical talent who is breathing a fresh sense of style and composition into film and television. Be sure to catch The Casual Vacancy on HBO/HBO Go/HBO Now and hear Solomon Grey's unique and emotionally infused score at work. Interview Conducted By:Kaya Savas Special Thanks:Joe WilsonChandler PolingKrakower Poling PR

- We reflect on the 10-year anniversary of Deathly Hallows, which is this Friday! - And give our top 10 (or so) moments since 2007 - The conversation gets heated over Beedle The Bard - Pottermore: then and now - JKR revealing Dumbledore is gay was the first big post-Potter revelation - The Wizarding World and Studio Tour open and expand - The Casual Vacancy and Robert Galbraith hit bookshelves - Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts revive the fandom - Alan RIckman and John Hurt remembered - The first Fantastic Beasts film did in fact tease Circus Arcanus - Disney announces a Star Wars hotel. Will Universal respond? - We'll be at MuggleNet Live in Orlando on September 1!

Richard Wolinsky and Simon McBurney. Simon McBurney, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Simon McBurney is the director and performer of “The Encounter,” a theatrical piece inspired by the Book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu, playing at the Curran in San Francisco through May 7th. Simon McBurney is the artistic director of Complicite, a London based theatrical company. He's directed several plays and operas over the years, and acted in such films as The Theory of Everything, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and other films, as well as the TV series The Borgias and The Casual Vacancy. “The Encounter” comes to San Francisco after a successful run in London and New York, and an American tour. Curran website. “The Encounter” involves the use of headphones and binaural sounds to not only tell the story of the photographer Loren McIntyre in the jungles of Peru but to take the audience on its own trip, A shorter version of this interview aired as an Arts-Waves program. The post Interview: Simon McBurney, The Encounter at the Curran appeared first on KPFA.

BCSC IS A MEMBER OF TALKBOMB.COM! This week on Book Club Shmook Club, we're reading the novel The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling! Not only is it the first book by Rowling after she finished the Harry Potter series, it's currently the only Rowling book we haven't yet covered! Making a sharp turn away from the kid-friendly HP series, The Casual Vacancy is dark, serious, and definitely not for kids. Having said that, there isn't a single book of J.K. Rowling's that we haven't loved, so surely The Casual Vacancy isn't any different! ...is it? BCSC@TalkBomb.com! @TalkBomb! @ChillinKristen! @WillRogers2000!

BCSC IS A MEMBER OF TALKBOMB.COM! Surprise! We're here mid-week with a completely extra episode of BCSC, because Kristen watched HBO's adaptation of Big Little Lies! We're talking about the changes made to the story, and since Will hasn't seen the show at all, he's hearing each alteration for the first time! We'll still see you Friday for a regular episode of Book Club Shmook Club about The Casual Vacancy, but with the memory of the book so clear in her mind, Kristen wanted to share her thoughts! ENJOY! BCSC@TalkBomb.com! @TalkBomb! @ChillinKristen! @WillRogers2000!

The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview David Morrissey of Starz's The Missing. One of TV's most gripping thrillers, “The Missing” returns with a new case, new characters and a new location. The series follows Sam and Gemma played by David Morrissey (“The Walking Dead,” “Extant”) and Keeley Hawes (“Line of Duty,” “The Casual Vacancy,” “The Durrells”), whose daughter Alice went missing in 2003. In 2014, a young British woman stumbles through the streets of her German hometown and collapses. Her name is Alice Webster, played by newcomer Abigail Hardingham (Nina Forever), and she has been missing for 11 years. Alice's return sends shockwaves through the small community. Told in dual timelines, flitting between 2014 and the present day, we follow Alice's family as they are thrown back into a turmoil that threatens to tear them apart at the seams. When French missing person's detective, Julien Baptiste, played by Tchéky Karyo (Goldeneye, The Patriot), races across Europe to pursue a 12-year-old case that he never let die, we begin to explore the murky morality and emotional complexity of what happens when the missing child you've been longing to return actually comes back. The cast also includes Roger Allam (“Endeavour,” “Tamara Drewe”), Laura Fraser (“Breaking Bad,” “Peter & Wendy,” “One of Us”), Anastasia Hille (Snow White and the Huntsman, “Prey”), Lia Williams (“The Crown,” “The Foreigner”), Jake Davies (“X + Y,” “Yen”), Florian Bartholomäi (“Deutschland 83,” Smaragdgrün, “Tatort-Taxi nach Leipzig”), Daniel Ezra (“Murdered by My Boyfriend,” Blood Cells).  

Author of the DIVERGENT series Veronica Roth - whose new book, CARVE THE MARK, is out Jan. 17 - returns to the podcast to update me on what she’s been up to since her last episode, giving her story ideas code names, why she’s obsessed with iron grates over windows, and why she decided her next novel should be set in space.   Veronica Roth Show Notes Listen to her previous First Draft interview here! FOUR, the collection of Divergent short stories The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling "Inertia," Veronica’s short story in the Summer Days and Summer Nights anthology, edited by Stephanie Perkins Baba Yaga Teen Vogue Illuminae by Amie Kaufman (listen to her First Draft podcast here) and Jay Kristofftx  

Podcast sobre Séries Inglesas faz a feira no BoxCast e você vai ter que escolher: pepino, ou banana? FEED – Clique com o botão direito, copie o link e cole no seu iTunes A edição 197 do BoxCast traz um especial sobre as séries inglesas recentes. Já avisamos desde agora que não tem comentários sobre Doctor Who, […]

This week Dan and Chris discuss new shows, Better Call Saul, The Casual Vacancy, Fresh Off The Boat and The Odd Couple as well as some other stuff that takes their fancy. Catch us on twitter @nothinbutstatic or email us on nothinbutstatic@gmail.com

From William Blake to Charles Dickens, authors have written or talked about experiencing auditory verbal hallucinations when writing fiction or hearing voices that others cannot hear. So is this the same when writing for radio or television? And if so, do writers hear characters as clearly as if a real person were speaking or as an external voice outside of themselves? In this podcast we hear from accomplished TV and radio writers Sarah Phelps and Al Smith and from Dr. Jennifer Hodgson, co-author of The Writers' Inner Voices project, the first ever large-scale investigation into how writers and storytellers hear voices. They discuss what it feels like to hear characters, whether there’s a difference between creating characters for television, radio and written fiction and the practicalities of script writing. Sarah Phelps penned the demise of Dirty Den in EastEnders. She brought to life iconic Dickens characters Miss Havisham and Fagin for her TV adaptations of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. She also wrote the World War One drama The Crimson Field and adapted JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy for BBC One. Al Smith has written for TV and radio. He has written for EastEnders and Holby City, co-created teen drama The Cut for BBC Two and wrote Life in the Freezer and The Postman of Good Hope for BBC Radio 4. Dr. Jennifer Hodgson is a writer and teacher. She holds a PhD in English Studies and has taught on the undergraduate Introduction to the Novel and Post-war Fiction and Poetry course at Durham University as well as postgraduate courses such as Research Methods and Resources modules. The podcast is presented by BBC Academy producer Helen Hutchinson.

The new episode of BuzzHub's award-winning film podcast features a review of Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, and all the latest film and tv news- including the announcement of Josh Trank as director of a Star Wars prequel and the cast of The Casual Vacancy miniseries! Visit twitter.com/frontseatcinema and facebook.com/frontseatcinema

The latest edition of Talking TV looks ahead to the launch of Good Morning Britain and reveals why writing primetime drama for BBC1 is a heavily politicised process. Joining host Jake Kanter to run the rule over ITV’s replacement for Daybreak is Broadcast ratings guru Stephen Price. He explains why the show must keep hold of its share of housewives with children. Also in the studio is Faraz Osman, the creative director at multiplatform indie Lemonade Money, and Broadcast international editor Peter White. They discuss Pact’s children’s TV tax breaks campaign and Channel 4’s interactive NHS format from Sanjay Singhal’s Voltage TV. Writer Sarah Phelps then drops by to talk about her World War I drama The Crimson Field and why she doesn’t let the BBC’s critics inhibit her work. Phelps also details the work she’s doing to adapt JK Rowling novel The Casual Vacancy. Finally, find out why you should be watching ITV’s three-part John Simm drama Prey, but BBC1’s sitcom pilot Monks might be one to miss. Talking TV is available on SoundCloud below and can also be downloaded on iTunes here. The podcast is recorded at Maple Street Studios and the producer is Matt Hill.

Goodreads has created a great infographic exploring the books most often abandoned by readers on the social network. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling topped that list, followed by Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. On the Morning Media Menu today, Social Times editor Devon Glenn discussed this list and explored what writers need to know about Facebook's new Social Graph function. Theme music by Kevin MacLeod.

Multicolored goats discuss fantasy basketball, Harry Potter 8: Harry Potter and the Casual Vacancy, Russell Westbrook pouty faces, and gay love for Michael Vick.

On this edition of the Book Talk podcast host Paul Gallagher welcomes The Herald's Arts Correspondent Phil Miller and Scottish Book Trust's Reader Development Co-ordinator Claire Stewart to review arguably the most anticipated book of the year, The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling's first book for adult readers.Now that the dust (and hype) has settled from the book's release at the end of September, we thought it the perfect moment to get into a discussion of the book itself - how does Rowling fare in choosing to tell a story of a world that's more painful reality than the magical escapism of Harry Potter?

Adam Mars-Jones imagines J.K. Rowling bringing the manuscript ‘The Casual Vacancy’ to him for advice. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

J K Rowling discusses the inspiration for her new novel The Casual Vacancy, her first book for adult readers, in a wide-ranging conversation with Mark Lawson. She considers her use of strong language and adult themes, and also reflects on her role in the Olympic opening ceremony, her global success with Harry Potter, and whether she will ever return to her most famous character. Producer Erin Riley.

Hey PotterCast fans! We're back with a new episode featuring much discussion on The Casual Vacancy. The PotterCast hosts debate their many predictions about the plot, characters, and conspiracy theories around the book's release. No spoiler alerts required this time; John's penchant for accurate predictions notwithstanding.   Episode 246 — Casually Late Casual Debate Find the latest episode and explore PotterCast interviews, discussions and more at PotterCast.com Visit the-leaky-cauldron.org for the latest and greatest from Harry Potter's Wizard World.

Cine: El debate de la semana es el siguiente: "¿Ha traicionado George Lucas a sus fans?", donde hablamos sobre los retoques que ha hecho a la saga Star Wars, los midiclorianos y la segunda trilogía, entre otras muchas cosas. También os damos nuestra opinión de "Take Shelter", "John Carter", "Grupo 7", "Cumbres Borrascosas" (2011), "Intocable", "Sherlock Holmes: Juego de Sombras", "Battleship" y "REC 3: Génesis". Por otro lado, en nuestra sección de Videoclub recordamos "Matar a un ruiseñor" (1962). Por último hablamos de los rumores sobre la dirección de "En Llamas", segunda parte de Los Juegos del Hambre, el éxito de la primera, Aston Kutcher como Steve Jobs, Mia Wasikowska, "Skyfall", la suspensión de ayudas a guión, cortometraje, exhibición y distribucion en España y mucho más. Literatura: Los libros de la semana son "El Yelmo del Caballero", de Sergio R. Alarte y "Diez negritos", de Agatha Christie. También os contamos todo lo que se sabe de "The Casual Vacancy", la nueva novela de J.K. Rowling, Pottermore, la lista de los nominados a los Premios Hugo 2012, "Cosecha Roja" y la fecha de publicación de "Dance with Dragons" en catalán. Series: La serie de la semana es "Homeland". También opinamos sobre la season finale de "Alcatraz" y los dos primeros episodios de la segunda temporada de "Juego de Tronos". Por último os contamos que la opinión de Charlie Sheen sobre Kutcher en "Dos hombres y medio", los trailers de la 5ª temporada de "True Blood", muchas noticias sobre la serie "Juego de Tronos" y la reducción de pechos de Jennifer Lowe Hewitt en "The Client List". Dirigido por Víctor M. Yeste y M.C. Catalán con la colaboración de Manuel Callejo y Diego Domínguez.

Cine: El debate de la semana es el siguiente: "¿Ha traicionado George Lucas a sus fans?", donde hablamos sobre los retoques que ha hecho a la saga Star Wars, los midiclorianos y la segunda trilogía, entre otras muchas cosas. También os damos nuestra opinión de "Take Shelter", "John Carter", "Grupo 7", "Cumbres Borrascosas" (2011), "Intocable", "Sherlock Holmes: Juego de Sombras", "Battleship" y "REC 3: Génesis". Por otro lado, en nuestra sección de Videoclub recordamos "Matar a un ruiseñor" (1962). Por último hablamos de los rumores sobre la dirección de "En Llamas", segunda parte de Los Juegos del Hambre, el éxito de la primera, Aston Kutcher como Steve Jobs, Mia Wasikowska, "Skyfall", la suspensión de ayudas a guión, cortometraje, exhibición y distribucion en España y mucho más. Literatura: Los libros de la semana son "El Yelmo del Caballero", de Sergio R. Alarte y "Diez negritos", de Agatha Christie. También os contamos todo lo que se sabe de "The Casual Vacancy", la nueva novela de J.K. Rowling, Pottermore, la lista de los nominados a los Premios Hugo 2012, "Cosecha Roja" y la fecha de publicación de "Dance with Dragons" en catalán. Series: La serie de la semana es "Homeland". También opinamos sobre la season finale de "Alcatraz" y los dos primeros episodios de la segunda temporada de "Juego de Tronos". Por último os contamos que la opinión de Charlie Sheen sobre Kutcher en "Dos hombres y medio", los trailers de la 5ª temporada de "True Blood", muchas noticias sobre la serie "Juego de Tronos" y la reducción de pechos de Jennifer Lowe Hewitt en "The Client List". Dirigido por Víctor M. Yeste y M.C. Catalán con la colaboración de Manuel Callejo y Diego Domínguez.