It's time for my annual navel-gazing post, in which I take stock of the year beyond my university teaching for my own information/edification.

So here's my reading, podcasting, and published work this year.


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My latest critical essay, "Hogwarts in America," which focuses on the "History of Magic in North America" and "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" essays on Pottermore that serve as prologue to Fantastic Beasts, is now on online here at Reason.

(This is the essay to which I referred in my recent interview on the MuggleNet Academia ( Read more... )

A lot has been going on here, but pretty much everything pales beside the specter of the Western North Carolina wildfires. What's happening to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the wildlife there is absolutely tragic, and the heroism of the men and women fighting the flames cannot be overstated. We're currently in what's been classified as a Red Zone ( Read more... )

I have two items of news today. First, my unabridged narration of Beth Goder's wonderful time-twisting science fiction tale "Murder or a Duck" is up here on Episode 545 of Escape Pod. It's a terrifically entertaining and clever story, and it was great fun to record! If you listen, I hope you enjoy ( Read more... )

Recently I was invited to share thoughts related to the controversial question of how J.K. Rowling has addressed Indigenous America in her two recent Pottermore works ("History of Magic in North America" and "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry") in an extended interview on MuggleNet Academia with hosts Keith Hawk and the Hogwarts ( Read more... )

Here's another call for papers that may be of interest: Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Diversity, and Difference in the Wizarding Worlds.

On to the topic of Star Wars documentaries...

While awaiting my copy of the new documentary Elstree 1976 (2015), I got to thinking about other documentaries related to Star Wars -- above and beyond those " ( Read more... )

Recently I was invited to share thoughts related both to Harry Potter and to my essay "His Fordship in the Capitol and Big Brother in the Districts: The Hunger Games and the Modern Dystopian Tradition" in an extended interview on MuggleNet Academia with hosts Keith Hawk and the Hogwarts Professor himself, John Granger, as well as the editor of ( Read more... )

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday!

* I'm delighted to be part of the ensemble cast who narrated the amazing "The Four Generations of Chang E" by Zen Cho for the latest episode of The Drabblecast. If you listen, I hope you enjoy!


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There's been a lot of talk surrounding J.K. Rowling's new four-part work on Pottermore, "The History of Magic in North America." I'm in the process of writing an article on it now.

In the meantime, I was interviewed for this article in The Huffington Post about the Native American aspect of Rowling's work.


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What a loss for us all. Rest in peace, Alan Rickman.


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