by Johnny

Michael Ward is the author of Planet Narnia, a groundbreaking work in C.S. Lewis and Narnia studies, which is stirring excitement and discussion. In his book, Ward argues that each novel in the Narnia series corresponds to one of the seven planets of Medieval Cosmology. I met him at the February 2008 meeting of the New York C.S. Lewis Society, and I’m grateful to interview him for the Hog’s Head just in time for the film release. This interview will discuss the Mars element in the book Prince Caspian: [Read more →]

For those considering going to Portus 2008, where I’ll be speaking twice, participating in a podcast with HP Progs, as well as in a podcasting panel, the last chance for discounted registration is NOW!

The TAXMAN brings you our last discount before Portus!  It’s May, and owls are flying all over the country dropping off those much desired tax refunds. To celebrate all the extra galleons and sickles being dropped at our doorsteps, we have decided to present you with one last discount before Portus arrives this July! From May 13 through May 31st, enter the code TAXMAN when registering for Portus,and you will receive a 20% discount on full and day registrations. It’s the perfect time to give your friend or relative a gift registration for Portus! Act soon before the price freezes at $220.00for a full registration! To register, please visit http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=998e88c1-ac3c-478f-b9cf-cac38f0d61ef  

A couple of interesting Prince Caspian links:

•  Greydanus has written his review of the film, but you can’t see it yet unless you’re subscribed.  I’m looking forward to that review.
• Dr. Michael Ward, author of Planet Narnia, has a new entry on Prince Caspian at the C.S. Lewis blog.  

Lovecraft/Tolkien/Potter/Lots-of-other-fascinating-subjects scholar and somtimes Hog’s Head commenter Amy H. Sturgis has some updates that will be of interest for Hog’s Head readers:

Hi friends!

As you may know, I’ve begun narrating contemporary science fiction stories for the UK audio science fiction magazine StarShipSofa (http://www.starshipsofa.com). (You can hear my narration of Elizabeth Bear’s “And the Deep Blue Sea” at http://www.starshipsofa.com/podcast/StarShipSofa_Elizabeth_Bear_And_The_Deep_Blue_Sea.mp3 and other narrations will go up soon.)

As of today, I’ve also begun contributing an audio “article” for StarShipSofa’s “Aural Delights” Wednesday program, in which I give my commentary about a science fiction topic. These will run once a month. My first is available on today’s show at http://www.starshipsofa.com/podcast/Terry_Bisson_Bears_Discover_Fire_mp3.mp3 and it begins approximately 10 minutes into the podcast. If you listen, I hope you enjoy!

Have a great day!

Amy

Here are some links to some Prince Caspian content, trivia, commentary, and other fun stuff:

• Which Narnian Are You?

- All you need is a photo to start your Narnian transformation.

• Which Narnia Character Are You? - Take the quiz to find out!
• Future of Narnia films beyond Caspian - Producer Mark Johnson and three cast members answer questions with Premiere.com at New York Comic Con 2008.
• The Weight of Story - Christianity Today interviews Director Adam Adamson (as well as C.S. Lewis’s stepson and producer, Douglas Gresham).
• My Caspian Wish List - Another article by Devin Brown published in January 2008 about what he wants to see in the new film.
• Prince Caspian Trivia - 11 quizzes from Easy to Tough based on the book.

Enjoy!

by Travis 

My favorite podcast, the Classic Tales is now doing one of my favorite short-story authors, H.P. Lovecraft, whom we’ve spent time here discussing.  Today’s podcast, Episode 54, is Part I of “The Lurking Fear.”

No, not that court case.  This one:

Harry Potter author JK Rowling won a landmark privacy ruling in her battle to ban publication of covert long lens pictures taken of her son when he was 18 months old.

By Matthew

The watering hole plays a strong part in the adventures of many of our fictional heroes and heroines and I’d like to have a real-life poke around in some of them. The inns, that is.

Please comment with your choice and why you’d like to go there… or not.

by Travis

We’ve had a good amount of discussion here about the term “fundamentalism” as it applies to Christian anti-Potter crowd. There’s been some disagreement about what the term means. This post might help clarify what I mean when I use the term. Some time ago, I began writing some satire of fundamentalism at my other site. In one of those satires, I wrote the following. The scene takes place as the pastor of a fundamentalist church (”Pastor Funk”) has made a house call to try to evangelize “Fred” -

“I see that there’s a copy of Harry Potter on your bookshelf,” Pastor Funk said. “Did you know the Bible says that witches should be killed? Did you know that there really are demons, and that witches are always conjuring up demons, and that if your children continue to read books influenced by the occult, you could bring demonic influence into this very house?” …

“Here’s a few gospel tracts about the evils of Harry Potter….”

Fred glanced over at his book shelf. Six Harry Potter novels were neatly stacked there…but wait…did he just see one of them move a little? No, his eyes were playing tricks on him. But then again, he and his wife had just finished reading the series to the boys for the third time, and the boys were acting very oddly lately. Chuck, in his last hockey game, had accidently shot the puck into his own goal. And Bill had spilled milk on the floor three times this week. Could demons be turning them into little mentally deranged boys who couldn’t perform simple tasks?

Alas, my satire has become reality. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone went undercover at a “Christian” retreat of a very popular, nationally-known church, and the retreat’s leader (Fortenberry) told the following story:

Fortenberry told a story about a nephew of his who called him up one night. “Both of his kids had fallen on the ground in respiratory distress, half-conscious, writhing around, gasping for air,” Fortenberry said. “And I said to my nephew, I said, ‘It isn’t something they’ve done. It’s something you’ve done.’ ”

The crowd murmured in assent.

“I told my nephew to look around the house,” Fortenberry continued. “I said, ‘Do you have a copy of Harry Potter?’ And he said yes. And I said, ‘That’s your problem.’ So I told him to go get that copy of that book, tear it in half and throw it out the window. So he does it, and guess what? Both of those kids stood up completely recovered, just like that.”

He snapped his fingers, indicating the speed with which the kids had jumped up in recovery. The crowd cooed and applauded. I frowned, wondering for a minute what life must be like for a person mortally afraid of toothless commercial fairy tales. It struck me that Phil Fortenberry’s nephew was probably more afraid of Harry Potter than Macbeth, which to me said a lot about this religion and about America in general.

Scary.

by Johnny

I came across an interesting article by Devin Brown on Christianity Today, which shows some similarities between the title character Prince Caspian and the life of C.S. Lewis.

Brown, who is a Professor of English at Asbury College, wrote:

Lewis and Caspian share another element—one more significant than all the others, for it changed the direction of their entire lives. The desire for another world which they both experienced as young boys did not remain unsatisfied longing. In a dramatic turnaround, Doctor Cornelius reveals to Caspian, “All you have heard about Old Narnia is true.” In a same way, through the help of J. R. R. Tolkien and their fellow Inkling Hugo Dyson, Lewis came to see that the Christian story was not just a myth like the others which he loved, but a myth that “became fact.”

The fact that some authors infuse autobiographical details of themselves in their characters is nothing new. To give an example from Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling said on more than one occasion that Hermione is an exaggerated version of herself when she was a bookish youngster at Chepstow. Brown’s article gives much food for thought on not only Prince Caspian, but the author, C.S. Lewis.

For the first time in 10 years, there are no Harry Potter books in the Top Ten Bestseller list.

(HT to Glenn Lucke)

I had to do a video project as part of my English and Technology class. I decided to do a sort of promo for The Hog’s Head and the book. It’s a bit rough, there’s no question about it. But I just got myself an external hard drive, and I think I’m going to start experimenting with video promos a bit. Anyone who really knows what they’re doing on this is welcome to give advice!

Here it is. Be nice.

Lots of buzz surrounding The Hobbit:

• Salon.com asks why Del Toro wants to do the film if he’s on record as hating fantasy fiction.
• Del Toro responds at MTV
• Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis are in.

By Matthew

I was listening to an astronomy programme on the radio the other day, while training, and they were discussing bright stars.  Imaging my surprise when during my 48th push-up the speaker said to look for Regulus- the brightest star in the constellation of Leo. 

Should this have put us on the track of Regulus being a goodie at heart?

Just a thought.