stack of books

It took me a long time to get into blogging, and I do not keep a schedule for that. I am working on an original novel, but I have chosen not to upload any material about that to the Internet for intellectual property (idea theft) concerns. I have put up commentary about a couple of popular published works, both humorous and serious.

Humor About J. R. R. Tolkien's Created World

The Mornhithen Project (Really bizarre and nerdy piece proposing a tongue-in-cheek explanation for hobbit characteristics.)
Rejected 'Silmarillion' Scenes (Humor)
The Grand Conspiracy of Arda (Humor)

Harry Potter Essays

I wrote a good many essays about Harry Potter right after the completion of the official series. I have now reformatted and uploaded them to this site and put them into three collections based on what is the primary intent of each essay.

Nuts, Bolts, Cogs, & Cranks: At the end of the series, there were quite a few concepts that still had unanswered questions remaining, whether about mechanics, timing, character motivations and specific actions, etc. These essays are primarily about offering explanations that are workable within the story canon for these missing details. They are canon-supported (or non-contradicted) theories for filling in the gaps or expansions of incompletely explained setting and plot details.

  • The Conductor Conundrum: A deconstruction of the unfortunately semi-popular adult fan theory of Stan Shunpike's guilt, and a canon-compliant theory for why he was present at the aerial chase while under a weak Imperius Curse.
  • Indiana Regulus and the Cave of Doom: An essay about Regulus Black's fatal last adventure, which intends to explain some of the peculiarities surrounding it. This essay also contains some speculation about the origins of the cave itself.
  • Intricacies of the Killing Curse: This is an explanation of some of the "weirdness" behind the Killing Curse, as well as a viable hypothesis for why Voldemort did not leave behind a body after failing to kill the infant Harry Potter.
  • Lawlessness and Disorder: An essay about the murder of the Riddles and how the Ministry failed badly in investigating and prosecuting it.
  • The Machinations of Prophecies: This hypothesizes about the origin of prophecies in Harry Potter and why they are formulated the way they are. It also contains a character analysis of Albus Dumbledore in relation to his behavior regarding the Prophecy.
  • Mind Tricks Demystified: This is an exploration of mental magic within Harry Potter.
  • The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black: A rambling essay about various matters dealing with the Black family and house.
  • Voldemort's Horcruxes: This is an explanation of the titular topic.
  • Who Knew: A pair of hypotheses for how so few people guessed about the Horcruxes, one serious, the other not so much.

Living Portraits: These essays are more about the story as a whole, criticism or examination of choices that Rowling made in the building of her story. They are not "here is how this might work"-type essays.

Time-Turners: These essays are definitely OUT-of-canon. There were several elements in the story that are either internally inconsistent or are simply not believable, in my opinion, in how they are presented. These essays posit alternate ways of handling the elements in question that I think work better.

  • Big Brother Is Watching You?: An essay about the big problems with the Trace and an alternative explanation that makes more sense out of it.
  • Secrets That She Keeps: This essay deals with the inconsistencies of the Fidelius Charm and posits a way that Rowling could have handled it better.
  • Wands and Hallows: An essay about the Elder Wand, wand ownership, and the Deathly Hallows, with an alternative way that Rowling could have written the plot of the Mastery of the Elder Wand.

Everything Else

The following list contains the remainder of my writing that I have chosen to put online, followed in each case by a short explanation of what the item is.

  • I have an ongoing page listing various things that annoy, frustrate, or baffle me.
  • "What Do You Do When the Lights Go Out?" is a short story I wrote in early 2001. It's a bit hard to follow or to see the point of it. I don't want to give it all away, but to help with understanding its theme, I'll say this: I was surprised, upon rereading it in mid-2008, just how cynical I was about people when I wrote it. This is not a particularly pleasant story, nor are the characters very likable, but that's deliberate.
  • "Road" is a short story that I wrote in 2002. It's a narrative history, for the most part, and it is about a fictional small town that sees itself slipping away after a highway bypass is constructed.
  • Remember, a LOT of original content is available at my blog, PolitiCalypso.
  • Looking for InnoVote? It's here.