Rowling Studies The Hogwarts Professor Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Nick Jeffery and John Granger opened the Orthodox New Year with a conversation about, you guessed it, Rowling-Galbraith’s Hallmarked Man. Both of them confessed that they were struggling with the most complex and carefully integrated novel in the author’s oeuvre, with five different candidates for the body in the silver vault, a cast of characters for each candidate, all of them spun together with the Strike-Ellacott cum Murphy-Bijou ‘shipping madness as it unfolded. Neither of them was ready to talk about the book’s structure in any detail.

They chose instead to discuss the most obvious and most neglected of Rowling’s Seven Shed tools, the signature writing elements she uses to craft the inspiration from her Lake springs and from her touchstone Golden Threads into the stories that fascinate her admirers around the world. That tool is her ‘Big Twist’ finish, the surprise ending that shocks the reader caught in Rowling’s narrative misdirection, the story clues sprinkled throughout a story to foster believing something that isn’t true. Every Rowling reader knows this is what she is doing, but very few are conscious of the set-up until the narrative trap is sprung.

One thing that readers can be looking for, consequently, are the ‘pushes’ Rowling puts into her story to have us accept as facts that we have some reason based on textual evidence (and Tools, Springs, and Golden Threads) to think may not be true. Whence John’s prediction post Running Grave that Robin was sterile. Whence Nick’s theories that Charlotte was murdered and that Cormoran and Robin will forever be best mates, not husband and wife.

The ‘pushes’ in Hallmarked Man that John felt were positioning of a Strike-Ellacott reader for a judo move in Strike 9? There are five, three of which turn on paternity):

* Per Ed Shardlow, that Murphy is not a good guy deserving of Robin’s sympathy but a very bad man, in fact the man behind the gorilla mask (and if his surname has any mythological weight, the likely murderer of Castor and Pollux in Strike 10);

* That “proper man,” Edward ‘Uncle Ted’ Nancarrow, is Cormoran Strike’s biological father consequent to an incestuous union with his much younger sister, Margaret (aka ‘Peggy,’ aka ‘Leda Strike’);

* That Cormoran Strike is the biological father of Bijou Watkins, Esq.’s daughter, Ottolie, and that he was risibly reckless in his DNA testing for paternity;

* That Jonny Rokeby was fooled by Peggy-Leda and Ted’s management of his positive paternity test the way that Cormoran was hoodwinked by Bijou’s sleight of hand with his negative result; and

* Peggy-Leda told her older brother that she was going to tell Whittaker that Rokeby wasn’t Cormoran’s father, which led to her execution staged as a suicide.

On to Week Three of Hallmarked Man! Next week we’ll discuss Rowling’s consolation tweet to Strike and Robin fans in “extreme trauma” from Strike 8’s last chapter, a message that included a Cupid and Psyche painting, in addition to conversation about the importance (and difficulty!) of getting the surface story straight before diving beneath it

Thank you for your support!

The Quadrigal or ‘Reading at Four Levels’ (John Granger, December 2021)

The ‘Locked-Room Mystery’ or ‘Impossible Crime’ Subset of Detective Fiction (Wikipedia)

Boris Akunin (Gregori Chkhartishvili) and the Erast Fandorin novels (Wikipedia)

Who Killed Leda Strike? Uncle Ted Did It (John Granger, January, 2020)

Who Killed Leda Strike, Suicide Victim? Leda, Rokeby, Whittaker, Ted, or Dave? (John Granger, December 2020)

The Value Of Interpretive Speculation or “Why We Know Dave Didn’t Kill Leda” (John Granger, January, 2021)

Spoilers Warning! If you haven’t finished reading the 900 pages of The Hallmarked Man and don’t want to hear details from the novel, you will not enjoy this conversation about Strike8.

John read the latest Strike-Ellacott novel by Thursday morning using the pre-publication head start, the Robert Glenister audiobook dropped early Tuesday morning, a bootleg epub version on his wife’s iPad, and the codex hardcover that arrived at 5:00 on the day of release. Nick didn’t finish until early Saturday but was already half-way through his second reading via audiobook by Sunday night.

John didn’t especially enjoy reading the book as fast as he did; Nick was frustrated that he could not read it faster than he did. Both were delighted by Rowling’s work and are looking forward to the coming weeks of re-reading and ‘Tools, Springs, and Threads’ analysis of its artistry and meaning.

In this week’s conversation, they touch on fandom disappointment with the new book before discussing how three predictions they’d made about Hallmarked Man played out, the three Real World targets of Rowling’s wrath in her current work, John’s preliminary work on the novel’s epigraphs (and the Aurora Leigh-esque forgotten tome of epic poetry that may be Strike8’s Rosmersholm or Faerie Queene), and what’s next in their reading of Cormoran Strike.

As is their wont, Nick and John refer to ideas and to people that Serious Readers will want to check up on or learn more about. Here are a selection of links to many of these subjects with their apology for those they’ve missed and their invitation to share counter-sources or requests for other links.

They thank everyone who listens to these Lake and Shed conversations, those who join in the discussions in the comment thread below (how was your first reading of Hallmarked Man?), and especially for our paid subscribers who were polled for their questions and concerns last week for our consideration before we put our notes together.

Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Anteros-Eros Distinction in Cormoran Strike

Cormoran & Robin and Odysseus & Penelope (Joanne Gray, 2019)

I found out that this is actually the statue of Anteros—not Eros as it is popularly called. Anteros is the subject of the Shaftesbury Memorial in Piccadilly Circus, London, where he symbolizes the selfless philanthropic love of the Earl of Shaftesbury for the poor. The memorial is sometimes given the name The Angel of Christian Charity and is popularly mistaken for Eros, cf., Lloyd & Mitchinson (2006) The Book of General Ignorance “Because of the bow and the nudity… everybody assumed it was Eros, the Greek god of love.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anteros

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/ErosAnteros.html

Eros is the brother of Anteros and also pretty much the opposite of Eros.

Reading Rowling at Four Levels (John Granger, 2021)

Robin and Cormoran, even if you want to include Sam Barclay, are not a soul exteriorization akin to Harry, Hermione, and Ron. The psychomachia of the Strike novels is built on the Shakespearean soul-Spirit romantic model rather than the Platonic-Patristic body-mind-spirit soul triptych of ancient, Medieval, and contemporary film and written fiction. In this model, the man and woman lede players take the part of soul and spirit, Coomaraswamy’s duo sunt in homine human and divine aspects, either as fixed roles as in Othello and The Tempest or in relation to the other, each being soul and embracing the other as supra-natural as in Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra (see Lings and Pogson for that). Rowling’s embedded models for this exteriorized drama of human sanctification are the myths of ‘Leda and the Swan‘ and ‘Psyche and Cupid‘ and the psychomachia spiritual allegories of Eros and Anteros, true and false Cupid, within Spenser’s Faerie Queen, the Redcrosse Knight and Una as well as Britomart and Artegell.

On Valentine Longcaster as the Erotic Cupid (Strike being the Anterotic Cupid)

Valentine Longcaster is a hilarious cryptonym for Cupid, for whom Valentine is a second name (see the post on Valentine’s Day in the Psyche and Eros post) and ‘Longcaster’ is a reference to his weapon of choice, the bow and arrow of the god of love. He pricks Strike at the direction of Venus-Charlotte, in some myths his mother, in others a lover and cousin or brother (murky waters!), and sets in motion the long-range plan of the envious ex to destroy Robin and Cormoran’s budding relationship.

Add ‘Valentine Longcaster’ to the pile of evidence for this particular backdrop and let’s continue to look for parallels and links Rowling has playfully embedded in the psycho-spiritual, neo-mythological allegory of the soul’s journey to perfection, and specifically the souls of women.

For much more on this Eros-Anteros distinction and its importance in grasping the allegorical meaning of the Strike-Ellacott relationship, see Ink Black Heart: Strike as Zeus to Robin’s Leda and Cupid to Mads’ Psyche (John Granger, 2022)

Fandom Response to Hallmarked Man:

From the Reddit r/Cormoran Strike page:

Hogwarts Professor Predictions for Hallmarked Man:

* Charlotte was Murdered (Nick Jeffery), Really, It Wasn’t a Suicide (John Granger)

‘Charlotte’ mentioned twice as often in Strike 8 as ‘Cormoran’ and Valentine Longcaster’s interview with Robin Ellacott has a major ‘tell’ at its finish (cf. p 451, ch 62).

* Robin Ellacott is Sterile (John Granger), Rowling Studies podcast

Ectopic Pregnancy consequent to PID and Murphy Pregnancy Trap leading to de facto sterility prediction appears as story-line in Chapter 3 of Hallmarked Man

* The Baby in the Lake

Hallmarked Man is Rowling’s ‘Baby Novel.’

Rowling’s Three Targets in Hallmarked Man’s Surface Story

* The Ideologically Captured Police and Media and the ‘False Religion’ of Freemasonry’s Control of the Police in Hallmarked Man

Rowling’s Week of publication tweets and retweets about UK police taking the side of Trans Activists and against Gender Critical feminists:

* https://x.com/iain_masterton/status/1963545948711219320 (JKR retweet)

* https://x.com/joannaccherry/status/1963547738722668666 (ditto)

* https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1963528602164555894

* https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1963297139905167722

* https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1962847107343139014

* https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1963465628053848363

* https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1963299236365140305

* https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1963298726417457300

* https://x.com/soniasodha/status/1963185964630647295 (JKR retweet; nota bene)

* https://x.com/Jebadoo2/status/1962959405160239135 (JKR retweet)

* https://x.com/joannaccherry/status/1962930361035374703 (retweet)

* https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1962932333025067268

* https://x.com/JohannLamont/status/1963658557007749364 (retweet)

Boris Johnson and Lord Branfoot

Boris Johnson hosting the show. 2003 (YouTube)

Boris Johnson’s Personal Image or Brand (Wikipedia)

Max Hastings referred to Johnson's public image as a "façade resembling that of P. G. Wodehouse's Gussie Fink-Nottle, allied to wit, charm, brilliance and startling flashes of instability",[4] while political scientist Andrew Crines stated Johnson displayed "the character of a likable and trustworthy individual with strong intellectual capital".[5] Private Eye editor Ian Hislop has defined him as "Beano Boris" due to his perceived comical nature, saying: "He's our Berlusconi ... He's the only feel-good politician we have, everyone else is too busy being responsible."[6] To the journalist Dave Hill, Johnson was "a unique figure in British politics, an unprecedented blend of comedian, conman, faux subversive showman and populist media confection".

* “Mentally Ill Islamophobes”

2021-22 Census ~ Islam in the UK Demographics: 6% UK, 6.7% England, 15% London

UK 'Grooming Gangs': Deriving Per-Capita Offence Rates by Ethnicity

Institute for Social Policy Research (UK) An independent, data-driven social-policy research institute focusing on UK political affairs.

We therefore conclude that consistent with widespread public perceptions, whilst available evidence is not exhaustive, the mean rate derived from four of the most comprehensive studies available to date on share of CSEGG crimes by ethnicity does affirm the picture that Asians and Blacks are overrepresented in such crimes. Curiously, with much of the attention devoted to “Asians” (predominantly Pakistani gangs), it is notable that Blacks are similarly overrepresented, with our weighted rate providing limited evidence of even greater over-representation than Asians.

Please note, however —

For the CEOP study that ISPR use, footnote 1 shows the selection criteria, excluding all abuse initiated in a familial or fraternal (house based) relationship:

"Where “localised-grooming” is defined as: “a form of sexual exploitation – previously referred to as ‘on street grooming’ in the media - where children have been groomed and sexually exploited by an offender, having initially met in a location outside their home. this location is usually in public, such as a park, cinema, on the street or at a friend’s house. Offenders often act together, establishing a relationship with a child or children before sexually exploiting them. some victims of ‘street grooming’ may believe that the offender is in fact an older ‘boyfriend’; these victims introduce their peers to the offender group who might then go on to be sexually exploited as well. abuse may occur at a number of locations within a region and on several occasions. ‘Localised grooming’ was the term used by CEOP in the intelligence requests issued to police forces and other service agencies in order to define the data we wished to receive.” (footnote 1, p. 7)"

They also exclude the 39% of cases where race was not included in the data. It would be sensible to assume that ethnicity was not recorded when the ethnicity of both perpetrators and the victim were the UK default.

Removing the selection criteria shows that people of Asian ethnicity are under-represented in child sex abuse cases compared to White British: https://www.csacentre.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/02/Trends-in-Offical-Data-2022-23-FINAL.pdf

Julie Blindel pushes back on the ‘Grooming Gang as Muslim problem’ narrative:

To say that the only reason the police were complacent when it came to the grooming gangs of Rochdale, Rotherham, Telford, and elsewhere was because (some of) these men were Pakistani Muslim, is madness. The ethnicity and religion of these men is relevant, but not in the way the racists would have us believe. It is relevant because it was seen as a phenomena perpetrated because of ethnicity as opposed to male violence towards females. Look at it any other way betrays the vast majority of girls that fall prey to these men.

The Epigraph Authors — and a hidden Book Behind the Book?

* Albert Pike, Confederate States of America General

* Louise Freeman Davis on John Oxenham’s Maid of the Silver Sea

* Aurora Leigh (Elizabeth Barret Browning) and Ink Black Heart

* The Ring and the Book (Robert Browning)

* Pompilia: A Feminist Reading of 'The Ring and the Book'

Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We’re in the home stretch of the 60th Birthday Blitz at Hogwarts Professor! On the first of the last four days of July, Nick 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. 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 act on the reader suggestion that we give a Lake and Shed reading of Tales of Beedle the Bard. Nick tells the ‘Three Year Summer’ background of the Wizarding World’s Fairy Tale collection and John talks about ‘The Hairy Heart.’ Stay tuned!

Links to posts mentioned in today’s Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:

The J. K. Rowling 2022 Interview with Stephen Fry about the ‘Archetypes’ of Fantastic Beast — and Why We Love Story

* Etymology of ‘Bejesus’

* Stephen Fry’s Views on Religion

Liminal Women: Mermaids and Swan Maidens in Galbraith’s Strike Novels (Beatrice Groves)

Troubled Blood: A Jungian Reading

Let’s talk about Rowling’s use of traditional chiastic structure, what anthropologist Mary Douglas called ‘Ring Composition.’ John 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. 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 act on the reader suggestion that we give a Lake and Shed reading of Tales of Beedle the Bard. Can the Hogwarts textbook, Fantastic Beasts, be far behind? Stay tuned!

Links to posts mentioned in today’s Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:

* The Hogwarts Professor Ring Composition Pillar Post

* The Ring Inside the Ring of Order of the Phoenix: The Department of Mysteries Gauntlet

* Harry Potter as Ring Composition and Ring Cycle (Lulu.com)

* J. K. Rowling’s ‘G-Spot’ and ‘Triple Play:’ The Lake & Shed Secret of Her Success

The Running Grave’s Structure: A Master Class in Ring Composition

* Running Grave: Ring Reading Index

* Reading 'Running Grave' as the End of the Strike Series (A)

* Reading 'Running Grave' as the End of the Strike Series (B)

* Reading 'Running Grave' as the End of the Strike Series (C)

Welcome back! John and Nick finish their back-and-forth challenge to come up with three examples of the ‘Fourteen Golden Threads’ in the work of J. K. Rowling, the plot points and story features that run through everything she writes.

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. 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 respond to two readers’ requests for a brief introduction to Ring Composition. John reviews the four essential elements in a proper story ring and uses Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as his example. He shifts from his Shed (garage) to the backyard ger (‘yurt’) to deliver his message about the ‘meaning in the middle.’ Stay tuned!

Links to posts mentioned in today’s Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:

* David Martin reveals the Role of Books in the Hogwarts Saga

* When in Doubt, Go to the Library: The Books Within the Books (David Martin Podcast)

* Troubled Blood: Every Tarot Card Spread

* Rowling Talks Tarot on 60 Minutes (1999)

* Harry Potter and The Hanged Man: Part 1 Rowling’s Most Loaded Tarot Reference

* Harry Potter and The Hanged Man: Part 2 The Historical and Occult Interpretations

* Harry Potter and The Hanged Man: Part 3 Its Meaning in Rowling’s Written Work

* Troubled Blood: A Jungian Reading

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 Written

The seven Hogwarts Professor weblog posts that John and Nick reference in that conversation can be found here:

Rowling Pregnancy Traps: Merope Gaunt

Rowling Pregnancy Traps: Casual Vacancy’s Krystal Weedon, Kay Bawden

Rowling’s Pregnancy Traps: Bellatrix Lestrange and the Cursed Child Delphini

Rowling’s Pregnancy Traps: Leda Strike

Rowling’s Pregnancy Traps: Four Strikes

Rowling’s Pregnancy Traps: Last Strikes

Rowling’s Pregnancy Traps: Fantastic Beasts, The Ickabog, The Christmas Pig

Today’s Lake and Shed framed conversation focuses in on the remarkable Strike-Ellacott novel, The Running Grave, the last book in our review of every work of fiction with either of Mrs Murray’s pseudonyms on the cover. Nick confesses to feeling stumped about what to say as his ‘Lake’ contribution to the 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.

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? We move into uncharted territory with an overview of the Lake material via John interviewing Nick about the various pillars and pertinent examples. Stay tuned!

Links to posts mentioned in today’s Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:

The Running Grave’s Structure: A Master Class in Ring Composition

* Running Grave: Ring Reading Index

* Reading 'Running Grave' as the End of the Strike Series (A)

* Reading 'Running Grave' as the End of the Strike Series (B)

* Reading 'Running Grave' as the End of the Strike Series (C)

Hogwarts Professors’ Reviews of The Running Grave

* Nick Jeffery

* Elizabeth Baird-Hardy

* Evan Willis

The Christian Symbolism of Mama Mazu’s Mother of Pearl Fish Pendant

* The Meaning of Robin Ellacott’s fight with Mama Mazu in Part 9 of Running Grave

* The Beloved Caravaggio Painting In Which Rowling Encountered the ‘Christian Fish’ Symbolism

* The Symbolism of the Pearl in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series

Welcome back! After learning the Snakewood Secrets of Dumbledore — that’s right, it’s Rowling the Wood Snake having a private Lake moment — we return to real books, Ink Black Heart to be specific, a novel written entirely by Mrs Murray, aka Robert Galbraith. Nick 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. 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? Running Grave! John is not a big fan but Nick is all-in so stand-by for some real back-and-forth about the merits and deficiencies of Strike7. Stay tuned!

Links to posts mentioned in today’s Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:

* Hogwarts Professor Ink Black Heart Search Results Pages

* The JKR Live Barmy Army Q&A: A Review

* Gilderoy Gleenings

* Intro to Epigraphs 101 Aurora Leigh

* Rowling and Fandoms

* The Mythic Backdrop

* Strike as Zeus to Robin’s Leda and Cupid to Mads’ Psyche

* The Gaffes

* Ink Black Heart and Deathly Hallows: The Heart is Not About Emotions and Affection but the Human Spiritual Center

Today’s Lake and Shed framed conversation is all about the Steve Kloves screenplay, The Secrets of Dumbledore, which is “based on a screenplay by J. K. Rowling.” Nick 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.

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? It’s back to real books, a novel written entirely by Mrs Murray, aka Robert Galbraith. We’ll be discussing Ink Black Heart with Nick covering the front and the back of making Lake readings of Strike6 without a lot of circumspection and John talking about the eerie feeling he had while reading this book that the author was ‘having a go’ at him. Stay tuned!

Links to posts mentioned in today’s Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:

* Snakewood: The Rarest and Most Beautiful Exotic Wood

* Snakewood as a Wand Material

* Wild ‘Secrets of Dumbledore’ Theory: Rowling Puts Pro-Trump Message in Script that Kloves Didn’t See or Remove

* MsMojo: Secrets of Dumbledore’s Answered and Unanswered Questions

* Secrets of Dumbledore: Predictions Fulfilled and Promise for the Future Elizabeth Baird Hardy

* Beatrice Groves – Secrets of Dumbledore: First Thoughts

* Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore The Rowling Library Review Is Up

* The Secrets of Grindelwald Screenplay: Three Quick Notes about its Publication

* YouTube Link to Film

Today’s Lake and Shed framed conversation is once again about The Christmas Pig. 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.

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? Our look at the Steve Kloves “complete screenplay” Secrets of Dumbledore, one based on an “original story” by J. K. Rowling. Stay tuned!

Links to posts mentioned in today’s Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:

* The Christmas Pig and Old Rabbit (Nick Jeffery)

* The Quadrigal Reading of Christmas Pig (John Granger)

* The Velveteen Rabbit and Christmas Pig (Beatrice Groves, pp 17-18)

* The Faerie Queene and The Christmas Pig (Elizabeth Baird-Hardy)

* The Rowling Studies podcast dedicated to Christmas Pig subjects

* Warner Bros Adapting ‘Christmas Pig:’ Will It Become Rowling’s Best Loved Book? A Second ‘Christmas Carol’?

The Perennialist Reading of Christmas Pig Series of HogwartsProfessor posts:

* Part 1: John, Peter, and Jack Jones

* Part 2: Dante, Sacred Art, and the Symbolism of the Tree and Its Angels

12/22: Whence Holly’s Hatred in Christmas Pig? The Symbolism of the ‘Broken Angel’

* Part 3: The Quadrigal Reading

* Part 4: The Magic In Things

1/5: Rowling on Love, Hope, Happiness 2018

* Part 5: The Blue Bunny

1/15 Rowling, Ring Writing, and Maternal Love

* Part 6: The Ring Composition

Post Publication Christmas Pig HogwartsProfessor Pieces:

10/4: The Christmas Pig – The First Reviews

10/10: Beatrice Groves: Unlocking Clues to The Christmas Pig

10/13: “For the Straightforward Path Was Lost”: A Few Starting Notes on The Christmas Pig (Evan Willis)

10/13: The Christmas Pig and Old Rabbit

10/17: Alexandra Palace, JKR, Christmas Pig

10/18: J. K. Rowling’s Christmas Pig Interviews

12/14: Rowling Talks About ‘Christmas Pig’

12/17: The Original Christmas Pig was Blind Pig

12/26: The Faerie Queene and The Christmas Pig

12/27: The Christmas Pig: Amateur AudioBook

12/28: Christmas Pig’s Chapter Thirteen

1/2: Does Anyone “Really” Die in Stories?