"Harry, A History" by Melissa Anelli

Wow.

I started reading this book a few weeks ago on the computer. Unlike a lot of blindies, I don't like reading books this way. Audio is my preferred format...well, Braille too, but obtaining a great book in Braille is only slightly easier than winning the California lottery. So, while I was enjoying the book, it was hard to stay focused on it.

On Saturday afternoon, I stumbled into a listing for the book on Audible.com. It had just been released there as an audio book a couple of weeks ago. I was very happy. I would get to read this intriguing book in a format that was more suited to my reading style. Great!

I knew about the book, released in printed form toward the end of last year, because its author, Melissa Anelli, runs The-Leaky-Cauldron.org, and hosts, along with others, the PotterCast podcast...both of which I'm very much a fan of. She's a funny, vivacious, and entertaining reporter, who has worked tirelessly for Potter fans such as myself...always bringing us the latest news as it breaks.

What unfolded off and on over the next 28 hours or so was amazing. The book exceeded any expectations I could have possibly had for it. On the OWL grading scale, it was definitely an O.

The book tells the story of the Harry Potter Phenomenon from all the angles that really matter: The birth of the fandom, its online explosion, J.K. Rowling's thoughts and genesis, the films, and the friendships that intersected, joined, and reenforced it all.

It's also Melissa's personal journey, from a somewhat closeted Potter fan sneaking reads between classes in college, through her rise to a strange sort of fan-fandom by the time the final installment of the series hit book shelves around the world.

To say I loved this book, would be an under statement of the most ridiculous level. It made me laugh. It made me cry. And, it gave me an escape on Sunday evening after some upsetting news came to me.

So much of it I could relate to, both in- and outside the Potter fandom. I was in a Barnes and Noble bookstore the night of the release of "Order of the Phoenix". I stood in that throng of people, many thousands of miles away from Melissa and her friends, but I experienced it in just the same way. It gave me the ability to relive the three midnight releases I'd attended in a way that I thought nothing ever could.

I can relate to the strange sense of unreality when Melissa is recognized and treated practically as royalty by other fans, when considering herself as just another fan in her own mind. I've been, for many years, a somewhat visible fan in the "Masters of the Universe" fandom, and have been stopped and treated much the same way by fans from He-Man.org at conventions.

The story of Heather, a girl who was told she had only months to live and inexplicably recovered, strangely mirrored my own story when, as a child, I too had become quite ill. For Heather, Harry Potter was her refuge. For me, it was Masters. I, too, experienced an inexplicable and miraculous recovery.

There will never be another Harry Potter book...not like those first seven, anyway. That feeling of anticipation, and reading the next installment of the saga will never come again. You can only read a book for the first time once...

Reading "Harry, A History" was as close to an eighth Potter installment as I could ever hope for. No, it wasn't the same. How could it be? But it gave me all the same feelings. It made me relive the fandom and the love for a boy wizard and his friends in a entirely fresh way that I thought was wholly lost, no matter how enduring that love has remained.

I wish I'd had the courage to say hello to Melissa and company last year at the San Diego Comic Con, when I attended their PotterCast panel.

If you're a Potter fan...and maybe even if you're not...you should read this book. It's a wonderful, emotional, and thoroughly incredible ride.

All I can say is...

Wow.

On the Tip of Your Tongue

Fandom, the term used to describe the community and/or mania surrounding a particular entertainment property, is a strange thing. The number of fandoms that exist is staggering, and that number has grown exponentially since the introduction of the Internet, which has proven to be an ideal breeding-ground and meeting-place for fans of all sorts to share their love of...well...virtually anything.

I'm no stranger to these phenomena. In fact, anyone who knows me is well aware that I'm a first-class geek of the highest order. I might not be a black belt in the category of geekiness, but I'd be close. I count myself among the "He-Fans" and "She-Ravers" who obsess over the fantasy property Masters of the Universe first and foremost. I'm a Trekkie too. (I refuse to use the term Trekkor.) I know the wizarding world of Harry Potter well enough to be appointed Minister of Magic, and I'm no stranger to the Jedi.

Hands down, Star Trek and Harry Potter have the largest legions of voraciously dedicated fans, with Masters of the Universe in hot pursuit, but it is the Trekkies in particular that I want to discuss for just a moment.

I'm a Trekkie. I'm a really big Trekkie. That being said, I'm not the sort of fan who agonizes over the least of canonical inaccuracies in the franchise's forty-some years of historical continuity that spans several centuries in the Star Trek timeline. Because of that, I'm able to be very much looking forward to the 2009 film from J.J. Abrams, which seems to be breathing new life into the franchise, building new civilizations of Trekkies, and boldly going where Rick Berman has never gone before.

Still, I'm in awe of the lengths to which some Trekkie's have gone in their dedication to the universe of vulcans, klingons, and Romulans. In the words of Mr. Spock: "Fascinating."

One of these extremities has been in the birth of several languages, largely produced by acclaimed real-world linguists, for various Star Trek alien races. Did you know you could get Shakespeare's works translated into Klingon? It's true.

Strictly by accident...ahem...I was...uh...searching the Internet for...um...well, anyway, I stumbled into links to some fascinating resources.

The Klingon Language Institute (KLI) provides a scholarly environment, activities, and other resources to teach and spread the joys that is the warriors tongue. Yes, not only could you get Shakespeare's Hamlet in Klingon, but you could actually learn to read it.

Perhaps the Klingons are a little much for you. Maybe you're a more of an isolationist sort. You might find The Central Institute of the Romulan Language more to your taste. The Romulans have always been the most fascinating of Star Trek's alien races to me, and this site illustrates much of the reason why.

Finally, for those with a more logical disposition, the Vulcan Language Institute will certainly bring out your inner-Spock. Learning to speak the tongue of Surak's people just might lead you to live longer and prosper.

As geeky...or even ridiculous...as these projects may seem to some, I think they serve a multitude of important purposes, and help to display what can be done by us mere humans when we band together.

Do I think these languages should be taken seriously? Actually, I do. Every language known to mankind is pretty much arbitrary. Someone, somewhere, decided that one set of sounds was better than another set of sounds to express a given concept or to represent a given thing. The primary difference here, is that the inspiration for the language sprung out of a common love for a story in which the human race finally cleans up its act, cleans up its planet, and lives together in a cooperative, peaceful way. I can think of worse things to encourage. Can't you?