The new semester begins today! Apologies for my recent silence, but I've been busy getting prepared for the new term. I'm teaching both undergraduate and graduate versions of "Native American Experience in the U.S. Context" for Lenoir-Rhyne University and the graduate course "The Gothic Tradition" for Mythgard Institute.

In other news...

* In the next couple of months I'll have the privilege of interviewing two distinguished and celebrated authors whose works I regularly teach. I'll be interviewing David Brin virtually for StarShipSofa's Sofanauts, and I'll be interviewing Sherman Alexie in person as part of Lenoir-Rhyne's Visiting Writers Series. My students this semester will be reading Alexie's brilliant, U.S. National Book Award winning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, so I'm delighted that they'll have a chance to see Alexie on campus.

* Here's a Call for Papers that may be of interest: The Inklings and King Arthur.

* Fans of the late (and great) Lewis Collins will want to see this moving message from his family.

* Interesting! "Four Changes to English So Subtle We Hardly Notice They're Happening." (Thanks to James!)

* I've updated the list of my personal appearances this year.

* Sherlock! As much as I enjoyed "The Empty Hearse" and "The Sign of Three" -- and I really did! -- "His Last Vow" blew them both away. Well played, Moftiss. Well played indeed.



I'll leave this on a January-esque note...

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me
And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow.
And the storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below;
But nothing dear can move me;
I will not, cannot go.

- Emily Brontë, "Spellbound"