Matthew's Journal

I'm retiring the use of this software to run my journal and I've switched to Wordpress. The transition is still a work in progress, but, for the moment, you should use the URL millercommmatt.com/wordpress. Eventually, you'll just be able to use millercommamatt.com to view my journal, photos, and anything else I put up.

I'd like to recommend what I'm pretty sure is the longest single fan fiction story that I've ever read. Weighing in at over 1 million words, Sunset/Sunrise Over Britain, by Bob and Alyx, is a sprawling, imaginative story that covers the the fall and eventual liberation of Britain from the forces of Voldemort. This story isn't perfect, but it's a good read. I will warn readers that the characterizations of Ron Weasley, Molly Weasley, and Dumbledore are jarring if you're not prepared. However, once you've accepted the changes you can delve into what is a well written tale of epic size. Enjoy!

Sunset Over Britain (part 1)
Sunrise Over Britain (part 2)

Those who know me well know that I'm a fan of Harry Potter fan fiction. Fan fiction is a very peculiar thing. Everyone who writes it does so for fun and as a creative outlet. However, skill is by no means equal between authors. Sadly, the majority of fan fiction is written by people who would fail sixth grade composition. Nevertheless, there are a handful of exceptional fan fiction authors out there and I'm in a continual search for more.

Fortunately, the good authors tend to band together at websites like fanficauthors.net. However, there are other good authors that can be found at other places. One of those authors goes by the name nonjon. Nonjon is a talented writer and most of his work is comedic genius. However, one of his more serious stories is entitled, Browncoat, Green Eyes, and is a crossover story between the Harry Potter universe and the Firefly universe.

A crossover story is simply a fan fiction story that combines characters and elements from two or more different fictional universes. For example, a story where Darth Vader has to match wits with the valiant crew of the USS Enterprise would be a Star Wars / Star Trek crossover.

Browncoat, Green Eyes is a very well written story that follows up two years after the end of the Firefly movie, Serenity. The author is very clever in how they incorporate elements from the Harry Potter universe into the Firefly universe and they do so in a way that is both plausible and significant to both storylines. I highly recommend Browncoat, Green Eyes to anyone who is a fan of both Harry Potter and Firefly. To get the most out of this story, I recommend that potential readers be quite familiar with the Harry Potter series through the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and with all 14 Firefly episodes as well as the movie. You can catch up on the the 14 Firefly episodes for free at Hulu.

As for nonjon's other work, I highly recommend it. It's very zany and quite hilarious. If you don't literally laugh out loud at least once a chapter, I suggest consulting a medical or psychological professional. Specifically I recommend:

A Black Comedy

The Where in the World is Harry Potter Series
Where in the World is Harry Potter?
The Untitled Cheekquel Project
You Did What!

Another author, Rorschach's Blot, has a story in the the same vein as nonjon's comedic work entitled, Larceny, Lechery, and Luna Lovegood!. It's hilarious and I also recommend it.

Good reading everyone!

Spoiler Warning: This post will contain details about the contents of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If you don't want to know anything about the book, I'd starting looking at another website right about now.

Late Saturday morning, I found myself sitting on my front porch, waiting with a very minimal amount of patience for my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to arrive. It was finally delivered at half past noon. After few breaks for food and the occasional phone call later, I finished the book at quarter to three in the morning. Since then, my wife and I have talked about the the various details of the book and the entire series now that it's complete. I've been thinking about how I really feel about the book. I'm now ready to share my thoughts about the book, to talk about what I did and did not like, and to discuss a little bit about how the last book fits into the series as a whole.

Read more »

Recently, a mugglenet.com poll asked readers a simple question asking about who would win in a conflict, muggles or wizards. When I first saw this question, my “knee jerk” response was that muggles would win. Based on my previous estimations of the size of the wizarding population, wizards would be outnumbered to the tune of 5000 to 1. Wizards, despite all their powers, would be very hard pressed to overcome such odds. There have been plenty of surprise victories in the history of warfare against overwhelming odds, but to win against such a margin would be unprecedented. Things would look even more grim for wizards once you consider modern military advances. I doubt a shield charm will fend off an atomic blast. However, when I first thought about this, I failed to consider that the fight might not be carried out like a conventional conflict with defined battle lines and the consolidation of territory.

The wizarding population is already embedded within the muggle population. Furthermore, so long as a wizard doesn't use magic in the presence of a muggle, there isn't a known way to differentiate a wizard from a muggle. If a conflict were to arise, there would be many initial casualties and many wizards would be eliminated early because they would fail to blend into muggle society. The wizards that would have a fighting chance (pardon the pun), would be the half-bloods and the muggle-born. Hiding in the muggle population they could avoid detection and cause chaos and havoc with their powers. I'm sure that we crafty muggles would eventually be able to devise a way to screen for wizards via blood or DNA, but a quick memory charm and some apparition would be able to save many a wizard from a tight spot.

A second facet that must be considered when thinking about this type of conflict is the role and fate of the very powerful wizards. A wizard like Voldemort has the power and resourcefulness to kill in mass and quickly escape and evade detection. I'm sure he could be brought down by weight of fire from a large group, but he would be a fool to fight a static battle against such odds as opposed to escaping in order to fight another day.

In the end, I think wizards would win in a conflict against muggles. As individuals, their powers allow them many effective means to kill, avoid detection, and escape capture. The muggles do not have the same abilities and their superior numbers are not effective against an enemy that they cannot find in order to kill. The muggles would be slowly killed off by a foe they cannot find or pin down in one location. Fear and suspicion would destroy morale. Any stranger on the street could be a wizard. At the very worst, we muggles, when driven to desperation, may be more inclined to destroy the surface of the planet in nuclear fire than to accept total defeat. In that situation, no one wins.

Thus, in answer to the mugglenet.com poll, I choose wizards.

I've been discussing this topic with some friends and well as reading what others that I've shared my estimates with on the internet have had to say. That being said, I think the most unreasonable assumption that I made was my third one that stated, “...all wizarding children attend Hogwarts”.

Let's assume that only 1 out of 20 wizarding children attend Hogwarts. If we assume JK Rowling's statement of a Hogwarts having 1,000 pupils, then there are 20,000 wizarding children of Hogwarts age. Keeping my assumptions from my previous post, that would translate to a total UK wizarding population of 120,000 creating a ratio of 1 wizard for every 500 muggles. This may bring the wizarding population more in line with what JK Rowling had in mind. However, I feel that the depictions of the wizarding world from the point of view of the Harry Potter books themselves support a significantly lower number of total wizards in the UK.

If anything, I think I can at the very least set extreme upper and lower bounds on the UK wizarding population. There are no less than 2000 UK witches and wizards and no more than 120,000. The most reasonable estimate certainly lies somewhere in between. Of course, when dealing with fictional environments, your estimations and predictions can always change at the whim of the author.

Warning to Readers: There is a seriously nerdy discussion of the Harry Potter books ahead.

For some time, there has been a debate in the Harry Potter fan community over just how many wizards there are in the Harry Potter world and how many children attend Hogwarts. While pondering these questions, I decided to do a little population analysis to see what answers I reached. The following facts and figures are based on current UK population statistics.

Assumption #1: There are either ~1,000 students at Hogwarts (as quoted by JK Rowling) or there are ~280 students at Hogwarts (number inferred from the Harry Potter books) [10 students per year per house].

Assumption #2: The composition of the UK wizarding population mirrors that of the UK muggle population.

Assumption #3: All wizarding children attend Hogwarts.

According to current UK statistics, there are 9.43 million children of Hogwarts age (11-17) in the UK. If approximately ~1,000 children attend Hogwarts that means that there is around 1 wizard for every 10,000 muggles and suggests a total wizarding population of 6,061. If approximately ~280 children attend Hogwarts that means that there is around 1 wizard for ever 30,000 muggles and suggests a total wizarding population of 2,020.

If we throw out the assumption that all wizarding children attend Hogwarts, what will happen? The books still suggest that most wizarding children still attend Hogwarts even if all do not. This would drive the wizard to muggle ratio towards 1 per 5,000 and the total wizarding populous in the UK towards 12,000. This means that the national wizarding government in the UK works on an equivalent scale of a small to moderate sized town in the western world.

Read more »

It's been a while since I posted my list of my favorite Harry Potter fan fiction. Instead of listing the stories I found recently, I'm just going to provide a link. Fanficauthors.net is an invitation only writing community featuring the best writers in the genre. Many of the stories I've listed before can be found there along with some new ones. Happy reading!

http://www.fanficauthors.net/