Edward Champion's Return of the Reluctant

AM Roundup

• Carrie Fisher will write a book revealing several secrets behind the Star Wars trilogy. Among some of the telling details: Mark Hamill was a midget who received two leg implants to increase his height, costume designer John Mollo modeled Chewbacca after a shag carpet he had the misfortune to walk on during a bad acid trip, and crew members were ordered to rub George Lucas' feet and call him "Joseph Campbell II" before setting up each shot.
• John Lescroart has donated $50,000 to the UC Davis graduate writing program. Lescroart remarked this was better than wasting it on a hair transplant.
• An academic conference (and, as a reader has noted, not the first of its kind) for the Harry Potter books has been established. Events include "Getting Stoned at Hogwarts -- The Gorgon Threat in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," "Whodunnit? The case against Remus Lupin," and "How statistics and computer-based visualisations contribute to our understanding of Harry Potter." Too bad that nobody came up with a seminar called "Beyond Harry Potter: What do we read do when J.W. Rowling stops writing?" (And if Potter isn't bad enough, consider the Smiths.)
• It's not much of a shocker, but it never hurts to be reminded how much Amazon knows about you.
• The Age chronicles the elastic nature of Kris Hemensley's career.
• Mein Kampf has been selling like hotcakes in Turkey.
• A new book, Shakespeare Goes to Paris, suggests that the Bard might be getting a cold reception in France.
• The inevitable litmus test has been applied to JSF's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Even Laura Miller has been left cold.