Happy Monday, everyone!  I'm back from Seattle, where I had a wonderful time both at the MLA convention as well as seeing some of the sights of the city.  While I didn't make it up in the Space Needle, I did visit the nearby EMP Museum (Experience Music Project), which is a museum dedicated to music, pop culture, and science fiction.  I'll tell you all about my visit there later this week--you'll even see a video of me interacting with one of the exhibits!

Of course, we have other exciting things for you this week, as well.  Kat Howard has started reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, and we'll hear her thoughts on the first book.  We have an essay from Mark Schelske about major characters in fantasy literature who get killed off, as well as thoughts from a new contributor, Ali Sundermier, about what sets fantasy literature apart.

We hope you're able to stop back often and add your thoughts to our conversations!