Friday, July 20, 2007

Poor J.K. Rowling

There is actually a petition out there - no lie - to try to get author J.K. Rowling to write more "Harry Potter" books, as she has said the one coming out this weekend is her last in the series.

I wish I had a magic wand so I could stab myself in the eye with it.

Are you serious? A petition? To try and force an author to write something because you say so?

What, is she suddenly going to be the villain if she takes Harry away from you?

Aside from the fact that these folks must have way too much free time, if a writer doesn't write from within, why would you want to read it, anyway?

I've read books I like - J.D. Fitzgerald's "The Great Brain" series has been one of my favorites since childhood - but I wouldn't try to force the guy to write more just because I like it.

I don't even have a closing, the whole thing is just so stupid.

4 comments:

Karen Olson said...

While I love Harry Potter, I think Rowling's initial plan to write seven books, each taking place within the seven years at Hogwarts, was a good one. Also, as a mystery series writer and reader, I see how she might want out of Harry's world for a while after all this. It's exhausting living in an imaginary world for so long, and giving the series closure before it jumps the shark is always a good idea.

Of course Harry could be dead tomorrow so this petition is moot.

Al said...

The funny part is that -- even if Harry kicks it in the book -- some of these folks would just have Rowling make him come back to life. It's as if they think no one has ever written a book before, like they can't just go read something else.

Again, I would urge people to check out John D. Fitzgerald's "Great Brain" series - even though the series is set in Utah in the past, they are wholesome, entertaining books - and he also wrote an epilogue of sorts in the book "Papa Married a Mormom," which is geared more toward adults who had read the series previously. Great stuff, regardless of age.

I also would recommend Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, because they're great.

Al said...

OK, I just realized I spelled "Mormon" wrong in my previous comment - not a good thing for a copy editor to do! But, I'm going to go ahead and blame that on (a) lack of an adequate amount of coffee in my system at the time of writing, and (b) my laptop's awfully small fonts make it hard for me to see clearly without my glasses.
So ... yeah, I'm going to pass the buck on that spelling error. I know there's no such thing as a "Mormom."

Karen Olson said...

There are a lot of kids' books out now that are really quite good. My 10 year old daughter enjoys the Warrior series which has cats as its characters as well as Eragon and its sequel. Harry Potter has been quite the phenomenon, and we'll probably not see the likes of it ever again, but it has breathed life into the Young Adult novel category and there are a lot of good books coming out these days.