Thanks to the wonder of Google alerts I was made aware of a recent editorial written by noted science fiction author Orson Scott Card.
He is not amused by the lawsuit filed by J.K. Rowling against RDR books in the Harry Potter Lexicon case.
In the piece Card calls Rowling a hypocrite, insane, and a puffed-up coward.
Yikes.
I guess he won't be on her Christmas card list this year.
Edited to add:
This morning after I read the post by Card, I forwarded a link to my friend John Granger. He was inspired to write a thoughtful and thought provoking post which assimilated reviews of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Card, Steven King and A.S. Byatt and then challenged us to think about how your opinion of an author can color your interpretation of their work.
It's a great post and I recommend that you read it and give him your feedback on the topic.
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From looking at Card's website I discovered that he is having a literary boot camp for writers this July in San Diego. The description sounds like it would be an intense experience. Registration is limited to only fifteen people for the boot camp, but there is a shorter two day (but twelve hour a day) writing class that precedes it.
Check it out if you are interested.
It would be a chance to learn from an expert.
I find myself in near complete agreement with almost everything Card is saying. What, after all, does Rowling stand to lose? Money? No, and she has plenty of it anyway. Fame? Reputation? None of it. And then, what is all this passion about Potter being "mine" and all that? How can you say that after allowing other people to make films - to depict "your" characters on screen? To flood the markets with merchandise? To make trading cards? All this makes her action morally and legally untenable.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with the point about Dumbledore. The timing of the "revelation" makes it so abundantly clear that it was a publicity stunt, that is almost painful.
These are my views. A few tons of salt reccommended. )
Ok, so it took me a while to get over here ... please forgive me. I am working for the Santa Rosa Symphony so I can't call myself a starving artist anymore ... not that I ever really looked the part...
ReplyDeleteI miss you and the Redwood Writers meetings.
I finally got around to adding your link to my website and the good news is that with a little googling on my part, the Internet lead me to you. I am so glad you are blogging.
How is that book of yours coming along? Wouldn't we love to have Harry Potter size problems?
I hope to get back to some meetings soon and see your smiling face...
Hugs from
Catherine, the redhead blogger
Gautam,
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay in responding. I do not agree with the assessment of Rowling's revelation about Dumbledore being gay. That is because of the testimony of Amy Sturgis who was there that night. She felt that Jo Rowling was moved to give that answer due to a question from the audience.
You can read her report of that evening here:
http://tinyurl.com/5vhqbe
I do however really wonder what it is that Jo Rowling and Warner Brothers hopes to gain by trying to squash Vander Ark's book. I doubt it would do anything to dim her sales of "the Scottish book" if and once it is published. If anything, it will help maintain interest in the series during the interim.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Linda
Catherine,
ReplyDeleteHey girlfriend! Good to hear from you.
Our next meeting is Sunday, June 1st and our speaker will be Persia Woolley. I have talked to her on the phone a couple times, but have not met her yet in person. She seems like a lovely woman.
Check out the promo for her talk:
http://tinyurl.com/2k5kjy
I hope to see you there!
Linda