With the temperature staying in the mid 60s and a decent wind rustling the trees, today was the sort of day that made you feel good to be oustide. Walking to the store and back was a fun thing, for a change. To think that less than a month ago, it was a cold and frigid landscape of white and gray is astounding when breathing in the warm Spring air, looking around at all the rich greens and browns.
Today was a good day.
—
In my previous entry, I commented on this article in which was information on a lawsuit filed by Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling.
Andrew Wheeler feels she’s wrong.
It’s truly interesting hearing from an established publisher on this topic and, while I still side with Rowling and hope she wins, I also tend to agree with a few things Andrew has mentioned.
Printed fan work is one thing. Go to your local Borders and look for any book on the topic of Star Wars. You’d be surprised how many there actually are (or perhaps you wouldn’t be surprised). Not all of them are official. In fact, many of them are unauthorized. And those will sell many copies right alongside the “Official” Lucasfilm produced books on the subject. No copyright infringing.
But from what Rowling is claiming in the suit, many of the facts in this fan’s Lexicon is taken verbatim from the books. There is, reportedly, very little original content in it. And by original content, I mean words about Harry Potter written uniquely by this man. Not just copying and pasting from the books (again, reportedly, as I’m not familiar enough with the books to recognize the similarities).
I believe therein lies the difference.
Of course, I’m no publisher.
—
Author Dan Ronco thinks we’re entering a new golden age for science fiction.
It is eerie to think of all those ideas envisioned by SF writers that are now becoming a reality.
—
Here, have some of the best book covers ever printed.
—
Ramblings and Musings 
on the j.k. rowling thing…yeah, the guy is looking to publish a print version of his website, the harry potter lexicon. all the site is is a reference site, essentially…it has sections on characters, plot points, etc…it’s just info gathered into one place. j.k. rowling is planning to publish a harry potter encyclopedia, which essentially will be the same thing (with a whole bunch of new information and backstory). this guy is pretty much just rearranging the information already presented in the harry potter books and presenting it as his own work, as if he’d written something original on the subject of harry potter.
i’ve bought books about harry potter, written by other authors…but they were exploring the HP world and presenting theories and opinions and such. i can understand creating a website for fans to use for reference…but trying to make money from facts you can already find in the books? it doesn’t make sense. the fact that the author and publishers are fighting this is ridiculous to me.