Bright Shiny Harry Potter

I haven't been around in awhile, and I apologize. Sometimes life just gets kind of hectic, and it's hard to juggle 17 million things at once. And since I get paid to do my work, and not this, then that had to take priority. (Of course, so did sleeping, watching movies, going to an art gallery, going out for supper with friends...)

Moving on. Have you guys heard about this? J.K. Rowling is involved in a lawsuit. It appears that Steve Vander Ark has attempted to publish a reference guide for her books called The Harry Potter Lexicon, titled after the website of the same name. Rowling is kind of pissed about this – she claims it infringes on her intellectual property rights, and that she was planning on publishing her own reference guide. Vander Ark's counter-argument is that Rowling is just trying to claim a monopoly on all things Harry Potter.

To which I have to say, that's her RIGHT. As a writer, I definitely have to take Rowling's side in this. Harry Potter is her creation, and she has a right to say who can and cannot make a profit off of her imaginary world. And I don't see this as a strictly individual case. Artists have been struggling with the issue of intellectual property rights for an extremely long time, and maybe it will take someone as famous and rich as Rowling to get us what we need. If that's the case, so be it. As long as artists get what they're asking for, I personally don't care where the fairness originates.

In other news, I got a comment on my last entry asking whether I recommend James Frey's work. My answer is 100 percent YES. It's so "yes" that I plan on buying his novel as soon as it comes out without a clue as to what it's about.

My thoughts on the whole Frey scandal are this: Who cares whether A Million Little Pieces was fact or fiction? It was a good read either way. And for those of you claiming that you were "misled" and getting your money back? Suck it the hell up. You bought a book. You probably enjoyed it. Even if you didn't, you still were willing to put out the money in the first place. I honestly don't know how you can feel that it is a personal attack against ANY of you if the work was not entirely factual. How did it honestly affect your daily life? (Unless, of course, you know Frey personally and were depicted in the book, in which case you probably shouldn't have paid for your copy anyway, you sucker.)

Anyway, back to the point. James Frey is an amazing storyteller and obviously has an extraordinary imagination. I will gladly pay for (and read) anything he writes.

Signing off to go send some rejection letters. This has been avery jenner.