Comments on: Publication of the new Lexicon book

By: Maeghan

Maeghan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:52:28 +0000

Meh, I’ll wait for the one Rowling is writing. It’ll have all her original information from the books, plus more information on the world itself.

By: Scruncher

Scruncher — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:04:11 +0000

My child loved the Harry Potter books so much but was having problems keeping track of the characters, so she bought the companion book. However I explained to her that she was an awful, terrible person for purchasing a text that was intended to help her enjoy the HP books by organizing data for her. I am glad to say that she has learned her lesson and has switched to reading the Twilight series as that is more in keeping with her limited mental abilities.

By: ButSiriuslyFolks

ButSiriuslyFolks — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:21:07 +0000

In all honestly, I kind of tend to side with the thought that characters and ideas are the property of the author. But, Ms. Rowling seemed to have little problem with the companion books, fan fiction, and endless websites that seemed to “take over” the ownership of her precious characters BEFORE the series was completed. Frankly, I’m no fan of fan fiction, but in essence, those types of obsessive and fervent acts of passion fueled her billion dollars in profit. Now, suddenly, when the series is done and she’s closed every door as to what might happen (taking ownership away from the fans…no more Harry/Hermione stories), suddenly companion books infringe upon her profit margin? Sorry, Jo…love your work and love the books, but you allowed the monster to grow out of control and to try and reel it in now is petty. I love the Lexicon and think it is of tremendous use as I teach my Harry Potter summer school enrichment, going on its seventh year.

By: Stelmaria

Stelmaria — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:19:25 +0000

(sorry for the typos, 2 in the morning and all… *need to stop watching the Half Blood Prince Trailer over and over, need to go to bed…*)

By: Stelmaria

Stelmaria — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:12:12 +0000

The prospect of the new HP movie finally coming up in a few months reminded me of all things Harry Potter after a long break, since the last book and movie, and I also remembered how curious I had found JK’s objection to a companion last year. I just checked wiki at HP law suits (she’s done so many there’s an encyclopaedia page about it, what does that say? Hahaha)and was thoroughly depressed to find there that judge whatever’s-he-called ‘ruled in her favour’. Came running to the Lexicon for something more specific, to discover this ‘news page’ (yiey!) and that the publisher went on anyways (double yiey!).
Surprising that so many people are ungfamiliar with the term ‘companion book’ and to those, I would recomend a trip to the nearest bookstore, please do us all a favour and go to the Tolkien section (for argument’s sake) and counnt just how many dozens of companions you find there…
Believe me, most young authors out there would be begging to have someone write a companion to their book; I know I would
Congrats Steve, and remember some of us think, she should be thanking you

By: The Other Sister

The Other Sister — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:39:29 +0000

I really don’t understand what all the fuss was about. Aren’t there many, many books out there explaining, discussing, commenting on Harry Potter? All these authors made money off Jk Rowling’s character as well. So why did they pick on you, Steve?

By: Zivlok

Zivlok — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:58:12 +0000

I was always on JKR’s side through the whole debacle, but was delighted to learn that you did go ahead, make the changes, and then publish it. I wish it hadn’t taken so long for those changes to be made, but, whatever.

I skimmed through it at a Barnes and Noble, but I’m not gonna buy it. I think the Lexicon is a great resource because of it’s searchable, categorized, linked, all that fancy computer stuff, and so printing it out and trimming it down makes it lose its usefulness to me as a resource. Also, it didn’t have an entry for “Flipendo”, which I found disappointing, because it is THE BEST SPELL EVAR.

Seriously, it can do anything. Gotta push a block back? Flipendo! Gotta kill a spider? Flipendo! Gotta fight Voldemort? Flipendo! Kitten stuck in a tree? Flipendo! Lost your homework? Flipendo!

Anyway, I congratulate you on making the changes necessary to meet the judge’s decision, and I hope it sells well, but if I need to fact check, I’ll just go to my bookmarks bar, not my bookshelf.

By: Brenton

Brenton — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:53:24 +0000

Steve, big congrats! Had been following the case and am on the hunt for a copy, but unfortunately cannot find one down here in Australia

By: Astarte

Astarte — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:09:32 +0000

Steve, belated congrats - been out of the loop with my little ones and missed the announcement. I’ll be signing up for text message announcements this weekend (getting a new cell phone plan with unlimited texts on Friday). If you’re anywhere a reasonable distance from Cleveland my crew will come to see you. That little baby that was at Prophecy is now a toddler who already pretends to cast spells with anything somewhat resembling a wand (i.e. curly straws are close enough for him). Your books will be an intrigal part of how I share the wonderful Potterverse with my children when they’re old enough. Thank you so much for persevering. I’m sorry to see how divided the fandom has been over this, it’s really a shame and much of it due to a lack of understanding of the legal issues and background. I have a small inkling of how much time and personal money you must have invested to bring us this website over the years and am thrilled to be able to contribute back some small portion of appreciation for your hard work. Knowing that JKR herself referenced your indexing work while she was writing, I was really shocked at how far this legal battle went. If I ever manage to publish my own fiction (which I am working on, slowly), I would be so thrilled if I could manage to attract the dedication and hard work of an individual like yourself. Imitation isn’t the sincerest form of flattery - creating a lexicon like this is!

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:18:11 +0000

Hi, Kerri

You’re definitely entitled to your opinion, but I do need to correct one error in what you wrote. Your statement that I had “numerous chances to back off and make changes” and that I “refused” is completely, utterly false. As for the rest of your analysis, well, let me just say that you don’t really have any idea what happened.

Steve

By: Kerri

Kerri — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:03:21 +0000

Someone said further up that since the publisher doesn’t have a problem with it, neither should we. Well, as a consumer I respectfully disagree.

Steve, if you had started off with whatever content that you have now, perhaps I would feel differently. But you stepped over the boundary as a fan, and made JKR take you to court and -force- you to back off and make these changes. You had numerous chances to back off and make changes, and you refused.

For that, you have lost my respect - and I refuse to purchase your book.

By: Iain

Iain — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:05:50 +0000

…I’m confused about the legality of the publication of the “Lexicon”…after all, there *are* several similar companion-books for other works (and HP itself)…

Ah, well. Congrats! I think I’ll always prefer the online-version of the “Lexicon,” though.