What could JK Rowling write next (pertinent to HP)?

[Hazra]

I don't really see her stepping outside the Harry Potter franchise: she made her billions in it:lol:. I think she'll keep writing about the Potter world: James' and Sirius' childhood, Voldemort's story, founding of Hogwarts etc etc. She already has Beedle the Bard, she'll continue in the same vein.
That said, I'd say it would be nice to have her step outside her comfort zone and write something dramatically different from Harry Potter. Epic love story, apocalyptic future, whatever...

 

[beer good]

I'm surprised nobody's posted about this?

JK Rowling revealed as secret author of new book

Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling has been unmasked as the author of The Cuckoo's Calling, a crime novel published in April under the pseudonym "Robert Galbraith," the Sunday Times reports.

The novel chronicles private eye Cormoran Strike as he investigates the suicide of a supermodel. The book was received with critical acclaim, but reviewers were surprised by the sophistication that came from the first-time author — whose biography on the Little Brown website describes him as a former military police investigator using the pseudonym.

Of course, the biography can now be construed as a fake, and the sophistication behind the novel can be attributed to Rowling's experience of previously publishing eight novels (seven in the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy published in September 2012).

The Times received an anonymous tip about the novel via Twitter, and after some investigating, got Rowling to confess to her ruse as Galbraith.

“I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience,” she said in a statement. “It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.”

While the novel originally only sold 1,500 copies in Britain, the book has shot to No. 1 on both the U.S. and British Amazon best-seller lists since the news broke of the true author. The second book in the crime series is planned to be published next summer, but it will remain under the authorship of Galbraith, not Rowling.

Apparently, writing under another name was a "liberating experience". After all the hubbub about her last novel, I can believe that.

Richard Bachman approves.

And just to counter any conspiracy theories along the lines of "the worlds best-selling author published a book under a fake name for the publicity!", what actually happened was her lawyer was dumb enough to tell a friend.

 

[direstraits]

This deserves its own thread. I find the story strangely unsurprising. It was interesting to read about how she got 'critical' praise before being outed, and I personally would love to find out whether the praise was deserved or not (not that I'm so incredibly qualified, after all I did like her HP novels).

I've been reading a rash of detective novels recently (local ones too!) and wouldn't mind another.

 

[readsalot]

If there were more HP books, I'd prefer for them to be next generation focused. Spinoffs tend to be worse than the originals...but the HP universe is pretty open to new threats.

 

[Karen C]

I tried really hard to read The Casual Vacancy when it was released but gave up about a chapter in because I just couldn't get into it. One day I hope to go back and finish reading it. I might give The Cuckoo's Calling a try at some point but what I really, really want is more Harry Potter books. Maybe not Harry Potter exactly, but I think it would be great to have a series of books chronicling Lily, James, Sirius, Lupin and the like during their school days and the build up of the original Dumbledore's Army.

(Why has it taken me a month to find this section of the board?! My observation skills are rubbish!)

 

[pontalba]

I tried really hard to read The Casual Vacancy when it was released but gave up about a chapter in because I just couldn't get into it. One day I hope to go back and finish reading it. I might give The Cuckoo's Calling a try at some point but what I really, really want is more Harry Potter books. Maybe not Harry Potter exactly, but I think it would be great to have a series of books chronicling Lily, James, Sirius, Lupin and the like during their school days and the build up of the original Dumbledore's Army.

(Why has it taken me a month to find this section of the board?! My observation skills are rubbish!)

Haven't read The Casual Vacancy yet, but have read The Cuckoo's Calling, and enjoyed it enough to pre-order the next one.

 

[Karen C]

I haven't really heard all that much about The Cuckoo's Calling as a lot of people I know have put off reading it because of their feelings about The Casual Vacancy so thanks for the feedback pontalba. I might see if I can get it from my local library, then if I can't get into it or don't enjoy it, no harm done.