Here on PA Craig plays Voldemort...Every put down, he just comes back stronger.

Here on PA Craig plays Voldemort...Every put down, he just comes back stronger.

He's more of a Vernon Dursley surely? Has nothing but the lowest opinion of all that magical nonsense.

Time to jump on the Republicans for Voldemort bandwagon!

I'll take that as a compliment, but at least I've got a nose . All snark aside, I'd don't envy Rowling being richer than God (leaves some hope for the rest of us pixelated, ink-stained wretches), and there's some chance her publishers are going to invest some of that Potter loot in the next Philip Pullman -- someone who took a long time (and wrote a lot of well-received, modestly successful books) to become an overnight success with the His Dark Materials trilogy. (And yes, I do find his evangelical atheism tiresome and shrill, but The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife in particular are damn fine books. You're not going to have much of a reading life if your literary judgements are based on an ideological/political sniff test.)

And, Peter, I have the highest opinion of "all that magical nonsense". AFAIC, Gene Wolfe is America's finest living writer, full stop. The three Kiwi writers I cited in my piece - Maurice Gee (or God, as he's known in my house), Margaret Mahy and Elizabeth Knox - are fine writers I'm happy to puff any chance I get.

I just don't have much time for shitty writing, which is the real issue I have with Harry Potter; or marketing hype being confused with literary or critical values.

And one fair question is this: If the Harry Potter series is such a pile of crap, what you recommend? Well, I'm pulling together a little list - and some linky love to the fine bookstores that specialise in kid-lit, and are full of lovely people who've forgotten more about the field that I've ever known.

Fair exchange?

And, Peter, I have the highest opinion of "all that magical nonsense

Heh, I fully agree with you Craig on the Pullman and the Gene Wolfe threads. I read Wolfe's Torturer series what seems about 100 years ago and they're still probably my favourite fantasy series.

I also agree about Potter. I haven't read 7 but I think they're quite a good story, but terribly written from Book 5 onwards. I thought 3 was probably the best, the writing was on the wall by 4, and 5 & 6 are just travesties of non-editing. We read them to our kids and they are appalling to try to read aloud.

We read them to our kids and they are appalling to try to read aloud.

They are - so I've got to be fair and admit Jim Dale made a pretty good fist of the quarter hour of The Chamber of Secrets 'audiobook' (ugh!) I heard before reitiring to my happy place. Hey, I was babysitting. Anything this side of alcohol poisioning that keeps the hellspawn quiet is fair game.

...I've got to be fair and admit Jim Dale made a pretty good fist of the quarter hour of The Chamber of Secrets 'audiobook' (ugh!)

Stephen Fry got the Order of the Phoenix audiobook, poor bastard.