JKR's plans for a HP encyclopedia in book form

[eilonwy1]

Spotted this little item on Twitter and found my jaw dropping in disbelief.  Now, however, I find myself feeling cynical and not really surprised after all

Comments

[dormiensa]

why am i not surprised?

[eilonwy1]

My thoughts exactly, Sam!

I don't know if you've seen what Steve Vander Ark eventually did publish, but in no way, shape, or form is it the HP Lex we know and love. It certainly isn't worth spending hard-earned money on, imho. On the other hand, the Lex as he would have published it would be worth every penny of the asking price.

[margotlefaye]

No argument from me. Either she should have objected the minutes she saw the site, or she should have continued to tolerate it. What she did was the opposite of gracious.

[eilonwy1]

That's precisely my feeling on it too, Diane. That lawsuit left a very sour taste in my mouth when it happened, and it's been resurrected again, hearing this latest news.

[eilonwy1]

I fully expected you'd say this, but honestly, I do not see how it can be said that he was publishing her material. I have a shelf full of books about the HP books, informational guides to the novels as well as commentary, etc. I don't see how the HP Lex is any different from any other guide to the books. He isn't putting forth original material from the novels as his own writing. You know my feelings about plagiarism, how hardline I am about it. I do not see how this is a case of plagiarism or anything related to it. And as Diane said, if JKR found any aspect of the Lex objectionable, she should have put a stop to it immediately, online. But she did not. She praised it and used it herself as a valuable resource. She had no problem with it, didn't see it as infringing on her original material. Only when he wanted to put it into print did she object. But if it was objectionable at all, then it was objectionable from the start. So she was being completely hypocritical

[eilonwy1]

Okay, I can see your point if so much original material was included, pages and pages at a time-- but that would have been simple enough to edit. The way I understand things, there was no such option for SVA. Fair use makes sense, but I don't believe he was offered the opportunity to trim the original material back to a legally acceptable amount. She just stopped his efforts to publish the Lex cold.

The other point is extremely important as well, the fact that she was insistent that he was infringing on her right and clearly stated intention to publish a very similar volume herself. That was, in large part, the basis for the lawsuit, as I understand it. And now she has reneged on that. Of course, nobody is forcing her to do anything. But it does smack of disingenuousness at the very least, and it does not reflect well on her at all. Many well-known writers feel the same way and were appalled at the lawsuit when it was happening.

[reetinkerbell]

That's really disappointing. She should've just not said anything about it, and people would've just gone around waiting quietly for a while. But it really sucks, to basically promise all of her fans (and let's be honest, she's got a freaking TON of fans) do publish a proper lexicon (which I would've happily paid full price for) and then just, not? Not cool, JK. Not cool.

[eilonwy1]

Agreed. And I think a lot of other people must feel this way as well. I'd like to believe it isn't arrogance on her part (precisely because she's got so many millions of fans), but quite honestly, that's what it feels like to me.