July 27, 2005

When Potter fans get angry, phase two . . .

by

In a story that no other news source seems to have picked up, the Watley Review is reporting that a disgruntled fan has released a “corrected” version of the newest Harry Potter novel on her website, where it has led to over 800,000 downloads and “a storm of legal activity from Rowling’s publishers.” The story says Mary Sue Pembroke wrote the new version of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince because, “Whenever an author puts a work out into the universe, it is no longer their exclusive property anymore. Harry Potter belongs to all of us, not just Rowling. She took some liberties with the story in this latest book that really weren’t faithful to the logic of the narrative. My version is, I think it fair to say, much more faithful to the true Harry Potter mythos.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.

MobyLives