Rowling releases HP and the cursed child as novel

[pendell]

As seen in The Washington Post

When die-hard “Harry Potter” fans first heard that J.K. Rowling was writing a sequel to her beloved seven-part series, they couldn’t wait to get their hands on the book. Then they realized the sequel wasn’t going to be released in book form — she had turned it into a play.

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is set to debut in London at the Palace Theatre on Harry’s birthday, July 30.

But today, Rowling announced that the script of the play will in fact be released as a two-part book, at 12:01 a.m. on July 31, 2016.

Okay, so let me see if I understand this correctly. She wrote a story, which another author -- Jack Thorn -- converted into the script for a play, and now the script is itself being back-converted into a novel. Do I have that right?

On the one hand , I'm always glad to see more HP. On the other hand, it's a bit depressing that she has to keep going back to this 'verse. She's tried her hand at a couple of other writing ventures, but none of them were as successful as the Potterverse. I guess even wealthy authors need to eat.

A couple of weeks ago, we discussed the casting of Hermione for the story, and it appears that it will now be directly canon in the Potterverse. Should be interesting to see how that works.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Darth Credence]

The casting won't be canon to the Harry Potter series, any more than the casting of the movies was. Hermione will still be Hermione, with brown eyes and frizzy hair.

[DavidSh]

A "book" isn't synonymous with a novel. The Post's report isn't entirely inconsistent with the book just containing the script of the play.

[pendell]

It appears you are correct; JK Rowling has clarified . They're releasing the script in book form, not converting it to a novel . So: Less exciting than it might be , still cool.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[DelphiSage]

Why is Rowling doing this? It's been 8 years since she published HP7, and 4 since the last movie came out. The zeitgeist is lone gone, for crying out loud, shifted to stuff like Twilight and Hunger Games and every other goddamn YA dystopia franchise out there, and there's been a metric ton of thinkpieces and Harmonians that have proven her post-PoA work unable to hold up to snuff. The only thing Harry Potter has left is that Fantastic Beasts timeslot-filler they're making.

[jere7my]

Why is Rowling doing this? It's been 8 years since she published HP7, and 4 since the last movie came out. The zeitgeist is lone gone, for crying out loud, shifted to stuff like Twilight and Hunger Games and every other goddamn YA dystopia franchise out there, and there's been a metric ton of thinkpieces and Harmonians that have proven her post-PoA work unable to hold up to snuff. The only thing Harry Potter has left is that Fantastic Beasts timeslot-filler they're making.

Harry Potter continued working magic in Orlando in 2014, sending attendance soaring by double digits at Universal Studios Florida, according to a closely watched theme park industry report released Wednesday.

Year-over-year attendance at the park spiked 17 percent in 2014, according to the estimates from consulting firm AECOM and the Themed Entertainment Association.

“Obviously Universal Studios is hitting it out of the park,” said Brian Sands, vice president in AECOM’s economic practice.

Universal Studios’ attendance — 8.3 million, compared with 7.1 million a year earlier— was boosted by the addition of a Harry Potter land last year.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busin...603-story.html

Prepare to watch theme park industry in Southern California magically transform April 7.

That’s the date Universal Studios Hollywood will open its Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Based upon what this new land has done at Universal’s other theme parks around the world, expect a lot of Disneyland fans to start making the drive to Hollywood in 2016.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/u...ance-year.html

[SaintRidley]

The idea that Harmonians have demonstrated Rowling's ineptness post-PoA is hilarious.

So: Less exciting than it might be , still cool.

Not sure why it's less exciting. I think the opportunity to have a story in this world told in another literary genre if plenty exciting. We've had the main series of novels doing a pretty solid urban fantastic Bildungsroman, the collection of fairy tales The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the history book Quidditch through the Ages, and the bestiary Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them so far, and each style gave something pretty nifty for readers to mull over - I'm even teaching bits of Fantastic Beasts this semester as part of a course on neomedievalism. I feel confident that Rowling's going to give us something that melds with the conventions of written drama in some neat ways.