The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling--Book Review

I am not a book reviewer. I am a book writer. However, occasionally I feel compelled to discuss a piece of literature that impacts me strongly. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is one of those books.

I've run into a lot of naysayers about Rowling's books, which I love unabashedly. A lot of adult readers have considered Rowling an intellectual lightweight. If that's what you thought, take a look at Beedle.

Set up as a series of fairy tales told to children in the wizarding world, this version is allegedly a 'new translation by Hermione Grainger' with footnotes and interpretations by Albus Dumbledore. At first I thought this was a ploy to give us yet another Potter holiday must-have item. It's not. Rowling takes these children's tales and cleverly weaves them into a modern-day equivalent of medieval morality tales. For example, in the first story "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot," a hard-hearted son is bequeathed an old pot and a single slipper by his kindly wizard father who's spent his lifetime healing the various ills of the Muggles around him. When the son is approached by desperate Muggles, he denies them help. The pot grow a metallic foot. The more he denies help, the more the pot bangs around with its metallic foot wreaking havoc in the home. Eventually, just to gain peace and quiet, the son agrees to help the wizard. he then puts the slipper on the foot of the pot, and it no longer makes the noise that keeps him awake every night. At first glance, this is a familiar and simple tale--the stereotypical fairy tale where a father posthumously teaches his son the value of compassion.

What sets the tale apart happens in Dumbledore's notes:

The tale, allegedly written in the fifteenth century, lost popularity as a result of the growing prevalence of witch hunts across Europe. Pro-Muggle stories such as this were revised.

"...In the revised story, the Hopping Pot protects an innocent wizard from his torch-bearing, pitchfork-toting neighbors by chasing them away from the wizard's cottage and swallowing them whole..."--Tale of Beedle the Bard, page 13-14.

Dumbledore goes on to say that the wizarding world grew concerned over "...their unhealthy preoccupation with the most horrid subjects such as death, disease, bloodshed, wicked magic, unwholesome characters, bodily effusions and eruptions of the most disgusting kind..." Tales of Beedle the Bard, page 17.

In an attempt to "...fill the pure minds of our little angels with healthy, happy thoughts..." the Tales were rewritten, in a more child-friendly tone. Dumbledore's final assessment of the situation is that the revamped tale "...has met with the same response from generations of Wizarding children: uncontrollable retching, followed by an immediate demand to have the book taken from them and mashed into pump..." Tales of Beedle the Bard, page 19.

What a brilliant and pointed observation on the sanitization of literature in order to 'protect' the minds of our children today! A basic morality tale had been changed, first because the political climate wasn't favorable to the Muggles it painted kindly and then because it might be considered too violent for the fragile minds of the children who read it! I remember debates when I was a kid about the advisability of keeping Tom Sawyer on the shelves. Speaking of banning books, anyone recollect the brouhaha in recent years over a certain children's wizard book that promoted Satanism?

I'm not one to ascribe political motives to the author of a children's book. But, if this was just an unintentional coincidence and not Rowling's reaction to the reception her books have received from certain narrow-minded corners of our society I'll eat the Sorting Hat. This is an intellectual, but highly entertaining and thoroughly age appropriate set of little stories that not only expand a child's knowledge of the Harry Potter world, but gently initiates them into the concept that politics has no place dictating the future of literature. Ever.

On a different and an amazing note, this book's profits will go to help the Children's High Level Group charity, co-founded by Rowling and the Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne to help children in institutional situations--including those with disabilities. What a lovely and wonderful thing to do!

My advice to you? Buy the book. You're helping a charity, you're getting more from the amazing wizarding world of Harry Potter, and Rowling delivers a delightful and instructive series of tales that will amuse and entertain generations from 7 to 70. At just around one hundred pages, it's a perfect stocking stuffer and a fabulous gift.

And for those naysayers who blathered on about Rowling's lack of intellectual integrity, it's time to eat some crow. Hedwig will be providing shoes...and salt...so that their gnawing on their own shoes might be a bit more favorable. Do yourself a favor and learn from a writer who, despite the squawking to the contrary, has broadened her horizons into an insightful and sometimes pointed expose of the atmosphere surrounding modern literature. Beedle is beautifully written, the stories are definite bedtime stories for your young ones, and adults will appreciate the mature and elegant way in which she handles tough topics for wizards and Muggles both.

I give Beedle five Firebolts--four for sheer entertainment value and one because JK Rowling is just so darn smart.

Insomnia and Market Research

So, it was a bad day yesterday. Family situations abounded...never a good thing...and I'll be away from my computer pretty consistently over the next couple of weeks. *sigh* Unfortunately, whenever crap happens to me or mine, I stay awake and stew about it.

And stew.

Unless I distract myself. I made some LOLCatz earlier; that was fun. I also started doing market research. It's been a while since I have done so, and I thought I'd see what's up.

What's up is I found a whole slew of new places to think about sending my stuff to so that it can be rejected. I also found some great blog posts, new information, and a growing certainty within the market that 'things they are a changin' ...

My question is simple: where?

Where is the market changing? What is the next big trend? Who knows what it is, and how much do I have to pay them to get in on the secret?

Okay, let's say that it's a minimum of two years from contract signing to pulbication with a major house. That means that to be the 'next big thing' you have to be TWO YEARS beyond the other people writing in your genre. Otherwise, if it's too similar, you might be pegged as derivative.

The world might be different today if Harry Potter had come out six months after a wizards' school book from another author. Think about it. Remember the post-DaVinci Code swarm of lookalikes? What if...and it's a big what if...a publisher thinks Darkshifters is the next big thing? Unbeknowst to them, or me, another writer publishes something similar a few months before. Does that negate Darkshifters' chances? Perhaps not entirely, but still.

Speculating on the nature of public taste is hard. When you write stories that are out-of-date does that make them any less viable? And who decides that? Publishers? Editors? Agents? Or is it the intern stuck on slush pile detail....a scary thought indeed.

Unfortunately, I have no answers. I only have questions. And even after a long night of LOLCatz and NaNo writing and market research, I can't find the place TO get the answers. So for the time being, I'll just have to assume that what I'm doing can be the next big thing.

And hope for the best.

Battle Scenes

So, I'm sitting cross-legged ont he day bed in my study working on the very tail end of the Asphodel 2 rewrites. I pulled an all-nighter last night and as I write this it's already almost tomorrow. And you guys don't think I sacrifice for my art...

You're right. Ain't no art when there's Elf-killin' involved and at the moment I'm up to my non-pointed ears in Elf gore. I love writing battle scenes. The only reason I know anything at all about how to orchestrate a battle scene is because of Julius Caesar. Sound odd? It shouldn't be. Try reading his Gallic Commentaries sometime. Roman strategy from a man who wept because Alexander the Great had accomplished more at a younger age.

Fortunately, I do have distractions. If the kitten doesn'tstop chewing on my removable hard drive cord sometime soon I'm going to have a fluffy white throw rug for a dollhouse.

Anyway, I'm off from work this week until Saturday night and the football game. I'm actually very glad of that because I haven't recovered from the horrors of fair week and birthday week back-to-back yet. On top of that, I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and he's going to yell at me. It won't be pleasant, probably because his definition of 'light duty' is far, far different from mine. Oh well.

So, the writer's life resumes while the carnie slave dwindles into the background. Sometimes there's a lot to be said for the continuity of life. And, for an eerie coincidence, while I was working on these assorted battle scenes I was privy to one in real life. Nothing serious: just more family squabbles but in everyday life, just as in war there are strategies and counter-strategies one must employ in order to win the day.

Another battle scene? How about the latest from Harry Potter land?

I'm inclined to think that this is a great thing. Dumbledore, already beloved by so many, is now a positive role model for youngsters regarding homosexuality. But, on message boards all over the world, controversy is flaring into bitterness. I can't even begin to tell you how many threads I've seen locked because some yaboo decides to get offended at what was nothing more than a character note an author made to herself. Does it affect the story? No. Then why the big deal? I foresee many battle scenes deriving from this, and some of them won't be pretty. They'll probably force some segments of society to take a good, hard look at themselves and their prejudices.

Boy I sure do hope so anyway. Way to go, Jo!

Spoilers and Buttholes

You know, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to leak Harry Potter.

Here we are, some scant three days away from the resolution of a series that single-handedly is responsible for dragging kids away from the Wii and Playstation and back into books, and some yehaw moron decides to swipe a copy of Deathly Hallows, scan it, and post it online.

Aside from the fact that it's PIRACY which is ILLEGAL, it's absolutely a cold-blooded thing to do. I mean, yeah, I've had my moments of assholishness. the one that immediately pops to mind happened about ten years ago when I was doing summer stock. Another actor was reading "Of Mice and Men". I walked up and asked, "Is this the first time you've read that book?"

"Yeah, it is."

"How cool. By the way, Lenny dies."

He was on page seven. Granted, I didn't like him that much. But, by that point the book had been out for decades. It's not like I broke into Steinbeck's house, stole his manuscript, and spammed it to the world.

Whoever this cheese-eater is, he's in for a world of hurt. As stringent as Bloomsbury has been about protecting the Harry Potter manuscript and its secrets, there's going to be a slew of lawyers descending on this second-rate bookstore employee with lots and lots of papers that will deprive him of all of the comfort he's enjoyed in his mother's basement for the past ten years. Even hear of wage garnishment, pal? Your crap's going to Rowling for a looooooooong, looooooooooong, time.

Dumbass.

You know, it's amazing to me that so many people derive so much pleasure out of ruining it for everyone else. I really, really hope this guy gets what is coming to him. Running his toes through a woodchipper comes to mind. As a reader, and a fan of Rowling and her work, I am very, very angry. I'm an adult, so I can deal with it; I just hate to think of how this makes the kids who've been eagerly waiting for this feel.

As a writer it really pisses me off. Rowling, too, has been waiting for this release for ten years. The excitement she must feel at bringing her quest to conclusion is incomprehensible to me, mostly because I can't imagine anyone wanting to know the end of MY series on this level. So some anonymous slimeball thought it was funny to ruin it for her too.

Pitiful.

So, I hope you got your rocks off, pal. I hope you're getting a big old chuckle out of this. you won't be laughing for long.

And if anyone thinks that my rants about e-piracy were ridiculous, think about how ten million children worldwide must feel tonight. The glory, the curiosity, the fascination, the anticipation of these last few days has now been ruined for them--and all because someone thought that freedom of speech extended to thievery.

What? We're Defined?

I'm not certain whether I should laugh or be distraught. Check out this definition I found on Wikipedia:

The definition of a fantasy author is somewhat diffuse, and a matter of opinion
- Jules
Verne considered H. G. Wells to be a fantasy
author - and there is considerable overlap with science
fiction authors and horror
fiction authors. However some notable part of the output of the following
writers leans more to the fantasy end of the spectrum:

Uh................huh?

So Verne considered Wells to be a fantasy author, did he? I wonder, just out of curiosity--what did Wells think of Verne?

Whoa. I could ponder the ramifications of that for hours.

At any rate, did anyone notice that the definition of fantasy author is not actually defined? Apparently, we overlap with scif-fi and horror---and that's it. Wonder what they say about fantasy.

Fantasy is a genre
of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a
primary element of plot, theme, or setting. The genre
is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by overall
look, feel, and theme of the
individual work, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three
(collectively known as speculative
fiction). In its broadest sense, fantasy comprises works by many writers,
artists, filmmakers, and musicians, from ancient myths and legends to many recent works
embraced by a wide audience today.
The genre of fantasy is generally
distinguished from other works that may use things believed to be impossible by
its internal consistency (the marvels do not alter their behavior without reason
in a work) and its presentation as true in its context.[1]

Oh wait...is that speculative fiction I see thrown in there?

So if fantasy differs from the rest of the speculative realm due to its overall look, feel, and theme then how do fantasy authors differ from their speculative brothers and sisters?

(Pauses while the inevitable comments about my overall look and feel get thrown into the ring...)

I think it may have something to do with "...use things believed to be impossible by its internal consistency...and its presentation as true in its context..." In a nutshell, a fantasy author finds a way to make the impossible credible. Sure, the willing suspension of disbelief must be applied to all speculative fiction if it is going to work, but what about fantasy requires MORE, not only from the author but from the reader as well? I thought about this for a while and this is what I came up with---*snicker*

Okay, the thing that makes true horror work (for me at least) is the sneaking suspicion that it COULD be possible. The psychological horror of a movie like Halloween works for me in that context; I can picture some six-year-old loon like Michael Myers. I can also imagine that somewhere in the world, that psychic link exists between siblings....ergo, the entire premise becomes credible to me.

Science fiction, on the other hand, operates (0nce again, let me toss out the *this is me* disclaimer) on what MAY be possible in the future. Think about it: do any of us really doubt that someday we'll perfect lightspeed technology? I don't. Once they managed to clone a sheep, my disbelief was willingly--and permanently--suspended.

But fantasy---ah, fantasy!---operates from the premise of what we each WISH for. What kid doesn't wish desperately for some magic way to get back at his/her parents or tormentors? I know I did! This hidden vein lies dormant in all of us. Look at the success of Harry Potter. Doesn't it speak eloquently of that wish? By the same token, don't we all wish to influence events around us through the use of mere thought?

Sooooooooooooo---reaching through the broadest spectrum of speculation, perhaps then a fantasy author is one who takes the secret wishes of humanity and makes them into reality.

*grin*

Yeah that works.