James Bow. Transit Toronto Editor. Blogger. Yonge Street dream-dasher. Fantasy novel writer. Anti–Harry Potter activist.
In what may be the best indie literary publicity stunt in some time, Bow will stage a half-serious one-man picket beside the midnight line-up of Potter fans waiting outside Another Story Bookshop (315 Roncesvalles Avenue) this Friday night. The fans, of course, will be there to get their hands on a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final edition of the J.K. Rowling-authored book series. Bow's protest (done with the support of the venue, of course) is fantastic: at midnight, he will don his "wizarding hat" (!!!) and hold a placard reading "will write for food" beside the lineup. At 1 a.m., he will leave for the night—wizardry is kind of exhausting—and return at noon the following day to "read from other novels and sign his own."
To coincide with Bow's protest, fellow authors James McCann and kc dyer are also launching novels "in defiance of the Potter juggernaut" at the Summer Dream Literary Arts Festival in Stanley Park in Vancouver.
Now, we don't want to spoil Deathly Hallows, but we heard that at its end, Harry and Hermione and Ron spontaneously combust/wake up and realize it was all just a craaaazzzy dream/are the same person. Who knew, right? The very last page of the book also supposedly features a very neat hologram of J.K. Rowling jumping in a big pile of money. And now you know what Bow is fighting.
Photo of James Bow with his wizarding hat graciously provided by the author.
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Wait, I heard that Harry is mortally wounded by lava in a fight against Voldemort and is saved by being placed in a black suit to become Darth Vader.
And Hermione turns out to be a dude.
PS - Not that I condone this, but Google "Deathly Hallows.pdf" if you want the (badly scanned) book for free.
In other news...
In the final battle Harry dies after Voldemort implements a Land Transfer Tax.
No, I don't see what he's fighting for. I see that he's trying to get publicity, which is fine. But I'm tired of the idea that success is bad. How truly Canadian. Yes, J.K. Rowling has made a ton of money, but it's because her books are good. She's never let anyone influence her as to how many books she would write in the series (she knew from the beginning how many there would be) or how they would turn out. I respect that.
I don't get it... he's... just... standing outside a bookstore with hundreds of people who don't care?
I mean, if you're going to protest Potter, have some hilarious religious jargon to shout. At the very least don't dress up like a character from the book.
I'm really sick of folks countering criticism of mediocrity with the "Canadians hate successful people" line. I counter that with the response that not everyone who is successful is putting out a high-quality product, and thus there is nothing wrong with calling them on it.
Rowling made a lot of money because you never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator. Her books are derivative and shallow and yes, mediocre. That's not necessarily a bad thing--especially since she gets children reading and loving books. But it also doesn't mean that criticizing her mediocrity is a bad thing either. She's fair game. In fact, we have a responsibility to recognize it, and to teach our children to recognize it as well. Refusing to discuss the poor elements of a product means never affording the opportunity to improve the product.
I should point out that I myself am a fan of the Harry Potter series, and one of the reasons I'm going out at midnight is to get my hand on one of the first copies of "Deathly Hallows". The 'protest' is a tongue-in-cheek thing, but with a serious intent. Yes, I'm here to promote my books. I'm also here to promote other Canadian authors (I'll be reading from, among others, Kenneth Oppel's "Skybreaker" on Saturday -- I highly recommend it and "Airborn"), both to support my fellow Canadians, but also to offer Harry Potter fans suggestions as to what they might turn to once the final page turns on the Harry Potter epic.
It's about capitalizing on being an underdog, and that's one thing that I think Canadians epitomize. Yes, there is some professional jealousy in Rowling's runaway success, but we've got to be scrappy, willing to tweak the nose of the queen, so to speak, if we hope to obtain a fraction of what the queen has achieved.
Whatever the case, it has worked. You can read an update on things here, and I'd like to thank David Topping and Torontoist for such invaluable help.
Robis, I wasn't countering criticism of mediocrity, I was simply countering criticism of her success. The statement in question read
"The very last page of the book also supposedly features a very neat hologram of J.K. Rowling jumping in a big pile of money. And now you know what Bow is fighting."
That says nothing to the quality of her books, (which I happen to think are not mediocre, but that's your opinion and I respect that) merely that she is successful.