Inverarity is not a Scottish village

As someone who never really cared who Harry or Hermione ended up with, all I can say is: Bwahahahahaha!!!!

"I know, I'm sorry, I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I'm absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that,” she said.

Actually, I think this is pretty awesome. Rowling is still thinking about her stories and her characters and able to revisit her writing decisions with a critical eye years after the fact. I've talked a little bit about how some of the things I've done in my stories I might have done differently if I had them to do over again, and it's great that someone as notable as Rowling can say "Yeah, in retrospect maybe I should have written that differently." Especially knowing, as I'm sure she does, that Ron/Hermione/Harry shipping was one of the most controversial and hugely absorbing issues in the fandom for many years and that saying this now will probably create more reaction than when she announced Dumbledore was gay.

I expect some people will accuse her of just trying to get attention again now that HP is fading from memory, which is pretty much what they said when she dropped the infamous Dumbledore bombshell. I don't get these accusations. JK Rowling has never struck me as a woman who's desperately in need of being in the spotlight or who courts controversy for the sake of controversy. She sometimes makes bad decisions and she admits it, but she seems quite down to earth and I think she just says whatever comes to her mind, even if it causes an uproar among her fans.

Anyway, this should be amusing to watch in those corners of the fandom still deeply invested in shipping and JK Rowling's after-the-fact pronouncements. Break out the popcorn!

J.K. Rowling is writing a new movie in the Harry Potter-verse

Set in early 20th century New York.

Ironic, since Alexandra is going to visit New York in book five...

I have recced Marissa and the Wizards, by JCCollier, before. It's one of my favorite HP fan fics, starring a Muggle-born girl named Marissa who is a parentless child of the São Paulo slums, before being invited to attend the Witness Stone school of magic located deep in the Amazon rain forest. Anyone who likes "foreign magic school" OC stories (admittedly a small niche) cannot miss this little gem.

Sadly, though, the story appeared to have been abandoned. So imagine my surprise when a new chapter was posted today -- three years after the last update!

I can only hope this means JCCollier is writing again, and there won't be another three year wait for the next chapter.

( Prologue: How I became a fan fiction author. In which I RAMBLE LIKE A RAMBLING THING! )

Alan Moore, I loved Miracleman and your run on Swamp Thing, and I liked Watchmen too, though it wasn't that great. But all your compulsive urge to shit on everything proves is that you can produce shit.

So, anyway, now he's going to shit on Harry Potter.

First of all, dude, Lev Grossman already did that.

Also, so did The Onion, and they were funnier.

Inverarity, hard at work getting the next chapter of AQATSA ready to upload...

I hope you are enjoying Alexandra Quick and the Stars Above. I read every review and comment. I note the praise and the criticism and take it all in. Sometimes I want to say "But..." or "Just wait..." but I don't think an author should try to influence how a story is perceived, at least not while it's being read. So you may have noticed I don't respond too much to any of the discussions. I'll withhold any author's notes until after the last chapter is posted.

I can definitely perceive the decline in HP fandom if the number of hits and reviews between book three and book four is anything to go by. (That's not a complaint, just an observation.) I expect that by the time I do finally roll out the final Alexandra Quick book, there will only be a small, hardcore fanbase left. But that's okay. The fact is, as much as I enjoy writing Alexandra Quick (and I do still have it in mind to write a sequel to Hogwarts Houses Divided someday), it's about my only connection to fandom nowadays. I don't really read much in the way of other fan fiction any more, and only occasionally cruise through one or two forums. Most of my future writing will be devoted to original fiction. But Harry Potter will always hold a place in my heart, and I will finish the Alexandra Quick series.

Also, thanks for the beer! :)

'Cause he's da Man.

Alexandra Quick and the Stars Above is currently just under 252K words, and 40 chapters. I have done my first editing pass all the way up to chapter 38, and my betas are right behind me.

Once all chapters are edited/betaed, I will go through with the list of Things That Need to be Fixed and fix them.

So far, we haven't identified any great big gaping plot holes or serious structural issues. There are some things that need to be fixed (and one subplot in particular that one beta likes and the other doesn't), but nothing that has me rewriting half the book.

( I write fic! That isn't AQ! )

Lastly, my latest commissioned character illustration:

( Lilith and Diana Grimm )