Have you heard about of Steven Vander Ark? He is the man who started the Harry Potter Lexicon which is like an online encyclopedia of all things Harry Potter. JK Rowling gave the site an award and (if I remember correctly) even said that she referred to its timelines. Apparently, she doesn’t like it so much now; she’s suing Mr. Vander Ark and his publisher for releasing a book version of the Lexicon. She basically accuses them of stealing.
I remember reading about this in the paper and not really thinking much about it. Orson Scott Card jogged my memory with his excellent commentary on the situation. As he says,
Rowling “feels like her words were stolen,” said lawyer Dan Shallman.
Well, heck, I feel like the plot of my novel Ender’s Game was stolen by J.K. Rowling.
RTWT
He provides a link to another site which lists similarities between the Potter stories and other works. (It’s overwhelmed with hits now so try later.)
And I have to agree with OSC that I “will have a sour taste in their mouth about Rowling from now on.”
