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10.
AOTW: What impact, if any, have you felt or do you anticipate from the Harry Potter phenomenon? Do you think these books have attracted a new generation of fantasy readers?
Lynn Flewelling: It has been a shot in the arm to the fantasy market. It's helped raise us in the mainstream consciousness, and gotten a lot of kids and their parents hooked on fantasy books. I haven't seen any figures, but I'd guess that other YA authors are seeing a healthy jump in sales. I think it will lead a lot of people back to Roald Dahl and C.S. Lewis, since Harry is very much of that tradition. However, for those of us who are not aiming at the YA market, it has reinforced the stereotype that fantasy is 'kiddie fare.' That we don't need.
I'm just reading the first Harry Potter book now, however, and would like to say that they are great fun, and very enjoyable for the older reader, just as Dahl is. So maybe we will benefit after all.
Juliet McKenna: I'm already seeing Harry Potter making fantasy reading respectable and sinking the myth that it's a childish genre. I also see it making reading in general a cool thing among the kids at my children's school, especially among boys, which is a real plus. Yes, I think we'll see a new generation of fantasy readers --- and writers come to that.
Teresa Edgerton: I've read interviews with young Harry Potter fanatics who have been asked the question: 'Are you reading more now that you have discovered Harry Potter?' They all answer the same way: 'Oh yes, I am reading more now. I've read everything about Harry five or six times.' Well, this is not exactly my own definition of 'reading more,' though it seems to suffice for them. And whether or not these youngsters who are wearing out their copies of The Sorcerer's Stone, and The Chamber of Secrets, are also moving on to other fantasies by other writers, you would have to ask a teacher or librarian.
One good thing, though, is that J. K. Rowling has disproved the theory, occasionally advanced by readers of limited imagination, that in order to 'really' be fantasy a story has to take place in a quasi-medieval setting. If any of Rowling's young readers do go on to read books by other fantasy writers, they'll do so with the image of Harry taking the train to Hogwarts fresh in their minds.
Sean Russell: We all certainly hope that the Harry Potter readers will discover our books. It will be interesting to see. Certainly some of those readers will go on to read more fantasy. I think books we loved as children have a much longer lasting impact than we realize. I loved Tom Sawyer as a boy and still have a weakness for adventure books to this day.
Robin Hobb: Within my own household, my ten year old daughter would like to know why I don't write some really good books, like the Harry Potter books. As a person who volunteers time twice a week in the school library (told you I was boring and mundane) I bless the Harry Potter books from bringing boys and books together. They are a foot in the door for me to introduce them both to other fantasy books, such as Diane Duane's or Baum's Oz, or to other adventure books, such as Hatchet or Tom Sawyer or The Jungle Book. The Harry Potter books show kids that big fat books are not a drag. Right now, I'm glad there are only four of them. That's enough for a good satisfying reading experience, but you do have to move on from them. So much of the series stuff for kids... Goosebumps, Pony-pals, Baby Sitters Clubs . . . just goes on forever, more of the same. Burgers and fries. Kids are very conservative in reading, just as they are in eating. If they can have McDonald's burgers every day, it's hard to convince them to try Sushi or Lasagna. So I'm glad the books are coming out at intervals, that they are 'long,' and that, much as Tolkien did for my generation, they inspire kids to go looking for 'more of that, but not exactly.'
Terri Windling: I think the Harry Potter books are fun. We're not talking Proust here, but they're engaging, clever, entertaining stories --- and I'm extremely grateful to J.K. Rowling for the number of new young readers she's brought into our field. My hat's off to her for that.
L.E. Modesitt: The Harry Potter books have attracted new readers. Whether or not those readers will be like the early Tolkien readers who went on to read and spur the development of fantasy as a distinct genre or whether they will be the fantasy equivalent of Star Trek fans, who largely read Trek stuff and little else, remains to be seen. I'm hoping that they follow the example of the Tolkien model.
Elizabeth Haydon: One hopes that it will, but it still remains to be seen. For the reasons mentioned earlier, sometimes people "grow out" of fantasy they were able to enjoy in childhood, which is a shame. I think The Lord of the Rings movies might have more of an impact on adult fantasy sales than Harry Potter.
Lois McMaster Bujold: Since I'm writing for older readers, I haven't yet felt a direct impact, although my writer friends who do YA report that sales are up over the whole genre. This is great! It's still a little early to tell how many Harry Potter readers will go on to find the rest of us, but at least they have made the wonderful discovery that reading can be FUN. And when everyone is reading, readers no longer stand out as odd, which can only be to the good for young readers in schools everywhere.
Michael Stackpole: Without a doubt. Just the fact that so many people have become comfortable reading big books means that they will seek that sort of comfort and entertainment in the future. Because they are now also comfortable with fantasy, the genre will continue to expand.
Martha Wells: I haven't felt any impact from it that I know of. I think the writers of children's fantasy will probably benefit from the impact first. I hope the books do attract new fantasy readers and I'm sure to some extent they will.
Margaret Weis: Yes, I think we can already see that happening.
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