JK. Rowling

You can judge her in anyway you want: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/14/world/rowling-secret-book

""I hoped to keep this secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience!" Rowling said in a statement. "It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation and pure pleasure to get feedback from publishers and readers under a different name."

^ this is so true isn't it? How much have we wanted to adapt different selves. To vanish from the radar, step out of the spotlight? It's liberating, yes! You get to be judged objectively. Guilty.

On the general side, ever since the Harry Potter series, she's gone downhill, could there be any better time for this rumor to go around for her? Conspiracy? I mean, now even I'm intrigued and I wasn't even a reader of her.

I'm not a fan of Harry Potter either and confess, I haven't read any of these books. I buy a lot of books from Book Depository and this book was listed a while ago. Today I received an email from them telling me who the author really was and informing me that they are taking orders now if I wish my name to be added to the list....the book has gone up by $10 so....I'd have to agree, the timing does seem a little dodgy haha!!!

Hellon, don't tell me you're a Muggle!

I confess I am....did have a magic wand once upon a time but...when my neighbour's horrible cat wouldn't vanish on command I realised I definitely was a muggle :)

...and let me guess, you threw the magic wand to the direction of the cat, knocked it off balanced and giggled like a silly muggle?

Err....how do you know....were you peering over the fence? Hang on.....it wasn't your cat was it haha!!!

Yeah, you almost killed Gustavo. And to believe she was so young...

yes, she. :D

Oh yeah, I read an article about this. I think it's cool Rowling attempted a pseudonym, and it's my guess that it was a genuine attempt to remain anonymous and write without pressure or expectation. Too bad someone felt it necessary to publicize the truth.

We want to be in a place where me mattered

Yes..but this place is only temporary...what makes us matter today could be gone tomorrow don't you think?

Then we find another place.

I've never read any of Harry Potter series because such genres are of no interest to me. However, I have started with the Casual Vacancy, and I find it quite brilliant. I like how Rowling decided to take another path, not the ol' Magic/Vampires formula which is just about popularity. And regarding the pseudonym thing, I find it quite normal because it is very psychologically exhausting for very famous writers when they begin writing something new. All what they have in mind is how to please their readers, and that, most of the times, is wrong.

"I like how Rowling decided to take another path, not the ol' Magic/Vampires formula which is just about popularity."

Sure, they are NOW. But I wonder how much of that popularity had to do with Rowling/Harry Potter in the first place?

I mean, I was a kid who was drawn to fantasy for quite a while before Harry Potter came out, but at the time it was considered a pretty "nerdy" genre, and I don't imagine my reading interests were all that common. Now, the stuff is everywhere. I expect the YA fantasy boom from 2000 onward was jumpstarted by the ol' Boy Wizard.

That said, I agree with you that it is admirable that Rowling decided to go another path, probably knowing full well that she could have easily made another billion dollars by writing another Potter book (or something similar).

Anyone here has a Robert Galbraith? Or used to have one?

She is so full of crap. She always intended to reveal by indirect methods that she was the real writer of that book, always. The book sold 1400 copies under the alt name, and now everyone knows the publishers have been asked to print 140,000 more in preperation for the mad rush.

She is a hack writer who lied about how hard her life was when she was writing Harry Potter. Don't get me wrong, I liked the Harry Potter books, but this is a very obvious publicity stunt.

Read between the lines.

^ You know about the new rolling stone cover, of course? Even in the mainstream writing craft everything is all business. What separates greed from passion? Observe consequences, 'read between the lines' as you mentioned.

"this is a very obvious publicity stunt." I'd agree with that. It's a savvy move.

^ Mrea. Maybe I'm just gullible.

Love what you said about Rowling jump-starting the fantasy craze, Sib. Couldn't agree more.