ARTICLE: Books, On-Line, Or Kindle Reading: Which Do You Prefer?

Image~©Melanie Neer~Bookcase with primarily my Native American History and Culture Collection

Originally written on October 2, 2013 for Bubblews Website which no longer exists

I've been a bibliophile ever since I can remember, which when I think of it is a remarkable characteristic of my personality, considering my mother never cared for books. As a child she never read bedtime stories to me; when it was my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and myself all living together, it was my great-grandmother who would read to me. Even in her later years, my mother wasn't too keen on reading, not even a newspaper, so yes it is remarkable that I developed a rather fanaticism when it came to books. Also as a child, my mother often bought the usual type gifts for me that were popular at the time for girls, and whether for my birthday or Christmas, she would buy me things like Barbie dolls…boring. Like how many Barbie dolls could one have? Then one year, she totally surprised me, and instead of more dolls, she gave me my very first book, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I suppose it was then that I got hooked with books. My mother perhaps didn't realize what she had started by getting that very first book, as many others were to follow including the Nancy Drew series, a copy of Island of The Blue Dolphins (by Scott O'Dell) and on and on it went. Yes, I turned into a bookworm. My idea of having a good time as a child wasn't playing with other children, but instead going to a library and taking books out, and settling comfortably at home reading, reading, reading.

My love for books continues to this day, and I have quite a collection, not only fiction, but being a science and history geek I have a rather staggeringly large collection of science books (geology, astronomy, archeology) and as for history, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, Medieval, Renaissance and American History, especially the Civil War period. Let's put it this way, I have books literally all over the place; even all the shelves, save one, in my linen closet has a storage of books in it since I ran out of room on my bookcases, and being rather OCD about things, all my books are stored according to subject and/or genre.

But here's the thing, to this day I prefer a book in my hand. I really am not a great on-line reader, in fact, if I can avoid reading too much on-line, I do. I could never, ever see myself downloading books and read from a Kindle either as it would remind me a bit too much of on-line reading Yes, I realize with a Kindle, one can snuggle in bed on a rainy day and read, but to my mind it's just not the same as having the feel of a book in hand, the real physical turning of the pages, the smell of a book. Yes, maybe I'm old fashioned, but give me a book any day and I'm a real happy camper.

So what is your preference? Books, on-line reading from a computer or a Kindle? And if you have books, do you have a large collection yourself?

Article: Books, On-Line, Or Kindle Reading: Which Do You Prefer?

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTOS OF JUST A "FEW" OF MY BOOKS

Originally written on October 2, 2013 for Bubblews, a website which no longer exists

I've been a bibliophile ever since I can remember, which when I think of it is a remarkable characteristic of my personality, considering my mother never cared for books. As a child she never read bedtime stories, usually my great-grandmother did that. Even in her later years, my mother wasn't too keen on reading, not even a newspaper, so yes it is remarkable that I developed a rather fanaticism when it came to books. Also as a child, my mother often bought the usual type gifts for me that were popular at the time for girls, and whether for my birthday or Christmas, she would buy me things like Barbie dolls…boring. Like how many Barbie dolls could one have? Then one year, she totally surprised me, and instead of more dolls, she gave me my very first book, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I got hooked with books. My mother perhaps didn't realize what she had started by getting that very first book, as many others were to follow including the Nancy Drew series, a copy of Island of The Blue Dolphins (by Scott O'Dell) and on and on it went. Yes, I turned into a bookworm. My idea of having a good time as a child wasn't playing with other children, but instead going to a library and taking books out, and settling comfortably at home reading, reading, reading.

My love for books continues to this day, and I have quite a collection, not only fiction, but being a science and history geek I have a rather staggeringly large collection of science books (geology, astronomy, archeology) and as for history, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, Medieval, Renaissance and American History, especially the Civil War period. Let's put it this way, I have books literally all over the place; even all the shelves, save one, in my linen closet has a storage of books in it since I ran out of room on my bookcases, and being rather OCD about things, all my books are stored according to subject and/or genre.

But here's the thing, to this day I prefer a book in my hand. I really am not a great on-line reader, in fact, if I can avoid reading too much on-line, I do. I could never, ever see myself downloading books and read from a Kindle either as it would remind me a bit too much of on-line reading Yes, I realize with a Kindle, one can snuggle in bed on a rainy day and read, but to my mind it's just not the same as having the feel of a book in hand, the real physical turning of the pages, the smell of a book. Yes, maybe I'm old fashioned, but give me a book any day and I'm a real happy camper.

So what is your preference? Books, on-line reading from a computer or a Kindle? And if you have books, do you have a large collection yourself?

ARTICLE: Just How Good Are Those Self-Publishing Companies? The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing Companies

(Originally published at Yahoo.voices formerly Associated Content~6/9/2008)

ABSTRACT: All writers aspire to see their book in print. One can go the traditional route, that is a major publishing firm, or one may choose to self-publish their book at any number of companies that are available.

CONTENT: Anyone who is an aspiring author dreams of the day they can see their book in print, whether it'd be a fictional novel, non-fiction, autobiography or memoir, maybe even a coffee-table sized photography book. Maybe the writer secretly dreams of fame, glory and recognition and that their literary contribution to the world will somehow single them out and achieve the same popularity and success as the better known top and best-selling authors, such as Stephen King, Anne Rice, or who knows, maybe even J.K. Rowling herself.

Trying to get published however, can be a daunting, exasperating experience filled with frustration, not to mention possible constant rejection. Each and every year, thousands but upon thousands of manuscripts are sent to the more traditional publication houses, such as Random House, Bantam, Harper Collins and so forth. To further complicate things, many such publication companies, won't even look at a manuscript unless one is represented by a literary agency. There is such a wonderful array of truly talented writers, but that's just it, that's the problem...there are a lot of us writers out there. I do consider myself a writer/author, and yes, I have a few novels "in the works" and long to be published once my novels are done. While my own "plan" may be the harder one to go for, with a lot more hassles and complications, I'm planning to give it a go and will go the route by submitting my manuscripts to one of the larger publication companies, rather than go the self-publishing path.

However, since the competition of so many writers is so fierce, rather than make the attempt to publish at the more traditional publication firms, more and more authors are turning to the self-publishing alternative. There are some pros and cons involved about self--publishing one's work, and one must be aware that there are a variety of self-publishing company "types".

First, there is the completely free self-publishing market, such as that offered by Lulu.com and CafePress.com. For both places, one registers with either website to set up a "storefront" that will display your finished book and it's cost to the public. There are no set up fees to create one's storefront, although, CafePress does offer a more "customized" premium storefront, beginning at $6.95 per month. There are also no initial set up fees to publish one's book, however, Lulu.com does offer more extensive marketing options that can add up quick.

For both CafePress.com and Lulu.com, one can choose the size of their book, such as 5" x 8" Standard Paperback size, to the larger 8.5" x 11". One has a variety of options as well such as choosing certain templates and formats for how the book will look, from choosing for the cover design, typeface and fonts, chapter sections and so forth, plus even a choice of several book binding options such as saddle stitch, coil bound, casewrap, bound editions, as well as hardcover books complete with dust jackets.

After one has chosen the style of their book, and have uploaded their manuscript, both companies then have a "base" price, that is the cost of how much each book will cost to be printed up. And the beauty of this is that you don't pay a cent toward this cost, but all books are "printed on demand", that is one doesn't have to order a certain amount of books to be published and worry about distribution, but are only printed up whenever someone orders the book directly from your storefront website.

What one then does is to choose just how much of a profit they wish to earn from the book by adding the profit cost. So say the base price of a 100-page book with a bound binding is $10.00 at CafePress.com, and you wish to make $5.99 from the book, you add that $5.99 to the base price, and the sale price of the book then becomes a total of $15.99.

So far, as mentioned at this point, you haven't spent one cent in getting this book published. But now one has the dilemma of how to market and promote their book. CafePress.com doesn't really have any extensive means of promoting or marketing your book. The only way one can market one's book is to self promote either through word of mouth, that is emailing one's friends and family, or by providing a link from one's own website, including one's blog site. If you really want to go all out, you can buy a certain number of copies, then have a local bookstore put it on their shelves, but naturally the store will no doubt what a "piece" of the profits themselves.

Lulu.com gets a little more extensive by providing a bunch of "freebie" marketing tools for instance, such as creating a "widget" that one can place on their own website, whether you have a MySpace page, Facebook, blog and so forth. A person clicks onto this widget and it will take them directly to your Lulu.com "storefront". However, as with anything, if you truly want to sell your book big time, now one has to consider marketing that book and for that, Lulu.com has several on-line marketing options, such as creating a "google" ad that will be on display on a Google Search page and one can buy this service for as little as $45.00 to allow for 30 Clicks to your storefront.

The downside of this relatively free self-publishing service may be obvious. These books are printed "as is", meaning that there is no editor proof-reading the text of your book to discover any typos or grammatical errors, that is unless, you wish to take advantage of Lulu.com's Editor Analysis for a fee of $300.00. Depending on how elaborate you want to get to get your book published by Lulu.com there are other marketing fees. Their total publishing package, which includes Editor's Analysis, Book Formatting (if you don't wish to design the book yourself) and custom cover which goes for a total of $500.00. There are even additional fees if one wants a registered ISBN number, On-line Advertising, that I previously mentioned for the Google Ads, and for $600.00 they can even create a website just to promote your book. With all these fees, you can see, why most people simple just go with the basic free option for self-publishing with a place like Lulu.com or CafePress.com.

As you can imagine, there are scores of other self-publishing places, whether vanity press or other publish on demand sites companies, and almost all of them, one does have to pay for, not only the "privilege" of being published, but in some cases, they will only publish your book with a specified number of copies published which adds to the costs involved. It is advisable to really hunt around and read the "fine print" of exactly what your options are.

To give an example, one self-publishing site, is Outskirts Press that offers the writer several package deals of how extensive you wish to go with your book. They have their "Diamond", "Ruby", "Sapphire", "Pearl" and "Emerald" packages for publication of your book. To give you an example for instance, their "Diamond" package starts at $999.00, which includes an ISBN barcode, wholesale distribution to places like Amazon.com, customized webpage, and customized covers and interior formatting. What's not included is an editing service which goes for an additional 1.4 cents per word for basic editing, to a more extensive editing job that goes for more. Another $99.00 charge is added if you wish copyright registration. On their website, you can download their price list for all services.

If by chance you think these fees are a lot at Outskirts, they are in a sense nothing compared to a top notch self-publishing company such as Xlibris, which has a tie with the Random House publishing company. This publishing company does have a very basic plan called the "Advantage Package" which goes for a mere $299.00 all the way to their "Platinum Package" that goes for a whopping $12,999 but with this plan, as you can imagine, just about everything is available, including editing services, U.S. Copyright and Library of Congress Registration, registration with Amazon.com, Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, a public Author and Book Webpage, and the ability to consult with an Xlibris design consultant in the appearance of your book.

For other basic reviews of some other print or publish on demand, self-publishing sites, I would like to refer you to Publish On Demand Website which includes a listing of seventeen publishers, including a rating which are recommended, such as Xlibris, Aventine Press, Llumina Press, and which to avoid, such as Action Tales, and Book Publisher. This website review of publishers also gives the basic rates of what these places charge in fees, whether they are selective in what type of submissions of manuscripts are accepted, and whether the publishing rights are non-exclusive, meaning that it's possible to publish the book elsewhere, to exclusive where it is in their domain and can't be published elsewhere, that is not unless you want them to sue you.

Now a word of caution. Really, really do some research on any self-publishing company and take particular interest if anything "negative" has been written up about them, particularly those that do not charge any fees. One such place I've read a number of very negative reviews about, is Publish America. Unlike other self-publishing companies where there are certain fees involved, Publish America doesn't charge any fees at all, and you can't believe the negative comments I read about this company. One of the best sources for information about Publish America is Absolute Write a writer's forum I happen to belong to. For instance on the Publish America website itself, it claims that it's a highly selective book publishing site, and carefully reviews each manuscript and rejects about 80% of submissions. According to Absolute Write, this is not so...in other words, they accept anything, good, bad, to downright terrible, and to prove this, a prank was played with the creation of a book written by a group of writers who decided to write the worse book possible and called "Atlanta Nights" by Travis Tea. One can even download this 237 page book at PublishAmerica Sting

Absolute Write also exposes the fact that Publish America does not edit the book, save for the manuscript going through a spellcheck, but in the process often adds typos, nor do they edit for grammatical mistakes. I point this out as I've seen a few publications by Publish America myself and there were typo and grammatical errors galore. Also, many major on-line book websites now refuse to accept any books published by Publish America, such as Barnes and Noble, and none of these books are shelved in traditional bookstores either since they are a publish or print on demand type of book, not like traditional book publishers who run copies in the hundreds or thousands for book store distribution. There's also no promotion of the published book, leaving the author to completely self-promote and market their own book. (1)

So if you are an aspiring author and wish to see your prized manuscript in print, you do have many options to you, especially in the self-publication of your book, from going the relatively free route like CafePress.com or Lulu.com, to paying extensive fees for the publication of your book. Just remember, do some research, and especially become aware of any negative insights or reputation any self-publishing company may have. As for me? Comes the time I publish my book, I think I'll stick to the old fashioned way of getting my book published, that is the more established and traditional publishing companies.

CafePress Self-Publishing

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/books.aspx
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/learn_book.aspx#marketing_techniques

Lulu.com Self-Publishing

http://www.lulu.com/en/products/

(Marketing Tools for Lulu.com)
http://www.lulu.com/en/services/online_marketing/

Other Self-Publishing Markets

Outskirts Press
http://outskirtspress.com/index.php

Xlibris

http://www2.xlibris.com/requestkit/index.asp?src=goo&gkw=xlibris+content&gclid=CLy94fnDz5MCFQrPGgodWRWhig

http://www2.xlibris.com/pubservices/index.asp

Articles about Self-Publishing

http://www.publishondemand.net/article.asp?ArticleID=2

Writer Beware Articles/Scams

http://www.sfwa.org/BEWARE/printondemand.html

Cautions About Publish America

http://www.wizardessbooks.com/html/PA_stories.htm

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10211(1)

http://www.lisamaliga.com/AtlantaNightsLosAngelesTimes.htm

ARTICLE: Welcome to the Feline Fiction World of Erin Hunter

(Originally published at Yahoo.Voices formally Associate Content~August 1, 2007)

Now that the last of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books has been published, people might be wondering what can one read now to fill that gap. I'm by no means a child anymore, but like many adults, I do love reading children's books, and perhaps read them more than any of the latest bestselling adult books out on the market. In the past, I've read the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass,etc.) by Phillip Pullman, The Inheritance series (Eragon, The Eldest) by Christopher Paolini and so forth, just to name a very small few. Then, one day while I was in the children's section of the library, and yes, I frequent that section more than the rest of the library, I was browsing through the books, trying to find something that would peak my interest, and randomly picked up a book. It was entitled "Into The Wild", the first of the "Warrior" series by Erin Hunter. Little did I know that day, that by picking up that one book, I would develop a serious addiction to this feline world that this author had created.

Into The Wild, introduces us to Rusty, an orange-tabby kitten who lives among the "two-legs" or humans. To the wild, feral cats that roam freely in the woods, he and any cat like him who live in the "luxury" of a two-legs home are known as a "kitty pet." Early on in the book, Rusty has dreams of being in the "wild", these dreams haunt him, and during his waking hours while moving around in the safety of his kitty pet environment, he remembers those dreams and he is lured and enticed to explore and go beyond the confines of his safe lifestyle he has known all his young life. So one day, he leaves the two-legs and goes into the woods where, no sooner has he done so, he is attacked by patrol of "warrior" cats from the Thunderclan. Yet, oddly enough, even though he has never been "trained" to be a warrior cat such as these wild, feral cats he no less is able to defend himself. The group of warrior cats he meets includes Bluestar, the leader of the Thunderclan, and is impressed by his natural skil as a fighter. She invites him to join with the clan, and from there, we are introduced in earnest, the whole world and lifestyle of these wild cats.

The amazing thing about these Warrior books, is how wonderfully, and skillfully developed the whole story-line is. We are first introduced to the members of just one clan, by that chance, accidental meeting Rusty has with the Thunderclan. It turns out, however, that there are four more clans: Riverclan, Shadowclan, Windclan and Starclan; the latter being the equivalent to the wild cats' "heaven," the place where all the warriors go upon the loss of their last of their nine lives. The whole feel of these books and of the story is that of a tribal existence: there are the tribal leaders for each clan, a deputy who is the second in line and in importance to the leader. There are medicine cats for each clan, who aid and administer their healing arts, much in the same manner as a shaman of any human tribal community. In each clan territory, there is a section devoted solely to the "queens"--the female cats who are the mothers of kits they have given birth to. Upon being fully weaned, a ceremony is held and these kits become "apprenticed" to an older warrior cat and are designated an official apprentice name. After much training, and when the time is right, and the apprentice proves himself worthy, in yet another ceremony, that apprentice is then given his or her official warrior name that lasts them until their death. The of course, are the warriors themselves, fierce protectors of their individual clan.

These stories are by no means, sweet and innocent; there is nothing "Disney-like" about them. In truth, they can sometimes be downright brutal, for this is after all, the world of the wild, feral cats, where it is truly a matter of survival of the fittest. There are outright wars between the clans, betrayals and fights for supremacy among the members within the clans. From the very first book, we are introduced to one particular warrior cat, named Tigerclaw. This is the character we just love to hate, and gives a balance to the affection one might develop toward "Rusty" who is forever reminded, especially by Tigerclaw of his kitty pet, outsider status. Throughout this series of Warrior books, Rusty, who is later ceremoniously given the name of Firepaw, constantly has to prove over and over again his worth, that despite his kitty pet past, he too, has the natural instincts of what it takes to be a true warrior himself.

And now, just a little bit about the author "herself". In reality the author's name is a misnomer, for the name Erin Hunter is the pseudonym for the combined collaboration of two people, that being Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry. Both women are devote, and perhaps fanatical feline lovers, and have studied the characteristics of cats with exquisite, almost perfectionistic detail. Anyone who has ever owned a cat will immediately be able to relate and identify the feline behavior throughout these series of books. These two women, have wonderfully brought the world of the cat alive, and while making them "human" in a sense, they never let us forget for a moment that we are indeed reading about the daily struggles of the wild feral cat. It has often made me wonder if feral cats in real life have the same struggle for survival that these cats face. Into The Wild is just the first book in the Warrior series and there are a total of six. Ah, but that's not all, it doesn't end with those six books! The next six books, a further continuation of the story, is known as The New Prophecy series, and believe it or not, there are even more books, some which are still in the process of being published within the next few months. All total, so far, there are fifteen books, and it doesn't seem the end is anywhere near in sight for these stories and for that, as a devote fan of these books, I'm glad.

So I invite you to join me and begin reading these books. If you're a lover of children's books and a cat lover to boot, you will adore them, and if like me, you wish to fill the gap now that the Harry Potter books have ended, this just might be what you are looking for. And while you're at it, please visit the links provided, especially the official website of Erin Hunter, where one is introduced to this feline world of the Warrior series.

The Magical Attraction of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter

(Originally Published on Yahoo.voices~July 27, 2007~Non-Exclusive)

The Magical Attraction of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter

Precisely at 9:00 a.m., my downstairs doorbell rang, and upon looking out the window, I saw it was the mail truck, but funny, I couldn't imagine what was being delivered to me as I wasn't expecting anything, at least not on that day, Saturday, July 21st. After ringing the bell to let the mailman inside my apartment building, the mailman presented me with a package. Ah, but it turned out not to be just any package, but the book I had pre-ordered from Amazon. com. It had arrived, and much sooner than I had expected! The package I was holding in my hands had arrived to me the very day of the book's worldwide release.

Like a giddy child at Christmas, I ripped opened the package and slid out the book...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling's last and final book of the magical world she had created and for the past ten years, has entranced millions of readers young and old. While some people have already finished the 759-page book, I'm still reading it, very slowly, as I want to savor every moment of this final entry of Harry Potter's life that many of us have shared all these many years.

I'm by no means a child, but I do love reading children's books, and J.K. Rowling's books have been on the top of my list of books to get absorbed in, more so than mainstream adult books. So I think many of us who have been involved with the Harry Potter books will feel a bit of sadness, now that this is to be the last and final book.

I think it can be safely said, that thanks to Ms. Rowling, a new burst of interest, especially in children, has been created in the art of reading again as nothing like before. There is a wonderful article, dated July 8, 2007, from The Galveston County Daily News, entitled "Harry Potter inspires new readers" by Rhiannon Meyers. In the article she relates of how one boy, Xan Stanley, the same age of eleven as when we are first introduced to Harry Potter, who, while coming from a family of readers, and in which his own mother was a librarian, never took much to reading. Diagnosed with dyslexia, Xan often became discouraged about reading, that is until his mother brought home a copy of the first book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Then, his whole world opened up for him, and like many children he became entranced by this magical world of wizards and witches, Hogwarts School, muggles, Diagon Alley. As stated in the article, "...Stanley found a kindred spirit - a boy who faced struggles too..."

However, it's not only children like Xan Stanley who have learning disabilities who can relate to Harry Potter's struggles, or perhaps identify with the other main characters. So many children nowadays come from, what could be considered "dysfunctional" family backgrounds. Like Harry Potter, many children may not have been raised in a two parent family background, products of divorce, or raised by other family members, and may never have gotten to know one of their biological parent or both parents. Today's children may have known ridicule while growing up, such as how Harry was ostracized and neglected by the only family his knew, his aunt Petunia, uncle Vern and forever being tormented by his cousin, Dudley. Up until age eleven, Harry was ignored that is, until one glorious night, precisely at the stroke of his eleventh birthday, his whole world changed, and he found out he was special...he was a wizard with magical gifts. Grown-ups too, reading Harry Potter may also relate to J.K. Rowling's books, identifying with Harry their own childhoods...I know I did, as my parents were divorced when I was only a year and a half old, and I never got to know my father, and with this was viewed by my peers at school as being a bit "odd" for at that time, when I was a child, divorce wasn't as commonplace as it is now.

It's not only Harry Potter's character that young and old alike can identify with. Some of us may see just a little of Hermione Granger in ourselves...a character also ridiculed, especially by the "purebloods" like the Malfoy family for not coming from a wizard family but instead from a lowly "mugbloods"--again the theme of being "different". Also, there is Hermione Granger's personality of being an "insufferable" know it all, the child in the class that when a question is asked by a professor, always has her hand up, as she knows the answer...I relate to that, having always been the bookworm with my nose in a book, the epitome of the studious student, so oh, yes, I was the insufferable know it all myself as a child, just as Hermione's character was and therefore, I was often ridiculed and taunted by my peers. Then of course, is Ron Weasley, another character many of us may be able to identify with as he came from a family background that while from a wizarding family, were outcasts due to their poor financial status. How many of us have been taunted by the fact, that maybe our own family background wasn't exactly in the money so to say and had to do with less than our childhood friends around us who came from financial backgrounds that were better than ours. All in all, it could be said that each one of the main characters, has some personality characteristics that we can all relate to.

There is one area I would like to briefly touch on however, in relation to the Harry Potter phenomenon, since there are two sides of the issues here in connection with these books. While on the one side, are many people, children and adults alike who have embraced these books with open arms, while the other side, especially fundamentalistic Christian groups have practically have had an outright war against the Harry Potter series of books ever since they came out. Various sectors have literally banned these books from libraries and schools and have prevented their children from reading Harry Potter, claiming that these books are encouraging children to want to take up "witchcraft" and cast spells. It is true that witchcraft does in fact exist, especially for those who follow the Wicca and more pagan paths of religion. However, people such as this only show their ignorance of what true witchcraft means, and instead view all forms of witchcraft as being "evil", this no doubt from erroneous viewpoints not only perpetuated by Christianity itself, but by media hype that still show those who follow the Wiccan/pagan path as being in league with the Devil and Satan, so far from the actual truth.

I think today's children have a better sense of understanding and sophistication of what is real and what is not. J.K. Rowling's books are pure entertainment, nothing more. They are not books that will convert the masses to suddenly take up witchcraft. Also, if any of these groups which are so antagonistic to the Harry Potter books did just a little bit of reading themselves, they would realize that many of the concepts brought forth in her books, are steeped heavily with Celtic folklore and legend, just as J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings are also based on not only Celtic, but Nordic mythologies and legends. As an example, in Harry Potter, we have that famous "Grim", that black dog that strikes terror even in the wizard world, for it is bearer and bringer of death. This is right out of Celtic folklore, for it is even considered an ill omen today, in Britain to see a black dog, as opposed to say American culture that views a black cat as evil or unlucky. The point I'm making here, is that, with just a little reading those who condemn Rowling's books would see that her basis for many of her ideas are based on old time legends themselves. It is therefore, ludicrous to think that these groups would actually view her books as promoting an interest in children to become witches. You might as well say, that if a child read a simple book like Peter Pan would suddenly take it in their heads to want to fly.

Many of us, whether young or old who have been following the Harry Potter books, are probably wondering what is next in line for Ms. Rowling, as I don't think any of us can imagine that her writing days are over--no author who has been writing for any length of time can just suddenly give up on the craft of writing, as it is too ingrained in a writer's personality. Who knows? Perhaps, Ms. Rowling just might come up with another "magical" series of books that will enchant us just as these books have. I for one hope so.