Da Spamfest thread

Talking of She WMNBN and her obsession with people stealing her ideas, has anyone read Wizard's Hall by Jane Yolen? Published in 1991, years before Harry Potter, it features a messy-haired wizard called Henry, who doesn't think he's good enough, who gets sent away to wizarding school with moving, speaking and winking portraits and meets a red haired friend and they have to battle a dark wizard trying to destroy the school. Sound familiar Jo? - DOT org SLASH wiki SLASH Wizard's_Hall The Leaky Couldron condemn Jane Yolen for being jealous, perhaps they should try to find out if she has good reason for being annoyed at someone who seems to have taken quite a lot of her ideas unless you believe in an awful lot of coincidences. As someone with legal training I DON'T.

Or perhaps THE BOGGART by Susan Cooper, published in 1993 sounds familiar. After visiting the Scottish castle her family has inherited, Emily finds that she has accidentally brought a boggart (a malicious spirit) back to Canada.

Or how about The Secret of Platform 13 is a children's novel by Eva Ibbotson, and illustrated by Sue Porter, first published in 1994. The book has gained extra significance as many readers find it similar to the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, although the first book of that series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in 1997, three years after this book was published. (They both mention a platform that leads to a different world.)

Harry Potter was a character in a 1986 movie called "Troll." In the movie "Troll" Harry Potter was a dark haired, ordinary boy that discovered magic and battled a troll. Gee, sounds a lot like Rowling's character.

Nachoman points to a certain high-budget film were a certain hotshot actor plays a blind man who takes a "tour of pleasures" in New York to then return to a campus town, the seat of a very famous boarding school. He then defends a youth who had apparently witnessed who had placed a cream-filled balloon on top of the headmaster's car. The names of the three guilty parties include the words "Harry", "James" and "Potter".

Or ( see geocities DOT com SLASH sayswamp SLASH worst DOT htm ... Many see striking similarities between "Harry Potter" and "The Worst Witch," by Jill Murphy. Murphy wrote the first "The Worst Witch" novel in 1974 when only 18. This book was made into a 1986 movie. There are so many similarities that I can't even begin to list them here.

"Comic book fans have noted that a comic book series first published in 1990 by DC Comics called The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman shares many similarities to Rowling's book. These include a dark haired young boy with glasses named Tim Hunter who discovers his own potential as the most powerful wizard of his age after being approached by magic wielding individuals, the first of whom gifts him with a pet owl."

Warner bought the rights to Harry Potter, then later bought rights to "The books of Magic," along with television rights to "Sabrina" and "Worst Witch." With billions of dollars at stake, did Warner Brother buy off people that Rowling may have copied from?

And we won't mention the huge list of similarities between The Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter books, will we Jo?

With so many things in Harry Potter "borrowed" without permission from other authors, I wonder how much of the Harry Potter stories are actually original. Methinks Jo doth protest too much, especially as she stopped a Russian publisher who tried to publish a book about a Russian wizarding school claiming it was based on Harry Potter.

Dmitry Yemets & Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass Neil Gaiman's "Hunter" is a lot more like "Potter" than the Tanya Grotter book is. Supposedly the Russian author Dmitry Yemets plagiarized Harry Potter in his book Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass because both main characters are orphans who attend wizard school and fight evil wizards. Harry Potter rides a broomstick and Tanya Grotter rides a double bass.

Now compare Potter to the "Worst Witch." Isn't Potter more like the Worst Witch than Grotter? If we follow the standard of Warner and J.K. Rowling, is she not a plagiarist? They were sure quick to sue Dmitry Yemets. Is there a double standard here?

I just hope that all this eventually gets up and bites her and WB in the ARSE.

Don't forget that the hp-lexicon, which is shut down at its old location, is currently back online at hplex and then the usual DOT org