Little, Brown and Company announced last week that J. K. Rowling is planning to release a new book aimed at adults. For the moment, she’s keeping mum about the specifics, so fans have no idea what this new book will be about. Her only comment has been that it will be “very different” from Harry Potter.
Since Rowling is now richer than Croesus, she has a degree of artistic freedom that most writers can only dream about . She can write about whatever the hell she wants. She could write a 1,000 page book about a young gay physicist who ruminates about dusty plasmas and cookies, and it would still make the New York Times best-seller list because lots of people will buy it no matter what. Of course, even if it were a total flop, she wouldn’t exactly be worrying about how to put dinner on the table.
It will be interesting to see what Rowling does with this freedom. Will she stay within the confines of speculative fiction, or will she try to break out of that mold entirely?
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