Disclaimer
For those of you who wish to skip directly to the fic, all you need to know is that no attempt is made to usurp or disparage the properties of J.K. Rowling or Terry Pratchett, or their respective publishers. Characters, events and places from "Harry Potter" and "Discworld," belong to J.K. Rowling and Terry Pratchett, and their worldwide distribution partners, respectively.
Summary
This fan fiction posits a post-Voldemort world in which Harry has survived, vanquished Voldemort, and succeeded in his quest to become an Auror. However, his new boss, Kingsley Shacklebolt, is less than pleased with his progress so far. When he manages to succeed - haphazardly - in his latest assignment, Kingsley decides to send him for additional training to the only man he can trust - Commander Sir Samuel Vimes, Ankh-Morpork City Watch.
Important Note that May Interest only Me
This story originated at FFN.net, which was the first fan fiction site I became aware of, coming to this genre somewhat after everyone else. I lurked for a long time before I decided to write my own story, and the impetus for HP&COM was an article I read one day on the BBC website, in which author Terry Pratchett (of Discworld fame) blasted J.K. Rowling for "being elevated at the expense of other writers."
I was greviously distressed at this, not just because both Pratchett and Rowling are two of my favorite authors. The tenor of the interview (located under the Entertainment link of the BBC News website) appears to be that of a reaction from Pratchett to an interview that Rowling did with Time magazine, in which the article claimed Rowling has "reinvigorated the world of fantasy." Pratchett, in the BBC article, retorts that the genre has always been "edgy and inventive," without Rowling's help.
Thought provoking stuff, indeed, and his comment did smack to me of a bit of "me, too!" on the part of Pratchett. This bothered me, since I can think of few writers of the past decade who have been as successful - and less in need of elevation - as Pratchett, who has had his own work translated into comics, stage plays, and other media. Between the two of them, Pratchett and Rowling represent two of the most successful British writers within any genre today, but fantasy is also blessed by the work of Graham Taylor, Eoin Colfer, Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, Iain M. Banks, and the many other active British writers who have done much to stir interest in the genre.
Pratchett did retract his comment - sometime later, I think in the US with the release of Thud! - that his comment had been taken out of context, and he only meant that Rowling was one of many writers who should all received credit for reviving worldwide interest in fantasy/science fiction. Regardless, by then I was about half-way through my writing.
Neil Gaiman also pointed out in an interview (a link to which is posted on Mr. Gaiman's website), that neither he nor J.K. Rowling were the first writers to invent a boy wizard - Gaiman did so with Tim Duncan in his Books of Magic series - and neither he nor Rowling were the first to have a boy wizard who was sent to a magic school, turned out to a precocious, powerful wizard, and had all sorts of (mis)adventures.
So who gets credit for the Harry Potter archtype, or the meme behind the story?
Some researchers point to Eleanor Estes as the first to use this a boy wizard in school, from her book The Witch Family from 1960, which pre-dates Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy by nearly 10 years. However, variants on this theme can be traced all the way back to the famous Xiyuji, a fictional account of a very real event, the journey of the monk Xuanzang to India to obtain the sanzang, or Tripitaka, which are the sacred "three baskets of wisdom" of Buddhism, and are sometimes referred to as the Buddhist bible. Xuanzang's published accounts of his journey - and his journey's journey into mythology - was completed before 700 A.D.
The Xiyuji is a fantasy work in which the monk is accompanied by the much more memorably character the Monkey King, Sun WuKong, whose mischievous magical powers both assists and sometimes hinders the party on their way to India. As a Sinologist, I have read variants of the Xi Yu Ji and spinoff stories - some dating from the 9th century AD - which clearly presage the Harry Potter concept. However one wishes to examine this genre from a `purity' perspective, it is clear that the story arc of boy wizard in school has been around for a very, very long time indeed.
Where I think Pratchett has a more important - and to be frank rather more disturbing - point has to do with the concept that `fantasy' had died, and Ms. Rowling invigorated it. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I do remember a point, post-Tolkien, where the good fantasy did in fact stop. Oh, of course, there were other writers to pick up; Mervyn Peake, for example, or if one wished to go back further, Dunsany, Chesterton, etc. I briefly looked into Piers Anthony's work, and found it very witty but not as fulfilling as Pratchett, then got lost briefly in Carter as the interest in spells faded and swords increased, and finally landed on H.P. Lovecraft when I had seen enough death to appreciate it.
But for all of those writers - many of whom were prolific - the worlds did stop in the 70s and 80s. Maybe it was because the end of the Cold War meant we were turning our attention to the stars - but science fiction, to me, was pretty lousy at that point too, and George Lucas and Spielberg aside, there wasn't much to look at (or read). Star Trek: The Next Generation had not yet been opted for a pilot, and Banks - who in my humble opinion is the best writer working in sci fi today - wasn't even at uni at that time. Spider Robinson, of course, was doing a lot of work, but I'm basing this primary on British fantasy fiction. Where was it?
In recent discussion on this topic with some of my other friends (all of whom write on at least a semi-professional level, that is, more often that I do), we could not pin-point what it was that left us cold about the fantasy/science fiction worlds during this period. Maybe it was just Reagan. But that's to simplify a much more worrisome problem: just what in god's name happened to our imagination in this period? One of my writing friends has discussed the issue of `feeding his muse' which seemed to go hungry for a bit; certainly part of my aim in writing fanfiction is to feed my own, see where it goes, and (hopefully) spawn further discussion. (After all, someone has to consume the output of Loretto, Ky., and it may as well be myself and like-minded denizens.)
So I return to my opening point; Pratchett's comments notwithstanding, we've abundance of good writing at the present time, and whether J.K. Rowling is responsible for that or not (and probably not, in my thinking), we should appreciate what we have. The media simplifies these complicated things because they can't be bothered to write the real stories that would force us to think unpleasant thoughts. (I get to say this as a card-carrying member of the media establishment, a Press Club member to boot.) No, Rowling didn't revitalize the genre single-handedly; she happened to step in at a time when more people were reading fantasy again, and her success allowed the media - in all of its immediate gratification glory - to seize upon her as a savior, when in fact she was riding a wave that had already gotten to be quite sizable by the time Bloomsbury accepted her manuscript. Let's face it; Bloomsbury didn't buy Harry Potter out of the kindness of their hearts. They bought it because they felt there was a groundswell of interest, and they needed a big hit that would keep them competitive. The fact that Harry Potter did better than, say, Artemis Fowl or A Series of Unfortunate Events, may be more due to marketing and timing.
Whatever you think, I began writing this fic as a sort of `truce' in my own mind between Pratchett and Rowling. There's no need to get your bloomers in a twist, everyone. Settle down, draw up a glass of your favorite beverage (particularly if it comes from Loretto, Ky.), adjust your light accordingly, crack open the books (all of them, preferable) and give your inner muse some fodder.
In Pratchett's follow-up, he claimed he had meant was that the media seemed fixated on Rowling to the exclusion of other fine authors, namely Pullman, Coifer, et al. I am not certain about either incident (since of course I wasn't there and have to rely on the printed interview), but ultimately, it doesn't matter what Pratchett thought - Rowling, notably, has not taken the bait of discussion. I see the argument as akin to the camps of who likes the Beatles and who likes the Rolling Stones - at the end of the day, it's all music, and generally, fans purchase across authors, not to the exclusion of one.
And finally … if you think you've got something to share with the world, don't worry about getting flamed that you're hogging the spotlight. Start here, if you wish, and see where it takes you.
Chardvignon.
Supplementary Notes for Portkey Readers
Following advice and reviews from FFN, minor modifications have been made to the story throughout, mostly from a Discworld point-of-view. The story takes place the summer after Thud!. Science of Discworld is not necessary reading, but the wizards at Unseen University and Hex will retain their powers and job titles from the SoD series (recognizing that it is not purely canon). We are post SoD III by about six months.
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