JK Rowling@Write On The Water
by John M. Urban
Rowling Does It Again. One secret is out and another is about to pop.
News that J.K. Rowling is the author of The Cuckoo’s Calling, a book she wrote under the pen name Robert Galbraith, shot Cuckoo into best-selling orbit. I just checked Rowling’s – aka Galbraith’s – sales figures. The Cuckoo’s Calling is holding firm at #1 on Amazon, a spot it will likely maintain for a very long time. Reports have it that Little Brown is printing 300,000 additional hard cover copies and index fingers all over the world are pressing the enter key on e-book sales.
There has already been grousing from some corners of the publishing world. One complaint focuses on the fact that Rowling took liberties with Galbraith’s bio (the dust jacket lists Galbriath as a former plainclothes Royal Military Police investigator who left the force to work in the civilian security industry). There is a long history of famous authors writing under pen-names, but adding fiction to the bio apparently offends some members of the guild.
Well, aren’t they going to be surprised when the next news cycle reveals that Rowling manufactured a second bio and penned not one, but two, mystery series. Yes, it’s true. And this news hits very close to home.
Mike Jastrzebski, who many of you know as the originator of Write On The Water, took interest in certain similarities between the character Harry Potter and my own protagonist, Steve Decatur. Seeing that both characters were male and English speaking, Mike hired an expert in linguistic analysis who confirmed similarities. It seems giving “Harry” and Steve” names with the same number of letters was just a bit too clever. With this information in hand, Mike contacted me leading to final confirmation that Rowling wrote A Single Deadly Truth under the name de plume John Urban. Subsequent calls also revealed that Urban Shorts is likewise J.K. Rowling’s work.
I know this is bewildering for my readers, family, and friends. Imagine just how confusing it is for me. But gauging the meteoric rise in The Cuckoo’s Calling, I will be spending the weeks ahead sitting at the computer watching for a tsunami of e-book sales.
And for the loyal readers of this blog, you’ve heard about the fabulous Harry Potter book parties? Think bigger. I promise you all free airplane tickets to one hell of a re-release book party after this news breaks!
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