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JamesPotter

The logo for this series

The James Potter series is an unofficial continuation (sequel-series) of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, written by American author G. Norman Lippert. The series centres around Harry's first-born son, James Sirius Potter, and begins eighteen years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, one year before the epilogue.

The series is notable for attracting intense media attention when a website made by Lippert teasing the first book, James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing, was thought to be a viral marketing campaign for a new Harry Potter book. Since then, the series has become an international success, gaining more than a million readers worldwide, and being translated into over nine different languages.

Titles in the series[]

The series consists of five main novels:

  1. James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing (2007)
  2. James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper (2008)
  3. James Potter and the Vault of Destinies (2010)
  4. James Potter and the Morrigan Web (2013)
  5. James Potter and the Crimson Thread (2017)

The author has also written The Girl on the Dock: A Dark Fairy Tale, a published spin-off taking place between the second and third books of the series, as well as Harry's First Christmas and Other Tales, a Christmas-themed short story collection released online.

Release[]

G. Norman Lippert began writing his first James Potter story as a cathartic exercise the day after finishing J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What began as a mere drabble quickly evolved into a complete novel. Lippert, a computer animator by profession, created a custom website teasing the novel's release, featuring a computer-generated trailer of the Harry Potter logo transforming into the new James Potter series logo.[1]

Harry Potter fans on the Internet initially speculated that the site might be part of an elaborate viral marketing campaign for an official continuation or spinoff of Harry Potter, one either written or at least approved by Rowling herself.[2][3] On November 9, 2007, Rowling's agent Neil Blair denied that Rowling was in any way involved with the purported project, and Warner Bros., the studio which owns the rights to the Harry Potter film series, denied that the novel was in any way connected to the official Harry Potter franchise.[4] A Scholastic spokesperson also denied that the novel was the eighth book in the Harry Potter series.[5]

On 19 November, 2007, The Scotsman reported that Rowling had threatened legal action against Lippert for allegedly violating her intellectual property rights by producing and publishing the novels.[6] A specialist in intellectual property law at Strathclyde University commented that, "If an insubstantial character from a novel is taken and built up by another author in a new story, that can be a defence against copyright infringements."[6] However, after Rowling's agency agreed to receive an advance copy of the story from Lippert, it was announced that Rowling had dismissed any legal allegations, and said she supported the novel and any others like it (so long as it was appropriate for children, and not made for profit).[1]

The novel, titled James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing, gained worldwide attention and was featured in international news media, including the Scotsman newspaper,[6] Canadian Public Radio, and Fox News affiliates across the United States,[3] among others.[1][2][5] In 2008, the website for the sequel was launched, immediately creating buzz in the Harry Potter community and garnering over thirty-thousand hits in its first few weeks.[1] Released in September of 2008, James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper achieved 40,000 readers in its first week. Together, the two James Potter stories have been translated into more than half a dozen languages and viewed by an estimated million-plus readers worldwide.

The series has continued to grow with the release of three more novels and a published spin-off. In 2007, the Grotto Keep Forum was founded as a place for fans to discuss the novels and was frequented by hundreds of members. Today, the series Facebook page has over 11,000 likes, and the works of the James Potter series have a combined total of over 40,000 reviews on Goodreads, the highest for any fanfiction. Since 2014, Living Audio, U.K. has also been producing free audiobook versions of the series, narrated by Justin Sargeant.

External links[]

Notes and references[]

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