This morning I read that J.K. Rowling's secret pen name, Robert Galbraith, was revealed. Rowling, AKA Robert Galbraith, wrote a mystery crime novel titled, The Cuckoo's Calling.
In top-secret fashion, she published "The Cuckoo's Calling" under the name Robert Galbraith. Her publisher, Mulholland Books -- an imprint of Little, Brown and Company -- described the author as a former member of the Special Investigative Branch of the Royal Military Police.
"He left the military in 2003 and has been working since then in the civilian security industry," the publisher's website said. "The idea for (protagonist) Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends who returned to the civilian world. 'Robert Galbraith' is a pseudonym."
The Sunday Times, curious about who this mystery novelist really was, connected the dots -- noting that "he" used an agent, editor and publisher who had worked with Rowling.
Well. I think I hear the call of the wild on Amazon and Goodreads.
And then, I read this article that talks about a review for The Cuckoo's Calling that came out a week before the pen name name was revealed. Someone was on the ball.
An oddly prescient review of THE CUCKOO’S CALLING from July 7 — almost a full week before J.K. Rowling was revealed as the author behind the pseudonym.
Rowling made this comment, here.
"It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback from publishers and readers under a different name."
For those who aren't familiar with authors using pen names, this isn't something new. Any author who has been branded to death in one particular genre and wants to break into another, or associated with one particular style, knows the only way to do that is by taking on a pen name. If you don't believe me just look at the reviews for Rowling's novel, The Casual Vacancy, which I loved but many reviewed poorly. And I think that had a great deal to do with Rowling using her own name and being associated with Harry Potter.
I admire Rowling for taking the chance, and I also admire her for writing in another genre. Many authors with her kind of fame would have continued doing what they became famous for and wouldn't have tried to reinvent themselves...most don't have the capacity with which to do that...or the talent. And to be honest, I usually wait to see what authors like Rowling or E.L. James do after they have the big books. In this case, it tells me that Rowling is a true career writer and she's not just in this for the money or the fame. And if I had to guess, I would imagine she would have preferred to keep the pen name a secret.
In any event, I think I'm going to check the book out now. I've been looking for something different to read, in a different genre, and this just might be the thing. I think what she did is inspiring.
Thank you, Robert Galbraith, for giving me something good to read this summer.
Indiana Gay Marriage Myths
This past weekend I was watching something I'd recorded on DVR and I noticed a message come across the screen that said something about gay marriage and Indiana. I jumped back thirty seconds and re-read it. Basically it was an announcement about a new law that states if someone even files for a marriage license in Indiana they can be arrested.
I don't know about most people, but when I see something that doesn't make sense I look it up. And that didn't make sense to me, and this is what I found:
But while several blogs portray those crimes as new laws passed this year by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, they've been on the books for more than a decade.
They date back at least to 1997, when the state's marriage laws were recodified by the legislature. And they may have been on the books much longer, since they don't specifically address same-sex marriage. Instead, they generally address perjury on a marriage license application and attempts to perform marriages not allowed by law.
I think that's a good example of how much bad information there is going around about gay marriage (and dumb blogging). I know some zealots that would go berserk over that statement I saw in TV without even bothering to look it up. When in reality, the laws don't even target same-sex marriage, and that's most likely due to the fact that when the laws were written no one even thought same-sex marriage was an option.
There is a lot of other misguided information floating around with the recent SCOTUS ruling, so take what you see with that proverbial grain of salt and double check it before you start posting about it. I'm still trying to find out if same sex couples who live in states were same-sex marriage is NOT legal can marry in states where it is legal and benefit from not paying federal inheritance taxes. So far, I've had discussions with more friends about this than I can count and half say yes and half say no. So I'm not posting anything on that topic until I know for certain. If anyone has any links about this, please e-mail me.
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