SF Signal: The Next Harry Potter

The Next Harry Potter

Barry Cunningham, the editor responsible for bring us Harry Potter, says he has found the next Harry Potter in the form of a young boy archaeologist, from the book Tunnels.

Apparently authors Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams self-published Tunnels awhile ago which is were Cunningham discovered it. Tunnels tells of the adventures 14-year old Will Burrows has while exploring a hidden world deep below London, and it will be a series (of course).

"I knew from page one that Harry Potter was magic. Reading 'Tunnels' gave me the same thrill...Tunnels has it all: a boy archaeologist, merciless villains, a lost world and an extraordinary journey to the centre of the earth," Cunningham said.

As you can see, the hype machine is in full force here. And why not? Considering the money machine the Potter series has become, it's no wonder the person who 'discovered' Potter would be hyping his next find. I'm not saying this new series won't be as good, or better, than Potter; we'll have to wait and see (July 2007 in the UK). But can't a book stand on its own merits without having to be compared to Harry Potter to drum up attention? After all, Harry came out of nowhere without any large quantities of hype, at least for the first book. And what about other books already out that should be compared to Potter and read by his fans? I'm thinking of the Artemis Fowl books and the Bartimaeus Trilogy among several others.

I'll certainly give Tunnels a try when it gets here. I'm just annoyed at the hype.

I work in a bookstore, and when I get kids and moms who are looking for "the next Harry potter," while waiting for the new one to come out, I always send them to the Lemony Snicket books. You can't get better than Daniel Handler's grim little series.

Mostly, every YA novel is now The Next Harry Potter, just like every thriller is now The Next DaVinci Code. The best thing to do is ignore it and give it a whirl all by itself.

I always wonder if that sort of hype actually works on anyone...

Posted by Pete Tzinski on Tuesday June 12, 2007 at 11:18 PM

Well, if it weren't for the hype, SF signal might not have written about it. And if they hadn't written about it, I might not have ever heard of it.

And now I'm interested in it, not because it's "the next Harry Potter" (that would be silly, I don't need the next Harry Potter, I've already read Harry Potter) but because it sounds pretty interesting on it's own merits.

I hate hype, but it's hard to argue that it helps to get the word out.

Posted by dave on Wednesday June 13, 2007 at 7:43 AM