For several years, as an up-and-coming author, I had the misfortune of having my new books go on sale on the same day as J.K. Rowling’s latest Harry Potter book. As far the literary world is concerned, on those simultaneous pub dates, nobody else’s books were worthy of comment.
While on a book tour stop in Boston, I was having lunch in a hotel restaurant when a couple came in with two preteen girls who were both carrying copies of the newest Harry Potter tome. During the meal, the girls continued reading their books while their respective parents conducted a relatively private adult conversation. It looked to me as though this was the beginning of a serious relationship for the parents, and I’ve often wondered if they eventually married. If so, the girls’ mutual interest reading and in Harry Potter may well have played an important part in blending that new family.
I was well aware of the Harry Potter books, and although I was curious about them, for a long time I didn’t read any of them. Then 9/11 happened. In early October of 2001, I was supposed to participate in a book festival in Nashville. When it came time to make flight arrangement, planes still weren’t flying, and so Bill and I drove back and forth from Seattle to Nashville.
It turns out that’s a long trip, especially since we drove the long way around—by way of Arizona going and via Spokane on the way back. Part way through Texas, with the car radio’s news still focused totally on the terrorist attacks, we stopped by a Barnes and Noble and bought the audio version of the first Harry Potter book—Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone—recorded on cassette tapes, by the way.
Once we started listening, we were enchanted. While everyone else was still focused on the smoldering Twin Towers, we were learning the rules of Quidditch. That’s the magic of storytelling. It takes you somewhere else. As the miles rolled by, Hogwarts was exactly where we needed to be.
We listened to Harry Potter going and coming. In fact, we sat in a hotel parking lot in Boise, Idaho, to listen the ending of book number four, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the last book in print at the time. What fascinated me about J.K. Rowling’s work was that she didn’t talk down to kids. These were children’s books, yes, but they were written in very sophisticated language, and in each book she consistently drew a firm line between good and evil. That’s what murder mysteries do, too.
During our listening experience, the narrator, Jim Dale, became the voice of Harry Potter for us. As the remaining books were released, we listened to them as well, but by then cassettes were a thing of the past, so we listened on CD’s. Eventually we shared our tapes and CDs with our older granddaughters, but by the time the younger ones came along the CDs and tapes had vanished.
Once our grandson Colt arrived on the scene, Bill and I were snowbirding it. Our daughter had the same cell phone provider we used, and minutes on calls inside the system were free. So while Colt was in kindergarten, even though he was in Washington and we were in Arizona, I began reading the Harry Potter books to him over the phone each night before he fell asleep. That changed when he hit third grade. By then he was able to read them to himself. To this day, sci/fi fantasy remains his favorite brand of reading material.
In the early 2000s I began writing the Ali Reynolds books. At some point in time, Bill suggested that artificial intelligence was an interesting topic, and that maybe I should consider writing about AI. The result of that offhand conversation was a character named Frigg, who made her first appearance in a book called Man Overboard.
Frigg had been created by a wannabe serial killer who wanted to use the AI as his helpmate in planning and carrying out apparent suicides which were in fact murders. When Stu Ramey, manages to bring the killer down Frigg, who somehow has a mind of her own, chose to turn herself over to Stu rather than face destruction.
Ever since, Stu and the other members of Ali’s crew have had a tough time keeping Frigg operating on the right side of the law. Her rehabilitation process has involved adding a certain amount of ethical behavior to Frigg’s deep-learning catalog, and the Harry Potter books were part of that Stu used to accomplish that. It also explains why emergency communications from Frigg are called “Howlers.”
After Man Overboard was published, as a liberal arts major, I expected a certain amount of pushback from the computer science community, but to my surprise, none has been forthcoming. Then this past Sunday, the following headline appeared in the on-line edition of The Seattle Times: Microsoft, UW researchers use Harry Potter to understand AI.
I’m sure the article itself is hidden behind a pay wall, so you probably won’t be able to read it without being a subscriber, and it’s not really required reading. It’s enough for me to know that the article exists, and that computer science has finally caught up with the liberal arts major.
I’m still laughing about that, and I’m guessing Harry Potter and Frigg are, too.
Glad you got into Harry Potter. Unfortunate timing on book release. As usual, a great story. Just like your novels
I absolutely praise JK Rowling and the film makers of the Tolkien films for bringing children back to reading. Sadly though now, I think they are slipping away again. Please someone make another Tolkien film or Ms Rowling write another book. But for myself at age 88 I still find that JA Jance is up there at the top for me.
I am not a fan of AI. I am an artist, and I hate when people see an AI created piece of art and call it better than human created. It’s scary that AI can do things “better” than humans, and we all just accept it.
AI can paint, draw and write books and songs. Do we need to fear it? I don’t know.
When you said that storytelling takes you somewhere else, I could relate. Sometimes when I’ve been listening to a book in which there’s something dangerous about to happen, even after I’ve turned off the sound and am going about my business, I have a sense of trepidation, as though there’s something ominous in my near future. I have to give myself a shake, figuratively speaking, and tell myself, “No, YOU’re fine! It’s the character IN THE BOOK who is facing a scary situation!”
Just thought I’d let you know that I was able to read the article in The Seattle Times without subscribing or signing in. Very interesting. Thanks for the heads up.
I remember reading Man Overboard soon after publication. My first thought was Jance is getting into science fiction. I thought Frigg was such a forward looking concept I emailed you and asked how you came up with that idea. You related that Bill was the genesis of Frigg. Little did we know how prophetic you were.
What an interesting blog! I’ve never read the Harry Potter series – not a huge fan of that genre.
Thank you for a delightful glimpse into your fascinating life!
I started reading Harry Potter years ago, when it was suggested that it would be a good book to read to our students at summer school. I got hooked right away, and over the years have enjoyed watching students come to love the books and want to read them too. I really enjoy your books and seeing the connections to the real world and even though Harry Potter is fiction it is part of our world
Since I retired 10 years ago, Friday’s have not been a day to especially look forward too, but since I have discovered your blogs, once again, it now is . Thank you for that. I have not yet started the Ali series. I’m all caught up with Beaumont and well into Brady. Ali will be next, and I’m looking forward to meeting her. Of course I am a big Harry Potter fan and have all the books [and DVD’s], and a big fan of AI. Mostly, I am a big fan of yours.
I’ve read all the Harry Potter books starting with the Scholastic paperbacks. Your comment about the audio books made me start things about re-reading the series with my ears. I’m getting ready to “read” the new Ali Reynolds “Collateral Damage” book. I enjoyed listening to “Blessing of the Lost Girls.” The telling of the various legends was a nice touch.
J.D. Robb’s Eve Dallas series is a favorite listen. I read the first book and then listened to it. Have read all the rest with my ears. The narrator does a fantastic job with all the voices, especially Peabody’s.
I have a friend who read Harry Potter to her grandchildren over the phone also. I did try and read the first book but just couldn’t get into it. Sandy Haug, who comes with me to your signings, devoured all the Harry Potter books and even went to the movies.
I never read the books but saw the movie adaptations. It took me a while to get into the movies.
But you had quite the competition there with J.K. Rowling’s books. And I am glad you survived and endured.
Hope you had a nice Christmas and a good start to 2024.
When the first Harry Potter movie came out, I was getting my hair cut at a one person shop. My hair dresser was very active in her very conservative church. So one day I, after a day spent teaching kindergarten, I go in. She is still working on the customer before me. In the small shop, you cannot avoid hearing their conversation. They were talking about some terrible, scary movie. I thought maybe a Steven King? No, it was Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Had either seen the movie or read the books? No, it was just that it was witchcraft and thus wrong. At that time I had not read the books or seen the movie. But shortly thereafter I did and I was hooked. They may be intended as children’s books but I think that they are everyone’s books. So that is my story about getting into the Potter universe.
AI has been sneaking up on us for a long time, what with auto-correct, smarter search engines, voice-responsive music systems, etc. We feel compelled to give the programs human-like names: Siri, Alexa, Watson. I think your Frigg has been realistically presented. Her creator needed a power-hungry network of computers to support her, a factor many people choose to ignore while they use their smart phones and tablets anywhere and everywhere. Frigg follows instructions from humans, mostly. Choosing to preserve herself over her original creator was probably the biggest stretch in her entire story arc.
Your stories bring out the ethical issues involved in programming, just as the Harry Potter books address the ethical issues in spell-casting. Humans use the tools they invent for good or for ill. Across all cultures and genres of books!
good story
In the late 60’s I read a science fiction book about a computer on the moon that achieved self awareness. He managed to project a face on the computer screen.
Also i read a Janet Evanovitch book using AI.So why not give Frigg a face?
I have always listened to an audio book while driving. I also used to have a tendency to go to the local big-box store at midnight and wander around for an hour or two before returning home. So at 2 am I’m on my way home, listening to a really interesting section of one of the Harry Potter books. I wanted to get to the end of the chapter before getting home, so I drove around the neighborhood. Several times.
I was so engrossed that I was surprised when there were lights flashing behind me. I pulled over and an officer walked up to ask me what I was doing, because somebody had reported my apparent “scoping out” of the neighborhood. I showed him the cover for the Harry Potter book and explained what I was doing. He realized it was unlikely I had nefarious plans, since I was a very plump, clearly “older” woman.
He sent me on my way without ticket or warning, but with the suggestion that I park in my carport to finish up the chapter. 🙂
Love IT Love IT Love IT! As both an Ali and Harry Potter reader this comment is
thanks for the reminder of both enjoyable times reading these books.
That is fascinating! I loved that entire series, along with every other one you have written. I am not a Sci-Fi fan, but Frigg was absolutely GENIUS in that story. Your characters always demonstrate the very, “Human” considerations between good and evil, so the emotion, along with the adventure keep me very engaged in each one. Thank you, for having the tenacity to persevere with your prolific story-telling. May it never end!
I was transported to another world by the CS Lewis Narnia books as a child, starting with, “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe-”
I rediscovered them some years back and enjoyed rereading them-
However, there is no doubt that The Harry Potter books and movies have been a wonderful source of entertainment for children all over the world-
Maybe humans will not give up reading after all?
My nieces and all the kids of that generation (now adults in their 30s) I have known grew up on Harry Potter-
I am definitely a dinosaur when it comes to technology of all kinds-
However, I do love Frigg! And without knowing Frigg, I would have no concept at all
of AI- Thank you-
I’m a software engineer from way back in the 1950s, and I too find AI incomprehensible. I suspect a lot of things are attributed to AI that are really just computer science.
I love it!! You were way ahead of the world when you wrote that book!
The Harry Potter books enticed young kids to read. I remember being at Costco one day waiting for them to open the doors. One of the Harry Potter books was to be released that day. When the doors opened the kids rushed in to grab one of the books off the pallet right near the doors. As I walked through the store kids were sitting in corners reading the book while parents shopped. That is how I feel when one of your books comes out – can’t wait to read it!
I’ve never read the Harry Potter books. They did not appeal to me. Maybe I will rethink that. Frigg is one of my favorite recurring characters in your books. On another note but related, My husband was waiting on a library book to come in and needed something to read. He found the first Beau book on the shelf in our den and decided to reread it. When he opened it he noticed that it was signed by you! We both read that book and neither of remember seeing the signature before. Makes sense though because my sister sent it to us and she lives in Seattle. She probably went to a signing years ago or picked it up at a second hand book store. I’d love to send you a picture of that old paperback and your signature.
My guess is it’s signed in blue or black. I didn’t start signing books in red until book three.
As far as HP goes, I believe one of the main features of the books was to drag kids, kicking and screaming, into reading. All for anything that can accomplish that! Schools don’t seem to be able to do that.
Early on I bought several HP books and put them on the shelf. There they stayed until I gave them to my niece who was already a reader. This Christmas I was gifted Kindle Unlimited and the HP books are included. Just brought in #1 and will start it next reading session, thanks to you. I always say HP is not my genre, but every once in a while I happen into one of those “off the wall” books or TV shows (remember Dark Shadows) that just tickles me.
There is associated bleed over in the strangest places from the HP series. I have a few yards of HP fabric with blue Weasley Sweaters printed on it. It will make a good quilt backing when I get around to it. Of course, not having read the books I had to Google what that was all about.
Often I wish there was a thumbs up like on YouTube to give. Instead I’ll just say two thumbs up.
My husband and I took a road trip from Florida to New Orleans, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and back in June 2002. We also listened to several Harry Potter books and we would have to sit in the car to reach a stopping point. I loved the audio books so much I still have not finished the series.
I read the first Harry Potter books, but then lost interest. I think they have been a good thing for kids as they want to read. The author has/had some clever ideas.
We are having our first snowstorm in a year or two. A good day to pick up a Beau book.
This is a bit off topic. I just finished my first read through * of “Blessing of the Lost Girls” and am just blown away. I think this is your best book yet, and that is saying a lot – what a triumph! The Tohono O’odham stories interspersed in the modern narrative are amazingly powerful.
Thank you for all your writing, and especially “Blessing of the Lost Girls”.
Ceci
* With your books I read once, quickly, because I am excited to see what happens, and then again more carefully to savor the nuances of plot, characterization, language, etc. In “Blessing” I especially appreciate Jenny’s growth as a character – I hope to be hearing more about her transition to adult life in later books!
I loved that the howlers were introduced! I’m a huge HP fan. Have been since my daughter was in the 2nd grade. I’ve listened to the audio books multiple times over the years. The narrator, Jim Dale has the absolute best, most soothing voice.
Frigg is a great addition to the High Noon team!
Your blog was great as usual. I love that you read to your Grandson over the phone, you are such a wonderful Grandma.
I have never been interested in reading Harry Potter but you may have changed my mind at least to maybe listening to it on CD if it’s available.
Thank you for taking the time each Friday to enlighten us.
Joy Hughes