J.K. Rowling said she was done writing about Harry Potter, but here she goes reeling us back in with a new short story series about the dark side of Harry Potter’s world. The new Pottermore Presents series launches in September and is a celebration of Hogwarts. The eBooks “delve even deeper into the wizarding world,” and will feature J.K. Rowling’s first-person impressions of some of the characters, reports The Huffington Post.
The books are intended to “supplement” the Harry Potter books, said Pottermore CEO Susan L. Jurevics in a press release.
“Pottermore Presents is intended to supplement the Harry Potter book series with short-form content that is entertaining and thematically curated by the Pottermore editorial team. The eBooks will delight readers as they take them beyond the Harry Potter stories and deeper into the wizarding world. J.K. Rowling’s writing in these collections reveals intricate details of her characters’ lives, their histories, as well as her inspiration.”
Each eBook is approximately 10,000 words long (a typical novel is roughly 100,000 words) so these are little snacks that can be gobbled up in one sitting if one were so inclined.
Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Political and Pesky Poltergeists is all about the dark roots of the wizarding world and describes the horrors of Azkaban, problems within the ministry of magic, and provides additional information about Dolores Umbridge and Quirinus Quirrell.
Short Stories from Hogwart’s of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies enlightens readers about the people that run Hogwarts such as Silvanus Kettleburn, who takes care of the magical creatures, and Remus Lupin’s part in the second wizarding war.
Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide exposes some of the secrets of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, particularly details about the ghosts, hidden rooms, and corridors, and what happens when the Sorting Hat can’t decide on a student’s house.
The short stories were created to accommodate Harry Potter fans who aren’t active visitors on the Pottermore site, and because the Pottermore world is strictly a digital one, the idea to only release the short stories as e-books seems logical.
In addition to revealing “surprises and intricate details about several characters’ lives,” fans can look forward to new pieces of writing from J.K. Rowling on Professor Minerva McGonagall and Potions Master Professor Horace Slughorn. Some of the new reveals are about how a witch or wizard becomes a portrait, and reasons behind the Black family’s strange names.
Harry Potter has been a beloved character for almost 20 years with no end in sight. Presently, we have the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the upcoming Harry Potter spin-off movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to appease us, but now that the Pottermore Presents series is on the way, is it any wonder that Daniel Radcliffe is reluctant to shut the door to a possible Harry Potter come back?
During a recent Andy Cohen Sirius XM Radio Show interview, the predictable question of returning to the role that has immortalized him was brought up, and Radcliffe said that the idea is “tricky,” but not an idea he would completely shut the door on, although he couldn’t entertain the idea at this moment.
“You never want to close a door on anything, especially something that’s been so good to me. But I do think, at the moment, I’m definitely not at a stage where I would feel comfortable going back to it. Who knows if in 10, 20 years I would feel differently about that, and I think I’ve got a little while before I’m sort of age-appropriate for this Harry.”
The Pottermore Presents series will be available September 6, and is available in eight languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Dutch. The eBooks can be preordered through these participating retailers, as well as the Pottermore site for $2.99.
Is the Pottermore Presents series of eBooks the last nail in the Harry Potter coffin, or does J.K. Rowling have more to give? Sound off in the comment section.