J.K. Rowling Goes Adult

Back in February, it was announced that J.K. Rowling had signed with new publisher Little, Brown & Co. with the intention to release a book, her first post-Potter project, that would be geared towards the adult audience. Now the tension has broken and news about the book has been formally released. The title and a plot synopsis has been announced and for your squeeing pleasure I present this to you.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils...Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

This book is expected to release to ease your anxiety September 27, 2012! 

Mark it To-Read: Goodreads

Pre-Order: Amazon

And for a little fun, I found this...

A Book? By J.K. Rowling?!

Have you heard? Surely, if you are in the book blog world you have heard; if you haven't, and even if you have, let me share with you some extremely exciting news:

J.K. Rowling is writing a new book!

This book is aimed for the adult audience and is not set to be similar to Harry Potter, the books we all know have brought her to such accredited standing.

"Although I've enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry's success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life."

She will be joining Little Brown for publishing and they will release her books for her worldwide in print and in eBook formats.

No details about the actual book, genre, or content have been given; the only thing announced was that the publishing deal has been finalized.

Let me just say that she is one of the most inspiring women to me and she is the storyteller, the author, the master who changed reading for me forever and I cannot wait to hear more about this! Can you?

Harry Potter: A Prequel

How did I not know about this? I was alerted to a post over at HPProgs that a small prequel that JK Rowling wrote for a Waterstone charity benefit is now online. You can find the entire excerpt that she wrote on the HPProgs website. Waterstone also published a small anthology of the pieces from all the authors that contributed such as Neil Gaimon, Margaret Atwood, Nick Hornby, and more!

Here's a small teaser from the excerpt transcript:

But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. They were suddenly as alert as gundogs, staying past Fisher and Anderson, over the roof of the police car, at the dark mouth of the alley. Then, with identical, fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets.