Pterry Pratchett takes on Jakey Rowling

Now that she's stinking rich and hangs out with the literati, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has taken it upon herself to diss the fantasy genre that is the source of her wealth. BBC reports:

In a recent interview with Time magazine, Rowling said she was "not a huge fan of fantasy" and was trying to "subvert" the genre.

The magazine also said Rowling reinvented fantasy fiction, which was previously stuck in "an idealised, romanticised, pseudofeudal world, where knights and ladies morris-dance to Greensleeves".

Oh my! Them's fightin' words -- at least to Terry Pratchett, Britain's finest fantasist.

Responding to Rowling's claim that she did not realize that Harry Potter was a fantasy novel while she was writing it Pratchett commented:

"I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"

He also noted that,

"Ever since The Lord of the Rings revitalised the genre, writers have played with it, reinvented it, subverted it and bent it to their times," he wrote.

"It has also contained come of the very best, most accessible writing for children, by writers who seldom get the acknowledgement they deserve."

And some of the best of that writing has come from Terry Pratchett. His "Ringworld" novels contain some of the best fantasy ever written -- sharp, satirical, intelligent, and lethally funny -- far superior in many ways to Rowling's output; but then I'm prejudiced. I've been a Prachett fan for at least a quarter of a century.

UPDATE: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. One of my correspondents writes to remind me that Pterry wrote the "diskworld" series. Larry Niven, of course, wrote the "ringworld" books. Both men have been incredibly prolific and are among my favorite SF authors. Sorry, it was late at night and I was distracted.