Interesting ...

article on why Rowling and Pullman aren't that good.

There's a lot to disagree with here, including the statement that "perhaps the greatest difference between Eagle and children's reading today is this: the stories were set in the real world, with no recourse to magic or fantasy." Jenkyns thinks Pullman's too big for his boots grandiose for his audience, and Rowling has inflated the scale of her epic to cope with demand. But he does have some good points about character-building and self-consciousness.

Also, apparently, "science fiction and .. supernatural epic romance ... do not mix." While I am not at all sure what he means by the latter, this sounds like a splendid argument to have. Zelazny? Wolfe? Mieville? Er, other?