You can't account for tastes or taste changes. Just keep writing. When the next fancy strikes it will be unexpected and unpredictable.

Sci-fi has endured many trends and good writing in any genre still sells. The author of the HP series caught lightning in a bottle. I'm glad she knows when to get off the bus. I read the first few pages of one of them and tossed it. I can't get into an invented world when the one we live in still is in need of so many repairs. Want science fiction? Someday, in the approaching future, many someones will write the legend of George W Bush. No science fiction can come close to deconstructing that man.

Writers do not worry about what is in or out. They write what they know, living in hopes that theirs sets the next trend.

Oh Nelly... I mean Rex. I don't agree! Potter has gotten kids into reading. Have you been to the children's section of a book store recently? there are actually kids there! that is a terrific development.

And as a life-long bookworm, I can tell you that the moment a person realizes that such pleasure can come from a book, they are HOOKED for life. (Me = Little House on the Prairie, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew).

Don't blame the Potter. But if you must blame someone I'd say blame the video game makers. Isn't THAT industry doing so much more damage to young readers?

I've got to agree with Lora and Milt. Getting kids to read is the challenge, once they get the bug, their reading habits will evolve and grow as they grow. I loved Chronicles of Narnia and the Phantom Tollbooth (fantasy) as a preteen, then got seriously in sci-fi and futuristic stuff as a teen, moved on to Kurt Vonnegut in college, now I read everything and anything. Get kids reading, its all good after that.

I went to the midnight opening for Deathly Hallows at a local independent bookstore. There were a lot of kids there. Sitting on the floor, on chairs, leaning against shelves. Reading. Reading Harry Potter, but also reading other books. I can't make this out to be a bad thing - I agree that publishers may try to find "the One" or "the Next One",(from a business standpoint, they'd be missing a bet not to) but they also have a slate to fill - there will be lots of wonderful books - there always are. And people, once infected with the reading disease, will read 'em.

I don't think there is anything to sorry about. I think that Harry Potter will be a boon to SCi-Fi because the folks who gained a love of reading through Harry Potter will eventually branch out - Sci-Fi is a close logical move.

Overall, I think that Harry Potter is a good thing - it's getting our kids (and even some adults) to pick up a book and read it. From there, they 'catch the bug' and start reading more, hopefully.

Sci-Fi is a logical crossover for these people. I personally got hooked on authors like Anne McCaffrey and Andre Norton. From there, I just took off, and I don't think there's anything out there I wouldn't at least turn a page or two to see if I liked it.

I have even been known to read the occasional Stephen King or Dean Koonz novel. Scary to think... (no pun intended)

I hope that in the search for the next Harry Potter, we are blessed with the finding of some new authors in not only the fantasy genre, but perhaps in Sci-Fi and anything and everything in between. The world could always use a really good new author.

That's my $0.02.

Umm- Although I see merit in your scenario, I am not as fearful. I have always swung back and forth between these two genres. Several good writers have also.Truth is that most of the best work lately has been fantasy. (opinion) ...

Neat thing is that having an 11 year old daughter exposes me to a lot of teen focused works. I am surprised at the quality of some as well as the resurgence of the classics.

To close, Sci-fi will have a tougher road, now that our youth can at least grasp elementary physics. They know when the basics rules can't be broken. But fantasy sez,... rules? What rules!?