July 21 ~ Harry Potter & the Booktrade Nightmare

I have a deep blue T-shirt identifying myself as one of Lord Bezosia's Ninja elite who "survived HP5".

Now comes the final volume, what Spiros Theotoki's eager young daughter excitedly refers to as 'Harry Potter and the Healthy Gallows'. It is a far better title than Ms Rowling's so I say nothing.

But fie! What is this?

The Independent newspaper speaks of a 'nightmare', not just for cosy bookshops such as you and I haunt, but the noble house of Bloomsbury itself.

The bookshops will be up against price-slashing chain supermarkets

Bloomsbury will be under pressure to stand fast on the Potter margins.

"Small bookshops, especially, will suffer as they struggle to keep up with the discounts offered by the industry's big players" quoth shop owner Marilyn Brocklehurst of Norfolk Children's Book Centre, who will once again have to stock the book, against her will.

And what a vacuum will be left for us all when the Potteriad comes to a close.