Did you know that the latest installment in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince is on store shelves already? Fourteen people managed to snag copies of The Half-Blood Prince before a Canadian store realized its mistake in selling before the July 16 release date and pulled the copies.
You’d think that this wouldn’t be an earth-shattering event. After all, I’ve seen books sold in bookstores before their release date all the time. It’s not kosher, but it’s routinely done. Only if you’re a publishing industry superstar do you rate an iron-clad "no sale" prior to the official date. When you’re J. K. Rowling, you rate a Canadian judge ordering the fourteen early-buyers to keep their mouths shut about the book’s contents:
"A handful of people in Canada got a sneak peak of the latest Harry Potter book, but a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ordered them to keep it a secret.
"The book was sold to 14 people who snagged a copy of J. K. Rowlings’ much anticipated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when it landed on shelves last Thursday at a local grocery store.
"The book, officially set for release this coming Saturday, has been shrouded in secrecy and its debut has been highly orchestrated to enable everyone — readers, reviewers, even publishers — to crack it open all at once. It’s the sixth in Rowling’s seven-book fantasy series on the young wizard.
"But the store slipped up and sold 14 copies before realizing its mistake."
The individuals involved should be grateful that all that happened was that they were legally gagged by a Muggle judge. A Wizard court would probably have made them drink one of Snape’s potions.
All part of a secret Easter Bunny plot to foist EEEE-vil Harry Potter books on unsuspecting young Canucks.
What garbage . . . .
Given that his condemnation of Potter has now been confirmed, the next book to come out will be “Harry Potter and the Anathema of Ratzinger”.