A Blogucopia of News

Bloomsbury and Scholastic have announced the release date for Harry Potter 5--"Harry Potter and the Order of the Peni--I mean, Phoenix": June 21, 2003. Here's what Publisher's Lunch, a daily publishing email produced by my pal Michael Cader, has to say:

""Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses.



"'It is time,' he said 'for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.'"



Telling everything apparently requires over 255,000 words--fully a third longer than the mammoth Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire--as Scholastic and Bloomsbury announce a (Saturday) June 21 world English pub date for HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.



The book opens: "The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.....The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four."



Lighting farts is a priviledge, Harry, not a right, and somebody just stepped over the line.



Also, in more Harry Potter news, apparently Terry Gilliam was J.K. Rowling's first choice to direct the movies. You know, I'm liking her more and more. Anyway, there's an article about the beleagured-but-brilliant Gilliam in this week's Village Voice.



And finally, Barry's still slugging it out on the London Sunday Times bestseller list--it's slated to be #8 this Sunday...