JK Rowling finally announced today that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is completed and will be released at midnight 16th July 2005. It has also been announced that it will be slightly shorter than OotP. Here's the news that was posted on Mugglenet:

Yay! I cannot wait!

It's GBP 9.99 on amazon.co.uk, for those in the UK. So if you want to save yourself 7 quid, an Amazon pre-order is the way to go. Ditto in the US, but the cheaper online pre-order price of $17.99 was already mentioned.




Lilith

I was wondering when the next Harry Potter book would come out, I love the books! I can't wait for this one to come out! It's kind of odd that it is actually shorter, when the books just seem to get longer and longer...oh well, I'm sure I will still like it!

Thank God she's trimmed it down a little bit. Those books were proceeding towards Les Miserables-like proportions. The third one is still the best-not too long, not too short-taut, suspenseful and excellent in style.

I noticed that when I went to buy the first one today. They get progressively larger..

I have never read any of the Harry Potter Books (yes, I have lived under a rock for the past 6 years) so I went and got the first one today.

With any luck, they will hold my interest and I will have read them all by the time the new one drops. If not, I am only out 7 bucks and a few hours of my prescious life.

~spider

It's about damn time! If I don't get my crack-- I mean . . . my book soon, I will utterly explode.

Oh, and I am actually disappointed that it is shorter that OotP. I am one of those folks who actually enjoys ponderously long books . . .

Yeah I saw that last night when I went to preorder, thanks for mentioning it anyway. I ordered OotP with Amazon too, and it arrived early in the morning the day it was released (much better than queuing at midnight in a bookshop).

I'm disappointed as well. I geeked on the fact that they kept getting longer & longer. Besides, I think it's a great confidence booster for kids. What future college student is going to be daunted by Moby Dick when s/he read OotP at 10? (How many pages is it? Pfffft! Pfffft, I say! )

I think I'll pre-order it this year, rather than go on a Search & Destroy mission to Wal-Mart again. (I was getting ready to mug some unsuspecting kid for his copy before I found my own.)

And now to lose any semblance of self-restraint I may have amassed. *dances the Happy Dance (Parents, shield your children)*

I was sitting in the comfort of my aunts sofa reading myself away, not hearing anything in the background until I heard " Harry Potter fans...listen up!," (okay maybe is wasn't said like that but oh well.) I put my book down and to my amusment I heard words of the title of the next Harry Book. I was so happy. I don't know why there was need for the story so please excuse it. I thought that the new book would be longer than Ootp, and I too enjoyed the fact that it was longer because for some reason I hate when books end early because I feel as if so much more could have happened. My favourite of the Harry Potter series was definatly, the third Prisoner of Azkaban and it wasn't very lengthy, so Jo probably will do a superb job.
For us Canadians I think if we pre-order it will be $25.00, we get 40% off. I'm debating whether I should pre-order it because when I preodered the previous one, Opening day and about a week everyone was getting the same price as those who bought before hand. Meh ??? I'm still exatic though. I wish I was a witch and could roam the halls of Hogwarts..but hey that's what the books are for :p

well, i'm sort of happy about this i guess. i do enjoy reading her books.
but nonetheless, i'm rather annoyed with J.K. Rowling. it feels like she sold herself out (i don't know if that fraze makes sense in english, it does in hebrew though ) the movies she's 'working so hard on' are crap. but it feels like she enjoys the publicity and the extra maney it pulls in.
and if she REALLY cared about the beauty of the BOOK (and it's fans) she'd actualy work on publishing the books in the rate she promised. the movies should be able to wait, the technology is only geting better.
and what happenned to that article i remember reading about her being so happy she's geting kids to read? not with that movie she isn't.
*princess reads it over* this isn't exactly on the topic....
so yeah, i'm also dissapointed it's shorter. books don't feel as long as they are while you read them.... oh well. you win some, you lose some.
(in this sinariough: win=new book. lose=too short. )

i have to agree with princess of the night on some points....she really did sell out. im strangely addicted to harry potter books - i hate the style of writing but the plots are so more-ish...i cant wait for the next one to come out, but im dreading reading it, because it'll just finish and then ill have another 2 years or so to wait....its worse than any soap opera...not that i watch them

I will say though that you shouldn't hold the first two books against the rest of the series.

The first two are very much kids books, relatively short, and a pretty quick read. They get much more complex and indepth later on, something which the adults are especially likely to appreciate.




Lilith

I think it's a bit arrogant, and selfish, of a reader to tell a writer what she should or shouldn't be doing. How Ms. Rowling uses her time is ultimately her own business, and considering the size of the later books, and the glacial pace at which publishing works, 2 years really isn't that outrageous between the release of novels. Some authors take way longer to pen their next novel (Donna Tartt, for example, took a decade before her second novel came out, and Anne Rice had a good number of years between her first and second Vampire Chronicles novels).

And considering that the movies are relatively faithful to the books, I personally am actually happy that she even has any say in the scripts of the movies. Some authors never do, and quite a few books have been butchered into absolutely atrocious movies or series (Queen of the Damned, the Earthsea trilogy come to mind as very recent examples). If her participation in the movies means more faithful movies and a slightly slower release of novels, so be it.

And for all we know there are other reasons outside of other projects that explain why she takes 2 years to complete her novel. Re-writes, writer's block, editing etc. etc.

Next you're going to tell me she shouldn't have had a baby and gotten pregnant for a third time either, because I'm sure having a larger family might also take away from her writing time...


The kids meanwhile are only getting older...


I seriously doubt that the existence of a movie of the book is really going to hurt her book sales or stop kids reading the books. That's just some logic that I can't seem to follow. Likely the kids who only see the movie aren't the ones who were likely to start reading anyway. However, with record sales of her books, she has gotten kids to read in a way that other authors haven't in a long long time.

The only thing an author owes their reader is that they write the best book they can. Other than that, the reader should just shut the fuck up, IMO.



Lilith

Until you have sat down and attempted to write a book, you absolutely cannot pass judgement regarding how long or complicated the process is. End. of. story.

Yes, it's difficult and frustrating for the fans to wait to find out what happens next, but sometimes, it's necessary in order to complete the project. And, in the case of HP, it has also allowed the children who started reading HP in the beginning to grow with the complexity of the story.

As for "selling out..." I really, really hate how that term is thrown around. So many people use it to label anyone who dares to pursue any project that allows them to actually make money with their craft. It simply isn't true. "Selling out" is a term reserved for artists who compromise their craft for the sake of making a quick buck. To pursue financially rewarding projects to the best of your ability does not necessarily qualify.

It must be understood that movies, in general, are rarely as good as their literary counterparts. The Harry Potter movies are no different. The plots are too involved, the imagery too vivid for every detail to be presented within the film -- especially as we progress. J.K. Rowling has made no secret of her effort to keep the films as true to the books as possible nor has she hid the fact that subplots and details must be omitted for various reasons. To translate a literary work to film is a daunting task, but it is even moreso when the work is as fantastical as Harry Potter and has such a loyal following. (And, yes, I know LotR is probably even more fantastical, but I hardly think it is practical to make 3-4 hour films dedicated to each HP book given the target audience.)