So J. K. Rowling is suing the writer of the Unofficial Harry Potter Lexicon. She has stated that she intended to write a similar book herself in order to give the proceeds to charity, but now this new book has "destroyed her desire to pen such a work".

I find that incredible; it's clearly a statement made solely to boost her prosecution. She's sold 375 million books, surely she can't be so flakey that a single book based on her work can shatter her confidence. It's far more likely that Mrs Rowling is intent on keeping a firm grip on her kingdom.

It's not the control I have a problem with. It's the lies surrounding it. If she just said: "no one can release books on my world", I'd be fine with that, but it's the deception surrounding it.

I'm sure we'll see her Encyclopedia when she needs a new house or two.

Oooh, cynical! 

J. K. Rowling has hinted that she could write an eighth book in the series.

Rowling, 42, admits she has 'weak moments' when she feels she will pen another novel about the boy wizard reports the Daily Mail.

The Newspaper continues: One of her biggest fans – her 14-year-old daughter Jessica – has already put pressure on her to revisit the character.

If an eighth novel were to be written, Rowling concedes it is unlikely that Harry would be the central character.

But in an interview with Time magazine, which put Rowling at No 3 in its Person Of The Year list, she said: "There have been times since finishing, weak moments, when I've said 'Yeah, all right' to the eighth novel."

"If - and it's a big if - I ever write an eighth book, I doubt that Harry would be the central character. I feel I've already told his story."

"These are big ifs. Let's give it ten years."

I said this would happen months ago. She'll never be able to resist doing another series... She'll probably do book 8 when the money starts running out... Mercenary of me, but oh so true.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed that one of her characters, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay.

She made her revelation to a packed house in New York's Carnegie Hall on Friday, as part of her US book tour.

"Dumbledore is gay," she said, adding he was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, who he beat in a battle between good and bad wizards long ago.

The audience gasped, and then applauded. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy," Rowling said. "Oh, my god," she concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction".

Oh god, this is MORE ammunition from the religious intolerance groups that already want Rowling’s blood for "corrupting" children and for making witchcraft and dark magic look cool.

What next, Hermione to become crack-addict stripper in Bolton?

Or Ron has a sex change - Sexpecto Patronum.

Ho ho ho. So many jokes... I could go on all all night...

But don't worry, I won't. 

You can read part three (two) of my Harry Potter story by going here. 

Meanwhile, here's an excerpt:

Harry couldn't breathe. He couldn’t speak. He could barely stand, grasping feebly at Uncle Vernon's powerful hands as he stared red faced and furious at Harry. He caught sight of Aunt Petunia standing by the kitchen door, watching nervously as Uncle Vernon throttled him.

She walked away.

Suddenly, memories of his years living with the Dursleys washed over him. They were all bad. Ten years of misery. He wondered for a moment why he had returned to the house. These people hated him. He owed them nothing. They had certainly never given him anything. Not even the truth. They had kept everything a secret, the death of his parents, magic, Hogwarts, everything.

Download Part Two Here 

With Potter being finished, I thought I'd post my Harry Potter story. I wrote this for a very special friend for a Christmas present in 2000.

It's called Harry Potter and the Spirit of Truth.

Anyway, if the person for whom is reading this (and I bet you are), I hope you don'd mind me posting this. I'm sure you'll not have read it for years, either!

It's not been edited. It's barely even been edited by me, but I thought I'd post it for a bit of fun! 

So here's Chapter Two. Sadly, Chapter One is lost to history, so here's a rundown of what's happened before...

It's midnight at Number Four, Privet Drive. Something dark and wicked appears on the lawn and seeps into the house. It slips upstairs and into Dudley's bedroom, and with a crack and a flicker of shadow, Dudley vanishes.

Harry is, of course, at Hogwarts, and is blissfully unaware of the happenings at the Dursley's...

Here's an excerpt

HARRY POTTER AND THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH 

Just then, the last mail before Christmas came swirling in from the rafters. Harry saw Hedwig, gleaming white over him. She dropped an envelope into his baked beans and vanished back into the blur of owls above. Harry groaned and fished the letter out of his breakfast. Aside from dripping baked beans, it was a normal looking envelope -

Except for the fact that it was jet black and addressed in a strange flowery handwriting in crimson ink.

It said:

“Mr Harry Potter

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Seamus stared at the bean-stained envelope.

“Well,” Ron said. “Aren't you gonna open it?”

Hermione bristled. “Harry Potter,” she began seriously. “That's a mysterious looking envelope, if ever I saw one. It could be from anybody. You've no idea who sent -”

Everyone fixed her with a stony gaze and Hermione fell silent. “Maybe you should just open it,” she said, meekly.

Harry slowly opened the envelope and unfolded a black letter, upon which, written in crimson ink were the words:

Ron laughed. “If you ever want to see Dudley again, you'll go home for Christmas. Not much of an incentive is it?”

Both Harry and Hermione glared at him. “That's not funny, Ronald,” she said stiffly. “This is serious.”

Ron winced. “Just kidding, Hermione,” he said. “Harry, you should take this letter to Dumbledore.”

“Who is DWvB anyway?” Hermione wondered aloud. At that, they all shrugged.

“No time to find out now,” Harry said looking at his watch. “The train leaves in fifteen minutes.”

Hermione looked at Harry, her eyes pleading.  “Harry,” she begged, “please don’t go to the Dursley’s for Christmas. You'll have no protection; you'll be with muggles; you'll be defenceless.”

“I'll have my magic,” Harry stated, knowing grimly that he couldn’t do magic outside of Hogwarts except in life-threatening circumstances. “And you know I have to go. Dudley needs me.”

You can read Chapter Two by clicking here

Seven years...

That's how long I've been in love with Harry Potter.

And now it's all over.

That's it, there is no more...

It isn't exactly hard to find out the story of Book 7 if you Google any number of website around the world. So many reviewers clambered over themselves to post 'innocent' reviews - which coincidentally happened to include a full breakdown of the book and every one of its twists, turns, and spoilers.

But I'm not going to do that. I'm not even going to say which of my predictions came true (if any). I'm fact, in my post-Potter fugue, I'm just going to ramble on about - well, anything that comes to mind (you really don't get snappier, better quality writing than that - hehehehe).

So what can I say about Book 7? Well, I think J. K. Rowling is at the top of her game. Deathly Hallows is a great piece of fiction with some beautifully written prose. It rounds off the story in nearly every way, and really, her world is so rich, it's hard to fault. She has created a magical world that can mirror Tolkien's Middle Earth for depth and flavour - for me, that's some accolade.

I can't say a lot more. You know the formula if you've read any of the first six books. But this is top class Potter magic, all the elements are there, and pretty much all of the characters are back, in some form or another, to help or hinder Harry. 

There are some marvellous plot twists, and really, I feel a series generally weakens as each book is released, yet Book 7 finishes on a high, with a meaty and satisfying ending - and not a lot of room for a sequel. It's rare that an author does what they set out to do and properly finishes something with little or no chance of a sequel.

As for who lives and who dies - well, you'll just have to go read the book and find out for yourself. I think you'll be very surprised!

So, now the last book is finished and memories of Harry and his seven years' worth of exploits fade, thoughts turn to my own writing. I don't have any aspirations to be as successful as Rowling (I don't think we'll see her like again any time soon) but I do think I need to concentrate on it a great deal more than I have this past two years.

So I'm tremendously sad that Harry is now gone from my life. Gone, but never forgotten. His influence will continue to impact books for the next decade - if not longer, and certainly, I will, with Rowling's spirit in my heart, renew my efforts to make time to write all the books I've ever wanted to write...

So I can go forward 15 hours and get this interminable wait over with!

Just wanted to share my frustration with you all.

...

I don't feel any better, though! Fifteen hours is a very long time (and six minutes - ugh!).

I read in the papers that someone had got hold of a copy of book 7, scanned it, and put it on the web for tens of thousands to download per hour. Worse still, the reviews have been rolling in, complete with spoilers, which, quite naturally, J.K. Rowling is furious about.

One has to wonder why anyone would do that; why anyone would voluntarily wish to spoil another's enjoyment of something. I find it a bit sickening to be honest - especially the reviewers, who could wait a few more days OR write reviews without any spoilers. Heaven knows I do it on a week by week basis.

So, the book is freely available on the web.

Or is it?

The copies circulating on the web appear to be fake, poorly written attempts to spread confusion about book 7.

I think this is a great. It means the reviewers have reviewed a completely bogus book. If I were the Managing Director of publisher Bloomsbury, I know it's what I'd do. I'd do everything I could to stop people getting their unscrupulous mitts on it earlier.

So, to the pirates (who'll never read my column but I felt like saying it anyway) who illegally download anything without a hint of conscience I say: YOU SUCK!

There's a little over 24 hours to go until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released, and I'll be honest and say I'm very excited...

But I'm also a little sad. It's the end of an era, and when this book is gone, that will be it. No more Harry, Ron, or Hemione.

Or Lord Voldemort, I'd imagine. 

Looking back, it seems so very long ago when I first read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I was fortunate enough to come into it late, Prisoner of Azkaban was just about to be released, so I had two further books to satisfy me.

And now it's all but over. Just one last day to go.

But I'm not sad because it's ending, but rather, for my own writing career. I've got a book in the works (which I still can't announce) and another one that's still too early to tell, but I've let my writing slip so much and that makes me rather sad. Life spirals out of control due to work and I cannot allow my dreams to be diminished because I've got to pay the bills.

So I intend to renew my efforts, to work harder, and to really finish off all those old projects that need finishing. I know I can make the time... somehow. 

So, as Potter ends, I have made some decisions. I will refinish off and release Summoner Chronicles: the Secret Door and donate the profits to charity this year (I'll post a link to it sometime in September).

Wish me luck. I have so much that needs to be done and only I can do it.

Hopefully, I will be successful.

And I hope Harry Potter will be too.

It's party time - almost! Harry Potter Book 7 is JUST around the corner and the world is about to explode with Pottermania for the very last time.

With only a few weeks to go, I thought I'd give you MY speculations on what's going to happen in Book 7.

But before I start: I don't know anything, and I don't want to know. I just wanted to let you know what I'd do, were I writing the final chapter in Harry's Life.

So here we go.

Stu's Top Five Harry Potter Incidents 

5. Harry will have an emotional ending to the final book where he gets to become a wizard of some renown and goes off into the world, leaving the story closed but open to possible sequels when JR Rowling is short of a bob or two...

4. Hagrid is killed defending Harry (dead certainty).

3. Sirius Black returns from wherever he was to look after Harry (and dies).

2. Dumbledore was never dead and comes back to 'save' harry by banishing voldemort while Harry watches helplessly (then dies)...

1. The survivors all life happily ever after, but tormented by their tragic sacrifices in the tremendous battle scrap between Lord Voldemort's forces and the Army of Harry...

They don't all die!

Will I be right? 

Find out in just three short week's time.