New Harry Potter This Summer

LONDON (Reuters) - Christmas came early for fans of the fictional boy wizard Harry Potter on Tuesday, with news that author J.K. Rowling has finished the sixth book in series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

The book, set to be published on July 16, 2005 in Britain, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, picks up the story of Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as his evil enemy Lord Voldemort's "power and followers are increasing day by day," Rowling's publishers Bloomsbury and Scholastic said.

"I know you all expected this to happen on Christmas Day, but I was sure that those of you who celebrate Christmas have better things to do on the day itself than fight your way into my study, whereas those of you who don't celebrate Christmas would definitely prefer not to wait until the 25th," Rowling said in a message on her Web site (http://www.jkrowling.com/).

Shares of her UK publisher Bloomsbury surged on the news, up 7.5 percent to 294 pence at 1204 GMT. Scholastic, which holds the U.S. publishing rights, said the book will retail for $29.99.

The fifth book in the series, published after a three-year gap in 2003, made publishing history by selling 5 million copies within 24 hours. More than a quarter of a billion Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide in 60 languages ranging from Gujarati to Ancient Greek.