The publishers had their say, and so did booksellers. Now authors are chiming in on why merging Ottakar's and Waterstone's would be a bad, bad idea. Mary Hoffman, author of 85 titles, argues that the "variety" offered by Ottakar's branches was in contrast to the "sameness" of Waterstone's shops. She "deplores" Waterstone's central buying policy, claiming it gives authors little chance of success and that it has been "instrumental in the reduction of picture book titles published in hardback", while the Society of Authors adds that "both retailers tend to promote different books, leading to a widening of choice and exposure. These differences are keenly felt in Scotland, by both authors and other readers."

Meanwhile, the continuing saga of who gets to take HMV over continues. Permira, despite having their opening price rebuffed, is still in the game to usurp HMV's holdings. If they succeeed, the Telegraph says that would be due to the machinations of Damon Buffini, even if Roger Parry has the honor of his name on the masthead. So who is Buffini, then? "He's direct, businesslike," according to one banker. "Yes, there's the team thing, but everyone says that. Buffini's the driving force [of Permira] and he likes getting his way - which is often the right way. HMV? Buffini's a master of the universe."

So he'll rule HMV by the power of Greyskull? That would be way cool...