A book featuring a new Harry Potter tale by JK Rowling has become the fastest-selling collection of short stories of all time in the UK. What's Your Story? contains 13 postcard-sized tales by authors including Doris Lessing, Nick Hornby and Sebastian Faulks. More than 10,000 copies were bought on its first day of release, with some shops sold out by Thursday lunchtime. The untitled Potter prequel is set three years before Harry's birth. The 800-word story revolves around the schoolboy wizard's father James Potter and his friend Sirius Black in their teenage years, tearing around on a magical motorbike. Rowling's tale finishes with the handwritten words: "From the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!" Other authors who contributed to the postcard book include Irvine Welsh, Michael Rosen, Tom Stoppard and Margaret Atwood. The book was released by Waterstones to celebrate the National Year of Reading and was only available in the chain's stores. All profits from the sale of the collection will go to English Pen, which promotes literature as a means of greater understanding between cultures, and Dyslexia Action. In June, the original hand-written Potter prequel was sold for charity, raising �25,000. Despite the Potter series ending in book form last year, fans still have lots more to look forward to. In December, Rowling will publish The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a series of fairy tales which were integral to the final Potter novel, The Deathly Hallows. The film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is also due for release in November.
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