Although it has become standard to look upon the release of a new Harry Potter book as a good thing for the book industry, a time that reinvigorates traffic to bookstores and, more importantly, generates a lot of sales, there is a dark side to the now-institutionalized mega-phenomenon, observes Alex Beam in his Boston Globe column. For example, with the next Potter book scheduled to have the now-typical huge launch on its 15 July release date, Leo Landry of Brookline’s The Children’s Book Shop tells Beam that the midnight release parties have gotten a little out of hand. Landry says the first mega-launch, for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2000, “was a blast, because it was so unexpected. Now it’s become a little more painful, because there is all this party shopping. We hear some other store is really pulling out the stops, and we say, ‘Well, we have chocolate frogs.'” Nor can indys compete with the severe discounting put on by chains and Amazon.com, “is again offering what looks like a loss leader to stifle competition.” Then there is “the inevitable counter-crusade from publicity-mongering Christians condemning Rowling’s celebration of sorcery and witchcraft.” For example, there’s Richard Abanes, author of Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick,” which Beam covered upon its release four years ago. Asked for comment on the new Potter book, Abanes castigates Beam for what he wrote four years ago: ”You labeled me a Christian educator, rather than what I am — i.e., a nationally recognized, best-selling, award-winning journalist who writes on cults, the occult, and world religions, who has written several books on social-religious issues.”