Like Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s excruciatingly prolonged death in 1975 (”Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!), the Judith Regan soap opera continues apparently with no end in sight. PW reports today that HarperCollins announced the closure of the Los Angeles office of the fired publisher’s ReganMedia imprint. While the company expects to publish most of the titles Regan acquired, it has canceled the publication of 7, Peter Golenbock’s controversial novel about MIckey Mantle. Ooops! Unfortunately we have just closed our February 1 issue in which our review of this steamy book is running. Too late for us to pull. Oh well, at least my reviewer has the consolation of owning a now-valuable galley. And I don’t doubt that Golenbock will find another publisher, despite the tawdry nature of his novel. It definitely lacks the radioactive toxicity of O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It.