Weather and E-books

    Hey, everyone. It's 35 degrees and snowing, here at the green retreat. I just came back from a walk in the woods. Our creek was overflowing its banks due to the heavy rain of the last 4 days. There was some sleet falling during my walk. Due to the temperature, the snow and sleet were melting, so the roads are fine.
    We have a wet-weather spring on the back of our place. In other words, it only flows when there has been a lot of rain. I was 'tickled' (Southern for happy) to see this spring was gurgling away, an abundant flow of clean, clear water. Funny how you don't appreciate water until you have to do without it. Then, all of a sudden, you understand that it is the source of life and truly a blessing from God.
     I was just looking around on the book stores. I'm talking about the on-line stores, like I-Books and Kindle. I am somewhat frustrated, as I've said before, with the high prices of e-books. They creep upward constantly. They are now up to an unbelievable $14.99 in many cases. I will not pay that anymore for a book which has used no paper, no ink, has not been shipped. I like the work of authors like John Locke. You can buy his books for 99 cents each and they are very good. You can buy the latest thriller from folks like James Lee Burke, whom I enjoy very much, for $10 or $12 or $14. Gee, is this a tough choice? All my own books are 99 cents. They are good reads, I feel. How long will it be before the book business changes completely to an app store type of economy where the norm for entertainment is 99 cents and the exalted prices go away forever? The truly large and exceptional games get away with $6.99 prices, sure, and we don't begrudge them that. The best authors should make $4, $5, $6 or $7 a book. But the greed of the publishers is about to bite them in the butt. The typical e-book is marked up to a price almost 100% out of reason. You will see an adjustment within 6 months, in my opinion. For a top notch e-book, from a famous author, the price should be no more than $6.99. Ever. That's the first day in the store. Whatever.
    Well, my rant is over and duty calls. I hope you have a pleasant day, in whatever far-flung place you reside. Thanks for reading the blog.
    I'm CE Wills.

Comments

Shadowgun: Crushing The Driller On Level 4

Hey, everyone. Let's talk about the game called Shadowgun, the I-Pad game with which I have a love-hate relationship. Most of you who made it past the evil Cyber Lobster are doubtless locked in a death struggle with the Driller at the end of level 4. At this point you have been in the cave for a long time. The Driller breaks through the rock wall and chases you through the tunnel as you try to shoot out the green lights which slows the Driller down. If you are slick enough to shoot out all the lights and emerge from the cave, a rolling door crashes on the Driller and crushes his aggravating carcass. I have tried and failed to beat the Driller at least 250 times. I hate the Driller to the heights and depths my soul can reach. I hate it like a plague. I hate it with intensity of feeling. I hate it like a rich man hates taxes. Excuse me, I got carried away. We had a big dinner here at the green retreat and my friend Trevor was ...

Faerie In a Glass Jar

Hey, everyone. Sometimes gaming can be high-pressure. Take tonight, for instance. I was playing the excellent puzzle game titled 4 Elements #2. I have already done a review of it so I won't attempt to do so again. You have to match symbols and use 'power-ups' to get molten lava to flow around a board and bring life back to a faerie world. Cool. That's what I do. I'm into it. There are also a variety of mini-puzzles such as hidden objects and even putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Hey, when I get in trouble I call Carley. Anyway, tonight, Carley wasn't around when a crisis struck. I was confronted with a faerie in a glass jar. She was crying for help. She said that she was running out of air. Every minute or two she would rattle the jar. In order to free her, I had to find all these objects and use them. Like there were some missing books. Then there was the pieces of a torch. When I found them I could light all the candles. I found the pieces of ...

Book Review: Box

Hey, everyone. I just finished the latest novel by John Locke. It is titled Box . It is the story of a world renowned surgeon named, coincidentally, Gideon Box. Dr. Box is brilliant in his chosen field of endeavor but less skilled in anything that involves social interaction. He can't get along with people and is so bad at relationships that his flings at 'romance' normally involve strippers, lap dances and on-line dating services. After a grueling operation, Box goes on a bender that involves going to visit three women in rural Kentucky that he 'met' on line. I would like to say that these women run the gamut between harmless and dangerous but that would be a misrepresentation. They are all dangerous. One of them has lied about all her particulars. Worse than that, she has pet seahorses and makes a particular powder that can be used as a weapon. The powder contains ground glass, among other things. Without giving ...

CE Wills

Search This Blog