When Writers Compete With Themselves

       Hey, everyone, and particularly those writers that read the blog. I had occasion yesterday to do a search of my own name and discovered that certain places on the web were offering my books as a free and paid download. Places that I didn't know existed.
     For instance, one return on the search was for "The Centaur Series" on megashares.com. Another return on the search was from an outfit called filestube. Another search return comes from firstload.com.
    To get to the actual web pages on some of these I guess you have to be signed in to a user account. On one of these sites, I clicked a box that stated 'report abuse'. I then read through a long statement of legalese designed to scare away complainers.
      I found it interesting that on one of the search results, it was specifically mentioned that it was a kindle edition. Fascinating. So, do they buy one ebook off Amazon and upload it to one of these sites, selling it and keeping the profits? Or post the books for free, then use them as a scam, a come-on to steal user data? The threats on the legalese statement are designed to make you wary of filing a complaint without a lawyer, knowing a certain percentage of folks don't have the money for a lawyer, so they go on their merry way.
    I read Mark Coker's posts, over on the Smashwords site, and I've heard him mention things of this nature, but it was an eye opener when I saw it with my name. In a very real way, it appears that I am competing...with myself.
   The bottom line of this story for those of you who write: do a search for yourself, you may find surprises.
    I'm CE Wills, and my books are really available in a lot of places.

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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 ...

You're Aiming the Missile Where?

Hey, everyone, out there in game-land. The number 1 game on the friendly neighborhood app store is Call of Duty: Strike Team . No wonder, because it is a terrific game. The farther I play, the cooler it gets. But before I get to that, what are all these numbers indicating on my gun? Has to be some sort of ammo indicator for the clips, I guess. either that or some of my compadres has trouble doing his math homework. Whatever. Hey. Check out the picture of me hitching a ride on an enemy truck so that my team can infiltrate a missile silo. Do you like the face mask? I bought it at a store called Fashions by Bane. Ha, ha. (Batman Reference) On this mission, my team was assisted by a Russian Spetsnaz squad. How's that for detente, comrade? These Spetsnaz guys make everything fun. What I mean is this. We shoot bunches of enemies and get into the bowels of the silo. We get to the gantry where the missile is (Pictured above) and we see that the rad...

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