I still love my kindle – yeah, I’m still carrying around version 2.0. No complaints from me.
Well, maybe one. But it has nothing to do with the device. It has to do with the availability of books. I just don’t understand some of the decisions made. Okay, 99.9 percent of what I buy is science fiction and fantasy, and it might very well be limited to those genres, I don’t know. Don’t care. Some of the selection choices make little to no sense to me.
For example. I had a hankering to reread Peirs Anthony’s Apprentice Adept series. Haven’t read in about twenty-five years or so. (You know, now that I think about it, I tend to do way more rereading since I got my Kindle. But that was another entry . . . gonna have to post that one.) I know they have most of the Xanth books up. Purchased the first three for future rereading. (Told you.) So, I looked around and immediately found Blue Adept, the second book of the trilogy. Fine. Then I looked some more.
And looked.
And looked.
And looked.
Nothing.
Come to find out, the second one is the only one available in ebook form. What the frak? How’s that? Who in his (or her) right mind would want to read the second book of a trilogy? (Yeah, I know it’s not a true trilogy, but that was another entry. . . gonna have to post that one.) Who in his (or her) right mind would only make the second volume available? I don’t know if it comes from Amazon or the publisher, but either way, it doesn’t make sense.
So I thought, heck with that. I glimpsed a title in his The Incarnations of Immortality series during my failed cybernetic quest. I read the first book or so, oh, about twenty-five years ago or so. (Funny how I remember having done all my initial reading about twenty-five years ago. Guess I had more free time on my hands back then.) And I thought I’d reread the first ones – told you – then finally finish the rest of the series. So, I looked around and immediately found With a Tangled Skein, the third book of the series. Fine. Then I looked some more.
And looked.
And looked.
And looked.
Nothing.
Come to find out, the third one is the only one available in ebook form. What the frak? How’s that?
Went to look for Paul O. William’s post-apocalyptic Pelbar Cycle. Books one, two, and four are available.
WTF?
Jack McDevitt’s Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath or his Academy series? Missing the first volumes.
WTF?
Niven’s Ringworld? Only the last two are available.
WTF?
Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun? None. Just the second series.
So allow me to reiterate: what the frak?
Which takes me back to the whole “Hey’s where’s ______________ (fill in the blank with any one of your favorite classics)? But since I’ve covered that already (gonna have to post that one), let’s just move forward, shall we?
I don’t know what the holdup is on some of these books, but all we are left to do is click the little “I’d like to read this book on Kindle” button. I put it in my planner to remind me every odd-numbered Tuesday. It’s the least I could do for us fans. I challenge anyone and everyone who reads this to do the same. (Assuming, that is, you have a Kindle.)
So ends the Forty-Second entry of this Chronicle.