Tag: Books-eReader

Death Benefits by Nelson DeMille

Death Benefits by Nelson DeMille

Posted on by Jack

Nelson DeMille’s Death Benefits is a short story which will be released by itself as a digital short in an e-book. The story has already been published in the anthology edit by Demille, The Rich and the Dead.

The short story opens with an author past his prime. He once wrote best-seller mysteries but his last few books just haven’t done well. (Nelson DeMille is himself a best selling author but certainly not past his prime.)

The writer still lives well but just doesn’t have the money to support the lifestyle he likes and to which he has become accustomed. He is broke. He resents his agent who took 15% in the good times and the writer sure could use that money now. He has an insurance policy on the agent’s life which he took out in the good times. Can he now commit the perfect crime and be a wealthy man again?

Demille tells the story well. It starts well and just gets better until the twist and the surprise ending.


Athough I haven’t read The Rich and the Dead, I have seen reviews and understand it is a fine collection of short stories by a wonderful group of writers. Death Benefits is just one of the stories.

So if you are interested a short mystery, try Death Benefits . It is available as a digital short for those with e-readers such as the Kindle or Nook. According to the latest on the Amazon site this won’t be release until August 1, 2012 but can be ordered now. If you would like to try a group of short mysteries, try The Rich and the Dead . This is available as an e-book as well as an actual physical book.

Nook Simple Touch and excessive legal agreement

Nook Simple Touch and excessive legal agreement

Posted on by Jack

I recently bought a Nook Simple Touch as a present. I have a Kindle and like e-reading sometimes and I thought this would be better for at least 2 reasons. One is I thought the touch screen navigation would be easier than the Kindle interface. Second I thought borrowing a library book would be simpler. From what I’ve read, with the Nook you just borrow the book from the library. With the Kindle you need both to borrow the book and have Amazon reformat it .

However, the first step in activating the Nook Simple Touch is agreeing to a 178 page legal agreement. I decided this is the type present I’d rather not give. I returned the Nook.

My question to Barnes and Noble:
Don’t you think this is a bit excessive?

A second question for anybody:
Has anybody actually read the whole agreement?

The Book, a dystopian novel

The Book, a dystopian novel

Posted on by Jack

The opening line is “Don’t read The Book” but I’m glad I did. The book is The Book by M. Clifford.

I thought the idea behind the book was important but I wasn’t always fond of how the author told the story. A good editor may have improved matters. The idea is somewhat similar to other dystopian novels in that the government controls and modifies information.

This book adds an interesting twist in that they do so not by banning books or burning books but by becoming a sole publisher of books which are electronic and can be edited as the government wants and paper copies are no longer printed and old paper copies recycled. The great recycling is presented as an environmental plus and government edits of books are a secret and only suspected by a few.

This reminded me of 1984 with government control of information but the technology is now more believable.

Thus this is a cautionary tale which features eReaders as an instrument of government control. It was an unintentional irony that I read my copy on a Kindle. By the way, the paperback version is about what you would expect to pay for a paperback but the Kindle version is only $2.99 (at least that is what I paid and it was still that when I looked tonight.)