Today I was totally uninspired. I rose late, couldn’t make myself get out, and when I finally did, I had no idea where to go, what to take photos of. I knew I had to go to the supermarket, so eventually I did. I had the full intention to give up and to use one of the images from my archives, but then, when I went to fetch a cart, I saw the pattern of that mass of carts, neatly stacked, lined up, but still forming a curve.
I tried three different lenses, the 45/1.8, the 14/2.5, and in the end I settled with the 40-150.
While we are at shopping, you may know that I’ve recently finished Asimov’s “Foundation” series, including the so-called “Second Foundation” trilogy. Much could be said about that, but that’s for another day.
I have still one Asimov left, “The End Of Eternity”, not directly part of “Foundation”, but closely related, and I want to save it for later. For now I crave for something completely different, the “Dying Earth” series by Jack Vance.
In my youth I have owned (but strangely never read) three books by Jack Vance in German translation: “The Gray Prince” and the first two of the three “Alastor” novels.
You know, I have given up on plastic and paper. When earlier I used to buy CDs and physical books, I now buy MP3s and eBooks. Thus I wanted to buy the four “Dying Earth” books as eBooks. What else?
Here I encountered a tiny little problem. Book one, “The Dying Earth”, is sold on Jack Vance’s own web site under his preferred title “Mazirian the Magician”. Unfortunately it’s the only one. For the missing books Vance directs us to Amazon and to the eBook series “Gateway”.
Indeed they have many books by Jack Vance, but of the Dying Earth series they have only three. Creatively they omit book #3 of the tetralogy. Is that cool? How can that be? What do they think? Do they think? Oh my!
Well, that’s it. The 50 books “Fantasy Masterworks” series has as book #4 the omnibus edition “Tales of the Dying Earth”, but unfortunately it is paper only. I really was pissed.
Can you remember the Oatmeal comic about the “Game of Thrones” TV series? Well, what could I do? I bought books #1, #2 and #4, and then I searched for an eBook of “Tales of the Dying Earth”. Surprisingly, although I did not find it for sale, I found it for free on a file hosting site, ALONG WITH ALL OTHER 49 BOOKS OF THE “Fantasy Masterworks” SERIES!!!! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot 😄 😄 😄
Stupid, huh? And it’s not a scan of dubious quality. As far as I can tell, it must be a regular eBook, probably sold in some market other than mine. Really, I’m so sick of it, this industry is even more stupid than the rest of the content industry. It’s a disgrace! C’mon guys, I’m totally willing and able to buy, you just have to offer the goods. If you don’t and if I resort to what you try to make the world call piracy, just shut up and don’t complain. You’ve had your chance. Nobody forced you to apply for the Darwin Award.
The Song of the Day is “Shoplifters Of The World Unite”, this time from Morrissey’s 2008 album “Live At Earls Court”. See him perform live in Manchester.