Kindles were ecstatic this week when they read in The New York Times that Amazon had announced that, " . . . for the last three months, sales of books for its e-reader, the Kindle, outnumbered sales of hardcover books."
To celebrate, Kindles stopped work for the day and threw themselves a huge party -- with balloons, cake, ice cream, prizes, and games like spin the bottle and pin the tail on the donkey. Although print books were slightly miffed, they managed to control their displeasure until some rogue Kindles went to the next step of skipping up and down the aisles of the huge Amazon warehouses. They stuck out their tongues at the print books, telling them in a sing-song voice that their time had passed and no one wanted them anymore.
Head Kindle Hedda called a press conference to speak out against this bad behavior. She said that this was not representative of the entire Kindle community but only of a bunch of bullies in its midst.
Meanwhile, sources close to Amazon CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos, were heard chuckling over the entire scenario and delighted at the attention it was getting in the press. Their view seemed to be the same as that expressed by Rhonda Farr, a character in Raymond Chandler's Black Mask: "Publicity, darling. Just publicity. Any kind is better than none at all."
Gail Farrelly is the author of three mystery novels. The latest is "Creamed at Commencement: A Graduation Mystery." One of her short stories is published online: "Get Yourself a Face" (about a Mafia princess who buys herself a face transplant and a lot of trouble). Her story "Even Steven" was a finalist in the 2007 Derringer Award competition.
