Hey, all.
If you're in the Eastern U.S. timezone, there are just about 24 hours left to go to get a copy of Disintegration (click the title!) for just $9.99. Potentially for much less (even free), if you have any credits.
If you have credits, and care to take the Piano Man completely out of context: This is the Time! Please use them. If you are currently sans credits, and you're afraid of putting your credit card info into the site, I get that. I understand being a tad wary of eCommerce, but do you remember those old machines where they used to take a carbon copy of your credit card? If you don't, be glad, because that was some archaic, Old West $#!t. (Confession: I did rather enjoy the ka-chunk sound those devices made.) But think of all the copies of your actual card that were floating around, out in the world. Did you flip out, then? I sure hope not. And here we are today, and all is (mostly?) well.
Yes, there are evil hackers out there in the world, but your financial institution surely offers you Fraud Protection. If they don’t -- Public Service Announcement -- you should give them Das Boot. Actually, Der Stiefel ("the boot" ... Das Boot is "the boat," of course. But if you want to give them the boat, too, that's entirely up to you.)
Here follows A Short Tale of Woe, Despair, and Eventual Good Harmony:
Some moons ago, the night before I was to have reconstructive surgery on my knee, I went out to use the ATM so I'd have some cash on hand for a taxi home from the hospital. This was before credit card machines in cabs (neither the ka-chunking ones nor otherwise), so I really had no choice but to withdraw some money. My card was skimmed, unbeknownst to me ... that is, until I got the fraud call at the exact moment I was bedecked in a hospital gown while the surgeon used a magic marker to denote the correct knee to cut open.
Suffice it to say, that was a harrowing moment. My belly did a few backflips.
Yes, I had been ripped off for $3,000 but, when I came up from the anesthesia, I was both financially and physically whole again. Huzzah! Mentally? That was another story! Man, I was loopy.
But let’s cut to the chase: if you are afraid of eCommerce, go outside right now to your front yard and tell those kids to remove themselves from your cultivated greenery. It's the future, man! Sci-fi is here and now. The only ka-chunking there will be, now, are the footfalls of our robot overlords! (That probably isn't helping allay your anxiety, huh? Sorry.)
Anyhoo ... to the rest of you ... those who aren't channeling Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino (which is actually pretty badass, but also curmudgeonly): Let’s do this!
In all seriousness, though, I am quite grateful to everyone who has supported me.
It really has been a tremendous run, so far, and -- as I mentioned in my last update -- the new Inkshares changes (
click here to read about them) mean that your interest and participation in
Disintegration has helped me already achieve the light-publishing level of support.
However, I am still pushing to be fully funded (hard-cover copies, y'all!!!) and I hope that you will help me get there by spreading the word to friends, family and anyone else within spitting distance. Just don't actually spit on them. Be nice. But be firm. Like a comfy mattress.
The clock runs out on $9.99 copies at 3 p.m. EST tomorrow; noon, Pacific Time.
Thanks again,
Steve
