Damn - I love Amazon

Most of the time when I go to buy something, I want it NOW, so obviously that rules out on-line shopping. But after checking a couple of places, I will usually end up on Amazon.

What makes Amazon special in my mind, is that they have a major distribution/warehouse here in the Phoenix Metro area. So if I happen to order something that is in stock, and even if I only pay for 2-day shipping, I get it in a single day. It never leaves Phoenix.

(which of course now that I have said this - they will go out of their way to hold the package so that I stop getting this extra special/speedy delivery)

I will enjoy it while it lasts.

Is the Thriller genre over?

I read a lot. All three of the walls in my home office have Ikea bookcases filling them. And of course - you would be hard pressed to find any room on any of the shelves for anything new.

A sizable number of those books are action adventure or military thrillers. And when you talk about military thrillers - you have to include Tom Clancy. The first Tom Clancy book I read - was the Naval Institute release of "The Hunt for Red October", and I was hooked. Ever year or so from that point one - there was a new Clancy thriller to look forward to, and a new copy would get added to the bookshelf.

[one of the early books, actually was personally signed by Clancy when one of my friends got it at a book signing]

As the Cold War changed, so did Clancy's novels. Gone were the Soviets, replaced with terrorists (way before 9/11), or by greedy idealistic corporate leaders. But Clancy changed outside of the novels as well. His 10th novel - Rainbow Six - crossed over to become a very successful video game series.

After an absence of several years, Clancy has finally released a new book this holiday season - Dead or Alive.



A follow-up to 2004's Teeth of the Tiger.

The irony of all of this - in the 6 years since the last Clancy book, I have moved on. I saw the new book listed as a Future Release on Amazon a couple of months ago, but there was no excitement in finding it. Because the book was listing a co-author.
One thing I have seen w/ several other thriller author's in the last couple of years, is that unless the co-authors have the same style, the book becomes a mess.

So I am sitting on the sidelines and just wait for this to come out as a paperback next year (or maybe I will just get it as a Kindle download).

Maybe it is time to upgrade to Blu-Ray

Amazon just announced the release date for the entire "Prisoner" series on Blu-Ray DVD (scheduled for release at the end of October).