The Kindle vs The Paperbacks

I love books. To read them I've missed most of my lunches in high school and left many a party early. 'He eats books', my classmates used to say when they didn't see me in the lunch-room. So reading is something I know something about. When I bought a Kindle to see how my new novel would look on it, I haven't put it down since. In my book, the Kindle beats paperbacks hands down.

But let's be critical. In a direct comparison, what can the paperbacks do that the Kindle can't?

For one, the Kindle doesn't have a distinct smell. Smell any book and it reminds you of a place or an object--the bookstore you bought it from, your local library, a second hand stall. Wonderful isn't it? All the books inside your Kindle smell the same. How boring. Point two, when you stop reading a book, glance at its cover by your couch or coffee table, and it takes you back to the story and its characters. Stop reading a Kindle and all you see are people like Agatha Christie and John Steinbeck in black & white. Yuck! Point three... well I can't think of a point three. They tell us that books don't need batteries. I charge my Kindle once a month. What's the big deal? Books don't have wires inside. What do I care if the Kindle does?

The Auction of a Fake Athenian Decadrachm

I suppose it comes with the territory. I just love to leave the well-lit avenues of a town that serve as its window dressing and venture down its back alleys where its authentic pulse beats. And by the same token, whenever I meet a well-to-do educated lady of fine manners, I want to peel back the well-perfumed façade and peer into the darkness.

But sometimes I don't have to.

The Athenian Decadrachm is a silver coin minted by the city-state of Athens in c. 466 BC. There are only forty such coins in existence and the last one was auctioned for well over half a million dollars.

The quote above is from my new novel Bird of Prey. In it, the auction of a fake Athenian Decadrachm becomes a struggle without rules. The photograph above announced the auction of an Athenian Decadrachm. The coin was estimated to sell at $875.000 USD. Now who would spend that kind of money for a coin? Why? But wait! Just before the auction, the following announcement was published: