I love books. I love books so much that I make sure that most of the books that I owned, I read them twice. However, these days getting a book isn't cheap anymore. I last checked Isaac Asimov's I, Robot from the local MPH and it cost about RM 30 over. Before the movie was released, the book goes about RM 25 on some local bookstore. Michael Crichton's book definitely cost more than RM 30.

And Philip K. Dick's bestseller is the most expensive. Imagine trying to get Ubik or Now Wait for Last Year, it will cost roughly about RM 53! What is wrong here? His book isn't that thick and the story isn't exactly a best seller!

This has switched me to E-books. They're slightly cheaper due to the fact that it's paperless. I found a few short stories from Fictionwise, which offered some free e-books from time to time. And I was surprise that the short story can actually rival Philip K. Dick's story telling.

One of them that I found was The Tale of the Golden Eagle by David. D. Levine. The story is told in back flash history, somewhat a narration of a great event that has changed the human destiny. In this destiny lies a distinct love between an eagle and a man, and how they both come together and lastly how both of them traded places for each other. It's quite a heartwarming tale that I think should be read by science-fiction lover.

The other one that I found worthy of reading is Robot Don’t Cry by Mike Resnick. It simply tells the story of a treasure hunter who stumble on an ancient robot that is loyal to his mistress that he actually loved her from within his dormant programming. It’s somewhat like Asimov’s Bicentennial Man but with will dive deeply on how a robot tried to love.

Perhaps will check out MPH later, see if there are some cheap books by the bin.