In early 2009, Stephen King teamed up with Amazon.com and wrote a story that was exclusively sold as an e-book for Amazon’s Kindle. The resulting novella, entitled UR, revolves around Wesley Smith, an English professor at a small Kentucky university who is an avid reader and hopes to write a novel of his own one day. Wesley’s girlfriend, who is the women’s basketball coach at the university, doesn’t understand his affinity for physical books – the need to fill up his shelves, the feel of the covers, the smell of the aged pages. During a nasty argument she throws one of his books across the room, yells at him to get with the times, and then storms out of his life. 
As days go by, Wesley decides to order a Kindle from Amazon – partly to see what all the fuss is about, but mostly in hopes that his ex-girlfriend will see he isn’t as “old school” as she thinks he is. However, upon receiving his Kindle the next day (much sooner than he expected) and wondering about the pink version they sent him, Wesley’s life quickly spirals out of control. While his Kindle outwardly appears normal, it has an extra selection on the menu called “Ur.” Within that section, Wesley is able to download content from other Urs (i.e. dimensions) and finds that history has a way of changing ever so slightly depending upon his selection. In one Ur he finds that Ernest Hemingway died a few years later than he did in our world, and thus published more books. Excited by his discovery, Wesley connects his Kindle to a variety of Urs and downloads “new” stories by many of his favorite authors. However, he quickly gets sucked into the wealth of possibilities and information, and begins to worry about his sanity. He decides to invite one of his colleagues and one of his students to his office to show them his new gadget. Not only do they verify what he sees, but after doing some digging, they find that the Kindle has more far-reaching capabilities than they ever imagined.
As a reader purchasing a Kindle-exclusive story, I assumed there would be a fair amount of advertising for Amazon’s gadget. But nothing could have prepared me for how over-the-top it got in some sections toward the beginning. From describing its buttons and logo to the sounds it makes when the pages “flip,” parts of the story make it feel as if you’re reading the Kindle’s instruction manual. While it seemed as if the product descriptions slowed down in the second half of the novella, it’s entirely possible I just grew numb to them over time. With a little more finesse, I wouldn’t have felt like I was beat over the head by the words “Kindle” and “Amazon,” and the story wouldn’t have suffered as much as it did.
My other concern is that the ending will prove to be anticlimactic for anyone who doesn’t like the Dark Tower material. In fact, the finale almost has the same feel as another of King’s novellas that had a great build-up and deflating conclusion (anyone who reads UR will know what I mean when they get there).
And so, while there definitely is a story buried in UR, it takes some patience and forgiveness to find it. I admit to enjoying it for what it was, but would find it hard to recommend to anyone who doesn’t want to sit through an advertisement and/or doesn’t want to read any more DT tie-ins.
UR is currently available for $2.99 as a Kindle download, which can also be read on your computer with Amazon’s new “Kindle for PC” emulator. The story will also be released as an audiobook on February 16, 2010 at a retail price of $14.99, on sale at Amazon for $10.11.
(5 out of 10)
As days go by, Wesley decides to order a Kindle from Amazon – partly to see what all the fuss is about, but mostly in hopes that his ex-girlfriend will see he isn’t as “old school” as she thinks he is. However, upon receiving his Kindle the next day (much sooner than he expected) and wondering about the pink version they sent him, Wesley’s life quickly spirals out of control. While his Kindle outwardly appears normal, it has an extra selection on the menu called “Ur.” Within that section, Wesley is able to download content from other Urs (i.e. dimensions) and finds that history has a way of changing ever so slightly depending upon his selection. In one Ur he finds that Ernest Hemingway died a few years later than he did in our world, and thus published more books. Excited by his discovery, Wesley connects his Kindle to a variety of Urs and downloads “new” stories by many of his favorite authors. However, he quickly gets sucked into the wealth of possibilities and information, and begins to worry about his sanity. He decides to invite one of his colleagues and one of his students to his office to show them his new gadget. Not only do they verify what he sees, but after doing some digging, they find that the Kindle has more far-reaching capabilities than they ever imagined.
As a reader purchasing a Kindle-exclusive story, I assumed there would be a fair amount of advertising for Amazon’s gadget. But nothing could have prepared me for how over-the-top it got in some sections toward the beginning. From describing its buttons and logo to the sounds it makes when the pages “flip,” parts of the story make it feel as if you’re reading the Kindle’s instruction manual. While it seemed as if the product descriptions slowed down in the second half of the novella, it’s entirely possible I just grew numb to them over time. With a little more finesse, I wouldn’t have felt like I was beat over the head by the words “Kindle” and “Amazon,” and the story wouldn’t have suffered as much as it did.
My other concern is that the ending will prove to be anticlimactic for anyone who doesn’t like the Dark Tower material. In fact, the finale almost has the same feel as another of King’s novellas that had a great build-up and deflating conclusion (anyone who reads UR will know what I mean when they get there).
And so, while there definitely is a story buried in UR, it takes some patience and forgiveness to find it. I admit to enjoying it for what it was, but would find it hard to recommend to anyone who doesn’t want to sit through an advertisement and/or doesn’t want to read any more DT tie-ins.
UR is currently available for $2.99 as a Kindle download, which can also be read on your computer with Amazon’s new “Kindle for PC” emulator. The story will also be released as an audiobook on February 16, 2010 at a retail price of $14.99, on sale at Amazon for $10.11.
(5 out of 10)
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