Parler games.

Their quarry cornered, Twitter, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and even Pinterest have decided to make Donald Trump a nonperson by refusing him access to their platforms. 

And just in case, they are delisting Parler, expecting Trump to flee to the same free-speech app that I joined a couple of months ago. 

I noticed that on Sunday Parler had refused Apple's ultimatum to knuckle under to their enforced censorship codes, and thus the Parler app was removed from the App Store.

Little pipsqueak of a nobody that I am, I sent Apple a note suggesting they develop an A.I. soul to replace the one they lost when they betrayed the founding principles of the nation. I also suggested that they have made their tyrannical friends in China very happy. 

Apple can be awfully stubborn. Last August the wildly popular Fortnite game decided to try to cut Apple out of their in-game purchase money by using an independent system. Apple promptly bumped their app off the store as well. Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, promptly released a parody of the famous Apple 1984 commercial, showing Apple to be the tyrant it now is. Epic is suing Apple, and also Google, but they have Facebook on their side. In the meantime, the Epic app is still off the store.

Parler has got to sue its opponents on Constitutional grounds and hurry. If they don't, they will be destroyed before they've even begun. If they give in to pressure, they will be nothing but Twitter Junior, and who needs that? 

Like it or not, Parler is a test case going forward for whether our tech oligarchs will get to decide who can say what in this modern era. I hope they give it to their opponents good and hard and fast, or we'll be living under a censorship as fully as any Chinese mainlander does. Fortunately, it sounds like Parler is planning on a fight, and God bless them if they are.  

In an era where our speech is considered violence and their violence is considered speech, we have no choice but to fight this battle. Personally, I'm too old to learn Newspeak and I'm not going to now.

UPDATE! As noted in Comments, Amazon has thrown Parler off its AWS, so the app and the Web sire are not working. Pardon my francais, but this is a shit thing to do by any measure, and I can only pray for a Republican blitz in 2022 that will lead to a Congress that will start busting these trusts to bits in a way that would make Teddy Roosevelt flinch.

Monumental game.

I was very happy to see Monument Valley II pop up in the App store -- the sequel (or is it a prequel?) to the smash hit Monument Valley, Apple's Game of the Year in 2014. I loved the original puzzle game and couldn't wait to tackle this one. 

If you haven't heard of it, the original Monument Valley and this one have nothing much to do with the famous Western landscape, but rather ... well, it's kind of confusing. Sacred Geometry is mentioned. In both games your goal is to get from one part of a gorgeous, surreal board of weird buildings to the exit. As you see below, the characters are tiny in the landscape, and will walk wherever you indicate they should, if they can. It will be up to you to manipulate the environment, using controls that lift, turn, lower, or otherwise change the environment or just your view of it. That last part is key: Like an M.C. Escher print, if something looks like it connects, even if it shouldn't, you can walk across it. It's brilliantly done. 

There are some improvements in the new game, to my mind. The annoying and obstructive crows from the first game are not present this time. Also, in the new game you're moving two characters on some boards instead of just one, which adds a little complication. Like the original it was not terribly hard, but that was no problem to me, despite the $4.99 price; the game is so beautiful you'd want to play it more than once. You don't have to have the sound on, but the music is haunting and unobtrusive and the sound effects can be helpful.

There don't seem to be any recognizable male characters in either Monument Valley game; the princess and her mother and other assorted people all seem to be female. I'd be a hypocrite if I called that a flaw, because I loathe identity politics and quotas. However, to be fair, I do have to say there's one guy in each game who looks like a dude to me:

The fellow with the eye is Doortem; he is a kind of totem pole who doubles as a doorway. (The first game featured Totem, who was the same but without the door.) Why do I think these are male? It's not a Freudian thing. They are described as friends but they are heroic servants, helping the princess and her mother move around, always watching over them. In the first game Totem even seems to sacrifice himself. Heck, they even allow themselves to be walked on. What guy hasn't let the woman he loves walk over him?

The whole story seems to make sense in a kind of artistic way; it doesn't exactly have a plot, although it does have a progression. There is a sense of loss and longing in the first game that goes with a theme of redemption; in the second, there's a coming-of-age story seen mostly from the parent's side. If you like puzzle games, or games that are just creative and artistic, you ought to try these games. And that's about as high a recommendation as you'll get from me.

iPromise iFulfilled.

I said the other day that the new novel, MacFinster II: MacFinster's Folly would be available soon on iBooks for your Mac stuff (iPad, iPhone, iVacuum, iBowlingball, etc.), and I was right! In fact, it is up now, sooner than I expected.

Here is the direct link. Or, you can search for "MacFinster" or "Frederick Key" on the iBooks app.

Please do. I will be crushingly grateful. I will embarrass you with my gratitude. I will come to your house and walk your dog. I will do your grocery run for you. If you buy it and like it and write me a good review, I will take your car for an oil change. I will drop off your laundry at the cleaner's. (I'd wash it myself, but that might seem a little weird, wouldn't it?) I will spend an hour with your elderly grandpa at the home, and if you want I will disguise myself as you. I will casually mention to your boss that you're the bestest ever and deserve a humongous raise. I will give you my bottle cap collection. I will cut your lawn with my own lawn mower, using my own gas. I will bring you candy. I will make you a nice casserole. I will teach your children arts and crafts so they will spend hours gluing things and give you a little peace. I will come to your house and walk your cat.

No, I'm absolutely non-desperate, thanks for asking!

It's always exciting and nerve-racking---are these things ever exclusive? Maybe not after a certain age---to launch a little book boat on the waters of public opinion. Once it is out there, you can't do anything more with it. It has to go out and make its own fortunes. You may think it's the greatest thing since buttered toast, but if no one comes across it, it might as well be moldy bread. I think that's about as many metaphors as I've ever mixed for anything in one paragraph in my life.

I guess I mean to say, I love this book and I hope you will give it a try, and I hope you will love it too. What more need be said?

iBig news.

All day long people come up to me on the street and say, "Fred, why aren't your fantastic books available on iBooks, the new book software that Apple is cramming down our throats?" And I tell them, "Please, people, you may be imaginary but you're still obstructing my reflection in this shop window. As for your silly question, the answer is: Pretty durn soon!"

And they say, "Why are you out on the street all day? Don't you have a home to go to?" And I say, "Beat it! The pink elephants are getting annoyed."

Most people know that movies open on Fridays, except that they sometimes come out on Wednesdays, unless they open on holidays. But no one not in the book business is aware that new book releases come out on Tuesdays. This is another thing that ePublishing has monkeyed with. While paper books still come out on Tuesdays, eBooks can be posted anytime. Between that and the much lower labor costs and much, much lower materials costs involved, there's no restriction on when eBooks can be published, and consequently no set dates on which they must be released. In other words, I have not yet been given an exact date for the arrival of my books on Apple's iBooks. You'll know when I know.

Anyway, I am happy that they'll be available on another platform, and I hope it's useful to you. Also, note that the publisher says he is planning to jack up the price in the next few months. My advice is to buy them all now and read them fast, just in case ISIS uses a nuke to cause a massive EMP over your house and destroy all your electronics. At least you'll have your memories.