The delivery mechanism to my mind is secondary for me as a writer. () But I did this once before with a story called ''Riding the Bullet'' and I never had so many guys in suits come up to me and ask me questions. But they didn't want to know about the story, they didn't want to know about the process, they wanted to know about the delivery system, but to me that's secondary. () I think people will be more interested in the business aspect of () than they will in the story. I would never have agreed to it if I didn't think it was a pretty good story.〔 〕
I decided I would like to write a story for the Kindle, but only if I could do one ''about'' the Kindle. Gadgets fascinate me, particularly if I can think of a way they might get weird. I had previously written about homicidal cars, sinister computers, and brain-destroying mobile phones; at the time the Amazon request came in, I'd been playing with an idea about a guy who starts getting e-mails from the dead. The story I wrote, ''Ur'', was about an e-reader that can access books and newspapers from alternate worlds. I realized I might get trashed in some of the literary blogs, where I would be accused of shilling for Jeff Bezos & Co., but that didn't bother me much; in my career, I have been trashed by experts, and I'm still standing.