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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Free and Bargain Roundup

Here are a few free indie books in the Kindle store and elsewhere, a few country specific bargains and a couple of interesting finds and deals in the Kindle for everyone (as far as I know).

Previously free only in the UK, The Blood That Bonds, by Christopher Buecheler, is now free in the US Kindle store and from B&N.

Book Description
Two is trapped: hooked on heroin, held as property, forced to sell her body to feed the addiction. Time brings her ever closer to what seems an inevitable death and Two waits, uncaring, longing only for the next fix.

That’s when Theroen arrives, beckoning to his Ferrari and grinning his inscrutable grin. He is handsome. Confident. Eager to help lift her out of the life that’s grinding her down.

The only problem? Theroen is a vampire.

His blood can cure her addiction, grant her powers she has never had, change her forever into something greater than she was. But when he sinks his teeth into her neck, Theroen also thrusts Two into a world of danger, violence, madness and despair. The powerful, twisted elder Abraham will use her arrival to shatter the uneasy peace that exists in his mansion, bringing an end to the dark game he has been playing for centuries.


Also previously free only in the UK, Catching Caroline, by Sylvia Day, is now free in the US Kindle store and from B&N.

Book Description
Can the hunger that thrives in darkness be a love for eternity?

Jack Shaw's reputation as a wicked libertine is well deserved. He lives for the moment, indulging in temporary pleasures. Until he meets Lady Caroline Seton. Now he wants more than one stolen kiss, he wants forever. But Caroline hides a dangerous secret, one that could cost him his life. Will his love be enough to save them both…?

Includes bonus content: excerpts of BAD BOYS AHOY! and PRIDE AND PLEASURE


I've picked up quite a few new readers recently (and hey, spread the word to everyone you know that got their new Kindle this Christmas, so they don't miss the good deals), so I'm reposting the offer from The New York Times. Normally $19.99/month, if you sign up between now and February 15, then the usual 14 day free trial is instead a 60 day free trial. So, you get $40 worth of the paper for free (and can cancel at the end of the trial and pay nothing). I've also noticed that I can read my Times subscription on any of my family's Kindle 3 devices and my Android phone, so you no longer have to get multiple subscriptions in the same family or share your personal Kindles.

Book Description
The color Kindle edition of The New York Times is now available on the Kindle Reading App for your Android device. Download issues at no extra cost from Archived Items.

The New York Times on Kindle, now with an extended two-month free trial, is dedicated to providing news coverage of exceptional depth and breadth, as well as opinion that is thoughtful and stimulating. Widely quoted, and often hotly debated, The New York Times is held by its readers to the highest of standards and continues to be regarded by many as the nation's pre-eminent newspaper. The New York Times has earned an unprecedented 94 Pulitzer Prizes, far more than any other newspaper. A global news staff covers a wide range of interests: from world, national and New York issues to business, culture, science, religion, travel, style, food, sports, health and home. In addition to outside contributors, the editorials page features The New York Times' own team of award-winning columnists: David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, Thomas L. Friedman, Bob Herbert, Nicholas D. Kristof, Paul Krugman, Frank Rich and John Tierney.

Start your subscription to the Kindle edition of the New York Times today, and your free trial period will be extended to two months. This offer ends February 15, 2011. The Kindle Edition of The New York Times contains articles found in the print edition, but will not include some images and tables. Also, some features such as the crossword puzzle, box scores and classifieds are not currently available. For your convenience, issues are automatically delivered wirelessly to your Kindle at 5:00 AM on the weekdays and 5:30 AM on weekends New York City local time.


Killer On A Hot Tin Roof ($2.99), by Livia J Washburn, is one of today's one-day Kindle deals. You may (I do) have the middle in this series, Huckleberry Finished ($4.39), already, as it was a free selection late last year. If you don't, you might want to get the newer edition ($4.39) in case there were any corrections for formatting. There are two editions of the first in the series, Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead ($4.39), as well, but only one at this price.

Book Description
Delilah Dickinson is finally looking forward to a nice, relaxing time leading her literary travel agency's latest tour at the annual Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in New Orleans. After all, a group of intelligent, low-key English professors can't be too much trouble, right?

Wrong, as it turns out. These academics don't waste any time showing their claws, especially when one of the professors claims he can prove Williams didn't even write Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. But when the supposed real author--Howard Burleson, apparently once a very close friend of Tennessee's--turns up dead, Delilah knows she's got to get to the bottom of things. . .even if the truth is as dirty as all them lies!

But, Lord--the cast of suspects! Tamara Paige's entire academic career will be ruined if it turns out that Williams wasn't the actual playwright, and Delilah knows people have killed for much less. And it appears that someone else in the tour group is related to Burleson--someone who surely wouldn't want the world to know that the supposed "author" based the scathing play on his own proud Southern family.

So between finding a murderer and all the steamy affairs, squabbling, and shouts of "Shut up! / No, you shut up!" Delilah is beginning to feel like a certain cat stuck on a certain roof. Plus there's still a killer on the loose, and if she doesn't act quickly she just may find herself starring. . .in her very own death scene!


While I was looking thru Livia's other titles, I noticed Murder By the Slice ($5.99), which seems to have cake as an implement of mayhem. From there, I jumped to Chris Cavender's Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder ($9.99) before landing on his earlier title A Slice of Murder ($4.09). Frankly, after looking thru these (and all the murderous donuts), I may have to avoid precooked takeout foods for a while!

Book Description
Not too much happens in the sleepy little town of Timber Ridge, North Carolina - which is fine with pizza-purveyor extraordinaire Eleanor Swift. The spunky owner of A Slice of Delight is trying to mend her broken heart and could use a little quiet time. But when a late night delivery customer turns up dead, she's in for just the opposite in this delicious mystery series debut, featuring pizza as the prima character...Eleanor figures somebody must have been really mad at Richard Olsen to bury that kitchen knife in his chest. But when Kevin Hurley - her ex-boyfriend and Timber Ridge's police chief - starts eyeing her as a prime suspect, Eleanor knows she better get to the bottom of things before the gossipy townspeople decide to stop ordering her specialty pies. With her sassy and occasionally married sister Maddy by her side, Eleanor finds the list of suspects begins to outnumber the ingredients on the Slice's famed Smorgasbord Special pizza. Like Richard's eccentric sister, who appears out of nowhere to learn she's the heir to $100 grand...in what looks like dirty money. Richard worked for a shredding business - and it seems he read before he shred, and very well could've been a blackmailer. What about Richard's boss, who now stands to lose his shredding company? And then there's that steamy scented letter from none other than the mayor's wife. But when someone takes a shot at Eleanor on a late-night delivery run, she and Maddy know time is running out. To find the killer - and keep the pizzas rolling out of A Slice of Delight's ovens - she'll need to put it all one the line and hope that her search for the truth doesn't end in an unmarked grave.

AmazonCrossing and AmazonEncore have all their print editions at half price thru the end of January and all the Kindle editions are $3.99 or less (except pre-orders). Their authors are generally those who were self-published, then selected by Amazon due to their writing and popularity/sales and put thru a traditional publishing process with editors, etc. There was a KindlePost that mentioned a few of the titles, but not all of them, including Final Price, by J. Gregory Smith, and one I paid quite a bit more for a while back: The Berry Bible: With 175 Recipes Using Cultivated and Wild, Fresh and Frozen Berries, by Janie Hibler.

Book Description
Sweet, juicy, and delicious, berries -- everyone's favorite fruit -- can be found wild, grown in your own backyard, or purchased fresh or frozen year-round. But there's more to berries than glorious summer desserts. Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, berries are exceptionally good for you, too.

In The Berry Bible, author Janie Hibler gets to the heart of these summer fruits, from their health benefits to their genus to how they are best put to use in the kitchen. An award-winning cookbook author and authority on the foods of the Pacific Northwest, Hibler offers 175 recipes, along with 68 full-color identification photographs and an A-to-Z encyclopedia that details well-known varieties such as blueberries and blackberries and lesser-known cultivars such as manzanitas and Juneberries.

Hibler traveled the globe in her quest for berry lore, facts, and recipes, visiting the Canadian prairie to search out Saskatoon berries; Alaska, to pick wild blueberries with the Indians; and Europe, to peruse the markets for the best strawberries.

Her delightful history of 41 berries, and personal annotations on how to use and store them, inspire you to try her Brioche French Toast with Sautéed Berries or tender Marionberry Biscuits, while cooling yourself on a hot summer day with her Strawberry Mojito and refreshing berry lemonades. Hibler offers everything berry, from first course to last. Start your meal with Chilled Blackberry—Lime Soup, move on to Sautéed Chicken Breast with Blueberry Port, and end on a lovely Boysenberry-Loganberry Cobbler or Peak-of-the-Season Blueberry Pie.

In between, there's a chapter on how to wash berries, freeze them, measure them accurately, substitute them in recipes, and remove their stains, plus a primer on the magnificent creams -- whipped, crème fraîche, clotted, and Double Devon. There is also a chapter on berry preserves, jams, pickles, syrups, and toppings. The time is ripe to pick up The Berry Bible.


Rage of Angels, by Sidney Sheldon, free this past March in the Kindle store, is 99 cents for Canadian Kindle customers.

Book Description
A worldwide bestseller first published in 1980, this novel tells the story of Jennifer Parker, a successful lawyer who is loved by two men, one a politician, the other, a mafia don.

Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman, is also 99 cents for Canadian Kindle customers. This is a short story collection; single stories for it are selling for the same 99 cents each.

Book Description
A mysterious circus terrifies an audience for one extraordinary performance before disappearing into the night, taking one of the spectators along with it...

In a novella set two years after the events of American Gods, Shadow pays a visit to an ancient Scottish mansion, and finds himself trapped in a game of murder and monsters...

In a Hugo Award-winning short story set in a strangely altered Victorian England, the great detective Sherlock Holmes must solve a most unsettling royal murder...

Two teenage boys crash a party and meet the girls of their dreams—and nightmares...

In a Locus Award-winning tale, the members of an excusive epicurean club lament that they've eaten everything that can be eaten, with the exception of a legendary, rare, and exceedingly dangerous Egyptian bird...

Such marvelous creations and more—including a short story set in the world of The Matrix, and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction—can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his terrifyingly entertaining dark sense of humor. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting, Fragile Things is a gift of literary enchantment from one of the most unique writers of our time.


The First Completely Electronic Robot and Science Fiction Limerick Book ($0.99 US), by Peter Salisbury, is free for UK customers only (UK Link).

Book Description
Is it possible to tell a tall tale in as few as thirty words? That would require a limerick, a five-line rhyming cartoon in words. In this case fifty-three tiny capsule science fiction stories to make you smile.

A hot little androidal miss
Who jets off her steam with a hiss
Is made out of junk
And is very steam punk
So she’s much too risky to kiss


Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, by Stacy Juba, is one of several indie authors books on sale for 99 cents until New Year's.

Book Description
Kris Langley has always been obsessed with murder. She blames herself for the violent death of her cousin when they were kids and has let guilt invade every corner of her existence. Now an editorial assistant and obit writer for a Massachusetts newspaper, Kris stumbles across an unsolved murder while compiling "25 Years Ago Today" items from the microfilm. She grows fascinated with the case of a young cocktail waitress who was bludgeoned to death and dumped in the woods. Determined to solve the case and atone for the death of her cousin, Kris immerses herself in the mystery of what happened to Diana Ferguson, a talented artist who expressed herself through haunting paintings of Greek mythology. Not only does Kris face resistance from her family and her managing editor, she also clashes with Diana's suspicious nephew, Eric Soares - until neither she nor Eric can deny the chemistry flaring between them. Kris soon learns that old news never leaves the morgue and that yesterday's headline is tomorrow's danger, for finding out the truth about that night twenty-five years ago may shatter Kris's present, costing her love, her career, and ultimately, her life.

Bonus material special for Kindle edition includes two author essays about the writing of the book, an interview with main character Kris Langley, book excerpts from Kindle authors Darcia Helle and Maria Savva, and a sample chapter of Stacy Juba's new reality show-themed mystery suspense novel Sink or Swim.


When Justice Steps Out ($0.99), by Cooper Sterling, is another marked down indie title and the author is donating all of his proceeds to the Petit Family Foundation.

Book Description
A Vigilante steps in when justice steps out…
There’s a serial killer loose in Cranberry County – trouble is, no one seems to care.

As the number of murdered pedophiles grows, single mother Detective Molly O’Brien is secretly pleased - but her partner Jake, follows the letter of the law, and is ruthless in his pursuit to find the vigilante. Enter FBI agent Luke Foreman who carries his own secrets, a bumbling detective who is compromising crime scenes, a hyperactive Chippendale Dancer who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and worries he’s a suspect, and a gun found by Molly in her best friends closet that matches the one used in the crimes.

**This book does not contain explicit violence and if it were turned into a movie, it would probably garner a PG rating.


Hostile Witness ($3.99 Kindle), by Rebecca Forster, is free on Smashwords using coupon code QB52C.

Book Description
When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, the chief justice of the California Supreme court, her distraught mother turns to her old college roommate, Josie Baylor-Bates, for help. Josie, once a hotshot criminal defense attorney, left the fast track behind for a small pracitice in Hermosa Beach, California. But Hannah Sheraton intrigues her and, when the girl is charged as an adult, Josie cannot turn her back. But the deeper she digs the more Josie realizes that politics, the law and family relationships create a combustable and dangerous situation. When the horrible truth is uncovered it can save Hannah Sheraton or destroy them both.

"This story was inspired by a case my husband handled. As a superior court judge he had to sentence a minor to life in prison. It made me wonder how I felt about minors arrested for violent crimes. Are they most vulnerable among us - capable or horrible violence, perceived as adults and yet emotionally still children?"


The Raven's Revenge (out of print), by Gina Black, is free from the author, by following a link from her blog. She has updated the text just a bit, but it is essentially the same as the one published by Wild Rose Press.

Book Description
Katherine Anne Welles lives a life of duty and obligation, but marrying her villainous neighbor is out of the question. So, she defies her father and risks all by fleeing in the arms of a wounded highwayman, even though she distrusts his offer of help. But traveling with a dashing highwayman who won't ask directions is anything but safe. Especially when his searing hot kisses awaken a yearning for something Katherine never knew she wanted. Nicholas Montford, the exiled Earl of Ashton, returns to England determined to reclaim his family lands. As a highwayman called the Raven, he takes revenge upon the Puritans who thrived while his family suffered. But when he kidnaps heiress Katherine Welles, thoughts of revenge take second place to kissing her soft lips and teasing the mistrust from her eyes. Can he find redemption in the arms of the woman he will eventually betray?