A new bonus story to accompany Delirious ($9.99) is free on Kindle today, Delirious: Exclusive Bonus! ($0.00), a 164 location sequel to the main book. Since there isn't an image up for it yet, I'm displaying instead the cover for Jon F. Merz's Dead Drop: A Lawson Vampire Bonus Story, which has finally been posted. This one is also free, but is still stuck in pre-order status, despite the follow-up book, The Kensei ($9.99) having been released last month.
If you haven't read any of Jon F. Merz's Lawson Vampire series yet, you'll want to start at the beginning, with The Fixer ($2.99). In chronological order, the series is as follows:The Fixer ($2.99)
The Invoker ($2.99)
The Destructor ($2.99)
The Syndicate ($2.99)
The Price of a Good Drink ($0.99) [short story]
The Courier ($2.99) [novella]
Dead Drop (free) [short story]
The Kensei ($9.99)
Red Tide ($0.99) [short story]
All but the last novel were self-published; The Kensei was picked up by Macmillan, so is no doubt just a bit more polished than the earlier titles (then again, it's also a bit steeper in price). There are also a couple of extra short stories that he's added since I bought the series (prior to Macmillan picking up The Kensei), so I'm not sure just where they fit into the series: Rudolf The Red Nosed Rogue and Interlude. (Jon, can you help me out?)
Book Description
Lawson, an elite Fixer faces his oldest enemy Cosgrove, in Boston to resurrect an ancient vampire god. Aided by the mysterious Talya, Lawson has one chance to stop Cosgrove.
Meet Lawson: vampire by birth, Fixer by trade. His mission: preserve the secret existence of vampires by any means necessary. There's just one problem - his oldest enemy Cosgrove is back, killing humans and threatening to unleash an ancient unholy evil. Can Lawson stop Cosgrove and still adhere to the very laws he protects by not falling in love with a beautiful human assassin named Talya?
LAWSON
A cynical, wise-cracking vampire charged with protecting the Balance - the secret existence of a race of LIVING vampires that have evolved alongside humanity for thousands of years.
A FIXER
Part-spy, and part-commando -- James Bond with fangs. Lawson mixes shrewd cunning with unmatched lethality to get his job done. He tries his best to dismantle conspiracies, dispatch bad guys, and live long enough to get home.
Book Description
When the High King was slain his bloodline numbered in the hundreds. Ninety years later, there remains only one. One last chance for a restoration, a restoration that many fear and few desire. Unknown to himself, the last heir is caught in a Prison of Power that he quite simply cannot escape.
Legacy ($9.99), by Mary Stewart, is a compilation of four books making up a single epic by this popular author. I suspect, though, that it's an illegally published edition, as the author seems as set against ebooks as JK Rowling. I've sent a note to Amazon asking them to check whether or not this one is legit (if you do buy it and it is later removed, you'll still have your copy in your library, although you can ask for a refund, if desired -- usually even after the 7 day time period, when this occurs).Book Description
It took over ten years to produce. It has reached millions of readers. Now, the mysterious sorcerer of Arthurian Mythology, has found new life. The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment and The Wicked Day now stand united in Book one of the Legacy series -- the finest work of Mary Stewart's distinguished career.
In all of literature there has never been a more compelling look into this mysterious figure. Merlin, is most known as the keeper of King Arthur. In this Legacy series, we discover the true history of one of the most enigmatic figures in history. We'll follow Merlin as he discover the secrets to the mystical arts and becomes the biggest name in folklore.
There are three titles by on sale today, including Exit Ghost ($2.02), which has dropped in price even further since I first mentioned it last July. The Humbling ($2.02) and Indignation ($4.46) round out the selections under $5.Exit Ghost
Like Rip Van Winkle returning to his hometown to find that all has changed, Nathan Zuckerman comes back to New York, the city he left eleven years before. Alone on his New England mountain, Zuckerman has been nothing but a writer: no voices, no media, no terrorist threats, no women, no news, no tasks other than his work and the enduring of old age.
Walking the streets like a revenant, he quickly makes three connections that explode his carefully protected solitude. One is with a young couple with whom, in a rash moment, he offers to swap homes. They will flee post-9/11 Manhattan for his country refuge, and he will return to city life. But from the time he meets them, Zuckerman also wants to swap his solitude for the erotic challenge of the young woman, Jamie, whose allure draws him back to all that he thought he had left behind: intimacy, the vibrant play of heart and body.
The Humbling
Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Philip Roth’s startling new book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his sixties, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. His Falstaff and Peer Gynt and Vanya, all his great roles, "are melted into air, into thin air." When he goes onstage he feels like a lunatic and looks like an idiot. His confidence in his powers has drained away; he imagines people laughing at him; he can no longer pretend to be someone else. "Something fundamental has vanished." His wife has gone, his audience has left him, his agent can’t persuade him to make a comeback.
Into this shattering account of inexplicable and terrifying self-evacuation bursts a counterplot of unusual erotic desire, a consolation for a bereft life so risky and aberrant that it points not toward comfort and gratification but to a yet darker and more shocking end. In this long day’s journey into night, told with Roth’s inimitable urgency, bravura, and gravity, all the ways that we convince ourselves of our solidity, all our life’s performances—talent, love, sex, hope, energy, reputation—are stripped off.
Indignation
Against the backdrop of the Korean War, a young man faces life's unimagined chances and terrifying consequences.
It is 1951 in America, the second year of the Korean War. A studious, law-abiding, intense youngster from Newark, New Jersey, Marcus Messner, is beginning his sophomore year on the pastoral, conservative campus of Ohio's Winesburg College. And why is he there and not at the local college in Newark where he originally enrolled? Because his father, the sturdy, hard-working neighborhood butcher, seems to have gone mad -- mad with fear and apprehension of the dangers of adult life, the dangers of the world, the dangers he sees in every corner for his beloved boy.
As the long-suffering, desperately harassed mother tells her son, the father's fear arises from love and pride. Perhaps, but it produces too much anger in Marcus for him to endure living with his parents any longer. He leaves them and, far from Newark, in the midwestern college, has to find his way amid the customs and constrictions of another American world.
Indignation, Philip Roth's twenty-ninth book, is a story of inexperience, foolishness, intellectual resistance, sexual discovery, courage, and error. It is a story told with all the inventive energy and wit Roth has at his command, at once a startling departure from the haunted narratives of old age and experience in his recent books and a powerful addition to his investigations of the impact of American history on the life of the vulnerable individual.
Read and write Spanish and want a free copy of Los Hijos del Ángel ($3.99)? The author, Angeles Goyanes, is giving away 50 copies to readers, but you have to work for it, a bit. Fill out the contact form and tell the author a bit about yourself, in Spanish. You will need a good command of the language to get thru the book (like any novel), so it isn't suitable for those just learning the language.Book Description
Precio especial por tiempo limitado.
Alemania, 1940. En su afán purificador de la especie humana, el regimen nazi proyecta el nacimiento de una raza superior fruto de la unión de los líderes del Tercer Reich con las descendientes de los ángeles.
Sesenta años después, un ángel caído acoge bajo su cuidado a un niño de origen incierto, buscado por unos como mesías y por otros como la encarnación del mal.
Jon Evans is giving away copies of both The Night of Knives ($4.99) and Beasts of New York ($2.99) over on Feedbooks.The Night of Knives
Veronica Kelly came to Africa to start her life over. Still reeling from her divorce, she is grateful when a handsome stranger invites her to join a tour to visit gorillas in Uganda's wild Impenetrable Forest. A trip that goes desperately wrong when their group is captured by brutal gunmen.
Then one tourist is executed.
And then another.
This is no random kidnapping: their abduction is only the first move in a deadly strategic game. A game in which Veronica's ex-husband is somehow involved.
Now she must embark on a wild journey across Africa, to unveil a malignant conspiracy before it consumes entire nations - and thousands of lives...
Beasts of New York
An epic urban fantasy about the wildlife of New York City, starring a squirrel protagonist who has to find his way from exile back to his home in Central Park, rescue his mother, and win a war.
A violent, epic, action-packed urban quest full of very eccentric, often hilarious, extremely dangerous characters who also happen to be animals — the wildlife of New York City, to be exact — Beasts of New York will be published by the prestigious literary press The Porcupine's Quill in spring 2011.
Dragon Lure ($2.99), is a short story anthology by John Grant, Keith R.A. Decandido, C.E. Murphy, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, amongst others.Book Description
Here There Be Dragons! What is the deal with virgins? Why would a dragon want to swallow the moon? Is a bed of treasure really to be desired? At long last a collection that delves in the lore on what lures a dragon. We bring you nineteen tempting tales of draconic wonder--along with the lyrics to two classic and much-beloved songs--certain to broaden your understanding of these legendary creatures that have fascinated mankind throughout time and across cultures. Trek across a dragon's dream space in C.E. Murphy's Perchance to Dream...Take wing in Misty Massey's Flying Away Home...and the burning question in Vonnie Winslow Crist's Weathermaker...got milk? Everything you wanted to know about dragons, but no one has survived to ask... With stories by John Grant, Vonnie Winslow Crist, Patrick Thomas, James Chambers, Misty Massey, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Mike Penncavage, C.E. Murphy, Hildy Silverman, Bernie Mojzes, Randy Farran, C.J. Henderson, Claire Stephens McMurray, Robert E. Waters, D.C. Wilson, Jean Marie Ward, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Anna Yardney, Jeffrey Lyman, James Daniel Ross, and David B. Coe, this is a tome you are sure to treasure!
Tess Oliver's Camille ($0.99) has a number of good reviews. I ran into it when looking at Georgette Heyer's Conqueror (which dropped a few more pennies and is now at $4.09) and liked the cover (but be sure to read the description....)Book Description
At a time when society conforms to the strictest rules and most proper etiquette, sixteen-year-old Camille Kennecott and her guardian, Dr. Bennett, live a most unconventional life. They hunt werewolves.
When unwitting victim, Nathaniel Strider, wanders into one of their full moon pursuits, Camille and Dr. Bennett believe they have found a specimen for their study. Finding a scientific key to unlocking the mystery of lycanthropy would end their late night excursions. Yet beneath the irresistible exterior, Nathaniel is transforming into a flesh-tearing monster, and as each experiment fails, Camille loses another inch of her soul to him. In a month’s time, she must face the prospect of destroying the boy who has stolen her heart.
I first told you about Little Miss Mary and The Big Monster Makeover, by G.G. Toropov, at Christmas, when it was free for iBooks. It's now free in the Sony store (and still missing on Kindle), as well as readable online from the author.Book Description
Little Miss Mary receives an unwelcome visitor in the
grotesque shape of a huge, hairy Monster, but instead of being petrified by the apparition she decides to help the hideous beast by giving him a makeover. However, it is Mary herself who undergoes the biggest transformation in the process!
The Fall Musical #1 ($3.99), by Peter Lerangis Book Description
It’s a new school year, and for Casey Chang it’s a chance to make a fresh start away from the bad memories in her old town. But for the Drama Club of Ridgefield High, it means a chance to recruit new members. And Brianna Glaser—the Type A co-president of the club—has her sights set on the new girl. But Casey soon finds herself sucked into the excitement and drama. For these kids, Drama Club isn’t just about a school play, it’s about passion and dreams and the future. All Casey wanted was a new life for herself, but Drama Club has opened up a whole new world.
The Endearment ($3.99), by LaVyrle Spencer Book Description
Hoping to escape the shame of her street-urchin's life in Boston, Anna Reardon plots a desperate scheme - to become Karl Lindstrom's mail-order bride in the frontierland of Minnesota. He's expecting a 25-year-old house keeper. He gets a 17-year-old, with no domestic ability whatsoever.
There are several titles from Glen Cook's Garrett, P.I. series at $3.99 currently, including Cold Copper Tears.Cold Copper Tears (#3)
She was tall, blonde, and offering P.I. Garrett an irresistible fee to take a case that seemed open and shut. But in a town of elves and humans, thugs and swindlers, Garrett had learned to take a long, hard look before saying yes...
Dread Brass Shadows (#5)
veryone wants to find it—a treasure so rich it makes even a hard-boiled detective like Garrett nervous. It’s the legendary Book of Shadows, made of brass and holding secrets no mortal was ever meant to master—and Garrett must make sure no one ever has the chance to work its spells on an unsuspecting and unprotected world.
Faded Steel Heat (#9)
Riots between humans and trolls, elves, and other non-humans have plunged Tunfaire into near chaos. Garrett finds himself pulled into the game when a powerful gang of human rightists tries to shake down his employer-and ends up caught in a conspiracy of hate that pits man against... everybody!
