As expected, the four books that started as UK only last night in the Kindle store are now free for US customers; in addition, two of them are free in the Barnes & Noble store.
If you have any problem with this morning's free audiobooks, as far as checking out at AudioGo, try removing the item from your cart, logging out of Audiogo, then restart your browser, search for the item manually, add to your cart and then apply the promo code (at least one person found this to clear whatever was causing their problems with the price jumping back up). I didn't have a problem when I checked out - but, you might also try a different browser and make sure you are letting javascript run on their site (no ad-blocker, for example), as that may be interfering with the cart process. Also, I'm getting an "over quota" error message trying to download my audiobooks there, so be prepared to wait a few days before actually getting your download to work; for now, just get them into your cart and checked out, so they show up in your library.
Pig Island (
$0.99), by Mo Hayder, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day.
Book Description
The acclaimed author of The Devil of Nanking returns with a riveting, disturbing thriller of religious fanatics, hoax debunkers, and the dark side of belief. Journalist Joe Oakes makes a living exposing supernatural hoaxes, but when he visits a secretive religious community on a remote Scottish island, everything he thought he knew is overturned. On the trial of a strange creature caught briefly on film, so deformed it can hardly be human, Oakes crosses a border of electrical fencing, toxin-filled oil drums, and pigs’ skulls to infiltrate the territory of the groups’ isolated founder, Malachi Dove. Their confrontation, and its violent aftermath, is so catastrophic that it forces Oakes to question the nature of evil—and whether he might be responsible for the heinous crime about to unfold. Startling and uncompromising, Pig Island confirms Mo Hayder as one of the most talented, compelling thriller writers now working.
The Fate of Katherine Carr (
$2.77), is a stand-alone novel by Thomas H. Cook, presumably with or edited by Otto Penzler, from the full title at Amazon. If you are a Cook fan, you might want to snap up
Places in the Dark ($5.99), also, as it is an Agency priced book (Random House) and unlikely to drop substantially, while the former selection has Amazon set pricing (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) -- it might drop a few more pennies (or it might go back to full price at any moment).
Book Description
George Gates used to be a travel writer who specialized in places where people disappeared—Judge Crater, the Lost Colony.Then his eight-year-old son was murdered, the killer never found, and Gates gave up disappearance. Now he writes stories of redemptive triviality about flower festivals and local celebrities for the town paper, and spends his evenings haunted by the image of his son’s last day.
Enter Arlo MacBride, a retired missing-persons detective still obsessed with the unsolved case of Katherine Carr. When he gives Gates the story she left behind—a story of a man stalking a woman named Katherine Carr—Gates too is drawn inexorably into a search for the missing author’s brief life and uncertain fate. And as he goes deeper, he begins to suspect that her tale holds the key not only to her fate, but to his own.
Passionate Brood: A Novel of Richard the Lionheart and the Man Who Became Robin Hood (
$2.27), by Margaret Campbell Barnes, was originally published in 1944 and has also been titled
Like Us, They Lived, in some markets; this edition is from Sourcebooks, 2010.
Book Description
A Spirited Retelling of King Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade
In this compelling novel of love, loyalty, and lost chances, Margaret Campbell Barnes gives readers a new perspective on Richard the Lionheart's triumphs and tragedies. Drawing on folklore, Barnes explores what might have happened if King Richard's foster brother were none other than Robin Hood, a legendary figure more vibrant than most in authentic history. Thick as thieves as Richard builds a kingdom and marshals a crusade, the two clash when Robin Hood so provokes the king's white hot temper that Richard banishes him. The Passionate Brood is a tale of a man driven to win back the Holy Land, beset by the guilt of casting out his childhood friend, and shouldering the burden of being the lionhearted leader of the Plantagenets.
The Forever War (
$4.95), by Joe Haldeman, has been rather recently released in ebook form, thru Ridan Publishing. It won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in print form, although only after the publishers had the author cut quite a bit of material. Now it's back in an "author's cut", if you will. If you read SciFi, you'll want a copy of this one in your library.
Book Description
A THOUSAND YEAR CONFLICT. ONE SOLDIER LIVES THROUGH IT ALL. CAN HE MAINTAIN HIS HUMANITY?
The Forever War is a science fiction classic that chronicles the life of William Mandella. Due to the time distortion associated with deep space travel, he is present during both the first and the last battle of a thousand year old conflict with the alien Taurans. A masterpiece of not just science fiction, The Forever War illustrates the futility of all wars and their effect on the human soul.
The Forever War won all major science fiction awards including the Hugo, Nebula and Locus. Ridley Scott, director of Blade Runner and Alien, is currently adapting this classic for film.
This is the author's preferred version and includes a foreword by John Scalzi, author of Old Man's War.
Dear American Airlines (
$3.11), by Jonathan Miles
Book Description
Sometimes the planes don't fly on time.
Bennie Ford, a fifty-three-year-old failed poet turned translator, is traveling to his estranged daughter's wedding when his flight is canceled. Stuck with thousands of fuming passengers in the purgatory of O'Hare airport, he watches the clock tick and realizes that he will miss the ceremony. Frustrated, irate, and helpless, Bennie does the only thing he can: he starts to write a letter. But what begins as a hilariously excoriating demand for a refund soon becomes a lament for a life gone awry, for years misspent, talent wasted, and happiness lost. A man both sinned against and sinning, Bennie writes in a voice that is a marvel of lacerating wit, heart-on-sleeve emotion, and wide-ranging erudition, underlined by a consistent groundnote of regret for the actions of a lifetime -- and made all the more urgent by the fading hope that if he can just make it to the wedding, he might have a chance to do something right.
A margarita blend of outrage, wicked humor, vulnerability, intelligence, and regret, Dear American Airlines gives new meaning to the term "airport novel" and announces the emergence of major new talent in American fiction.
Second Chance at the Sugar Shack (
$0.99), the debut novel from Candis Terry, is the first in the planned
Sugar Shack series. Looks like good reviews and who can resist that puppy on the cover (and who that has had such a puppy doesn't know exactly what that pup is doing to those shoes; shoes that will never be quite the same again).
Book Description
Kate Silver’s back in town, and her dead mother just won’t leave her alone.
Kate usually spends her days dressing Hollywood A-listers, but after her estranged mother dies she finds herself elbow-deep in flour in her parents’ bakery . . . in Deer Lick, Montana. She thought she’d left small-town life far, far behind, but it seems there are a few loose ends.
The boy she once loved, Deputy Matt Ryan, is single and sexy and still has a thing for her . . . and handcuffs.
Her mother, who won’t follow the white light, is determined to give maternal advice from beyond the grave.
And somehow Kate’s three-day stay has, well . . . extended. She never planned to fill her mother’s pie-baking shoes—she prefers her Choos, thank you very much. But with the help of a certain man in uniform, Kate quickly learns that sometimes second chances are all the more sweet.
The Pride of Jared MacKade,
The Heart of Devin MacKade and
The Fall of Shane MacKade, by
Nora Roberts, have both dropped to $4.99, as have a few other of her titles (although one is only bargain priced in Latin America, India and the Middle East). These are the second, third and fourth in her
Mackade Brothers series, respectively; the start of the series,
The Return of Rafe MacKade, is $5.38.
The Pride of Jared MacKade
He was a man who stood for something, and never turned his back on a fight. So when Jared MacKade’ s work as an attorney brought him up against Savannah Morningstar, her rude behavior and strong defenses weren’ t going to stop him.
Savannah was the type of woman who defeated odds brutally stacked against her. And once he got to know her, Jared was determined to be the man to stand beside her in the fight.
The Heart of Devin MacKade
Devin MacKade knew it was his destiny to serve and protect the small town of Antietam, Maryland. And he always suspected his future should have little Cassie Connor in it. After Cassie married the wrong man, Devin tried to convince himself there would be other women, other loves. Now, after Cassie’ s divorce, Devin can finally follow his heart. But can Cassie follow hers?
The Fall of Shane MacKade
Shane MacKade loved women. He loved the look of them, the smell of them, the taste of them—everything about them. So the last thing he expected was to become a one-woman man. And even more surprising was that it was the Ph.D.-toting academic Rebecca McKnight that had him heading for a fall. Are Shane’ s days as a bachelor over? It’ s a possibility....
The Battle of the Bees, by Paul Hutchens, the 32nd title in his
Sugar Creek Gang Series series, is just one of the titles at $2.84, while the remainder are discounted to $2.99. I suspect, though, that you really don't have to read this kid's series in any particular order, so you can pick up a free story,
Shenanigans at Sugar Creek, which appears to have passed into the public domain.
Book Description
What kind of trouble can Bill Collins get into when he's spending the afternoon babysitting his little sister, Charlotte Ann' Plenty! The Gang find themselves in the middle of a war between two of the beehives in Mr. Collins honey bee yard. A note from Old Man Paddler challenges the Sugar Creek Gang with a riddle that reveals more than they bargained for as they uncover a trespassing boy up at his cabin in the woods. Join the Sugar Creek Gang as they learn a few lessons about loving as Jesus does.
