Three more free pre-orders for Australians only (Kindle):
- Collins Know Your World Series - Botswana
- Collins Know Your World Series - France
- Collins Know Your World Series - Saudi Arabia
eye of the god ($1.99), by Ariel Allison, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. Looks like this one was free back in May, but it's a good time to grab it if you missed it then.Book Description
eye of the god takes the fascinating history surrounding the Hope Diamond and weaves it together with a present-day plot to steal the jewel from the Smithsonian Institute.We follow Alex and Isaac Weld, the most lucrative jewel thieves in the world, in their quest to steal the gem, which according to legend was once the eye of a Hindu idol named Rama Sita. When it was stolen in the 17th century, it is said that the idol cursed all those who would possess it. That won’t stop the brilliant and ruthless Weld brothers.However, they are not prepared for Dr. Abigail Mitchell, the beautiful Smithsonian Director, who has her own connection to the Hope Diamond and a deadly secret to keep. Abby committed long ago that she would not serve a god made with human hands, and the “eye of the god” is no exception. Her desire is not for wealth, but for wisdom. She seeks not power, but restoration.When the dust settles over the last great adventure of the Hope Diamond, readers will understand the “curse” that has haunted its legacy is nothing more than the greed of evil men who bring destruction upon themselves. No god chiseled from stone can direct the fates of humankind, nor can it change the course of God’s story.
One Hundred Candles ($7.19 Kindle; $2.25 B&N), by Mara Purnhagen, is today's Nook Daily Find. Although it might seem odd to highlight the second in her Past Midnight series, there is a reasonably good chance you have the two novellas that bookend this title, Raising the Dead and Haunting the Night, as both have been free in the last year.Book Description
It's taken a long time for me to feel like a normal teenager. But now that I'm settled in a new school, where people know me as more than Charlotte Silver of the infamous Silver family paranormal investigators, it feels like everything is falling into place. And what better way to be normal than to go on a date with a popular football star like Harris Abbott? After all, it's not as if Noah is anything more than a friend….
But my new life takes a disturbing turn when Harris brings me to a party and we play a game called One Hundred Candles. It seems like harmless, ghostly fun. Until spirits unleashed by the game start showing up at school. Now my friends and family are in very real danger, and the door that I've opened into another realm may yield deadly consequences.
Today's theme will be Halloween and to start it off, I'm mentioning an indie published free book (which I usually ignore, as they now number in the thousands): THE HALLOWEEN COLLECTION FROM THE INDIE ECLECTIVE, by M. Edward McNally, Lizzy Ford, Heather Marie Adkins, PJ Jones, et al. This isn't the only one out there, either, as I found 45 Halloween or Zombie titles currently free in the Kindle store (all indie published or public domain) and that doesn't include the ones with Monster in the title, such as Here Be Monsters - An Anthology of Monster Tales.Book Description
The Indie Eclective: What is it, who are they, and why can they spell neither “eclectic” nor “collective” correctly? The Indie Eclective is an ensemble of authors operating under the assumption that Readers like Good Books. The Halloween Collection showcases spooky reads from nine very different authors. Whether you enjoy light or dark paranormal, YA or adult-themed genres, there’s bound to be a story to suit your tastes. Thanks for reading!
Rhyn Trilogy: Origins, by Lizzy Ford: Gabriel's fate as an assassin seems set until he meets a courageous half-demon child named Rhyn, whose plight rekindles the humanity he thought he'd lost.
Ralphie the Special Werewolf by P.J. Jones: Ralphie doesn’t want to get snipped, but his pack is tired of watching him defile the sofa cushions. Now, he’s got to find a mate by Halloween night—or else.
Sunwalker's Kiss by Shéa MacLeod: While searching for a magical bloodline, Sunwalker Jackson Keel discovers magic of a different kind.
The Village of Those Who Touch The Dead by M. Edward McNally: "All obligations will be paid. There are no exceptions."’
Haunting in OR 13, by Alan Nayes: Halloween never frightened Sara McCaffe, until she stepped into Operating Room 13!
To Taste of Shimmering Revenge by Jack Wallen: A vampire is awakened after four hundred years only to find his kind embarrassed and shamed by the rash of shimmery, hunky vampires on the big screen. His revenge will be sweet and tasty.
Magickal Vendetta by Heather Adkins - Revenge is a dish best served up in a pink saucepan for accident-prone blood witch, Gretchen. By harnessing the power of Halloween, she hopes to break the bond with the soulmate who did her wrong.
From the Keegan’s Chronicles series: Haunted House by Julia Crane - Keegan, Lauren, and Anna find much more than they bargained for during an innocent trip to a commercial haunted house. Someone long dead awaits them on the second floor...
From the Gifted Teens series: Mind-Blower by Talia Jager - Kassia and Daxton’s romantic picnic is interrupted by the arrival of creatures bent on her destruction. Will her powers fail her when she needs them most?
Extreme Halloween: The Ultimate Guide to Making Halloween Scary Again ($4.99), by Tom Nardone, is one of those rare sale books from Penguin.Book Description
All new diabolical ideas from the bestselling author of Extreme Pumpkins- the ultimate guide to reviving the grisly true spirit of Halloween.
From baking hemorrhaging desserts to burying family and friends alive, the outrageous projects in this guide will inspire readers to transform the house, the yard, the kids, and the wardrobe for the scariest Halloween ever. Some of the spooky ideas include:
For any fan of Halloween, this extreme celebration will spook, inspire, and help freak out the neighbors.
- Alligator in the Leaf Pile
- Toilet Bowl of Candy
- Fog Your Yard
- Buried Alive
- Turning a Garage into a Haunted House
- A Cake that Bleeds
- Costumes to Disturb and Amuse
Maria E. Schneider has marked down two of her short story collections, both containing stories related to the season, Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom and Tracking Magic (Max Killian Investigations), to 99 cents for this weekend only. For those who prefer DRM-free, you can also grab them on Smashwords (Sage, coupon code QH22B, and Tracking Magic, coupon code YR25E)Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom
Sword and Sorcery meets Agatha Christie. Three novellas introduce the Kingdom of Sage and those who protect its boundaries. Sometimes it takes a more experienced hand to save an entire Kingdom.
The first of these stories, "Toil, Trouble and Rot," was published in "Coyote Wild Magazine." The other two are all new, original stories.
"Toil, Trouble and Rot" finds the Kingdom of Sage under attack from a deadly and mysterious enemy.
In "Dungeons and Decay" find out just how far a mother will go when her child is in danger--and how much magic it takes to keep him safe.
In "Call to Arms" every hand is needed when a ghost invades the kingdom demanding old wrongs be righted.
Tracking Magic (Max Killian Investigations)
"Get Smart" meets "Ghostbusters!"
A humorous urban fantasy collection. Five case files from Max Killian Investigations:
Haunting Clues -- Max is hired to expel a ghost from a mansion. To deal with the dead, though, he must first uncover the secrets of those still alive.
Curses! -- Some days you curse, some days the curse gets you.
Dearly Departed -- Max investigates a graveyard, but when it comes up empty, it's his job to find the body-dead or alive.
Roadkill -- Max can smell the dead long after they are gone. Of course, it's not too hard to smell the ones that just died, but it could prove to be more dangerous.
Privy to Secrets -- Some secrets are worth dying for. The trick is to know which ones make life worth living.
Haunting Clues was first published at TownDrunkMag.com in 2007.
I mentioned Horror at Halloween ($2.76), by Stephen Jones, Jo Fletcher, et al, a few posts back. Even if you don't pre-order this collection from Robinson (a UK publisher), be sure to pick up the free story, by John Gordon, that they are giving away as a sample.Book Description
OXRUN STATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN DIFFERENT.
Nobody can really explain it. You just have to understand that bizarre things happen there. They just do. Weird things. The kind of things you don’t even want to dream about in your worst nightmares.
Like the tings that happen this Halloween to Sam Jones, Eleanor Trent, Tina Broadbent, Chuck Antrim and Cody Banning . . .
Maybe it really is the rare conjunction of Mars and Saturn with Venus, lowering the barriers between our world and another, shadowy realm . . . or maybe it is just that the full moon always brings out the strangeness in that place. Trick or Treat is crazy enough, with ghosts and goblins and witches and warlocks and all manner of other horrors roaming the streets. But in Oxrun Station, the masks aren’t always made of rubber.
The fabric of the cosmos is unravelling and dark and dangerous things are leaking across the borders . . . For five unsuspecting teenagers, their lives will never be the same again as they discover the hidden terrors lurking beneath the surface of their quiet town and experience the most horrifying Halloween of them all . . .
This year in Oxrun Station, THE TRICK IS TO STAY ALIVE!
A Catered Halloween (Mystery with Recipes) ($4.30), by Isis CrawfordBook Description
With the promise of a hefty commission and some valuable word-of-mouth for their catering business, A Little Taste of Heaven, sisters Bernadette and Libby Simmons agree to cater the charity haunted house being staged at the old Peabody School. But when wealthy socialite Amethyst Applegate is found dead in the haunted house, Bernie and Libby wonder if a murderer might also be lurking about Peabody's gloomy halls...
While almost everyone Amethyst ever met might have a motive for killing her, not everyone had access to the Peabody School. All Bernie and Libby know is if they don't solve this mystery soon, they might become the next stars in a real-life horror flick. . .
Wizards: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy ($3.99), by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, John Jude Palencar, Kage Baker, et al, is another of Penguin's sale titles. It has a lot of big names and works out to under a penny a pageBook Description
Neil Gaiman, Eoin Colfer, and many more join “this magical brew [that] will enchant young adult readers and their elders as well.” (Publishers Weekly)
In Wizards, today’s master fantasists turn their hands to tales of these magical beings, living in both ancient and modern times, as well as in fantasy realms that never were.
Featuring stories by New York Times bestselling authors Neil Gaiman, Eoin Colfer and Garth Nix as well as tales from Kage Baker, Peter S. Beagle, Terry Bisson, Orson Scott Card, Terry Dowling, Andy Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, Elizabeth Hand, Nancy Kress, Tanith Lee, Patricia A. McKillip, Mary Rosenblum, Tad Williams, Gene Wolfe, and Jane Yolen.
Skin Dancer ($2.99) is by Carolyn Haines, author of the Sarah Booth Delaney/Bones series (Kensington Books) and whose Penumbra is free today (courtesy of Tyrus Books). She currently has three books under the $5 mark at Amazon: Bones To Pick, Ham Bones and Revenant (MIRA).Book Description
In the deep quiet of the South Dakota wilderness, a killer is on the loose. The victims are poachers and professional hunters. Their skinned and beheaded corpses are left hanging upside down. Rookie Criss County Deputy Rachel Redmond, a young woman with a troubled past and a need to prove herself, must find the killer.
Native American legend speaks of a Sioux warrior who took too much pride in his ability to kill. The gods punished him by taking his skin, leaving him unable to endure the sunlight. This warrior is said to roam the wilderness looking for those he can kill and “borrow” their skin. The Skin Dancer.
There’s a lot on the line for Rachel and the county residents. A highway project is cutting across the Sioux wilderness, opening the region for a multi-billion dollar technology development. The road is a point of controversy with environmentalists and Native Americans who want to preserve their sacred grounds.
When a spokesman for an animal rights organization (WAR) claims the murders, Rachel realizes she’s sitting on a powder keg. Old wounds and grievances, long buried, come to the surface. And the Skin Dancer strikes again, killing two more poachers.
As bodies pile up and tempers flare, Rachel has to find the killer, or killers, before Criss County erupts in a battle between those who want the road and Paradise Development and those who don’t.
Jack and Mr. Grin (free Kindle, B&N, Smashwords), by Andersen Prunty, also appears to be indie published and has good reviews.Book Description
Jack Orange is a twenty-something guy who works at a place called The Tent packing dirt in boxes and shipping them off to exotic, unheard of locales. He thinks about his girlfriend, Gina Black, and the ring he hopes to surprise her with. But when he returns home one day, Gina isn't there. He receives a strange call from a man who sounds like he is smiling- Mr. Grin. He says he has Gina. He gives Jack twenty-four hours to find her.
What follows is Jack's bizarre journey through an increasingly warped and surreal landscape where an otherworldly force burns brands into those he comes in contact with, trains appear out of thin air, rooms turn themselves inside out and computers are powered by birds. And if he does find Gina, how will he ever survive a grueling battle to the death with Mr. Grin?
Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror ($1.99), by Chris Priestley and David Roberts (Illustrator), is marked down by Bloomsbury Children's.Book Description
This spine-tingling novel has more than enough fear factor for the most ardent fan of scary stories. Uncle Montague lives alone in a big house, but regular visits from his nephew, Edgar, give him the opportunity to recount some of the frightening stories he knows. As each tale unfolds, an eerie pattern emerges of young lives gone awry in the most terrifying of ways. Young Edgar begins to wonder just how Uncle Montague knows all these ghastly tales. This clever collection of stories-within-a-story is perfectly matched with darkly witty illustrations by David Roberts.
Look for the other spine-tingling book in Chris Priestley's Tales of Terror series, Tales of Terror from the Black Ship!
The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat ($3.99), by Jan Berenstain and Stan Berenstain, isn't really marked down, but looks like a fun read for those with first time trick-or-treaters.Book Description
As Brother and Sister Bear don their costumes to go trick-or-treating by themselves for the first time, they plan to avoid Miz McGrizz's spooky home. But during their Halloween outing, the cubs discover that appearances can be deceiving.
The Best Halloween Ever (The Herdmans) ($4.99), by Barbara Robinson, barely made the cutoff with Harpercollins' discount.Book Description
The Herdmans plus Halloween have always spelled disaster. Every year these six kids -- the worst in the history of Woodrow Wilson School, and possibly even the world -- wreak havoc on the whole town. They steal candy, spray-paint kids, and take anything that's not nailed down.
Now the mayor has had it. He's decided to cancel Halloween. There won't be any Herdmans to contend with this year, but there won't be any candy, either. And what's Halloween without candy? And without trick-or-treating? The Herdmans manage to turn the worst Halloween ever into the best Halloween ever in this uproarious sequel to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
The House in Windward Leaves ($0.99), by Katherine L. Holmes, is an indie published children's title.Book Description
At this Halloween party, costumes make the child. Transformed during an enchanted journey, Lushina children try out their dreamed identities.
Halloween night, the wayward Sadie leads her friends past cardboard cut-outs of the painter Mistral and a lady at the leaf-covered house on Windward Road. A wall mural transports them to a Halloween party on a star where their costumes become real.
As Fortuneteller, Sadie only has to look in her crystal ball to help the others with their transformations. Her friend Candy has become the Homecoming Queen. The neighbor boy has become George Washington and his brother is a musician in the star band. Sadie’s brother turns into a zebra and her sister begins blessing people because she is a priest.
Other children in Sadie’s grade school make up a bizarre community of star people who crown the Queen and watch the President’s revolt. That begins the adventures of Sadie and her enchanted friends. Then Mistral’s woman friend finds that her star-of-sapphire necklace is missing. The found thief confesses that he stole it for a treasure hunt that takes up the latter chapters of this madcap fantasy.
About the Author
Katherine L. Holmes began writing novels for children after she was a winner of The Loft’s Children’s Literature Prize. Her historical novel, The Swan Bonnet, has a gold medal at Authonomy.com where it reached the HarperCollins Editor’s Desk. In 2011, she won the Prize Americana for fiction; her short story collection will be published by Hollywood Books International. Katherine lives in Duluth, Minnesota.
Dreams of the Dead ($1.99), the start of the Gaijin Girl/Waking Trilogy by Thomas Randall (aka Christopher Golden), is another from Bloomsbury USA Childrens.Book Description
When Kara Foster starts her new school in Japan, she has no idea she's about to confront an ancient evil. But before long, Kara begins to have nightmares, and soon students turn up dead, viciously attacked by someone . . . or something.
As Kara makes friends, she learns that there are secrets haunting the student body. Is the spirit of a murdered girl seeking revenge? Or is the culprit more ancient and terrifying than an American outsider can understand? A spooky new edition welcomes teen horror fans to the first book in this riveting series.
Four Octobers ($4.99), by Rick Hautala, is just one of 26 titles on sale from Cemetery Dance. They've marked down the novellas to $2.99 and the novels to $3.99 or $4.99 for the sale (they have a number of short stories in the Kindle store at 99 cents, which is the regular price).Book Description
The days are getting shorter, and the wind blows cold from the north. After the maple and oak leaves turn from green to bright reds, golds, and oranges, they wither, fall, and die, clattering like old bones as they blow down the street in the twilight. The sun isn't as bright as it used to be, and the nights are dark and cold and long. This is the time of the harvest the time of Hallowe'en and a time for reminiscences of the summer just past and of other summers, now long gone. This is a time of mystery and expectation as the earth prepares for the frigid onslaught of winter.
Four Octobers collects for the first time four loosely interconnected novellas. Each story is set in October, the month of pumpkins and trick or treat, of skeletons and haunted graveyards, and each story is filled with nostalgia for times past -- for summers and youth now gone for chances not taken for opportunities now lost forever.
These barely scratch the surface of the titles available, of course. In addition to the sale titles at Amazon, Mills & Boon is having a "Romantic Halloween" sale, although it looks more like a pre-Christmas sale to me, Samhain Publishing has started a Horror line and has pre-orders currently marked down. If you sign up for their newsletter (or email their support group), you should also get a coupon code that can be used for (up to) 40% off your first order.If you know of another Halloween/Horror sale, leave me a note in the comments.
