Bargain Book Roundup

For the first bargain of the day, I have three books in a Blood Singer series by Cat Adams (pen name of USA Today bestselling authors C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp): Blood Song, Siren Song and Demon Song. Despite having way too many books in my TBR list, I bought all three after reading the sample and have nearly finished the first one (in one day)! All three are currently marked down to $2.99 apiece, in anticipation of the latest in the series, The Isis Collar, being released in March. The series is classified as urban fantasy, but there is nothing (at least in the first one, so far) that I would not expect to see in a YA series (no overt sex; some violence, of course).

Blood Song
Bodyguard Celia Graves has definitely accepted her share of weird assignments, both human and supernatural. But her newest job takes the cake. Guarding a Prince from terrorists and religious fundamentalists is hard enough, but it seems like the entire supernatural world is after this guy too. When she is betrayed by those she is employed to help, and everything goes horribly wrong, Celia wakes to find herself transformed.

Neither human nor vampire, Celia has become an Abomination—something that should not exist—and now both human and supernatural alike want her dead. With the help of a few loyal friends—a sexy mage, a powerful werewolf, and a psychic cop—Celia does her best to stay alive. On the run from her enemies, Celia must try to discover who is behind her transformation…before it’s too late.

Siren Song
Nothing if not resilient, Celia Graves is slowly adjusting to being a half-human, half-vampire Abomination. But her troubles are far from over. Her best friend’s murder is still unsolved, the cops are convinced she should be in jail, and her old lover, the magician Bruno DeLuca, has resurfaced in her life, saying he has something important to tell her.

The vampire attack that transformed Celia kicked her latent Siren abilities into high gear, and now she’s been summoned to the Sirens’ island to justify her existence—and possibly fight for her life—in front of the Siren Queen. Celia isn’t sure she’ll survive to make the trip. The demon she defeated in Blood Song hasn’t exactly gone quietly—he’s left Celia suffering from a powerful curse.

Demon Song
In a world where magic is real and the supernatural is almost normal, bodyguard Celia Graves has survived a vampire attack which made her a half-vampire and awakened her latent Siren abilities. She’s battled a Siren Queen to the death and twice faced down a demon that wants to kill her--slowly. She’s also had her heart broken--twice--by her old flame, magician Bruno DeLuca.

Perhaps the worst thing was the discovery that Celia’s life has been warped by a curse laid on her during childhood--the cause of everything from the death of her little sister to the murder of her best friend the same night that Celia became an Abomination.

An ancient rift between the demonic dimension and our own--sealed during the destruction of Atlantis--begins to open, threatening to loose all the demons of hell on humanity (including the one personally bent on destroying Celia). Celia’s hellish recent experiences have given her the unique combination of abilities needed to close the rift. But to overcome the curse, which nearly guarantees her failure, she’ll need to join forces with people she no longer trusts...and put people she has come to care about directly in harm’s way.

Moon's Fury ($4.99) is from the same writing team of C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp, but under their own names. This is the fifth title in their Tales Of The Sazi series, which is more paranormal romance than the series above.

Book Description
Cara Salinas has been leading the small Mexican red wolf pack in Tedford County, Texas, since she was thirteen.

Adam Mueller, formerly a beat cop from the toughest part of Minneapolis and now the new county sheriff, must find a way to integrate his exiled Minnesotan wolves with Cara's red wolves.

Cara and Adam clash in the way only fated mates ever do--and both refuse to accept their destiny. But when a pack of vicious Sazi raptors start to feed on the wolf-children of both packs, Cara and Adam must learn to respect each other, and embrace their future together to save the future of the Texan wolves.

Hailed as the "premiere authors of paranormal romance" and "true genre luminaries" by Romantic Times BOOKreviews, and winners of the 2006 Romantic Times Award for Best Werewolf Romance for Moon's Web, Cathy Clamp & C. T. Adams are back with another tale of shapeshifters, passion, and pack politics in Moon's Fury.

Magic Bites ($4.99), the first in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, is one I read in paper long ago and recommend; it's from Penguin, so this might be their new "low promotional pricing" point for a while. It appears that a new novel in the series will be released in July (Gunmetal Magic), but there is no description yet to go with the pre-order page (the paperback page claims 448 pages, but it's the same price and eligible for the 4-for-3 promotion that Amazon is running).

Book Description
Mercenary Kate Daniels cleans up urban problems of a paranormal kind. But her latest prey, a pack of undead warriors, presents her greatest challenge....

Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for magic… One moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters. Here skyscrapers topple under onslaught of magic; werebears and werehyenas prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds. In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, she must choose to do nothing and remain safe or to pursue his preternatural killer. Hiding is easy, but the right choice is rarely easy…

Some Girls Bite ($4.99), the first title in the Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill, is also a Penguin release, as well as one I read in paper (and have already replaced as an ebook, to keep it for re-reading). Another in the series looks to be set to release in August (Biting Cold), but there's no Kindle pre-order for it, yet.

Book Description
Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker—and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.

Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude— and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war—and there will be blood.

The Door into Summer ($2.99), by Robert A. Heinlein, is one I'd recommend if you are more of a SF than Fantasy fan.

Book Description
Electronics engineer Dan Davis has finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot with extraordinary abilities, destined to dramatically change the landscape of everyday routine. Then, with wild success just within reach, Dan's greedy partner and greedier fiancée trick him into taking the long sleep--suspended animation for thirty years. They never imagine that the future time in which Dan will awaken has mastered time travel, giving him a way to get back to them--and at them . . .

Once again, the author of Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers displays his genius. The Door in to Summer proves why Robert Heinlein's books have sold more than 50 million copies, winning countless awards, and earning him the title of Grand Master of Science Fiction.

Transgressions ($6.99), compiled/edited by McBain, is a large collection of novellas, all by names you'll recognize if you are a mystery/thriller fan.

Book Description
Forge Books is proud to present ... a quintessential classic of never-before-published tales from today's very best novelists. Featuring:

• "Walking Around Money" by Donald E. Westlake: The master of the comic mystery is back with an all-new novella featuring hapless crook John Dortmunder, who gets involved in a crime that supposedly no one will ever know happened. Naturally, when something it too good to be true, it usually is, and Dortmunder is going to get to the bottom of this caper before he's left holding the bag.
• "Hostages" by Anne Perry: The bestselling historical mystery author has written a tale of beautiful yet still savage Ireland today. In their eternal struggle for freedom, there is about to be a changing of the guard in the Irish Republican Army. Yet for some, old habits-and honor-still die hard, even at gunpoint.
• "The Corn Maiden" by Joyce Carol Oates: When a fourteen-year-old girl is abducted in a small New York town, the crime starts a spiral of destruction and despair as only this master of psychological suspense could write it.
• "Archibald Lawless, Anarchist at Large: Walking the Line" by Walter Mosley: Felix Orlean is a New York City journalism student who needs a job to cover his rent. An ad in the paper leads him to Archibald Lawless, and a descent into a shadow world where no one and nothing is as it first seems.
• "The Resurrection Man" by Sharyn McCrumb": During America's first century, doctors used any means necessary to advance their craft-including dissecting corpses. Sharyn McCrumb brings the South of the 1850s to life in this story of a man who is assigned to dig up bodies to help those that are still alive.
• "Merely Hate" by Ed McBain: When a string of Muslim cabdrivers are killed, and the evidence points to another ethnic group, the detectives of the 87th Precinct must hunt down a killer before the city explodes in violence.
• "The Things They Left Behind" by Stephen King: In the wake of the worst disaster on American soil, one man is coming to terms with the aftermath of the Twin Towers-when he begins finding the things they left behind.
• "The Ransome Women" by John Farris: A young and beautiful starving artist is looking to catch a break when her idol, the reclusive portraitist John Ransome offers her a lucrative year-long modeling contract. But how long will her excitement last when she discovers the fate shared by all Ransome's past subjects?
• "Forever" by Jeffery Deaver: Talbot Simms is an unusual cop-he's a statistician with the Westbrook County Sheriff Department. When two wealthy couples in the county commit suicide one right after the other, he thinks that it isn't suicide-it's murder, and he's going to find how who was behind it, and how the did it.
• "Keller's Adjustment" by Lawrence Block: Everyone's favorite hit man is back in MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block's novella, where the philosophical Keller deals out philosophy and murder on a meandering road trip from one end of the America to the other.

Faces of the Gone ($2.99), is the first in the Carter Ross series by Brad Parks

Book Description
Four bodies, each with a single bullet wound in the back of the head, stacked like cordwood in a weed-choked vacant lot: That’s the front-page news facing Carter Ross, investigative reporter with the Newark Eagle-Examiner. Immediately dispatched to the scene, Carter learns that the four victims—an exotic dancer, a drug dealer, a hustler, and a mama’s boy—came from different parts of the city and didn’t seem to know one another.

The police, eager to calm jittery residents, leak a theory that the murders are revenge for a bar stickup, and Carter’s paper, hungry for a scoop, hastily prints it. Carter doesn’t come from the streets, but he understands a thing or two about Newark’s neighborhoods. And he knows there are no quick answers when dealing with a crime like this.

Determined to uncover the true story, he enlists the aide of Tina Thompson, the paper’s smoking-hot city editor, to run interference at the office; Tommy Hernandez, the paper’s gay Cuban intern, to help him with legwork on the streets; and Tynesha Dales, a local stripper, to take him to Newark’s underside. It turns out that the four victims have one connection after all, and this knowledge will put Carter on the path of one very ambitious killer.

Faces of the Gone won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel and the Nero Award for Best American Mystery--it is the first book to receive both awards. The book was named to lists of the year's best mystery debuts by the Chicago Sun-Times and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Dear Money ($1.63), by Martha McPhee

Book Description
In this Pygmalion tale of a novelist turned bond trader, Martha McPhee brings to life the greed and riotous wealth of New York during the heady days of the second gilded age. India Palmer, living the cash-strapped existence of the writer, is visiting wealthy friends in Maine when a yellow biplane swoops down from the clear blue sky to bring a stranger into her life, one who will change everything.

The stranger is Win Johns, a swaggering and intellectually bored trader of mortgage-backed securities. Charmed by India's intelligence, humor, and inquisitive nature and aware of her near-desperate financial situation Win poses a proposition: Give me eighteen months and I'll make you a world-class bond trader. Shedding her artist's life with surprising ease, India embarks on a raucous ride to the top of the income chain, leveraging herself with crumbling real estate, never once looking back...Or does she?

With a light-handed irony that is by turns as measured as Claire Messud's and as biting as Tom Wolfe's, Martha McPhee tells the classic American story of people reinventing themselves, unaware of the price they must pay for their transformation.

On Violence ($2.99), by Hannah Arendt, is a non-fiction title currently discounted by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Book Description
An analysis of the nature, causes, and significance of violence in the second half of the twentieth century. Arendt also reexamines the relationship between war, politics, violence, and power. “Incisive, deeply probing, written with clarity and grace, it provides an ideal framework for understanding the turbulence of our times”(Nation).

About the Author
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) taught political science and philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, Brooklyn College, and the University of Chicago. She also wrote political studies "Origins of Totalitarianism" 1951, "The Human Condition" 1958, "Eichmann in Jerusalem" 1963

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter : The Georgia Years, 1924-1974 ($1.99), by E. Stanly Godbold Jr., is another of the Oxford University Press discounted books I've run across lately.

Book Description
Covering their lives from childhood to the end of the Georgia governorship, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter is one of the few major biographies of an American president that pays significant attention to the First Lady. So deeply were their lives and aspirations intertwined, a close friend once remarked: "You can't really understand Jimmy Carter unless you know Rosalynn." The story of one is the story of the other.

To recount their remarkable lives, E. Stanly Godbold, Jr. draws on academic and military records, the governor's correspondence, the recollections of the Carters themselves, as well as original, unpublished interviews with a wide variety of participants in the Carters' political and personal lives. The book reveals a man who was far more complex than the peanut farmer of popular myth, a man who cited both Reinhold Niebuhr and Bob Dylan as early influences on his legal philosophy, was heir to a sizable fortune, and who, with the help of Rosalynn, built a lucrative agribusiness. Nicknamed "Hotshot" by his father, Carter was the first president born in a hospital, rode a motorcycle before entering politics, counted Tolstoy, Dylan Thomas, William Faulkner, and James Agee among his favorite authors, and claimed his wife Rosalynn as the most influential person in his life.

Volume I in this two-volume biography details how the Carters rose to power, managed their private and public lives, governed Georgia, and seized control of the national Democratic party. The cast of colorful characters includes "Miss Allie" Smith, "Mr. Earl" and "Miss Lillian," brother Billy, Rachel Clark, Admiral Rickover, George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Richard Nixon, daughter Amy, Charles Kirbo, Hamilton Jordan, Jody Powell, and many more. It is a sweeping, Faulknerian tale of individuals who would change the image of the South in the national mind and the role of the South in the presidency. Indeed, Carter shocked the state of Georgia and the entire country by calling for an end to racial discrimination in 1971, thus launching his national political career.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter neither sanctifies nor vilifies the Carters but offers instead an even-handed, brilliantly researched, and utterly absorbing account of two ordinary people whose lives together took them to the heights of power and public service in America.

I'm going to close out with several presidential themed books on sale from publisher Sourcebooks, in recognition of today's holiday (Presidents' Day, here in the States). I'll include a link both the Kindle edition and the publisher's site, where you can pick up the EPUB or PDF editions (DRM'd), which should work for all the non-Kindle readers out there.

George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior ($2.51 Kindle; $2.99 Sourcebooks), by George Washington
George Washington was known as a remarkably modest and courteous man. Humility and flawless manners were so ingrained in his character that he rarely if ever acted without them.

The "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior" that governed Washington's etiquette were by turns practical, inspirational and curious. These rules are as instructive and invaluable today as they were hundreds of years ago.

George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior includes the complete text of the rules, as well as famous Washington writings such as "Farewell to the Armies speech"; "Inaugural Address"; "Retirement Address"; and "Address at the End of His Presidency".

George Washington's War: The Forging of a Revolutionary Leader and the American Presidency ($2.99 Kindle, Sourcebooks), by Bruce Chadwick
The American Revolution was won not on the battlefields, but in the mind of George Washington. A compulsively readable narrative and extensive history, George Washington's War illuminates how during the war's winter months the young general created a new model of leadership that became the model for the American presidency.

About the Author
Bruce Chadwick, Ph.D., lectures in American history at Rutgers University while also teaching writing at New Jersey City University. He is a former journalist and the author of four other historical books: Brother against Brother: The Lost Civil War Diaries of Lt. Edmund Halsey, Two American Presidents: Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis 1861-1865, Traveling the Underground Railroad and The Reel Civil War: Mythmaking in American Film.

General and Mrs. Washington: The Untold Story of a Marriage and a Revolution ($2.51 Kindle; $2.99 Sourcebooks), by Bruce Chadwick
Until now the story of the American Revolution has been incomplete. Many have told the stories of blood and battle, of heroes and traitors, but no one has told the tale of the union that helped form the Union.

The history of America's First Family is inexorably tied to the workings of the revolution. Martha's son Jackie (she had four children and George had none) was 28 when he died at Yorktown. George's own life would have been lost on multiple occasions if not for Martha. Only she could bring comfort and grace to the winter camps and it was in this manner that the revolutionaries came to see Martha not only as a kindred spirit, but as a beloved heroine.

Here is the story of the fateful marriage of the richest woman in Virginia and the man who could have been king. In telling their story, Chadwick explains not only their remarkable devotion to each other, but also why the wealthiest couple in Virginia became revolutionaries who risked the loss of not only their vast estates, but also their very lives.

Lincoln for President: An Unlikely Candidate, An Audacious Strategy, and the Victory No One Saw Coming ($2.51 Kindle; $2.99 Sourcebooks), by Bruce Chadwick
The untold story of the drama, controversy, and incredible political genius of Lincoln's first presidential campaign

In May of 1860, Republican delegates gathered in Chicago for their second-ever convention, with the full expectation of electing William Seward their next presidential candidate. But waiting in the wings was a dark horse no one suspected, putting the final touches on a plan that would not only result in a most unexpected candidacy, but the most brilliant, innovative, and daring presidential campaign in American history. He went by the name of Lincoln.

Lincoln for President is the incredible story of how Lincoln overcame overwhelming odds to not only capture his party's nomination but win the presidency. His amazingly modern strategy included the first media campaign blitz, convention tactics that originated the concept of "Chicago politics," and a deft manipulation of the electoral college. His bold tactics changed forever the way presidential campaigns are won?not to mention the course of American history.

Abraham Lincoln: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches ($2.99 Kindle, Sourcebooks), by Abraham Lincoln and Gordon Leidner
More than 140 years since his death, the enduring legacy of a great president, an American success story, and the celebrated leader of the Civil War continues. Abraham Lincoln: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches captures the essence of the sixteenth president. In addition to Lincoln's own words, Gordon Leidner includes insights into the man by those who knew him best, from his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, to his greatest political opponent, Stephen A. Douglas. Numerous photographs add to the charm and usefulness of the book.

1858: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and the War They Failed to See ($2.99 Kindle, Sourcebooks), by Bruce Chadwick
As 1858 dawned, the men who would become the iconic figures of the Civil War had no idea it was about to occur: Jefferson Davis was dying, Robert E. Lee was on the verge of resigning from the military, and William Tecumseh Sherman had been reduced to running a roadside food stand. By the end of 1858, the lives of these men would be forever changed, and the North and South were set on a collision course that would end with the deaths of 630,000 young men.

This is the story of seven men on the brink of a war that would transform them into American legends, and the events of the year that set our union on fire.

What Would Lincoln Do?: Lincoln's Most Inspired Solutions to Challenging Problems and Difficult Situations ($2.99 Kindle, Sourcebooks), by David Acord
A fun and insightful guide to common problems people face and how the Great Emanicaptor would tackle them.

Using actual tactics Lincoln recorded in his letters and speeches, readers will learn how to:

• Deal with unpleasant coworkers
• Give advice to a close friend without hurting his feelings
• Say no to a relative's request for a loan
• Respond to unfair rumors and accusations at the office
• Clear the air after an argument
• Stand your ground in difficult circumstances
• Inspire the people around you

How much easier would it be to tackle your everyday problems if you could have Lincoln advising you? What Would Lincoln Do? is a must-have guide for Lincoln fans and anyone wishing to benefit from the advice from one of history's top leaders.