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Showing posts with label DRM-Free Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DRM-Free Books. Show all posts

Monday, June 3, 2013

Daily Deal - A Patch of Darkness (DF)

A Patch of Darkness ($5.50 $4.24 Kindle), the first title in the Sierra Fox urban fantasy series by Yolanda Sfetsos [Samhain Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.10 (8 copies left).
Book Description
All it takes is one weak seam for everything to fall apart.

In a perfect world, Sierra Fox would have stayed away from the Council she left years ago. But in this world—where spirits have the right to walk among the living—it’s her job to round up troublesome spooks and bring them before that very same Council.

Though her desk is piled high with open cases, she can’t resist an anonymous summons to a mysterious late-night meeting with a bunch of other hunters, each of whom seems to have a unique specialty. The news is dire: something is tearing at the fabric of the universe. If the hunters can’t find who or why in time, something’s going to give in a very messy way.

As current cases, family secrets, new clues and her tangled love life slowly wind themselves into an impossible knot, Sierra finds herself the target of a power-sucking duo intent on stealing her mojo. And realizing she holds the key to the last hope of sealing the widening rift.

Warning: Spook catching: may contain traces of ectoplasm and otherworldly nasties. Not recommended for those with allergies to ghosts, demons, and with boyfriends who think your power is theirs. While reading, avoid dark patches and stay to the light.
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out. Deals change at 11AM Eastern Time, USA.

Friday, May 31, 2013

Daily Deal - Plastered in Stonington (DF)

Plastered in Stonington ($4.50 $3.60 Kindle), the third title in the Kate Bart Mysteries series by Rosemary Goodwin [Samhain Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $0.90 (9 copies left).
Book Description
Sour grapes are the least of their problems…

The new skill decorating Kate’s resume—licensed PI—officially qualifies her to be Dutch’s partner in crime fighting. Unofficially, their personal relationship has grown well into serious territory.

Both halves of her life are called into service when Kate is hired to redesign the tasting room at Fiona and Cameron MacPherson’s winery. It doesn’t take long to figure out all is not sunshine and roses at Goose Pond, and Dutch agrees to look into some serious safety issues that have led to a string of mishaps.

When another incident results in a death, and it’s clear that this time it’s no accident, Kate and Dutch dig deeper to zero in on who’s responsible. The neighboring vintner who covets Goose Pond’s winery? The tasting room totsie seen skulking about with the MacPhersons’ sulky son?

As their investigation comes closer and closer to bearing fruit, the bullets start flying—and it seems that whoever’s pulling the trigger wants them all to pay the piper—in blood.

Warning: Contains an interior decorating PI with a talent for finding trouble, and her tough-and-tender PI boyfriend who can’t wait to get his hands on her. If only it’s to pull her out of harm’s way.
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out. Deals change at 11AM Eastern Time, USA.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Daily Deal - Stripper: The Fringe (DF)

Stripper ($5.50 $4.24 Kindle), the fourth novel in The Fringe series by Anitra Lynn McLeod [Samhain Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.10 (9 copies left).
Book Description
The woman he can’t forget…a betrayal that must be forgiven.

Duster Jennings loves his job as master-of-arms on Windmere, the only independent planet in the galaxy. Except he has no life. Not since his dream of a large, loving family was ripped to shreds by Diane Black. The woman who abandoned him.

Desperate to move on, Duster pays a fortune to board a courtesan ship and hire a “stripper”—a specialist in erasing unwanted memories. Except when he wakes up, his memories are intact, his money is gone…and the woman he vowed to forget is holding him captive.

When Diane Black discovers her mysterious client is Duster, she’s overjoyed to learn he’s still alive—and unsure what to do with him now. Seven years ago her mission was to kill him. Instead she fell in love. If the network finds out she let him go, it won’t be just her and Duster’s necks in the noose.

Duster’s fury knows no bounds…and damn it, neither does the lust that still burns for her. But when their ship is attacked, survival means trusting each other with their backs—even if they can no longer trust their hearts.

Warning: Contains a knife-wielding hero overcoming a crackleseed addiction, a heroine with a secret skill and a more secret past, bitter betrayals, burning lusts, and bulging canvas trousers.
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Daily Deal - Acceptable Risks (DF)

Acceptable Risks ($5.99 $4.61 Kindle), the 2013 winner of the EPIC eBook Award for Romantic Suspense by Natalie J. Damschroder [Carina Press], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.20 (8 copies left). Since it is DRM-Free, it's easily converted (via Calibre) to read on the Kindle, but if you get the Amazon edition, you can also get the the companion audiobook for $2.99.
Book Description
When security expert Jason Templeton's team is ambushed while protecting a weapons manufacturer vital to U.S. interests, he risks his life to save the man's daughter...and loses. Unbeknownst to Jason, his mentor had been funding experimental medical procedures after losing his young wife. Using the untested drugs, Jason is brought back to life, stronger and faster than before, but also vulnerable in new ways. He's determined to find the traitor in their midst, who is after the miracle drug.

That means protecting the brilliant scientist Lark Madrassa. Their attraction and compatibility are undeniable, but Jason tries to deny his growing feelings for her, thinking he is too damaged. When Lark's father is kidnapped they have to rely on each other in a dangerous plot to uncover the double agent. Before, Jason always accepted the risks—but what about when the life of the woman he loves is on the line?
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Daily Deal - Worlds Apart (DF)

Worlds Apart ($6.50 $5.00 Kindle), an Erotic Romance novella by Barbara Elsborg [Samhain Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books (it was the deal yesterday at EBook Eros, but sold out, as has today's deal there), where it's discounted to $1.30 (1 copies left).

Book Description
Love has never been so close—or seemed so far away.

I love you. Niall is in hiding, but not from the police. He’s trapped between the world he longs for and a place he can’t leave behind. Cursed to hold his tongue, unable to claim what he wants until it’s given, he’s allowed one year to capture his heart's desire. But speaking those three simple words, the most important words in his life, might very well kill him.

I can’t love you. As a private investigator, Taylor walks daily through the ashes of love burned out. He’s witnessed the aftermath of love—destroyed marriages and wrecked lives that leave behind nothing but bitter memories of betrayal. He’s convinced that love will never plant a seed in his heart—until Niall sparks a completely unexpected reaction in both mind and body.

I want to love you. Roo has spent her entire life bouncing from relationship to relationship, offering her heart only to get it trampled on. When she finds herself out in the cold again, she discovers love can come from the most surprising of places. Her choices are simple. Do the right thing. Do the wrong thing. Do nothing. The wrong choice could be simply devastating…

Warning: Beware faeries with killer tattoos and girls dressed as chickens — broken hearts can follow… Or lots of love. And lots of sex—three-way, two-way, every which way. But no chicken sex. Thank god.
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Fishy Friday Bargain Book Roundup


Save 50% on all Ebooks and Videos to celebrate Day Against DRM
Over at O'Reilly Books, they are celebrating the Day Against DRM and you can get 50% off a DRM-Free ebook (and their entire catalog is DRM-Free) using coupon code DRM2013;orders over $60 get 60% off, today only. Remember, you also get lifetime updates on any of your purchases at O'Reilly.

Fish Grilled & Smoked: 150 Recipes for Cooking Rich, Flavorful Fish on the Backyard Grill, Streamside, or in a Home Smoker ($2.99 Kindle), by John Manikowski [Storey Publishing]
Book Description
Master fisherman and chef John Manikowski offers seafood lovers 150 succulent recipes for cooking just about anything that swims, including freshwater fish, ocean fish, and shellfish, as well as fish-friendly condiments, sauces, side dishes, and desserts. He even suggests beers and wines that pair well with his dishes. In addition to recipes, you'll find step-by-step instructions for rigging a smoker streamside, operating a smoker at home, and building a full-size backyard smokehouse. You'll even learn which species of fish are best for smoking, and you'll discover the secret of Manikowski's delicious and innovative "soft smoke" method.

Serendip: Fish and Seafood ($4.99 Kindle), by Peter Kuruvita [Murdoch Books]
Book Description
In Serendip: Fish & Seafood, Peter Kuruvita, acclaimed chef from Flying Fish in Sydney, takes us on a rich and rewarding journey through the traditional cuisine of Sri Lanka, its culture of family and ceremony, and the colourful approach to life on this beautiful island nation. Offering Sri Lankan seafood curries such as White Curry and Jardi well as recipes for curry powders, chutneys, sambals and pickles, Serendip: Fish & Seafood is a treasury of delicious and flavoursome dishes.

All the Lives He Led ($3.45 Kindle), by Frederik Pohl [Macmillan]. This has been falling in price along with the paper edition, so could jump back up at any time.
Book Description
Two thousand years after Pompeii’s destruction, a thriller of upheaval—volcanic and political—as only SF Grandmaster Frederik Pohl can write it!

With a keen eye for the humanity in any situation, science fiction icon Frederik Pohl has crafted a compelling new novel of a not-too-distant future we can only hope is merely science fiction.

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. it gave so little warning that Pompeiians were caught unawares, and many bodies were preserved in volcanic ash. Two thousand years later, in 2079, Pompeii is a popular theme park eagerly anticipating Il Giubeleo, the Jubilee celebration of the great anniversary. But Vesuvius is still capable of erupting, and even more threatening are terrorists who want to use the occasion to draw attention to their cause by creating a huge disaster. As the fateful day draws near, people from all over the world—workers, tourists, terrorists—caught in the shadow of the volcano will grapple with upheaval both natural and political.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

The Magician's Assistant ($2.51 Kindle), by Ann Patchett [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]
Book Description
Sabine-- twenty years a magician's assistant to her handsome, charming husband-- is suddenly a widow. In the wake of his death, she finds he has left a final trick; a false identity and a family allegedly lost in a tragic accident but now revealed as very much alive and well. Named as heirs in his will, they enter Sabine's life and set her on an adventure of unraveling his secrets, from sunny Los Angeles to the windswept plains of Nebraska, that will work its own sort of magic on her.

Alien Sex: 19 Tales by the Masters of Science Fiction and Dark Fantasy ($2.99 Kindle), edited by Ellen Datlow [Open Road]. As always from this publisher, I can recommend this for any SciFi/Fantasy short story fans. You can see a complete list of the stories and authors included by clicking the book's cover at Amazon and using the Look Inside feature.
Book Description
Harlan Ellison, Richard Christian Matheson, Connie Willis, and many more contribute to a compelling psychological exploration of the many shades of love

An incubus disguised as a high school girl puts a disturbing spin on the teacher/student fantasy. An engineer creates a robot with unexpected consequences during the end of the world. A man becomes the pet of alien invaders. From stories of aliens in other worlds to those living among us, these tales will move you out of your comfort zone and open you up to experiencing something—or someone—completely different.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Ellen Datlow, including rare photos from the editor’s personal collection.

Bunker Hill ($2.99 Kindle), by Howard Fast, is an even better deal in Canada, where it's marked down to $1.02.
Book Description
One battle will determine the fate of Boston

Three thousand soldiers from the world's greatest army are cornered in Boston, surrounded by farmers and doctors turned rebel soldiers and generals. For a week both sides are at an impasse, until June 17, 1775, when the standstill comes to a violent, bloody end on Breed's and Bunker hills.
In Bunker Hill, master storyteller Howard Fast recounts the unlikely battle that changed the course of the Revolutionary War forever. Tensions rise among both the British and Colonial soldiers as political and tactical frustrations, dissent, confusion, and fear threaten to tear both sides apart before the fighting even begins.

Now You See Me ($2.99 Kindle), the first Lacey Flint thriller by S. J. Bolton [Macmillan]
Book Description
One night after interviewing a reluctant witness at a London apartment complex, Lacey Flint, a young detective constable, stumbles onto a woman brutally stabbed just moments before in the building’s darkened parking lot. Within twenty-four hours a reporter receives an anonymous letter that points out alarming similarities between the murder and Jack the Ripper’s first murder—a letter that calls out Lacey by name. If it’s real, and they have a killer bent on re-creating London’s bloody past, history shows they have just five days until the next attempt.

No one believes the connections are anything more than a sadistic killer’s game, not even Lacey, whom the killer seems to be taunting specifically. However, as they investigate the details of the case start reminding her more and more of a part of her past she’d rather keep hidden. And the only way to do that is to catch the killer herself.

Fast paced and completely riveting, S. J. Bolton’s Now You See Me is a modern gothic novel that is nothing less than a masterpiece of suspense fiction. Now You See Me is a Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011 Mysteries title.
One of Library Journal's Best Mystery Books of 2011

Bloodchild: And Other Stories ($3.99 Kindle), by Octavia E. Butler, is another short story collection by a SciFi great, brought back into (e)print by Open Road.
Book Description
Six remarkable stories from a master of modern science fiction

Octavia E. Butler’s classic “Bloodchild,” winner of both the Nebula and Hugo awards, anchors this collection of incomparable stories and essays. “Bloodchild” is set on a distant planet where human children spend their lives preparing to become hosts for the offspring of the alien Tlic. Sometimes the procedure is harmless, but often it is not. Also included is the Hugo Award–winning “Speech Sounds,” about a near future in which humans must adapt after an apocalyptic event robs them of their ability to speak.

In these pages, Butler shows us life on Earth and amongst the stars, telling her tales with characteristic imagination and clarity.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.

Louisa May Alcott Collection 39 Works: Little Women Series (Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men, Jo's Boys), An Old Fasioned Girl, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Mysterious Key, Under the Lilacs, MORE ($1.99 Kindle), by Louisa May Alcott [Doma Publishing House], is a collection of public domain works, all nicely formatted and with an active TOC (and with two additional public-domain works tossed in, as a bonus).
Book Description
Doma Publishing presents to you this Louisa May Alcott Collection, which has been designed and formatted specifically for your Amazon Kindle. Unlike other e-book editions, the text and chapters are perfectly set up to match the layout and feel of a physical copy, rather than being haphazardly thrown together for a quick release.

This edition also comes with a linked Table of Contents for both the list of included books and their respective chapters. Navigation couldn't be easier.

Free Book - Deep-Fried Goodness (DF)

Deep-Fried Goodness, which looks to be a 20 recipe sampler of recipes taken from John Martin Taylor's The Fearless Frying Cookbook ($8.76 Kindle), is free direct from Workman Publishing this month, as a part of their Blue Plate Specials promotion. Taylor's earlier cookbook, Hoppin' John's Lowcountry Cooking: Recipes and Ruminations from Charleston and the Carolina Coastal Plain ($13.75 Kindle), has been re-released in a 20th Anniversary Edition by The University of North Carolina Press and he has three more that are still only available as used paper copies (so far).
Book Description
James Beard Award-winning author Crescent Dragonwagon gives the humble bean its proper due, showcasing its versatility in stovetop recipes from refried beans to falafel and tofu.
Get the free ebook from Workman, using promo code d34rd4d (no spaces and those are numbers in places of some letters). You can download a DRM-Free copy in MOBI or EPUB format.

The Fearless Frying Cookbook
Fried food is crispy, juicy, golden, and tasty. It's food that inspires passion, and no matter what anyone says about health you're going to find a way to eat it. But wait, even the health news isn't so bad-if food is fried properly.

Hoppin' John Martin Taylor, well-respected food writer and author of Lowcountry Cooking, first shows how food that is cooked in clean, hot oil can be virtually greaseless. Hoppin' John's collection of over 125 fast, easy-to-prepare recipes not only includes the essentials-from fritters to corn cake, Smothered Steak to Pan-Fried Pork Chops-but offers lots of unexpected treats, too, with Asian, Mexican, Indian, and other influences. There are Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Italian Zucchini Pancakes, and Whole Fried Fish with Spicy Thai Sauce.
Hoppin' John's Lowcountry Cooking
At oyster roasts and fancy cotillions, in fish camps and cutting-edge restaurants, the people of South Carolina gather to enjoy one of America's most distinctive cuisines--the delicious, inventive fare of the Lowcountry. In his classic Hoppin' John's Lowcountry Cooking, John Martin Taylor brings us 250 authentic and updated recipes for regional favorites, including shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, pickled watermelon rinds, and Frogmore stew. Taylor, who grew up casting shrimp nets in Lowcountry marshes, adds his personal experiences in bringing these dishes to the table and leads readers on a veritable treasure hunt throughout the region, giving us a delightful taste of an extraordinary way of life

Friday, April 19, 2013

Diesel Daily Deal - Super Sock Man (DF)

Super Sock Man ($3.99 $3.03 Kindle), a novella in the Knitting series of LGBT romances by Amy Lane [Dreamspinner Press], is today's Deal of the "Day" at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $0.80 (9 copies left).

Book Description
Donnie’s crush on his sister’s roommate, Alejandro, has gone beyond childhood dreams—and it’s driving Donnie insane! So when Donnie gets a chance to house-sit for his sister and Yandro, Donnie doesn’t feel alone. He’s got all his vivid fantasies to keep him company! Can a little dumb luck—and a little help from a magical homemade gift—help Donnie’s fantasies come true?
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Diesel Daily Deal - Soaring Eagle's Embrace (DF)

Soaring Eagle's Embrace ($3.99 $3.03 Kindle), the fourth title in The Legendary Warriors series by Karen Kay [Samhain], is today's Deal of the "Day" at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $0.90 (9 copies left). It is DRM-free, so the EPUB you download can be converted via Calibre to use on Kindle devices.

Book Description
Kali Wallace has no room in her busy life for marriage. Instead, she is following her father into a photography career, striving to capture the beauty of the Wild West and its vanishing Indian cultures before they both disappear forever.

Montana’s Blackfeet country is everything she could have dreamed—and more. At night a handsome man gently invades her sleep. Their nightly encounters become more and more real until one bright morning, she is startled to find everything has changed.

Lawyer by profession, Blackfeet by blood, Clay Soaring Eagle is determined to do everything in his power—legally and spiritually—to save his people’s way of life. He trusts no one of the white race, and hopes that once Kali’s task is done, she will leave and take temptation with her.

The spirits have their own plan. As their passion burns with a brightness that rivals the stars, Clay and Kali are aware that it can never last…unless they find a way to make their two worlds come together as one.

Warning: Contains soul-stirring dreams, passionate unions, and a mountain-top quest that will leave you hungry to see these two lovers get their happily ever after.
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Free Audiobook - When the Death-Bat Flies (DF)

The download edition of Strange Detective Mysteries Audiobook - When the Death-Bat Flies, by Norvell W. Page and the 20th in the Will Murray's Pulp Classics series, read by Michael C. Gwynne, is free direct from RadioArchives.com. There is no Kindle edition available for this one, although there are a number of Page's titles starting to show up, including The Spider Omnibus #1; the only available volume that includes the stories in this audiobook is the paperback When the Death-Bat Flies: The Detective Stories of Norvell Page.
Book Description
In the Fall of 1937, Popular Publications launched a new type of detective magazine, one that combined the Weird Menace-style stories that had made Terror Tales and Horror Stories so hot with readers of hardboiled detective-action tales.They called it Strange Detective Mysteries.

In his first-issue editorial, Managing Editor Rogers Terrill set the stage:

“Remember the time you read that one perfect knockout, detective story—bizarre, mysterious, thrill-packed, different? It still remains the detective story for you. You’ve wondered why you never found another. You searched bookstores, library shelves, newsstands—but you just couldn’t find that brand!

“Beginning with this issue—we give you Strange Detective Mysteries—not only one bizarre, thrilling eerie-laden mystery story such as you’ve searched for, but a whole magazine full of them!

“Because you have sought for this highest type of detective story, without finding it, you can understand at what cost we bring you this magazine. Months of planning and effort have gone into its making. The best known and most able detective-story writers have been called upon—for their best. Only the smallest proportion of a flood of manuscripts has been chosen.

“Crime-detection, adventure, baffling mystery—all this you will find in Strange Detective Mysteries. In addition, you will find that quality which appears in a detective story only once in a blue moon—the bizarre!”

Terrill used the word bizarre no less than five times in his editorial, italicizing it twice. He was serious! Strange Detective Mysteries was beyond weird.

For his lead novel, Terrill served up When the Death-Bat Flies, by the writer he called “America’s No. 1 Master of the Extraordinary Mystery Tale”—The Spider’s Norvell W. Page. Starring master magician Aubrei Dunne, it was a wild excursion into a criminal cult dedicated to murder and mayhem.

In Madame Murder—and the Corpse Brigade, Paul Ernst offered an even more bizarre hero—Seekay, the man with no face!

The detective protagonist of Wayne Rogers’ The Headman’s Hat-Box witnesses a murder committed by—himself!

In George Armin Shaftel’s The Miracle Murder Case, a prison break is engineered by an unknown mastermind who terrorizes society with a strange super-weapon!

Terror Tales favorite Arthur Leo Zagat’s Patients for Dr. Death revisits the realm of Jack the Ripper—but with an uncanny twist.

Finally, Norbert Davis’ Idiot’s Coffin Keepsake takes us to a weird mansion and the grisly mystery of the missing hand.

Read by Michael C. Gwynne, Roy Worley and Roger Price, this RadioArchives.com audiobook brings to vibrant life one of the most exciting first issues of any pulp mystery magazine ever published!
Get the free ebook from RadioArchives.com; use coupon code AUDIOBOOK during checkout (make sure your total is zero after applying; you should not need to enter any CC info).

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Book Review - Terms of Enlistment

I just finished reading Terms of Enlistment ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords - DRM-Free), by Marko Kloos, and if you are a SciFi fan, especially of military SciFi, you'll want to run and grab this right away. Mr. Kloos has just announced that he has been signed on with a literary agent and that generally means that once he signs on with a major publisher, the self-published edition of the book gets removed from the bookstores (and when it comes back, the price is generally a lot higher). There are exceptions, such as Hugh Howey's print-only deal, but this book hasn't been at the top of the charts quite long enough to have the clout of the Wool series; it is, though, bouncing around at #2 to #4 in SciFi sales at Amazon, after a steady climb up since it was released, and #1 in both Adventure and Military SciFi categories. For those who criticize indie authors over grammar and spelling, I did spot one missing word, one missing letter (turning "now" into "no" and one incorrect letter "be" instead of "me"). If there were more, I didn't notice and other than a stumble in reading when I hit these, they didn't detract from the action. The dialog is good and there weren't any preachy passages or long bouts of exposition, has I've found in some other books that I've seen recommended on some forums.

The story itself takes place in the near future, when the population of earth has grown to the point that tens of millions of people live in public housing in most US cities, subsisting on the daily nutrition rations given out every week (14 meals per person, 2000 calories per day, but zero taste, to discourage theft and black market value). Vouchers to shop in a store (similar to today's food stamps) are given out on a lottery basis (and armed guards are used at the fortified positions where they are issued), not that they buy much, with a $100 voucher being about what is required for a single serving of beef. Pollution across most of the world dictates that even remote areas need environmental controls for air and all cities recycle waste to have enough water. Crime is rampant, privacy in housing non-existent (and the furnishings are bolted down) and jobs few and far between.

What hope does exist? Either a lottery win to settle an offworld planet (a very, very few winners) and the opportunity to try to get into the military, an all-volunteer force that accepts perhaps 10% of applicants and lets you leave boot camp for any reason, as they want at least a 50% washout rate. You don't get paid in the military, where most go off to space as Marines, fighting the Sino-Russian forces off-world, an elite few get into the Navy (pilots and a very few others to run their automated ships), while a few others stay on Earth to protect embassies, enforce the peace against rowdy countries and quell riots in local cities, when a million or two people try to burn down buildings or just shoot up the Army. If you survive five years, you get a final payout, real money in the bank, and discharge papers (which presumably let you try to live somewhere other than the tenements of the cities); if you quit, get injured enough to be forced out or die, you pay is forfeited to reimburse the government for your training, room and board.

Terms of Enlistment follows one recruit, Andrew, from his time at home, getting ready to report in for his enlistment, thru basic training (think co-ed USMC boot-camp, with one big difference - if you don't want to stay, you can just leave and any infraction, disobeying of an order or just failing to keep up phsysically or mentally, gets you dropped immediately and sent back home). There are other differences, of course, such as the very cool weapons that look and feel real, including feedback on use, but are computer targeted, so that infantry style war-game training can occur (missing from basic - any actual shooting of live weapons, due to the cost, apparently). Testing also includes basic drop-ship piloting via simulators (nothing much like that when I went thru), to see who has the ability to even begin training them as such in the Navy (and from what I could tell, many officers go thru the enlisted ranks first, which is more uncommon today). Somehow, though, he manages to graduate (although his platoon of 40 has shrank to a reduce strength in the low teens) and goes off to his first assignment.

I don't want to include spoilers, so I won't reveal where Andrew ends up, but he goes thru several very interesting battles before the end, with quite a few narrow escapes and one very lucky turn of events (then again, who'd read the story of the ones who flunked out of basic or who had ordinary careers with nothing interesting happening?). There is a love interest, of course, although it's something of a minor side-story and there is nothing explicit. I finished in a couple of days (although I did stay up late, reading) and can't wait for the next in the series. I expect that story line to be much more "traditional" Military Space SciFi in nature, but could be wrong. If you liked the Ender's Game series, you should enjoy this novel as well; we can only hope that as many titles are planned for this series as Card managed.

Book Description
The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements, where you're restricted to 2,000 calories of badly flavored soy every day. You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world, or you can join the service.

Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces of the North American Commonwealth, for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth. But as he starts a career of supposed privilege, he soon learns that the good food and decent health care come at a steep price…and that the settled galaxy holds far greater dangers than military bureaucrats or angry welfare rats with guns.
A review copy of this novel was provided in electronic form by the author.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Free Book - Bean, Meet Skillet (DF)

Bean, Meet Skillet, which looks to be a 26 recipe sampler of recipes taken from Crescent Dragonwagon's Bean By Bean: A Cookbook: More than 175 Recipes for Fresh Beans, Dried Beans, Cool Beans, Hot Beans, Savory Beans, Even Sweet Beans! ($8.61 Kindle), is free direct from Workman Publishing this month, as a part of their Blue Plate Specials promotion. Since Bean By Bean weighs in at 400 pages, it's a pretty good deal if you want more than the sampler provides.
Book Description
James Beard Award-winning author Crescent Dragonwagon gives the humble bean its proper due, showcasing its versatility in stovetop recipes from refried beans to falafel and tofu.
Get the free ebook from Workman, using promo code l0v3f0rb34nz (no spaces and those are numbers in places of some letters). You can download a DRM-Free copy in MOBI or EPUB format. As an extra bonus, get a springtime dispatch and a recipe for a Sugar Snap Pea salad from Crescent Dragonwagon on Workman's website.

Bean By Bean: A Cookbook
Has there ever been a more generous ingredient than the bean? Down-home, yet haute, soul-satisfyingly hearty, valued, versatile deeply delectable, healthful, and inexpensive to boot, there’s nothing a bean can’t do—and nothing that Crescent Dragonwagon can’t do with beans. From old friends like chickpeas and pintos to rediscovered heirloom beans like rattlesnake beans and teparies, from green beans and fresh shell beans to peanuts, lentils, and peas, Bean by Bean is the definitive cookbook on beans. It’s a 175-plus recipe cornucopia overflowing with information, kitchen wisdom, lore, anecdotes, and a zest for good food and good times.

Consider the lentil, to take one example. Discover it first in a delicious slather, Lentil Tapenade. Then in half a dozen soups, including Sahadi’s Lebanese Lentil Soup with Spinach, Kerala-Style Dahl, and Crescent’s Very, Very Best Lentil, Mushroom & Barley Soup. It then turns up in Marinated Lentils De Puy with Greens, Baked Beets, Oranges & Walnuts. Plus there’s Jamaica Jerk-Style Lentil-Vegetable Patties, Ethiopian Lentil Stew, and Lentil-Celeriac Skillet Sauce. Do the same for black beans—from Tex-Mex Frijoles Dip to Feijoada Vegetariana to Maya’s Magic Black Beans with Eggplant & Royal Rice. Or shell beans—Newly Minted Puree of Fresh Favas, Baked Limas with Rosy Sour Cream, Edamame in a Pod. And on and on—from starters and soups to dozens of entrees. Even desserts: Peanut Butter Cup Brownies and Red Bean Ice Cream.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Bargain Book Roundup

If you haven't already bought The Way of Kings ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the first title in Brandon Sanderson Stormlight Archive fantasy series, then definitely grab it now. Tor Books has it discounted, while we wait for the second title in the series (Words of Radiance), along with a contest to win a copy of the paper edition on their blog.
Book Description
Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.


and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Blues Highway Blues: A Crossroads Thriller ($2.00 Kindle), by Eyre Price [Thomas & Mercer]. This book also has an accompanying soundtrack, that you can pick up at Amazon, Six Feet of Peace: Songs from and Inspired by Blues Highway Blues, and a companion audiobook for $1.99.
Book Description
Winner of the Best Book of the Year awarded by Blues411

Music mogul Daniel Erickson’s life has come to a perilous crossroads. Literally. He has a ruthless pair of killers on his tail and is chasing a million dollars that he owes a Russian mobster.

Standing along the same Mississippi highway where legend claims that bluesman Robert Johnson traded his immortal soul for matchless command of the guitar, Daniel finds himself on a path that parallels the evolution of American music from the Mississippi Delta to New Orleans and on to Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, the Jersey Shore, New York, and Seattle.

At every stop, Daniel’s tour gets more dangerous with the hit men closing in, an FBI agent obsessed with his capture, and a rogue motorcycle gang hunting him down. Blues Highway Blues, Eyre Price’s debut novel, is a compelling and unique combination: part edge-of-your-seat road trip across America and part examination of the music that comprises its soundtrack.

Slash and Burn ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the third thriller in the Joe Hunter series by Matt Hilton [HarperCollins], is joined on sale by the second in the series, Judgment and Wrath ($3.79 Kindle).
Book Description
Fans of Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Robert Crais, John Sandford, and Michael Connelly have a new hero to root for: author Matt Hilton’s former military Special Forces operative-turned-problem solver, Joe Hunter. Slash and Burn is the third electrifying thriller in the Hunter series, as the emotional stakes are raised to the limit when he and his new lady love set out to find her missing sister and run head-first into a maniacal Texas millionaire sadist with shady allegiances, a serious bloodlust, and his own private army. Like Dead Men’s Dust and Judgment and Wrath, Hilton’s previous Joe Hunter page-turners, Slash and Burn provides action to the nth degree, and powerfully supports the contention of California’s Contra Costa Times that, “Hunter is one of the most exciting new tough guys to come along in years.”

Dalton's Undoing ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo) and Light the Stars ($1.99 Kindle, B&N) are the first and third titles in RaeAnne Thayne's Cowboys of Cold Creek series [Harlequin Special Releases].

Dalton's Undoing
He was known as a major player who'd left a swath of broken hearts across the Teton Valley. Yet when single mother Jenny Boyer saw the tenderness in Seth Dalton's eyes when he looked at her children — not to mention her — it was impossible for her to believe it was all a game.

She was new to this small town, a school principal who needed to be respected. The last man she should be getting involved with was the Hunk of Cold Creek! But every time Seth came near, Jenny could feel herself falling...like all of the women who'd come before her. So why did she hope that her story would have a different ending — as in, happily ever after?
Light the Stars
Wade Dalton was having a very bad day.

His five-year-old had accidentally set the kitchen on fire. His daughter was surly, as usual. The baby hadn't been fed yet. And his mother--aka "The Childminder"--had eloped...with a scam artist. Could it get any worse?

Turned out it could. Because the annoyingly beautiful daughter of said scam artist was now at the door, batting her doe eyes at him and proposing that she be his temporary nanny while awaiting the newlyweds' return. Could he trust her to be under his roof? Could he trust himself with her under his roof?

Brave New World ($2.99 Kindle), by Aldous Huxley, also has a deal on the companion audiobook for $4.95 (but is $8-$10 in other stores I checked). This is a "classic" that everyone should read (if only to be able to understand some of Apple's old SuperBowl ads).
Book Description
Huxley's bleak future prophesized in Brave New World was a capitalist civilization which had been reconstituted through scientific and psychological engineering, a world in which people are genetically designed to be passive and useful to the ruling class. Satirical and disturbing, Brave New World is set some 600 years ahead, in "this year of stability, A.F. 632"--the A.F. standing for After Ford, meaning the godlike Henry Ford. "Community, Identity, Stability," is the motto. Reproduction is controlled through genetic engineering, and people are bred into a rigid class system. As they mature, they are conditioned to be happy with the roles that society has created for them. The rest of their lives are devoted to the pursuit of pleasure through sex, recreational sports, the getting and having of material possessions, and taking a drug called Soma. Concepts such as family, freedom, love, and culture are considered grotesque.

Against this backdrop, a young man known as John the Savage is brought to London from the remote desert of New Mexico. What he sees in the new civilization a "brave new world" (quoting Shakespeare’s The Tempest). However, ultimately, John challenges the basic premise of this society in an act that threatens and fascinates its citizens.

Huxley uses his entire prowess to throw the idea of utopia into reverse, presenting us what is known as the "dystopian" novel. When Brave New World was written (1931), neither Hitler nor Stalin had risen to power. Huxley saw the enduring threat to society from the dark side of scientific and social progress, and mankind's increasing appetite for simple amusement. Brave New World is a work that indicts the idea of progress for progress sake and is backed up with force and reason.

Slow Way Home ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by Michael Morris [HarperCollins].
Book Description
On the surface, Brandon Willard seems like your average eight-year-old boy. He loves his mama, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and G. I. Joe. But Brandon's life is anything but typical.

Wise beyond his years, Brandon understands he's the only one in this world he can count on. It's an outlook that serves him well the day his mama leaves him behind at the Raleigh bus station and sets off to Canada with "her destiny" -- the latest man that she hopes will bring her happiness. The day his mother leaves, Brandon takes the first step toward shaping his own destiny. Soon he sends himself spending pleasant days playing with his cousins on his grandparents' farm and trying to forget the past. In the safety of that place, Brandon finally is able to trust the love of an adult to help iron out the wiry places until his nerves are as steady as any other boy's.

But when Sophie Willard shows up a year later with a determined look in her eye and a new man in tow, Brandon's grandparents ignore a judge's ruling and flee the state with Brandon. Creating a new life and identity in a small Florida town, Brandon meets the people who will fill him with self-worth and self-respect. He slowly becomes involved with "God's Hospital," a church run by the gregarious Sister Delores, a woman who is committed to a life of service for all members of the community, black and white, regardless of some townsfolk's disapproval.

Resonance ($0.99 Kindle), by Chris Dolley, is currently self-published (via Book View Cafe, which does some editing services), but was at one time available from Baen Books.
Book Description
Graham Smith is a 33 year old office messenger. To the outside world he's an obsessive compulsive mute - weird but harmless. But to Graham Smith, it's the world that's weird. And far from harmless. He sees things other can't...or won't. He knows that roads can change course, people disappear, office blocks migrate across town - all at night when no one's looking.

Only by following a rigid routine can he lessen these effects. If he walks the same route to work every morning and catches the same train, and keeps himself to himself, then there's a good chance his house will still be where he left it when he returns home in the evening.

Then he meets Annalise Mercado.

Annalise Mercado hears voices. Sometimes she thinks they're spirit guides, sometimes she thinks she's crazy. But then they start telling her about Graham Smith, the danger he's in, and how only she can save him. So begins the story of two people whose lives appear fragmented across alternate realities. And how, together, they hold the key to the future of a billion planets...

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Diesel Daily Deal - The Raging Hearts (DF)

The Raging Hearts ($3.82 Kindle), the second novel in Patricia Hagan's The Coltrane Saga, is today's Deal of the Day at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.00. (8 copies left). Now published by Samhain, this historical romance was originally published by Avon (1982) and I see that someone is trying to get over $500 for a "new" copy of the original paperback at Amazon.

Book Description
As the Civil War rages on, Kitty Wright must fight to keep her child—and her love—alive.

Kitty Wright finds herself alone in the smoldering ashes of the Civil War. Her beloved father has been killed, along with the man she was once engaged to, and fate has sent Travis Coltrane, the Yankee cavalry officer whom she truly loves, marching on with General Sherman's troops.

Unbeknownst to Travis, Kitty gives birth to his son. Struggling to survive, she marries carpetbagger Corey McRae, grateful when he saves her from a mob of angry neighbors. But her life soon becomes a a living hell as he forces her to endure his depraved lust.

Kitty's indomitable spirit and love for her child keep her fighting for the day when Travis will return to her. But when he does, he is angry she has married and thinks her child is McRae's. And once again, Kitty must fight for the two greatest loves in her life.

This is a Retro Romance reprint and was originally published by Avon Books in April 1982.

Warning: This book accurately depicts the horrors of the Civil War, including graphic battlefield scenes, wounds, and trauma.
Get the book from Diesel (DRM-Free); be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Free Book - Comfort Foods from the Dinner Doctor (DF)

Comfort Foods from the Dinner Doctor, which looks to be a 60 page mini-book of recipes taken from The Dinner Doctor ($9.99 Kindle), is free direct from Workman Publishing this month, as a part of their Blue Plate Specials promotion. I don't see the mini-edition in the Kindle store (yet), but they generally price these in the $4-$5 range, when they are available. Since The Dinner Doctor weighs in at over 500 pages, it's a pretty good deal if you want more than the sampler provides.
Book Description
One dish. A few simple supermarket ingredients. That's all it takes for the Dinner Doctor® to work her magic!
Get the free ebook from Workman, using promo code h0m3c00k1n (no spaces and those are numbers in places of some letters). The download is a DRM-Free PDF.

The Dinner Doctor
A marriage of the fast and fantastic, The Dinner Doctor proves that it's possible to cook meals for your family that taste great—and require little time, preparation, or hassle.

This is cooking that's not only about coping, but about pleasure. The first and most important step is choosing ingredients wisely. For the Dinner Doctor, that means prepared foods, whether canned, frozen, jarred, dried, or fresh from the salad bar or deli counter. Then comes the doctoring.

Jarred roasted red peppers are puréed with canned chicken broth and sour cream, and garnished with fresh chives for a memorable chilled soup for a summer dinner party. Bagged coleslaw mix is dressed up with nuts, bottle ranch dressing and pre-crumbled cheese for a Blue Cheese, Walnut, and Apple Slaw. Jars of marinara turn into Linguine with Red Clam Sauce (just add a can of clams, dry white wine, and parsley) or a zingy Saturday Night Fever Pasta—with the help of black olive paste and capers.

Even deli potato salad, as tasty as it often is, can take on a variety of personalities—enhance it with crumbled cooked bacon, or prepared horseradish, or curry powder and chopped scallions and shredded carrots. And bland chicken tenders—those saviors of quick cooking—are reinvented as Chinese Chicken, Chicken Piccata, and Curried Chicken and Apple Stew.

Making excellent use of slow cookers, embracing myriad shortcuts, boosting flavor and freshness with hundreds of ideas and quick touches, The Dinner Doctor brings all the joy of serving from-scratch meals into harried lives.

Deal of the Day - Brass and Bone (DF)

Brass and Bone ($3.03 Kindle), by Cynthia Gael, is today's Deal of the Day at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $0.70.

Book Description
Being Simon Thorne, friend and collaborator to Lady Abigail Moran, isn't easy. Yes, being a daring thief does have its charms. But I still haven't convinced Abigail that she loves me, and thievery, for all the romantical writers say of it, is not the way to wealth. Especially if Abigail insists we continuously repair the airship with our illgotten gains.

So when an old friend summons us to his estate and offers us a daring job with a hefty paycheck, we're happy to accept. The mission: use our airship to transport secret cargo halfway across the globe. Oh, and we mustn't forget to take along the witch and her sinister keeper. A witch more beguiling than expected and her keeper—or is that companion?—with secrets darker than one could imagine.

Alas. Perhaps I have finally bitten off more than I can chew...
Get the book from Diesel (DRM-Free); be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Book Bargain at StoryBundle (DF)

StoryBundle has a new group of ebooks you can buy at a bargain price, which you determine. The minimum you can pay is one dollar (to cover the payment processing fees) and you can pay any amount over that, but those that pay $8 or more get two bonus books in this bundle. The books are DRM-free, so you can convert as needed.

Here are the current books in the bundle:
On the Riverside of Promise by Vasileios Kalampakas
Unsettling May Have Occurred by The Editors of Damn Interesting
Hunting in Hell by Maria Violante
The Select by F. Paul Wilson
The Hour Before Dark by Douglas Clegg
The Disciple, Part I by L. Blankenship

If you pay more than the bonus price of just $8, you get two bonus books, which are:

The Halo Effect by M.J. Rose
Zombies of the World by Ross Payton

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Humble EBook Bundle (DF)

I've highlighted the guys over at Humble Bundle a time or two in the past, for their game bundles. This month, they have a Science Fiction and Fantasy ebook bundle that is well worth buying. You can pay as little as you want (down to $1 - the minimum set to cover the charges for processing the charge) or as much as you want (two have paid $1,000 or more). Their bundles allow you to split your purchase between the authors, Humble (for organizing the bundle and processing the payments, running the servers, etc) and charity (this month, it's the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Child’s Play Charity, and/or the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America).

If you pay more than the average (currently right at $14), they are throwing in several more titles: a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, Randall Munroe's xkcd: volume 0 (I started reading xkcd back when it was free on the internet and I'm looking forward to reading the collection; the comic pictured here is from xkcd), John Scalzi's Old Man's War ($8 on it's own at Amazon, although it does get you access to the $4 companion audiobook), two graphic novels by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik and two more from Zach Weiner. That's a baker's dozen of titles in all, for just over a buck apiece.

These are the base six novels that everyone gets (I'm linking to Amazon, so you can read the descriptions and reviews):
All are DRM-free, so you can view them on most ereaders (although I'd use a large color tablet for the graphic novels, unless you have very young eyes; plus, these are PDF's, with the HD quality versions quite large in size). I always add at least a few cents more than the average, just in case it goes up a bit before I click on buy, to ensure I get the entire bundle. You can checkout using Paypal, Google Payments or Amazon Payments (the payments get processed by Amazon, but the purchase is via Humble, so the books are not automatically in your Kindle Library -- but you can email them to yourself for easy access and backup). If you do use Paypal, you'll ensure more of the payment goes towards Humble (or the charity or authors; you pick the split) by not paying with a credit card. Once your payment has been processed, click the link in the center of the page to get your access key and the follow the link on the next page to download your books.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Free Audiobook + eBook - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Get a free MP3 download of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes ($19.95 Audible), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Simon Prebble (Narrator), along with a DRM-free PDF ebook over at Tantor Media.
Book Description
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes are overshadowed by the event with which they close - the meeting of the great detective and Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime. When "The Final Problem" was first published, the struggle between Holmes and his arch nemesis, seemingly to the death, left many readers desolate at the loss of Holmes, but it also led to his immortality as a literary figure. The stories that precede it included two narratives from Holmes himself - on a mutiny at sea and a treasure hunt in a Sussex country house - as well as a meeting with his brilliant brother, Mycroft.

Included in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes are "Silver Blaze", "The Yellow Face", "The Stock-Broker's Clerk", "The Gloria Scott", "The Musgrave Ritual", "The Reigate Puzzle", "The Crooked Man", "The Resident Patient", "The Greek Interpreter", "The Naval Treaty", and "The Final Problem".
Get the free audiobook/ebook combo from Tantor Media. Once you've completed your purchase and have it in your library, you can download individual segments of the audiobook or grab the complete ZIP download, which also contains the PDF ebook, at any time.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Free Audiobook - Moby Dick

Update: Looks like this deal is over.

Get a free MP3 download and PDF ebook of Moby Dick ($27.95 Audible), by Herman Melville and Norman Dietz (narrator), over at Tantor media.
Book Description
On a previous voyage, a mysterious white whale had ripped off the leg of a sea captain named Ahab. Now the crew of the Pequod, on a pursuit that features constant adventure and horrendous mishaps, must follow the mad Ahab into the abyss to satisfy his unslakeable thirst for vengeance. Narrated by the cunningly observant crew member Ishmael, Moby Dick is the tale of the hunt for the elusive, omnipotent, and ultimately mystifying white whale - Moby Dick.

On its surface, Moby Dick is a vivid documentary of life aboard a 19th-century whaler, a virtual encyclopedia of whales and whaling, replete with facts, legends, and trivia that Herman Melville had gleaned from personal experience and scores of sources. But as the quest for the whale becomes increasingly perilous, the tale works on allegorical levels, likening the whale to human greed, moral consequence, good, evil, and life itself. Who is good? The great white whale who, like Nature, asks nothing but to be left in peace? Or the bold Ahab who, like scientists, explorers, and philosophers, fearlessly probes the mysteries of the universe? Who is evil? The ferocious, man-killing sea monster? Or the revenge-obsessed madman who ignores his own better nature in his quest to kill the beast?
Get the free audiobook from Tantor media. Once you've completed the purchase and added to your library, you can download at any time, so no rush on that (like there is with Sync).