Make sure you are doing backups...

Have you been making good backups of your ebooks? Or relying on the publisher or an ebookstore to keep up with your library for you? If the latter, you may want to reconsider your decisions, as a few incidents this year have brought home, the last one occurring just today.

Due to a new policy, ChristianBook.com will no longer allow you to download your ebooks from them, if you added them during a free promotional period (ie, if they were "free" when you "purchased" them). I just ran into the new policy by chance, when I tried to download what was marked as a DRM-Free EPUB that I purchased today -- and found my entire library was no read online only. They claim this change is due to the added costs of serving out free books, but their decision applies equally to books that are DRM-free, where the only cost is bandwidth and that cost won't change by using their app. From now on, you will be required to read any freebies obtained from them using one of their proprietary apps (and I don't know about you, but I have gotten to where I refuse to install another app just to read a free book, especially one that I can get elsewhere and very much especially if I have to be online to do the reading). I hope everyone had a backup of their libraries there, as this is a retroactive decision, applying to all the books you have purchased (I just downloaded a couple of them last weekend, which I didn't have as an EPUB elsewhere, but I'm sure I will have lost at least a couple of books due to their decision).


They aren't the only ones making unannounced and unilateral changes to their libraries. Jasmine Jade used to be the store site for Ellora's Cave and when they moved everything back to their Ellora's Cave site, some libraries made it over and others did not (mine was one of the ones that did not). They are super nice and will help with redownloading any book you didn't back up, but you'll need to email them on each one (and probably provide your old order number). When Borders Bookstore closed, they transferred my library to Kobo - it was painless and took a couple of clicks; but when Fictionwise announced that they were closing, the process was apparently designed to work as badly as possible. You were supposed to sign up after receiving an email, then wait (some unspecified length of time) before you then responded again to a new email with a magical code in it. Then, all but a few books, listed titles would appear in your B&N account. The only problem - apparently they are doing everything by hand and many, including myself, are still waiting for a code to continue the process. Others managed to get thru that step, but still waited weeks for any of their books to appear. And that limited list of titles - it keeps growing every time I check it (and now they have a PDF linked that promises to list even more excluded titles). Contrast this to the process when Peanut Press and subsequent sites were purchased and rolled up to ereader.com -- my account and books moved along without me for several years, until I rediscovered the account, complete with every book I had purchased along the way (on my old palm devices/phone).

It's not only due to decisions of the site that you can lose access. In the last couple of weeks, DelphiClassics claims to have had their files deleted by their web hosting company. Since they apparently had their backups at the same location, they lost those as well (OK, who doesn't know that it's a bad idea to store all of your backups in the same location as your main copy?). If you didn't make a backup, you may be out of luck, unless an update to one of your purchases happens in the next year. In that case and if you kept track of your receipt, so you have the order number, you can follow these directions to request an update for that one particular title. Yes, your old purchase supposedly came with lifetime updates (and new ones don't), but that's as far as they are willing to go for past purchases.

Let these be a cautionary tale, if not a lesson, in why you should be downloading all of your ebooks up on purchase and keeping a copy (or two) somewhere safe. You should consider saving your emailed receipts, also (at the very least, keep them in a folder in your email client, but consider saving them to your hard drive, together in a folder, as well), in case you need to refer back to them in order to get your library restored. I've even had one or two (as far as I know, only about that many) books at Amazon that have completely switched content after the initial purchase and download (title changed and all) and had to use an old receipt to get them to investigate and fix my library (usually by having to repurchase the book, after they applied a promo code).

Credits from Agency Settlement Coming (But Not Soon)

Just received my email from Amazon, so you should see this in your inboxes as well. I haven't seen anything from any of the other stores yet, but it looks like they have plenty of time, since Amazon says the courts have until Feb 2013 to approve the settlement! We do now have an estimate of the amount and it looks like it will be enough to buy an indie book or two (maybe even one from a former Agency publisher, for some), if you bought any books from the Agency publishers (even the lower priced ones that have been on sale).

Dear Kindle Customer,

We have good news. You are entitled to a credit for some of your past e-book purchases as a result of legal settlements between several major e-book publishers and the Attorneys General of most U.S. states and territories, including yours. You do not need to do anything to receive this credit. We will contact you when the credit is applied to your Amazon.com account if the Court approves the settlements in February 2013.

Hachette, Harper Collins, and Simon & Schuster have settled an antitrust lawsuit about e-book prices. Under the proposed settlements, the publishers will provide funds for a credit that will be applied directly to your Amazon.com account. If the Court approves the settlements, the account credit will appear automatically and can be used to purchase Kindle books or print books. While we will not know the amount of your credit until the Court approves the settlements, the Attorneys General estimate that it will range from $0.30 to $1.32 for every eligible Kindle book that you purchased between April 2010 and May 2012. Alternatively, you may request a check in the amount of your credit by following the instructions included in the formal notice of the settlements, set forth below. You can learn more about the settlements here:

www.amazon.com/help/agencyebooksettlements

In addition to the account credit, the settlements impose limitations on the publishers’ ability to set e-book prices. We think these settlements are a big win for customers and look forward to lowering prices on more Kindle books in the future.

Thank you for being a Kindle customer.

The Amazon Kindle Team

Free Book - Sell Now! (K/E/N)

Update: 1/9/12 Now free from Barnes & Noble.

Sell Now!: Adaptive Strategies for Today's Changing Marketplace, by Stacia Skinner, is free in the Kindle store and from Sony.

Book Description
With the volatile economy, budgets are tight and expectation for increased revenue is higher than ever. Old sales strategies aren’t cutting it in this tough market. Veteran sales trainer Stacia Skinner and Brandon Toporov provide game-changing techniques proven effective for getting and keeping new business and expanding the business in your existing client base.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Are Publishers April Foolish?

If you've been reading other book blogs lately, whether written by readers, resellers or authors, you can't help but know that that April 1 has been designated as the change-over date for ebook resellers to cease to resell books and instead act as commissioned sales agents for five of the biggest publishers in the business. It's hard to see how anyone wins in this scenario (although some resellers will make more, percentage wise in the short term) - retail prices are expected to rise (although some prices may decline, if publishers keep their promise to lower ebook list prices to close to 1/2 the hardback price), so consumers will pay more. Authors will get less per book, as they are paid based upon the suggested retail price, not the selling price, the publishers will get less (70% of the new, lower prices) and book sales may decline (even without the $9.99 boycott movement, there are proven psychological barriers when sale prices add an extra digit and some author experiments on the low end brought substantially increased revenue as prices dropped). The resellers don't win long term, as they will no longer be able to offer sales pricing or discount/reward programs (at least, according to the blogs from several of the smaller booksellers), leaving perhaps only the range of platforms where you can read the ebook and the management of your bookshelf as their distinguishing factors when making a sale. Even the temporary increase in profit per book may be negated if sales drop (although it might be hard to do worse than losing money on the majority of sales, as Amazon has been doing; then again, they did it on shipping for many years to get customer share).

If there are books you know you'd like to read that are newly out in hardback and are on the $9.99 Kindle books book list, I'd go ahead and order them today. But otherwise, I would not panic, as the more popular books will drop into paperback prices (or at least, they will according to the publishers, who have been known to keep a book in trade paperback instead of traditional or mass market size, just for the higher prices) at some point. I did, however, pick up two books today, that I might have waited on otherwise (but only for a short while, as I have all the previous books in the series), which I've included below. One is a good deal as a pre-order and the other is at that magic $9.99 price today and I didn't want to chance having to wait until it came out in paperback (and I'm paying well over paperback prices for both, something the publishers should consider more - I think their inflated hardback prices have greatly contributed to the decline in reading).

We'll just have to keep track of our wishlists a bit better, so that we find mainstream books that drop to paperback prices. In the meantime, my Kindle has hundreds of unread books on it, most of them obtained free or at minimal cost, due to author sales and promotions, so I shouldn't run out anytime soon. If I do, there are several independent publishing houses that are not participating in the agency model, along with Random House (so far), as well as hundreds of independent authors, some of whose writing rivals or exceeds what is often on the best-sellers lists.

Silver Borne ($9.99), by Patricia Briggs

Book Description
When mechanic and shapeshifter Mercy Thompson attempts to return a powerful Fae book she'd previously borrowed in an act of desperation, she finds the bookstore locked up and closed down.

It seems the book contains secret knowledge-and the Fae will do just about anything to keep it out of the wrong hands. And if that doesn't take enough of Mercy's attention, her friend Samuel is struggling with his wolf side-leaving Mercy to cover for him, lest his own father declare Sam's life forfeit.

All in all, Mercy has had better days. And if she isn't careful, she might not have many more to live...

Black Magic Sanction ($8.65 pre-order), by Kim Harrison

Book Description
In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison's most complex and nuanced adventure yet, bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan fights a deadly battle—mind, body, and soul

Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

If you've read thru the comments on my post about "free samples", you already know that we are unanimous in our opinion of them. So, for the most part I'll ignore them completely. But, there will always be an exception and I'm including one today, simply because the sample is available today (and you can now permanently delete them), while the book itself is not. The full book is on pre-order for $9.99 and I have no idea if it will be affected by the pricing changes taking place tomorrow. On the off chance it is and you (or your kids) are a Rick Riordan fan, you may want to take a peek at the sample of the first in his newest series and place a pre-order for the full book today. I'm still behind on the Lightning Thief series, but picked up the first four while they are under $5 each, so haven't decided on getting this one (or the last in the other series).

The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid Chapter Sneak Peek! ($0.00), by Rick Riordan. Full book is a pre-order: The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid ($9.99)

Book Description
Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them--Set--has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe--a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

Monthly Kindle Book Budget: May

Quite a few free reads last month (some of which I would not have purchased, otherwise, although now and then one of the free reads is one I have on my Wish List). Several books have gone up in price since I purchased them and I've started noticing that some of the books purchased this year have disappeared from the Kindle store entirely (Summer's Path by Scott Blum and all of Boyd Morrison's books, for example).

May

The Night Gardener	George Pelecanos		$1.99
Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #1: Precipice	JOHN JACKSON MILLER		$0.00
The Colorado Sequence	Stacey Cochran		$0.80
Like Warm Sun on Nekkid Bottoms	Chuck Austen		$1.59
The Red Cross of Gold IX:. The Queen of the Abyss	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Red Cross of Gold VIII: The Silver Caduceus	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Red Cross of GoldVII:. The Wisdom of Solomon	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Red Cross of Gold VI:. the Dragonslayer	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Red Cross of Gold V:. the Quinta Essentia	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Red Cross of Gold IV:. The Hesperian Dragon	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Red Cross of Gold III:. The Head of the Crow	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Red Cross of Gold II:. The King of Terrors	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Red Cross of Gold I:. The Knight of Death	Brendan Carroll		$1.59
The Grove	John Rector		$0.99
CLAWS	Stacey Cochran		$1.59
25 Language Phrasebook	MobileReference		$0.01
Irreconcilable Differences	James R. Strickland		$0.99
Looking Glass	James R. Strickland		$0.99
Migration of the Kamishi (The Feral World)	Gaddy Bergmann		$0.99
In Her Name: Empire	Michael R. Hicks		$1.59
Felonious Jazz	Bryan Gilmer		$1.99
Dragon Ring	Lettie Prell		$0.99
A Lifetime of Vengeance	P. J. Grondin		$0.99
The Network Imperative: Community or Contagion?	Yoram (Jerry) Wind, Paul R. Kleindorfer		$0.00
Master Of The Game	Sidney Sheldon		$0.99
Call Me (Joker's Wild Series)	Lena Matthews		$0.00
Living With Your Kids Is Murder	Mike Befeler		$3.99
The Merchant of Death	D.J. MacHale		$0.00
The Huntress	Shiloh Walker		$0.00
Crossroads: Navigating Your Calling and Career	Colin Creel		$0.00
Kiss of Midnight	Lara Adrian		$0.00
Once Bitten, Twice Shy	Jennifer Rardin		$0.00
Weapons of Choice (Axis of Time, Book 1)	John Birmingham		$0.00
Elric: The Stealer of Souls	Michael Moorcock		$0.00

For the month, that's 34 books, $34.79 in total, for $1.02 per book. Definitely within the monthly budget (but the TBR stack is getting quite high). Here's the break-down by month, for the year-to-date:

Month	No. Books	Total Cost	Per Book
January	59	$83.47	$1.41
February	43	$29.97	$0.70
March	32	$33.44	$1.05
April	22	$13.11	$0.60
May	34	$34.79	$1.02
Totals	190	$194.78	$1.03

Free EBooks Roundup

The Triumph of the Sun ($7.99 Kindle), by by Wilbur Smith, is being given away as a PDF from the publisher, Macmillan. This title is also free in the Sony Store, which often means the Kindle version may be free soon, as well.

It is 1884, and in the Sudan, decades of brutal misgovernment by the ruling Egyptian Khedive in Cairo precipitates a bloody rebellion and Holy War. The charismatic new religious leader, the Mahdi or "Expected One," has gathered his forces of Arab warlords in preparation for a siege on the city of Khartoum. The British are forced to intervene to protect their national interests and to attempt to rescue the hundreds of British subjects stranded in the city.

Along with hundreds of others, British trader and businessman Ryder Courtney is trapped in the capital city of Khartoum under the orders of the infamously iron-willed General Charles George Gordon. It is here that he meets skilled soldier and swordsman Captain Penrod Ballantyne of the 10th Hussars and the British Consul, David Benbrook, as well as Benbrook’s three beautiful daughters. Against the vivid and bloody backdrop of the Arabs’ fierce and merciless siege these three powerful men must fight to survive.

Rich with vibrant historical detail and infused with his inimitable powers of storytelling, The Triumph of the Sun is Wilbur Smith at his masterful best.

Macmillan is also giving away a PDF download of Panic Attack ($16.49 Hardcover; not available on Kindle) by Jason Starr.

Dr. Adam Bloom has the perfect life. He’s financially secure and lives in a luxurious house with his wife, Dana, and their twenty-two-year-old daughter, Marissa, a recent college graduate. Late one night, his daughter wakes him up and says, “Somebody’s downstairs.” Adam uses his gun to kill one of the unarmed intruders, but the other escapes. From that moment on, everyone’s life in the Bloom household will never be the same.

Adam doesn’t feel safe, not with the other intruder out there somewhere, knowing where he lives. Dana suggests moving, but Adam has lived in the house all his life and he doesn’t want to run away. As the family recovers from the break-in and the Blooms’ already rocky relationship rapidly falls apart, Marissa meets a young, talented artist named Xan. Adam feels that something’s not quite right with Xan, but his daughter ignores his warnings and falls deeply in love with him. When suspicious things start happening to the Blooms all over again, Adam realizes that his first instinct about Xan was probably dead on.

Orbit has a novella as a free download this month (in addition to their dollar book of the month), Deeds of Men by Marie Brennan, in your choice of formats (PDF, ePub, or HTML). Join the mailing list for a chance to get a paper copy or simply download the e-version (make an optional donation via paypal, if you want to support the author).

Get a PDF or EPUB copy of Serial by Jack Kilborn (he's still working on getting this into the Kindle store as a free book, but apparently there are some politics involved and there is no telling when it will happen) and Blake Crouch. This is a short story, described as a terrifying tale of hitchhiking gone terribly wrong. Look under Book Extras in the lower, right side of the page for the download links.

For now, you can convert the PDF using the (free) Amazon service or any of these formats using a program such as Calibre. But when the DX appears, you should be able to read these PDF files directly, no conversion required, as Amazon has licensed the Adobe Reader SDK for the DX. You have to wonder, though, if the free PDF's will stop being offered as often (or will come with DRM) once you can read them on the e-ink screen without the formatting issues common with most conversions.

Free EBooks for Mother's Day

A few of these are limited time downloads that have gone up this week, while others are ongoing offers. Still, free reading on Mother's Day means you can pamper yourself without breaking the budget or even leaving the house.

Jeffrey A. Carver has just posted Eternity's End (Star Rigger) (no longer in print), a novel of the Star Rigger universe, as a free ebook. It looks like DRM free versions in multiple formats (including Kindle compatible) will eventually be available at Fictionwise, but right now you can get this and several other books at no charge, already formatted for the Kindle, no PDF conversion required. Eternity's End was a finalist for the 2000 Nebula, and concerns the search by a star rigger named Legroeder for the lost ship Impris, the Flying Dutchman of the stars.

The newest novel set in the Star Rigger Universe, ETERNITY'S END features the search for the legendary ghost rigger ship Impris and her crew, whose fate is entwined with interstellar piracy, quantum defects in spacetime, galactic coverup conspiracies, and deep-cyber romance.

You can also get, for a limited time, a free download of Sunborn (Chaos Chronicles) ($21.24 Hardcover) on his downloads page. The first three books in the Chaos Chronicles (Neptune Crossing, Strange Attractors and The Infinite Sea) are available there and in the Baen Free Library. All of his downloads are in multiple formats and DRM free.

The Pendragon (The Merchant of Death, Book 1) ($7.99 Kindle) by D.J. MacHale, earlier reported as a free PDF download from Barnes and Noble is now available as a free audiobook from Audible.com.

Apex Book Company is giving away the PDF version of Open Your Eyes ($10.94 Paperback) by Paul Jessup until the end of May. This is book #4 in a novella series, but can be read as a standalone story, which they describe as a surreal space opera.

Her lover was a supernova who took worlds with him when he died, and as a new world grows within Ekhi, savage lives rage and love on a small ship in the outer reaches of space. A ship with an agenda of its own. Critically acclaimed author of weird fiction Paul Jessup sends puppets to speak and fight for their masters while a linguistic virus eats through the minds of a group of scavengers in Open Your Eyes, a surrealist space opera of haunting beauty and infinite darkness.

Several short novels/short stories by J.A. Konrath, aka Jack Kilborn of Afraid ($1.99 Kindle) are available for free, with a little searching, or at bargain prices in the Kindle store. You can get Disturb, The List and Origin (all $1.19 Kindle) for free on Konrath's download page, but it looks like Shot of Tequila is only available in the Kindle store ($1.19) or as a 99 cent PDF.

Suckers ($1.59 Kindle) byJ.A. Konrath and Jeff Strand is free from the co-author: "For a free PDF, just send an e-mail to gleefullymacabre@gmail.com with "Suckers" in the subject line and I'll send it on over. I promise that you won't be subscribed to any mailing lists or anything sinister like that."

Planter's Punch ($1.59 Kindle) by JA Konrath and Tom Schreck is free via a link on Tom Schreck's website (although you have to cut and paste the link there and can just click it here). Serial by Jack Kilborn and and Blake Crouch is free in the Sony bookstore, as is Infinite Exposure (Promotional Version), by Roland Hughes (also here as a PDF), but the promotional version is missing the last chapter (you get 18 chapters, 314 pages for free) and you'll have to chase down a full version to find out how it ends.

Catherine Wilson is offering Book I of her trilogy, When Women Were Warriors ($0.99 Kindle) as a free download on her website. Previously a PDF, multiple formats are now available.

Monthly Kindle Book Budget: April

It's been a slow month for buying books here, what with the large to-be-read stack already on my Kindle. I did get all the free books for the month and a very few others, but overall stayed well under the Kindle budget for the month.

April

Holy Bible, GOD'S WORD Translation (GW) by Baker Publishing Group	$0.00
Holy Bible, Today's New International Version, TNIV by Zondervan	$0.00
Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick	$0.00
The Quran - A Pure and Literal Translation by The Monotheist Group	$0.95
Afraid by Jack Kilborn	$1.99
Miss Fix-It by L. C. Monroe and Nicolette Derens	$0.00
Put Your Dream to the Test: 10 Questions that Will Help You See It and Seize It by John C. Maxwell	$0.00
The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda : Book One) by Richard Phillips	$0.99
Kindle Shortcuts and Kindle-friendly Websites by MobileReference	$0.01
ReThink: Introduction by Ric Merrifield	$0.00
Rethink: Key Concepts by Ric Merrifield	$0.00
Rethink (Chapter 1): How the -How- Trap Is Trapping You by Ric Merrifield	$0.00
Rethink: Index by Ric Merrifield	$0.00
Outsmart (Intro & Chapter 1): It's a Smart, Smart, Smart, Smart World by Jim Champy	$0.00
Outsmart (Epilogue) by Jim Champy	$0.00
Inspire (Intro & Chapter 1): From Tired to Inspired by Jim Champy	$0.00
Stories I Never Told the Speaker: The Chaotic Adventures of a Capitol Hill Aide by Marshall L. Lynam	$0.80
Retirement Homes Are Murder by Mike Befeler	3.99
Matthew Henry's Concise Bible Commentary for Kindle (KJV) (cross linked with built in Bible) (1) by matthew henry	$2.39
Matthew Henry's Concise Bible Commentary for Kindle (ASV) (cross linked with built in Bible) (1) by matthew henry	$1.99
The Bounty: The Malloy Family Book 1 by Beth Williamson	$0.00
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott	$0.00

For the month, that's 22 books, $13.11 in total, for $0.60 per book. Sure, it includes several business chapters that are not real books, but I've left off several titles I got for free from other sources. Here's the break-down by month, for the year-to-date:

Month	No. Books	Total Cost	Per Book
January	59	$83.47	$1.41
February	43	$29.97	$0.70
March	32	$33.44	$1.05
April	22	$13.11	$0.60
Totals	156	$159.99	$1.03

If you add in the cost of the Kindle itself, that's about $3.33 per book. Of course, we have more than one Kindle, where with paperbacks we'd be able to pass them around, but at double or more the cost per book. We also have roughly 80 pounds less paper taking up room on the shelves (estimating 8 oz per book - a bit high for paperback, low for hardbacks). We might not have purchased the exact same books, of course, but these calculations also leave out all the classics and other free books we have to read on the Kindle (such as the two recent John Hart novels).

New Release Tuesday (a bit late...)

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris ( $14.2712.84; Hardcover $15.57), ninth in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Except for Sookie Stackhouse, folks in Bon Temps, Louisiana, know little about vamps—and nothing about weres. Until now. The weres and shifters have finally decided to reveal their existence to the ordinary world. At first all goes well. Then the mutilated body of a were-panther is found near the bar where Sookie works—and she feels compelled to discover who, human or otherwise, did it. But there’s a far greater danger threatening Bon Temps. A race of unhuman beings—older, more powerful, and more secretive than vampires or werewolves—is preparing for war. And Sookie finds herself an all-too human pawn in their battle.

Kindle Bargain Ebook Roundup

Retirement Homes Are Murder by Mike Befeler ($3.99). After reading this one, you may have to make new arrangements for you last stop in retirement. My mother grabbed it after starting the sample, as she had to know how it turned out. That's a pretty good recommendation, since her TBR stack is nearly as high as mine, which is why she almost didn't even read the sample I sent to her Kindle (a power I try not to abuse).

Remembering nothing from the day before, crotchety octogenarian Paul Jacobson must become an amateur sleuth to clear himself as a murder suspect when he finds a dead body in the trash chute of a retirement home. As Paul’s snooping and short-term memory loss get him in trouble with the local police, his new friends and granddaughter Jennifer help him solve an expanding list of crimes. Paul finds romance as he struggles to escape a murderer intent on a repeat performance.

Patriot Acts by Don Pendleton ($3.60)

A political assassination in Los Angeles leads to a red alert when the gunman then declares war against Washington. Trained by a secret organization within the U.S. government, the sniper is relentless in his quest to make a better America--even if it means killing millions of innocent people along the way.

With the free world in jeopardy, Mack Bolan must stop the rogue agent before the man unleashes his plan. But it-s going to take more than weapons to win this battle. Armed with the same deadly skills as Bolan, the misguided killer could be the Executioner-s ultimate foe.

Available for the first time as a standalone ebook, the novella The Awakening, by CHRISTINE FEEHAN ($2.39), is the first book in the Leopard series. Previously available in the Fever: 2 in 1 volume ($9.99), along with the novel Wild Rain ($6.39). Unlike many combo volumes available, this one is cheaper if you buy the two ebooks separately, both at current discounts, as well as when considering the digital list prices.

Under the blazing heat of the Borneo sun, a beautiful naturalist's dream comes true - to live among the feral jungle creatures. But an untamed, irresistible beast of another sort forces her to explore her own wild side.

The Chocolate Gravy Queen by Memphis Layne ($3.19) is currently #19 in the Children's Performing Arts fiction category. The first three chapters are available to read online at the author's MySpace page.

My name is Memphis Autumn Layne and I live in Lickskillet, Alabama, on the corner of Moontown Road and Butter and Egg Lane. No joke. But don’t get the wrong idea; I’m not a backwoods hillbilly, even though I do come from a long line of rednecks and hicks. There is a big difference between a hillbilly and a redneck, you know.

Oh, and just to set the record straight right from the start; contrary to popular belief (i.e., the movie Sweet Home Alabama ) we don't eat bologna cake here - that's sick! I'd never even heard of it before that movie! We prefer cheeseburger pie or a fried Twinkie and, most importantly, chocolate gravy! Although that does remind me of the story my Momma told me about how my Uncle Jeremiah, when he was little, snuck some bologna into church, stood on the front pew and......OK, I'm chasing a rabbit now, as my grandpa likes to say. Back to the subject, which is me.

One thing you need to know – I am going to be a big country music star one day. I know this because my great-grandma Patty Lou said so when I was just a little girl and all the family knows that her visions are surprisingly accurate. Also because I have become an overnight news sensation. You are probably wondering how a young redneck nobody could have all the news channels begging for an interview and that is what I will let you in on a little later....

The Difference Between Life and Death: Outliving the Flu Pandemic of 2009 by Dennis Miner ($4.00) is more of a novella or long short story than a full novel, chronicling the steps taken by a small group that survives a flu pandemic thru a combination of luck and preparation (and nearly does not, when a later group joins up with them). It's a pretty quick read and nothing on the scope of S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire or Change series (which has The Sword of the Lady coming out in September), but it is grounded in the real world.

This is a story of hope and survival. Self-reliance and traditional family values help us to stick together and outlive the flu pandemic crisis. In the process of overcoming this struggle, our family becomes stronger, as does American society. Throughout this life changing experience, there are elements of fear, death of a loved one, courage, family conflict, self preservation, life’s lessons, going back to the simple basics, and so much more.

Chasing the Demons [Chasing the Demons Series Book 1] by Anna Katherine Johnson $3.96 (the paperback is 14.99; Book #2, Demons' Revenge is not yet on the Kindle).

Chasing the Demons is based on a true story. Jenny married Michael Angel Fuentes and began twenty years of chaos and uncertainty with the unstable man. After two children, a nasty divorce and reconciliation, she agrees to move to Arizona to find peace in desert living. She cannot begin to foresee the nightmare they will soon be living.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala ($3.99; Paperback $11.69) has consistently high reviews and is currently marked down from the list price of $10.99.

The Times Are Urgent God Is on the Move Now Is the Moment to ... ask God to ignite his fire in your soul! Pastor Jim Cymbala believes that Jesus wants to renew his people--to call us back from spiritual dead ends, apathy, and lukewarm religion. Cymbala knows the difference firsthand. Thirty-five years ago his own church, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, was a struggling congregation of twenty. Then they began to pray ... God began to move ... street-hardened lives by the hundreds were changed by the love of Christ ... and today they are more than ten thousand strong.

The story of what happened to this broken-down church in one of America's toughest neighborhoods points the way to new spiritual vitality in the church and in your own life. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire shows what the Holy Spirit can do when believers get serious about prayer and the gospel. As this compelling book reveals, God moves in life-changing ways when we set aside our own agendas, take him at his word, and listen for his voice.

Creationist Diet by Gary F. Zeolla ($2.36) isn't a tradtional diet book, but has a rather interesting premise, comparing foods from the bible to those that current research show increase or decrease many modern diseases. Of course, all of these are non-processed whole foods, as are all the other foods eaten by other cultures in the same era, some of which are discussed (provided, of course, they are mentioned in the Bible).

What did God give to human beings for food? What does the Bible teach about diet and nutrition? How do the Biblical teachings on foods compare to scientific research on nutrition and degenerative disease like heart disease, cancer, and stroke? Starting with God's decrees about foods at Creation, the Fall, and after the Flood, and gleaning nutrition information from the rest of the Bible, this book proposes four different possible Creationist Diets, presenting the pros and cons of each.