July Orbit Dollar Book: Hidden Empire

Hidden Empire, by Kevin J. Anderson, is the July Dollar Book from Orbit Books. Hidden Empires is the first volume in the The Saga of Seven Suns, with all seven books available on Kindle: the first six have the series name in the title, while the seventh, The Ashes of Worlds, is bit trickier to find, hiding amidst his 33 books and short stories in the Kindle Store.

Book Description
In our galaxy's far future, humans are one of three known intelligent races. We are the new kids on the block, having had star travel for only a few centuries. The other races consist of the Ildirans, ruled by their Mage-Imperator, and the Klikiss, which seem to have vanished, but left behind worlds full of artifacts and fabulous technology that humans are now beginning to find and exploit.

One such piece of technology is a device that can turn a useless gas supergiant planet into a small sun, thereby creating new living space for humans. But when the device is tried for the first time, it awakens the ire of a hitherto unsuspected fourth race, the Hydrogues-and a galaxy-spanning war that threatens all life.

Set against this background are multiple subplots involving a large cast of fascinating characters: a married couple whose archaeological discoveries can save humanity; a young man kidnapped to take over the kingship of the vast Trade Federation; travelling communities of gypsy-like Roamers, one of whom becomes humanity's champion against the Hydrogues; and many more.

This book should be available in most ebookstores at $1 or less for the month of July. I've included links to a few of the more popular stores - but check to see if they have lowered the price before buying - Fictionwise, for example, is well known for not updating any new books or sale prices until the following Monday, while BooksOnBoard may only have one format at the sale price and charge full price for all other formats.

Get this book at Amazon, BooksOnBoard (or HERE - the book is listed twice, with different formats), Fictionwise or Sony

As of this morning, Sony is the only one showing this book as available - but that should changer later today (and over the next week at places like Fictionwise).

Free Ebook from Sony - Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, is available as a free download in the Sony bookstore thru July 14th. So far, this one isn't available on Kindle (the Paperback is $5.58 at Amazon). You can view the listing in the Sony bookstore, but you'll need to use their (free) software to find the book, add it to your cart and do the purchase. You can read the book either on your PC or one of the Sony Readers, only.

Book Description
When Vivi and Siddalee Walker, an unforgettable mother-daughter team, get into a savage fight over a New York Times article that refers to Vivi as a "tap-dancing child abuser," the fallout is felt from Louisiana to New York to Seattle. Siddalee, a successful theater director with a huge hit on her hands, panics and postpones her upcoming wedding to her lover and friend, Connor McGill. Vivi's intrepid gang of lifelong girlfriends, the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together.

In 1932, Vivi and the Ya-Yas were disqualified from a Shirley Temple Look-Alike Contest for unladylike behavior. Sixty years later, they're "bucking seventy" and still making waves. They persuade Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of girlhood mementos titled "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."

With the scrapbook in hand, Sidda retreats to a cabin on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, tormented by fear and uncertainty about the future, and intent on discovering the key to the tangle of anger and tenderness she feels toward her mother. But Vivi's album reveals more questions than answers and leads Sidda to encounter the legacy of imperfect love and the unknowable mystery of life.

With passion and a rare gift for language, Rebecca Wells moves from present to past, unraveling Vivi's life, her enduring friendships with the Ya-Yas and the reverberations of Siddalee. The collective power of the Ya-Yas, each of them totally individual and authentic, permeates this story of a tribe of Louisiana wild women who are impossible to tame.

The Economist now Available on Kindle

From reading the discussion boards over at Amazon, I think this must be one of the most desired magazines that has been missing from the Kindle. At least once a week (around Christmas, once a day), someone asks why The Economist isn't available for the Kindle and when it will be showing up. I'm not entirely certain how great a "bargain" this is - at $10.49/month, the price is more in line with a newspaper subscription, instead of a magazine; then again, you do get four issues a month. It's the same price as a print subscription - but you get it wherever you are and without worrying about it being lost in the mail. It's only been out a day and there are already some reviews at Amazon - all five star from those who have read the first issue (and some one and three star reviews from those who haven't but seem to think that's a valid way of protesting the price). Remember - you get a two week free trial with any subscription - that means two and possibly three issues before you have to decide whether you want to keep the subscription and your credit card is charged.

The Economist is the premier source for the analysis of world business and current affairs, providing authoritative insight and opinion on international news, world politics, business, finance, science and technology, as well as overviews of cultural trends and regular Special reports on industries and countries.

Established in 1843 to campaign against the protectionist corn laws, The Economist remains, in the second half of its second century, true to the liberal principles of its founder. James Wilson, a hat maker from the small Scottish town of Hawick, believed in free trade, internationalism and minimum interference by government, especially in the affairs of the market. The Economist also takes a fiercely independent stance on social issues, from gay marriage to the legalisation of drugs, but its main service to its readers is as a global newspaper: To uncover new ideas from all around the world.

Author Spotlight on Tim Pratt (aka T.A. Pratt)

Many of you were first introduced to Tim Pratt thru his novel Blood Engines, which is currently free in the Kindle Store, written under his pseudonym T.A. Pratt. Finding the rest of the series can be a bit tricky, as Amazon has them listed under Tim Pratt (despite the T.A. Pratt on the covers) and they are not linked in to his Author's Page. Most of his earlier novels, under the Tim Pratt name, are short story collections and he continues to write short stories and has put a large number of them on his website as free reads. He also used to edit a webzine, FlyTrap, and you can order back issues as well as find a few stories by his wife, Heather Shaw.

Now, Tim's wife has lost her job and he is trying to raise money with a serialized novel he is publishing on the web. Bone Shop is a Marla Mason novel, but a prequel to the existing series. There will be a new chapter each Monday and there is a Donate button on the website where you donate as much (or as little) as you wish. The first chapter is already up and you can read it HERE. For more information, you can also check out his blog and check out the Marla Mason website for a free short story, Pale Dog, a map of Felport and bios on all the major players in the series. No doubt, buying his books in the Kindle store will also help (as he is also trying to sell a new novel and more readers always helps), but direct sales/donations are more immediate.

Marla Mason Series
1. Blood Engines (free)
2. Poison Sleep ($5.59)
3. Dead Reign ($5.59)
4. Spell Games ($5.59)

Novels
The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl ($9.60)
Little Gods ($14.95 Paperback)
If There Were Wolves ($10.00 Paperback)
Hart & Boot & Other Stories ($14.95 Paperback)
The Urban Bizarre ($13.50 Paperback)

Here is a quick synopsis of his novels that are available in the Kindle Store (see this blog post for Blood Engines).

Poison Sleep ($5.59)

The bad girl of the magical underworld is back and badder than ever

Someone wants Marla Mason dead. Usually that’s not news. As chief sorcerer of Felport, someone always wants her dead. But this time she’s the target of a renegade assassin who specializes in killing his victims over days, months, or even years. Not to mention a mysterious knife-wielding killer in black who pops up in the most unexpected places. To make matters worse, an inmate has broken out of the Blackwing Institute for criminally insane sorcerers—a troubled psychic who can literally reweave the fabric of reality to match her own traumatic past.

With her wisecracking partner Rondeau reluctantly in tow, Marla teams up with a “love-talker” whose dangerous erotic spells not even she can resist. Together they’re searching the rapidly transforming streets of Felport for a woman who’s become the Typhoid Mary of nightmares, infecting everything—and everyone—she touches with a chaos worse than death itself.

Dead Reign ($5.59)

Death has come calling, and one woman has what he wants most of all...

As chief sorcerer of Felport, Marla Mason thought she’d faced every kind of evil the magical world had to offer. But she’s never faced a killer like this. He’s dark, glib, handsome as the devil—and exactly who he says he is. Death—in the flesh. He’s arrived in Felport with a posse composed of a half-insane necromancer and the reanimated corpse of John Wilkes Booth, and he isn’t leaving until he gets what he came for. Only Marla is crazy enough to tell Death to go back to Hell.

With the Founders’ Ball just around the bend, drawing together the brightest, meanest, and most dangerous of Felport’s magical elite, the last thing Marla needs is all-out war with the King of the Underworld, but that’s exactly what she’s got. As the battle lines are drawn, she can count on her hedonistic, body-hopping partner Rondeau…but how many of her old allies will stand by her side when facing the ultimate adversary? To save her city, Marla will have to find a way to cheat Death…literally.

Spell Games ($5.59)

Brain-eating fungi, wannabe sorcerers, long-lost relations–does even a hard-core witch stand a chance?

Mad sorcerers, psychic vampires, an army of vengeful demons, Marla Mason would rather face them all than a flesh-and-blood ghost from her dysfunctional family past: her con artist brother, Jason. As Felport’s chief sorcerer, Marla would ordinarily consider it her duty to protect her town from such an unscrupulous ne’er-do-well. As his sister, things are a lot…trickier. Now, as Marla attempts to train an apprentice oracle whose magical wires have gotten crossed, Jason is setting up an elaborate sting and drawing her ever-so-corruptible partner Rondeau into the ruse.

Their patsy is a filthy-rich wannabe mage and their bait is something so valuable, so dangerous, so sought after, it probably doesn’t exist. But now word’s gotten out that the Borrichius spores do exist and instead of a sucker Jason and Rondeau have a much bigger–and much deadlier–fish on their line: a reclusive sorcerer whose devotion to the mushroom god and command of vegetal magic could bring a fungal apocalypse to Felport. It’ll be the mother of all bad trips unless Marla can pull off the ultimate magical switcheroo…and somehow live to tell about it.


The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl ($9.60)

As night manager of Santa Cruz’s quirkiest coffeehouse, Marzi McCarty makes a mean espresso, but her first love is making comics. Her claim to fame: The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, a cowpunk neo-western yarn. Striding through an urban frontier peopled by Marzi’s wild imagination, Rangergirl doles out her own brand of justice. But lately Marzi’s imagination seems to be altering her reality. She’s seeing the world through Rangergirl’s eyes–literally--complete with her deadly nemesis, the Outlaw.

It all started when Marzi opened a hidden door in the coffeehouse storage room. There, imprisoned among
the supplies, she saw the face of something unknown…and dangerous. And she unwittingly became its guard. But some primal darkness must’ve escaped, because Marzi hasn’t been the same since. And neither have her customers, who are acting downright apocalyptic.

Now it’s up to Marzi to stop this supervillainous superforce that’s swaggered its way into her world. For Marzi, it’s the
showdown of her life. For Rangergirl, it’s just another day....

Author Spotlight on K. A. Thompson

If you read yesterday's blog (You didn't? Stop now, go read it and come back. We'll wait. Really.... OK, now that you'r up to speed...), then you know that Max Thompson's human companion,K.A. Thompson, also has a few books out, all currently priced at $1.19, each. The Charybdis Novels series, includes Charybdis, As Simple As That and critically acclaimed Finding Father Rabbit.

Charybdis
His life littered with the women he's used--including a dead hooker he'd planned on marrying--Chip Davis is ready to move on. A blue eyed teenage wonder has found her way into his life, and he intends to run with her at full speed towards happiness. He knows she's the one, and nothing is going to keep him from holding onto her; not a dead friend, a missing brother, a kidnapped son, or a father whose sudden choice to explore the darker side of his employment will turn him away. Nothing except for his own demons, and, perhaps, the truth.

As Simple As That

They were supposed to ride off into the sunset and live out the cliche of happily ever after. They were supposed to have two-point-five kids, buy a minivan, carve out a slice of suburbia, and stay healthy and young and beautiful forever. They weren't supposed to make mistakes, have tempers or fights or bad days. They weren't supposed to split up. But with 18 years of marriage, 4 kids, a cat, and The Issue between them, Chip and Terry Davis aren't quite sure what to do when the distance between them seems to far to cross--or what to do when a simple case of the flu crosses it for them.

Finding Father Rabbit

After three years in the seminary, Kevin Davis comes home for his brother's birthday, and refuses to tell anyone why he's not going back. No one can pry the reason from him, not his parents, his brothers, or even his twin sister. But when childhood love Lydia Freeman bounces back into his life and yanks him out of his pool of despair, he considers telling her the truth, even though once she knows, there's no going back. He struggles with the truth, a pen pal who wants to be so much more, and an unfortunate streak with fire. Finding Father Rabbit follows the Davis family through two years, from Kevin's return home to the explosion of his secret revealed.

It's Not About The Cookies is a stand-alone novel.

There's a long dead brother Sam can see and with whom she shares long conversation. A mother she blames for just about everything. Two sisters who carry their own assortment of baggage. A friend who survived junior high with Sam and who understands why Sam hasn't been home in fifteen years, and a husband who thinks she should go.

Samantha Stark has a ready made list of excuses to not go back, but even though they top the list, she knows...it's not about the cookies.

By the way, Max is apparently a little upset that I didn't mention his blog in yesterday's post (good thing he doesn't live here, my shoes are safe). Be sure to check it out for regular updates (at least, when he manages to sneak onto the internet without his human's supervision). Rumor has it that he has another book in the works, as well.