I've moved!

I've moved!

Thanks for stopping by, but it appears you are using a (very) old address for my blog. I've moved to a Wordpress site and you'll need to update your bookmarks for Books on the Knob

I've moved!

Custom Search

Thursday, October 1, 2009

October Two Dollar Deals

With the start of a month, it's time for new bargains in the Amazon store. I've already posted a freebie and a dollar book. In this post are the $1.99 specials this month.

The Ax is yet another bargain title by Donald E. Westlake. Of course, at the rate of one a month, it'll be over a year before they run through just the titles already on Kindle, so hopefully this will become a monthly tradition.

Book Description
... brilliant, laser-sharp tale of the deadly consequences of corporate downsizing.

Burke Devore is a middle-aged manager at a paper company when the cost-cutting ax falls, and he is laid off. Eighteen months later and still unemployed, he puts a new spin on his job search -- with agonizing care, Devore finds the seven men in the surrounding area who could take the job that rightfully should be his, and systematically kills them. Transforming himself from mild-mannered middle manager to ruthless murderer, he discovers skills ne never knew ne had -- and that come to him far too easily.


Marked by Passion, by Kate Perry

Book Description
Gabrielle Sansouci Chin is turned for a loop when she receives the ancient scroll that she was marked to protect. Her possession only means one thing...her father is dead. Gabe has no idea how she is going to balance her new responsibilities as a Guardian being a painter by day and a bartender by night. Having just been contracted for her new "Enter the Light" series, Gabe tries to handle it all. But it seems like her luck has run dry when she's ill trained to take her proper place as guardian, having a dry spell at painting, and for some reason can't help but fall for Rhys Llewellyn, the sexy Brit who offers his help in more ways than one.

Devil in a Kilt, by Sue-Ellen Welfonder

Book Description
Linnet MacDonnell was the youngest of seven sisters, and not the family beauty. With her flame-bright red hair, sharp tongue, and strange gift of second sight, no man wanted her. But the devil would take her. Bartered as a bride to her father's long-sworn enemy, the nobly born Highlander, Duncan MacKenzie of Kintail, she had no choice but to enter a marriage with a man rumored to have murdered his first wife and said to possess neither heart nor soul. Forbidding and proud, Duncan MacKenzie wanted only one thing from his new bride -- to use her special gift to determine if young Robbie was truly his son. He never expected the MacDonnell lass to stubbornly follow her heart, chase away the darkness in his castle with light and laughter, and ignite a raging fire in his blood. How dare she defy him, and tempt a devil like him to feel what he feared most of all --- love!

Reality Dysfunction Part 1 & 2, by Peter F. Hamilton. I'd recommend you instead consider getting The Night's Dawn Trilogy ($7.99), as it contains The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God - over 4000 pages in paperback and 5 megabytes on Kindle.

Book Description
In the far future, humanity has divided along a single major line. The Edenists are genetically engineered space-dwellers with telepathic affinity to their biotechnological homes and ships. Adamists are effectively the Luddites of the future, willing to pioneer new worlds much as their ancestors did hundreds of years previously. The two clash on a primitive world called Lalonde, involving a huge cast of characters including a beautiful teenage girl who has inherited a vast technological empire; a freebooting adventurer in search of alien treasure; a renegade Edenist criminal; an alien race which observes human behavior; an ineffectual priest shocked by the world he has come to settle . . . and many, many more.

Wolf in the Shadows, by Marcia Muller, I've put last because Amazon hasn't yet changed the price. This one is supposed to be included in the special, so I'll check back on it over the next few days. It's already marked down in the Sony bookstore.

Book Description
While investigating her lover's disappearance, San Francisco private investigator Sharon McCone stumbles upon some unpleasant truths. By the author of Pennies on a Dead Woman's Eyes.

All of these are currently available for $1.99 in the Sony Bookstore.

Free Book (PDF) - The Naked Gospel

Zondervan Publishing is offering a free copy The Naked Gospel: Truth You May Never Hear in Church ($9.59 Kindle), by Andrew Farley, in PDF format, on the book's web site, thru October 15. There is also a seven part video series there for individual reflection or group study.

Book Description
"I found myself lying on the floor of my apartment, sobbing for hours on end: "God, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do, and I still don't feel closer to you. In fact, I feel worse than ever! How could this have gone wrong? I can't see any way out. Help me."

As a university student, Andrew Farley found himself physically and emotionally addicted to street evangelism and Bible study. Yet despite his fervid behavior, he knew something was missing. That something was an understanding of the gospel that is stripped of the compromises and cliches of the modern church.

The Naked Gospel finds friends among those who are burned out on experience-chasing, ceremonialism, or legalism. It attacks churchy jargon and powerless ideas and puts forth a message that is simple but life-changing. With a fresh take on Scripture and unapologetic style, The Naked Gospel will challenge you and stir you to re-examine everything you thought you already knew."


Click HERE to get the free PDF download. You'll need an authorization code for the download, so just enter farley (all lower case) if you don't want to join any of the social networks listed.

October Orbit Dollar Book: Debatable Space

Debatable Space, by Philip Palmer

Book Description
Flanagan (who is, for want of a better word, a pirate) has a plan. It seems relatively simple: kidnap Lena, the Cheo's daughter, demand a vast ransom for her safe return, sit back and wait.

Only the Cheo, despotic ruler of the known universe, isn't playing ball. Flanagan and his crew have seen this before, of course, but since they've learned a few tricks from the bad old days and since they know something about Lena that should make the plan foolproof, the Cheo's defiance is a major setback. It is a situation that calls for extreme measures.

Luckily, Flanagan has considerable experience in this area . . .

Free Audiobook - Just Courage

ChristianAudio's free download this month is Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian (Unabridged) by Gary A. Haugen, narrated by David Cochran Heath (Hardcover $12.24; Kindle $9.79). After adding the audiobook to your cart, enter the coupon code OCT2009 during checkout.

"There must be more to the Christian life than this--more than church each Sunday and waving to my neighbors and giving some clothes to Goodwill when I go through my closet each spring."

These aren't bad things, of course. But they're safe and comfortable and easy. And there's a reason they're not satisfying your desire for something more significant and meaningful--we're created by God for adventure.

International Justice Mission president Gary Haugen has found that engaging in the fight for justice is the most deeply satisfying way of life. This book shows how we too can be a part of God's great expedition.


To use on the Kindle, download the MP3 files and copy them to the audible\ directory on your Kindle (or the SD card for the Kindle 1). Due to the size, you may only be able to copy over a few chapters at a time (and the filename is displayed on the Home page, so make sure to name them appropriately, so you can find the chapter you wish to play).

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Aaron's Storybooks - Four Books for Four Cents

Aaron Shepard of Shepard Publications thinks that children's ebooks are being priced too high and has decided to offer his books on Kindle at a penny apiece. He has started with four books in the Storybooks series and promises to add more if these do well. What you give up, though, are any illustrations from the paper versions of the book. For some stories, I suspect this won't make a difference, although it would not work for books for toddlers. Each of these books has a specific theme, are generally written for ages 4-9 and range in size from 900 to 1500 words. (I'm all for long novels, but not children's bedtime stories!)

Aaron's Storybook #1: The Legend of Lightning Larry
A cowboy with a huge smile, a gun that shoots bolts of light, and a hankering for lemonade takes on Evil-Eye McNeevil's outlaw gang. An original tall tale.

Aaron's Storybook #2: The Legend of Slappy Hooper
Slappy is the world's biggest, fastest, bestest sign painter, but he's too good -- his pictures keep coming to life. An American tall tale.

Aaron's Storybook #3: The Baker's Dozen
Van Amsterdam, the baker, is as honest as he can be -- but he may have something left to learn. A Saint Nicholas tale from Dutch colonial New York.

Aaron's Storybook #4: The Gifts of Wali Dad
Wali Dad, a humble grass-cutter, never asked for wealth-- so why can't he give it away? A tale of India and Pakistan.

When I did a search for Shepard Publications in the Kindle store, I discovered that I had already bought a couple of books from them. This is the same publisher that has Skeeter: A Cat Tale and Pacific Avenue, by Anne L. Watson and Timothy Tolliver and the Bully Basher, by Aaron Shepard, all for a penny apiece in the Kindle store and previously mentioned in my blog. I'm only part way thru Skeeter, but it is a laugh-out-loud read (at least, if you have ever been owned by a cat). In addition to these, I discovered four more titles they've released recently, all children's books, it appears, of around 50 pages:

The Monkey King: A Superhero Tale of China, Retold from The Journey to the West ($0.01)

The Songs of Power: A Finnish Tale of Magic, Retold from the Kalevala ($0.01)

The Mountain of Marvels: A Celtic Tale of Magic, Retold from The Mabinogion ($0.50)

The Magic Flyswatter: A Superhero Tale of Africa, Retold from the Mwindo Epic ($0.50)