Free books from Smashwords

Night of the Tustumena ($1.99), by Arne Bue. Use coupon code QH65J during checkout, valid thru November 15, 2009.

Book Description
In this illustrated tale of murder, the secretive creator of an Alaskan drug route encounters problems on his last voyage to Dutch Harbor aboard the Alaska State Ferry "Tustumena."

The Man from Shenandoah ($3.99), courtesy of the author, Marsha Ward, who posted the coupon code ZM42L on her blog, valid thru November 3.

Book Description
Carl Owen doesn’t intend to lose anything—not his land, not his cattle, and certainly not his girl—ever again! Returning from the Civil War, he finds the farm ruined and his father set to leave Virginia. Then Carl falls in love, and he battles a band of outlaws, a prairie fire, blizzards, a trackless waterless desert, and his own brother—all for the hand of feisty Ellen Bates.

Little Monsters (Set Your own price; use $0.00), by Zoe Whitten. You can also pick up Blood Relations and Zombie Punter at no charge and download Blind Rage from her web site.

Book Description
Jarred Collins is a recluse in search of his past. A chance meeting with a homeless girl turns his life upside-down and dredges up his memories as a sexual predator. Who is Cora and why is she so familiar? In this tragic fantasy nothing is what it seems, no one is a hero and the worst betrayals come from the closest kin. But in the wake of a tragedy, maybe these little monsters can form a family.

If you missed Street: Empathy, by Ryan A. Span, during the Halloween sale, you can read most of the stories (and some that will be in a new volume, later) at this web site. It's online or in a bunch of PDF's, not an ebook format, and not a final edit/format, but it'll give you a good flavor for the work (and possibly convince you to spend the $1.99 for the book).

Going Rogue pre-order price drop

The pre-order price for Going Rogue: An American Life, by Sarah Palin (December 26, 2009), has dropped from $9.00 to $7.20 in the Kindle store.

Book Description
One year ago, Sarah Palin burst onto the national political stage like a comet. Yet even now, few Americans know who this remarkable woman really is. On September 3, 2008 Alaska Governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention that electrified the nation and instantly made her one of the most recognizable women in the world. As chief executive of America's largest state, she had built a record as a reformer who cast aside politics-as-usual and pushed through changes other politicians only talked about: Energy independence. Ethics reform. And the biggest private sector infrastructure project in U.S. history. And while revitalizing public school funding and ensuring the state met its responsibilities to seniors and Alaska Native populations, Palin also beat the political "good ol' boys club" at their own game and brought Big Oil to heel. Like her GOP running mate, John McCain, Palin wasn't a packaged and over-produced candidate. She was a Main Street American woman: a working mom, wife of a blue collar union man, and mother of five children, the eldest of whom was serving his country in a yearlong deployment in Iraq and the youngest, an infant with special needs. Palin's hometown story touched a populist nerve, rallying hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans to the GOP ticket. But as the campaign unfolded, Palin became a lightning rod for both praise and criticism. Supporters called her "refreshing" and "honest," a kitchen-table public servant they felt would fight for their interests. Opponents derided her as a wide-eyed Pollyanna unprepared for national leadership. But none of them knew the real Sarah Palin. In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Palin paints an intimate portrait of growing up in the wilds of Alaska; meeting her lifelong love; her decision to enter politics; the importance of faith and family; and the unique joys and trials of life as a high-profile working mother. She also opens up for the first time about the 2008 presidential race, providing a rare, mom's-eye view of high-stakes national politics-from patriots dedicated to "Country First" to slick politicos bent on winning at any cost. Going Rogue traces one ordinary citizen's extraordinary journey and imparts Palin's vision of a way forward for America and her unfailing hope in the greatest nation on earth.

Pirate Latitudes pre-order price drop

The pre-order price for Pirate Latitudes, by Michael Crichton (November 24, 2009), has dropped from $9.00 to $7.20 in the Kindle store.

Book Description
An irresistible adventure of swashbuckling pirates in the New World, a classic story of treasure and betrayal. The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English Crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses. In this steamy climate there's a living to be made, a living that can end swiftly by disease - or by dagger. For Captain Charles Hunter, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking, and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it. Word in port is that the galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is awaiting repairs in a nearby harbor. Heavily fortified, the impregnable harbor is guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla, a favorite commander of the Spanish king himself. With backing from a powerful ally, Hunter assembles a crew of ruffians to infiltrate the enemy outpost and commandeer El Trinidad, along with its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloodiest tales of island legend, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he even sets foot on foreign shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry stand between him and the treasure.

November Orbit Dollar Book: Blood Ties

November's One Dollar Book from Orbit is Blood Ties, by Pamela Freeman, the first in her Castings Trilogy (Deep Water and Full Circle are $9.99 each currently in the Kindle store).

Book Description
A thousand years ago, the Eleven Domains were invaded and the original inhabitants forced on the road as Travelers, belonging nowhere, welcomed by no-one.

Now the Domains are governed with an iron fist by the Warlords, but there are wilder elements to the landscape which cannot be controlled and which may prove their undoing. Some are spirits of place, of water and air and fire and earth. Some are greater than these. And some are human.

Bramble: a village girl, whom no-one living can tame ... forced to flee from her home for a crime she did not commit.

Ash: apprentice to a safeguarder, forced to kill for an employer he cannot escape.

Saker: an enchanter, who will not rest until the land is returned to his people.

As their three stories unfold, along with the stories of those whose lives they touch, it becomes clear that they are bound together in ways that not even a stonecaster could foresee - bound by their past, their future, and their blood.

Not every ebookstore has been matching Orbit's suggested sales price on their dollar books, but I'll include links for the major ones here, so you can check for other formats besides the Kindle one above. Currently, none of the links have updated with the new price, so be sure to check closely before ordering.

Barnes & Noble
Sony
Fictionwise
Books on Board

Two Free Books - The River and The Warlord Wants Forever

I was going to save these until tomorrow, but was afraid that the deal might disappear with the end of the month. Sorry for the overload today (and no guarantee that I might not post again, as I know some indie authors are having halloween sales that end soon).

The River ($7.99 Kindle), by Cheryl Kaye Tardif, is available free from Shortcovers, in a DRM'd EPUB format. You don't have to set up an account or enter any information, but you do need Adobe Digital Editions installed before you click to download.

Book Description
STEM CELL RESEARCH, CLONING, AND WORLD DOMINATION--WITH A TWIST... The South Nahanni River area of Canada's Northwest Territories has a history of mysterious deaths, disappearances and headless corpses, but it may also hold the key to humanity's survival―or its destruction. Del thought her father was long dead. But someone from her past says otherwise. Now she and a group of near strangers embark on a perilous mission... Seven years ago, Del Hawthorne's father and three of his friends disappeared near the Nahanni River and were presumed dead. When one of the missing men stumbles onto the University grounds, alive but barely recognizable and aging before her eyes, Del is shocked. Especially when the man tells her something inconceivable. Her father is still alive! Gathering a group of volunteers, Del travels to the Nahanni River to rescue her father. There, she finds a secret river that plunges her into a technologically advanced world of nanobots and painful serums. Del uncovers a conspiracy of unimaginable horror, a plot that threatens to destroy us all. Will humanity be sacrificed for the taste of eternal life? At what point have we become...God?

Simon and Schuster is giving away Kresley Cole's novella, The Warlord Wants Forever (included in the anthology Playing Easy to Get ($9.99 Kindle), if you sign up for their newsletter. It's part of a promotion for Deep Kiss of Winter ($9.99 Kindle), the latest in her Immortals After Dark series. However, you don't have to put any real info into the fields, other than an email address that you can check (use a throw-away account, if you don't want the newsletter), as none of it is validated before you subscribe. Click HERE to sign up and get the free download (it's a PDF).

Book Description
Nikolai Wroth, once a ruthless human warlord in the 1700s and now a general in the rebel vampire army, needs to find his Bride, the one woman who can render him truly alive. As a turned human, he doesn’t enjoy a heartbeat or breaths and is consequently weaker than fully blooded vampires. He wants his Bride for the power she will bring him and can hardly believe it when his heart beats for Myst the Coveted, a mad, fey, mythological creature.

Myst is known throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, part chillingly fierce warrior, part beguiling seductress who can “make you want her even as she’s killing you.” She has devoted her life to protecting an ancient, powerful jewel and to fighting the vampires, and she now sees a way to torment one—for with Wroth’s heartbeat comes consuming sexual desire that can only be slaked by her.

She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen the jewel which commands her, giving him absolute power over her. While he possesses it, he can make her do anything, and he plans to in order for her to experience first hand the agonizing, unending lust she’d purposely subjected him to for half a decade. Yet when Wroth realizes he wants more from her and frees her, will she come back to him?