The Kindle store is open once again...

Looks like having all US Kindle book sales blocked got someone's attention at Amazon. The problem has been corrected and the free reads posted earlier today are now available, once again.

Update: Perhaps I posted too soon. At least parts of the store are back online, including the three free reads from earlier today, but many books are still unavailable in the US, as of the time of this update (3:48 PM EDT).

Amazon Kindle Books unavailable in the US - store offline?

It's no doubt just a temporary glitch, but it appears that no books are available in the Kindle store to customers in the USA, at the current time. I've noticed in the past that there are often database updates at noon pacific time (where Amazon's HQ is located) and that is the exact time that the Kindle store started blocking all US customers. I first noticed the problem with the free titles I posted earlier, but have checked some of their bestsellers, front page promotions and independent authors using DTP -- none of them are available to purchase.

Free Book - Crimson Shadows

The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 1: Crimson Shadows, is the third free title from the Suvudu Free Libary for today. For an unknown reason, this is titled The Shadow Kingdom in the Kindle store (which is part of the Weird Tales collections, not Best Of), but it is Crimson Shadows in all the other listings. Both volumes contain the Shadow Kingdoms short story.

Book Description
Robert E. Howard is one of the most famous and influential pulp authors of the twentieth century. Though largely known as the man who invented the sword-and-sorcery genre–and for his iconic hero Conan the Cimmerian–Howard also wrote horror tales, desert adventures, detective yarns, epic poetry, and more. This spectacular volume, gorgeously illustrated by Jim and Ruth Keegan, includes some of his best and most popular works.

Inside, readers will discover (or rediscover) such gems as “The Shadow Kingdom,” featuring Kull of Atlantis and considered by many to be the first sword-and-sorcery story; “The Fightin’est Pair,” part of one of Howard’s most successful series, chronicling the travails of Steve Costigan, a merchant seaman with fists of steel and a head of wood; “The Grey God Passes,” a haunting tale about the passing of an age, told against the backdrop of Irish history and legend; “Worms of the Earth,” a brooding narrative featuring Bran Mak Morn, about which H. P. Lovecraft said, “Few readers will ever forget the hideous and compelling power of [this] macabre masterpiece”; a historical poem relating a momentous battle between Cimbri and the legions of Rome; and “Sharp’s Gun Serenade,” one of the last and funniest of the Breckinridge Elkins tales.

These thrilling, eerie, compelling, swashbuckling stories and poems have been restored to their original form, presented just as the author intended. There is little doubt that after more than seven decades the voice of Robert E. Howard continues to resonate with readers around the world.

Click HERE for other formats other than Kindle.

Free Book - Trading in Danger

Trading in Danger, by Elizabeth Moon, is the second free title from the Suvudu Free Libary for today and is the first in her Vatta's War series.

Book Description
Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father’s only child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the family business. For Ky, it’s no contest: Even running the prestigious Vatta Transport Ltd. shipping concern can’t hold a candle to shipping out as an officer aboard an interstellar cruiser. It’s adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. And despite her family’s misgivings, there can be no doubt that a Vatta in the service will prove a valuable asset. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down.

Expelled from the Academy in disgrace–and returning home to her humiliated family, a storm of high-profile media coverage, and the gaping void of her own future–Ky is ready to face the inevitable onslaught of anger, disappointment, even pity. But soon after opportunity’s door slams shut, Ky finds herself with a ticket to ride – and a shot at redemption – as captain of a Vatta Transport ship.

It’s a simple assignment: escorting one of the Vatta fleet’s oldest ships on its final voyage . . . to the scrapyard. But keeping it simple has never been Ky’s style. And even though her father has provided a crew of seasoned veterans to baby-sit the fledgling captain on her maiden milk run, they can’t stop Ky from turning the routine mission into a risky venture–in the name of turning a profit for Vatta Transport, of course.

By snapping up a lucrative delivery contract defaulted on by a rival company, and using part of the proceeds to upgrade her condemned vehicle, Ky aims to prove she’s got more going for her than just her family’s famous name. But business will soon have to take a backseat to bravery, when Ky’s change of plans sails her and the crew straight into the middle of a colonial war. For all her commercial savvy, it’s her military training and born-soldier’s instincts that Ky will need to call on in the face of deadly combat, dangerous mercenaries, and violent mutiny. . . .

Click HERE for other formats other than Kindle.

Practically Free - Body of Lies

You might have passed on this one when it was a bit over $2 earlier this month, but it's been steadily dropping in price in lockstep with the paperback and is now a ridiculous 50 cents: Body of Lies, by David Ignatius. I haven't finished it yet (too many books to read!), but I'd recommend you check it out, as the price is bound to rise when they stop the sale on the paperback.

Book Description
Roger Ferris is one of the CIA's soldiers in the war on terrorism. He has come out of Iraq with a shattered leg and an intense mission—to penetrate the network of a master terrorist known only as "Suleiman." Ferris's plan for getting inside Suleiman's tent is inspired by a masterpiece of British intelligence during World War II: He prepares a body of lies, literally the corpse of an imaginary CIA officer who appears to have accomplished the impossible by recruiting an agent within the enemy's ranks.

This scheme binds friend and foe in a web of extraordinary subtlety and complexity, and when it begins to unravel, Ferris finds himself flying blind into a hurricane. His only hope is the urbane head of Jordan's intelligence service—a man who might be an Arab version of John le Carré's celebrated spy, George Smiley. But can Ferris trust him?