Free Book from Sony - American Quartet

American Quartet ($5.56 Kindle), by Warren Adler, the first in his Fiona FitzGerald Mystery series.

Book Description
Never underestimate the power of failure In this first book of the Fiona series, four seemingly unconnected D.C. murders stimulate Fiona FitzGerald's sense of history as she delves into our country's dark past. In her search to solve the crimes, she uncovers the disturbing sexual and homicidal obsessions of a socially prominent but failed Washington politician.

To get it free, search for the title in the Sony Ebook Store using the desktop Sony Reader software (it's a free download; with it, you can read books on your PC even if you don't have a Sony Reader).

Update: If you have the sony reader (or don't mind reading on your PC) and like this book, Sony is running a promotion on a bundle of six books in this series for $19.99: Fiona Fitzgerald Series Bundle. This contains the following titles (which are $5.56 each in the Kindle store or $6.60 each from Sony):

Senator Love
Immaculate Deception
The Witch of Watergate
The Ties That Bind
American Sextet
Death of a Washington Madame

Free Book from Sony - Heaven

Heaven ($13.19 Kindle), by Randy Alcorn.

Book Description
What will heaven be like? Randy Alcorn presents a thoroughly biblical answer, based on years of careful study, presented in an engaging, reader-friendly style. His conclusions will surprise readers and stretch their thinking about this important subject.

To get it free, search for the title in the Sony Ebook Store using the desktop Sony Reader software (it's a free download; with it, you can read books on your PC even if you don't have a Sony Reader).

Under the Dome pre-order price drop to $7.20

Under the Dome, by Stephen King (December 24, 2009), has joined the list of upcoming bestsellers that can be pre-ordered in the Kindle store for $7.20.

If you have already pre-ordered one of the books involved in the pre-order price war, I'd recommend canceling that order and re-ordering at the new price when it drops (make sure the store is allowing orders in your country before canceling, though, as they've been having problems today - this one was allowing orders less than ten minutes ago, but is not now). Apparently the pre-order price guarantee at Amazon may not cover Kindle books, as they don't display the "Pre-Order Price Guarantee" banner that is required. Easy enough to order again, since it's only a couple of extra clicks.

Book Description
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens - town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing - even murder - to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

Update: The price on this one has gone back up to $9.00. Looks like those with pre-orders may want to check them now and then, to see if the price changes.

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.