Free Books in Exchange for Reviews

Jason Matthews would like to get some reviews for his two spiritual fiction novels and is giving away copies to anyone that would agree to do a review. The offer was made on the Amazon forums and the link posted in the clear, so I am repeating it here. I'd assume the link will stop working when he feels enough people have downloaded the book or he gets the reviews he is looking for. It's all on the honor system, but if you enjoy his book, the links below will take you to the pages where you can post a review. Note that I haven't read either one so far, so can't comment on the content or quality.

The Little Universe ($4.95 Kindle)

Book Description
Rose Adams, spiritual scientist, bets her atheist husband she will convince him that some form of God must exist. The only problem; now she’s dead.

Webster, astronomer and inventor, carries out Rose’s final project, the Universe Generator. If it works, it will house a self-contained miniature universe, a simulation of the Big Bang on a much smaller scale.

With the help of his handyman, Jon, and the project’s central computer, Jim, they succeed in fulfilling Rose’s dream. The little universe looks and acts exactly as their own, only tiny in comparison.

Whitney Adams, college aged daughter, and Frank Maxwell, project financier, join in with the search for what lies inside. With powerful cameras and the ability to accelerate the time flow within it, they explore for planets and for life. Before long they find life in abundance. It's primitive at first, but after accelerating it through eons of evolution they find places beyond their wildest dreams; worlds of advanced alien societies.

The project becomes an overnight goldmine. Frank exploits the newfound aliens, while Whitney becomes intrigued with one planet’s people. As they meditate ritually, she watches and sits in the labroom and meditates with them. In time, Whitney becomes a medium for their wisdom. They seem to have access to the Akashic records, the collection of all things known. They have the answer to any possible question, including where to find the soul of Rose.

The underlying theme of The Little Universe is the connection of all life with something beyond, something undefinable, and something miraculous. Join Webster and the crew and find out if Rose was able to win her bet, if she was able to convince her husband that some form of God must exist.

Jim's Life ($4.95 Kindle)

Book Description
A teenage boy on trial can see and heal the human light fields, drawing comparisons to Christ while the world argues over his case. Sequel to The Little Universe, Jim gets his wish for the full human experience.

Australia 2150 AD

Jim experiences a soul transfer with the body of a 15 year old boy who died in an accident while running from a crime. Jim is revived in the hospital with amnesia and brain damage that affects his pineal gland and vision processing. Too much DMT (Dimethyltriptamine) is produced, a naturally occuring neurochemical that causes dreams and spiritual hallucinations. His vision is permanently altered so that he can see the chakras and auras of people as well as his own luminosities.

In time he learns to work with these light fields and becomes a miracle healer, drawing comparisons to Christ. All the while he's on trial for a crime he didn't commit. As his case becomes a source of global interest, two things become clear; a brutal rape occured and he can now heal others by touch.

As the environment reaches a frenzy, everyone wants a part of Jim. Nurses want to sleep with him, endorsements come from every angle, skeptics come to debunk him, patients need his healing touch, and still others want to train him to use his gifts and become the teacher that he was destined to be.

An epic story of religion and spirituality, the courts of justice and the power of love. Subjects include past life recall, psychic connections, world religions, healing by touch, Merkaba and astral travel, Flower of Life, sacred geometry and more.

Click HERE for the free downloads. There are versions that can be read on all the major readers out there - Kindle, EPUB and PDF.

Pre-Order New Releases under $9

John Lescroart's The Hunt Club ($3.61) isn't a quite a new release, since hardcover was published in early 2006, but it's a new to Kindle release still in the pre-order stage until June 1, 2010. The digital list price is $9.99, but the Kindle price is currently lowered to the same as the older hardcovers they are clearancing out (which means the price will probably go back up as soon as that inventory surplus is cleared).

Book Description
At first, The Hunt Club had a membership of one: private investigator Wyatt Hunt. Since then, others have joined with a common interest in obtaining justice. One member, inspector Devin Juhle, has just caught a major case: the shooting of a sixty-three-year old federal judge and his twentysomething mistress...

While Juhle works, Hunt plays, hooking up with TV star and legal analyst Andrea Parisi. But before Hunt knows it, Juhle's case will be of great interest to the members of The Hunt Club. Especially to Hunt himself-as Andrea's card is found in the wallet of one of the victims.

False Convictions ($8.31), by Tim Green. The price of this book will revert to $9.99 after the pre-order period ends on 5/10.

Book Description
In bestselling author Tim Green's latest thriller, Casey Jordan returns-seeking justice in a small town riddled with....

FALSE CONVICTIONS

Casey is counting on an open-and-shut case, a sure success for her first effort with the Freedom Project, the renowned charity group dedicated to helping exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners. Not only is the Freedom Project giving Casey the chance to help innocent people, but its founder, Robert Graham, is offering Casey a one-million-dollar annual pledge to her legal clinic for taking on just two jobs a year.

Her first assignment is to revive the case of Dwayne Hubbard, an indigent black man serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a college student seventeen years ago. Using DNA evidence, Casey expects to easily prove Hubbard's innocence. Yet when she arrives in rural Auburn, New York, she meets immediate and aggressive resistance.

Tormented by death threats and assassination attempts, Casey investigates a prosecution apparently rife with lies. From the judge, the lawyers, the jury, to the police, she traces a web of corruption surrounding the destruction of one young man. But in all the chaos, Casey's hardest challenge may be just staying alive.

Free Book (Smashwords) - Mighty Hammer Down

Mighty Hammer Down ($0.99 Kindle), by David J. Guyton, which I bought this last January on the Kindle, is available for free on Smashwords using coupon code WV84F, which is valid thru March 18, 2010. This is the first in his Legend of Reason series, with the second book planned to release in the next few months. The only issue I have with free version is that he didn't check the box to get a Kindle version published, so you'll have to download a different format and convert it (EPUB and use Calibre or PDF if you want to use the free Amazon conversion).

Book Description
A longstanding peace is about to be shattered by villains in the shadows of Medora. They conspire with distant nations to cripple the western Empire and spread their venom eastward. In their secretive attempt, they stumble across the power to slay Arius, the god of war, and replace him with a human puppet. That mission fails however, and they not only pave the path for the seven gods to walk the earth, but create a god of war who is bent on their destruction. He clumsily learns to use his powers and hones them into a powerful weapon to wield against the Mages and their twisted vision of society. In the chaos, a great war ignites and threatens all nations and cultures.

Rommus has no idea that he has become the new god of war. He also has no idea that his companion Alana is responsible for the assassination attempt on his father, the General of the Medoran army. While the Medoran Legions head east to aid the Vindyri in their battle against the oppressive Bhoors, Rommus follows the visions he sees in his dreams, pulling him north towards the Land of the Gods. Along the way they meet a strange man named Vohl who claims to be immortal, and the three of them end up before the golden throne of the great god Oderion. But Rommus refuses to be like the uncaring gods, and quickly makes six very powerful enemies.

In all of this mayhem, the small flames of the old magic roar to mighty infernos; burning some and lighting the way for others. Great beasts now walk the earth again, and the gods themselves have come down to influence the world of man once more. But the new god of war is not interested in their agenda, and instead joins the battle on the Vindyri planes. He fights with all his might for the freedom of mankind, struggling to bring light to the coming darkness.

Click HERE to get the book at Smashwords.

Free Book - The Windup Girl

The fantasy short story collection The Windup Girl ($10.08 Paperback pre-order), by Paolo Bacigalupi, can be downloaded for free, directly from Night Shade Books. they are currently offering both a PDF and EPUB version. You can put the PDF directly onto the newer Kindles, but I dropped the EPUB version into Calibre and let it convert it to MOBI format for the Kindle.

Book Description
Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko. Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of "The Calorie Man" (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and "Yellow Card Man" (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions.

To get the books for free, send an email to Night Shade Books (click the link for the address). If you are interested in a book club discussion of the book, you'll want to read this post at io9.

Free Books (Smashwords) - Refuge of Delayed Souls

Miladysa has released the second volume of her Refuge of Delayed Souls series and is making it available for a limited time as a free download at Smashwords. For those who missed volume 1 when it was free, there is a new coupon for it as well.

Billy: Refuge of Delayed Souls II. Use coupon code WF76B QF33B (new coupon code, see comments below), valid thru February 27.

Book Description
Elizabeth Whyte's investigations into the past and the supernatural continue. A barguest wreaks havoc on the moors above the town and Billy Lawrence is introduced to the world of RoYds.

RoYds: Refuge of Delayed Souls. Use coupon code SX58C, valid until the end of February.

Book Description
In a story spanning many lifetimes, we follow Elizabeth Whyte's journey as she investigates the supernatural & seeks information about her own past, all while trying to keep a balance between the light & the darkness in her work for an agency known as the Refuge of Delayed Souls. A world where ghosts, angels, the Living & others exist side by side, although not always in harmony.