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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Author Spotlight - F. Paul Wilson

F. Paul Wilson's The LaNague Federation Chronicles is now out and exclusive on Kindle. Each volume is $2.99 and several contain an exclusive, bonus short story (or two) in addition to the main title. I've included them below, in series order. Wilson is perhaps more recently known for his Repairman Jack series; his novels and short fiction have been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, the Nebula Award, and the Bram Stoker Award and he was the first winner of the Prometheus Award!

Healer

Steven Dalt should have died in that cave on the planet Kwashi. After all, as the natives say, of a thousand people attacked by the cave-dwelling alaret, one will not die. But Dalt is that one. He survives, but not without personal cost: he has picked up a passenger: an alien intelligence transferred itself from the alaret to take up residence in his brain. Steven Dalt will never be alone again.

But Pard, as Dalt names the alien who shares his life, doesn’t believe in freeloading. He pays his rent by using cellular-level consciousness to maintain Dalt’s body in perfect health—no disease, no aging. And now Dalt appreciates the full meaning of the Kwashi natives’ saying: Of a thousand struck down by an alaret, one will not die . . . ever.

Spanning twelve hundred years, HEALER follows Dalt and Pard through the centuries as they become known as The Healer, an enigmatic figure with the power to cure diseases of the mind. And when a wave of interstellar slaughter threatens the civilizations of the LaNague Federation, only The Healer has the resources to face the onrushing doom.

(Bonus LaNague short story: "To Fill the Sea and Air" - plus a foreword by the author)


Wheels Within Wheels

A monstrous conspiracy is brewing against the LaNague Federation and the freedoms its guarantees to its member planets—at least that’s what Old Pete says. He's come to the offices of Interstellar Business Advisors, a firm he co-founded more than half a century before, to enlist the aid of its current CEO, Josephine Finch. Dubious at first, Jo humors the old man by promising to look into the matter.

She does not have to look far before she is convinced that something is afoot, something that will not bear the light of day, something involving a revolutionary means of interstellar travel. And when one of the trails leads to the planet Jebinose, site of her father’s bizarre death, Jo finds herself personally involved.

She is soon pitted against one of the shrewdest, most devious minds in Federation politics, and against a wild-card psi who might well destroy them both. But what Josephine Finch begins, she finishes.

Wheels Within Wheels follows her on a course that involves five planets and three alien races. Before she is through she will bring the galaxy’s largest corporation to its knees, avenge her father’s death, abort a cynical political plot, and start an interstellar war.

Don’t mess with Josephine Finch.

(Bonus LaNague short stories: "The Man with the Anteater" and "Higher Centers" - plus a foreword by the author)


An Enemy of the State

Peter LaNague’s voice was low but his eyes blazed as he spoke:

"I propose a revolution, one without blood and thunder, but one that will shake this world and the entire outworld mentality as no storm of violence ever shall. History is filled with cosmetic revolutions where a little new paint is daubed on an old face or, in the more violent and destructive examples, a new head set on an old body. Mine will be different, truly radical . . . which means striking at the root. I’m going to teach the outworlds a lesson they will never forget. When I’m through with the Imperium, the people of the outworlds will swear never again to allow matters to reach the state they are in. Never again!"

Meet Peter LaNague—citizen of the planet Tolive, devotee of the Kyfho philosophy, revolutionary agent provocateur.

But LaNague is planning a unique revolution. One that not only topples the entrenched Outworld Imperium, but fundamentally alters every outworlder’s concept of government as well. To accomplish this he must ally himself with a madman, trust the word of the last of Sol System’s robber barons, make incisive use of the consummate warriors from the planet Flint without letting them run amok, confound at every turn the omnipresent forces of the Imperium, and every now and then make it rain money.

But those are the easy parts. His greatest challenge will be to see his plan through to successful completion without becoming the very enemy he has vowed to destroy.

AN ENEMY OF THE STATE is the heart and the cradle of the LaNague series. It is the story of the apocalyptic birth of the LaNague Federation.


Dydeetown World

Welcome to the future...

Where the cream of humanity has left for the outworlds, leaving the rest behind...

Where genetically redesigned T. rexes have supplanted pit bulls...

Where population control measures have created an underclass of Urchins, unlicensed children who have no rights - not even the right to exist...

Where wireheads with chips in their brains live vicariously through the downloaded experiences of others...

Where the UN has been turned into a brothel known as Dydeetown, peopled by clones of famous personalities from history and entertainment...

Where a Dydeetown clone of Jean Harlow asks a down-and-out private eye named Sig Dreyer to find her missing lover.

Though Sig loathes the idea of working for a clone, Harlow-c is paying in gold, and that's hard to turn down. Just a missing-person case...should be simple enough.

But neither realizes that Sig's investigation will tip the first domino in a cascade of events that will turn their world upside down.

DYDEETOWN WORLD whips the classic tropes of noir fiction and far-future cyberpunk into a relentlessly paced novel about freedom, friendship, and self-esteem. Beneath its hardboiled voice, its seamy settings, and violent events, are people trying to make a human connection...and changing the world in the process.


The Tery

Heroes don’t always look the part.

He was a tery, a lean, bearish creature with no name. The human soldiers left dead. Just another dumb animal on their extermination list.

But he didn’t die.

Animals weren’t the only beings on the list. Certain humans were marked for extinction as well. A fugitive band found him and brought him back from the brink. He became their pet, their mascot.

And still he had no name. He was simply “the tery.”

He soon learned that these were no ordinary humans, and learned too that he was no ordinary tery. The humans had no idea that the creature they fed table scraps and patted on the head would soon turn their world upside down and change it forever.

By then he had a name.

THE TERY – A beauty-and-the-beast fable that only F. Paul Wilson could tell, full of wonder and horror, brimming with strange landscapes and hideous mutations from science run amok. An unforgettable tale of the extremes of the human spirit—of bravery and depravity, of innocence and evil.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Free Book - Favorite Food at Home (Abridged)

Harper Collins and Kerrygold are giving away a sampler book taken from Favorite Food at Home: Delicious Comfort Food from Ireland's Most Famous Chef ($16.49 paperback), by Rachel Allen, which contains twenty recipes (which no doubt include butter or cheese as an ingredient).

Book Description
In this beautifully illustrated cookbook, Rachel Allen offers the delicious, inspiring, and easy-to-follow recipes that have made her Ireland's most famous chef. Favorite Food at Home draws on international influences, classic regional Irish fare, and good old family favorites to provide creative options for every occasion, whether planning a simple family meal, hosting a festive dinner, cooking a romantic meal for two, or just relaxing on the sofa with your favorite comfort food.

Here are the details on the giveaway:
While supplies last, we're offering consumers a download of recipes selected from Rachel Allen's new cookbook, Favorite Food at Home, absolutely FREE. This download includes twenty recipes and photos specially chosen by Kerrygold. We're confident you'll enjoy trying these recipes at home using Kerrygold butters and cheeses!
Click HERE to get the free book. After clicking on the REDEEM button, enter this redemption code and follow the prompts: KGLD-0319-2010-RACB. You'll be told that you need Adobe Digital Editions to read the book (implying that the format is either PDF or EPUB with ADE DRM), but ignore this and keep going. Once you enter the redemption code and log in to your Harper Collins account (create one free, if you don't already have one), you'll be able to download the free book in one of several formats, including one marked "Kindle". I downloaded a few and all appear to be DRM-free.

Amazon announced Kindle for Tablet PC's

Amazon has announced Kindle for Tablet Computers, of which the iPad is the first named supported device, and this Kindle App has a feature not present on any of the others: the ability to add notes and highlights (see below). There is no sign-up to be notified button yet and each device and/or OS will require it's own application, so there will no doubt be several flavors of the Kindle for Tablet Computers app.

Experience the Beautiful User Interface
  • Get the best reading experience available on your tablet computer including the iPad. No Kindle required
  • Tailored to the size, look, and feel of your tablet computer
  • Customize background color and font size to ease eye strain
  • Adjust screen brightness from within the app to make reading easier
  • Page turn animation replicates the look of turning a page in a book. Or choose Basic Reading Mode for a simpler and unadorned reading experience
Read Kindle Books on Your Tablet Computer Including the iPad
  • Amazon's Whispersync technology automatically synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights with Kindle and Kindle-compatible devices PC, Mac, iPhone, and BlackBerry
  • Customers can start reading on one device and, on another, pick up where they left off
  • Already have a Kindle? Access your Kindle books even if you don't have your Kindle with you
  • Create bookmarks, notes, and highlights, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle
Shop for Books in the Kindle Store
  • Search and browse more than 450,000 Kindle books, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers. If you are a non-U.S. customer, book availability may vary
  • Get free book samples--read the first chapter for free before you decide to buy
  • Books you purchase can also be read on a Kindle and Kindle-compatible devices

Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Resurrection of Deacon Shader

The Resurrection of Deacon Shader ($0.99 Kindle), by Derek Prior, the first book in his fantasy series The Deceptions of The Demiurgos, has recently been updated. Since it is a bit of a process to get a new version at Amazon (you have to return the old version for a refund, then repurchase), Derek has set up a coupon (which ends today) so that you can get a replacement or just try out his writing at Smashwords for free. I have a review copy here and have placed it high on my TBR stack after scanning the first few pages, so expect to feature the book here again soon.

Book Description
A fusion of heroic fantasy, sorcery and dark science, the book introduces the complex, and conflicted character of Deacon Shader - former knight of the Elect, failed monk and gifted swordsman.

Following his rejection by the woman he loves, Shader returns to the Abbey of Pardes where he witnesses a supernatural assault on the Grey Abbot. Something is stolen - a segment of the mythical Sun Stone - which Shader agrees to retrieve from the plague city of Sarum.

Beauty, Truth, Love – these three fled the hound of science, seeking refuge in the Dreaming. As Earth marched towards an unrelenting technocracy, the beleaguered Sun Stone fell from the skies of distant Aethir, but it did not find the sanctuary it had sought; for Aethir had become the home of all the Sun Stone feared: the architect of Earth’s fall from grace, the uncompromising “Pale Wizard”, Sektis Gandaw.

Rescued from the clutches of Sektis Gandaw by the gods of the Dreamers, the Sun Stone was entrusted to the shaman Huntsman until the day of the Reckoning when, bereft of choice, it unleashed the power of nightmare upon the Earth.

Three millennia later, with the parts of the Sun Stone scattered, a creature that has fed for centuries on the unsuspecting people of Sahul locates a segment of the mythical Sun Stone and with it the promise of eternal life. As he enhances his own necromantic arts with the power of the Sun Stone, Ernst Cadman starts to suspect that there are unwanted side-effects and, worse still, someone or something maybe watching.

Huntsman weaves a web of manipulation to ensure the safety of Sahul and to prevent the Sun Stone from falling back into the hands of a terrible being from beyond the stars. The Stone, however, has ideas of its own and calls together those who are to play a part in its destiny: an abbot, a bard, an assassin, a Pope, and the former knight of the Elect, Deacon Shader who unknowingly carries a power of his own, a potency that may either save or condemn the whole of Creation.


Click HERE to get the book on Smashwords and use coupon code SD33X.

Free Audiobook - Vampire's Tango

Vampire's Tango ($2.39 Kindle), by Michele Hauf, narrated by Montana Chase, is being given away by Audible.com today. This is a short volume, about novella/novellette length and the unabridged length is 1 hour, 24 minutes.

Book Description
Vampire Alexandre Renard never met a more intriguing woman than Veronica Marshall. He waited for weeks for the mysterious woman to make her move...and wasn't disappointed when they shared a seductive dance at a Paris tango club. Their passion made him want to savor their embrace forever--even though he knew that Veronica was a slayer waiting for her chance to destroy him....

Faced with an early death, Veronica became a vampire hunter to do some good in the world before being forced to leave it. But as her game of cat-and-mouse with Alexandre turned into nights of unforgettable pleasure, how could she destroy the man she came to love?

With time--and their enemies--against them, vampire and slayer will have to fight to win just one more day in each other's arms....


Click HERE for the free download.