20% off select HDTVs at Amazon.com (KSO)

This offer is for those with the Kindle Wi-Fi with Special Offers or Kindle 3G with Special Offers only. View the Special Offers on your Kindle (Menu, Special Offers) and you should see a new promotion (if you don't, turn on your wireless, click Menu, Sync & Check for New Items, then after the sync has completed, go to the Special Offers screen):

20% off select HDTVs at Amazon.com

Click on offer, then click on the link on the offer page sign up and get an email with the promotion code. Sign-up for this offer expires on June 5. You'll get an email (right away), a link to list of eligible TVs and a promotion code to enter at checkout. Once you have the promotional code, you have until Jul 9 to complete your purchase. Details and terms are on this page. Like previous offers, this one requires you to use the full checkout process in order to enter your promotional code. Also, like all Amazon sales that use promotional codes, if you have a gift card balance, you must use it for the payment (if there is not a sufficient balance, then you can pick which credit card or other payment to use).

If you are already in the market for an HDTV (especially a 3D TV), then you want to grab one of the KSO's (and pay for overnight shipping, so you can get this offer before it's gone; with Prime, it's only $3.99 extra), even if you have to buy one from Target or Walmart (normally, I caution against buying a Kindle there, as the follow-up support if there is a problem can be abysmal in the stores and returns may have to go there first, rather than via Amazon). On some HDTV models, this works out to a $500 or more discount (including that stunning Samsung UN55D8000 model pictured above, that I've been watching in my cart for months; it also has another offer for a free set of movies, two additional glasses and a 3D blu-ray player for free, if ordered at the same time). The savings from this one offer will pay for your KSO (including shipping), a year of audiobooks and a great number of Kindle ebooks.

With this offer, it's been confirmed that those with the Kindle 3G with Special Offers get the same offers as those with the original Kindle Wi-Fi with Special Offers. That means that they have missed out on some of the early spectacular offers, but at least one of those is coming back around: $20 Gift Card for $10. Here's a list that Amazon has published, that will be available in the coming weeks:

• $10 for a $20 Amazon.com Gift Card - customers loved this offer, so we're making it available again in time for Father's Day
• Save up to $500 off Amazon's already low prices on HDTVs with a unique 20% discount on 200 HDTVs from brands including Sony, Panasonic, LG, and VIZIO
• $1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands of books including Water for Elephants and the Hunger Games trilogy
• Spend $10 on Kindle books and get a free $10 Amazon.com Gift Card

If you aren't in the market for an HDTV, but do like audiobooks, stay tuned for another post, as I'll tell you how to get a KSO model for $100 off ($14 net for the WiFi only version), so that you can take advantage of these deals. That plus the other three announced deals would get you that KSO for free (and the net on the 3G version would drop to about $35).

Free/Bargain Book Update (Kindle)

Update: 6/3/11 Amazon has added Life's a Beach: Limited Edition, but is charging $1.59. Let them know about the lower prices and we'll see if it drops to zero!

Hybrid, by Brian O'Grady, published by FictionStudio, is free now free in the US Kindle store.

Book Description
A virus engineered for genocide has been released in Colorado Springs, leading to mass, and seemingly unexplained violence. Some of the survivors of the infection begin to evolve into something that is both less than and more than human. The race is on to prevent world-wide release of the virus.

Andrew Gross' The Blue Zone (with Bonus Material) is now 99 cents to pre-order in the Kindle store. Unfortunately for those who pre-ordered with B&N and want to switch to Kindle, there doesn't appear to be any method to cancel a pre-ordered nookbook in the B&N store. Then again, if you want it on Kindle badly enough, it's still under $2 to get it on both platforms.

Book Description
For a limited time, discover Andrew Gross's first stand alone novel, The Blue Zone, including an exclusive excerpt from his forthcoming book, Eyes Wide Open (Available July 21).

In The Blue Zone . . . Kate Raab's life seems almost perfect: her boyfriend, her job, her family . . . until her father runs into trouble with the law. His only recourse is to testify against his former accomplices in exchange for his family's placement in the Witness Protection Program. But one of them gets cold feet. In a flash, everything Kate can count on is gone.

Now, a year later, her worst fears have happened: Her father has disappeared—into what the WITSEC agency calls "the blue zone"—and someone close to him is found brutally murdered. With her family under surveillance, the FBI untrustworthy, and her father's menacing "friends" circling with increasing intensity, Kate sets off to find her father—and uncover the secrets someone will kill to keep buried.

Powerless: The Synthesis, by Jason Letts, is now free in the US. This one is self-published, but looks interesting and has a number of 4 and 5 star reviews.

Book Description
Mira Ipswich couldn't have ever known the startling difference that separates her from the rest of humanity. But when she discovers a strange anomaly in the midst of her seclusion, her parents are forced to reveal she exists in a world where everyone is imbued with a wondrous natural gift. Everyone except herself that is. Accompany Mira as her attempts to fit in among peers and understand her inconceivable condition embroil her with the dangerous forces threatening her homeland. Protected by nothing more than her imagination and ingenuity, she begins to explore the strange world around her she never knew was there.

The first book in the Powerless series is the tale of Mira’s turbulent and perilous entry into the world around her. And once she’s a part of it, nothing will ever be the same again.

Edited by Chuck Wightman, the story is already raking in the awards. It's won the Webb Weaver 2010 Writer's Competition, the judges proclaiming they were "entranced by the writer's ability to bring together this unlikely group of kids," and that the book could "be a hit in the YA book world." The story is a roller-coaster ride filled with lots to discover in an ever-expanding world, a set of diverse characters, and their deepest hopes and aspirations. If you like stories with plenty of dramatic twists and spirited intensity, it'll have you falling in love with a brand new series and begging for more!

Powerless: The Synthesis is approximately 89,000 words long. All five books in the Powerless series are now available on Amazon!

Andrew Gross Pre-Order 99 Cents (nook)

Update: 6/3/11 This is now 99 cents in the US Kindle store!

It isn't a part of Amazon's big Sunshine Deals sale, but Andrew Gross' The Blue Zone (with Bonus Material) has surfaced at B&N and Amazon as a pre-order. At B&N, the book is 99 cents (at least, for now), while at Amazon, the pre-order isn't available in the US, but is showing $3.19 in Canada and Australia and the price in both countries is often the same as for the US. Those who have both readers can take a chance it shows up in the Kindle store at 99 cents (or possibly free), or snap up the B&N edition immediately, before the price changes there. There is no guarantee it will be free (even the "free edition" of Guardian of Lies with Bonus Material, by Steve Martini, was never actually free ... and is now $1.99 and only for those in Canada and AU).

Book Description
For a limited time, discover Andrew Gross's first stand alone novel, The Blue Zone, including an exclusive excerpt from his forthcoming book, Eyes Wide Open (Available July 21).

In The Blue Zone . . . Kate Raab's life seems almost perfect: her boyfriend, her job, her family . . . until her father runs into trouble with the law. His only recourse is to testify against his former accomplices in exchange for his family's placement in the Witness Protection Program. But one of them gets cold feet. In a flash, everything Kate can count on is gone.

Now, a year later, her worst fears have happened: Her father has disappeared—into what the WITSEC agency calls "the blue zone"—and someone close to him is found brutally murdered. With her family under surveillance, the FBI untrustworthy, and her father's menacing "friends" circling with increasing intensity, Kate sets off to find her father—and uncover the secrets someone will kill to keep buried.

Click HERE to pre-order the book from B&N for 99 cents.

Kindle Sunshine Deals Sale

Those of us in the US were jealous last month, when the UK Amazon Kindle site had their Spring Spectacular Kindle eBook Sale. But now that summer has hit, it's our turn and Amazon has gone all out with their Sunshine Deals sale. Over 600 books, prices as low as 99 cents, none higher than $2.99 and you can sort by price group ($0.99, $1.99 and $2.99). This sale ends at 23:59 Wednesday, June 15, 2011 PST, but don't wait until the last minute to read thru the samples and get the ones you want.

I can already see that I'm going to have to buy at least one new Gift certificate this month, on top of the $10 credit that showed up in my account sometimes yesterday, courtesy of one of the Kindle KSO offers; I've already spent it on a couple of $5 MP3 albums and picked out my $1 album, to boot: Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection. It's list price is $7.99, I paid a dollar and it looks like I have another $1.01 credit in the MP3 store (I won't know if I can use that, too, until I find another one to buy).

So, what looks good on this sale? Below are a few that I am getting a sample (or already own). Be careful, though - I found a couple of titles where I own them on Kindle, but the publisher has replaced the edition I purchased with a new one, with a new ASIN and removed the older edition (which should not be allowed; not only does it make it harder to see if you purchased a book, it blocks lending when this happens). I always search the Manage My Kindle page before I buy on Kindle, at least for older books that sound familiar.

Diet/Exercise/Nutrition

99 cents

Free Book (EPUB/nook) - Lot's Return to Sodom

Update: 6/8/11 Now in the Kindle store, Lot's Return to Sodom, but at $9.99. Let's let Amazon know it is free elsewhere!
Update: 6/4/11Now free for the nook (and still not available on Kindle).
Update: 6/10/11 Now free on Kindle!

Lot's Return to Sodom, the sequel to In the Belly of Jonah (free on Kindle and others) in the Liv Bergen Mystery series by Sandra Brannan, is free from Kobo and Sony. So far, this one isn't available for nook or Kindle and is only in paperback in those stores; since today is the first release day (and there's not even a pre-order for the third in the series, mentioned in the synopsis), I'd grab this one as fast as you can.

Book Description
The Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is no place for buttoned-down citizens--unless, of course, they're trying to hide a murder or two.

In this second book in the eponymous series, Liv Bergen is back with a vengeance--a righteous one. The gutsy, sharp-witted amateur sleuth pulls out all the stops as she solves the murder of her brother Jens' fiancee, Michelle, and clears his name. As it turns out, more than one person in Liv's sleepy hometown wanted Michelle dead. A trail of clues leads Liv through the Black Hills, where she encounters half a mil- lion hardcore bikers and sideline gawkers--many clad in nothing but black leather thongs and bikinis--who have turned the place into a sodomitical playground saturated in booze.

Further complicating matters, Liv is an eyewitness to a second homicide, which calls down upon her the uninvited attentions of the men- acing leader of a biker gang called Lucifer's Lot. The cat-and-mouse game that ensues puts Liv in the path of her admirer Streeter Pierce, who's gone undercover with a fellow FBI agent to find both Michelle's murderer and a perp the agency calls the Crooked Man. Liv taps every ounce of brains and brawn she has to avoid becoming the killer's next victim, which wins her the further respect of Streeter.

By the end of Lot's Return to Sodom, Streeter has shown his admiration for Liv by giving her Beulah, an FBI bloodhound who is certain to help them track down the still-at-large Crooked Man in book three.

Click HERE for the free book from B&N.
Click HERE to get the free book from Kobo
Click HERE to get the free book from Sony.