Free Audiobooks - The Last Apprentice and Beowulf

Audiobook Sync's summer of free audiobooks continues. First, I've linked in the info from Amazon for each title (Amazon has the best reviews), then a link below to get your audio copies free. You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Two new titles each Thursday, so be sure to check back next week.!

Beowulf ($8.51 Kindle; $12.59 Audible), by Francis B. Gummere (Translator), read by Rosalyn Landor.

Book Description
The national bestseller and winner of the Whitbread Award. Composed toward the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the classic Northern epic of a hero’s triumphs as a young warrior and his fated death as a defender of his people. The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on, physically and psychically exposed in the exhausted aftermath. It is not hard to draw parallels in this story to the historical curve of consciousness in the twentieth century, but the poem also transcends such considerations, telling us psychological and spiritual truths that are permanent and liberating.

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch ($7.99 paperback; $21.27 Audible), by Joseph Delaney, read by Christopher Evan Welch. Some of you may have managed to snag the free pre-order on Kindle for this series (it should release August 2, 2011, but is currently MIA in the Kindle store), but even if you didn't, this looks to be a great listen (perhaps one of the best of the free titles planned for this summer).

Book Description
Warning: Not to be listened to after dark.

For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook for the county, ridding the local villages of evil. Now his time is coming to an end. But who will take over for him? Twenty-nine apprentices have tried: some floundered, some fled, some failed to stay alive.

Only Thomas Ward is left. He's the last hope; the last apprentice. Can Thomas succeed? Will he learn the difference between a benign witch and a malevolent one? Does the Spook's warning against girls with pointy shoes include Alice? And what will happen if Thomas accidentally frees Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the county?

Click HERE to sign up for an account and get the free downloads. Don't forget, you'll also need to install the Overdrive software (there is a link at Sync). In addition, you end up clicking about three pages, for each book, before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up). Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started).

Guest Review - The Hugo Awards Nominees (Novels)

One of the Kindles here in the house is in use by my stepson, Brian. When he isn't busy wearing out the five-way on the K2 playing Monopoly, he is reading (seriously, it's even putting a dent into his paperback habit and he only reads hours and hours a day!). One of the reasons I sign up to support the Hugo Awards each year has been to get the voter's packet of books and I put him in charge of reading the lot before I send in my vote. Here is his review of the novels that have been nominated this year. I've added links to the Kindle editions (one is paper only), for those of you that might want to check out one or two (and probably in a better formatted editions, since the voter packet often includes PDFs).

The Hugo Novels

Having taken the time to read the Hugo award nominees for best novel here is a short review and a rating of them by my favorite to least favorite.

The best of a very good group of books is Feed. Not being a big fan of Zombie books myself this was a rollicking ride of a book that left you commenting, cheering and laughing all through it while making an almost believable twist on near future history. 5 stars all the way.

I keep going back and forth on the next 2. In the end I think Cryoburn should get the nod for 2nd as it stands alone better. This may be the best Miles Vorkisigan novel yet in what is a very fun series, but the thing Bujold has always done with this series is make sure that if this is the first one you have read it doesn't mean you have to go back and start over and when your done if she never wrote another in the series you can live with that to. Blackout on the other hand is also excellent and if this is your first introduction to this series that is fine but at the end of Blackout you are immediately in need of All Clear because your left at such a bad spot in the story, so if you get Blackout get All Clear at the same time.

Next is the one fantasy novel on the list, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Note that although I will read fantasy it is not my go to. This is a well written story with some very nice twist and well worth the nomination it received.

Then finally we come to what I call the art book. The Dervish House is one of those books in which the author is so busy looking at relationships and creating pretty pictures that he forgets this is Science Fiction and not a chick flick. It is a pretty book and at least one book every year is in this category but it doesn't mean I have to like them, I don't.

In conclusion four out of five of the nominated novels are very readable which is a great score and if you only get to read one of them, then pick Feed.

The Step Son (Brian)

Yes, he really did sign it that way! LOL! I know he really enjoyed Feed, as he has been reading the next one in the series when we visit Barnes & Noble (thanks to their Read in Store feature - I'm about done with Hit List that way, as well).

Huge Discount - Kindle 3G with Special Offers for $139!

Big discount today on the Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi, with Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers, which Amazon has just marked down to $139! That's $50 less than the non-Special Offers Kindle 3G version, the same prices as the Kindle Wi-Fi and only a $25 premium over the Kindle Wi-Fi with Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers to get world-wide free 3G service.

I'm tempted to get another one, just to take advantage of the offers that are one per device (if I order today and get 2nd Day or Overnight shipping, I should have it in time to get another bite at the $1 book offer that is open until the 15th!). Also, my KSO is WiFi only, which means that there are times when I can't look for new books (or use it as a browser); of course, in order to get the ads, you do have to spend some time in WiFi areas, as they only download via WiFi, it seems, but that isn't a problem for me.

Update:The new price is being sponsored by AT&T, who has no doubt looked on with concern at the trend of other ereader companies to drop 3G coverage and for new tablets and readers that are coming out as WiFi versions only. AT&T makes a small amount with every download (although it costs the customer nothing extra), so they would like to see more 3G devices, rather than fewer out there. I know that with the tablets, I would go for a 3G version, but only if it sold with the Kindle model - with no contract required and no monthly cost for 3G service. Instead, I have an (original) iPad that is WiFi only and will no doubt go the same way when I get an Android tablet (later this year: I'm waiting to see if the rumored Kindle Tablet gets released this year - if it does, it should support streaming videos from Amazon, unlike my iPad). Here's the press release with details.

Free Book (EPUB) - Once Bitten

Once Bitten ($9.39 Kindle), by Kalayna Price, is free from Kobo tonight. This title has previously been free on Kindle (Dec '09) and is likely to be free there again in a day or two (most of the Bell Bridge titles do cross over), but you can help it along by reporting the lower price.

Book Description
Vampires and Shapeshifters.
A Fictionwise bestseller: No. 1 on the Fictionwise Dark Fantasy list in Feb. 2009

Kita Nekai, on the run and the smallest of her shifter clan-a calico cat among lions and tigers-is being hunted. She was expected to accept her role as her father's successor whether or not her cat was up to the task of leading the clan. She disagreed. Now she's less than a step ahead of the hunters, bone-tired, cold, and living hand-to-mouth in the city of Haven. And that's the high point of her day. She's also drugged, "accidently" turned into a vampire, and sentenced to death for recklessly creating a rogue shifter who tortures its human prey. She's got seventy-two hours to find the rogue, evade a city full of hunters, prove she's not responsible for the rogue, and keep the vampire council from killing her. All while sorting out an apprentice mage, a married ex-boyfriend shifter-hunter, and the vampire who made her.

Click HERE to get the free book from Kobo.

Free Book (EPUB/nook) - County Line

Update: 7/13/11 Now free from Sony.

County Line ($7.99 Kindle), by Bill Cameron, is free in the B&N store tonight.

Book Description
When the steadfast Ruby Jane Whittaker drops out of sight, dogged ex-cop Skin Kadash sets out to discover what drove the woman he loves to leave her life behind so suddenly and without explanation. The discovery of a dead man in her apartment followed by an attack from a mysterious stalker leads Skin first to California, then across the country on a desperate journey deep into Ruby Jane's haunted past—and toward an explosive confrontation which will determine if either has a future.

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