Two Free LGBT Novellas from All Romance

Here's a pair of LGBT novellas that are free from AllRomance, in several DRM-free formats and both with five lips on the sensuality meter! Neither is on Kindle, but both have mobipocket versions that can be loaded without any conversion.

Sink or Swim, by Xara X. Xanakas and Lissa Kasey

Book Description
Beau has always been the center of attention, the first responder, dive master, and all around life-saver. When he gets a job overseas, Abram feels that he has to follow his lover, but he still harbors doubts of his own worthiness.

Those doubts come to a head during the long flight to begin their new lives. How far is Abram willing to go to keep Beau to himself? Sometimes in matters of the heart, you just have to dive in and sink or swim.

Wanting, by Piper Vaughn

Book Description
Jonah Beckett has been in love with his older brother's best friend, Laurie, for years. When his boyfriend, Dirk, breaks up with him for refusing to put out, Jonah uses his heartbreak over the situation to ask Laurie to teach him all about sex before he starts college. Problem is, he made Dirk up, and he has no idea what will happen when Laurie finally finds out.

Free Book (iBooks) - The Great Bridge

The Great Bridge ($14.99 Kindle), by David McCullough, is free in the iBooks store. This is one of the Agency publishers, so the book should not be at different prices in different stores (especially not from Apple!), so be sure to take the extra step to leave a note as well as report the price.

Book Description
This monumental book is the enthralling story of one of the greatest events in our nation's history, during the Age of Optimism -- a period when Americans were convinced in their hearts that all things were possible.

In the years around 1870, when the project was first undertaken, the concept of building an unprecedented bridge to span the East River between the great cities of Manhattan and Brooklyn required a vision and determination comparable to that which went into the building of the great cathedrals. Throughout the fourteen years of its construction, the odds against the successful completion of the bridge seemed staggering. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives lost, political empires fell, and surges of public emotion constantly threatened the project. But this is not merely the saga of an engineering miracle; it is a sweeping narrative of the social climate of the time and of the heroes and rascals who had a hand in either constructing or exploiting the surpassing enterprise.

Click HERE to get the free book from iTunes.

Free Book (iBooks) - Jolie Blon's Bounce

Jolie Blon's Bounce ($7.99 Kindle), the twelfth title in the Robicheaux series by NYT best-selling author James Lee Burke, is free in the iTunes iBooks store. Thanks to reader Marilyn for the tip on this one!

Book Description
When a beautiful teenage girl is killed, the victim of a particularly savage rape, New Iberia, Louisiana, police detective Dave Robicheaux senses from the very start of the investigation that the most likely suspect, Tee Bobby Hulin, is not the actual killer. Though a drug addict and general ne'er-do-well, Hulin just doesn't fit the profile for this kind of brutal crime.

But when another murder occurs -- this victim a drugged-out prostitute who happens to be the daughter of one of the local mafia bigwigs -- all clues once again point to Tee Bobby Hulin, and the cries for arrest become too loud to ignore. The dead girl's father, however, prefers to take matters in his own hands and sets out to find -- and punish -- the killer himself.

But before Robicheaux can solve these crimes and bring the killer or killers to justice, he is forced to battle his own inner demons, including a painkiller addiction, a habit that begins as the result of a brutal and humiliating beating he suffers at the hands of the mysterious and diabolical character known as Legion. A fixture in the area for years, Legion was once the overseer on a local sugarcane plantation and now gets by doing odd jobs. In temperament, however, he's still the malicious and malevolent bully he always was, a man defined by evil and seemingly possessed with supernatural skills of survival.

Added to the mix, and on the good guy side of the balance sheet, is Clete Purcel, a longtime buddy of Robicheaux's and a confirmed boozer and womanizer. Clete comes to New Iberia for a visit and is quickly drawn into the struggle between the various forces of evil in the town, including Jimmy Dean Styles, a black man intent on maintaining his empire of corruption; Joe Zeroski, a trailer park mafioso with palatial aspirations -- and of course, Legion Guidry, the devil incarnate, in whom Robicheaux finds himself facing a challenge and an enemy unlike any he has ever known. And soon, what began as a duel of wits has turned into a dance of death.

Click HERE to get the free book from iTunes.

If you want to report a lower price, be sure to see the new section I've included on the Reporting a Lower Price to Amazon post, on how to find the web page address for an iBook. This is one of the Agency publishers, so the book should not be at different prices in different stores (especially not from Apple!), so be sure to take the extra step to leave a note as well as report the price.

Free Audiobook - Hannah Coulter

Christianaudio teamed up with David C Cook to give away an unabridged audiobook download of Hannah Coulter ($8.99 Kindle; $14.98/$10.49 Audible), by Wendell Berry, narrated by Susan Denaker, for free during the month of August. Unlike many of their previous free offerings, this one is a novel that is classified as literary fiction, rather than religious in content. The paper/Kindle edition is from Counterpoint (which bought Shoemaker & Hoard), which specializes in fiction, literature, and poetry in addition to nonfiction, including history, memoir, biography, and nature. If you've been a follower here, you should have The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry, as it was offered free on Kindle the first of June. I've been eyeing his Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food ($8.84), with an introduction by Michael Pollan, ever since getting the book of essays,

Chronologically, this is the eighth book in Berry's loosely ordered Port William series, which take place in the same rural Kentucky in which this award-winning author resides. Port William is a fictitious town, near a bend in the river and those that like maps will find one on the author's website, along with a family tree that covers the people who populate his fiction. You'll find eight more of Berry's audiobooks (all of them that ChristianAudio has recorded), marked down to $4.98 each for this month only, at the bottom of the order page. Six of them are from the Port William series, plus two that make up the Port William Membership series. The same two titles are missing on Kindle (only one is in print), but there 30 titles on Kindle (including several poetry volumes), although only The Memory of Old Jack is currently at a bargain price ($14.95 $4.70).

Book Description
"Ignorant boys, killing each other,” is just about all Nathan Coulter would tell his wife about the Battle of Okinawa in November 1945. Life continued as some boys returned from the war while the lives of others were mourned. Nathan’s wife, Hannah, has time now to tell of the years since the war. In her eighties, twice widowed and alone, Hannah shares her memories: of her childhood, of young love and loss, of raising children and the changing seasons. She turns her plain gaze to a community facing its own deterioration, where, she says, “We feel the old fabric torn, pulling apart, and we know how much we have loved each other.” Hannah offers her summation: her stories and her gratitude for membership in Port William. We see her whole life as part of the great continuum of love and memory, grief and strength.

Hannah Coulter is the latest installment in Wendell Berry’s long story about the citizens of Port William, Kentucky. In his unforgettable prose, we learn of the Coulters’ children, of the Feltners and Branches, and how survivors “live right on.”

Get your free audio download HERE and scroll down the page for the discounted titles. The checkout process is very streamlined (a coupon code is no longer required), as is the download process (no longer do you have to download each part of the book separately). You can also send a gift download of the free audiobook to someone else!

After finishing your order, download a zip file with the entire audiobook: select MP3 if you want to be able to play the book on your Kindle (M4B for the iOS, iTunes or QuickTime). Unzip the contents to the \audiobooks directory on your Kindle (not \music) in order to have audiobook controls and see it on your Kindle home page.

Game Deal of the Day - Kona's Crate

Kona's Crate ($2.49), by indiePub, is today's Video Game Deal of the Day at Amazon. Looks like a simple enough concept - all you have to do is deliver a wooden crate to the Chief! Without breaking it, of course, which is the hard part. The crate sits on a little jet-powered platform and you maneuver through the obstacles, all while not smashing the crate into a wall or dropping it (unless you quickly catch it again). Even if you don't get the game, go over to Amazon's website and watch the second video attached to it, Kona's Crate Video, as it's just hilarious; I want one of those iPad like tablets that he uses to play this game, as it is PC only, at least in this version (but I searched the Android App Store and found a lite -- and free -- version for my phone).

I'm downloading the trial for game now, but have one concern - it says there is a "One-Time Delivery Charge" in the description, but other than the cost of buying it from Amazon, I don't see any type of pricing info (perhaps they just want you to know there is not any month fee to play it? or maybe it just refers to how the game plays on each level?). There also seems to be some discrepancy between the number of campaigns and levels, in the two sections that describe the game at Amazon.

I've played thru several levels, using the free trial (and on novice, at any rate, you can let the crate fall a long ways and bounce to the chief and still get credit) and there is no mention of a "delivery charge". The best part - laughing at how badly I am driving the little platform and still managing to deliver the crate. I still have more than 20 minutes on the trial, so will play it again a bit later today, before deciding to buy (but, decide today, as the price goes back up at Midnight in Seattle).

Game Description

• 4 Campaigns, 80 Levels
• Engaging Physics-Based Gameplay
• Beat The Best - See how you stack up on OpenFeint driven leaderboards
• Challenge your friends - post your best times to Facebook and Twitter

One-Time Delivery Charge
The task is easy: transfer a crate of unknown contents to Chief Kona before he becomes angry. Using a jet-powered platform as your vehicle, deliver the crate before it's destroyed. Much harder to control than your average box, use your stellar maneuvering skills to thrust the crate through a maze of destructive elements. Adjust the gas of the platform with a sensitive touch as this crate is much more antsy than you think. But beware, the Chief can become mighty spiteful and will withhold the contents of the crate from you if you do not complete his task in a timely manner.

Blocked, Blasted and Banned
It begins as a simple mission but progresses into a challenging assignment. Maneuvering through 85 plus levels in a variety of graphically rich locations might seem easy, but floating blocks, steam geysers and TNT will block your path. Squeeze through the chief's twisting hallways and turn sharp corners at blinding speeds using your reflexes to earn time and skill-based awards along the way without upsetting the Chief – the most destructive force of all.

• 5 campaigns featuring 85+ levels with additional campaigns, levels and other goodies coming soon
• Continues support with free content updates
• HD-Quality graphics
• Engaging physic-based gameplay
• Easy to pickup controls
• Unlockable levels and achievements