Free LGBT Fiction (noDRM)

Deadly Dreams, by Victor J. Banis, is free in PDF form from MLR press (click the "free read" link near the top of the page, under the cover image) and his Deadly Nightshade is free from GLBT Bookshelf. The latter covers events that take place before the former, for those that like to read things in order.

Deadly Dreams
A painful past. A mysterious stranger. Footsteps vanishing in the fog. All Stanley wants is just to hear Tom say, "I love you." All Tom wants is Stanley safe. And the stranger? Ah, there's the rub--what exactly is it that he wants?

Be careful what you wish for, fellows. You may get it. Dreams can be deadly.

Deadly Nightshade
Take one straight cop, one gay cop, and a beautiful drag queen they nickname The Deadly Nightshade, mix them all together and things are quickly sizzling. SFPD homicide detectives Tom Danzel and Stanley Korsky tour the city within the city - the underground world of the cross dresser and the gay clubs, hot in pursuit of a sexy serial killer who starts out blowing her johns and ends up blowing them away.

Mel Keegan's novella, Crimes of Passion, is also free from GLBT Bookshelf, as are a large number of other works on a second page. Most are short stories, with a few novellas, but there are also full novel length works scattered thru the listings, such as Eden Winters' The Telling.

Crimes of Passion
Brad used to be on the pro bike racing circuit; Frank came out to the West Coast to work in the California's music industry. They met at a bike meeting, shortly before the crash that ended Brad's racing aspirations ... and Frank has some skeletons in the closet which are about to come rattling out and refusing to be stuffed back in! Delicious situation comedy.

The Telling
Time in Iraq cost Michael Ritter some of his hearing and a friend whose death he feels responsible for. He’d left Alabama hoping to escape a dull, small-town life, but now, four years later, he’s returning, lugging a duffle full of personal demons. Engineering student Jay Ortiz attends college in a place where his heritage and orientation aren't widely accepted. While adjusting to new surroundings he found a soldier’s picture. During lonely times he confided in the image of the somber young man, giving his heart away to a stranger. Now that stranger is coming home...

Get $100 off select HDTVs (KSO)

This offer is for those with a Kindle 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):

Get $100 off select HDTVs from major brands 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 September 13. 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 October 13 to complete your purchase. 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).

This offer is limited to one per device AND one per customer (and, like all recent offers, is non-transferable).

This isn't quite as good an offer as the one that early KSO users received (20% off), but is still a decent discount, if you were already looking for a new HDTV. I ended up getting a Samsung UN55D8000 with the last offer and the delivery and setup services were very good (it doesn't just show up in a UPS truck; they carry it in and turn it on to make sure it works and should assemble the base for you, if that's how you will use it and it has one).

Today's Deals and Bargain Books

Bike Snob: Systematically and Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling ($1.99), by BikeSnobNYC and Christopher Koelle, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day.

Book Description
Cycling is exploding -- in a good way. Urbanites everywhere, from ironic hipsters to earth-conscious commuters, are taking to the bike like aquatic mammals to water. BikeSnobNYC -- cycling's most prolific, well-known, hilarious, and anonymous blogger -- brings a fresh and humorous perspective to the most important vehicle to hit personal transportation since the horse. Bike Snob treats readers to a laugh-out-loud rant and rave about the world of bikes and their riders, and offers a unique look at the ins and outs of cycling, from its history and hallmarks to its wide range of bizarre practitioners. Throughout, the author lampoons the missteps, pretensions, and absurdities of bike culture while maintaining a contagious enthusiasm for cycling itself. Bike Snob is an essential volume for anyone who knows, is, or wants to become a cyclist.

Timequake is just one of 18 novels by Kurt Vonnegut that are currently marked down to $3.99 each.

Book Description
TIMEQUAKE (1997) exists in two conjoined versions ("Timequake One"/"Timequake Two") and in meta-fictional mode is a novel about a novel, composed in short, arbitrary chapters and using its large cast of characters and disoriented chronology to mimic the "timequake" which is its subject. Some cosmic upheaval has hurled the entire population a decade back where, in full consciousness (but helplessly entrapped) everyone’s pitiable and embarrassing mistakes are helplessly enacted again. By this stage of his life - he was 72 the year the novel was published - Vonnegut was still wearing his luminescent bells and Harlequin's cape, but these had become dusty and the cape no longer fitted; here, Vonnegut’s exasperation and sense of futility could no longer be concealed or shaped, and this novel is a laboratory of technique (deliberately) gone wrong, a study of breakdown. Vonnegut had never shown much hope in his work for human destiny or occupation; the naive optimism of Eliot Rosewater in GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER had in the damaged veteran Billy Pilgrim of SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE become a naive fantasy of escape to a sexual heaven. In the nihilism of TIMEQUAKE the only escape is re-enactment but re-enactment has lost hope and force. This is no Groundhog Day in which Vonnegut traps his various refugees (many escaped from his earlier works) but a hell of lost possibility. The temporal timequake of the title is the actual spiritual fracture of the 20th century, and in his 73rd year Vonnegut envisions no hope, not even the hollow diversions of SLAPSTICK. Vonnegut’s imaginative journey, closely tracked by his work, is one of the most intriguing for any American writer of the twentieth century.

Spider's Bite ($1.99), the first title in the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep, looks like the start of another urban fantasy series that you won't be able to put down. I've already sent it to my Kindle to read next.

Book Description
My name is Gin, and I kill people.

They call me the Spider. I'm the most feared assassin in the South -- when I'm not busy at the Pork Pit cooking up the best barbecue in Ashland. As a Stone elemental, I can hear everything from the whispers of the gravel beneath my feet to the vibrations of the soaring Appalachian Mountains above me. My Ice magic also comes in handy for making the occasional knife. But I don't use my powers on the job unless I absolutely have to. Call it professional pride.

Now that a ruthless Air elemental has double-crossed me and killed my handler, I'm out for revenge. And I'll exterminate anyone who gets in my way -- good or bad. I may look hot, but I'm still one of the bad guys. Which is why I'm in trouble, since irresistibly rugged Detective Donovan Caine has agreed to help me. The last thing this coldhearted killer needs when I'm battling a magic more powerful than my own is a sexy distraction...especially when Donovan wants me dead just as much as the enemy.

In Pursuit of a Scandalous Lady ($1.99), by Gayle Callen, is the start of her Scandalous Lady historical romance series.

Book Description
Entranced by a portrait, haunted by scandal, he would stop at nothing to learn the truth . . . even if it led to their utter ruin.

Hold Zero! ($1.99), by Jean Craighead George, The Kid from Tomkinsville ($1.99), by John R. Tunis, and The Planet of Junior Brown ($2.99), by Virginia Hamilton, are all for middle-grade readers and published by Open Road.

Hold Zero!
Craig and his friends have a big secret—they’ve built a real, working rocket. But will the countdown to takeoff begin before they’re discovered?

Best friends Craig, Steve, Johnny, and Phil have spent months building a rocket—not some model or a toy, but a real rocket, with boosters and a launch pad and a remote control panel. Even better, they’ve managed to pull off the whole project in secret.

The boys can’t wait to launch their rocket . . . but then their parents find out what they’ve been up to and tell the police. When they see how sophisticated the rocket really is, the police insist on inspecting all the blueprints and calculations, and the boys find themselves in a lot of trouble. Will their project go up in smoke?

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Jean Craighead George, including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

The Kid from Tomkinsville
Rookie pitcher Roy Tucker is full of hope for his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers—and hope might be what the team needs most

Roy Tucker—a small-town kid from Tomkinsville, Connecticut—has quit his job at the drugstore and packed up for Dodgers training camp in Clearwater, Florida, hoping to make the team as a rookie pitcher. He expects the field to be competitive and realizes he might not pass muster, but after just one practice, he discovers just how difficult a goal he has set.

But the Dodgers are an aging team, and owner Jack MacManus is getting tired of the smart remarks from sports reporters and the manager of the rival Giants, Bill Murphy. With a little coaching and encouragement from Dave Leonard, the oldest catcher in the big leagues, this kid from Tomkinsville might be just what the team needs.

The Planet of Junior Brown
Junior Brown is a musical prodigy losing touch with reality and everyone around him—except for one important friend.

Junior Brown is different than the other kids in his eighth-grade class. For one, he weighs three hundred pounds. He’s also a talented musician with a serious future as a professional pianist—if he survives middle school. With an overbearing mom, disappointed teachers, and fellow students who tease him mercilessly, Junior starts to slip away into his own mind. His last hope may be his only friend, Buddy Clark, a boy in his class without a home or family who has already learned some of life’s toughest lessons.

Four of Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery titles are marked down to $4.80 each.

Uniform Justice #12
As Uniform Justice opens, Venetian detective Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to investigate a parent's worst nightmare. A young cadet has been found hanged, a presumed suicide, in Venice's elite military academy. Brunetti's sorrow for the boy, so close in age to his own son, is rivaled only by his contempt for a community that is more concerned with protecting the reputation of the school, and its privileged students, than understanding this tragedy. The young man is the son of a doctor and former politician, a man of an impeccable integrity all too rare in Italian politics. Dr. Moro is clearly and understandably devastated by his son's death; but while both he and his apparently estranged wife seem convinced that the boy's death could not have been suicide, neither appears eager to talk to the police or involve Brunetti in any investigation of the circumstances in which he died. As Brunetti pursues his inquiry, he is faced with a wall of silence. Is the military protecting its own? And what of the other witnesses? Is this the natural reluctance of Italians to involve themselves with the authorities, or is Brunetti facing a conspiracy far greater than this one death?

Doctored Evidence #13
Donna Leon's riveting new novel, Doctored Evidence, follows Commissario Guido Brunetti down the winding streets of contemporary Venice as he throws open the doors of a case his superiors would rather leave closed. When a miserly spinster is found brutally murdered in her Venice apartment, police immediately suspect her Romanian housekeeper. They are certain their job is done after the immigrant dies while fleeing arrest, but weeks later; a neighbor comes forward to defend the innocence of the accused. The only investigator who believes the alibi is Brunetti, who will have to go behind the backs of his superiors to vindicate the Romanian and find her employer's actual killer. As always, the indispensable hacking skills of the ever-loyal Signorina Elettra are the perfect complement to Brunetti's meticulous detective work. She discovers mysterious deposits in the old woman's bank account, but who made them? As Brunetti investigates, his wife, at home, reads him teachings on the Seven Deadly Sins. In a modern world of intrigue and nebulous morality, how do they relate to the murder at hand? Doctored Evidence is charged with suspense and evokes a contemporary Venice with Donna Leon's masterful flair.

Blood from a Stone #14
Blood from a Stone brings Donna Leon's celebrated character Commissario Guido Brunetti back on the scene: On a cold Venetian night shortly before Christmas, a street vendor is killed in a scuffle in Campo San Stefano. The closest witnesses to the event are the tourists who had been browsing the man's wares before his death-fake handbags of every designer label. The dead man is one of the many African immigrants purveying goods outside normal shop hours and trading without a work permit.

Like everybody involved, Commissario Brunetti wonders why anyone would kill an illegal immigrant. But once Brunetti begins to investigate this unfamiliar Venetian underworld, he discovers that matters of great value are at stake within the secretive society.

Warned by Patta, his superior, to resist further involvement in the case, Brunetti only becomes more determined to unearth the truth behind this mysterious killing. Reluctant as he is to let this event be smugly relegated to the category of "not worth dealing with," how far will Brunetti be able to penetrate the murky subculture in this illegal community? Blood from a Stone is an exquisite and irresistible mystery offering an unexpected take on life in contemporary Venice.

Through a Glass, Darkly #15
Donna Leon opens doors to the hidden Venice like no one else. With her latest novel, Through a Glass, Darkly, Leon takes us inside the secretive island of Murano, home of the world-famous glass factories. On a luminous spring day in Venice, Commissario Brunetti and his assistant Vianello play hooky from the Questura in order to help Vianello's friend Marco Ribetti, arrested during an environmental protest. They secure his release, only to be faced by the fury of the man's father-in-law, Giovanni De Cal, a cantankerous glass factory owner who has been heard in the bars of Murano making violent threats about Ribetti. Brunetti's curiosity is piqued, and he finds himself drawn to Murano to investigate. Is De Cal the type of man to carry out his threats? Then one morning the body of De Cal's night watchman is found. Over long lunches, on secret boat rides, in quiet bars, and down narrow streets, Brunetti searches for the killer. Will he unravel the clues before the night watchman's death is allowed to be forgotten?

A fascinating novel set in the intersection between tourism and native Venetian society, Through a Glass, Darkly is Donna Leon at her finest.

Chasing the Night ($2.99), by Iris Johansen, is the eleventh title in her popular Eve Duncan series.

Book Description
A CIA agent’s two-year-old child was stolen in the night as a brutal act of vengeance. Now, eight years later, this torment is something Catherine Ling awakens to every day. Her friends, family, and colleagues tell her to let go, move on, accept that her son is never coming back. But she can’t. Catherine needs to find someone as driven and obsessed as she is to help her— and that person is Eve Duncan. She knows that Eve shares her nightmare, since closure is also something that eludes Eve after the disappearance of her daughter Bonnie. Now, Eve must take her talents as a forensic sculptor to another level, using age progression as a way to unite Catherine with her child. As Eve gets drawn deeper into Catherine’s horror, she must face looming demons of her own.

Bonnie’s killer is still out there. And a new killer is taunting Eve and Catherine at every turn. Is Catherine’s son alive, or not? These two women endure the worst fear any mother can imagine in Iris Johansen’s latest thrill ride, a gut-wrenching journey into the darkest places of the soul.

New Kindle Games and Apps

There are several new games and apps in the Kindle store this week, including a new interactive book, crosswords, food and business apps and a game aimed at young children.

The King of Shreds and Patches ($3.99), by Antiquarian Productions, is an interactive novel.

Game Description
The King of Shreds and Patches is a novel-length work of interactive fiction in which your choices control how successfully you navigate the story.

As the main character, you will explore a historically accurate recreation of Elizabethan London, circa 1603, interact with some fascinating characters both historical and fictional, and thwart an occult conspiracy that threatens to bring down the entire city -- or worse.

You receive a note from your old acquaintance John Croft. You expect nothing but an evening of good food and drink and tall tales. Instead, you quickly find yourself plunged into a conspiracy of black magic that involves some of the most powerful and important men in London - and possibly even someone else, someone much closer to your own heart.

Interact with XVII-century London by typing simple commands like "Go to London Bridge", "Examine the note" or "Ask the bartender about the play". An elaborate hint system reveals as many clues as you desire to solve the story without spoiling the fun.

Lovers of mysteries, horror, adventure games, and puzzles alike will play the role of the protagonist, experiencing the story from the inside.

Timothy Parker's 50 Family Crossword Games Volume 1: Easy ($1.99), by Premiere Digital Publishing

Game Description
Timothy Parker's 50 Family Crosswords is great fun from the "World's Most Syndicated Puzzle Creator".

These clever, hand-crafted puzzles are designed to be enjoyed by the whole family. Although adults and kids can tackle these crosswords separately, the puzzles are intended to be shared. Clues that begin with (k) are specially authored for kids. Spend time with your little future puzzle masters in a fun, educational way.

The Timothy Parker Crossword app is built to enhance the puzzle experience and deliver hours of great crossword fun. Features include: Timothy Parker's special scoring and ranking system, dynamic viewing of puzzle clues, auto-save puzzle progress, quick-start entry into your last unfinished puzzle, and lots more.

Download this game today for the best family crossword experience on Kindle, and see how you measure up against the great Puzzle Master Timothy Parker.

Memory Classic ($1.99), by JoyBits

Game Description
Memory Classic is a fun matching and memory game for Kindle.

In Memory Classic, you are challenged to find pairs of illustrations hidden beneath tiles on a game board. The game board starts at 2 tiles x 2 tiles for easy play, and progresses to 5x6 for a really challenging game.

There are three game modes with over 15 difficulty levels each. Take your time in Relaxed Mode, or race against the clock in Classic Mode. In the Arcade Mode you will need to clear the screen while new rows of tiles appear as the time passes. The leaderboard feature lets you compete against friends and family for the top spots in the Hall of Fame!

Stretch your memory with Memory Classic today.

Japanese Puzzles Volume 1 ($0.99), by puzzle.tv

Game Description
Japanese Puzzles is a collection of 5 different kinds of logic puzzles.

This collection contains 100 logic puzzles: 20 each of Kakuro, Number Islands, Hitori, Picture Cross and Sudoku.

In Kakuro, you insert numbers into a grid of squares so that the sum of the numbers matches the clue for that section without repeating digits. Number Islands is played on a grid of uncolored squares. Each square must be painted black or white according to a set of rules and numeric clues given. Hitori starts with a grid of squares containing numbers. The goal is to black-out some squares so that the remaining cells do not contain duplicate numbers in a given row or column. Picture Cross has an empty grid that must be colored according to numeric clues given for each row and column. In Sudoku, your 9x9 grid of squares starts with a few numbers, and your goal is to fill in the remaining squares such that no numbers are repeated in the same row, column, or box of 3x3 squares.

Instructions and step by step tutorials are included, and hints are available to help you keep going if you get stuck.

If you love number puzzles and are looking for something new, you'll love Japanese Puzzles on Kindle!

Link Four ($0.99), by Jon Larimer

Game Description
Link Four is a four-in-a-row game for Kindle.

In Link Four, two players each take turns dropping a round game piece onto the board. The piece drops to the bottom of the board or lands on the piece below it. The first player to get four pieces in a row - either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally - wins the game. You can play Link Four in single player mode against Kindle or with a friend in Pass 'n' Play mode. When playing against Kindle, you can play with an easy, medium, or hard difficulty level, and you can also decide if you want to go first or if Kindle should.

Far more engaging than Tic-Tac-Toe, Link Four is fun for kids and adults. Try it today!

My first slider puzzles ($1.99), by AR Entertainment

Game Description
Now your kids can enjoy an artistic rendition of the classic Slider game on Kindle.

In My First Slider, kids are presented with a set of tiles, each with a part of a picture shown on it. The tiles are placed randomly on a grid, and the goal is to slide the tiles around the grid to recreate the original picture.

The art is designed to appeal to kids, and the grids come in 3 sizes: the easier 2x3 size, the 3x3 and the harder 4x4 grid. There are 5 different pictures for each grid size so there is a variety of challenges for everyone.

Help you child engage their spatial skills and practice planning moves in advance with My First Slider.

7 Dragons' Tips for Kindle ($0.99), by 7 Dragons, looks to be geared mainly at very new users on Kindle (although you can use it to add your own tips (or anything else you want to make a note of, for that matter).

App Description
Did you know that your Kindle can play music, read text to you, and display your own pictures? 7 Dragons' Tips for Kindle shows you how to do these things and more.

Tips for Kindle has over 100 useful tips, and every time you open Tips for Kindle you are shown a Featured Tip. You can browse through the Tips at your own pace, or use a slideshow mode that circles through the Tips for you. You can add the Tips you like most to a Favorites List so they're easy to look up quickly if you forget one. If you find a tip for Kindle elsewhere, you can type it in to Tips to become part of your Tips library.

Interested in getting even more from your Kindle? 7 Dragons' Tips for Kindle can show you how!

MyFood (Nutrition Facts for Kindle) ($2.99), by Pomegranate Software

App Description
MyFood provides complete nutrition facts for over 300 foods.

With MyFood, you can search for foods by name, category, and even search for a list of foods high in vitamin A, potassium, or other vitamins and minerals. MyFood uses data provided by the USDA National Nutrient Database to provide information for the following food groups: Beans, Cheese, Eggs, Fish, Fruits & Vegetables, Grains, Herbs & Spices, Juices, Leafy Greens, Meats, Milk, Nuts & Seeds, Oils & Vinegars, Seafood and Sweeteners.

Be more aware of what you eat. Use MyFood today.

Contacts (A Contact Management Tool for Kindle) ($0.99), by A Gamz

App Description
Organize that stack of business cards and scribbled notes using Contacts for Kindle.

Contacts tracks names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, notes, and other information about people and companies. Once you store the information, it's easy to access with an easy to use Search feature. You can even combine several words like "Mike Chicago" to find all the Mikes you know in Chicago. You can also search for words in your free-form notes.

Contacts can store up to 1000 records, and supports multiple fields for many types of phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses, as well as organizations and titles. Already have your contacts on your computer but want to have them on the go? Contacts will import many vCard records from existing contact software and address books that use ANSI character vCards in either 2.1 or 3.0 vCard file format.

Contacts for Kindle is a handy way to make sure you always have important names and addresses with you wherever you go.

Task List Professional ($0.99), by Jujuba Software

App Description
Task List Professional is a handy tool to organize tasks both large and small.

You can use it to keep track of long term tasks, like filing taxes by a given date or changing the oil in your car. You can also create small daily checklists like groceries lists or things you need to do to prepare for your child's birthday party. You can assign a due date to any task and set or change its priority as appropriate. You can attach a text note to any task and easily turn this note in a checklist of tasks to be completed one-by-one.

Task List Professional can also be used as a note taking tool where notes can be organized into folders for ease of use.

Task List Professional is a versatile tool that can help you get organized today!

Today's Deals and Bargain Books

Barefoot ($1.99), by Elin Hilderbrand, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day.

Book Description
It's summer on Nantucket, and as the season begins, three women arrive at the local airport, observed by Josh, a local boy, home from college. Burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues, the women--two sisters and one friend--make their way to the sisters' tiny cottage, inherited from an aunt. They're all trying to escape from something: Melanie, after seven failed in-vitro attempts, discovered her husband's infidelity and then her own pregnancy; Brenda embarked on a passionate affair with an older student that got her fired from her prestigious job as a professor in New York; and her sister Vickie, mother to two small boys, has been diagnosed with cancer. Soon Josh is part of the chaotic household, acting as babysitter, confidant, and, eventually, something more, while the women confront their pasts and map out their futures.

eBook now includes a preview of Elin Hilderbrand's The Island.

The Hope That Kills Us: An Anthology of Scottish Football Fiction ($1.38), edited by Adrian Searle, is available for pre-order.

Book Description
One of the top ten football fictions ever - The Guardian --Scottish football is the weirdest of organisms, simultaneously compelling and repulsive in equal measure. The Hope That Kills Us brings together specially commissioned stories from some our country's best contemporary writers and discovers some startling new voices. Each story examines, from its own unique viewpoint, the participants, observers, experience and emotion that feed our national obsession. New stories from Alan Spence, Bernard MacLaverty, Des Dillon, Denise Mina, Gordon Legge, Laura Hird, Linda Cracknell, Alan Bissett, Suhayl Saadi and others.

Silent Run ($2.99), the first in the Sanders Brothers series by Barbara Freethy, joins the list of bargain priced backlist titles from this popular author.

Book Description
A woman wakes in a hospital bed with no idea of who she is. Her memory is gone, her baby missing. All she has is the gripping certainty that she is in mortal danger. Then a handsome, angry stranger barges in and makes a terrible accusation. He was her lover--and her child's father--until she disappeared seven months ago.

Jake Sanders swore he'd never forgive Sarah Tucker, but he isn't about to let her get away again--especially not with his daughter still missing. If he has any chance of recovering his baby, he must help the woman who betrayed him retrieve the pieces of her shattered memory--without letting his feelings get in the way.

Haunted by troubling flashes of memory, Sarah begins to realize she's lived a life of lies. But what is the truth? And where is her baby?

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto ($3.99), by Joan Reardon

Book Description
This dishy and delightful, never-before-published correspondence between America's queen of food, Julia Child, and her confidante and mentor Avis DeVoto, shows not only the blossoming of a lifelong friendship, but also an America on the verge of political, social, and gastronomic transformation.

With her outsize personality, Julia Child is known around the world by her first name alone. But despite that familiarity, how much do we really know of the inner Julia?

Now more than 200 letters exchanged between Julia and Avis DeVoto, her friend and unofficial literary agent memorably introduced in the hit movie Julie & Julia, open the window on Julia’s deepest thoughts and feelings. This riveting correspondence, in print for the first time, chronicles the blossoming of a unique and lifelong friendship between the two women and the turbulent process of Julia’s creation of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, one of the most influential cookbooks ever written. Frank, bawdy, funny, exuberant, and occasionally agonized, these letters show Julia, first as a new bride in Paris, then becoming increasingly worldly and adventuresome as she follows her diplomat husband in his postings to Nice, Germany, and Norway.

With commentary by the noted food historian Joan Reardon, and covering topics as diverse as the lack of good wine in the United States, McCarthyism, and sexual mores, these astonishing letters show America on the verge of political, social, and gastronomic transformation.

Borrower of the Night ($4.44), the first of the Vicky Bliss Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters, is marked down only in the edition from publisher Robinson.

Book Description
A new heroine from the creator of the internationally bestselling Amelia Peabody series

A missing masterwork in wood, the last creation of a master carver who died in the violent tumult of sixteenth century Germany, may be hidden in the medieval castle in the town of Rothenburg. The prize has called to Vicky Bliss, drawing her and an arrogant male colleague into the forbidding citadel and its dark secrets. But the treasure hunt soon turns deadly. Here, where the blood of the long forgotten stains ancient stones, Vicky must face two perilous possibilities: either a powerful supernatural evil inhabits the place… or someone frighteningly real is willing to kill for what Vicky is determined to find.

A People's History of the Great Recession ($4.99), by Arthur Delaney

Book Description
Every book about the economic crisis of the late 2000s focuses on the institutions that caused the recession and the brilliant geniuses who were at the top when it all went down. This book is about the people on the bottom who got flattened through no fault of their own. Their stories show what happens when the system doesn't work. Now our political leaders are in the middle of a big debate about how much the nation should spend on social programs that help people. This book asks the question a different way: How much indignity should regular folks have to suffer?

For the past two years, Huffington Post reporter Arthur Delaney has written about the economic crisis, interviewing and emailing with hundreds and hundreds of people who didn't understand where they went wrong. This book is about them.