Free Book - The Engines of Dawn

The Engines of Dawn ($3.82 Kindle), by Paul Cook, is this month's free book from Phoenix Pick. This is one of his later books, all of them stand-alone SciFi.

Book Description
The great engines of the Enamorati have enabled humanity to travel the stars, but at what cost?

Little is known of the jealously guarded engines while a complacent humanity slowly losses its edge and becomes increasingly dependant on mysterious alien technologies.

However, when an engine failure strands a university ship, Professor Ben Bennet and a group of students challenge the status quo and start discovering hidden secrets that threaten the future of humanity itself.

Click HERE for the free book from Phoenix Pick. You'll need to scroll down to find the book's listing, then click on "FREE EBOOK of the Month", then enter coupon code 9991522. Click thru the next page and then scroll down and get the format of your choice. They are DRM-free, so you can convert to other formats, if desired.

Once on the download page, you can also grab the entire collection of Paul Cook Books (8 novels) for $9.99. Choose Mobi or EPUB format (DRM-free) and use coupon code DIRCOOKE for EPUB or DIRCOOKM for Mobi on the checkout page. A quick check of the Kindle store shows these going from $5 to $8 each, so even if you are missing only a couple of them (I have two, so am missing 5, as the bundle includes the free book), it's a pretty good deal.

You can also still can pre-order TAU CETI by KEVIN J. ANDERSON - Short novel (204 pages w/ the added novelette) for $2.99

Generations spent reaching a home away from home…only to discover that Earth now has faster-than-light ships and a ruthless dictator wants to lay claim to their dream.

Free Book (Kindle/nook/iBooks/EPUB) - The Deputy

Update: 11/16/11 Now free from iTunes and Sony.
Update: 11/14/11 Now also free from Barnes & Noble.

The Deputy, by Victor Gischler, is free in the Kindle store. This one is published by Adams Media; you can also pick up one of his previously published backlist novels, To the Devil, My Regards, for 99 cents that he has self-published in ebook form.

Book Description
Coyote Crossing is a dusty little town in western Oklahoma, a sleepy little pit stop for truckers, not a lot going on. So a dead body in the middle of the street at midnight is quite an event. The chief of police wants all hands on deck, so he calls Toby Sawyer to come baby-sit the body.

About the Author
Victor Gischler is the author of 6 novels including the Edgar Award nominated GUN MONKEYS (Best First Novel), Anthony Award finalist SHOTGUN OPERA, and GO-GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE. He earned a Ph.D. in English at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from iTunes.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Today's Deals

It's a bit late, as I was occupied with Veteran's Day, but here are today's Deals:

When the Devil Whistles ($1.99), by Rick Acker, is the Kindle Deal of the Day.

Book Description
Allie Whitman is a professional whistleblower with a knack for sniffing out fraud in government contracts. Conner Norman is a gifted litigator and together they form Devil to Pay, Inc., a shell corporation that files lawsuits based on Allie s investigations. They soon find themselves fighting potentially fatal battles in and out of the courtroom, going great lengths to protect secrets that could ruin them both.

About the Author
Rick Acker is a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice. He prosecutes corporate fraud lawsuits like those described in When the Devil Whistles. He has led confidential investigations into a number of large and sensitive cases that made headlines in and out of California. Rick holds law degrees from the University of Oslo and the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated with honors. In addition to his novels, he is a contributing author on two legal treatises published by the American Bar Association.

The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War ($3.99 Kindle, B&N), by Frederick Downs Jr., is the Nook Daily Deal, price matched at Amazon.

Book Description
“The best damned book from the point of view of the infantrymen who fought there.” — Army Times

Among the best books ever written about men in combat, The Killing Zone tells the story of the platoon of Delta One-six, capturing what it meant to face lethal danger, to follow orders, and to search for the conviction and then the hope that this war was worth the sacrifice. The book includes a new chapter on what happened to the platoon members when they came home.

About the Author
Frederick Downs Jr. received four Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star with Valor, and the Silver Star for his service in the Vietnam War. He lives in Fort Washington, Maryland.

Free Book (Kindle/Nook) - The Journey Home

The Journey Home, by Michael Baron, is free on Kindle and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
Joseph, a man in his late thirties, awakens disoriented and uneasy in a place he doesn't recognize. Several people are near him when he opens his eyes, all strangers. All of them seem perfectly friendly, but none of them can explain to him how he got there. They offer him a delicious meal and pleasant conversation in a beautifully decorated room. This would be a very nice experience if not for one thing: Joseph doesn't know where he is and he has no way to contact his wife, who he is sure is worried sick over him. Thanking the people for their hospitality, he leaves to make his way back home. The only problem is that whatever happened to him has stripped him of most of his memories. He knows he needs to get back to his wife, but he doesn't know how to find her. He sets out on a journey to find his home with no sense of where he's going and only the precious, indelible vision of the woman he loves to guide him.

Antoinette is an elderly woman in an assisted living facility. She’s spent the last six years there since her husband died, and most of those years have been happy. She enjoys the company of others in her situation and her son comes to visit often. But in recent months, she’s had a tougher and tougher time leaving her room. Her friends seem different to her and the world seems increasingly confusing. She spends an escalating amount of time on a journey inside her head. There, her body and mind haven’t betrayed her. There, she’s a young newlywed with a husband who dotes on her and an entire life of dreams to live. There, she is truly home.

Warren, Antoinette’s son, is a man in his early forties going through the toughest year of his life. His marriage ended, he lost his job, and in the past few months, his mother has gone from hale to increasingly hazy. Having trouble finding work, he spends more and more time by his mother’s bedside. But her lack of lucidity both frustrates and frightens him. With far too much time on his hands, he decides to try to recreate his memories of home by attempting to cook his mother’s greatest dishes using the rudimentary appliances available in her room. He finds the challenge surprisingly rewarding, especially because the only time he feels his mother is truly with him anymore is when she is eating the meals he prepares for her.

Joseph, Antoinette, and Warren are three people on different searches for home. How they find it, and how they connect with one another at this critical stage in each of their lives, is the foundation for a profound and deeply moving story.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Short Story (Kindle) - Finger of Guilt

Finger of Guilt, by Paul Grossman, is free to pre-order in the Kindle store.

Book Description
n Finger of Guilt, star investigator Hans Fraksa claims that the Kinderfresser, the vicious child eater of Berlin, has been caught.

So why is he worried discarded, gnawed bones will keep appearing?