Free Book (Kindle/iBooks) - Open Season

Open Season, the first title in the Joe Gunther Mysteries series by Archer Mayor, is free on Kindle courtesy of backlist publisher Gere Donovan Press. A more recent entry in the series, Chat (#18), is $1.99 from Grand Central Publishing (Hatchette), so you should consider grabbing that one as well.

Open Season
Lt. Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, Vermont police force has a serious problem: in a community where a decade could pass without a single murder, the body count is suddenly mounting. Innocent citizens are being killed—and others set-up—seemingly orchestrated by a mysterious ski-masked man. Signs suggest that a three year-old murder trial might lie at the heart of things, but it’s a case that many in the department would prefer remained closed. A man of quiet integrity, Lt. Gunther knows that he must pursue the case to its conclusion, wherever it leads.

Open Season is the first of Archer Mayor’s Joe Gunther novels, a series of gripping police procedurals set in New England, where small-town charm, stoicism and civility sometimes conceal brutal truths.

Chat
Intriguing plots, complex characters, and a vivid landscape are the foundation of Archer Mayor's award-winning New England thrillers. Now in this suspenseful new novel two investigations will lead Mayor's popular hero Joe Gunther to the shady realm of Internet chat rooms, where relationships are formed and broken, and nothing is as it seems.

News travels fast in the small state of Vermont. In this tight-knit society, police officers and investigators proudly maintain a kinship that transcends the boundaries of their jurisdictions. When an unidentified body is found in the peaceful town of Brattleboro, local police and the Vermont Bureau of Investigation both appear at the scene.

But before investigator Joe Gunther can begin to gather evidence of murder, a family emergency sends him to his hometown, where the lives of his mother and brother have suddenly been threatened. Gunther reaches out to a network of police officers who know him only by name and reputation as he attempts to discover the source of this imminent danger.

Meanwhile, his investigative team chases an elusive murderer who has no apparent ties to the victim. In a state that is more like a neighborhood community, secrets are difficult to keep, and it's sometimes impossible to know who can be trusted. Gunther soon finds himself opposing criminals more menacing than any he has ever encountered in order to save those he holds closest to his heart.

Get the free ebook from iTunes.

Free Book (Kindle) - Over Fields of Fire

Update: 12/5/11 Now free for US Kindle customers.

Over Fields of Fire: Flying the Sturmovik in Action on the Eastern Front 1942-45 (Soviet Memories of War) (US/UK), by Anna Timofeeva-Egorova, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store. It may end up free for those in the US by morning (but double check the price before one-clicking), but I haven't seen enough from this publisher to do more than guess (but it is available in the US with the same ASIN, so it should cross over).

Book Description
During the 1930s the Soviet Union launched a major effort to create a modern Air Force. That process required training tens of thousands of pilots. Among those pilots were larger numbers of young women, training shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. A common training program of the day involved studying in 'flying clubs' during leisure hours, first using gliders and then training planes. Following this, the best graduates could enter military schools to become professional combat pilots or flight navigators. The author of this book passed through all of those stages and had become an experienced training pilot when the USSR entered the war.

Volunteering for frontline duty, the author flew 130 combat missions piloting the U2 biplane in a liaison squadron. In the initial period of the war, the German Luftwaffe dominated the sky. Daily combat sorties demanded bravery and skill from the pilots of the liaison squadron operating obsolete, unarmed planes. Over the course of a year the author was shot down by German fighters three times but kept flying nevertheless.

In late 1942 Anna Egorova became the first female pilot to fly the famous Sturmovik (ground attack) plane that played a major role in the ground battles of the Eastern Front. Earning the respect of her fellow male pilots, the author became not just a mature combat pilot, but a commanding officer. Over the course of two years the author advanced from ordinary pilot to the executive officer of the Squadron, and then was appointed Regimental navigator, in the process flying approximately 270 combat missions over the southern sector of the Eastern Front initially (Taman, the Crimea) before switching to the 1st Belorussian Front, and seeing action over White Russia and Poland.

This is a quite unique story of courage, determination and bravery in the face of tremendous personal adversity. The many obstacles Anna had to cross before she could fly first the Po-2, then the Sturmovik, are recounted in detail, including her tough work helping to build the Moscow Metro before the outbreak of war. Above all, Over Fields of Fire is a very human story - sometimes sad, sometimes angry, filled with hope, at other times with near-despair, abundant in comradeship and professionalism – and never less than a large dose of determination!

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - The Open Innovation Marketplace

Update: 12/5/11 Now free for US Kindle customers and from Barnes & Noble.

The Open Innovation Marketplace: Creating Value in the Challenge Driven Enterprise (US/UK), by Alpheus Bingham and Dwayne Spradlin, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store. It should be free for those in the US by morning (but double check the price before one-clicking).

Book Description
The Open Innovation Marketplace introduces groundbreaking strategies and models for leveraging the world’s best innovation sources to drive far more value from new products, services, and business models–and do it with far less risk.

Alpheus Bingham and Dwayne Spradlin draw on their pioneering experience building InnoCentive, the leading global platform for open innovation. Writing for CxOs, R&D leaders, and innovation strategists, they show how to dramatically increase the flow of high-value innovations, access innovators you would never hire internally, and successfully integrate external innovation throughout your business.

Through illustrative case studies, Bingham and Spradlin demonstrate open innovation at work in pharmaceuticals, consumer products, software, aeronautics, and beyond. They show how to construct “challenges” that focus innovation on critical business needs, can attract breakthrough strategies and solutions, and how to transform your enterprise to do it over and over again.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - The Culture Cycle

Update: 12/5/11 Now free for US Kindle customers and from Barnes & Noble.

The Culture Cycle: How to Shape the Unseen Force that Transforms Performance (US/UK), by James Heskett, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store. It should be free for those in the US by morning (but double check the price before one-clicking).

Book Description
The contribution of culture to organizational performance is substantial and quantifiable. In The Culture Cycle, renowned thought leader James Heskett demonstrates how an effective culture can account for up to half of the differential in performance between organizations in the same business. A follow-up to the classic Corporate Culture and Performance (coauthored with John Kotter), this book explains how culture evolves, can be shaped and sustained, and can promote both survival and innovation in tough times.

Drawing on decades of field research and dozens of case studies, Heskett introduces a powerful conceptual framework for managing culture and shows it at work in a real-world setting. Heskett's "culture cycle" identifies policies, practices, and behaviors that are crucial to moving cultures forward and demonstrates how to calculate the economic value of culture through the "Four Rs": referrals, retention, returns to labor, and relationships with customers.

Heskett's insights will be invaluable to leaders, professionals, and consultants in HR, productivity, training, and operations--and for anyone seeking to optimize organizational performance.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (Kindle) - Insights from Remarkable Businesspeople

Update: 12/5/11 Now free for US Kindle customers.

Insights from Remarkable Businesspeople (US/UK), a collection of business shorts from FT press, is a repeat freebie for UK customers in the Kindle store. It should be free for those in the US by morning (but double check the price before one-clicking).

Book Description
A brand new collection of essential insights for your business and career from world-renowned experts...now in a convenient e-format, at a great price!

Get it straight from the top: secrets only the world’s best leaders can tell you!

What it takes to lead your team to greatness! Outstanding leaders tell you how to identify and fix even the biggest problems...get buy-in that’s real...balance external customers and internal processes...infuse creativity throughout your organization, and reinvent its future...get results, not salutes!

From world-renowned leaders and experts, including Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, Jim Champy, Fred Wiersema, Dean LeBaron, Michael F. Golden, Gary Hirshberg, and many more.