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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Free Short Stories by Howard Fast (K/N/I/E)

There are several republished short stories by Howard Fast that are currently free in the main ebookstores, courtesy of Open Road (who hopes you'll look at his recently released backlist). But, the best bargain amongst his novels is one published by Sourcebooks, Immigrants (Lavette Family), currently on sale for $1.79 on Kindle ($1.99 elsewhere, coupon eligible).
The Art of Zen Meditation (Kindle/B&N/iTunes/Sony)
Howard Fast began to formally practice Zen meditation after turning away from communism in 1956. The Art of Zen Meditation, originally published by the antiwar political collective Peace Press in 1977, is the fruit of Fast’s study: a brief and instructive history of Zen Buddhism and its tenets, written with a simplicity that is emblematic of the philosophy itself. Fast’s study of Zen also inspired his popular Masao Masuto mystery series about a Zen Buddhist detective in Beverly Hills, which he published under the pseudonym E. V. Cunningham.

The Art of Zen Meditation is illustrated with twenty-three beautiful photographs.


Spain and Peace (Kindle/iTunes/Kobo/Sony)
Howard Fast was a longtime proponent of the antifascist movement in Spain. During the Spanish Civil War, Fast supported a hospital for Popular Front forces, and in 1950 he was sentenced to three months in jail for refusing to give the names of other supporters of that hospital to the House Un-American Activities Committee. In this pamphlet, published in 1951, Fast gives an overview of Spain under the rule of General Francisco Franco, including the mass strikes that were organized to weaken him. Fast’s fervent appeals to readers to reject American military agreements with Spain demonstrate his passionate opposition to fascism. As Fast writes, “Spain fights on, and in those three words there is a miracle. . . . There is no Spanish worker, professional, intellectual or peasant who strikes a blow for freedom without our being intimately concerned.”

The Incredible Tito: Man of the Hour (Kindle/B&N/iTunes/Kobo/Sony)
The world was mired in the Second World War when Howard Fast wrote The Incredible Tito. Upon the book’s publication in 1944, there was still no united Yugoslavia, the Axis controlled most of Europe, and D-Day was only in the planning stages. In the Balkans, Tito was a beacon of hope against the advancing Nazis. He led a force of resistance fighters that bedeviled the occupying German army throughout Slavic regions and empowered people’s committees to act as local government in all liberated areas. For observers on the political left, Tito seemed uniquely poised to unite the East and West against fascism—once and for all.

Immigrants (Lavette Family) ($1.79 Kindle; $1.99 B&N/iTunes/Kobo/Sony)
In this sweeping journey of love and fortune, master storyteller Howard Fast recounts the rise and fall of a family of roughneck immigrants determined to make their way in America at the turn of the century. Quick to ascend from the tragic depths of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Dan Lavette becomes the head of a powerful shipping empire and establishes himself among the city's cultural elite. But when he finds himself caught in a loveless marriage to the daughter of San Francisco's richest family, a scandalous love affair threatens to destroy the empire Dan has built for himself.

The first of a compelling family saga, The Immigrants is a fast-paced, emotional novel that captures the wide range of relationships among immigrant families during the tumultuous events that defined the early twentieth century in America.

Free Book - The Pawn (K/N/I/E)

Update: 1/5/12 Now free from iTunes.
Update: 12/28/11 Now free from ChristianBook and Sony.

The Pawn, the first title in the Patrick Bowers series by AUTHOR, returns once again as a free title in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Christian publisher Revell.
Book Description
Special Agent Patrick Bowers never met a killer he couldn't catch.
Until now.

Called to North Carolina to consult on the case of an area serial killer, Bowers finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Cunning and lethal, the killer is always one step ahead of the law, and he's about to strike again. It will take all of Bowers's instincts and training to stop the man who calls himself the Illusionist.

Thrilling, chilling, and impossible to put down, The Pawn will hold you in its iron grip until the very last page.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.
Get the free book from iTunes.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Today's Deals

Additional formats on free books:

The Detachment ($0.99), the seventh and latest title in the John Rain series by Barry Eisler, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. You can also get three of his short stories for free: Paris Is A Bitch (Rain/Delilah), The Lost Coast (Larison) [or both together in Double Tap] and one in 2:46: Aftershocks. He's publishing with Amazon's Thomas & Mercer now, but earlier books in his two series were published by Random House and Penguin.
Book Description
John Rain is back. And “the most charismatic assassin since James Bond” (San Francisco Chronicle) is up against his most formidable enemy yet: the nexus of political, military, media, and corporate factions known only as the Oligarchy.

When legendary black ops veteran Colonel Scott “Hort” Horton tracks Rain down in Tokyo, Rain can’t resist the offer: a multi-million dollar payday for the “natural causes” demise of three ultra-high-profile targets who are dangerously close to launching a coup in America.

But the opposition on this job is going to be too much for even Rain to pull it off alone. He’ll need a detachment of other deniable irregulars: his partner, the former Marine sniper, Dox. Ben Treven, a covert operator with ambivalent motives and conflicted loyalties. And Larison, a man with a hair trigger and a secret he’ll kill to protect.

From the shadowy backstreets of Tokyo and Vienna, to the deceptive glitz and glamour of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and finally to a Washington, D.C. in a permanent state of war, these four lone wolf killers will have to survive presidential hit teams, secret CIA prisons, and a national security state as obsessed with guarding its own secrets as it is with invading the privacy of the populace.

But first, they’ll have to survive each other.

The Detachment is what fans of Eisler, “one of the most talented and literary writers in the thriller genre” (Chicago Sun-Times), have been waiting for: the worlds of the award-winning Rain series, and of the bestselling Fault Line and Inside Out, colliding in one explosive thriller as real as today’s headlines and as frightening as tomorrow’s.

Guinness Book of World Records 2012 ($1.54 / £0.99 UK), by AUTHOR, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.87).
Book Description
From the Olympic to the apocalyptic, the new, fully updated digital edition of the planet’s biggest-selling copyright book is bursting with all-new photos and updated features. Guinness World Records 2012 boasts thousands of amazing records, covering everything from record-breaking Royals to incredible creepy crawlies, taking a trip to the centre of the Earth and travelling further afield to the International Space Station. Get to know the fastest, strongest, biggest and greatest record holders, and learn about their jaw-dropping achievements. Packed with fascinating information and trivia from around the globe (and beyond!), the Guinness World Records 2012 ebook edition offers an unforgettable experience.

Jamestown Experiment ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Tony Williams, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.
Book Description
The American dream was built along the banks of the James River in Virginia.

The settlers who established America’s first permanent English colony at Jamestown were not seeking religious or personal freedom. They were comprised of gentlemen adventurers and common tradesmen who risked their lives and fortunes on the venture and stood to reap the rewards—the rewards of personal profit and the glory of mother England. If they could live long enough to see their dream come to life.

The Jamestown Experiment is the dramatic, engaging, and tumultuous story of one of the most audacious business efforts in Western history. It is the story of well-known figures like John Smith setting out to create a source of wealth not bestowed by heritage. As they struggled to make this dream come true, they would face relentless calamities, including mutinies, shipwrecks, native attacks, and even cannibalism. And at every step of the way, the decisions they made to keep this business alive would not only affect their effort, but would shape the future of the land on which they had settled in ways they never could have expected.

The Jamestown Experiment is the untold story of the unlikely and dramatic events that defined the “self-made man” and gave birth to the American dream.

Tony Williams taught history and literature for ten years, and has a master’s in American history from Ohio State University. He wrote Hurricane of Independence and The Pox and the Covenant, and is currently a full-time author who lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with his wife and children.

Free Book - Balancing the Chakras (K)

Balancing the Chakras: The Body's Energetic Channels, by Michael Solis, is free in the Kindle store, courtesy of publisher Charles River Editors (Vook).
Book Description
Many of us have heard the term chakra before, but few truly understand its meaning or its potential significance. Put simply, the word chakra means "wheel of light" in Sanskrit. But that certainly won't answer the questions you are asking yourself by now.

Given the unfamiliarity most people have with these important ideas, Balancing the Chakras seeks to help guide readers of all backgrounds and experiences. Balancing the Chakras explains the chakras based on the teachings of the ancient Hindu texts. In this short guide, you will learn about the idea of the chakras, their individual characteristics, and techniques that yout can perform to help balance certain aspects of your body, mind, emotions, and personality. 7 chapters will present you with information on each of the seven central chakras, as well as advice on how to more effectively balance these energetic centers.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Free Audiobook - The Steve Jobs Way

The audiobook short story The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation ($9.36 Kindle), by Jay Elliot and William L. Simon, narrated by Christopher Hurt, is free over on Audible.
Book Description
In iLeadership, Jay Elliot gives the reader the opportunity of seeing Steve Jobs as only his closest associates have ever seen him, and to learn what has made him--and the mystique of his management style--capable of creating tools so extraordinary that they have remade three industries and have transformed the way we create, consume, and communicate with each other.

Jay Elliot worked side by side with Steve as Senior Vice President of Apple and brings us his deep insider perspective of Steve's singular iLeadership style--which encompasses four major principles: product, talent, organization, marketing.

Jay shares the lessons that come out of Steve's intuitive approach to show how the creative and technological brilliance of iLeadership can be utilized to drive breakthroughs in any organization, irrespective of size.
Get the free audiobook from Audible.