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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Nine Free Books from New Word City (K)

There are nine newly free titles from New Word City in the Kindle store today.
  1. Vince Lombardi's Winning Ways
  2. Bill Walsh's Winning Ways
  3. Bear Bryant's Winning Ways
  4. How Lego Built a Comeback
  5. The Man Who Made Pan Am , by Maurice Coyle and Donna Sammons Carpenter
  6. How To Be A Great Professional Services Firm, by Tom Peters (note: this is in the newest Kindle format and may require you to upgrade your device before downloading)
  7. How to Manage Your Debt, by Beverly McKinney
  8. Come On, Get Happy, by Ratha Tep
  9. Eleanor Roosevelt: The People's First Lady, by Willard Sterne Randall and Nancy Nahra

Today's Deals

Comixology is having another 1/2 price sale, this time on the The Sixth Gun (ends 2/2).

Today is the last day to take advantage of the offer to Get $100 Cash Back from Audible on Kindle, iPods and other qualifying products with a new (or renewed) Audible Gold Listener subscription. If you sign up today, you'll get the credit within a few hours, but will have 90 days to use it on one (and only one) of the electronic devices listed on the eligibility page. I used a credit towards a GPS unit for a Christmas gift, but there are Kindles, iPods, MP3 players, tablets, laptops, camcorders and even headphones that are eligible.

Those of you with a nook reader know that it took Barnes & Noble quite a while to implement gifting for books (and it still only allows immediate gifting, not delayed as Amazon does). What you may not know is that you can send a greeting card to anyone with a nook reader and the first collection of holiday greeting cards available is heavily populated with Valentine's Day cards. OK, technically this isn't a "feature", but it's a cute use of the ability to send an ebook to someone (your personalized message will only be in the email, though, not in the actual book, which consists of four pages and includes a single month's calendar as one page. I expected to see this idea repeated over on Amazon and I wasn't disappointed - the exact same cards are available there. Here's where I see that some enterprising artists could make a good living, with a website that features individualized greeting cards (and with traditional interior contents or "write-your-own" content -- if you don't know what to write, Amazon has a Kindle book for that too!), that allow the sender to add their own info, attach a photo or scan in a signature. Then, email the card back to the sender, so they can send it directly to the Kindle or email address of their choice. If you sent to to someone as an attachment (in mobi format or even a small-format PDF), they can then email it to their own Kindle, generally free of charge. Greeting cards are expensive (and usually discarded soon after receipt), so a small charge for something like this would be a welcome alternative (although not appropriate for everyone) and a bit better than these early, impersonal choices.

Additional formats on these free books are now available:
Today is the last day to take advantage of this KSO deal:
Remember, for most of the rentals, you'll have four weeks before you have to start watching it (and usually two days to finish, once started), in case you want to use the credit for a rental, rather than a purchase.

The Best American Noir of the Century ($1.99), edited by James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. I've managed to get a few in this series for review and they are generally very well done; recommended for fans of the genre.
Book Description
James Ellroy and Otto Penzler mined the past century to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories. From noir’s twenties-era infancy come gems like James M. Cain’s “Pastorale,” and its postwar heyday boasts giants like Mickey Spillane and Evan Hunter. Packing an undeniable punch, diverse contemporary incarnations include Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, and William Gay, with many page-turners appearing from the past decade.

Asylum Harbor ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), the first title in the Rachel Scott series by Traci Hohenstein, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is only $1.99, so this one is a bargain for us, as well!). If you pick this one up, you'll definite want to get the second in the series, Burn Out ($1.99 US; $2.19 / £1.42 UK), while it is also on sale.
Asylum Harbor
Amber Knowles, a beautiful high school senior and Florida governor John Knowles’s daughter, has everything going for her until she disappears during a cruise to the Bahamas. After an extensive search of the ship SeaStar, it’s clear that Amber has vanished without a trace. When Governor Knowles receives the distressing news, he asks for Rachel Scott’s help.

The teenager’s disappearance represents every parent’s worst fear, and Rachel, founder of Florida Omni Search, knows only too well what losing a daughter feels like. Her three-year-old, Mallory, went missing five years ago. As she works with FBI special agent, Drake Reynolds, Rachel discovers an organized crime ring linked to the cruise line. The last person known to see Amber aboard the ship was an incognito DEA agent, who also has vanished. Where is he? And where is Amber? Finally, where is Mallory?

Traci Hohenstein’s Asylum Harbor draws inspiration from the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005 and delves deeply into the mysteries and suspense of missing-person investigations and organized crime detection. The first in a series, Asylum Harbor introduces Rachel Scott and her team and compels readers to follow Florida Omni Search and all their investigations.


Burn Out
The week before she is to testify at her estranged husband’s trial on drug charges, firefighter Lieutenant Samantha Collins vanishes while combating a warehouse fire, leaving only her helmet behind.

With Sam missing, her mother seeks the help of Florida Omni Search, a nonprofit organization founded by Rachel Scott, whose own daughter, Mallory, disappeared when only three years old. Rachel has worked with law enforcement agencies all over the United States, but she can’t possibly anticipate how terrifying the Sam Collins case will be. Rachel learns of Sam’s husband’s drug operation, and as she digs deeper, not only does the investigator expose Sam’s surprising past, she also uncovers clues that could reveal what happened to her own daughter.

County Line ($3.99 Kindle, B&N), by Bill Cameron, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.
Book Description
When the steadfast Ruby Jane Whittaker drops out of sight, dogged ex-cop Skin Kadash sets out to discover what drove the woman he loves to leave her life behind so suddenly and without explanation. The discovery of a dead man in her apartment, followed by an attack by a mysterious stalker, leads Skin first to California, then across the country on a desperate journey deep into Ruby Jane?s haunted past—and toward an explosive confrontation which will determine if either has a future.
Today's backlist/small press/indie free books on Kindle (not likely to be free for long; double check prices before one-clicking):

Free Book - 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover (K/N/E/P/I)

Update: 2/11/12 Now free direct from the publisher, Sourcebooks, in DRM'd PDF or EPUB formats.
Update: 2/5/12 Now free from AllRomance, Sony and iTunes.

50 Ways to Hex Your Lover, the first title in the Jazz Tremaine series by Linda Wisdom, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble. You can also get the next three in the series at bargain prices right now (at least, you can at Amazon:
Book Description
Jazz can't decide whether to scorch him with a fireball or jump into bed with him.

Jasmine Tremaine, a witch who can't stay out of trouble.

Nikolai Gregorivich, a drop-dead gorgeous vampire cop on the trail of a serial killer.

The sizzling love affair between Jazz and Nick has been off-again, on-again-for about 300 years. Mostly off, lately. But now Nick needs Jazz's help, and while Jazz and Nick try to figure out their own hearts and resist their ever-increasing attraction, they must steer clear of a maniacal killer with super-supernatural powers. They are surrounded by a hilarious cast of oddball paranormal characters, including Irma, the chain-smoking ghost who haunts Jazz's sports car, Dweezil, her ghoul of a boss, and Fluff and Puff, a pair of bunny slippers with sharp teeth and short tempers (watch your ankles)!
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from AllRomance.
Get the free ebook from iTunes.
Get the free ebook from Sony.
Get the free ebook from Sourcebooks.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Free Audiobook - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The second free audiobook that The Guardian (a UK newspaper) is giving away as part of their Head Start program is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ($10.99 Kindle), by Robert M. Pirsig.
Book Description
Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. This 25th Anniversary Quill Edition features a new introduction by the author; important typographical changes; and a Reader's Guide that includes discussion topics, an interview with the author, and letters and documents detailing how this extraordinary book came to be. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life.
Get the free Audiobook from The Guardian UK. You'll need to enter a name and email address, click to submit the info, then click a link that takes you to AudioGo; be sure to note the coupon code on that page, as you'll need it to get the book for free. Once at Audiogo, click on the ad, then click Checkout; log in (or create an account), then enter the promotional Code and click Update. Don't click on Continue until after you've confirmed that a total of $0.00/£0.00 is shown. You'll need an account with AudioGo, but should not need to enter any credit card info. Once you've added the audiobook to your account, you can download at any time (I'd expect download times to be very slow this week).

Free eBook Shorts - Sounds from The Great Animal Orchestra (K)

Update: 2/22/12 A second version of one of these has shown up in the Kindle store (see below), while two entries now exist for buying the full book (at different prices; no clues as to any differences, though): The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places ($14.99) and The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places ($15.99).

As a promotion for the forthcoming release of The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places ($15.99), by Bernie Krause, Hachette is giving away 4 eBook Shorts, each one containing a section of the larger text, but which are self-contained titles, similar to Kindle Singles (rather than just a defined length sample of the book).
Despite the titles on these, they are not A/V enhanced editions, so they should work fine on all Kindle devices and apps. I have no idea how large they may be, once released (all pre-orders show as 5K until the publisher uploads the actual files), but they shouldn't be all that large.
The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places
Musician and naturalist Bernie Krause is one of the world's leading experts in natural sound, and he's spent his life discovering and recording nature's rich chorus. Searching far beyond our modern world's honking horns and buzzing machinery, he has sought out the truly wild places that remain, where natural soundscapes exist virtually unchanged from when the earliest humans first inhabited the earth.

Krause shares fascinating insight into how deeply animals rely on their aural habitat to survive and the damaging effects of extraneous noise on the delicate balance between predator and prey. But natural soundscapes aren't vital only to the animal kingdom; Krause explores how the myriad voices and rhythms of the natural world formed a basis from which our own musical expression emerged.

From snapping shrimp, popping viruses, and the songs of humpback whales-whose voices, if unimpeded, could circle the earth in hours-to cracking glaciers, bubbling streams, and the roar of intense storms; from melody-singing birds to the organlike drone of wind blowing over reeds, the sounds Krause has experienced and describes are like no others. And from recording jaguars at night in the Amazon rain forest to encountering mountain gorillas in Africa's Virunga Mountains, Krause offers an intense and intensely personal narrative of the planet's deep and connected natural sounds and rhythm.

The Great Animal Orchestra is the story of one man's pursuit of natural music in its purest form, and an impassioned case for the conservation of one of our most overlooked natural resources-the music of the wild.

About the Author
Dr. Bernie Krause is both a musician and a naturalist. During the 1950s and 60s, he devoted himself to music and replaced Pete Seeger as the guitarist for The Weavers. For over 40 years, Krause has traveled the world recording and archiving the soundsof creatures and environments large and small. He has recorded over 15,000 species. He lives in California.