Kindle Weekend Deals

I almost forgot to check this weekend's Download Deals at Amazon. Be sure to check out the other winners (Project Nim, Tim McGraw's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 and Crysis) and to vote on next weekend's deal.

Suburgatory, by Linda E Keenan, is $1.99 for the rest of the weekend.

Book Description
Suburgatory is a book that lampoons the absurdities and contradictions that Linda Keenan has witnessed since leaving New York City, where she was a thoroughly urban CNN news producer for seven years before settling down as a hapless stay-at-home suburban mother. The original proposal for this book was picked up by Warner Brothers in 2010, and their imagining of Suburgatory can be seen on the ABC show of the same title.

Tessa, the teenage character created by ABC’s Suburgatory, was forced by the man in her life—her dad—to leave her beloved city life for this supposed suburban utopia. Keenan followed the same trajectory, as a new mom, with no job, no friends, and not much more than a prescription for Zoloft to keep herself afloat. She found herself trapped in a place where conformity is king and where she often felt like she had been taken hostage by an adult Girl Scout troop. So Keenan decided to train her twisted reporter’s eye on the strange inhabitants of this new foreign land.

Thought of as a local town newspaper or website, Suburgatory excoriates—through satirical local “news stories” (Mom Plans School Auction During Dreary Sex; Woman Shops at Walmart to Feel “Pretty,Thin”; Dog Fed Better than Scholarship Child, Says School Nurse)—the mostly upper middle class American pieties and parenting obsessions that surround raising the perfect child amid the anxiety of an America in decline. The book uses laugh-out-loud humor to target racism, homophobia, submerged suburban sexuality, class warfare, willful ignorance, and the all-around bad behavior raging underneath the surface of those obsessively tended suburban lawns and bikini lines. Suburgatory parodies the tiger moms, breastfeeding nazis, frustrated swingers, foreskin-loving “intactivists,” barely there dads, “anti-vaxxers,” and power-mad principals.

In addition to the irreverent news stories, Suburgatory features faux op-ed “Shout Outs” (Let’s Do that Key Party Right the Next Time), witty advertisements (Briarcliff Academy—Educating the Stupid Rich Since 1903), and an over-the-top totally toxic advice columnist: Dr. Drama (“When life hands you a problem, let’s make it more interesting!”).

Death at La Fenice ($0.99), the first title in the Commissario Brunetti Mystery series by Donna Leon , is on sale on Kindle and from Barnes & Noble (probably thru the end of the month, which is right around the corner).

Book Description
Beautiful and serene Venice is a city almost devoid of crime. But that is little comfort to Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor whose intermission refreshment comes one night with a little something extra in it-cyanide. For Guido Brunetti, vice-commissario of police and detective genius, finding a suspect isn't a problem; narrowing the large and unconventional group of enemies down to one is. As the suave and pithy Brunetti pieces together clues, a shocking picture of depravity and revenge emerges, leaving him torn between what is and what should be right — and questioning what the law can do, and what needs to be done.

Today's Deals

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is The Sirens of Titan ($1.99), by Kurt Vonnegut, published by RosettaBooks (another edition is $12, so be sure to follow the link). I'm grabbing this one right away, to replace the battered copy I've had for years.

Book Description
The Sirens of Titan (1959) is Vonnegut's second novel and was on the Hugo ballot with Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers but lost in what Harlan Ellison has called a monumental injustice. Sirens of Titan is a picaresque novel which almost defies being synposized; it is an interplanetary Candide (lacking perhaps Voltaire's utter bitterness), the book follows lead character Malachi Constant, a feckless but kind-hearted millionaire as he moves through the solar system on his quest for the meaning of all existence.

Constant is aided by another tycoon, Winston Rumfoord, who with the help of aliens has actually discovered the fundamental meaning of life (the retrieval of an alien artifact with an inscribed message of greetings). With the assistance of Salo, an alien root and overseeing the alien race, the Tralmafadorians (who also feature in Slaughterhouse-Five), Constant attempts to find some cosmic sense and order in the face of universal malevolence. Together Constant and Rumfoord deal with the metaphysics of ""chrono-synclastic infundibula"", they deal with the interference of the Tralmafadorians; the novel is pervaded by a goofy, episodic charm which barely shields the readers (or the characters) from the sense of a large and indifferent universe.

All of Vonnegut's themes and obsessions (which are further developed and/or recycled in later work) are evident here in this novel which is more hopeful than most of Vonnegut's canon. It is suggested that ultimately Constant learns that only it is impossible to learn, and that fate (and the Tralmafodorians) are impenetrable, unavoidable circumstance.

On the basis of this novel, Vonnegut was wholly claimed by the science fiction community (as witnessed by the Hugo nomination), but Vonnegut did not likewise wish to claim the community for himself and the feelings were not reciprocal. He felt from the outset that being identified as a science fiction writer could only limit his audience and trivialize his themes. His recurring character, the hack science fiction writer, Kilgore Trout (who also features in Slaughterhouse-Five), represented to Vonnegut the worst case scenario of the writer he did not wish to become.

Virgin Widow ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Anne O'Brien , is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $12.99).

Book Description
I was a penniless, landless petitioner, my Neville blood a curse, my future dependent on the charity of those who despised me…

Anne Neville is the heiress and daughter of the greatest powerbroker in the land, Warwick the Kingmaker. Trapped in a deadly tangle of political intrigue, she is a pawn in an uncertain game, used by the houses of Neville, York and Lancaster alike. In England’s glittering, treacherous court, not all wish to see the Nevilles raised high.

The Earl of Warwick’s ambition and pride lead him into an attempt to depose the Yorkist King; his treason forces his family into exile. Humiliated and powerless in a foreign land, Anne must find the courage and the wit to survive in such a dangerous man’s world. Compulsively readable, Anne O’Brien vividly evokes the story of Richard III’s queen with a passion and vibrancy reminiscent of Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir.

The 13th Tribe ($3.40 Kindle, B&N), by Robert Liparulo, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Immortal vigilantes from the time of Moses have planned the unthinkable. But how can you stop what you can't see?

The battle didn't start this year . . . or even this millennium.

It began when Moses was on Mt. Sinai. Tired of waiting on the One True God, the twelve tribes of Israel began worshipping a golden calf through pagan revelry. Many received immediate death for their idolatry, but 40 were handed a far worse punishment-endless life on earth with no chance to see the face of God.

This group of immortals became the 13th Tribe, and they've been trying to earn their way into heaven ever since-by killing sinners. Though their logic is twisted, their brilliance is undeniable. Their wrath is unstoppable. And the technology they possess is beyond anything mere humans could imagine.

Jagger Baird knows nothing about the Tribe when he's hired as head of security for an archaeological dig on Mt. Sinai. The former army ranger is still reeling from an accident that claimed the life of his best friend, his arm, and his faith in God.

The Tribe is poised to execute their most ambitious attack ever and the lives of millions hang in the balance. When Jagger's wife and son are caught in the crossfire, he'll stop at nothing to save them.

But how can one man stand against an entire tribe of immortals?

Tiger's Curse (Tiger's Curse Series #1) ($10.98 Hardcover, $2.49 B&N), by Colleen Houck, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (no Kindle edition).

Book Description
The last thing teenager Kelsey Hayes thought she'd be doing over the summer was meeting Ren, a mysterious white tiger and cursed Indian prince! When she learns she alone can break the Tiger's curse, Kelsey's life is turned upside-down. The unlikely duo journeys halfway around the world to piece together an Indian prophecy, find a way to free the man trapped by a centuries-old spell, and discover the path to their true destiny.

Get $30 off Dress Shoes (KSO)

This offer is only for those with a Kindle with Special Offers:

Save on Select Shoes (Get $30 off when you spend $100 on Women's pumps & Men's dress shoes)

Click on offer, then click on the link on the offer page to receive an email with the promo code. Sign-up for this offer expires on April 29 (it says the 30th on your Kindle, but the promotional page sets the cut-off as the 29th).

You'll get an email (right away), a link to the Special Offer page and a promotion code to enter at checkout. Once you have the promotional code, you have until May 31, 2012 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).

Limit one offer per customer and per device.

You can add one or more qualifying pair of shoes to get to the $100 minimum and there seem to be a lot to choose from. One the Women's side, it is all dress heels, from what I can see, but I saw loafers in the men's selection (apparently the 31 most popular choice, right now). Personally, I don't buy shoes mail order, but you do have the protection of the return policy at Amazon on these (if you do return them, the promotion amount is subtracted from any return value, of course).

Neutrogena: Get $10 Off $30 Order (KSO)

This offer has been extended from it's earlier claim-by date, but is the exact same deal, otherwise, including the expiration date. If you've already claimed the earlier deal, you'll get sent the exact same coupon code this time, so I don't think you'll be able to take advantage of the deal twice.

This offer is only for those with a Kindle with Special Offers (including any Kindle Touch or Kindle Keyboard that opts in to Special Offers, which means you can add the offers, grab this one, then turn them back off!):

Exclusive savings on select Neutrogena® products
(Get $10 Off a $30 Purchase of Select Neutrogena® Items)

Click on offer, then click on the link on the offer page to receive an email with the promo code. Sign-up for this offer expires on May 9.

You'll get an email (right away), a link to the Special Offer page and a promotion code to enter at checkout. Once you have the promotional code, you have until May 25, 2012 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).

Limit one offer per customer and per device.

Free Audiobook - What Would MacGyver Do

Grab a free audiobook download of What Would MacGyver Do?: True Stories of Improvised Genius in Everyday Life ($10.99), by Brendan Vaughan, over at Tantor Media.

Book Description
A clever collection of true stories celebrating real-life "MacGyverisms"

For anyone who's ever wished they could channel the 1980s action-adventure icon comes this clever collection of forty-five true stories, commemorating the use of improvised genius to solve everyday problems. Inspired by television's Angus MacGyver (played by Richard Dean Anderson), a secret agent who relied on his brains and scientific prowness-not to mention duct tape and a Swiss Army knife-to save the day, the "MacGyverisms" recounted range from the concrete (using Chex Mix to provide taction in an icy parking lot) to the intangible (saving a relationship with the perfect turn of phrase).

Edgy, entertaining, and smirk-to-yourself funny, these masterfully told stories reveal that, with a little luck and a lot of ingenuity, you can "MacGyver" yourself out of virtually any predicament....

Get the free audiobook from Tantor Media.