Today's Deals

Gold Box Deal of the Day: Prepare for The Dark Knight Rises by getting "The Dark Knight" and other digital movies for $3.99 at Amazon Instant Video. Don't forget, also, that today is 2-for-1 Visa Signature Day at Fandango for those who are lucky enough to be seeing the movie in the theaters today. I'm going to have to put it off a few days, as I'm headed to LibertyCon.

If you do buy your movie tickets thru Fandango, you'll also get a $2 Amazon MP3 credit with each purchase (even the 2-for-1 deal above!). You might want to then check out Amazon's new 20-songs-for-25-cents deal. You can buy them mix-and-match or just grab the entire playlist for $5.

Amazon is making a big push into the "free" game arena, specifically with games you can play on your PC/notebook/netbook. If you've played the free games on your iPad or Kindle Fire, you know how these work: you get the game for free and can play for free, but you can then buy bonus packs (with real money) to advance faster or get special items in the game. As an example, with Fiesta Online Sparkcash you get a "free 30-day swift and Dark Pegasus Mount" and creating your Allods account thru Amazon gets you a free starter package with 600 Premium Crystal Chips and an Enchanted Saddle. Like iPad and Android games, you can also just play the free editions and never spend a dime (although play may be limited as some items may require purchase to attain), so it might be worth checking out a few of them.

Kobo has a new coupon code this weekend, Save30Jul20m7, good for 30% off selected books (exp 7/23). The list includes several interesting selections, including The Mammoth Book of Hot Romance and The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance, as well as numerous mystery/thrillers and non-ficiton such as For Bread Alone (selection appears to vary by country). Don't forget to play the Trivia Teaser game daily at Kobo for discount coupons and a chance at a Vox ereader/tablet (ends July 20).

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is King City ($1.99), a standalone novel by Lee Goldberg.

Book Description
Major Crimes Unit detective Tom Wade secretly worked with the Feds to nail seven of his fellow cops for corruption…turning him into a pariah in the police department. So he’s exiled to patrol a beat in King City’s deadliest neighborhood… with no back-up, no resources, and no hope of survival.

Now Wade fights to tame the lawless, poverty-stricken wasteland…while investigating a string of brutal murders of young women. It’s a case that takes him from the squalor of the inner-city to the manicured enclaves of the privileged, revealing the sordid and deadly ways the two worlds are intertwined…making his enemies even more determined to crush him.

But for Tom Wade, backing down is never an option...even if it will cost him his life. It’s one reason why bestselling author Janet Evanovich calls Wade “an unforgettable and deeply compelling character in the most original crime novel to come along in years."

The Beach Café ($1.54 / £0.99 UK), by Lucy Diamond, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Evie Flynn has always been the black sheep of her family - a dreamer and a drifter, unlike her over-achieving elder sisters. She's tried making a name for herself as an actress, a photographer and a singer, but nothing has ever worked out. Now she's stuck in temp hell, with a sensible, pension-planning boyfriend. Somehow life seems to be passing her by. Then her beloved aunt Jo dies suddenly in a car crash, leaving Evie an unusual legacy - her precious beach cafe in Cornwall. Determined to make a success of something for the first time in her life, Evie heads off to Cornwall to get the cafe and her life back on track - and gets more than she bargained for, both in work and in love...

The Boy Who Loved Batman ($10.34 Kindle, $3.99 B&N), by Michael Uslan, is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
A lavishly illustrated memoir about a boy who loved Batman and would grow up to turn his passion for the caped crusader into a vision of the Dark Knight, and ultimately one of the most successful pop culture franchises of all time. When he was eight, Michael Uslan fell in love with the comic book character known as Batman. He watched unhappily as the dark, serious superhero he knew and loved was turned into a campy goofball in the '60s TV show starring Adam West, and in 1979 he purchased the film rights to Batman with the goal of realizing his infinitely cooler vision of the caped crusader. After ten years of desperately pitching a film that no one wanted, he sold and then produced Tim Burton's critically acclaimed and phenomenally popular re-telling of Batman. Twenty years later, having produced every Batman film to date, Ulsan finally brought his full vision of Batman to the screen with THE DARK KNIGHT. The decades in between were fraught with heartache and hilarity, tears and turmoil, adventure and misadventure. Michael, a consummate story-teller, recounts his story here, in a memoir that will draw in comics and movie fans, pop culture enthusiasts, film students, and of course, all the boys and girls (of all ages) throughout the world who love Batman.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
After "The Dark Knight" opened to historic response, my wife, Nancy sat me down and said, "Okay, NOW what do you want to be when you grow up?"

The Goose Girl ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the first title in Shannon Hale's Books of Bayern series, is the Nook Daily Find for Families, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, spends the first years of her life under her aunt's guidance learning to communicate with animals. As she grows up Ani develops the skills of animal speech, but is never comfortable speaking with people, so when her silver-tongued lady-in-waiting leads a mutiny during Ani's journey to be married in a foreign land, Ani is helpless and cannot persuade anyone to assist her. Becoming a goose girl for the king, Ani eventually uses her own special, nearly magical powers to find her way to her true destiny. Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can become queen of the people she has made her own.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Starting today, Kobo has a special code, romance80, that will work for up to 80% off a specific Romance title (which will rotate every 3-4 days). Today's book is Rock Hard ($7.19 Kindle; $7.39 Kobo), the second title in the Sinners on Tour series by Olivia Cunning, which should be about $1.18 with the coupon. That puts it at nearly what I paid for it last summer (99 cents), after picking up the first in the series, Backstage Pass, for free earlier in the year.

Book Description
Trapped together on the Sinners tour bus for the summer, Sed and Jessica will rediscover the millions of steamy reasons they never should have called it quits in the first place...

Two Free Audiobooks - Mark Twain and Romance

Blackstone Audio periodically sends out a free audiobook to those who sign up for the newsletter (if you can get a subscription to go thru - I've often received no info back from attempts to sign up). The two below are the ones from this month's newsletter.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER BY MARK TWAIN, READ BY GROVER GARDNER

Book Description

Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a humorous and nostalgic book depicting the carefree days of boyhood in a small Midwestern town.

Download MP3 M4B

"ROMANCE" BY CHUCK PALAHNIUK, READ BY THE AUTHOR

Book Description
We teamed up with the New York Times-bestselling author to offer this short story exclusively in audio. Originally published in Playboy magazine, "Romance" is a twisted love story like only Chuck could tell.

Download MP3 M4B

Remember: You want the MP3 format for Kindle; put the file(s) into the \audible directory of the Kindle, using a USB cable, and they'll show up on you Home page and have audiobook controls.

Free Audiobooks - Cleopatra’s Moon and Antony & Cleopatra

Update: 7/21/12 The problems with Antony & Cleopatra have been fixed, so you can go in and download it.

There are two new free audiobook from Sync today. First, I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

The first free audiobook is Cleopatra’s Moon ($9.99 Kindle; $20.99 Audible), by Vicky Alvear Shecter, narrated by Kirsten Potter.

Book Description
The Luxe" meets the ancient world in the extraordinary story of Cleopatra's daughter.

Selene has grown up in a palace on the Nile with her parents, Cleopatra & Mark Antony--the most brilliant, powerful rulers on earth. But the jealous Roman Emperor Octavianus wants Egypt for himself, & when war finally comes, Selene faces the loss of all she's ever loved. Forced to build a new life in Octavianus's household in Rome, she finds herself torn between two young men and two possible destinies--until she reaches out to claim her own.

This stunning novel brings to life the personalities & passions of one of the greatest dramas in history, & offers a wonderful new heroine in Selene.

Grade Level: 7 and up

The Dramatized edition of Antony & Cleopatra ($12.27 Audible), by William Shakespeare, with a full cast narration from BBC radio, is the second selection for this week. There are several Kindle editions, ranging from 99 cents and up, for those that prefer the original and free versions in MOBI and EPUB are relatively easy to find, as well.

Book Description
BBC Radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard.

Antony & Cleopatra is an intense love story, exploring the constant conflict between duty and emotion with characters so charismatic they continue to fascinate after 2,000 years. Shakespeare achieved some of his most beautiful poetry in this play, and the richness of the language makes it perfect for audio.

Revitalised, original, and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.

Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date). Two new titles each Thursday!

Today's Deals

Don't forget to play the Trivia Teaser game daily at Kobo for discount coupons and a chance at a Vox ereader/tablet (ends July 20).

Additional formats on free books:

• Flirting with Ruin (K/N/E/DF) (K/N/E/DF)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Resurrected ($1.99), the first (short) novel in Morgan Rice's Vampire Legacy series. The author is self-published, so I looked to see what else was available: she has a bad habit of putting up "parts" of her novels and charging for them (the entire novel is "154 pages", why would anyone pay for 'part 1', which is barley the length of a decent sample?). The synopsis of this one does claim that her Vampire Journals series is "bestselling" (although it doesn't say on which charts) and you can get the first novel in that series, Turned, for free (at least, as of right now). Those in the UK (only) can also pick up Arena One: Slaverunners (Book #1 of the Survival Trilogy) for $1.54 (£0.99), which actually looks to be the start of a good series and is a bit longer than these, at 390 pages (maybe she'll send me a review copy).

Book Description
In RESURRECTED (Book #1 of the Vampire Legacy), 16 year old Scarlet Paine finds herself changing in mysterious ways. She is becoming sensitive to light, able to read peoples’ thoughts, and is faster and stronger than she’s ever been. She doesn’t understand what’s happening to her, and tries to ignore it. But she can only dismiss it for so long.

Caitlin Paine, her mom, knows too well what’s happening to her daughter. She underwent the same transformation to vampire once, centuries ago. But now, in the present day, as a mere human, she has no memory of it. All she has is the journal she found in the attic—her mysterious vampire journal—telling of her exploits in another time and place, and of the vampire race being eradicated. But was there one exception to the rule? Could it be that Scarlet, her daughter, is the last remaining vampire on earth?

As Scarlet tries to fight who she’s becoming, she also tries to fight her intense feelings for Blake, a boy in her grade who she has a crush on. She can’t tell, though, if he’s into her, and with the big Halloween dance just days away, the pressure is on. She would do anything for Blake to ask her. But Vivian, the meanest of the popular girls, is also on Blake’s radar, and she’ll do anything to make Blake hers—and to make Scarlet’s life a living hell.

Luckily Scarlet has her own clique of friends to back her up, including her best friends Maria and Jasmin. They, too, have guy troubles—but it isn’t until Sage appears, the mysterious new boy, that her friends become obsessed. Scarlet finds herself attracted to him, too—and is surprised when it is her, of all the girls in the school, that he pays attention to. But her mind is set on Blake, at least for now, and she continues to hope he’ll ask her to the dance.

Just when it seems that Scarlet has what she wants, her body changes. Soon it may be impossible for her to be near her fellow humans. Soon, she may have to choose between her desire to live and her desire for love.

The Delta ($1.54 / £0.99 UK), by Tony Park, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
After a failed assassination attempt on the president of Zimbabwe, ex-soldier turned mercenary Sonja Kurtz is on the run and heads for her only place of refuge, the Okavango Delta in the heart of Botswana. She's looking to rekindle a romance with her childhood sweetheart, safari camp manager Sterling Smith, and wants to leave her warrior lifestyle behind. But Sonja discovers her beloved Delta is on the brink of destruction. She is recruited as an 'eco-commando' in a bid to halt a project that will destroy forever the Delta's fragile network of swamps and waterways. Soon she finds herself caught in a deadly web of intrigue involving Sterling, the handsome Martin Steele - her mercenary commander, and a TV heartthrob and wildlife documentary presenter, 'Coyote' Sam Chapman, who blunders out of the bush in a reality show gone wrong. Instead of escaping her violent past, Sonja is now surrounded by men who are relying on her killer instincts to save the day. Where she came to find peace, she finds war... and it is not just the survival of the Delta that is at stake.

My Angels Wear Fur ($9.99 Kindle, $3.25 B&N), by Devon O'Day, is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
Over the years, animal rescue and adoption have transformed my life over and over and over," says author Devon O'Day. In My Angels Wear Fur, her first collection of stories that chronicle the many animals she has rescued, Devon O'Day tells readers about:

Tennessee Tess: A stray dog delivered to her front door by a man working on a construction crew in the neighborhood and who ended up living the glamorous life in Hollywood with O'Day's sister, actress Faith Ford.

The Boxer of Mercy: A brindle boxer who delivers dogs in need to O'Day's front door. As soon as he knows the other dog is in good hands, the boxer disappears.

More than 30 well-written stories will warm your heart and make you understand what O'Day means when she says, "There is a God-like quality in animals. They love without judgment. They are loyal and caring and they see through each of us...to the hidden souls of our real beings."

Monster Truck Mater ($4.99 3D paperback, no Kindle edition, $1.99 B&N), Cars Toons by Disney, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (requires NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet or NOOK Kids for iPad). This is one of nine stories contained in the anthology Cars Toons: Mater's Treasury of Tall Tales ($10.29 Hardcover) and most of the individual stories haven't made their way over to Kindle yet.

Book Description
As a professional monster truck wrestler, Mater must work his way up through the ranks from amateur to World Champion Monster Truck Wrestler. But rival wrestlers I-Screamer, Captain Collision, and The Rasta Carian aren't about to give up without a fight. . . .

In this NOOK Kids Read to Me book, children can choose to hear the story read aloud, tap to enlarge text and pinch & stretch to zoom in on pictures.

Today's Deals

Don't forget to play the Trivia Teaser game daily at Kobo for discount coupons and a chance at a Vox ereader/tablet (ends July 20).

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is The Middle Place ($1.99), by Kelly Corrigan.

Book Description
For Kelly Corrigan, family is everything. At thirty-six, she had a marriage that worked, two funny, active kids, and a weekly newspaper column. But even as a thriving adult, Kelly still saw herself as the daughter of garrulous Irish-American charmer George Corrigan. She was living deep within what she calls the Middle Place—“that sliver of time when parenthood and childhood overlap”—comfortably wedged between her adult duties and her parents’ care. But Kelly is abruptly shoved into coming-of-age when she finds a lump in her breast--and gets the diagnosis no one wants to hear. When George, too, learns that he has late-stage cancer, it is Kelly’s turn to take care of the man who had always taken care of her—and to show us a woman who finally takes the leap and grows up.

Kelly Corrigan is a natural-born storyteller, a gift you quickly recognize as her father’s legacy, and her stories are rich with everyday details. She captures the beat of an ordinary life and the tender, sometimes fractious moments that bind families together. Rueful and honest, Kelly is the prized friend who will tell you her darkest, lowest, screwiest thoughts, and then later dance on the coffee table at your party.

The World's Greatest Idea ($1.54 / £0.99 UK), by John Farndon, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $8.39).

Book Description
An exploration of mankind’s greatest-ever ideas, from the author of the bestselling Do You Think You’re Clever?

Where would humanity be now without fire, vaccinations, farming … or wine? A great idea is one that has changed the path of human civilisation. But which is the greatest of them all? John Farndon, author of the bestselling Do You Think You’re Clever?, has set out to find the answer.

A distinguished panel of experts agreed on a list of 50 ideas, and each chapter of The World’s Greatest Idea sees Farndon explore the argument for a different one. The candidates are intriguingly varied: Electricity grids enable us to power our cities, but then sewers allowed those cities to grow. Without the wheel, modern civilisation would be pretty much impossible, but take away Logic and we’d lose the essential structures for rational thought ... But then what would be the point of all of this without the idea of romance?

The World’s Greatest Idea is an enthralling voyage of discovery through the most powerful intellectual, social, scientific and creative brainwaves humans have ever had.

Solomon's Oak ($10.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Jo-Ann Mapson, is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
Solomon's Oak is the story of three people who have suffered losses that changed their lives forever. Glory Solomon, a young widow, holds tight to her memories while she struggles to hold on to her Central California farm. She makes ends meet by hosting weddings in the chapel her husband had built under their two-hundred-year-old white oak tree, known locally as Solomon's Oak. Fourteen-year-old Juniper McGuire is the lone survivor of a family decimated by her sister's disappearance. She arrives on Glory's doorstep, pierced, tattooed, angry, and homeless. When Glory's husband Dan was alive, they took in foster children, but Juniper may be more than she can handle alone. Joseph Vigil is a former Albuquerque police officer and crime lab photographer who was shot during a meth lab bust that took the life of his best friend. Now disabled and in constant pain, he arrives in California to fulfill his dream of photographing the state's giant trees, including Solomon's Oak. In Jo-Ann Mapson's deeply felt, wise, and gritty novel, these three broken souls will find in each other an unexpected comfort, the bond of friendship, and a second chance to see the miracles of everyday life.

Just Big Enough (Little Critter Series) ($4.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Mercer Mayer, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (requires NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet or NOOK Kids for iPad).

Book Description
What's so great about being little when it means the big kids take your seat on the bus, eat all of the cupcakes, and won't let you play football? Little Critter wants to grow up -- and quickly. So he builds a growing machine and eats (almost) all of his vegetables, but doesn't grow an inch. What's a critter to do? Just when things seem hopeless, Little Critter's Grandpa shows him that being big doesn't always mean being the best.

Fans of all ages will adore Mercer Mayer's classic character as they learn and grow with him.

Grade Level: P and up