Today's Deals

Audible's bi-annual Buy One Get One Free Sale is back for Members. Pick two audiobooks from the list, click to checkout and you'll use a single credit. If you are out of credits, you should make sure to use the Extra Credits page, which lets you buy three credits at a 20% discount ($35.88; exp 8/31).

The Kindle Big Deal is back, with more than 500 books starting at 99 cents.

Another new promotion at Kobo, which they are calling their Back To School Offer: Get 75% off Youth Fiction with code percyartemis75 (exp Aug 20). At least one good deal on the list: The Last Guardian, by Eoin Colfer, for $2.99 with coupon (it appears that may be the only selection on the list for those in the UK).

The problem with the enhanced format for The End of the Affair has apparently been fixed at Audible. You should now be able to send it to your Kindle or download the best audio format and it is still free, if you haven't picked it up yet.

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Pharmacology ($1.99), by Christopher Herz.

Book Description
1993. San Francisco. The digital and pharmaceutical industries are booming. They're looking for the young, the hip, and those on the counterculture fringe to be both the face and consumer of their new world order. Recruited by an advertising agency focused on targeting a new drug to her own age demographic, Sarah Striker is grateful for the steady income, but begins to question the side effects of the products she's pushing.

Sarah begins publishing an underground 'zine to expose the secrets behind the pharmaceutical industry's aims. Fulfilled by her quest to spread the truth, her new life seems to be working out perfectly--until she realizes that she herself is perilously close to becoming a victim of this new corporate world.

A kinetic, hyper-stylized jolt of pure energy, Herz delivers a strong follow up to his debut novel, The Last Block in Harlem. Full of vibrant characters and razor-sharp dialogue, Pharmacology captures the voice of the Internet generation with style, heart, and soul.

Your Writing Coach 2nd ed: From Concept to Character, from Pitch to Publication ($1.70 / £1.09 UK), by Jurgen Wolff, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
Featuring exercises, quotes and encouragement Your Writing Coach,2nd edition shows you how to hook readers and keep them engaged and offers powerful tips on how to stay motivated and how to transform the inner critic into a constructive guide to get past the dreaded writer's bloc. Finally, this book offers updated advice on marketing yourself and your work, on ‘getting started’ and on the tremendous opportunities offered by the new media.

About the Author
Jurgen Wolff is a writer, teacher, and hypnotherapist. He is the author or co-author of five books, and the editor/publisher of BRAINSTORM, the creativity newsletter. In America, he was a Research Scientist for the American Institutes for Research, and a Senior Consultant to Learning Achievement Corporation.He has taught at the University of Southern California, been a Guest Lecturer at Le Conservatoire Europeen D'Ecriture Audiovisuelle, Paris, and a Tutor at the London School of Journalism.

The Edge of Grace ($3.99 Kindle, B&N), by Christa Allan, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
In a matter of seconds her entire world shifted...

An early morning call shatters Caryn Becker's world. Unable to cope with her brother’s news that he is gay, Caryn rejects him and disappears into her own turbulent life as a young widow and single mom. But when David is attacked and nearly killed, Caryn is forced to make hard choices about family, faith, and her own future; choices that take her to the very edge of grace.

Knitty Kitty and the Magic Ball of Yarn ($4.99 Kindle, $0.99 B&N), by Michael LeFort, Tamara Kowal and Katya Kotlyar, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (requires NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet or NOOK Kids for iPad; note that the Kindle edition works only on Kindle Fire, Kindle for Android, Kindle for iPad or with Kindle Cloud Reader).

Book Description
Knitty Kitty lives in the beautifully upholstered and colorful Town of Yarn. Knitty comes from a long line of adventurous kitties. One day, Knitty uncovers a family tradition – The Magic Ball of Yarn that inspires amazing adventures to fabulous places. Join Knitty Kitty on a journey from a very small town to a very exciting new destination…The Big City! Knitty meets a new friend and starts a new life as an explorer!

Kindle DX $269!

Today only, the Kindle DX, Free 3G, 9.7" E Ink Display is $110 off, for a total of $269! In addition, it looks like most of today's Gold Box deals are Kindle related (mostly Kindle Fire accessories), so you'll want to keep an eye out on those today, tool.

This model includes 3G cellular service at no charge, including web browsing (which has been limited to WiFi mode with the Kindle Touch and that trend will no doubt continue). The promotional price will continue until midnight in Seattle or while supplies last. The dropdown will let you try to order up to 999 of these at the special price, but I didn't actually place them in the cart to see if it would really work.

Description
With a large, easy-to-read 9.7" E Ink display that reads like real paper and adjustable font sizes Kindle DX is the ideal e-reader for Dad. With free 3G wireless (no monthly payments or annual contracts), Dad can shop, download, and read right out of the box--no need to worry about Wi-Fi connections, passwords, or internet charges.

High Contrast E Ink Pearl Screen: Our graphite Kindle DX display uses the latest generation E Ink Pearl technology with 50% better contrast for the clearest text and sharpest images

Beautiful Large Display: The 9.7" diagonal E Ink screen is ideal for a broad range of reading material, including graphic-rich books, PDFs, newspapers, magazines, and blogs

Read in Sunlight with No Glare: Unlike backlit computer or LCD screens, Kindle DX's display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare. Read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

Books In Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

Free 3G Wireless: No monthly payments, no annual contracts. Download books anywhere, anytime

Today's Deals

Over at O'Reilly Books, they are running a 50% off sale on their 5-star ebooks (all DRM-free). Enter coupon code WK5STAR (expires August 16, 2012) during checkout. Mostly technical/computer type books, there's also mathematics, home chemistry experiments and one on training your brain included (which is also half-price and DRM-free on Kindle, no coupon required)

Today's the last day to use the surrender75 (75% off selected Romance) and GBAug04Save70 (70% off Bestsellers, UK only) coupon codes at Kobo. A new code, worth 40% off select amazing debut novels, is debut40 (exp 8/13).

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is A Word Child ($1.99), by Iris Murdoch (Open Road).

Book Description
A brilliant but deeply flawed man struggles to earn absolution

Hilary Burde was a rising star in academia until a tragic accident plunged him and his mentor and rival, Gunnar Jopling, into two decades of depression and guilt. Hilary, unable to overcome his pain, abandoned his promising career for an unfulfilling job as a civil servant. But at age forty-one, Hilary crosses paths again with Gunnar—initiating a series of events that will change their lives forever.

Set against a richly drawn backdrop of post-war London, A Word Child is a gripping story of passion and the redemptive power of love.

Fold ($1.55 / £0.99 UK), by Tom Campbell, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Five friends. One year. All bets are off.

Reading, 2009. It may not be Vegas, but for Nick, Doug, Vijay, Alan and Simon, it’s as good as they’re going to get.

Each in their forties, and beset by anxieties, flaws and frustrations, they meet monthly in each other’s houses for a ’friendly’ game of poker, enabling Doug to show off his new-minted wealth, Simon to insist on serving only red wine and goats’ cheese and Nick - swimming in a cocktail of envy, fear, bravado and disappointment - to make increasingly desperate attempts to bring an end to his interminable losing streak.

While Vijay meticulously records every win and loss on his spreadsheet, and Alan frets about his propensity to break into sweat and his inability to get his wife pregnant, Nick becomes obsessed with the idea of engineering Doug’s downfall: Doug, who with his big house, his successful business and his appalling taste is both everything that Nick aspires to and resents. Convinced of the heroic nature of his task, he aims to triumph over Doug in poker, as well as in life, and in doing so he comes into troubling proximity to Sophia, Doug’s clever and beautiful wife ...

Spartacus: Swords and Ashes ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by J.M. Clements, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Spartacus is the hit TV show which combines blood-soaked action, exotic sexuality, villainy and heroism. This original novel from the world of Spartacus: Blood and Sand tells a brand new
story of blood, sex and politics set in the uncompromising, visceral world of the arena.

The gladiator Spartacus, the new Champion of Capua, fights atthe graveside of a rich man who was brutally murdered by his own slaves. Seeing an opportunity, ambitious lanista Quintus Batiatus plots to seize the dead man’s estate.

In the arena blood and death are primetime entertainment. But not all battles are fought upon the sands...

STAR FIGHTERS 1: Alien Attack ($3.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Max Chase, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.

Book Description
Peri is a first-year student at the IF Academy and has been selected for a rare unsupervised exercise in space, paired with Diesel, a half-Martian from the Academy. While performing a routine exercise, they witness Earth coming under bombardment from Xion spaceships and soon find themselves behind the controls of the Phoenix, the most advanced space vessel known to man. As the Solar System is torn apart by a war between the Xions and Meigwors, Peri and Diesel are drawn helplessly into the intergalactic conflict. Now they - along with stowaway girl Selene - must work together to find a way home.

Age Level: 7 and up

Two Free Audiobooks - Skulduggery Pleasant and Dead Men Kill

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.

Start off with Scepter of the Ancients ($7.99 Kindle; $16.95 Audible), the first title in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, narrated by Rupert Degas. If you've been following the blog for a while, you have the ebook in your library, as it was free in all formats last October.

Book Description
Meet Skulduggery Pleasant

• Ace Detective
• Snappy Dresser
• Razor–tongued Wit
• Crackerjack Sorcerer
and
• Walking, Talking, Fire-throwing Skeleton

—as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.

These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil.

The end of the world?

Over his dead body.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Dead Men Kill ($0.00 Kindle $2.95 Audible), by L. Ron Hubbard, narrated by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast, is the second selection for this week.

Book Description
When several of the city's most respected citizens are inexplicably killed by what appear to be zombies, all Detective Terry Lane has to go on is a blue-grey glove, a Haitian pharmacy bill for some very unusual drugs, and a death threat from a mysterious stranger.

Matters are soon complicated when a beautiful nightclub singer shows up, claiming to have information that could solve the case. But her motives are plainly suspect. Against his better judgement, Terry investigates her lead, only to find himself sealed in a coffin en route to the next zombie murder - his own.

First published in 1934 in Thrilling Detective magazine, Hubbard's rollicking horror yarn just happens to tap into the current craze for zombies. Heroic Det. Sgt. Terrence "Terry" Lane looks into a deeply disturbing series of murders of powerful businessmen. Dawn Drayden, a pretty Club Haitian entertainer, confirms Lane's hunch that the killers are dead men "coming back from the grave and killing their employers." The zombie mastermind is the nefarious Dr. Leroux, originally of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, aka Loup-garou (or human hyena).

In the end, Drayden and Lane must face heart-pounding dangers once Dr. Leroux's secrets are revealed. This fun, campy novella reflects a contemporary revenge vibe felt by those who wouldn't mind dispatching a few zombies to punish criminally inclined businessmen.

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!

Goodbye Kindle Touch?

If you've been thinking about buying a Kindle Touch, you may have waited too long. Specifically, the 3G edition is now marked as Currently unavailable, which usually indicates a Kindle model has been removed as an active item (although you can still buy some refurbished units, at least, for now). The WiFi only model appears to still be available, with Ads, but is on a 8-9 day backorder (the no-Ads model is gone and no refurbs appear to be available, either).

Rumors have been swirling for some time of a new Kindle model, perhaps in reaction to the nook Glow (which I've seen comments on returns and hassles with the lighting - I'm not surprised, as my Sony with edge lighting wasn't that great, either and it caused glare on the eInk screen due to the added glass layer). In the Kindle Store, you'll see the new picture above, which claims the Kindle family has only two entries now - the low end Kindle and the high end Kindle Fire. Left out are the Kindle Keyboard 3G and Kindle DX 3G, both of which are still available. I expect that sometime this month, that family will grow again, with a new eInk Kindle that is WiFi only and has some type of side-lighting (Amazon often reacts to a perceived lack of product features, even if it does mean the new model is less desirable by current customers, pandering to press reviews, rather than it's customers). I do know one thing - it most likely won't be called the "Kindle Glow", not only because the NOOK already is using Glow in it's name, but also because there is an outdoor space heater of that name (which, I suppose, you could use to read your current Kindle while staying warm outside, at night).

There are also rumors of a new, larger Kindle Fire. I'd love to see it; I already see that Amazon now allows us to view their new Kindle Textbooks on Android, not just on Apple's proprietary devices. Now, we just need to be able to view our Enhanced Content Kindle Books, complete with the embedded music and videos, on our Fires and I'll have one less reason to upgrade to Apple's new iPad. Hopefully, too, Amazon will add both a camera and the ability to add an SD/microSD card to their new tablet - the 8GB Fire is extremely limited (especially if you have a large library, as it wastes space on thumbnail cover images for every book in your library, space you can't get back if you keep any Kindle books on it). It would put them one step up on features vs. the iPad, but just keep them even with all the other Android Tablets out there (most of which are far superior to Amazon's device, but lack the integration with Amazon's content, something the iPad has been catching up on, since you can now watch Amazon Instant Videos on it).

I do know that one of Amazon's cover vendors, M-Edge, is in on the secret - they have already announced the new Kindle on their Facebook page (if it hasn't been pulled) and are running a sign-up list for the date the new covers are available for sale. Their contest ends TODAY, so the release must be imminent.

Did you know a new Kindle device is coming soon? What do you think will be the new, prime feature?

Answer in the comment box below for a chance to win any one FREE product from our website! Contest ends Thursday the 9th 5 pm EST.

Also, sign up here to be notified when your favorite M-Edge accessories hit the market:
http://app.medgestore.com/promos/newamazondevices.psp

Update: One rumor mentions that the current $47.40 price on the Kindle (see coupon code on right sidebar) will end on Aug 15. It's very unlikely that a new Kindle model will ship before then and we may even see the 16th as the date that pre-orders begin. It will be a long time without a touch model available, but the mini-Kindle will fill the void for those that don't want to step all the way up to a Kindle Keyboard or who don't want the heavier and less reading-friendly Kindle Fire tablet.