Today's Deals

If you have little ones running around underfoot and a qualifying Android device or tablet (which oddly excludes the newly released Kindle Fire, currently), you might want to check out the sale on the Little Critter series of interactive storybooks by Oceanhouse Media, currently on sale for 99 cents apiece (excluding the bundled of 10 at the end of the search results).

Some B&N stores are offering a $10 gift card bonus with any $75 gift card purchase (I don't see details online, so I'd call first to see if your store offers these). You should be able to use them for ebooks, in the cafe, or on their new online only offer of a Nook Tablet and a huge bundle of Reader's Digest Subscriptions and eBooks for $229 (you can't get the bundle except with the tablet purchase and the subscriptions are non-refundable, but end after a year). The bundle includes a "12 month NOOK subscription to Reader's Digest, Taste of Home, Birds and Blooms, Healthy Cooking, and Simple and Delicious as well as the following eBooks and other digital content: Comfort Food Diet: Family Classic, Taste of Home Everyday Slow Cooker, Taste of Home Most Requested Recipes, Taste of Home Holiday Celebrations, Taste of Home Desserts, Humor in Uniform, Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things, Laughter, The Best Medicine: Those Lovable Pets, Laughter Really is The Best Medicine, and The Most Scenic Drives in America (Enhanced)."

You can get five of Barbara Cartland's backlist romances free over at AllRomance. Their books are DRM-free, so grab the format of your choice and convert as needed in the future or, go thru the purchase twice and download a couple of formats, as downloading does lock in the format. Do be sure to download, though, as they don't guarantee access in the future (authors and publishers can pull books and they'll be in your library, but without any download links; I have one from this author with this exact problem).

There's a good deal for Gamers at Amazon: The 13-game Over-the-Top Topware Bundle for $14.99. That's about the price of just two of the games standalone.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Two Best-Selling Romantic Suspense Series; all four books encompassing best-selling author Barbara Freethy's Sanders Brothers and Deception series are $1.99 each. That's less than I generally see the (worn) paperbacks selling for at our local used book store. These have been published in print by Onyx and Signet, but these ebooks editions are self-published (so, the author is getting a decent percentage of the sale, unlike print or used copies, and Penguin, the owner of both of those imprints, didn't get to set the price).

Silent Run (Sanders Brothers #1)

An emotionally compelling, romantic and suspenseful story ...

A woman wakes in a hospital bed with no idea of who she is. Her memory is gone, her baby missing. All she has is the gripping certainty that she is in mortal danger. Then a handsome, angry stranger barges in and makes a terrible accusation. He was her lover--and her child's father--until she disappeared seven months ago.

Jake Sanders swore he'd never forgive Sarah Tucker, but he isn't about to let her get away again--especially not with his daughter still missing. If he has any chance of recovering his baby, he must help the woman who betrayed him retrieve the pieces of her shattered memory--without letting his feelings get in the way.

Haunted by troubling flashes of memory, Sarah begins to realize she's lived a life of lies. But what is the truth? And where is her baby?

Silent Fall (Sanders Brothers #2)

Dylan Sanders is attending a wedding in the mountains when his trip takes a terrible turn. A former lover appears out of nowhere, demands a private conversation, and lures him into the woods, then leaves him there, drugged and disoriented. The next morning, the woman has disappeared, and Dylan is accused of her murder.

Catherine Hilliard, a beautiful psychic haunted by her own dark past, is reluctant to offer up her cryptic visions to help skeptical Dylan figure out what's going on, but she can't leave her best friend's brother-in-law on his own ... or deny the powerful, inexplicable connection between them.

It soon becomes clear that a wily and ruthless mastermind has targeted both of them, with a motive that's very personal. Soon their race to expose the truth is no longer about staying out of jail but about staying alive ...

Taken (Deception Series #1)

Kayla Sheridan had longed for love, marriage and a family. Now, after a miraculous whirlwind courtship with the man of her dreams, she is his wife. But on their wedding night, he vanishes, leaving Kayla with the bitter realization that her desire has made her an easy mark for deception.

Nick Granville has an ingrained sense of honor and an intense desire to succeed in building the world's most challenging high-tech bridges. But when he crosses paths with a ruthless con man, he's robbed of everything he values, including his identity. With nothing left to lose, he'll risk any danger to clear his name and reclaim his life.

Thrown together by fate, Kayla and Nick embark on a desperate journey toward the truth -- to uncover the mysterious motives of an ingenious and seductive stranger who boasts he can't be caught ... and to reveal the shocking secrets of their own shattered pasts.

Played (Deception Series, #2)

Christina Alberti, an expert art historian, has run from the shadows of her past, hiding the truth and building her name as a reputable jewelry specialist at the Barclay Auction House. Everything is perfect until a legendary and priceless diamond makes her a target for a diabolically charming con man determined to pull off the heist of the century at her expense.

FBI Agent J.T. McIntyre is determined to catch the thief who conned his father and destroyed his family. He wants revenge as much as he wants justice, and he won't let anyone stand in his way, not even Christina, whose secrets make him wonder just which side she is on.

When the diamond goes missing, the game turns deadly. Christina and J.T. take a dangerous journey deep into a world of greed and desire, secrets and seduction -- until there's no betrayal left hidden and nowhere the shocking truth can hide.

The Pilo Family Circus ($1.58 / £0.99 UK), by Will Elliot, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
“You have two days to pass your audition. You better pass it, feller. You’re joining the circus. Ain’t that the best news you ever got?” Delivered by a trio of psychotic clowns, this ultimatum plunges Jamie into the horrific alternate universe that is the centuries-old Pilo Family Circus, a borderline world between Hell and Earth from which humankind’s greatest tragedies have been perpetrated. Yet in this place—peopled by the gruesome, grotesque, and monstrous—where violence and savagery are the norm, Jamie finds that his worst enemy is himself. When he applies the white face paint, he is transformed into JJ, the most vicious clown of all. And JJ wants Jamie dead! Echoes of Lovecraft, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and early Stephen King resound through the pages of this magical, gleefully macabre work nominated as Best Novel by the International Horror Guild.

To The Moon and Back ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Jill Mansell, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
The hardest part of love is moving on...

It's been a year since Ellie Kendall's husband, Jamie, was killed in an accident, but she's still haunted by his memory. In fact, she finds herself talking to him regularly. At the urging of Jamie's successful actor father Tony, Ellie moves to London's glamorous Primrose Hill, where nobody knows her past...

But even in her new home-and with her hardworking new boss, Zack McLaren; and Jamie's best friend Todd to distract her-Ellie can't seem to leave Jamie behind. Will Ellie stay stuck in the past? Or will she realize the man of her dreams is flesh and blood-and right in front of her eyes...

Discover why readers across the globe can't get enough of Jill Mansell's poignant, funny love stories. You'll laugh and cry-at the same time!

Republic, Lostt: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It ($3.99 Kindle, B&N), by Lawrence Lessig, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
In an era when special interests funnel huge amounts of money into our government-driven by shifts in campaign-finance rules and brought to new levels by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission-trust in our government has reached an all-time low. More than ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress, and that business interests wield control over our legislature.

With heartfelt urgency and a keen desire for righting wrongs, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig takes a clear-eyed look at how we arrived at this crisis: how fundamentally good people, with good intentions, have allowed our democracy to be co-opted by outside interests, and how this exploitation has become entrenched in the system. Rejecting simple labels and reductive logic-and instead using examples that resonate as powerfully on the Right as on the Left-Lessig seeks out the root causes of our situation. He plumbs the issues of campaign financing and corporate lobbying, revealing the human faces and follies that have allowed corruption to take such a foothold in our system. He puts the issues in terms that nonwonks can understand, using real-world analogies and real human stories. And ultimately he calls for widespread mobilization and a new Constitutional Convention, presenting achievable solutions for regaining control of our corrupted-but redeemable-representational system. In this way, Lessig plots a roadmap for returning our republic to its intended greatness.

While America may be divided, Lessig vividly champions the idea that we can succeed if we accept that corruption is our common enemy and that we must find a way to fight against it. In REPUBLIC, LOST, he not only makes this need palpable and clear-he gives us the practical and intellectual tools to do something about it.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe ($1.99), by Roland Smith. Looks like a cute book and kids should enjoy it (so long as you don't tell them they are learning a history lesson at the same time).

Book Description
Born the runt of his litter and gambled away to a rusty old riverman, the Newfoundland pup Seaman doesn’t imagine his life will be marked by any kind of glory--beyond chasing down rats. But when he meets Captain Meriwether Lewis, Seaman finds himself on a path that will make history. Lewis is just setting off on his landmark search for the Northwest Passage, and he takes Seaman along. Sharing the curiosity and strength of spirit of his new master, Seaman proves himself a valuable companion at every turn. Part history, part science--and adventure through and through--The Captain’s Dog is the carefully researched, thrilling tale of America’s greatest journey of discovery, as seen through the keen, compassionate eyes of a remarkable dog.

Grade Level: 4 and up

James Herbert Sale for Kindle UK

Another flash sale on James Herbert's books (Main/UK) in the Kindle store, only for UK customers (one of which is also marked down for UK customers at Kobo). Besides the bargains below, many are priced at $4.79 Main / £2.99 UK.

Ash ($0.32 Main / £0.20 UK)

David Ash – detective of the paranormal – is sent to the mysterious Comraich Castle, secluded deep in the Scottish countryside, to investigate a strange, high-profile case: a man has been found crucified – in a room that was locked. The reports suggest that the cliff-top castle is being haunted . . .

Who – or what – is the reclusive hooded figure that Ash has seen from the window walking across the courtyard in the dead of night?
What are the strange, animal-like sounds that come from the surrounding woods?
And why are the castle’s inhabitants so reluctant to talk about what they have seen?

. . . what Ash eventually discovers is truly shocking.

Featuring one of Herbert’s best-loved characters, first encountered in The Ghosts of Sleath and Haunted, Ash is a ghost story like no other, that will chill you to the marrow . . .

Domain ($1.52 Main / £0.95 UK)

The long-dreaded nuclear conflict. The city torn apart, shattered, its people destroyed or mutilated beyond hope. For just a few, survival is possible only beneath the wrecked streets - if there is time to avoid the slow-descending poisonous ashes. But below, the rats, demonic offspring of their irradiated forebears, are waiting. They know that Man is weakened, become frail. Has become their prey.... Remember with fear

The Rats ($1.58 Main / £0.99 UK)

It was only when the bones of the first devoured victims were discovered that the true nature and power of these swarming black creatures with their razor sharp teeth and the taste for human blood began to be realised by a panic-stricken city. For millions of years man and rats had been natural enemies. But now for the first time – suddenly, shockingly, horribly – the balance of power had shifted…

Creed ($1.52 Main / £0.95 UK)

Sometimes horror is in the mind. And sometimes it's real. Telling the difference isn't always easy. It wasn't for Joe Creed. He'd just photographed the unreal. Now he had to pay the price. Because he always thought that demons were just a joke.

But the joke was on him.

And it wasn't very funny. It was deadly . . .

Lair ($1.10 Main / £0.69 UK; £1.00 Kobo)

REMEMBER WITH FEAR . . . The mutant white rat had grown and mated, creating offspring in its own image. They dominated the others, the dark-furred ones, who foraged for food and brought it back to The Lair. Now the dark rats were restless, tormented by a craving they could not satisfy. But the white slug-like thing that ruled them knew. Its two heads weaved to and fro and a stickiness drooled from its mouth as it remembered the taste of human flesh . .

Shrine ($1.58 Main / £0.99 UK)

A little girl called Alice. A deaf-mute. A vision. A lady in shimmering white who says she is the immaculate conception. And Alice can suddenly hear and speak, and she can perform miracles. Soon the site of the visitation, beneath an ancient oak tree, has become a shrine, a holy place for thousands of pilgrims. But Alice is no longer the guileless child overwhelmed by her new saintliness. She has become the agent of something corrupt, a vile force that is centuries old. Innocence and evil have become one. Remember with fear...

$5 Instant Amazon MP3 Credit (KSO)

This offer for those with a Kindle Fire with Special Offers only. On your Kindle Fire with Special Offers (and presumably on the HD, which I don't have yet, since I ordered the large memory size), swipe the top menu to the left until you see Offers, then press/click in order to see the current offers. At the bottom, you should see the offer to Get $5 to spend on Digital Music at Amazon. Click on the offer, then on the orange button to add the credit directly to your account. It's nearly instant and the next screen offers to take you to Amazon so you can spend that credit away!

Credit must be used by Sept 24.

Today's Deals

The new Kindle Fire (2nd Gen) is officially released today and mine has arrived. I'll have some more thoughts on it later. The 7" Kindle Fire HD was also released today, but those who, like me, held out for the 32MB edition are going to have to wait until October 25 to see one. This is the only model that has a delayed release for the increased memory size; all other models will release with the basic memory size and the doubled memory option on the same day.

You should be seeing discounts on HarperCollins titles at Amazon (in addition to BooksOnBoard, which is continuing their 25% off sale for those titles this week). For Canadians (but not those in the US), Penguin titles seem to now be getting a discount. Penguin is a big holdout (and the only one still fighting Agency pricing in the EU), so I don't expect many of the books on my wishlist to start dropping anytime soon, here.


Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich ($1.99), by William Shirer. I first read this in grade school (no, not assigned reading) and my copy is worn out.

Book Description
When the Third Reich fell, it fell swiftly. The Nazis had little time to cover up their memos, their letters, or their diaries. William L. Shirer’s definitive book on the Third Reich uses these unique sources. Combined with his personal experience with the Nazis, living through the war as an international correspondent, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich not only earned Shirer a National Book Award but is recognized as one of the most important and authoritative books about the Third Reich and Nazi Germany ever written. The diaries of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels as well as evidence and other testimony gained at the Nuremberg Trials could not have found more artful hands.

Shirer gives a clear, detailed and well-documented account of how it was that Adolf Hitler almost succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich has become one of the most authoritative books on one of mankind’s darkest hours. Shirer focuses on 1933 to 1945 in clear detail. Here is a worldwide bestseller that also tells the true story of the Holocaust, often in the words of the men who helped plan and conduct it. It is a classic by any measure.

The book has been translated into twelve languages and was adapted as a television miniseries, broadcast by ABC in 1968. This first ever e-book edition is published on the 50th anniversary of this iconic work.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Shirer was originally a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and was the first journalist hired by Edward R. Murrow for what would become a team of journalists for CBS radio. Shirer distinguished himself and quickly became known for his broadcasts from Berlin, accounting the rise of the Nazi dictatorship through the first year of World War II. Shirer was the first of ""Edward R. Murrow's Boys""--broadcast journalists--who provided news coverage during World War II and afterward. It was Shirer who broadcast the first uncensored eyewitness account of the annexation of Austria. Shirer is best known for his books The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which has seen millions of copies in print and is considered a seminal work on the Nazi party and the war, as well as his book Berlin Diary.

The Psychic Tourist: A Voyage into the Curious World of Predicting the Future ($1.58 / £0.99 UK), by William Little, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Can people really see into the future? Can someone's life be predicted? Are physicists on the verge of discovering the first time machine? And why does a Nobel prize-winning scientist believe that humans are capable of sensing the future?

Following a prediction of his sister's death, William Little sets out to find the truth about the power of fortune telling and prophecy. On a journey that takes him to a witches' coven in a haunted wood, on the hunt for murderers with psychic detectives and to the doorsteps of the world s most powerful and revered psychics, William Little goes on a desperate quest to find out whether people can see into the future - or if the many millions who consult horoscopes, watch TV psychics, or who read Nostradamus are simply being sold a lie. Through a rollercoaster ride of mystics, mishaps and mayhem, he discovers uncomfortable facts that make him reassess his beliefs. In a book that answers the unanswerable about what science, psychics, and crystal balls can reveal about tomorrow, William Little lifts the lid on the most sought-after destination of them all - the future.

Includes interviews with US psychic Sylvia Browne, CIA psychic spy Joseph McMoneagale, Sally Morgan, Derren Brown, Richard Dawkins, Channel Five's Psychic Challenge winner Diane Lazarus, experts such as Professor Brian Josephson and Dr Richard Wiseman and Allison Dubois, whose life was the basis for the NBC and BBC programme Medium.

Winter's Tale ($8.80 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Mark Helprin, is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake--orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.

Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the love between Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young girl, who is dying.

Peter Lake, a simple, uneducated man, because of a love that, at first he does not fully understand, is driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and beseiged by unprecedented winters, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature.

The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America ($9.50 Kindle, $3.99 B&N), by Tom A. Coburn, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.

Book Description
In a nation whose debt has outgrown the size of its entire economy, the greatest threat comes not from any foreign force but from Washington politicians who refuse to relinquish the intoxicating power to borrow and spend. Senator Tom Coburn reveals the fascinating, maddening story of how we got to this point of fiscal crisis-and how we can escape.

Long before America's recent economic downturn, beltway politicians knew the U.S. was going bankrupt. Yet even after several so-called "change" elections, the government has continued its wasteful ways in the face of imminent danger. With passion and clarity, Coburn explains why Washington resists change so fiercely and offers controversial yet commonsense solutions to secure the nation's future.

At a time when millions of Americans are speculating about what is broken in Washington, The Debt Bomb is a candid, thoughtful, non-partisan expose of the real problems inside our government. Coburn challenges the conventional wisdom that blames lobbyists, gridlock, and obstructionism, and places the responsibility squarely where it belongs: on members of Congress in both parties who won't let go of the perks of power to serve the true interests of the nation-unless enough citizens take bold steps to demand action.

"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." -John Adams

Throughout a distinguished career as a business owner, physician, and U.S. senator, Tom Coburn has watched his beloved republic careen down a suicidal path. Today, the nation stands on the precipice of financial ruin, a disaster far more dangerous to our safety than any terrorist threats we face. Yet Coburn believes there is still hope-if enough Americans are willing to shake the corridors of Washington and demand action.

With an insider's keen eye and a caregiver's deft touch, Coburn diagnoses the mess that career politicians have made of things while misusing their sacred charge to govern.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Ingrid Law's Newbery Honor Book, Savvy ($2.99).

Book Description
Thirteen is when a Beaumont’s savvy hits—and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, Mibs Beaumont is eager to see what she gets. But just before the big day, Poppa is in a terrible accident. And now all Mibs wants is a savvy that will save him. In fact, Mibs is so sure she’ll get a powerful savvy that she sneaks a ride to the hospital on a rickety bus with her sibling and the preacher’s kids in tow. After this extraordinary adventure—full of talking tattoos and a kidnapping—not a soul on board will ever be the same.

Grade Level: 4 and up

Kindle Keyboard and Touch Updates

If you've been reading a while, you have probably seen me mention the "reboot bug" on the Kindle Keyboards (Kindle3) that occurs when your archives get "too large". If you've picked up larges numbers of the free books on Kindle, you may have experienced it for yourself: when wireless is on, the Kindle will reboot at the end of it's "sync" cycle; apparently in an attempt to allocate more space to hold the list of archived books in memory. A second part of the same bug (since it never gets enough space to hold the entire list) is that the archive is truncated, only showing roughly the first 3200-2500 items (including personal docs and audible books). This is an issue on most of the Kindle devices and apps, in fact, and is related to a choice the developers made when designing it (after all, "no one" would ever have over 3,000 books, right?).

On the Kindle Touch, I haven't seen the rebooting issue (although you still can't see the entire archive), but it has a more insidious issue: if your archives are extremely large, the device will brick when wireless is left on (the magic number seems to be around 16,000 items or so). When this happens, the only choice has been to return the unit to Amazon and get a new one (and keep wireless off at all times).

Amazon has (finally) released an update for both of these devices that should both cure the reboot/bricking issues and change the way your archive is loaded: the newest 4,000 or so items are loaded into the device's archive list, rather than the oldest. Sadly, you still can't sort the archive by date (a feature that the original Kindle had and which I wish the would bring back, as it was extremely useful for families that have more than one Kindle on their account) and are forced to page thru the list sorted by author or title (doing a search is still very slow, as there are so many items to check), which means you have to know someone bought a new book or a pre-order was delivered or you'll never find it. Hopefully they'll update the Kindle Apps with this new ordering (but older Kindles are out of luck - owners of a K2, DX and K1 will have to deal with the problems of having a large archive or just keep wireless off).

The updates also have a number of other features, including a long awaited implementation of parental controls on the Kindle Keyboard (but not Touch), letting you block kids (or irresponsible adults) from using the web browser, Kindle store and/or archives. Blocking the archives should also speed the device up even more, since it won't download the list into memory and index it.

KF8 support has been added to both devices with this update (not that it gives you much other than bloated file sizes, for most books; others will look worse, if the custom fonts included are not as well optimized as the built-in Kindle fonts). The Touch received KF8 with the 5.1 update (which had never downloaded to my device) and 5.1.2 should have the bricking and archive fix (you have to install 5.1 first). The only possibly exciting option I see for KF8 (for the reader; not for those who insist Amazon has to 'do EPUB' to 'survive', an argument that is hard to make when Amazon dominates the ebook market) is Pan and Zoom for Images and Tables: once you click on a table or image, you can use the 5-way controller to move around in the image/table and click again to choose the viewing size.

For the Kindle Keyboard only, you also get support for Children's Picture Books with Kindle Text Pop-Up and Panel View has been added for Kindle Comic Books. Last, some basic support for WhisperSync for Voice has been added to the Kindle Keyboard. If you listen to the audiobook on the K3, then Sync (this is an important step), then all other devices will be able to "GoTo" the Last Page Read and sync to the last part of the book listened to. The audible app on the K3 doesn't have a sync feature though, so it's pretty much a one-way update to pick up reading where you left off listening. Hopefully we'll see the audiobook app on the new Kindle Fires be able to pick up where you left off reading in the ebook edition.

One nice touch - the "Turn Wireless Off/On" menu choice remains on both devices (for the baby Kindle, you now have to go into the Settings menu and choose Airplane Mode to turn off WiFi, which a lot of people do to extend their battery life). Also, for those using Text-to-Speech, this feature still works on both devices.

Get the firmware updates for the Kindle Keyboard or the firmware updates for the Kindle Touch from the Amazon site and follow the instructions there to transfer them to your Kindle via USB. The updates will probably download automatically, eventually, but those who have a reboot problem or are close to the bricking number should not attempt to get the update wirelessly.

The rebooting issue seems to be entirely fixed - I've had my Kindle K's wireless on for several hours now and it hasn't rebooted once. One odd side effect: on my Kindle with Special Offers, it no longer shows the Special Offers menu, after I did a System Reset (the option originally moved to just below the Archive menu option, but is now missing entirely). I also now have the original screensavers; normally this would be a $20 option, to remove the offers, so some may think this is a major improvement. But, with Special Offers starting back up again, I want them on my Kindle, so I don't miss out on any of them.