Today's Deals

Sony has a special offer going this month, for those who buy 6 or more ebooks in their store and who opt in for their newsletter before the end of the month, they'll give you a promotion code for a free book (from a limited selection) in the newsletter next month. There are a few interesting titles in the mix and you don't have to buy high priced book (but free books are excluded, of course). It's not a huge incentive, but a decent reward if you already buy in the Sony store.

If you have little ones and a Kindle Fire or other Android device, don't miss today's free Android App, Alphabet Car, an alphabet and spelling game.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City ($1.99), by Nelson Johnson and Terence Winter.

Book Description
Providing the inspiration and source material for the upcoming HBO series produced by Academy Award–winning director Martin Scorsese and Emmy Award–winning screenwriter Terence Winter, this riveting and wide-reaching history explores the sordid past of Atlantic City—forever a freewheeling town long-dedicated to the fast buck—from the city's heyday as a Prohibition-era mecca of lawlessness to its rebirth as a legitimate casino resort in the modern era. A colorful cast of powerful characters, led by “Commodore” Kuehnle and “Nucky” Johnson, populates this stranger-than-fiction account of corrupt politics and the toxic power structure that grew out of guile, finesse, and extortion. Atlantic City's shadowy past—through its rise, fall, and rebirth—is given new light in this revealing, and often appalling, study of legislative abuse and organized crime.

Fracture ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Megan Miranda, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $8.54).

Book Description
By the time seventeen-year-old Delaney Maxwell is pulled out of the icy waters of a frozen lake, her heart has stopped beating. She is in a coma and officially dead. But Delaney pulls through. How? Doctors are mystified. Outwardly she has completely recovered. But Delaney knows something is very wrong. Pulled by sensations she can't control, she finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her brain predicting death or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who lost his whole family in a car accident and emerged from a coma with the same powers as Delaney. At last she's found a kindred spirit who'll understand what she's going through. But Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature - or something much more frightening?

Death of a Kitchen Diva ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the first novel in the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery series by Lee Hollis, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Welcome to Bar Harbor, Maine, one of New England's most idyllic coastal towns. But as new food writer Hayley Powell is about to find out, the occasional murder can take a bite out of seaside bliss. . .

Single mom Hayley Powell is barely keeping her leaking roof over her head when her boss at the Island Times gives her a new assignment--taking over the paper's food column. Hayley's not sure she has the chops--she's an office manager, not a writer, even if her friends clamor for her mouth-watering potluck dishes. But the extra income is tempting, and Hayley's chatty first column is suddenly on everyone's menu--with one exception.

When rival food writer Karen Appelbaum is found face-down dead in a bowl of Hayley's creamy clam chowder, all signs point to Hayley. To clear her name, she'll have to enlist some help, including her BFFs, a perpetually pregnant lobster woman, and a glamorous real estate agent. As she whips up a list of suspects, Hayley discovers a juicy secret about the victim--and finds herself in a dangerous mix with a cold-blooded killer.

Includes seven delectable recipes from Hayley's kitchen!

The Affluent Society ($9.39 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by John Kenneth Galbraith, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.

Book Description
Galbraith's classic on the "economics of abundance" is, in the words of the New York Times, "a compelling challenge to conventional thought." With customary clarity, eloquence, and humor, Galbraith cuts to the heart of what economic security means (and doesn't mean) in today's world and lays bare the hazards of individual and societal complacence about economic inequity. While "affluent society" and "conventional wisdom" (first used in this book) have entered the vernacular, the message of the book has not been so widely embraced--reason enough to rediscover The Affluent Society.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Hush Little Baby ($1.99), by Sylvia Long. There are two editions and this is the older one, which should work on all Kindles, although it is optimized for larger screens; the second and much newer edition is for Kindle Fire and selected apps only.

Book Description
Bedtime is a special ritual for parents and children. Lullabies often play an important role. This best-selling version of the beloved lullaby Hush Little Baby is now available in a sturdy board book making it perfect for sharing with the youngest children.

Grade Level: P and up

Today's Deals

Over at Kobo, it looks like WANTEDMAN30 is working for most titles, not just the Jack Reacher title (although it may only work for some regions, still).

Tantor Media has a number of romances in their current $6.99 download sale, along with a nice selection of SciFi, Thrillers and even some non-fiction, for those that enjoy listening to audiobooks.

For those in the UK, Amazon has a Grisly Reads for under £2 sale to get you ready for Halloween. Choose your fright from gritty, scary or horrid on the Grisly Meter.

Today is the last day to take advantage of this KSO deal:

• Get a Select Kindle Book for $1

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is For the King's Favor ($1.99), the third title in the William Marshal historical fiction series by Elizabeth Chadwick, which was also released under the title "The Time of Singing" in other markets. This was briefly free for part of one day in early 2011, apparently as part of a pricing error. If you missed it then, this is a good price to pick it up, as her books aren't often on sale and seldom at a lower price.

Book Description
A Bittersweet Tale of Love, Loss, and the Power of Royalty

When Roger Bigod arrives at King Henry II's court to settle a bitter inheritance dispute, he becomes enchanted with Ida de Tosney, young mistress to the powerful king. A victim of Henry's seduction and the mother of his son, Ida sees in Roger a chance to begin a new life. But Ida pays an agonizing price when she leaves the king, and as Roger's importance grows and he gains an earldom, their marriage comes under increasing strain. Based on the true story of a royal mistress and the young lord she chose to marry, For the King's Favor is Elizabeth Chadwick at her best.

In the Land of the Long White Cloud ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Sarah Lark and D.W. Lovett (Translator), is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99/KLL eligible). This selection is also historical fiction, but in a completely different setting; it's an Amazon exclusive translation from their AmazonCrossing imprint.

Book Description
Helen Davenport, governess for a wealthy London household, longs for a family of her own—but nearing her late twenties, she knows her prospects are dim. Then she spots an advertisement seeking young women to marry New Zealand’s honorable bachelors and begins an affectionate correspondence with a gentleman farmer. When her church offers to pay her travels under an unusual arrangement, she jumps at the opportunity.

Meanwhile, not far away in Wales, beautiful and daring Gwyneira Silkham, daughter of a wealthy sheep breeder, is bored with high society. But when a mysterious New Zealand baron deals her father an unlucky blackjack hand, Gwyn’s hand in marriage is suddenly on the table. Her family is outraged, but Gwyn is thrilled to escape the life laid out for her.

The two women meet on the ship to Christchurch—Helen traveling in steerage, Gwyn first class—and become unlikely friends. When their new husbands turn out to be very different than expected, the women must help one another find the life—and love—they’d hoped for.

Set against the backdrop of colonial nineteenth-century New Zealand, In the Land of the Long White Cloud is a soaring saga of friendship, romance, and unforgettable adventure.

The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved ($4.99 Kindle, B&N), by Jonathan Fenby, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Rather than historical fiction, B&N has chosen actual history for their selection today. It's a bit more than their usual choices, but the list price on this one is $33. If you have a history buff on your shopping list, don't forget that you can set it up as a gift and have it delivered at the time of your choosing.

Book Description
No leader of modern times was more uniquely patriotic than Charles de Gaulle. As founder and first president of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle saw himself as “carrying France on [his] shoulders.” In his twenties, he fought for France in the trenches and at the epic battle of Verdun. In the 1930s, he waged a lonely battle to enable France to better resist Hitler’s Germany. Thereafter, he twice rescued the nation from defeat and decline by extraordinary displays of leadership, political acumen, daring, and bluff, heading off civil war and leaving a heritage adopted by his successors of right and left. Le Général, as he became known from 1940 on, appeared as if he was carved from a single monumental block, but was in fact extremely complex, a man with deep personal feelings and recurrent mood swings, devoted to his family and often seeking reassurance from those around him. This is a magisterial, sweeping biography of one of the great leaders of the twentieth century and of the country with which he so identified himself. Written with terrific verve, narrative skill, and rigorous detail, the first major work on de Gaulle in fifteen years brings alive as never before the private man as well as the public leader through exhaustive research and analysis.

Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America ($13.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Allen C. Guelzo, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012. This has a publisher set price from Simon and Schuster, so it may be price matched on Kindle later today (and probably should be already).

Book Description
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history.

What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country's most formidable politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. Lincoln challenged Douglas directly in one of his greatest speeches -- "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- and confronted Douglas on the questions of slavery and the inviolability of the Union in seven fierce debates. As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation.

Of course, the great issue between Lincoln and Douglas was slavery. Douglas was the champion of "popular sovereignty," of letting states and territories decide for themselves whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln drew a moral line, arguing that slavery was a violation both of natural law and of the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence. No majority could ever make slavery right, he argued.

Lincoln lost that Senate race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the "Little Giant," whom almost everyone thought was unbeatable. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas brings alive their debates and this whole year of campaigns and underscores their centrality in the greatest conflict in American history.

The encounters between Lincoln and Douglas engage a key question in American political life: What is democracy's purpose? Is it to satisfy the desires of the majority? Or is it to achieve a just and moral public order? These were the real questions in 1858 that led to the Civil War. They remain questions for Americans today.

I highly recommend today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal, Ashfall ($1.99), by Mike Mullin. Even if this title is "supposed to be" for younger teens, due to the age of the main character, it is really better suited for an older audience, in some ways, which is reflected in the description of the sequel. I received a review copy of this title and the sequel and stayed up all night reading them straight thru. The timing of the sale is pretty good, too, as Ashen Winter will be released in five days. There are only a very few bad reviews on this one (one hated the writing and that it wasn't Christian Fiction, one objected to the sexual content and violence), with the majority at 4 and 5 stars. Most parents will probably want to read this first for less mature teens (like in SM Stirling's Emberverse series, people trying to survive do awful things), but most should be able to relate well (and have been exposed to the baser nature of man via the news and internet).

Book Description
Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park don’t realize that the boiling hot springs and spraying geysers are caused by an underlying supervolcano, so large that the caldera can only be seen by plane or satellite. And by some scientific measurements, it could be overdue for an eruption.

For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to seach for his family and finds help in Darla, a travel partner he meets along the way. Together they must find the strength and skills to survive and outlast an epic disaster.

Grade Level: 6 and up

Kindle Lightning Deals

Starting at 5PM Eastern/2PM Pacific, Amazon will be having a different Kindle accessory (and one for the iPad) in the Lightning Deals every hour. There are clues as to which ones we'll see, but not the prices. If they are popular, or there aren't many available at the sale price, count on these selling out just after the hour changes each hour.

• 5PM/2PM - Reduce glare, fingerprints, and smudges on your Kindle Fire (not compatible with HD models)
• 6PM/3PM - Give your Kindle, Paperwhite, or Touch some international flare with this popular case from Verso
• 7PM/4PM - Save on a great Belkin standing case for your Kindle Fire HD 7"
• 8PM/5PM - Save on a genuine leather case for your Kindle Fire (not for HD)
• 9PM/6PM - Great deal on highly reviewed iPad stand - great for gifting!

Today's Deals

Edit to add: Sorry for the earlier partial Post. My computer is acting up and not all my edits were saved when I clicked to publish.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Breakdown ($1.99), by Katherine Amt Hanna. This is a genre I read more than most, so I'll definitely be checking out the sample on this one.

Book Description
An influenza plague decimates humanity...

A man loses his wife and baby daughter...

Six years after a pandemic devastates the human population, former rock star Chris Price finally makes it from New York to Britain to reunite with his brother. His passage leaves him scarred, in body and mind, by exposure to humankind at its most desperate and dangerous. But another ordeal awaits him beyond the urban ruins, in an idyllic country refuge where Chris meets a woman, Pauline, who is largely untouched by the world’s horrors. Together, Chris and Pauline undertake the most difficult facet of Chris’s journey: confronting grief, violence, and the man Chris has become. They will discover whether the human spirit is capable of surviving and loving again in this darker, harder world.

The Real Mad Men: The Remarkable True Story Of Madison Avenue's Golden Age, When a Handful Of Renegades Changed Advertising For Ever ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Andrew Cracknell, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $11.06).

Book Description
In New York City in the late 1950s and the 1960s - the era and location of TV's Mad Men - advertising went through a revolution. In a booming market, a punchy and proud new workforce of younger, multi-ethnic writers and art directors gorged themselves on a vibrant and artistic social scene. In many ways they were similar to Don Draper, Roger Sterling and Peggy Olsen: confident, driven and ambitious, they lived the three-martini life and worked the machine to their advantage. Also clever, creative and streetwise, they outclassed and out-thought the old advertising establishment, implementing a new way of thinking and behaving which spread across the newspapers, magazines and TV screens of America and beyond. The story of modern advertising starts here, with these real Mad Men - and women - of Madison Avenue who created the most radical and influential advertising ever, transforming the methods, practice and execution of the business. Their legacy still resounds in the industry today. How did this golden age of advertising happen? It is a remarkable, inspiring story of creativity, ingenuity and larger than life personalities who made it up as they went along.

Scarpetta ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the sixteenth novel in the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. The latest in the series, The Bone Bed, can now be pre-ordered and will be delivered Oct 16.

Book Description
Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk—and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.

The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of a murder . . . that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insane stalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true, and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by the actual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that a woman has been tortured and murdered—and more violent deaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifying truth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows where his prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And what is the connection between the victims?

In the days that follow, Scarpetta; her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley; and her niece, Lucy, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm in New York, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all-too-real streets of the city—an odyssey that will take them at once to places they never knew, and much, much too close to home.

Throughout, Cornwell delivers shocking twists and turns, and the kind of cutting-edge technology that only she can provide. Once again, she proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.

End This Depression Now! ($3.99 Kindle, B&N), by Paul Krugman, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
A call-to-arms from Nobel Prize–winning economist and best-selling author Paul Krugman.
The Great Recession is more than four years old—and counting. Yet, as Paul Krugman points out in this powerful volley, "Nations rich in resources, talent, and knowledge—all the ingredients for prosperity and a decent standard of living for all—remain in a state of intense pain."

How bad have things gotten? How did we get stuck in what now can only be called a depression? And above all, how do we free ourselves? Krugman pursues these questions with his characteristic lucidity and insight. He has a powerful message for anyone who has suffered over these past four years—a quick, strong recovery is just one step away, if our leaders can find the "intellectual clarity and political will" to end this depression now.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Sheep in a Jeep ($1.99), by Nancy E. Shaw and Margot Apple (Illustrator).

Book Description
A flock of hapless sheep drive through the country in this rhyming picture book.

Grade Level: K and up

Bargain Book Roundup

Newly published On The Train ($0.99), a short story collection by Rachel Turtledove, Harry Turtledove and Mike Resnick (Editor), is on sale as an intro special (but only for one more day).

Book Description
Is travelling on The Train a means to an end…a way to complete one’s journey…or is The Train the destination itself, rolling endlessly through realms both magical and mechanical?

And what of Javan, the lad from Pingaspor, whose third-class ticket entitles him to a spot on a hard bench? He has given up everything he had for that cherished spot. But where, exactly, is he headed?

Javan’s story is followed by the tale of nanny Eli, hired by Baroness Vasri to take care of her son and daughter as they travel on The Train in first class. But the Baroness’ agenda may run contrary to that of those running The Train...and what will become of the children?

Cold Vengeance ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the eleventh and newest in the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, is marked down

Book Description
Devastated by the discovery that his wife, Helen, was murdered, Special Agent Pendergast must have retribution. But revenge is not simple. As he stalks his wife's betrayers-a chase that takes him from the wild moors of Scotland to the bustling streets of New York City and the darkest bayous of Louisiana-he is also forced to dig further into Helen's past. And he is stunned to learn that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own murder.

Peeling back the layers of deception, Pendergast realizes that the conspiracy is deeper, goes back generations, and is more monstrous than he could have ever imagined-and everything he's believed, everything he's trusted, everything he's understood . . . may be a horrific lie.

COLD VENGEANCE

Nothing is what it seems.

Two Graves ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the twelfth in the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, is now available to pre-order. This is either a very short time promo price or a pricing error, I suspect, as there is also a free "sample" edition at Amazon and a short story in the series, Extraction, which is priced at $1.99.

Book Description
After his wife, Helen, is brazenly abducted before his eyes, Special Agent Pendergast furiously pursues the kidnappers, chasing them across the country and into Mexico. But then, things go terribly, tragically wrong; the kidnappers escape; and a shattered Pendergast retreats to his New York apartment and shuts out the world.

But when a string of bizarre murders erupts across several Manhattan hotels--perpetrated by a boy who seems to have an almost psychic ability to elude capture--NYPD Lieutenant D'Agosta asks his friend Pendergast for help. Reluctant at first, Pendergast soon discovers that the killings are a message from his wife's kidnappers. But why a message? And what does it mean?
When the kidnappers strike again at those closest to Pendergast, the FBI agent, filled anew with vengeful fury, sets out to track down and destroy those responsible. His journey takes him deep into the trackless forests of South America, where he ultimately finds himself face to face with an old evil that-rather than having been eradicated-is stirring anew... and with potentially world-altering consequences.

Confucius once said: "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves." Pendergast is about to learn the hard way just how true those words still ring.

Trunk Music ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the fifth Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly, who also has a new short story collection, Mulholland Dive, out for the series.

Book Description
Back on the job after an involuntary leave of absence, LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch is ready for a challenge. But his first case is a little more than he bargained for.

It starts with the body of a Hollywood producer in the trunk of a Rolls-Royce, shot twice in the head at close range - what looks like "trunk music," a Mafia hit. But the LAPD's organized crime unit is curiously uninterested, and when Harry follows a trail of gambling debts to Las Vegas, the case suddenly becomes more complex - and much more personal.

A rekindled romance with an old girlfriend opens new perspectives on the murder, and he begins to glimpse a shocking triangle of corruption and collusion. Yanked off the case, Harry himself is soon the one being investigated. But only a bullet can stop Harry when he's searching for the truth . . .

I read Feed ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the first title in the Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant, as part of the Hugo nominees for 2011; I immediately had to go buy Deadline (sure, I could have waited a year - it made the Hugo nominee list for 2012) and put Blackout on my "watch for" list ... and now I see it is available!

Book Description
The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

NOW, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives-the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.

Sheri S. Tepper's Six Moon Dance ($0.99) and The Companions ($0.99) are stand-alone Science Fiction novels, published by HarperCollins.

Six Moon Dance

It was many years ago that humans came and settled the world of Newholme-cruelly bending the planet to their will; setting down roots and raising up cities and farms and a grand temple to their goddess.But now the ground itself is shaking with ever-increasing violence. And the Great Questioner, official arbiter of the Council of Worlds, has come to this isolated orb to investigate rumors of a terrible secret that lies buried deep within Newholme's past—a past that is not dead, not completely. And it will fall to Mouche, a beautiful youth of uncommon cleverness and spirit, to save his imperiled home by dicovering and embracing that which makes him unique among humans. For every living thing on newholme is doomed, unless Mouche can appease something dark and terrible that is coiled within...and surrender to the mysterious ecstatic revelry taht results when the six moons join.

The Companions

Three planets have been recently discovered in deep space, and prosaically named to reflect their respective environments. Jungle, lush and foreboding, swallowed up an eleven-member exploratory team more than a decade earlier, while hot, harsh, and dusty Stone turned out to be phenomenally rich in rare ore, the most profitable new world to be found in a century. But it is the third, Moss, that could well prove to be the most enigmatic . . . and dangerous.

Enlisted by the Planetary Protection Institute -- an organization founded to assess new worlds for potential development and profit -- famed linguist Paul Delis has come to Moss to determine whether the strange multicolored shapes of dancing light observed on the planet's surface are evidence of intelligent life. With Delis is his half sister, Jewel, the wife of one of the explorers lost on Jungle. Working together, they are to determine the true nature of the “Mossen” and decipher the strange "language" that accompanies the phenomenon.

Yet the great mysteries of this bucolic world -- three-quarters covered in wind-sculpted, ever-shifting moss -- don't end with the inexplicable illuminations; there is the puzzle of the rusting remains of a lost fleet of Earth ships, moldering on a distant plateau. Perhaps the biggest question mark is Jewel Delis herself and her mission here at the far reaches of the galaxy. Leaving an overpopulated homeworld that is rapidly becoming depleted of the raw materials needed for human survival, Jewel is a member of a radical underground group opposing a recent government edict that will eliminate all of the planet's “nonessential” living inhabitants. And it is here, at the universe's unexplored edge, where the fate of endangered creatures may ultimately be decided -- though it will mean defying ruthless and unforgiving ruling powers to repair humankind's disintegrating relationship with the beasts of the Earth.

Leviathan Wakes ($1.99), by James S.A. Corey, has been on sale a couple of times in the last couple of years, but never at this low a price. I checked the sample and it appears this edition is the one that also includes the full text of Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path, which is $9.99 on it's own.

Book Description
Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

I bought Stan Nicholls' Orcs ($2.99) at Fictionwise, back before the Agency agreements pretty much killed it for larger publisher selections. I checked the sample of the Kindle edition and it also appears to be the omnibus edition of the Orcs: First Blood trilogy that I bought, containing all three novels in the series: Bodyguard of Lightning (1999), The Legion of Thunder (1999) and Warriors of the Tempest (2000).

Book Description

"Look at me. Look at the Orc."

"There is fear and hatred in your eyes. To you I am a monster, a skulker in the shadows, a fiend to scare your children with. A creature to be hunted down and slaughtered like a beast in the fields.

It is time you pay heed to the beast. And see the beast in yourself. I have your fear. But I have earned your respect.

Hear my story. Feel the flow of blood and be thankful. Thankful that it was me, not you, who bore the sword. Thankful to the orcs; born to fight, destined to win peace for all."

This book will change the way you feel about Orcs forever.

The Dwarves ($2.99), by Markus Heitz, gives us another viewpoint on the fantasy pantheon, also published by Orbit. This is the first novel of the series and it's 700+ pages should keep you reading for several days.

Book Description
For countless millennia, the dwarves of the Fifthling Kingdom have defended the stone gateway into Girdlegard. Many and varied foes have hurled themselves against the portal and died attempting to breach it. No man or beast has ever succeeded. Until now. . .

Abandoned as a child, Tungdil the blacksmith labors contentedly in the land of Ionandar, the only dwarf in a kingdom of men. Although he does not want for friends, Tungdil is very much aware that he is alone - indeed, he has not so much as set eyes on another dwarf. But all that is about to change.

Sent out into the world to deliver a message and reacquaint himself with his people, the young foundling finds himself thrust into a battle for which he has not been trained. Not only his own safety, but the life of every man, woman and child in Girdlegard depends upon his ability to embrace his heritage. Although he has many unanswered questions, Tungdil is certain of one thing: no matter where he was raised, he is a true dwarf.

And no one has ever questioned the courage of the Dwarves.