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Sunday, November 4, 2012

Today's Deals

The Fictionwise coupon this weekend is 110312, for 55% off.

It must be the time of year for sales on Antivirus Software. I use Norton Internet Security, which Amazon has for download or on disc for $36.99 (less than the renewal direct from Norton and Amazon's license is for 3 PCs), but there is an interesting product from Webroot that is only $12.49 (list $49.99), if you want Antivirus only (although it isn't really "just" antivirus, as it monitors websites for phishing schemes and includes identity protection and a firewall). You can get a disc in the mail (or overnight shipping free if you use Discover) or download immediately to your PC or your Mac; the license is also good for 3 devices (buy the disc or PC download and you get both Mac and PC versions; the MAC download doesn't include PC support). Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus claims to be extremely small and not to slow down your computer (and not to need "updating"); sounds like magic, but it did win a PC Magazine Editor's Choice award. Windows 8 compatible.

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

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Five True Crime Books for $1.99 each (up to 88% off).
From the murderous rise and fall of America's bloodiest Asian gang to the brutal lives of the New York City mobsters who ruled Hell's Kitchen, reality is often more thrilling than fiction. Today's selection of five true-crime stories hammers home this point
Born to Kill: The Rise and Fall of America's Bloodiest Asian Gang, by T. J. English (MysteriousPress.com/Open Road)
An inside account of criminal life among Chinatown’s fiercest thugs

They are children of the Vietnam War. Born and raised in the wasteland left by American bombs and napalm, these young men know a particular brand of cruelty—which they are about to export to the United States. When the Vietnamese gangs come to Chinatown, they adopt a name remembered from GI’s helmets: “Born to Kill.” And kill they do, in a frenzy of violence that shocks even the old-school Chinese gangsters who once ran Canal Street. Killing brings them turf, money, and power, but also draws the government’s eye. Even as Born to Kill reaches its height, it is marked for destruction.

This story is told from the perspective of Tinh Ngo, a young gang member who eventually grows disenchanted with murder and death. When he decides to inform on his brothers to the police, he enters a shadow world far more dangerous than any gangland.
The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob, by T. J. English (MysteriousPress.com/Open Road)
A decades-long saga of murder and betrayal on Manhattan’s gritty West Side

It’s men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell’s Kitchen its name. In the mid-1970s, these two long-time friends take the reins of New York’s Irish mob, using brute force to give it hitherto unthinkable power. Jimmy, a charismatic sociopath, is the leader. Mickey, whose memories of Vietnam torture him daily, is his enforcer. Together they make brutality their trademark, butchering bodies or hurling them out the window. Under their reign, Hell’s Kitchen becomes a place where death literally rains from the sky.

When Mickey goes down for a murder he didn’t commit, he suspects his friend has sold him out. He returns the favor, breaking the underworld’s code of silence and testifying against his gang in open court. From his testimony comes this incredible story of what it means to make it in a world where murder is commonplace.
Who Killed My Daughter?, by Lois Duncan (Open Road)
On July 16, 1989, Lois Duncan’s daughter was chased down and shot to death in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After the police abandoned all leads, Duncan refused to give up her search for the truth.

In this tragic memoir and investigation, Lois Duncan searches for clues to the murder of her youngest child, eighteen-year-old Kaitlyn Arquette. Duncan begins to suspect that the official police investigation of Kaitlyn’s murder is inadequate when detectives ignore her daughter’s accidental connection to organized crime in Albuquerque. When Duncan loses faith in the system, she reaches out to anyone that can help, including private investigators, journalists, and even a psychic. Written to inspire other families who have lost loved ones to unsolved crimes, Who Killed My Daughter? is a powerful testament to the tenacity of a mother’s love.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Duncan including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.
The Good-Bye Door, by Diana Franklin (Kent State University Press)
The true story of the first female serial killer to die in the electric chair. Nicknamed “the Blonde Borgia,” Anna Marie Hahn was a cold-blooded serial killer who preyed on the elderly in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine district in the 1930s. When the State of Ohio strapped its first woman into the electric chair, Hahn gained a place in the annals of crime as the nation’s first female serial killer to be executed in the chair. Told here for the first time in riveting detail is Anna Marie’s gripping story, an almost unbelievable tale of multiple murders, deceit, and greed. Born in Bavaria in 1906, Anna Marie brought shame to her pious family when, as a teenager, she gave birth to an illegitimate son, Oscar. She was shipped off to America in 1929 where she initially lived with elderly relatives in Cincinnati. A year later she married Philip Hahn, a Western Union telegrapher, with whom she bought a new house and opened a delicatessen/bakery.Pressed economically by the Great Depression, the ever-resourceful Anna Marie found other ways to get the money to support her passionate past-time—betting on horses. She tried burning down the house, then the deli, for the insurance; and she tried killing her husband, also for the insurance. Then she took to befriending the neighborhood elderly, latching on to their life savings before feeding them arsenic with deadly results. For weeks her Cincinnati trial for “the greatest mass murder in the history of the country” was a front-page sensation across the nation. A thousand or more curiosity seekers came daily to the courthouse to try to get just a glimpse of her. Nearly 100 witnesses gave damning testimony against her, and the jury’s guilty verdict put her on the path to the electric chair. Finally, after a year, all appeals were exhausted, and Anna Marie, age 32, was executed on December 7, 1938, at the state penitentiary in Columbus. True crime buffs, historians, legal professionals, and others seeking an extraordinary story will find The Goodbye Door a compelling addition to true crime literature.
Circle of Six: The True Story of New York's Most Notorious Cop Killer and The Cop Who Risked Everything to Catch Him, by Randy Jurgensen and Robert Cea (The Disinformation Company)
Circle of Six is the true story of what is perhaps the most notorious case in the history of the New York Police Department. It details Randy Jurgensen’s determined effort to bring to justice the murderer of Patrolman Phillip Cardillo.

Cardillo was shot and killed inside Harlem’s Mosque #7 in 1972, in the midst of an all-out assault on the NYPD from the Black Liberation Army. The New York of this era was a place not unlike the Wild West, in which cops and criminals shot it out on a daily basis.

Despite the mayhem on the streets and the Machiavellian corridors of Mayor Lindsay’s City Hall, Detective Jurgensen single-handedly took on the Black Liberation Army, the Nation of Islam, NYPD brass, and City Hall, capturing Cardillo’s killer, Lewis 17X Dupree. He broke the case with an unlikely accomplice, Foster 2X Thomas, a member of the Nation of Islam who became Jurgensen’s witness. The relationship they formed during the time before trial gave each of the two men a greater perspective of the two sides in the street war and changed them forever. In the end, Jurgensen had to settle for a conviction on other charges, and Dupree served a number of years. The murder case is still officially unsolved. In 2006 the NYPD re-opened the case, and it is once again an active investigation with full media attention.

The book has received acclaim from current New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, as well as former Commissioner William Bratton.

Randy Jurgensen’s co-author is Robert Cea (No Lights, No Sirens), also a former NYPD detective.

Bradley Wiggins: Tour de Force ($2.29 / £1.39 UK), by John Deering, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $11.79).
Book Description
Rising from an inner city background, abandoned by his pro cyclist father as a toddler, Bradley Wiggins became a prodigious talent. World Junior Champion, World Champion and Olympic Champion were all titles that came his way at a startlingly young age, but what he really wanted was success on the road. 'Wiggo's' reinvention on the path to becoming Britain's first Tour de France winner in over a hundred years of racing is one of sport's most uplifting and inspiring stories. In this captivating and insightful narrative, Wiggins' old friend and colleague John Deering sets this remarkable story against the backdrop of Wiggins' crushing Tour victory, his races along the thousands of kilometres of French tarmac, telling the tale of his brutal procession from Liege to Paris in counterpoint to his fascinating life. From a Kilburn council estate to the Champs Elysees via the Olympics, Paul Weller and the world's most glorious sideburns, the legend of Bradley Wiggins is unravelled like never before.

The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Helio Fred Garcia, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. You probably already have this in your library, as I show it was free at the end of September.
Book Description
Communication is the absolutely indispensable leadership discipline. But, too often, leaders and professional communicators get mired in tactics, and fail to influence public attitudes in the ways that would help them the most. The Power of Communication builds on the U.S. Marine Corps' legendary publication Warfighting, showing how to apply the Corps' proven leadership and strategy doctrine to all forms of public communication — and achieve truly extraordinary results. World-renowned leadership communications expert, consultant, and speaker Helio Fred Garcia reveals how to orient on audiences, recognizing their centers of gravity and most critical concerns. You'll learn how to integrate and succeed with all three levels of communication: strategic, operational, and tactical. Garcia shows how to take the initiative and control the agenda… respond to events with speed and focus… use the power of maneuver… prepare and plan… and put it all together, becoming a "habitually strategic" communicator.

Strategic Vision ($12.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Zbigniew Brzezinski, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.
Book Description
By 1991, following the disintegration first of the Soviet bloc and then of the Soviet Union itself, the United States was left standing tall as the only global super-power. Not only the 20th but even the 21st century seemed destined to be the American centuries. But that super-optimism did not last long. During the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, the stock market bubble and the costly foreign unilateralism of the younger Bush presidency, as well as the financial catastrophe of 2008 jolted America – and much of the West – into a sudden recognition of its systemic vulnerability to unregulated greed. Moreover, the East was demonstrating a surprising capacity for economic growth and technological innovation. That prompted new anxiety about the future, including even about America’s status as the leading world power. This book is a response to a challenge. It argues that without an America that is economically vital, socially appealing, responsibly powerful, and capable of sustaining an intelligent foreign engagement, the geopolitical prospects for the West could become increasingly grave. The ongoing changes in the distribution of global power and mounting global strife make it all the more essential that America does not retreat into an ignorant garrison-state mentality or wallow in cultural hedonism but rather becomes more strategically deliberate and historically enlightened in its global engagement with the new East.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Johnny Tremain ($0.99), by Esther Hoskins Forbes.
Book Description
Johnny Tremain, winner of the 1943 Newbery Medal, is one of the finest historical novels ever written for children. As compelling today as it was fifty years ago, to read this riveting novel is to live through the defining events leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Fourteen-year old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice silversmith with a bright future ahead of him, injures his hand in a tragic accident, forcing him to look for other work. In his new job as a horse-boy, riding for the patriotic newspaper, the Boston Observer, and as a messenger for the Sons of Liberty, he encounters John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren. Soon Johnny is involved in the pivotal events shaping the American Revolution from the Boston Tea Party to the first shots fired at Lexington. Powerful illustrations by American artist Michael McCurdy, bring to life Esther Forbes' quintessential novel of the American Revolution.

Grade Level: 4 and up

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Bargain Book Roundup

The Atria Holiday Cooking Collection has finally shipped and it's quite a nice little selection of recipes, running 108 "pages" for the EPUB edition from Sony (which has the wrong title shown in the listing). I've updated the post with links for the Nook, EPUB and iBooks editions.

I was going to do a quick 3-book list tonight, but stumbled upon a number of pre-order deals for the last author; I'm going to include them all in this post, just in case they disappear.

The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA ($0.99 Kindle, B&N), by Antonio J. Mendez (HarperCollins).
Book Description
From the author of Argo comes an unforgettable behind-the-scenes story of espionage in action. In the first ever memoir by a top-level operative to be authorized by the CIA, Antonio J. Mendez reveals the cunning tricks and insights that helped save hundreds from deadly situations.

Adept at creating new identities for anyone, anywhere, Mendez was involved in operations all over the world, from "Wild West" adventures in East Asia to Cold War intrigue in Moscow. In 1980, he orchestrated the escape of six Americans from a hostage situation in revolutionary Tehran, Iran. This extraordinary operation inspired the movie Argo, directed by and starring Ben Affleck.

The Master of Disguise gives us a privileged look at what really happens at the highest levels of international espionage: in the field, undercover, and behind closed doors.

Plum Island ($8.99 $0.99 Kindle, B&N), by Nelson DeMille (Hatchette). This is supposed to be Agency Priced, so the same everywhere, but hasn't dropped at Amazon. I've reported the lower price and hopefully that will help get it fixed. It stayed up in price all day, but dropped in minutes after reporting it! Grab it quick, before it goes back up.
Book Description
Taking the best elements from two of his most outstanding bestsellers, The Gold Coast and The General's Daughter, Nelson DeMille combines the breathless suspense of an expertly wrought murder mystery with his wry perspective on a peculiarly American social scene to deliver an enthralling and compelling story.

Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide detective John Corey convalesces in the Long Island township of Southold, home to farmers, fishermen -- and at least one killer. Tom and Judy Gordon, a young, attractive couple Corey knows, have been found on their patio, each with a bullet in the head. The local police chief, Sylvester Maxwell, wants Corey's big-city expertise, but Maxwell gets more than he bargained for.

The early signs point to a burglary gone wrong. But because the Gordons were biologists at Plum Island, the offshore animal disease research site rumored to be involved in germ warfare, it isn't long before the media is suggesting that the Gordons stole something very deadly. Suddenly a local double murder becomes a crime with national and worldwide implications.

John Corey doesn't like mysteries, which is why he likes to solve them. His investigations lead him into the lore, legends, and ancient secrets of northern Long Island -- more deadly and more dangerous than he could ever have imagined. During his journey of discovery, he meets two remarkable women, Detective Beth Penrose and Mayflower descendant Emma Whitestone, both of whom change his life irrevocably. Ultimately, through his understanding of the murders, John Corey comes to understand himself.

Fast-paced and atmospheric, marked by entrancing characters, incandescent storytelling, and brilliant comic touches, Plum Island is Nelson DeMille at his thrill-inducing best.

To close out, I have four pre-orders by Stephanie Laurens (Avon), all for 99 cents on Kindle or from B&N. It's the second time that Devil's Bride with Bonus Material ($0.99 Kindle or B&N) has been released in a bonus edition (there was an edition last year, which no longer exists in either store, which was free for Australians and 99 cents for everyone else, so double check your library before ordering this one. Checkout a sample from the full-priced edition. First title in the Cynster series.
Book Description
Where it all began. . . The Cynsters!

When Devil, the most infamous member of the Cynster family, is caught in a compromising position with plucky governess Honoria Wetherby, he astonishes the entire town by offering his hand in marriage. No one dreamed this scandalous rake would ever take a bride. And as society mamas swooned at the loss of England's most eligible bachelor, Devil's infamous Cynster cousins began to place wagers on the wedding date.

But Honoria wasn't about to bend society's demands and marry a man "just" because they'd been found together virtually unchaperoned. No, she craved adventure, and while solving the murder of a young Cynster cousin fit the bill for a while, she decided that once the crime was solved she'd go off to see the world. But the scalding heat of her unsated desire for Devil soon had Honoria craving a very different sort of excitement. Could her passion for Devil cause her to embrace the enchanting peril of a lifelong adventure of the heart?

Now with special bonus material, including Q&As with the author and a sneak peek at other books by Stephanie Laurens!

The Untamed Bride with Bonus Material ($0.99 Kindle or B&N); use the full-priced edition to try a sample. First title in the Black Cobra Quartet.
Book Description
For a limited time and at a special price, discover #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens's The Black Cobra Quartet with The Untamed Bride, plus special excerpts from the next three novels in the series.

In The Untamed Bride, They're battle-hardened, sinfully wealthy, completely unstoppable—and all male: Four officers of the Crown, fighting against a deadly foe known only as the Black Cobra.

He is a man who has faced peril without flinching, determined to fight for king and country.

She is a bold, beautiful woman with a scandalous past, destined to become an untamed bride.

Together they must vanquish the ruthless enemy, while confronting the dangers of the heart...

The Lady Chosen with Bonus Material ($0.99 Kindle or B&N); use the full-priced edition to try a sample. A standalone novel.
Book Description
For a limited time and at a special price, discover #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens's Bastion Club series with The Lady Chosen, plus special excerpts from the next four novels in the series.

In The Lady Chosen, Tristan Wemyss, Earl of Trentham, never expected he'd need to wed within a year or forfeit his inheritance. But he is not one to bow to the matchmaking mamas of the ton. No, he will marry a lady of his own choosing. And the lady he chooses is the enchanting neighbor living with her family next door. Miss Leonora Carling has beauty, spirit and passion; unfortunately, matrimony is the last thing on her mind . . .

To Leonora, Tristan's kisses are oh-so-tempting, but once bitten, forever shy, she has determinedly turned her back on marriage. But Tristan is a seasoned campaigner who will not accept defeat. And when a mysterious man attempts to scare Leonora and her family from their home, Tristan realizes he's been given the perfect excuse to offer his services—as protector, seducer and, ultimately, husband.

A Fine Passion with Bonus Material ($0.99 Kindle or B&N); use the full-priced edition to try a sample. Sixth title in the Bastion Club series.
Book Description
The men of the Bastion Club are powerful, loyal, and not averse to overcoming danger if they must. Now, after years of loyal service to the Crown, they each -- one by one -- must face that greatest danger of all ...love.

The last of his line, Jack, Baron Warnefleet, has fled London after nearly being compromised into marrying a dreadful female. Turning his back on the entire notion of marriage, he rides home to the estate he has not seen for years, determined to set in motion an alternative course of action.

But then in the lane before his gate, Jack rescues a startlingly beautiful lady from a menacing, unmanageable horse. However, while he begins by taking command, the lady continues by taking it back. Lady Clarice Altwood is no meek and mild miss. She is the very antithesis of the woolly-headed young ladies Jack has rejected as not for him. Clarice is delectably attractive, beyond eligible, undeniably capable, and completely unforgettable. Why on earth is she rusticating in the country?

That enigma is compounded by mystery, and it's quickly clear that Clarice is in danger. Jack must use every ounce of his cunning and wit to protect this highly independent and richly passionate woman ... who has so quickly stolen his heart.

Today's Deals

Today's free MP3 is a children's album, Bunny Party, sort of a musical storybook.

Over at Audible, it's Listener Appreciation Month - Buy 4 audiobooks and you'll get a $10 credit. Qualifying books must have "regular" price of $14.95, but you can buy the ones on sale (such as a discounted companion audiobook) or using built-up credits. You can get up to $20 added to your account and the credits will be placed in your account no later than December 6, 2012.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is On Thin Ice ($1.99), the sixth novel in the Ice series by Anne Stuart, and the companion audiobook is only $3.95.
Book Description
Elizabeth Pennington has come to the war-torn South American country of Callivera to volunteer at a tiny mission. Kidnapped by the local rebels who are more interested in ransom than politics, she ends up at their camp in the Andes where she meets Finn MacGowan, member of the infamous Committee, a covert organization dedicated to destroying terrorism. MacGowan has been held hostage for almost three years, and he's chosen the night she arrives as the night he plans to escape. When he does, she follows him, heading down the steep mountainous terrain with another hostage, the teenage son of a Hollywood millionaire. Rebels, soldiers, traitors and near-drowning follows them on their journey. As they travel from the mountain fortress to a transatlantic freighter, an old cafe in Spain ending in a shootout at a farmhouse in France, MacGowan reluctantly falls in love, and Beth learns that the cynical, dangerous soldier-of-fortune might be worth saving after all.

The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), by Zhu Xiao-Mei and Ellen Hinsey, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $5.99/KLL eligible and the companion audiobook is only $1.99).
Book Description
Zhu Xiao-Mei was born to middle-class parents in post-war China, and her musical proficiency became clear at an early age. Taught to play the piano by her mother, she developed quickly into a prodigy, immersing herself in the work of classical masters like Bach and Brahms. She was just ten years old when she began a rigorous course of study at the Beijing Conservatory, laying the groundwork for what was sure to be an extraordinary career. But in 1966, when Xiao-Mei was seventeen, the Cultural Revolution began, and life as she knew it changed forever. One by one, her family members were scattered, sentenced to prison or labor camps. By 1969, the art schools had closed, and Xiao-Mei was on her way to a work camp in Mongolia, where she would spend the next five years. Life in the camp was nearly unbearable, thanks to horrific living conditions and intensive brainwashing campaigns. Yet through it all Xiao-Mei clung to her passion for music and her sense of humor. And when the Revolution ended, it was the piano that helped her to heal. Heartbreaking and heartwarming, The Secret Piano is the incredible true story of one woman’s survival in the face of unbelievable odds—and in pursuit of a powerful dream.

A Lawman's Christmas ($7.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the fourteenth and most recent title in the McKettricks series by Linda Lael Miller, is the Nook Daily Find; there's no price match on Kindle (yet), but you may be better off getting the multi-title volume A Lawman's Christmas\Daring Moves ($6.55), anyway.
Book Description
The sudden death of the town marshal leaves Blue River, Texas, without a lawman…and twentyfiveyearold Dara Rose Nolan without a husband. As winter approaches and her meager seamstress income dwindles, she has three options. Yet she won't give up her two young daughters, refuses to join the fallen women of the Bitter Gulch Saloon and can't fathom condemning herself to another loveless marriage. Unfortunately she must decide—soon—because there's a new marshal in town, and she's living under his roof.

With the heart of a cowboy, Clay McKettrick plans to start a ranch and finally settle down. He isn't interested in uprooting Dara Rose and her children, but he is interested in giving her protection, friendship—and passion. And when they say "I do" to a marriage of convenience, the temporary lawman's Christmas wish is to make Dara Rose his permanent wife….

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Eight Anastasia Krupnik Series Books by Lois Lowry for $1.99 apiece. Oddly, this skips over the first title in the series, Anastasia Krupnik ($3.99).
Award-winning author Lois Lowry has an undeniable knack for knowing the minds of young people, and her Anastasia Krupnik series wonderfully showcases Lowry's talent. All eight of the books in today's deal are wildly funny, touching, and loaded with personality.

Grade Level: 4 and up
  1. Anastasia Again!
  2. Anastasia at Your Service
  3. Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst
  4. Anastasia on Her Own
  5. Anastasia Has the Answers
  6. Anastasia's Chosen Career
  7. Anastasia at This Address
  8. Anastasia, Absolutely

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America ($6.74 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Timothy Egan, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.
Book Description
National Book Award–winner Timothy Egan turns his historian's eye to the largest-ever forest fire in America and offers an epic, cautionary tale for our time.

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in the blink of an eye. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men to fight the fires, but no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them. Egan recreates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force, and the larger story of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, that follows is equally resonant. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by every citizen. Even as TR's national forests were smoldering they were saved: The heroism shown by his rangers turned public opinion permanently in favor of the forests, though it changed the mission of the forest service in ways we can still witness today.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Bargain Book Trio (K)

Just a quick trio of bargain books for the night - these are not likely to be reduced for long (I know the first will go back up on the 4th). I'm going to buy all three, as they look to be very good reads.

The double novella When the Blue Shift Comes ($0.99), by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro and Robert Silverberg (Phoenix Pick), is priced less than a short story from Silverberg usually goes for. He also publishes via Penguin and Valentine Pontifex: Book Three of the Majipoor Cycle can now be pre-ordered (at what is a decent price from this publisher, $9.99).
Book Description
A grand new adventure by a Grandmaster of science fiction.

Life has spread across the stars, and everyone enjoys a long life. However, only those who are Earth-born are truly immortal.

But what happens when the immortals of Earth are suddenly faced with their ultimate destruction?

Hanosz Prime, a near-immortal (though not truly so, not being of true Earth stock) travels to humanity’s ancient home to discover the ultimate answer to humanity’s end.

A new Silverberg story in the tradition of the old classics, with an accompanying novella by up-and-coming writer Alvaro Zinos-Amaro.

Hide Me Among the Graves ($0.99), by Tim Powers (HarperCollins), almost looks like a pricing error (the paperback doesn't come out until next year).
Book Description
London, winter of 1862, Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute, arrives on the doorstep of veterinarian John Crawford, a man she met once seven years earlier. Their brief meeting produced a child who, until now, had been presumed dead. McKee has learned that the girl lives—but that her life and soul are in mortal peril from a vampiric ghost. But this is no ordinary spirit; the bloodthirsty wraith is none other than John Polidori, the onetime physician to the mad, bad, and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron. Both McKee and Crawford have mysterious histories with creatures like Polidori, and their child is a prize the malevolent spirit covets dearly.

Polidori is also the late uncle and supernatural muse to the poet Christina Rossetti and her brother, the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. When she was just fourteen years old, Christina unwittingly brought Polidori's curse upon her family. But the curse bestowed unexpected blessings as well, inspiring Christina's poetry and Gabriel's paintings. But when Polidori resurrects Dante's dead wife—turning her into a horrifying vampire—and threatens other family members, Christina and Dante agree that they must destroy their monstrous uncle and break the spell, even if it means the end of their creative powers.

Determined to save their daughter, McKee and Crawford join forces with the Rossettis, and soon these wildly mismatched allies are plunged into a supernatural London underworld whose existence goes beyond their wildest imaginings. Ultimately, each of these disparate individuals—the sensitive poet, the tortured painter, the straitlaced animal doctor, the reformed prostitute, and even their Artful Dodger–like young daughter—must choose between the banality and constraints of human life and the unholy immortality that Polidori offers.

Sweeping from the mansions of London's high society to its grimy slums, the elegant salons of the West End to the pre-Roman catacombs beneath St. Paul's Cathedral, Hide Me Among the Graves blends the historical and the supernatural in a dazzling, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride—a modern horror story with a Victorian twist.

The Cloud Roads ($1.99), by Nebula-nominee Martha Wells (Night Shade Books), has a Starred Review from Publishers Weekly. The next in the series, The Serpent Sea, can now be pre-ordered for January delivery, with a third book already on the publishing schedule.
Book Description
Moon has spent his life hiding what he is - a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as Moon is once again cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself... someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into his community. What this stranger doesn't tell Moon is that his presence will tip the balance of power... that his extraordinary lineage is crucial to the colony's survival... and that his people face extinction at the hands of the dreaded Fell! Now Moon must overcome a lifetime of conditioning in order to save himself... and his newfound kin.

Today's Deals

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Gathering Dead ($1.99), by Stephen Knight.
Book Description
The Horde Is Always Hungry...

The zombie apocalypse has begun, and Major Cordell McDaniels is given the most important mission of his career: lead a Special Forces team into New York City to rescue the one man who can stop the ghastly virus that reanimates the dead.

But as a growing army of flesh-eating corpses takes over the streets and a violent storm renders airborne extraction impossible, McDaniels struggles to find a way out of the Big Apple. The odds of anyone getting out alive plummet further when slaughtered members of his own Special Forces team join the ranks of the gathering dead... with their military skills intact!

The No Rules Handbook for Writers ($1.59 / £2.56 UK), by Lisa Goldman, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $13.79).
Book Description
The No Rules Handbook for Writers is a timely, creative and refreshing antidote to prescriptive guides for writers. It will inspire playwrights, screenwriters and novelists; offer fresh insights to teachers, editors, dramaturgs, directors and producers.

"Lisa Goldman’s book is like the best of British new writing: it is personal, well-written, clearly thought out and resonant. Its advice is passionately felt but perfectly controlled. And its ideas sing and inspire." – Aleks Sierz (author of In-Yer-Face Theatre)

Lisa Goldman takes 40 established conventions of creative writing. She explores why these rules persist, how to master them, bend or break them and why the most important rules to overturn are your own. The book weaves together industry experiences, psychological observations and inspirational tips. It also contains practical advice from 40 rule-breaking writers including:

Hassan Abdulrazzak, Oladipo Agboluaje, Ronan Bennett, Sita Bramachari, Trevor Byrne, Anthony Cartwright, Matthew Greenhalgh, Tanika Gupta, Neil Hunter, M.J. Hyland, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Dennis Kelly, Bryony Lavery, Chris Paling, Stacy Makishi, Neel Mukherjee, Hattie Naylor, Anthony Neilson, Kim Noble, Tom Palmer, Lucy Prebble, Philip Ridley, Paul Sirett, Edmund White, Roy Williams.

The No Rules Handbook for Writers will be a valuable addition to the bookshelves of anyone curious about the craft, context and process of writing.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal ($8.54 $2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Eric Schlosser, is the Nook Daily Find. Update: Now price matched on Kindle.
Book Description
Are we what we eat?

To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar Amerca. Though created by a handful of mavericks, the fast food industry has triggered the homogenization of our society. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled the juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.

Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from the California subdivisions where the business was born to the industrial corridor along the New Jersey Turnpike where many of fast food's flavors are concocted. He hangs out with the teenagers who make the restaurants run and communes with those unlucky enough to hold America's most dangerous job -- meatpacker. He travels to Las Vegas for a giddily surreal franchisers' convention where Mikhail Gorbachev delivers the keynote address. He even ventures to England and Germany to clock the rate at which those countries are becoming fast food nations.

Along the way, Schlosser unearths a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths -- from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the industry has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even real estate. He also uncovers the fast food chains' efforts to reel in the youngest, most susceptible consumers even while they hone their institutionalized exploitation of teenagers and minorities. Schlosser then turns a critical eye toward the hot topic of globalization -- a phenomenon launched by fast food.
FAST FOOD NATION is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that may change the way America thinks about the way it eats.

How to Win an Election: An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians ($5.37 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Quintus Tullius Cicero and Philip Freeman (Translator), is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.
Book Description
How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign. What follows in his short letter are timeless bits of political wisdom, from the importance of promising everything to everybody and reminding voters about the sexual scandals of your opponents to being a chameleon, putting on a good show for the masses, and constantly surrounding yourself with rabid supporters. Presented here in a lively and colorful new translation, with the Latin text on facing pages, this unashamedly pragmatic primer on the humble art of personal politicking is dead-on (Cicero won)--and as relevant today as when it was written.

A little-known classic in the spirit of Machiavelli's Prince, How to Win an Election is required reading for politicians and everyone who enjoys watching them try to manipulate their way into office.

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is Catching Jordan ($1.99), by Miranda Kenneally.
Book Description
ONE OF THE BOYS

What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though- she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

But everything she's ever worked for is threatened when Ty Greeen moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he's also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan's feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart's on the line?

Grade Level: 7 and up