Today's Deals 1/16

Amazon's Android Appstore free app today is Italian Recipes from Italyum.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Good Braider ($1.99), by Terry Farish, which has multiple starred reviews and is now published by Amazon Children's Publishing after being donated to Amazon's Worldreader program.

Book Description
In spare free verse laced with unforgettable images, Viola's strikingly original voice sings out the story of her family's journey from war-torn Sudan, to Cairo, and finally to Portland, Maine. Here, in the sometimes too close embrace of the local Southern Sudanese Community, she dreams of South Sudan while she tries to navigate the strange world of America - a world where a girl can wear a short skirt, get a tattoo or even date a boy; a world that puts her into sharp conflict with her traditional mother who, like Viola, is struggling to braid together the strands of a displaced life. Terry Farish's haunting novel is not only a riveting story of escape and survival, but the universal tale of a young immigrant's struggle to build a life on the cusp of two cultures.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Agenda 21 ($2.99), by Glenn Beck and Harriet Parke.

Book Description
“I was just a baby when we were relocated and I don’t remember much. Everybody has that black hole at the beginning of their life. That time you can’t remember. Your first step. Your first taste of table food. My real memories begin in our assigned living area in Compound 14.”

Just a generation ago, this place was called America. Now, after the worldwide implementation of a UN-led program called Agenda 21, it’s simply known as “the Republic.” There is no president. No Congress. No Supreme Court. No freedom.

There are only the Authorities.

Citizens have two primary goals in the new Republic: to create clean energy and to create new human life. Those who cannot do either are of no use to society. This bleak and barren existence is all that eighteen-year-old Emmeline has ever known. She dutifully walks her energy board daily and accepts all male pairings assigned to her by the Authorities. Like most citizens, she keeps her head down and her eyes closed.

Until the day they come for her mother.

“You save what you think you’re going to lose.”

Woken up to the harsh reality of her life and her family’s future inside the Republic, Emmeline begins to search for the truth. Why are all citizens confined to ubiquitous concrete living spaces? Why are Compounds guarded by Gatekeepers who track all movements? Why are food, water and energy rationed so strictly? And, most important, why are babies taken from their mothers at birth? As Emmeline begins to understand the true objectives of Agenda 21 she realizes that she is up against far more than she ever thought. With the Authorities closing in, and nowhere to run, Emmeline embarks on an audacious plan to save her family and expose the Republic—but is she already too late?

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Love Restored ($0.99), by Lieze Gerber.

Book Description
Rachel Swift’s life is irrevocably changed when, mere weeks after the birth of their twin babies, her husband walks out on her. Deeply wounded, Rachel bravely rebuilds her life and her career as an architect and vows that no man will ever have the opportunity to reject her again.

Three years later, at a glamorous affair in Monaco, Rachel meets Alain Léon. Their first, fiery kiss awakens hidden, almost forgotten, emotions deep inside Rachel. Passion flares, and a tentative Rachel senses that Alain might be the man to restore her faith in love. However, her world is shattered by Alain’s impetuous reaction when he wrongfully misinterprets Rachel’s motives for their romance. Pride triumphs over truth, and leaves Rachel crushed and heartbroken - once again.

Life seems to smile at Rachel when her fledgling architect firm wins a contract for the restoration of a fire-damaged chateau in Provence. However, on her first day at the construction site, Rachel’s world is rocked when she is introduced to the man who will be working with her on the project - Alain Leon.

Working with Alain on the project leaves Rachel torn between the painful memories of their passionate night in Monaco, and the hot rush of desire that floods her body in his physical presence. Alain struggles with his own demons, constantly having to fight his desires to stay true to his moral compass.

Hot tempers, passion, and desires clash with stubborn pride and internal conflict to tell the passionate story of a stormy love between two people - a love that might be lost on them forever.

Sensuality Level: Sensual

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy ($1.99), by Stanislaw Lem, whose Eden was yesterday's pick (and which is now back up to $8.80).

Book Description
Bringing his twin gifts of scientific speculation and scathing satire to bear on that hapless planet, Earth, Lem sends his unlucky cosmonaut, Ijon Tichy, to the Eighth Futurological Congress. Caught up in local revolution, Tichy is shot and so critically wounded that he is flashfrozen to await a future cure. Translated by Michael Kandel.

God On Every Wind ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Farhad Sorabjee, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $6.39).

Book Description
Philomena is a born rebel, disillusioned with her middle-class comfort and the expectations of her parents. Nestor is an impoverished African exile with the heart of a poet. When the two meet by chance on the streets of 1960s Bombay, their attraction will change their lives forever. Spanning two continents and following a story of love, loss and politics set against a backdrop of turbulent societies, times and allegiances, God on Every Wind is a powerful debut novel exploring the possibilities and limitations of individual and political revolution. Will appeal to readers with special interests in the best of contemporary world literature, with strong crossover potential for readers who have enjoyed the work of recent success stories from the sub-continent, such as Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke.

My Lunatic Life ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the first title in the series by Sharon Sala, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Long time readers will have this in their library, as it was free on Kindle in Oct '11.

Book Description
She plays for Team Spirit.

High school senior Tara Luna's got all the usual teen problems: a new school, her attraction to a hunky guy, feuds with the Mean Girls, being regarded as an oddball outsider-PLUS she has psychic powers, a duo of protective, meddlesome ghosts AND an angry, threatening teen girl ghost who wants Tara to solve her murder-or else.

Now you know why she calls this "my lunatic life."

About the Author
Sharon Sala's books repeatedly make the big lists, including The New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher's Weekly lists, and she's been nominated for a RITA seven times, which is the romance writer's equivalent of having an Oscar or an Emmy nomination. MY LUNATIC LIFE is the first book in her Lunatic Life series for teen readers. Coming soon: THE LUNATIC DETECTIVE.

Audible 3-for-2 Sale

If you are an Audible member (with credits), you can shop today in their 3-for-2 Sale and pick from 200+ audiobooks, grouped by genre.

If you don't qualify for the sale (due to membership, lack of credits or geographic restrictions, etc.), you'll get Audible's unhelpful error page.

Today's Deals 1/15

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is A Drop of the Hard Stuff ($1.99), the seventeenth and newest novel in the Matthew Scudder series by Lawrence Block, with the companion audiobook $3.99.

Book Description
Facing his demons in his first year of sobriety, Matthew Scudder finds himself on the trail of a killer. When Scudder's childhood friend Jack Ellery is murdered, presumably while attempting to atone for past sins, Scudder reluctantly begins his own investigation, with just one lead: Ellery's Alcoholics Anonymous list of people he wronged. One of them may be a killer, but that's not necessarily Scudder's greatest danger. Immersing himself in Ellery's world may lead him right back to the bar stool.

In a novel widely celebrated by critics and readers, Lawrence Block circle back to how it all began, reestablishing the Matthew Scudder series as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Smitten Image ($0.99), by Pam B. Morris.

Book Description
In high-speed, high-tech New Chicago, 2039, magic has gone viral. Lily Barnett, a brilliant but drifty artist wanders into a strange magic shop where she impulsively guzzles a love potion. Erratic and unpredictable powers awake inside her. Her houseplants turn ravenous and strings of flamingo lights spout poetry. When she paints a portrait of her perfect man, he steps free of the canvas and stalks her. Desperate, she turns to her best friend, Daniel, for help.

But Daniel has problems of his own. He’s a telepath who must shield thoughts, emotions, and desires or go mad. He wants Lily, desperately, but knows his passion will drive her away and that his friendship is of more value to her than his love.

As Lily negotiates the catastrophic blends of her fear, imagination, and chaotic magic, Daniel must fight against his own impenetrable reserve and the psychic gifts he’s always despised.

Magic and love might save them, but can they survive each other?

Sensuality Level: Sensual

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Eden ($1.99), by Stanislaw Lem.

Book Description
A six-man crew crash-lands on Eden, fourth planet from another sun. The men find a strange world that grows ever stranger, and everywhere there are images of death. The crew's attempt to communicate with this civilization leads to violence and to a cruel truth-cruel precisely because it is so human. Translated by Marc E. Heine. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

Moon Underfoot: A Jake Crosby Thriller ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Bobby Cole, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99).

Book Description
Eighteen months ago, stockbroker Jake Crosby and his daughter Katy narrowly survived a living nightmare at a remote Alabama hunting camp. To save Katy, Jake killed two men—men who were friends and business associates of notorious outlaw and drug-runner Ethan “Moon Pie” Daniels. That night, Moon Pie made a blood promise of revenge. And in Moon Pie’s dark world of violence, such promises are always kept.

Jake Crosby doesn’t regret what he did that night; he knows it was kill or be killed. But he can’t shake the feeling that the horror isn’t over, that Katy and his wife, Morgan, aren’t yet safe—and that retribution is coming. All he knows for sure is that he will do anything—everything—to protect his family. That’s a vow the dangerous Moon Pie will put to the ultimate test on a cold, moonless night deep in the heart of a river swamp.

This riveting follow-up to Bobby Cole’s heart-stopping thriller The Dummy Line deftly explores the perils of revenge…and the profound power of a husband and father’s love.

Mortal ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the second novel in the Books of Mortals series by Ted Dekker & Tosca Lee, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Centuries have passed since civilization's brush with apocalypse. The world's greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no anger, no hatred, no war. There is only perfect peace...and fear. A terrible secret was closely guarded for centuries: every single soul walking the earth, though in appearance totally normal, is actually dead, long ago genetically stripped of true humanity.

Nine years have gone by since an unlikely hero named Rom Sebastian first discovered a secret and consumed an ancient potion of blood to bring himself back to life in Forbidden. Surviving against impossible odds, Rom has gathered a secret faction of followers who have also taken the blood-the first Mortals in a world that is dead.

But The Order has raised an elite army to hunt and crush the living. Division and betrayal threaten to destroy the Mortals from within. The final surviving hope for humanity teeters on the brink of annihilation and no one knows the path to survival.

On the heels of Forbidden comes MORTAL, the second novel in The Books of Mortals saga penned by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee. Set in a terrifying, medieval future, where grim pageantry masks death, this tale of dark desires and staggering stakes peels back the layers of the heart for all who dare take the journey.

The Books of Mortals are three novels, each of which stands on its own, yet all are seamlessly woven into one epic thriller.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Slipping ($1.99), by Cathleen Davitt Bell.

Book Description
What begins with a sense that Michael's deceased grandfather might be inhabiting his body soon escalates to "slipping" into to the river of the dead. When Michael slips, he relives moments of his grandfather's life and tries to help him find peace. But each time he ventures into the river it's harder to come out again. Michael will have to depend on an unlikely group of friends to keep him from slipping . . . permanently. A penetrating twist on the classic ghost story, full of humor and insight about family relationships.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Free Baen Bundle - Feb 2013

I have a coupon code to give away for the February 2013 Book Bundle at Baen Books. The only requirements - leave me a message with an email address and I'll send the code out to one of you (chosen by random.org) just after noon or so today.

Today's Deals 1/14

Amazon's Android Appstore free app today Audubon Butterflies - A Field Guide to North American Butterflies. A great deal for those of you that didn't buy it on sale last year (as I did; at least it was only a buck).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Devil Colony ($1.99), the seventh novel in the Sigma Force series by James Rollins. The latest in the series, The Eye of God, can now be pre-ordered for delivery in June. Looking thru my records, it appears I've picked up all but the first and last two in this series at steep discounts over the years.

Book Description
From New York Times bestselling author James Rollins comes a novel of boundless imagination and meticulous research, a book that dares to answer a frightening question at the heart of America: Could the founding of the United States be based on a fundamental lie? The shocking truth lies hidden within the ruins of an impossibility, a lost colony of the Americas vanished in time and cursed into oblivion. A place known only as The Devil Colony.

Deep in the Rocky Mountains, a gruesome discovery--hundreds of mummified bodies--stirs international attention and fervent controversy. Despite doubts about the bodies' origins, the local Native American Heritage Commission lays claim to the prehistoric remains, along with the strange artifacts found in the same cavern: gold plates inscribed with an unfathomable script.

During a riot at the dig site, an anthropologist dies horribly, burned to ashes in a fiery explosion in plain view of television cameras. All evidence points to a radical group of Native Americans, including one agitator, a teenage firebrand who escapes with a vital clue to the murder and calls on the one person who might help--her uncle, Painter Crowe, Director of Sigma Force.

To protect his niece and uncover the truth, Painter will ignite a war among the nation's most powerful intelligence agencies. Yet an even greater threat looms as events in the Rocky Mountains have set in motion a frightening chain reaction, a geological meltdown that threatens the entire western half of the U.S.

From the volcanic peaks of Iceland to the blistering deserts of the American Southwest, from the gold vaults of Fort Knox to the bubbling geysers of Yellowstone, Painter Crowe joins forces with Commander Gray Pierce to penetrate the shadowy heart of a dark cabal, one that has been manipulating American history since the founding of the thirteen colonies.

But can Painter discover the truth--one that could topple governments--before it destroys all he holds dear?

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Soldier ($1.99), the second novel in the Duke's Obsession series by Grace Burrowes.

Book Description
Be among the first to discover rising star Grace Burrowes, whose searing debut, The Heir, captured awards, rave reviews, and a crusade of fans who can't stop talking about it.

Even in the quiet countryside he can find no peace...

His idyllic estate is falling down from neglect and nightmares of war give him no rest. Then Devlin St. Just meets his new neighbor...

Until his beautiful neighbor ignites his imagination...

With her confident manner hiding a devastating secret, his lovely neighbor commands all of his attention, and protecting Emmaline becomes Deviln's most urgent mission.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is SWELL ($1.99), by Corwin Ericson.

Book Description
Reminiscent of Christopher Moore’s ‘Fluke’ and Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods,’ this slightly fantastical tale is told from the perspective of ever reluctant Orange Whippey, the story of his involvement in the comically unnecessary Whale Network unfolds as rival whaling factions, Korean smugglers/ultra tourists/storytellers, and a privacy advocating talking head all do their best to keep him from doing what he would ultimately prefer to do: Nothing. Set on the tiny, fictional island of Bismuth, it moves at a languid pace as Orange is dragged, far too often, to writhing lagoons, rusted ship hulks, hellish saunas, and private islands, creating a subtly farcical, always absurd setting for numerous misadventures.

The Extinction Club ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Jeffrey Moore, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Nile Nightingale, a troubled man in search of refuge, arrives in the Laurentian mountains of Quebec: a remote land home to rare wildlife and a violent hunting community. He soon finds haven, in the form of a run-down country church for sale.

Until, that is, he stumbles upon something in its snow-covered graveyard. A bloody sack, tied with Christmas ribbon. Inside, slashed and beaten, is fourteen-year-old Céleste Jonquères, whose recent testimony has put the hunters' leader, a man who's killed more animals than a hundred winters, behind bars.

What follows is a darkly comic tale, in which the very urban Nile and the country-smart Céleste teach each other about life and death, love and loss. Inspired by true events, The Extinction Club is a powerful portrayal of wildlife plunder and those who dare to oppose it.

Abuse of Power ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Michael Savage, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
From New York Times bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host Michael Savage comes a high-intensity debut thriller, the story of a smeared network journalist who uncovers a chilling terrorist plot.

Jack Hatfield is a hardened former war correspondent who rose to national prominence for his insightful, provocative commentary. But after being smeared as a bigot and extremist by a radical leftist media-watchdog group, he ultimately loses his job and finds himself working in obscurity as a freelance news producer in San Francisco.

One afternoon Hatfield is on a ride-along with the SFPD bomb squad when a seemingly routine carjacking turns deadly, after police find several pounds of military-grade explosives in the jacked car. And when the FBI urges Hatfield to stay out of it, he knows he's onto something big.

This event will open up a shadowy trail that leads Hatfield from San Francisco to Tel Aviv, London, Paris, and back again, as he works with a stunning Yemeni intelligence agent and a veteran Green Beret to expose a terrorist group known as the Hand of Allah—and a plot within the highest corridors of power that will dwarf 9/11.

Abuse of Power is a lightning-paced thriller, spanning the globe from Europe and Israel to the back alleys of San Francisco's Chinatown. Jack Hatfield must make the choice between protecting his own life and investigating a terrorist cell whose goal is nothing less than total political control—no matter what the cost.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Charlie the Ranch Dog ($1.99), by Ree Drummond and Diane deGroat.

Book Description
Meet Charlie. He's a ranch dog. Breakfast is his life, especially when bacon is involved. Charlie has dangly ears, floppy skin, and big fat paws. And he loves living in the country. That's because he works like a dog...fixing fences, gardening, and helping his family out on the range. Yep, it's all work, all the time for Charlie the ranch dog. In fact, he's probably working right now... Zzzzzzz.... A ranch dog's work is never done! Come along as Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, introduces us to her beloved short-legged pioneer dog named Charlie.

Grade Level: P and up

This book features Kindle Text Pop-Up for reading text over vivid, full-color images when using Kindle Fire/HD or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android); unlike some other Text Popup books, this one won't work on any of the eInk Kindles.