Today's Two Buck Music

Amazon is continuing their Black Friday Week in the MP3 store, with five new $1.99 titles today.

Power To The People - The Hits [+Digital Booklet] by John Lennon, features all new remastering, as do eleven other albums and collections on this Gimme Some Truth page (which commemorates John Lennon's 70th birthday; can you believe it?).

Here are the other four albums in today's Black Friday Week sale:

Kaleidoscope Heart [+Digital Booklet], by Sara Bareilles
The Suburbs, by Arcade Fire
Hurley, by Weezer
Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son Of Chico Dusty [Explicit], by Big Boi

$89 Kindle K2 - How to Get in Line

The Black Friday Deals Week page with the offer for the $89 Kindle is now up and the lightning deal on these will go live at noon EST (9AM PST). If you click on the link, then in the category box, use the selection list to choose Kindle Store (leave Show All at Available, then you should see the same picture that I've snipped above, but with a live countdown timer to when the deal starts. If you want one of these, be sure to have that on screen and counting down, then click just as soon as it switches from the countdown timer to a live Add to Cart button. The page will then check with Amazon to see if you were fast enough, then add it to your cart and start a 15 minute timer -- if you don't complete checkout in that 15 minutes, you lose the order.

The deal is on the 2nd Generation Kindles, which have been selling at $189 (and still are, it appears, from the Amazon page, although I don't think it sells very many of them). There are a few features (wifi, essentially) missing compared to the latest generation, but unlimited 3G and $50 less should more than make up the difference). I do not know if those outside the US can purchase these units (international sales often require a different part number/SKU), at least not for direct shipment outside the states, but suspect this deal is limited to US buyers. Also, you can't load up on these -- lightning deals are limited to one per account (although if your household has multiple acccounts, you could buy one each, of course, then register them all to one account to share books).

Today's Two Buck Music

Amazon is continuing their Black Friday Week in the MP3 store, with five new $1.99 titles today. I've also uncovered the "secret" calendar of CD Music Deals Calendar at Amazon this week. Right now, for example, they have Celtic Thunder Christmas and Noel, by Josh Groban, on sale for $5.99 each (but only on the lightning deals or calendar page, not on the main product page for the CD's).

Soldier of Love [+digital booklet] by Sade is the most intriguing of the mix. Her newest release, this one came out in February and with approximately ten years between albums, this will most likely be it, for her fans, for a while.

Here are the other four albums in today's Black Friday Week sale:

Ocean Eyes, by Owl City
Interpol, by Interpol
Volume Two, by She & Him
Rokstarr, by Taio Cruz

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, hope you are having a good holiday. Once again, I'm including a few poems for the season today.

The Thanksgivings
by Harriet Maxwell Converse
Translated from a traditional Iroquois prayer

We who are here present thank the Great Spirit that we are here
          to praise Him.
We thank Him that He has created men and women, and ordered
          that these beings shall always be living to multiply the earth.
We thank Him for making the earth and giving these beings its products
          to live on.
We thank Him for the water that comes out of the earth and runs
          for our lands.
We thank Him for all the animals on the earth.
We thank Him for certain timbers that grow and have fluids coming
          from them for us all.
We thank Him for the branches of the trees that grow shadows
          for our shelter.
We thank Him for the beings that come from the west, the thunder
          and lightning that water the earth.
We thank Him for the light which we call our oldest brother, the sun
          that works for our good.
We thank Him for all the fruits that grow on the trees and vines.
We thank Him for his goodness in making the forests, and thank
          all its trees.
We thank Him for the darkness that gives us rest, and for the kind Being
          of the darkness that gives us light, the moon.
We thank Him for the bright spots in the skies that give us signs,
          the stars.
We give Him thanks for our supporters, who had charge of our harvests.
We give thanks that the voice of the Great Spirit can still be heard
          through the words of Ga-ne-o-di-o.
We thank the Great Spirit that we have the privilege of this pleasant
          occasion.
We give thanks for the persons who can sing the Great Spirit's music,
          and hope they will be privileged to continue in his faith.
We thank the Great Spirit for all the persons who perform the ceremonies
          on this occasion.

The Pumpkin
by John Greenleaf Whittier

Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,
Like that which o'er Nineveh's prophet once grew,
While he waited to know that his warning was true,
And longed for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain
For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.

On the banks of the Xenil the dark Spanish maiden
Comes up with the fruit of the tangled vine laden;
And the Creole of Cuba laughs out to behold
Through orange-leaves shining the broad spheres of gold;
Yet with dearer delight from his home in the North,
On the fields of his harvest the Yankee looks forth,
Where crook-necks are coiling and yellow fruit shines,
And the sun of September melts down on his vines.

Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?

Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin,—our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!

Then thanks for thy present! none sweeter or better
E'er smoked from an oven or circled a platter!
Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,
Brighter eyes never watched o'er its baking, than thine!
And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!


For more, see last year's post or check out Poets.Org.

Free Read Roundup

This is a mixed bag of free reads that I've run into lately. I know that at least one will go up in price soon go up (the first one), while the rest seem to be stable at their current prices. I haven't done more than glance thru some of these (or read reviews), so the quality may vary.

The Last Days of Jericho ($2.99 Kindle), by Thomas Brookside, is free in the B&N store, but I know he's sent in a price increase, so it'll be going up soon.

Book Description
A monster is approaching the Bronze Age city of Yarich.

It cannot be stopped. It cannot be turned aside.

And the monster is…God Himself.

The Canaanite city of Yarich is home to a society that is literate, cosmopolitan...and doomed. Sakal, caravan-master to the "Melek" or king of the city-state, recounts the tale of the increasingly desperate battle for survival waged by an urban culture against fanatical outsiders – nomads from the desert wielding a terrible supernatural power.

Half "Deuteronomy", half "Gojira", it examines the horror that arises from the knowledge of inexorable fate, and explores the moral ambiguity at the heart of the Old Testament tales that help make up the foundation of western civilization.

Critiquing the Judeo-Christian tradition by taking it literally, the book combines elements from disaster fiction, monster and "kaiju" horror, and the ancient Ugaritic and Egyptian epic cycles to transform a biblical story of miracle and triumph into an apocalyptic tragedy.

Wrongful Death: The AIDS Trial ($2.99 Kindle), by Stephen Davis, is free in the B&N store, as are a number of others by this same author. You can also find these free at Smashwords, for those who don't have a nook.

Book Description
If you like courtroom drama in the style of John Grisham, you’ll want to read this book. If you ever knew someone with AIDS or HIV, you need to read this book. If you still believe the government and the FDA are protecting you against deadly diseases and dangerous drugs, you must read this book!

"WRONGFUL DEATH: The AIDS Trial" is a work of fiction based on fact: the true story behind the government lies and incompetence, gross medical malpractice, and unbridled greed by a drug company that caused our American AIDS epidemic and cost 300,000 lives in just ten years.

Follow along with attorney Benjamin Messick and health reporter Sarah Meadows in this class-action lawsuit as they expose the man who claims to have discovered the cause of AIDS, Dr. Robert Gallo. Dr. Gallo announced to the world at a press conference on April 23, 1984 that a virus later to be called HIV was the culprit. Unfortunately, Dr. Gallo’s peers were never given the chance to prove his theories, and still can’t to this day.

In the last twenty years, Dr. Gallo has been exposed as nothing more than a common criminal, a thief, and a liar. He finally admitted he had stolen the AIDS virus from a French researcher. He also stole another virus from the Japanese. He lied on his patent application for the HIV blood test. A congressional investigation found Dr. Gallo guilty of “intellectual recklessness of a high degree,” and the Office of Research Integrity of the Department of Health and Human Services found Dr. Gallo guilty of scientific misconduct and called some of Dr. Gallo's key AIDS research, “of dubious scientific merit” and “really crazy.” As one German scientist put it, Dr. Gallo is “an American scientific gangster who has committed so many crass, self-aggrandizing blunders…that he could not really be relied upon to tell the time correctly.”

Attorney Messick questions a number of witnesses who all agree with 2700 of the world’s leading doctors and medical researchers today, including Nobel Prize winners in chemistry and medicine and members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, that HIV cannot cause AIDS. At the end of the book you'll find out what actually DOES cause AIDS.

The testimony in this court case finally discloses that in the decade from 1987 to 1997, three-hundred-thousand Americans (mostly homosexual men) died NOT from some horrible disease they caught from a virus, but as a result of taking the very drug they were told would cure them. Urged on by their doctors, parents, families and loved-ones, these HIV-positives took AZT, a drug originally designed and created in 1964 to kill cancer cells, but never approved because it was found to be far too toxic to a human body.

Read the testimony of witness after witness - all based on over 900 actual medical and scientific research papers and reports - that when the FDA finally approved AZT for the treatment of AIDS in 1987, it began causing Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; and every person who took it - healthy or not at the time - would die within three years from one of many different opportunistic diseases. Be prepared for the anger and outrage you will feel when you realize that hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children are still being murdered today in Africa with AZT, simply because they have been declared to be HIV-positive, while the drug company rakes in billions of dollars in profits.

The question remains: After 30 years and 300 billion dollars, why don't we have a cure or a vaccine for AIDS? The witnesses in this court case provide the only answer that makes any sense: We have the wrong cause.

Ashes ($0.99 Kindle), by Scott Nicholson, is free in the B&N store. The B&N collection also claims to have 20 stories, while the Amazon edition has only 12.

Book Description
A collection of 20 contemporary fantasy and supernatural stories from award-winning writer Scott Nicholson. From the pages of magazines like Cemetery Dance and Black Static, the stories range from a guest appearance by Edgar Allan Poe to a story about misplaced love in "Dog Person," selected for Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. Includes an exclusive introduction by Jonathan Maberry and an afterword.

The Demon Girl, by Penelope Fletcher, is free in the B&N store and on Smashwords. Previously free in the Kindle store, it's now missing in action there.

Book Description
Rae Wilder has problems. Plunged into a world of dark magic, fierce creatures and ritual sacrifice, she is charged with a guarding a magical amulet. Rae finds herself beaten up, repeatedly, and forced to make a choice: to live and die human, or embrace her birth-right and wield magics that could turn her into something wicked, a force of nature nothing can control.

Sentence of Marriage, by Shayne Parkinson, the first book in his Promises to Keep trilogy, is free in the B&N store and at Smashwords (where the rest of the series is $1.99 each).

Book Description
"I won't have her forced," Jack said. "Let her decide for herself."

Amy knew her father meant it. She could say no if she wanted. But this marriage would make everything all right. They could put all the trouble she had caused behind them. Everyone would be happy again.

Everyone except her.

In nineteenth century New Zealand, there are few choices for a farm girl like Amy. Her life seems mapped out for her by the time she is twelve. Amy dreams of an exciting life in the world beyond her narrow boundaries. But it is the two people who come to the farm from outside the valley who change her life forever, and Amy learns the high cost of making the wrong choice.

Machine of Death: A collection of stories about people who know how they will die ($9.99 Kindle), edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo & David Malki, is free in PDF format directly from the publisher.

Book Description
"The machine had been invented a few years ago: a machine that could tell, from just a sample of your blood, how you were going to die. It didn't give you the date and it didn't give you specifics. It just spat out a sliver of paper upon which were printed, in careful block letters, the words DROWNED or CANCER or OLD AGE or CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. It let people know how they were going to die." MACHINE OF DEATH tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out. Featuring stories by: Randall Munroe * Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw * Tom Francis * Camille Alexa * Erin McKean * James L. Sutter * and many others. Featuring illustrations by: Kate Beaton * Kazu Kibuishi * Aaron Diaz * Jeffrey Brown * Scott C. * Roger Langridge * Karl Kerschl * Cameron Stewart * and many others.

Focus ($8.99 Kindle), by Leo Babauta, is free in PDF format from the author. He also sells a premium version on his web site (for $35). The free version of the book is "27 chapters", but is only 121 pages long. Since the size of the Kindle version is 179K, it appears that it's pretty much the same as the free version.

Book Description
A simplicity manifesto in the Age of Distraction. Focus shows us how to find the focus among all the digital distractions in our world, so that we can create, focus on what's important, and find time for quiet and contemplation.

Steven Savile, author of The Last Angel ($2.99 Kindle) and Silver (An OgmiosTeam Adventure) ($9.99 Kindle), is giving away his OgmiosTeam Adventure short story Ghostkiller, to anyone that sends him an email at ogmiosteam@gmail.com. If you like it, he invites you to "please twitter, facebook and otherwise spam the world with the address."

Book Description
Back in January my debut thriller came out in hardcover from Variance in the US, and has sold exceptionally well. To try and ease the wait (I was a swine, it ends on a huge reveal) for Gold, Variance and I have decided to do a series of free ebook only promotional short stories, one for each of the team. The first is Noah's story, Ghostkiller.

Noah Larkin is a damaged man. He isn't a hero in the traditional sense. He doesn't do the right thing. He gets into trouble because he lets his heart lead him there, but when your back's against the wall he's the best friend you could ever have. Just ask Margot.

The First Dragoneer ($1.00 Kindle), a novella in The Dragoneers Saga, and The Blood of Coldfrost (A Wardstone Short), both by M. R. Mathias, are both free on Smashwords.

The Blood of Coldfrost
A brief account of the Battle of Coldfrost, which happened a few years before "The Sword and the Dragon" begins. This is just a few thousand words I wrote that preclude the start of my 235,300 word Epic, and several of Free chapters from a few of my other full length novels. If you love fantasy you will enjoy the Free trip

The First Dragoneer
When two young men go on a hunt that they know will be the last hunt of their youth, they decide they want it to be an unforgettable outing. When they cross a ridge leaving the protection of their kingdom behind, they find a cavern that looks like it needs to be explored. In the cavern they find exactly what they were looking for. In this stoney hole lives something they will never forget!

Thanksgiving Your Way is a free ebook from the Money Saving Mom website. It may be too late to save money leading up to Thanksgiving or to work in the recipe for the Creamy Pumpkin Pie Dip into this year's celebration, but be sure to check out the website's Family Fun and Holidays menu for ideas on using up that leftover turkey (you do keep it and eat it, right?) and some Simple Christmas posts (although, I don't know if it would pay us to create a monogram wreath ... how would I tell it from a regular one?)

Ruth Francisco, whose Amsterdam 2012 ($2.99 Kindle), I've read, has two free short stories, Shooter and Primal Wound, free on Smashwords.

Shooter
As Brandon McDowell, an Iraq War veteran, struggles to adjust to civilian life, the “Overpass Shooter” strikes again. Brandon stalks the streets of LA, studying the killer’s patterns, and concludes that the killer, too, is a vet. But when he approaches Det. Ortiz with his findings, the detective doesn’t know if Brandon is confessing, is crazy, or has the instincts of a clever detective.

Primal Wound
When Cicely Scott sets out to find her birthmother in rural New Hampshire, she uncovers a dark family saga of insanity and murder. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Homicide Inspector Val Picard suspects Cicely may be responsible for the disappearance of a young preschool teacher. Lies and betrayal lead to additional murders. But who is at fault?

Amsterdam 2012
A young woman witnesses a murder in Amsterdam that touches off a Muslim rebellion and leads to the Great Eurabian War—World War III.

During her summer break, Ann Aulis travels to Amsterdam with her boyfriend Peter to visit the Anne Frank Museum. They befriend a hip Dutch couple who invites them home for dinner. They spend the night, and the next morning discover their hosts have been murdered. Ann and Peter flee to London only to find the murders have touched off a Muslim rebellion in Holland that spreads to England. They flee to the US, where Peter is detained at Kennedy Airport, then taken away by FBI agents.

Ann returns to her family in Los Angeles, horrified as she sees Muslim rebellions in Europe spread to civil war. With her lover in Guantanamo Bay Prison, Ann watches the United States slowly get dragged into the Eurabian war. As the Muslim world establishes a new caliphate, the United States falls into a major recession caused by high oil prices. Then a major flu epidemic. The only thing keeping Ann sane is her deep attachment to Anne Frank, and her love for Peter. Finally, Ann throws off her passivity, and decides to act.

Transcendence ($28.45 Hardcover; $16.95 paperback), by Christopher McKitterick, is free in PDF format, directly from the author.

Book Description
Humankind rushes toward self-destruction and must evolve or die. Our perspective: a scientist exploring an alien artifact on Triton, a teen-aged hacker in a city gone mad, three actors manipulated into igniting interplanetary war, the de-facto ruler of half the solar system, a soldier fighting in Africa to entertain his audience, an artificial intelligence facing personal crisis, and a cast of billions.

The Paradise War ($0.00 Kindle), by Stephen R. Lawhead, the first in his The Song of Albion Trilogy, is now also free in the Sony bookstore, for those who need epub on their readers.

Book Description
From the dreaming spires of Oxford, Lewis Gillies drives north to seek a mythical creature in a misty glen in Scotland. Expecting little more than a weekend diversion, Lewis finds himself in a mystical place where two worlds meet, in the time-between-times--and in the heart of a battle between good and evil.

The ancient Celts admitted no separation between this world and the Otherworld: the two were delicately interwoven, each dependent on the other. The Paradise War crosses the thin places between this world and that, as Lewis Gillies comes face-to-face with an ancient mystery--and a cosmic catastrophe in the making.

METAtropolis: Cascadia ($18.71 Audible), by Jay Lake, Mary Robinette Kowal, Elizabeth Bear, and Ken Scholes, "the provocative sequel to the Hugo and Audie Award-nominated METAtropolis featur(ing) interconnected stories by today's top speculative fiction writers," is now out at Audible. METAtropolis was free in it's entirety for a brief time early last year at Audible (but isn't available at all now, unless you picked it up then). This year, they are offering a free download of Jay Lake's story "In the Forests of the Night", which introduces the setting for METAtropolis: Cascadia, narrated by Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan ("Saul Tigh").

Two More Kindle Games: Hangman and Hangman 4 Kids

Two more new games for Kindle today, this time in an adult and children's version, resulting in a dual debut Sonic Boom.

Hangman (A Word Game for Kindle) ($2.99)

Book Description
Play the classic game of Hangman on Kindle.

Hangman is a word puzzle game everyone played as a child, but with 600 puzzles of varying difficulty this game is no child's play. The objective is to complete the word or phrase in the least number of guesses. You are presented with a category that the word belongs to, as well as with a row of dashes representing the number of letters the word contains. As you suggest letters they are added in their correct positions, or if you guessed wrong, another body part is added to the figure hanging from a gallows. Guess the word or phrase before the figure is completed or you lose the game.

Along with the standard stick-figure hanging from a gallows Hangman also features a Shakespeare figure and a gingerbread cookie-man who will get a bite taken out of him for each wrong guess. You can get up to 2 hints per round and follow your progress with a running tally of your results.

Enjoy this classic word game, as you sharpen your mind and vocabulary skills!

Hangman 4 Kids (A Kindle Word Game for Children) ($1.99)

Book Description
Kids can now play the popular game of Hangman on Kindle. They can challenge themselves or play with their family as they improve their spelling and vocabulary skills.

In Hangman you must complete a word or phrase in the least number of guesses. You are presented with a category, as well as with a row of dashes representing the number of letters. As you suggest letters they are added in their correct positions, or if you guessed wrong, a body part is added to the figure hanging from a gallows. Guess the word before the figure is completed or you lose the game.

The game includes more than 300 puzzles from fun categories: Animals, Science, Popular Movies, Music & TV Celebrities, Sports and Careers. Players get up to 2 hints per game and can follow their progress with a running tally of their results. Along with the classic Hangman stick-figure, the game features a Snowman and a Gingerbread man whose lives depend on your child's vocabulary skills!

A classic word game that sharpens spelling and vocabulary skills.

Holiday Giveaways

Since it's the holidays and since my loot box is starting to overflow, I'm going to be giving away a number of items over the next couple of weeks. First up, I have three HUGlight Flexible Hands Free Book Lights, all donated by HUGLight. You may remember a while back that they sent some in for me to evaluate; the ones I had set aside for me were all grabbed up by family members to try. Not only can you use these when reading, but anytime you need a hands-free light (such as working on your car or inside a computer). I have three unopened packages that I'm giving away. In addition, HUGLight is giving away some of the lights, some Amazon gift cards and a Kindle, on their Facebook page. All you have to do is LIKE them, then fill out the entry form (only once) and check back on their page now and then.

Next up, I have four of the Smak-Dab Cover Secure Clip for the Kindle DX/2/3, which were donated by Smak-Dab. I was a beta tester for these when the Kindle 3 first came out. I liked them so much that I emailed them and asked if I could have a few to give away. As you can see in the picture, this is just a small clip that is used to secure the cover to your Kindle. I haven't seen much need for this with my DX, as the cover I have is magnetic and stays snugly closed on the back, but if you have the K2 or K3 and any of the clip-in covers, you know that there is a tendency to sometimes try to open the cover the wrong way. This is especially a problem, I've found, with the lighted cover, as I was sticking my fingers between the corner of the Kindle and trying to grab hold of the light to pull it out. With the Smak-Dab in place, not only can I no longer do this, there is no possibility of the cover opening backwards. I actually placed mine on the side, rather than the top, as shown, but it works in either location.

Somewhere along the line, I won two copies of the audio CD version of Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage ($29.98; $12.99 Kindle), by Jeff Benedict. So, I'm giving away one copy as a sort of "grand prize".

Book Description
Suzette Kelo was just trying to rebuild her life when she purchased a broken-down Victorian house perched on the waterfront in New London, CT. The house wasn't particularly fancy, but with lots of hard work Suzette was able to turn it into a home that was important to her, a home that represented her new found independence.

Little did she know that the City of New London, desperate to revive its flailing economy, wanted to raze her house and the others like it that sat along the waterfront in order to win a lucrative Pfizer pharmaceutical contract that would bring new business into the city. Kelo and fourteen neighbors flat out refused to sell, so the city decided to exercise its power of eminent domain to condemn their homes, launching one of the most extraordinary legal cases of our time, a case that ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court.

In Little Pink House, award-winning investigative journalist Jeff Benedict takes us behind the scenes of this case -- indeed, Suzette Kelo speaks for the first time about all the details of this inspirational true story as one woman led the charge to take on corporate America to save her home.

I also won two hardcover copies of A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy ($17.99; $9.99 Kindle), by Thomas Buergenthal, and I'm giving away one of those, as well.

Book Description
Thomas Buergenthal, now a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir A LUCKY CHILD. He arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp. Separated first from his mother and then his father, Buergenthal managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.

Now dedicated to helping those subjected to tyranny throughout the world, Buergenthal writes his story with a simple clarity that highlights the stark details of unimaginable hardship. A LUCKY CHILD is a book that demands to be read by all.

There are also 12 harlequin books in the box, four of which are now spoken for (the winners will be notified soon).

So, how do you enter? Just make a comment (preferably one that pertains to the post) on any post. Including this one. There will be another post just for the harlequin books, as I know that they are not everyone's cup of tea, and the winners of those will be chosen only from the commenters on that post. I'm going back to the beginning of this month, so those who've been active commenters before get a few extra chances. I'll start drawing names at random later this week and I want to try to get everything given away by the middle of next month, so the winners can have at least one unexpected gift under their tree.

Be sure to also enter Amazon's new contest to win one of thirty $100 Kindle Gift Cards, on their Facebook page. They are giving away one gift card each day from Black Friday until Christmas, but you only need to enter a single time.

If you are anywhere that Ruby Tuesday has a restaurant, they are giving away a free appetizer to anyone that likes them on Facebook and enters their email info on this page. I signed up for mine this morning and it's already arrived!

Today's Two Buck Music

If you didn't find anything to spend that $3 MP3 credit on yesterday, there are five new $1.99 titles in the MP3 store today.

The 99 Most Essential Violin Masterpieces is another of the epic collections from X5 Music Group, with twelve and a half hours of music included. The other $1.99 specials have been going back up after a day and most of the others in the Essentials series are priced around $8, so I'd expect that to be the price after today's sale is over.

Here are the other four albums in today's Black Friday Week sale (at least two of which I'm also considering getting):

I Learned the Hard Way (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version), by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Greatest Hits Volume 1, by Rascal Flatts
Contra, by Vampire Weekend
Free Wired [+Digital Booklet], by Far East Movement

New Kindle Game - Next Puzzle Game

The Next Puzzle Game ($2.99) is the first foray into Kindle games for newcomer Mobigloo. This one isn't a word game (and no cute pandas), but you do have to think a few moves ahead to solve the puzzles. There are 128 levels, but the tougher levels should be re-playable (provided you aren't playing them closely together) and the price is reasonable for what is intended to give you a brief break activity.

Game Description
NEXT is a matching puzzle game for Kindle.

The objective of the game is to clear all the pieces off the game board. Game pieces disappear when they are matched with, and touch, other game pieces with the same symbol. Your job is to move the game pieces around the game board to make this happen. Clearing the board allows you to move the next level.

The challenge is that if you don't plan ahead, you might not be able get the pieces to the right location because they are blocked by other game pieces. Because sometimes there are an odd number of a certain types of game pieces, if you match them too soon, you risk leaving stray game pieces behind and then you won't be able to finish the level.

NEXT includes 128 levels of varying difficulty and is easy to learn, but hard to master -- give it a try, and you'll see what we mean!

$3 in Free MP3's, Free Music & Music Gifting

It's another early Christmas gift from Amazon today, with another free three dollar credit in the MP3 store! First, go to this page and enter the code GET3MP3S after clicking on the Enter Your Code button. You'll see the credit you have at Amazon (including, perhaps, some Video on Demand credit you may have forgotten about; I found $4!) and it will automatically be applied as you shop in the appropriate section of Amazon. I'd suggest that your first stop be on the Black Friday Deals at Amazon MP3 page, as Amazon is marking down selected albums to $1.99 each day. Today's list, for example, includes Chronicle: 20 Greatest Hits, by Creedence Clearwater Revival. You may also want to check out this month's selection of 100/$5: 100 Albums for $5 Each, which includes a number of Christmas albums, as well as a number of other genres. In any case, don't delay too long, as this credit must be used by November 29!

Overlooked in all the publicity over being able to give Kindle eBooks as gifts, Amazon also implemented the ability to give MP3 downloads as gifts, as well. Here are the details from Amazon:

Now you can surprise and delight all the music lovers on your list with an instant MP3 gift. Giving MP3s is easy and risk-free: Your gift recipient can always exchange MP3 gifts for an Amazon.com gift card.

• Search for the song or album you want to give. All songs and albums sold by Amazon MP3 can be given as gifts.
• When you reach the detail page, click Give Song or Album as a Gift. You'll be asked to sign in and we'll ask you to personalize the gift by adding a special message.
• Once you've completed these steps, your gift recipient will be sent an email letting them know they have a gift waiting for them.

If you want to give someone a musical gift this Christmas, but aren't sure just which album to pick, Amazon has thought of that as well, with their MP3 Gift Guide, which has sorted a number of albums and artists into categories based upon the person's relationship to you or their age group. If you are just looking for something to spruce up the mood this season, check the Holiday MP3 Store.

Another way you can get some "free" music is to send a $1 MP3-Themed Amazon.com Gift Cards to 5 Facebook friends. The first 10,000 Amazon customers that do so will get a $5 MP3 music downloads credit for themselves. Follow the steps on the Amazon Facebook Gift Card page, starting with connecting your Facebook profile to Amazon. You need to create all five gifts (of $1 each) on the same order and it has to be people on your Friends list.

I've also turned up a few more free albums and singles at Amazon, in addition to the ones on this earlier post. First the holiday themed and then a few others I stumbled past.

Music World Holiday Sampler
Nettwerk Holiday Sampler 2010
Acorn Music Free Holiday Sampler
Do You Hear What I Hear (Featuring Patrick Wilson), by Mary McBride
Christmas Anthem, by Landon Smith & The Real Matt Jones
Fruitcake, by The Superions

Too Big To Fail : The Tompkins Square Label 5th Anniversary Amazon Sampler
Bloodshot Records Label Sampler
Free Sampler - A Westside Fabrication
Per Capita Records Amazon Sampler
Ninja Tune XX - Free Music Compilation [Amazon MP3 Exclusive]
Born Fresh, by Elemint
Nort at Night EP, by Adam Marshall
Boriken Groove, by Reso
Whiskey Holiday, by The Shooters
Winter Night, by Little & Ashley
Mazinka, by 11 Acorn Lane
Heartbreaker, by Girls
A Fire Burns For Freedom, by Ziggy Marley

Black Friday Kindles $89!

Just announced by Amazon on their Twitter feed, they will have a limited number of 2nd Generation Kindles for sale starting Friday at 9AM PST (that's noon, for us east coasters) at $89 each. That's the same eInk screen as the current nook and with built-in 3G wireless. Not only a better price, but a much better deal than the limited number of Wi-Fi only nook's that Best Buy will have as door-buster specials for $99. And you don't have to stand outside in the cold all night to get the deal!.

Bookmark this post and check back at 9AM this Friday. If the link changes for the deal, I'll update this post first (and then probably add a new post for new readers).

Update: It appears that the deal will be on the Black Friday Deals Week page, in the lightning deals at the top of the page. For now, I'm leaving the link the K2 page above, though, as that's the link Amazon used in their announcement, as well.

This is a great deal for a backup Kindle or for the additional readers in your family. There isn't any Wi-Fi, but that can be an advantage for some, as the 3G is so much easier to "set up" (in fact, the only setup is turning it on).