Happy Easter!

Today's roundup will be free and bargain books with a religious theme, in keeping with the day. A few of these are on Kobo, where coupon code KoboSpring1 will get you $1 off and redtag2 should get you $2 off (both unlimited use for non-Agency titles) and giftread gets you 25% off (single use).

First, a free download: It's a free homeschooling curriculum about Easter, available in PDF form, HERE. It may be aimed at kids, but it is a collection of poetry and stories for the occasion, which can be enjoyed by anyone.

Basics of Inductive Bible Study, by Deborah Taylor-Hough, is available as a free download from Lulu ($5.22 in print, but the PDF is free).

Book Description
Think the Bible's confusing? You don't understand the language? Don't let the Bible intimidate you anymore! Here's a simple, step-by-step guide to studying the Bible for anyone, both newbie and experienced alike. Learn to see for yourself what the Bible is really saying, what it all means, and then discover how to easily and practically apply its teachings to your own life. Topics covered include: Observation, themes, people, context, key words, interpretation, word studies, application, basic study outline, helpful suggestions for Bible study leaders, and several sample lessons from a study on the epistle ("letter") to the first-century church at Philippi (aka "Philippians"). Basics of Inductive Bible Study is based on the teaching outline from the author's class, An Introduction to Bible Study.

His Passion ($2.99) is a devotional from Thomas Nelson. You may want to check the sample, but the description (# pages) and size lead me to believe that it contains the full text from the paperback edition.

Book Description
A beautifully crafted 365-day devotional featuring the most moving words ever written about Jesus' last days on earth.

From the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday to the Last Supper; from the traumatic hours in the Garden of Gethsemane to the trials before Caiaphas, Pilate and King Herod; from the cruel ordeal on the Via Dolorosa to His crucifixion on Golgotha; Jesus' tumultuous last days on earth shook the world. Readers will join Christ on His journey during His last days on earth and ultimately re-examine and grasp the awesome power of His resurrection. This book provides 365 daily readings selected from the most gifted Christian authors of all time-Augustine, John Bunyon, Thomas a Kempis, Andrew Murray, C.S. Lewis, Phillip Yancey, and many others.

101 Things You Should Do Before You Graduate ($1.99), by David Bordon and Tom Winters

Book Description
101 THINGS YOU SHOULD DO BEFORE YOU GRADUATE encourages students who are getting out of high school or college to do more than just finish up papers and school projects. Part of getting an education is learning to live life to the fullest. Readers will be reminded that life will change dramatically once they're out of school, so the time to pursue adventure is right now. The book is chock-full of fun, practical, and spiritual suggestions to help readers seize the moment every day, including:
- Laugh a lot
- Eat ice cream for breakfast
- Write a mission statement for your life
- Become the answer to someone's prayer
and ninety-seven more! Students can live life richly, experiencing the excitement God has planned for them moment by moment.

The Color of Heaven ($0.99), by Julianne MacLean (published under the pseudonym E.V. Mitchell)

Book Description
Sophie Duncan is a successful columnist whose world falls apart after her daughter’s unexpected illness and her husband’s shocking, adulterous affair. When it seems nothing else could possibly go wrong, her car skids off an icy road and plunges into a frozen lake. There, in the cold dark depths of the water, Sophie experiences something profound and extraordinary which unlocks the mysterious secrets of her past and teaches her what it means to truly live.

Sophie is a wonderfully genuine character who pours her whole heart onto the pages of this novel, and shares with us an incredible journey of self-discovery, heartbreak, and redemption. Her story is not to be missed.

THE COLOR OF HEAVEN is a fast paced, emotional read

The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection ($1.99) and The Case for the Resurrection ($1.99), by Lee Strobel, are both from Zondervan.

The Case for Easter
Did Jesus of Nazareth really rise from the dead?Of the many world religions, only one claims that its founder returned from the grave. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very cornerstone of Christianity. But a dead man coming back to life? In our sophisticated age, when myth has given way to science, who can take such a claim seriously? Some argue that Jesus never died on the cross. Conflicting accounts make the empty tomb seem suspect. And post-crucifixion sightings of Jesus have been explained in psychological terms.How credible is the evidence for---and against---the resurrection? Focusing his award-winning skills as a legal journalist on history's most compelling enigma, Lee Strobel retraces the startling findings that led him from atheism to belief. Drawing on expert testimony first shared in his blockbuster book The Case for Christ, Strobel examines:The Medical Evidence---Was Jesus' death a sham and his resurrection a hoax?The Evidence of the Missing Body---Was Jesus' body really absent from his tomb?The Evidence of Appearances---Was Jesus seen alive after his death on the cross?Written in a hard-hitting journalistic style, The Case for Easter probes the core issues of the resurrection. Jesus Christ, risen from the dead: superstitious myth or life-changing reality? The evidence is in. The verdict is up to you.

The Case for the Resurrection
The Case for the Resurrection, a ninety-six-page booklet from bestselling author Lee Strobel, provides new evidence that shines a fresh light on the Bible's most important story---the resurrection. Whether you're a pastor, layperson, student, parent, or grandparent ... leading up to the Easter holiday season is a time when millions of people are looking for engaging ways to bring the Easter story to life. The Case for the Resurrection is designed to help meet your needs by providing a compact, low-priced booklet with new evidence from Lee Strobel that shines a fresh light on the Bible's most important story---the resurrection. Featuring free NIV sample material from Strobel's new The Case for Christ Study Bible, the Easter story from the book of Luke with all study notes from The Case for Christ Study Bible linking into the story, and the most-read, most-trusted NIV Scripture text ... this small but powerful booklet will become required Easter reading for you year after year.

The Easter Story from the Family Reading Bible ($0.99), by Zondervan Bibles

Book Description
With readings taken directly from Scripture, The Easter Story from The Family Reading Bible provides you with a family-friendly resource that will equip you to lead your children from the scriptural promises of the Old Testament to the fulfillment of the Easter story. This unique seasonal eBook is the perfect tool to help kids of all ages to understand and embrace the story of Christ's death and glorious resurrection. The Easter Story also provides a sample of one of the three reading tracks found in The Family Reading Bible.NIV 2011. The New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible is the world's most popular modern-English Bible---easy to understand, yet rich with the detail found in the original languages.

Prayers for Sale ($2.99), by Sandra Dallas, isn't actually Christian fiction, but is heavily discounted by Macmillan currently and had a title that fit the theme.

Book Description
Hennie Comfort is eighty-six and has lived in the mountains of Middle Swan, Colorado since before it was Colorado. Nit Spindle is just seventeen and newly married. She and her husband have just moved to the high country in search of work. It's 1936 and the depression has ravaged the country and Nit and her husband have suffered greatly. Hennie notices the young woman loitering near the old sign outside of her house that promises "Prayers For Sale". Hennie doesn't sell prayers, never has, but there's something about the young woman that she's drawn to. The harsh conditions of life that each have endured create an instant bond and an unlikely friendship is formed, one in which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed.

Sandra Dallas has created an unforgettable tale of a friendship between two women, one with surprising twists and turns, and one that is ultimately a revelation of the finest parts of the human spirit.

The Rising Hope ($2.39), by Charles Swindoll

Book Description
In his poignant booklet, The Rising Hope, Dr. Charles Swindoll speaks directly to the hearts of all people who need an everlasting hope. The only hope. Jesus Christ. As a teacher and pastor, he takes them confidently to the eternal spring of hope in the promise of the Gospel with teaching and a message that will change the present and eternity of those who read it.

Walk with Jesus ($1.59), by Charles Swindoll

Book Description
In Walk with Jesus, a forty day Lent devotional, readers go on a compelling journey through the life and ministry of Jesus. This powerful booklet gives insights only a learned teacher could give while engaging the heart and mind only as a pastor can.

How to Hear from God: Learn to Know His Voice and Make Right Decisions ($2.99), by Joyce Meyer

Book Description
In the hustle and bustle of today's busy world, sometimes it's hard enough to hear yourself think, much less take a minute to stop and listen for the voice of God. But learning to recognize God's voice and the many ways in which He speaks is vital for following His plan. In How to Hear from God, Joyce Meyer shows readers that God reaches out to people every day, seeking a partnership with them to offer guidance and love. She reveals the ways in which God delivers His word and the benefits of asking God for the sensitivity to hear His voice. Joyce asks the question, "Are you listening?" and shares how to do just that.

Claire's Not-So-Gothic Romance ($0.99), by Bonnie Blythe

Book Description
Claire Parnell, plain, repressed, and broke, falls desperately in love with Sam Murray, the sought-after new guy in town, and must overcome her scheming mother, a badly decorated red room, the enticements of the flesh (albeit scrawny), and Sam's unsavory past, to claim the same hard-fought happiness as her favorite literary heroine...Jane Eyre.

Sisters of the Quilt: The Complete Trilogy ($9.99), by Cindy Woodsmall, works out to $3.33 per novel.

Book Description
Can Hannah find refuge, redemption, and a fresh beginning after her world is shattered?

When the Heart Cries
Her life among her Amish community brutally interrupted, seventeen-year-old Hannah Lapp faces questions neither family, nor fiancé, nor even faith can easily answer. The first book in the Sisters of the Quilt series, When the Heart Cries will ignite a broader understanding of others’ beliefs and a God-given strength to deal with pain we all experience.

When the Morning Comes
Rejected by those she loves, Hannah Lapp leaves her Amish community and seeks refuge in the world outside, leaving her family and friends to wrestle with the painful truths that emerge in the wake of her disappearance. As she struggles to find her place in the confusing Englischer world, her community deals with the turbulent aftermath of her departure.

When the Soul Mends
Hoping to help her sister, Hannah Lapp reluctantly returns to the Old Order Amish community she fled in disgrace more than two years earlier. When hidden truths are revealed about her former fiancé, she must choose whether to return to the Plain life or to the Englischer man who adores her in this captivating conclusion to the Sisters of the Quilt series.

This three-in-one collection includes the entirety of the best-selling Sisters of the Quilt trilogy now at a new low price!

The Runaway Pastor's Wife ($2.99), by Diane Moody

Book Description
What could possibly drive a pastor’s wife to run away from home?

After years of frustration from life in a church fishbowl, Annie McGregor walks away from it all and boards a plane for Colorado. She has no way of knowing her college sweetheart is headed to the same cabin in the Rockies, terrified and gravely wounded. Their unexpected reunion couldn’t have come at a worse time. Or could it? Bewildered that God would allow Michael Dean to walk back into her life, Annie pleads with Him to keep her heart true to her husband and her family. God answers her prayer, but in a way she would never expect.

Written by a former pastor’s wife, Annie’s story provides a rare look inside the family life of those in the ministry, particularly the unique pressures on those who marry men of God.

Free Audiobook - Crush It!

Update: If you have problems getting the free audiobook to show up, as I did, try opening the App, clicking on the Menu button, then on the Shop icon that appears. You should then have a place to click that will add the book to your account. Thanks to whoever answers Audible's twitter feed, for this tip; you would think that they could have made this information known on the product page and to their own and Amazon's tech support (Amazon's support just pushes you to Audible; the Audible people were great, they just added the audiobook to my account, but no one thought to put any notice of how to get the free book anywhere in the download, product page or make it available to the support people).

You can get a free audiobook edition of Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion ($9.99 Kindle), by Gary Vaynerchuk, from Audible and Amazon, by installing the Audible for Android app using the Amazon AppStore and ugprading it to the latest version (1.2.2.2). Note that if you already have this app installed, you will probably want to delete it from the device, then install the one from Amazon. I had problems with mine, just trying to use the Amazon version as the updater, in that the book didn't automatically get added to my Audible account, so I had to contact them for help; they promptly added the book, but it did take longer as a result. This offer ends 4/28, so you have a few days to get it installed (just adding it to your account isn't enough) and log in to your account via the app. It's a fairly short book (3:40), but unabridged.

Book Description
Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love. In Crush It! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses. Gary spent years building his family business from a local wine shop into a national industry leader. Then one day he turned on a video camera, and by using the secrets revealed here, transformed his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand. By the end of this book, readers will have learned how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Step by step, Crush It! is the ultimate driver's manual for modern business.

Game Deal of the Day - Hide & Secret 3

A game download of Hide & Secret 3: Pharaoh's Quest ($9.99 $1.98), by Anarchy Enterprises, is today's Video Game Deal of the Day. Only on review so far (5-star), but you can play it for 30 minutes on a free trial before paying for it (to make sure it both works with our PC and you like it).

Game Description
Continue your globetrotting adventure around the world to reunite the spirits of an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh and Queen, separated for over 2000 years. Use your wits to track down and collect their priceless stolen artifacts and place them in the correct locations to appease the Pharaoh. Solve timeless riddles and perplexing puzzles as you journey deep into undiscovered Pyramids and Temples to solve hidden mysteries in a quest to unlock the Secrets of Eternity!

• Return Stolen Treasures.
• Solve Challenging And Deadly Puzzles.
• Reunite Ancient Spirits.
• Unlock The Secrets Of Eternity.

Free Book (noDRM) - Starfarers

You can get a free download of the first book in Vonda N. McIntyre's The Starfarers Quartet series, Starfarers, over at BookView Cafe and you don't even have to create an account (then again, you don't add it to your own account, if you have one, just get access to the download). I don't see any of the Quartet on Kindle, but they have all four books, as either separate downloads or the entire series ominibus, if you decide to buy them.

Book Description
The starship Starfarer is poised for our first voyage to another star system. The Alien Contact Team — physicist Victoria Fraser MacKenzie, geneticist Stephen Thomas Gregory, geographer Satoshi Lono, and alien contact specialist J.D. Sauvage — and the rest of the faculty and staff prepare for humanity’s most ambitious exploratory expedition.

But the world has changed. A new regime orders the vessel to be abandoned. It will be turned into an instrument of war.

What do the Starfarers do?

They do what any red-blooded Alien Contact Team would do.

They steal the starship.

Click HERE for directions and access to the free book.

Free Tribeca Films Movie Rental

Amazon and American Express have teamed up to give everyone a free credit to watch one of the 2011 Tribeca Films, such as The High Cost of Living, for free (as an Amazon Instant Video). You can also use the $6 credit to watch two of the movies from past years (which rent for $2.99 instead of $5.99). The credit can only be used on films on the Tribeca Films page (it's not a general Instant Video credit), expires on May 31 if you haven't used it by then and is currently limited to US customers (physical or billing address or US credit card).

To get the $6 movie credit, click HERE and follow the directions. You'll have to connect your Amazon and Twitter accounts (you can create one just for this, if you want), then follow Amazon and American Express, then tweet a specific message on your account. Sounds complicated, but they have a button you click on the page and all you have to do is confirm access (at that point, you can log in to your twitter account or switch accounts).

Here are a few more details:

• Although the price shown on the "Rent" button will not change, your credit will automatically be applied to your purchase.
• After your purchase, you can confirm that the credit was applied by checking your order confirmation, which will be sent to you by e-mail.
• To receive this offer, you must click the button above to follow Amazon Instant Video and American Express on Twitter and automatically re-tweet the above message between April 20, 2011, at 12:00 AM PST and May 1, 2011, at 11:59 PM PST.
• Offer limited to one promotional credit per Amazon.com customer.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

Well, the free book promotion at AllRomance is over for another year and the audiobook download of Walden has changed into a streaming listen only (it's still free elsewhere, see below), but there are still plenty of free ebooks around. In fact, you can still get the Walden audibook - Tantor read the blog post, saw that you were wanting to download it and gave us a link to get zip file.

Here are a few that have become free in the US Kindle store, that were previously UK only, or that have been added to additional ebookstores as free selections.

• Walden
• RX from the Garden
• Generation Rising
• Griselda Takes Flight
• How to Make Money Marketing Your Business with Tumblr
• Let's Go Europe 2011!

Since today is Earth Day, I've picked out some bargain books that are relevant to the occasion. Note that if you go to Kobo, coupon code KoboSpring1 will get you $1 off and redtag2 should get you $2 off (both unlimited use for non-Agency titles) and giftread gets you 25% off, where a quick search turned up some interesting titles: Organic Gardening For Dummies is $7.89 with the coupon code, Gardening For Dummies is $1.89 and Organic Gardening For Dummies® Mini Edition is free (in fact, all the Mini Editions are free with the coupon code). Below are a few more I found at Amazon.

Green Made Easy: The Everyday Guide for Transitioning to a Green Lifestyle ($0.99), by Chris Prelitz, was briefly (and apparently mistakenly) free at Amazon UK, but is a great deal on a relevant title (with almost all 5 star reviews and enough that they can't all be friends of the author).

Book Description
In Green Made Easy, author and green pioneer Chris Prelitz shares how to be both environmental and economical at the same time. Going green is not only good for our planet, it’s good for your pocketbook. For over 20 years, Chris has been helping businesses, home owners, and corporations lower their monthly expenses by going green. Chris and his wife, Becky, share a green solar-powered home in Laguna Beach, California, which Chris designed and built. Most months they produce more power than they use and receive a credit from their power company instead of a bill!

In this book, Chris shares personal experiences, lessons learned, and reflections that humorously touch the heart and inspire the spirit. The chapter “Busting Green Myths” will sway even the most cynical person toward better eco-choices that will also save money. Chris says, “We’re rediscovering that it’s so much healthier, more lucrative, and better for every living thing to transition away from wasteful, polluting technologies and make choices that work in harmony with nature.”

Green Made Easy is written in a friend-to-friend, conversational style and examines our daily lives from personal care and cosmetics to solar-energy systems. This book will delight and inspire any and all who dream of making a difference and wish to create a thriving, healthy future for generations to come.

A Guest in the Jungle ($3.99), by James Polster, was originally released in 1987 and is credited with creating awareness of rainforest destruction.

Book Description
When Pittsburgh attorney Whitehill begins his vacation, he is anticipating a leisurely jaunt across South America. But he gets more than he bargained for when a sightseeing trip goes awry, leaving him stranded in the heart of the Amazon jungle. Whitehill isn’t exactly the outdoorsy type—he hikes in Brooks Brothers pants—so he is relieved when he meets a scientist perusing the jungle for medicinal plants and insects. Of course, the good doctor’s true motives are less than altruistic, and Whitehill soon finds himself being forcibly marched through the rainforest en route to certain death. When he escapes, with the help of some hungry vampire bats, Whitehill falls in with an English-speaking Indian whose tribe is at the heart of a raging land conflict. Trapped in the jungle, Whitehill must gather what little courage he has to stop an Indian war and preserve a vanishing culture from rapacious developers. Along the way, he has a fling with a gorgeous native, narrowly survives being sacrificed to the gods, and is rescued from a bombing by a pair of hard-drinking American expats. A Guest in the Jungle is a smart, engrossing, and uproariously funny novel about the power of one man to make a difference in the world.

Kidnapping the Lorax ($0.99), by Patricia K. Lichen, obviously has a bit of an agenda, but might be an interesting read nonetheless (at least five people thought so, but that may be just the author's agent, close family and friends).

Book Description
Three young environmentalists kidnap the Secretary of the Interior and take her to the Pacific Northwest woods to reeducate her, in the belief that when she returns to D.C., she will begin making correct, informed decisions for the land.

Greening IT ($0.99), edited by Adrian Sobotta, Irene Sobotta, John Gøtze and Connie Hedegaard, is a large volume on paper, but bargain priced as an ebook. It's also free on their web site, as a PDF (there is a "low-res" and "hi-res" version, which seems to apply just to the included images, as the text is readable in either version).

Book Description
The IT sector itself, responsible for 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, can get greener by focusing on energy efficiency and better technologies - we call this Green IT. Yet, IT also has the potential to significantly reduce the remaining 98% of emissions from other sectors of the economy - by optimising resource use and saving energy etc. We call this the process of Greening IT.

This book explores the great potential of greening society with IT - i.e. the potential of IT in transforming our societies into Low-Carbon societies. This is a global problem and demands a global solution, and in the spirit of this fact, this creative commons-licensed book is the result of an internationally collaborative effort by a number of opinion leaders in the field of Greening IT.

The foreword is written by European Commissioner for Climate Change Connie Hedegaard.

Foreword - By Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action
Chapter 1 Prologue
Chapter 2 Our Tools Will Not Save Us This Time - by Laurent Liscia
Chapter 3 Climate Change and the Low Carbon Society - by Irene N. Sobotta
Chapter 4 Why Green IT Is Hard - An Economic Perspective - by Rien Dijkstra
Chapter 5 Cloud Computing - by Adrian Sobotta
Chapter 6 Thin Client Computing - by Sean Whetstone
Chapter 7 Smart Grid - by Adrian Sobotta
Chapter 8 How IT Contributes to the Greening of the Grid - by Dr. George W. Arnold
Chapter 9 The Green IT Industry Ecosystem - by Ariane Rüdiger
Chapter 10 Out of The Box Ways IT Can Help to Preserve Nature and Reduce CO2 - by Flavio Souza
Chapter 11 From KPIs to the Business Case - Return on Investment on Green IT? - by Dominique C. Brack
Chapter 12 Computing Energy Efficiency - An Introduction - by Bianca Wirth
Chapter 13 A Future View: Biomimicry + Technology - by Bianca Wirth
Chapter 14 Greening Supply Chains - The Role of Information Technologies - by Hans Moonen
Chapter 15 Epilogue

Oceans: The Threats to Our Seas and What You Can Do to Turn the Tide ($3.86), by Jon Bowermaster

Book Description
This unique tie-in to the major motion picture Oceans—coming this April from Disney & National Geographic—explores the health of our oceans, and what we can do to improve it.

More than 75 percent of the globe is covered by the oceans. It is sometimes difficult to understand why it is called Planet Earth rather than Planet Ocean. Since half the world’s human population lives within a stone’s throw of an ocean coastline, the oceans’ health is increasingly important. Rich with resources and potential—as a source of renewable energy, new drugs, drinking water—for years we have treated them as both infinite and undamageable. But they are not.

Over-fishing, climate change, pollution, acidification, and more have put the world’s oceans and marine life at great risk.

Oceans gathers some of the most insightful visionaries, explorers, and ocean lovers— marine biologists, politicians, environmentalists, fishermen, sportsmen, deep divers, and more—in a unique anthology, in which each speaks to a unique aspect of our world’s most dimly understood dimension.

Getting Back ($2.99), by William Dietrich, is one of three backlist titles from this Pulitzer Prize winner and natural history correspondent for the Seattle Times that are bargain priced.

Book Description
Getting Back is a futuristic thriller, an eco-fable with a touch of 'Survivor,' Mad Max, and Avatar. The world's population has doubled. Wilderness exists only in old movies. Every region on Earth has been explored, organized, and tamed. But in this brave new age one secret organization promises the most forbidden pleasure of all: a true outdoor adventure. The price is a year's salary. The destination is a continent that disease has put off-limits. And the catch is that on this expedition, you may never return...

In the belly of a shimmering 21st Century pyramid, Daniel Dyson occupies Cubicle 17 and fantasizes about love and escape. By day he pursues petty ways to subvert his overly programmed life. By night he flirts with a shadowy group that dares him to rebel and reclaim his autonomy. Then he stumbles onto Outback Adventure.

Outback doesn't advertise and keeps its Internet site heavily encyrpted. Yet Daniel, partly to seek deeper meaning in his life, partly to find a woman who doesn't want to be found, soon finds himself taking a perilous trek across the forbidden continent of Australia. There, Outback has promised he will find out what it means to be truly alive, to test his limits, and to understand real survival. What he and his two dozen fellow adventurers don't know is that all their high-tech gear and all their plans haven't prepared them for what lies ahead. Because this journey will not only plunge them into a stark desert and through a gauntlet of natural dangers, it will force them to face the most dangerous creatures on earth: their fellow humans.

Getting Back is a novel of survival and a search for meaning where both have gone extinct - a thriller that asks us whether getting back is the object of the game, or the punishment for losing...

The Collected Works of John Muir (Unexpurgated Edition) ($1.99) is a popular collection from Halcyon Classics. This edition is DRM free, includes an active table of contents for easy navigation and errors and omissions have been corrected (versus scanned editions available free).

Book Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook collection contains nine works by California conservationist John Muir (1838-1914). Scottish-born Muir was an early advocate of Conservation in the United States; his activism led to the establishment of the Sierra Club. Muir is perhaps best known for his efforts to preserve the Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park, and his unsuccessful attempts to stop the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley near San Francisco.

Contents:
Studies in the Sierra (1874)
Picturesque California (1890)
The Mountains of California (1894)
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado (1902)
Stickeen: The Story of a Dog (1909)
The Yosemite (1912)
The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913)
Travels in Alaska (1915)
Steep Trails (1919)

Green Living For Dummies®, Mini Edition ($0.99), Organic Gardening For Dummies®, Mini Edition ($0.89) and Green Building and Remodeling For Dummies®, Mini Edition ($0.99) are just a few of the For Dummies®, Mini Editions that are under a buck at Amazon.

Green Living For Dummies®, Mini Edition
Minimize your impact on the world and enjoy a green lifestyle

Whether you want to repair, restore, or reuse, this practical guide is packed with realistic ways to help the environment and create a better home for you and your loved ones — from reducing energy use and waste to scaling back reliance on your car to making a difference in your diet.

Open the book and find:

• Ways to work greener transportation into your lifestyle
• The best ways to eat locally and organically
• How to rid your life of clutter
• Tips for conserving water and energy in your home today

Organic Gardening For Dummies®, Mini Edition
Grow a bountiful garden without harming the environment

Whether you're cultivating fruits and vegetables or growing beautiful flowers, this handy guide shows you how to work with nature, not against it, to create and maintain an organic garden your whole family will enjoy.

Open the book and find:

• How to beat weeds at their own game
• Tips for keeping pests away without chemical pesticides
• Ways to buy or make compost and build healthy soil
• How to work with, not against, your soil

Green Building and Remodeling For Dummies®, Mini Edition
Your hands-on, practical guide to the materials and construction methods of green building

Want to build responsibly and help preserve the environment? This friendly, step-by-step guide introduces you to key facets of green building and remodeling, from looking at long-term costs to working with green professionals to reducing energy and water use.

Open the book and find:

• The benefits of going green
• Green material substitutions
• Where to locate green professionals
• Ten green things you can do in your home today

Green Living by Design ($3.99), by Jean Nayar, is even greener than the recycled paper of the paperback edition, when read as an ebook.

Book Description
What if someone told you that you could make your home look gorgeous, be more energy and cost efficient and be kind to the environment at the same time? With the help of Jean Nayar and the experts at PointClickHome.com now anyone can remodel, renovate, or decorate their home, all without hurting the planet.

Filled with easy, insider tips on everything from insulation, carpentry, lighting, and complete renovations to simple projects like redecorating; Green Living by Design is the source for anyone who wants their home to be chic and eco-friendly.

Chapters include information on furnishings, fabrics, water use, choosing locally made products, harvesting and controlling sunlight, composting and disposing and energy-efficient appliances.

Laid out in an easy-to-follow format with step-by-step instructions, special tips and hints and material guides, this book makes it easier than ever to follow your conscience while protecting the earth.

The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed My Family for a Year ($9.87), by Spring Warren and Jesse Pruet, is a bit above my usual cutoff (as is the next one), but is one I'm sampling and may make an exception for - if it saves me $5 on food, it's back to bargain priced and might save me hundreds (or maybe at least one), if it improves the production from our garden this year.

Book Description
When Spring Warren told her husband and two teenage boys that she wanted to grow 75 percent of all the food they consumed for one year—and that she wanted to do it in their yard—they told her she was crazy.

She did it anyway.

The Quarter-Acre Farm is Warren’s account of deciding—despite all resistance—to take control of her family’s food choices, get her hands dirty, and create a garden in her suburban yard. It’s a story of bugs, worms, rot, and failure; of learning, replanting, harvesting, and eating. The road is long and riddled with mistakes, but by the end of her yearlong experiment, Warren’s sons and husband have become her biggest fans—in fact, they’re even eager to help harvest (and eat) the beautiful bounty she brings in.

Full of tips and recipes to help anyone interested in growing and preparing at least a small part of their diet at home, The Quarter-Acre Farm is a warm, witty tale about family, food, and the incredible gratification that accompanies self-sufficiency.

Urban Agriculture: Ideas and Designs for the New Food Revolution ($9.99), by David Tracey

Book Description
Urban Agriculture is packed with ideas and designs for anyone interested in joining the new food revolution. First-time farmers and green thumbs alike will find advice on growing healthy, delicious, affordable food in urban settings. From condo balconies to community orchards, cities are coming alive with crops. Get growing!

About the Author
David Tracey is a journalist and environmental designer who operates EcoUrbanist in Vancouver. A certified arborist specializing in organic fruit trees and edible landscapes, he is also the Executive Director of Tree City Canada, a non-profit ecological engagement group. David is the author of Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto, and an advocate for all those reclaiming our right to great food through urban agriculture.

Last, but not least, today's Magazine bargain is a one-year subscription to Hobby Farms for $5.00, valid today only.

Description
The ultimate owner's manual for rural enthusiasts, Hobby Farms embraces the growing segment of the population that is returning to farm life in search of a more meaningful existence. Hobby Farms is ideal for everyone from pocket farmers looking to make a profit from their part-time farming endeavors to hobby farmers who have a passion for farm life.

Free Book (noDRM) - Simple and Easy Portuguese Recipes

Simple and Easy Portuguese Recipes ($1.99 Kindle), by Luís M. Fernandes, is free over on Smashwords, using coupon code LR37Z, thru the end of this month. This is a fairly small book (41K at Amazon, but a bit larger on Smashwords, where the title is slightly different), but that's because there isn't a lot of intro and fluff. There's a cover page, a working table of contents and the recipes. From comparing the table of contents, there appear to be a few more recipes in the Kindle edition (the smaller size seems to be due to a missing cover image), but you can't see the recipes themselves to check the formatting. The formatting at Smashwords is fairly good (but could definitely be improved on the Mobi side; the EPUB is much cleaner looking on the PC), but definitely usable for cooking. Measurements are in US sizes (cups, pounds, etc), so no conversion appears to be required.

I glanced thru the recipes and will definitely try the Asparagus with Eggs, as we have fresh Asparagus coming up now. Tomatoes with Eggs will have to wait until the middle of summer, when our tomatoes start to ripen. Other recipes I intend to try include Xarem (Clams with bacon, ham and sausage in a wine sauce) and Octopus with Roasted Sweet Potatoes (I have a lot of sweet potatoes we need to eat up).

Book Description
In this book, you are not going to find sophisticated recipes. On the contrary, the recipes you will find here use ingredients that are part of the Mediterranean diet (which has become Immaterial Human Heritage by UNESCO, on November 16, 2010) and that can be cooked with simple techniques.

Some of the dishes you will find in this book can be prepared in a single pot. The secret to enjoy the Portuguese cuisine is to use simple techniques (no complicated sauces or heavy creams) to preserve the distinctive flavors of the products used.

This book intends to take you in a voyage through the amazing tastes and scents of the Portuguese Cuisine. The idea behind this book is to share the roots of a cuisine that is characterized by its simplicity and flexibility in combining the ingredients. In this book, you are not going to find sophisticated recipes. On the contrary, the recipes you will find here use ingredients that are part of the Mediterranean diet (which has become Immaterial Human Heritage by UNESCO, on November 16, 2010) and that can be cooked with simple techniques.

Some of the dishes you will find in this book can be prepared in a single pot. The secret to enjoy the Portuguese cuisine is to use simple techniques (no complicated sauces or heavy creams) to preserve the distinctive flavors of the products used.

There is not a single Mediterranean cuisine. The Portuguese recipes are influenced by a combination of Mediterranean and Moorish flavors and textures. The Mediterranean cuisine is rich in variations and diversity as the countries around the Mediterranean Sea associated with such cuisine (Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Greece, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal).

When one speaks about Portuguese cuisine and recipes, one most keep in mind that there is a strong relation between history and food. The history of Portugal is marked by the sea exploration in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. From the “new lands” the explorers brought potatoes, tomatoes, kidney beans, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, among other spices. These ingredients were incorporated in the traditional recipes and their different combinations bring strong flavors and scents to the Portuguese food.

Enjoy!

Free Audiobook - Walden

For Earth Day, Tantor Audio is giving away the unabridged audiobook of Walden ($6.41 Kindle), by Henry David Thoreau, narrated by Mel Foster. The download is a huge zip file containing the book in MP3 format (compatible with Kindle), in 20 parts.

Book Description
Walden is the classic account of two years spent by Henry David Thoreau living at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. The story is detailed in its accounts of Thoreau's day-to-day activities, observations, and undertakings to survive out in the wilderness for two years. Thoreau's journal is an exquisite account of a man seeking a more simple life by living in harmony with nature. In today's fast-paced consumer-driven society, the austere lifestyle endorsed by Thoreau is as relevant and refreshing as ever.

Click HERE to get the free download. If you don't already have an account with Tantor, you'll need to create one (no credit card info is required to set up the account).

Update: The link at Tantor is now for a streaming listen only. However, you can still get the audiobook free at Learn Out Loud, HERE.

Free Book (noDRM) - Forbidden

Forbidden ($4.24 Kindle), by Samantha Sommersby, the first in her The Sacrifice series, is today's free book from AllRomanceeBooks. This book has been a free selection on Amazon and B&N in the past, so some of you may have it already.

Book Description
There’s a fine line between mysticism and madness…one they must cross to win.

London psychiatrist Wesley Atherton is a man of science. He doesn’t believe in love at first sight…until he finds himself inexplicably drawn to a green-eyed American beauty he bumps into on the Tube. Just his luck, Katherine, a fashion design intern, has an engagement ring on her finger.

Wes knows a thing or two about people, though. Instinct tells him there’s something more than irresistible temptation behind their attraction. She doesn’t love her fiancé, he’s sure of it—now if only he can convince her they’re meant to be together.

Surviving a deadly train wreck is the first sign his intuition is spot on. The second—a psychic who warns them the Reaper doesn’t like to be cheated out of its quarry. The situation defies all logic, but a string of strange and lethal events convinces Wes that he and Katherine are living on borrowed time. Pitted in a battle against death itself, Wes will do anything, make any sacrifice, to protect the woman he loves.

Warning: This book contains one bad-ass demon, spectacular shagging, a feisty American heroine, and one very hot, very British, knife-wielding shrink.

Click HERE for the free book. It may show full price until you click on Buy Now or Add to Cart; once you start to checkout, you will see a 100% discount and your total will be zero (if it isn't, stop and try again from their home page, as you need to see the discount to get it free). Available (DRM-free) formats are: Epub, Rocket, HTML, Mobipocket (.prc), Microsoft Reader, Adobe Acrobat.

This author has two short stories on the perenially free lists at ARe, as well: Forbidden: The Union and Smokin'.

Free Book (EPUB/PDF) - Romeo, Romeo

Romeo, Romeo ($4.79), by Robin Kaye, is free in DRM'd EPUB or PDF format from Sourcebooks, if you join their CasaVIP program. Those of you with Kindles may already have this one, as it was free last December from Amazon.

Book Description
Rosalie Ronaldi doesn't have a domestic bone in her body ... All she cares about is her career, so she survives on take-out and dirty martinis, keeps her shoes under the dining room table, her bras on the shower curtain rod, and her clothes on the couch ... Nick Romeo is every woman's fantasy - tall, dark, handsome, rich, really good in bed, AND he loves to cook and clean ... He says he wants an independent woman, but when he meets Rosalie, all he wants to do is take care of her. Before too long, he's cleaned up her apartment, stocked her refrigerator, and adopted her dog ... So what's the problem? Just a little matter of mistaken identity, corporate theft, a hidden past in juvenile detention and one big nosy Italian family too close for comfort ...

Getting signed up is a bit involved. First, click HERE to sign up for the CasaVIP emails. You'll get an email to confirm, open it and click the confirmation link. You'll then get another email welcoming you to the program, with a coupon code to use to get the book for free; click Download Now in that email and you'll be taken to a web page to order the book (choose EPUB or PDF). You enter the coupon code during checkout (make sure you apply it and see it free, before you get to step 3, which asks for payment).

Free Book (nook) - The Strange Case of Finley Jayne

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne ($2.39 Kindle), by Kady Cross, is a free pre-order from B&N currently. This is (yet another) short story/prequel for her Steampunk Chronicles series, the first of which, The Girl in the Steel Corset, will release in Hardcover next month.

Book Description
Finley Jayne knows she's not 'normal'. Normal girls don't lose time, or have something inside them that makes them capable of remarkably violent things. Her behavior has already cost her one job, so when she's offered the lofty position of companion to Phoebe, a debutante recently engaged to Lord Vincent, she accepts, despite having no experience. Lord Vincent is a man of science with his automatons and inventions, but Finley is suspicious of his motives where Phoebe is concerned. She will do anything to protect her new friend, but what she discovers is even more monstrous than anything she could have imagined…

Click HERE for the free download from B&N.

Free Book (noDRM) - A Deadly Game

A Deadly Game ($6.64 Kindle), by J.P. Bowie, the first in his LGBT Nick Fallon Investigation series, is today's free book from AllRomanceeBooks.

Book Description
Nick Fallon, private investigator, gets a rude awakening when his past life unexpectedly catches up with him. Four years earlier, Nick, then a member of the Pittsburgh Police Department, was instrumental in arresting Francisco Garcia, a drug dealer and cold-blooded murderer.

Now, Garcia has escaped from death-row, intent on making good his threat of reprisal for the death of his son in the shootout that brought down his notorious empire---a confrontation that also claimed the life of Nick's close friend, Sam Valance.

Nick, only too aware of Garcia's ruthless and cunning tactics, fears for the safety of his family and his lover, Eric Jamieson. Nick knows in order to protect those he loves he cannot, for one moment afford to let down his guard, until Garcia is either apprehended---or dead.

A Deadly Game is an erotic thrill ride, filled with danger, excitement and suspense.

Click HERE for the free book. It may show full price until you click on Buy Now or Add to Cart; once you start to checkout, you will see a 100% discount and your total will be zero (if it isn't, stop and try again from their home page, as you need to see the discount to get it free). Available (DRM-free) formats are: Adobe Acrobat, Mobipocket (.prc), Epub.

Library Lending Finally Coming to Kindle

It's been the #1 reason cited by many people as to why they bought an ereader other than a Kindle and one of the most asked for features by those who do have a Kindle for quite some time: the ability to check out books from the library. Actually, the original Kindle could quite easily be used to check out books from the library (and to buy books from non-Kindle sources that sold Mobi books), but you "fix" the file a bit so that the Kindle would recognize the PID (similar to the fixes people use today to correct the title and author using Calibre). The DRM wasn't broken and the lending period was respected, so, yes, the original Kindle had the ability to support Library Lending except for one, tiny detail: Amazon/Mobipocket forced Overdrive to modify their software so that the Kindle's PID could not be entered.

Now, that they are firmly established and prices have come down on the hardware, they have no doubt realized that many of their customers have been buying two ereaders: one for Kindle books and one for library use. That second reader then opened up the customer to price shop their ebook purchases (although not on Agency titles). With Library Lending on your Kindle, the need for a second reader vanishes for many Kindle customers, which should also neatly corral their ebook purchases into the Amazon kingdom.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that Amazon will support lending: it's an important consideration for those who have to choose which one reader to purchase for their family and it's a big consideration for those with kids (who are big users of both public and school libraries). It will provide a foundation for textbook lending, which is already supported by the nook, as well. What it won't do, though, is provide access to large numbers of books that you can read without paying (other than the property taxes you pay to support your library, already), as the selection for most libraries is very, very limited. Those who have complained of poor book choice on Kindle are comparing the selection to paper books; other ebookstores have more limited selections (although they are rapidly expanding) and libraries the most limited yet (many have spent most of their digital budgets on audiobooks in past years and some still do). That looked like it was starting to change (some libraries are actively adding books at a fast pace, rather than adding physical locations, but one I belong to hasn't added any new ebooks in months), but the modification of lending terms by publishers such HarperCollins will put an end to that, if their terms become the norm. No library will be able to afford more than a few very popular ebooks, if they have to repurchase ever 26 lends (theoretically a year, but that's only if no one ever returns one early, which many do with EPUB and ADE). Any book that is destined for many hundreds of lends will instead get most of their purchases on paper (as the publishers want).

I've included the announcement from Amazon, but have one question: if they can keep my location and annotations between a library lend and a purchase of the same book from Amazon, why can't they do so when I am reading a sample from Amazon and decide to purchase the book? They don't even have to track annotations (since they disabled those in samples), but if they could just keep my reading location when I purchase, so you don't have to do the location dance to figure out where to resume reading; it's a trivial exercise in programming for samples, yet they add this feature for a much more complicated transaction? Obviously, they are going to be adding a new format to Overdrive (Kindle) rather than just supporting Mobi, so this means that existing books your library has in the Mobi format will probably still be off limits (as are the ones they have in EPUB); unless they work out some type of special deal to grandfather in past purchases (in one or both formats), which would take cooperation from the publishers, the number of Kindle books you'll be able to borrow from your local library will initially be zero (I do see one other option: they could give libraries access to the entire Amazon catalog and just let them set a limit on purchases ... rather than the librarian having to make decisions on what to purchase and lend out, their customers would do so by requesting a book). Also, note that "later this year" could be December 31 and still be factual, so I foresee this as a big feature announcement around the Christmas shopping season (which is better than B&N, who announced gifting of books last year and still don't have that feature implemented).

Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books
Customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 local libraries to read on Kindle and free Kindle reading apps
Whispersyncing of notes, highlights and last page read to work for Kindle library books

SEATTLE, Apr 20, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

(NASDAQ: AMZN)-- Amazon today announced Kindle Library Lending, a new feature launching later this year that will allow Kindle customers to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 libraries in the United States. Kindle Library Lending will be available for all generations of Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps.

"We're excited that millions of Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from their local libraries," said Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle. "Customers tell us they love Kindle for its Pearl e-ink display that is easy to read even in bright sunlight, up to a month of battery life, and Whispersync technology that synchronizes notes, highlights and last page read between their Kindle and free Kindle apps."

Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer's annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

"We're doing a little something extra here," Marine continued. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."

With Kindle Library Lending, customers can take advantage of all of the unique features of Kindle and Kindle books, including:

• Paper-like Pearl electronic-ink display
• No glare even in bright sunlight
• Lighter than a paperback - weighs just 8.5 ounces and holds up to 3,500 books
• Up to one month of battery life with wireless off
• Read everywhere with free Kindle apps for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and Windows Phone
• Whispersync technology wirelessly sync your books, notes, highlights, and last page read across Kindle and free Kindle reading apps
• Real Page Numbers - easily reference passages with page numbers that correspond to actual print editions

Amazon is working with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital content solutions for over 11,000 public and educational libraries in the United States, to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle customers. "We are excited to be working with Amazon to offer Kindle Library Lending to the millions of customers who read on Kindle and Kindle apps," said Steve Potash, CEO, OverDrive. "We hear librarians and patrons rave about Kindle, so we are thrilled that we can be part of bringing library books to the unparalleled experience of reading on Kindle."

Kindle Library Lending will be available later this year for Kindle and free Kindle app users. To learn more about Kindle go to www.amazon.com/kindle.

Spring Spectacular Kindle eBook Sale in the UK

Amazon is having a Spring Spectacular Sale for Kindle eBooks on the Kindle UK site. I've highlighted a few books, below, that I think are especially worth checking out. This one is for UK Kindle customers only, but they can buy the books in the US or UK Kindle stores, so I'll include links for both. Many of these books are at vastly different prices for non-UK customers (such as those in the US) or are not available at all (or have different ASIN's, due to different publishers). Those lucky readers who are in the UK, though, can stock up on some very good books at extremely good prices.

Ill Wind (£1.17 UK; $1.91 US), by Rachel Caine, is the start of her Weather Warden series. I have this one in paperback and ebook form and definitely recommend the series.

Book Description
Some Weather Wardens control fire, others control earth, water, or wind – and the most powerful can control more than one element. Without Wardens, Mother Nature would wipe humanity off the face of the earth…

Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually, all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So she’s resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life.

Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden. Unfortunately, he’s also on the run having stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn – making him the most wanted man on earth. Still, Joanne and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him – because there’s some bad weather closing in fast…

My Soul to Take (£0.95 UK; $1.55 US), by Rachel Vincent, is the start of her Soul Screamers series. This is another that I already have, but I absolutely love the new cover on this one.

Book Description
She doesn't see dead people, but…
She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next…

The Iron King (£0.89 UK; $1.45 US), by Julie Kagawa, is also on my bookshelves. This is the first in her Iron Fey Trilogy for teens/young adults.

Book Description
Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined... Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school...or at home. When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change. But she could never have guessed the truth— that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face...and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Lest you think I am only picking books I already have, City of Bones (£1.09 UK; $1.78 US), by Cassandra Clare, the first in the young adult series, The Mortal Instruments, is only on my wish list, not my shelves. The description on this one is brief, but the reviews flesh out the synopsis a bit.

Book Description
Clary Fray is seeing things: vampires in Brooklyn and werewolves in Manhattan. Irresistibly drawn towards a group of sexy demon hunters, Clary encounters the dark side of New York City - and the dangers of forbidden love.

New Moan: The First Book in The Twishite Saga: A Parody (£1.02 UK; $1.67 US), by Stephfordy Mayo, is entirely new to me, but looks to be a hilarious read (unless, of course, you aren't a bit tired of sparkly vampires or a fan of satire).

Book Description
Heffa Lump is a self-centred seventeen-year-old who needs to grow up and get a life. Fortunately, the Spatula Academy of Fictional Excellence specializes in helping characters from kids books cross over into adult fiction. Unfortunately, she's distracted from her attempts to leave adolescence behind when she meets Teddy Kelledy an impossibly gorgeous boy who eats rare meat, is super-strong, and never goes out in daylight. Could he just maybe be a vampire? (Hint: totally.) Soon, Heffa finds herself harassed by supernatural forces on all sides: vampire goths peddling the deadly drug Emo all over town, Jacko-worshipping zombies trying to eat her brains, and werewolves lurking in basements reading copies of Wolf Whistle. A fight is coming, and apparently she's involved....

Will Heffa be able to narrate herself out of danger? Will Teddy learn that being with a girl doesn't always have to be about biting? And what will happen when the New Moan rises? New Moan is guaranteed to make any fan laugh out loud with its irreverent and clever take on this popular series, which is brilliantly on the nose.

I picked Frozen Out (£1.21 UK; $1.98 US), by Quentin Bates, just based on the cover (admit it, don't you do that at the bookstore, too?). Especially since the cover could match another book that I just sampled (and can't remember the name of: it started with a child digging snow for a snowman, resulting in he uncovering of a frozen hand, the hand of a man missing for weeks ... but who didn't turn out to be dead; if only I could recall the name....)

Book Description
The discovery of a corpse washed up on a beach in an Icelandic backwater sparks a series of events that propels the village of Hvalvik's police sergeant Gunnhildur into deep waters.

Although under pressure to deal with the matter quickly, she is suspicious that the man's death was no accident and once she has identified the body, sets about investigating his final hours.The case takes Gunnhildur away from her village and into a cosmopolitan world of shady deals, government corruption and violence. She finds herself alone and less than welcome in this hostile environment as she tries to find out who it was that made sure the young man drowned on a dark night one hundred kilometres from where he should have been - and why.

I have several titles from CJ Box, but not Savage Run (£0.99 UK; $1.62 US), the second in his Joe Pickett series. It looks like Winterkill (£1.15 UK; $1.88 US), the third in the series, is also on sale for those in the UK.

Book Description
Game warden Joe Pickett is called to a bizarre crime scene deep within the forests of Twelve Sleep County, Wyoming. Famous eco-activist Stewie Woods has been blown up in an explosion, along with his new bride and ten head of cattle. The case is wrapped up too quickly: an environmental publicity stunt gone wrong. But what is the millionaire rancher who owned the cattle hiding? And why is Joe’s wife receiving mysterious phone calls from someone claiming to be Stewie Woods? Joe’s search for the truth leads him ever deeper into the wilderness of the Bighorn Mountains. With two unlikely allies at his side, and two hired killers on his heels, Joe can’t avoid the legendary Savage Run – a treacherous, isolated canyon with no crossing…

At Bonus Time No One Can Hear You Scream (£1.32 UK; $2.16 US), by David Charters, would be a good title for a non-fiction book, but this one is fiction.

Book Description
Investment banker Dave Hart needs his annual bonus. Anything less than a million pounds would be an insult. After all, he has to buy a new car, a second home in the country and a new Rolex for his wife Wendy... When the countdown to bonus day begins, so does the backstabbing, desperation and paranoia. As the big day inches closer, amid rumours, sackings and nail-biting deals, Dave becomes increasingly unhinged - but just how low will he stoop to secure his prize? A tale of one man's quest for his annual bonus in a world where ambition, terror, insecurity and desperation are second nature to those who inhabit it, At Bonus Time, No One Can Hear You Scream will keep readers gripped until the very last page.

Non-fiction readers are not left out though and My Word is My Bond: The Autobiography (£1.15 UK; $1.88 US), by Sir Roger Moore, looks like it would be a good read.

Book Description
The quintessential suave hero, Roger Moore has enjoyed a successful career that has spanned seven decades, from early television through the golden age of Hollywood and on to international superstardom. Dashing, handsome, and every inch the archetypal English gentleman, he is most widely known for making seven blockbuster films as arguably the most debonair 007 of all time. He has worked with some of the world’s most legendary stars, including such luminaries as Noel Coward, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Lana Turner, Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Richard Harris, and Michael Caine. For the first time, Roger shares his recollections of playing some of the world’s most famous roles as well as myriad stories from his personal life, including events from his childhood in London and his experiences during World War II. Filled with anecdotes from his encounters with celebrities of every variety and his memories from the heydays of Hollywood, this is a frank, funny, and disarmingly charming story of a life lived among the stars.

Easter (£1.10 UK; $1.80 US), by Michael Arditti, has the right title and cover for the season; however, this is anything but Christian fiction (although these are themes in the novel). I'd definitely read the review on Amazon.co.uk and the sample before buying, just to make sure it's the type of novel you are expecting; that said, it has very good reviews.

Book Description
In a fictional climate dominated by materialism, Easter stands apart in its bold exploration of the nature of God, the problem of suffering and the existence of evil. With an unforgettable gallery of characters ranging from a Holocaust survivor and an African princess to AIDS patients and Queen Elizabeth II.


Non-fiction readers are not left out though and The Cookbook Collector (£1.49 UK; $2.43 US), by Allegra Goodman, is also on my wish list, but I'll probably get it at the library (due to Agency pricing).

Book Description
Two sisters, opposite in every way: twenty-eight-year-old Emily is a CFO of an internet start-up, twenty-three-year-old Jess is a graduate student in philosophy. Pragmatic Emily is making a fortune in Silicon Valley, romantic Jess works in an antiquarian bookstore. Emily’s boyfriend is fantastically successful. Jess’s boyfriend is an environmental activist. But the dot-com bubble must burst, while Jess’s work on a cache of rare cookbooks uncovers strange erotic drawings and marginalia that bring her closer to their mysterious collector... Rich in ideas and characters, The Cookbook Collector is a novel of substitutions: reading cookbooks instead of cooking, speculating instead of creating, collecting instead of living. But above all it is about holding on to what is real in a virtual world: love that lasts.

Sacred Games (£1.35 UK; $2.20 US), by Vikram Chandra, isn't what I would consider a travel book, but after reading the top review of it at Amazon, it appears to be an excellent introduction to India (good enough the reviewer carried all 1,000 pages with him on his trip there, so he could finish the book).

Book Description
An enormously satisfying, exciting and enriching book, Vikram Chandra's novel draws the reader deep into the lives of detective Sartaj Singh and Ganesh Gaitonde, the most wanted gangster in India. Sartaj, the only Sikh inspector in the whole of Mumbai, is used to being identified by his turban, beard and the sharp cut of his trousers. But 'the silky Sikh' is now past forty, his marriage is over and his career prospects are on the slide. When Sartaj gets an anonymous tip off as to the secret hideout of the legendary boss of the G-company, he's determined that he'll be the one to collect the prize.This is a sprawling, epic novel of friendships and betrayals, of terrible violence, of an astonishing modern city and its underworld. Drawing on the best of Victorian fiction, mystery novels, Bollywood movies and Vikram Chandra's years of first hand research on the streets of Mumbai, this novel reads like a potboiling page-turner but resonates with the intelligence and emotional depth of the best of literature.

All in all, there are simply too many books included in the sale to list, so be sure to check out the Spring Spectacular Sale page (only on the Amazon.co.uk site, though), to see if there are more that tickle your fancy.

Amazon Video Game Deal Day

If you are a gamer, you may want to keep an eye on the Gold Box and Deal of the Day page at Amazon. The first two deals are both PC based video games and it looks like most (if not all) the lightning deals today will be video games (they won't all be PC games, either, as at least one is an exclusive PS3 selection).

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is today's Gold Box deal, marked down to $39.99.

Game Description
Continue the epic saga of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. These three distinct and powerful races will clash once again in the fast-paced real-time strategy sequel to the original, StarCraft. Legions of veteran, upgraded, and new unit types will do battle across the galaxy, as each faction struggles for survival.

Featuring a single-player campaign that picks up where StarCraft: Brood War left off, StarCraft II presents a cast of new heroes and familiar faces in a sci-fi story filled with adventure and intrigue. In addition, Blizzard offers online play through Battle.net with several enhancements and features to make StarCraft II even better.

World of Warcraft Battle Chest is the first of the lightning deals today and is marked down to $17.99 (you only see that price on the Gold Box page).

Game Description
Experience the World of Warcraft! World of Warcraft is an online role-playing experience set in the award-winning Warcraft universe. Players assume the roles of Warcraft heroes as they explore, adventure, and quest across a vast world. Being "Massively Multiplayer," World of Warcraft allows thousands of players to interact within the same world. Whether adventuring together or fighting against each other in epic battles, players will form friendships, forge alliances, and compete with enemies for power and glory. And now, World of Warcraft and its Expansion Pack "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" are combined in one package with additional items!

I was trying to figure out one of the lightning deal clues and ran across Call of Duty: World at War for the Wii for only $9.99. Looks like a pretty good deal for those who like first-person shooters, as the other platforms are all at near the $29.99 list price.

Game Description
Building on the Call of Duty4: Modern Warfare engine, Call of Duty: World at War thrusts players into the ruthless and gritty chaos of WWII combat and challenges them to band together to survive the most harrowing and climactic battles in both the European and Pacific theaters. The title re-defines WWII games by offering an uncensored experience with unique enemies, jawdropping fire power like the flamethrower, and combat variety, including Kamikaze fighters, ambush attacks, Banzai charges and cunning tactics, as well as explosive on-screen action through all new cooperative gameplay.

Free Book - Lucas

Lucas ($3.99 Kindle), by Eliza Gayle, the first in her Black Cougar series, is today's free book from AllRomanceeBooks.

Book Description
Kira MacDonald is in trouble. Plagued by false visions and erotic dreams of a man she's never met, she fears losing both her psychic powers and her sanity. The cure? Finding and bonding with her mate. The stubborn red-haired warrior might not want one, but fate has other plans, plans that include her rescuing Lucas Gunn.

As the Guardian of his shape-shifting clan, Lucas Gunn lived a quiet, solitary life. Until he was kidnapped, examined, and tortured. Now imprisoned, his only tie to the outside world is the memory of his dreams and the passionate woman who appears nightly in them. He thought she was nothing more than a vision. Then she came for him.

An uneasy alliance, a mating call that won't be denied, rituals that must be honored, and unrelenting enemies who will stop at nothing to get what they want. It all comes together in the first of Eliza Gayle's sensational Black Cougar Series. Passion and Pride. Duty and Danger. In the end, there's really only one choice...for Lucas.

Click HERE for the free book. It may show full price until you click on Buy Now or Add to Cart; once you start to checkout, you will see a 100% discount and your total will be zero (if it isn't, stop and try again from their home page, as you need to see the discount to get it free). Available (DRM-free) formats are: HTML, Adobe Acrobat, Epub.

Free Book - Brier's Bargain

Brier's Bargain ($0.99 Kindle), by Carol Lynne, the first in her LGBT Bodyguards in Love series, is today's free book from AllRomanceeBooks and steeply discounted in the Kindle store.

Book Description
Love is always special, but when you're a thirty-six year old man experiencing it for the first time, it's everything.

After spending his entire life in a hospital, Brier Blackstone is finally free to become the person he's always wanted to be. With the men of Three Partners Protection Agency as role models, how can he go wrong? And falling in love with bodyguard Jackson Benoit, is a dream come true, but the dream becomes a nightmare when Jackie is gravely injured in the line of duty. Feeling helpless, Brier makes a promise to God in exchange for his lover's life. One he intends to keep no matter what.

Jackie Benoit cherishes the love he's found with Brier. When his new lover insists on testifying against a violent man from his past in order to fulfill a promise, Jackie has no choice but try to stop him. If that doesn't work, Jackie will protect Brier with everything at his disposal.

Click HERE for the free book. It may show full price until you click on Buy Now or Add to Cart; once you start to checkout, you will see a 100% discount and your total will be zero (if it isn't, stop and try again from their home page, as you need to see the discount to get it free). Available (DRM-free) formats are: Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader, HTML, Mobipocket (.prc), Epub.

Daily Deal on Magazines - Hobby Farm Home $5

Each day in April, Amazon is discounting the price of a (paper) magazine subscription on their April Daily Deals page.

Today's deal is a one-year subscription to Hobby Farm Home for $5. This one caught my eye due to the cover image for (presumably) the current month. One of the topics: Start Your Own Book Club!

You do have to pick the auto-renewal subscription, but you can cancel the renewal at any time, with no penalty. If you already subscribe, taking advantage of this deal will extend your current subscription.

Free Book - The Last Celtic Witch

The Last Celtic Witch ($3.60 Kindle), by Lyn Armstrong, the first in her Celtic series, is today's free book at AllRomance.

Book Description
A painful death… a prophecy foretold.

Pursued by evil forces for her powers, recluse Adela MacAye foresees her own agonizing death. She must seek the chosen one to produce an heir and pass on her Celtic powers. To fail would be the end of good magick, plunging the world into darkness.

Conjuring a fertility spell she is led to a sensual chieftain who is betrothed to the sorceress that hunts her. Time is running out as fate and the future pursue her.

Plagued by enemies and undermined by sabotage, handsome Laird Phillip Roberts must save his clan from bloody feud by making an alliance through marriage... a marriage he does not want. After a night of white-hot sensual delights with the alluring witch, his heart commands he break the pledge of peace. With treachery around every corner, will he be too late to save... The Last Celtic Witch?

Click HERE for the free book. It may show full price until you click on Buy Now or Add to Cart; once you start to checkout, you will see a 100% discount and your total will be zero (if it isn't, stop and try again from their home page, as you need to see the discount to get it free). Available (DRM-free) formats are: HTML, Microsoft Reader, Palm DOC/iSolo, Adobe Acrobat, Rocket, Epub.

Free Book - Bent

Landing in Love ($5.59 Kindle), by Sean Michael, the first in the LGBT Hammer series, is today's free book from AllRomanceeBooks, courtesy of Torquere Press.

Book Description
Marcus knows Jim is his minutes after meeting the snarly, jumpy ex-professor at the local bookstore. He thinks Jim is a natural submissive, someone who needs order and discipline in his life to help with Jim's anxiety and bad health habits. So Marcus decides to pursue Jim relentlessly, because even if Jim's mouth is saying no, his body is saying yes.

There's a lot more to Jim than meets the eye, and Marcus will have to be careful. Jim knows what it means to lose everything, knows what it's like to be without friends or family. Jim feels broken, and knowing that he likes the kinds of weird things Marcus wants to do to him only makes him scared that he's losing his mind.

Their chemistry is so real, so genuine, that Jim lets Marcus wear him down, lets Marcus take control. Eventually, his trust grows, allowing them to enter into the BDSM lifestyle together, learning about each other every day, with every scene. Jim is still uncertain sometimes, though, and he thinks Marcus might just want him because he's cracked. Can this top and bottom pair find a way to understand their wants and needs, and make a life that works for them alone?

Click HERE for the free book. It may show full price until you click on Buy Now or Add to Cart; once you start to checkout, you will see a 100% discount and your total will be zero (if it isn't, stop and try again from their home page, as you need to see the discount to get it free). Available (DRM-free) formats are: Adobe Acrobat, HTML, Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket (.prc), Epub.