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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - Desperate Housedogs

Update: 12/24/11 Now free in the UK Kindle store.

Desperate Housedogs ($8.99 Kindle US/UK), by Sparkle Abbey, is free from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books.
Book Description
When Caro Lamont, former psychologist turned pet therapist makes a house call to help Kevin Blackstone with his two misbehaving German Shepherd dogs, she expects frantic dogs, she expects a frantic dog owner, she even expects frantic neighbors. What she doesn’t expect is that two hours later the police will find Kevin dead, his dogs impounded; and that as the last person to see Kevin alive (well, except for the killer) she is suddenly a person of interest, at least according to Homicide Detective Judd Malone. Sparkle Abbey is the pseudonym of two mystery authors (Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter). They are friends and neighbors as well as co-writers of the Pampered Pets Mystery Series. The pen name was created by combining the names of their rescue pets - Sparkle (Mary Lee’s cat) and Abbey (Anita’s dog). They reside in central Iowa, but if they could write anywhere, you would find them on the beach with their laptops and depending on the time of day either an iced tea or a margarita.
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - The Past Came Hunting

Update: 12/24/11 Now free in the UK Kindle store.

The Past Came Hunting ($8.99 Kindle US/UK), by Donell Bell, is free from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books.
Book Description
Fifteen years ago a young Colorado Springs police officer arrested a teen runaway accused of aiding a convenience store robbery and attempted murder. She was innocent, but still served prison time briefly. Her testimony sent the real thief to jail for much longer. Now she’s a young widow raising a son, and the man she put in prison is free and seeking revenge. She moves to a home in a new neighborhood—then learns that her next-door neighbor is the by-the-book officer who arrested her. Now he’s a Colorado Springs P.D. Lieutenant. Like it or not, he may be the only one who can protect her and her son from the past he helped create.
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - Sweet Tea & Jesus Shoes

Update: 12/24/11 Now free in the UK Kindle store.

Sweet Tea & Jesus Shoes ($7.69 Kindle US/UK), an anthology by Deborah Smith, Donna Ball, Gin Ellis and Nancy Knight, et al, is free from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books.
Book Description
Six award winning authors have created a poignant, humorous collection of nostalgic tales. Here life's lessons are handed down--liberally sprinkled with hilarity--from eccentric relatives, outrageous pets and unrepentant neighbors, and served up with a generous dollop of that most valued of all Southern commodities: good old fashioned storytelling. From Mississippi to Georgia, from Florida to Tennessee, these daughters of the South will take you on a lush tour of the times and the places they know best, each voice as refreshing and inviting as a glass of cold sweet tea on a hot afternoon.
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - The Cart Before The Corpse [UK]

The Cart Before The Corpse (US/UK), the first of the Merry Abbot Mysteries series by Carolyn McSparren, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store and from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books. I expect it to be free for US Kindle customers by morning.
Book Description
Hitch your imagination to an intriguing new mystery series set in the world of competitive carriage driving--an elegant yet cut-throat realm in which gorgeously costumed drivers and their magnificently harnessed horses vie for championships in the challenging obstacle course of the show ring.

Jane Austen, meet Mad Max.

Fans of the long-running Mossy Creek Hometown Series will gallop to bookstores for this spin-off equine mystery series by veteran Mossy Creek author Carolyn McSparren, a nationally known novelist and expert carriage driver, who owns and shows carriage-driving horses in her home state of Tennessee.

Open your barn doors and fasten your (buggy's) seatbelts for THE CART BEFORE THE CORPSE.

Famous southern carriage-horse trainer Hiram Lackland, a handsome widower, dies mysteriously after retiring to a farm outside Mossy Creek. His estranged daughter, Merry Abbot, also a horse trainer, arrives to settle his estate. But Merry quickly plunges into bit-chomping dilemmas when her father's friend and landlord, mystery-novel maven Peggy Caldwell, insists he was murdered.

Before Merry can so much as snap a buggy rein, a handsome and annoying GBI investigator, Geoff Madison, is on her case. Then there's the troublesome donkey: Don Qui. Short for Don Quixote. And the fact that Hiram was teaching all of Mossy Creek's lonely women how to--ahem--drive his carriage.

Can Merry rein in the truth? What kind of horse play was her rakish dad involved in, and why would someone want to giddy-yup him into an early grave?

Stay tuned for the answers in this first episode of, "As the Carriage Wheel Turns."
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - Twice Dead

Update: 12/24/11 Now free in the US Kindle store.

Twice Dead (US/UK), the second title in the Haven series by Kalayna Price, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store and from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books. I expect it to be free for US Kindle customers by morning.

The first title in the series, Once Bitten, was free on Kindle a couple of years ago and on Kobo earlier this year.
Book Description
Newly undead shifter-turned-vampire Kita Nekai is coming to grips with the reality that her cat has not awakened since her change. What she needs is a little time to adjust to her new liquid diet and the increasingly complex attraction to her sire, Nathanial. What she gets is a headless harlequin. With the body count rising, Kita is dragged into a dangerous game of vampire politics. Her involvement draws the attention of an ancient vampire known as the Collector who has a penchant for acquiring the unusual - like a pureblood shifter-turned vampire. Kita still has unfinished business of her own and finds herself deeper in magical debt. It's a bad time to be a kitten who can't slip her skin.

Kalayna Price's debut novel, ONCE BITTEN, earned rave reviews and reached #1 on Amazon.com's "Fantasy Bestseller List." TWICE DEAD returns readers to a dark, seductive world where magic rules and ancient loyalties collide with modern challenges.
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - Mossy Creek

Update: 12/24/11 Now free in the US Kindle store.

Mossy Creek (US/UK), a collection of short stories by Deborah Smith, et al, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books. So far, it's free for UK Kindle customers only, but I expect it to be free for US Kindle customers by morning.
Book Description
A delightful new collection of original Southern stories set in the charming, fictitious down-home town of Mossy Creek, where there's a friendly face on every corner and a heartfelt story behind every door...
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - The Goddess Of Fried Okra

Update: 12/24/11 Now free in the US Kindle store.

The Goddess Of Fried Okra (US/UK), by Jean Brashear, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books. So far, it's free for UK Kindle customers only, but I expect it to be free for US Kindle customers by morning.
Book Description
Grief. Hope. Love. Sword fights. And the crisp glory of fried okra. Ex-cocktail waitress and "convenience story professional" Eudora "Pea" O'Brien is filled with grief and regret, low on cash and all alone. Headed down the hot, dusty back roads of central Texas, Pea is convinced she'll find a sign leading her to the reincarnated soul of the sister who raised her. A sign that she's found her place in the world of the living again. At least that's what the psychic promised. In an unforgettably funny and poignant journey, Pea collects an unlikely family of strays-a starving kitten, a pregnant teenager, a sexy con man trying to go straight, and a ferocious gun dealer named Glory, who introduces Pea to the amazing, sword-wielding warrior goddesses of Texas author Robert E. Howard-creator of the Conan the Barbarian novels-and celebrated in festival every year. Six foot tall, red-headed Pea looks good with a sword in her hand. Glory, the goddesses, and a grandmotherly café owner become Pea's unlikely gurus as she struggles to learn swordplay and the art of perfect fried okra. She'll have to master both if she's going to find what matters most-her own lost soul.
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (EPUB) - Twas The Night

Twas The Night ($7.99 Kindle), an anthology by Sandra Hill, Kate Holmes and Trish Jensen, is a repeat freebie from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books.
Book Description
“Christmas or Bust!”

What do a Blue Angels pilot, a bounty hunter and an ex-NFL football player have in common? The three bad-boy bachelors of Snowdon, Maine have to make a friend’s Christmas Eve wedding on time or die trying! They’re willing to risk anything to make that happen—even dashing through the snow in the goofiest bus on Earth, bright red and filled with a bunch of merry, meddling senior citizens known as the Santa Brigade. All too soon, these men will have met their matches in three special women: a woman from their past, a forest ranger so hot she ought to be declared a fire hazard, and a woman on the run. Ho, ho, OH!

While serving up holiday cheer with the Santa Brigade, the guys will discover ‘tis the season for good will and folly. Wise men or not, they are well and truly caught, which means these roguish St. Nicks are willing to jingle a few bells along the way if that’s what it takes to find what they truly want for Christmas nestled in their beds after the stockings are stuffed and the gifts placed under the tree.
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle/nook/EPUB) - To Love Anew

Update: 12/24/11 Now free from ChristianBook.
Update: 12/24/11 Now free in the US Kindle store.

To Love Anew (US/UK), the first title in the Sydney Cove series by Bonnie Leon, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store, courtesy of Christian publisher Revell. I expect it to be free for US Kindle customers by morning, but only to remain free for a day.
Book Description
Hannah Talbot has no one. Forced to leave the only home she's ever known, she works for a cruel employer who brutally takes the one thing she has left--her dignity. When she is banished from London, she is certain God has turned his back on her.

John Bradshaw was a successful businessman whose untamed spirit sometimes wanted more. When he is betrayed by those closest to him, he loses everything--his wife, his business, even his freedom. John's and Hannah's paths are about to cross. Aboard a ghastly, nineteenth-century prison ship from London to Australia, John and Hannah must keep hope alive and trust God's unconditional love.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Bargain Kindle and Android Games

First off, even if you don't have kids, you may want to grab A Charlie Brown Christmas, by Loud Crow Interactive Inc., while it is free today.
Game Description
A Charlie Brown Christmas, the beloved Peanuts classic by Charles M. Schulz, is now available as a spectacular interactive storybook optimized for your Android device. Sit back and enjoy original dialogue, digitally remastered illustrations, animation, music, and narration by Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown.
"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?!"

Only Charlie Brown can turn the magic of Christmas into a problem. Even though the snowflakes are falling softly, carols are ringing sweetly, and people are gathering merrily, Charlie Brown is feeling down. He just doesn't understand Christmas. Join him, along with Snoopy and the entire Peanuts gang as they struggle to find the true meaning of Christmas. It's all accompanied by a charming soundtrack featuring music and sound effects from the original show.
Reading is Wonder-Full

This version of A Charlie Brown Christmas is bursting with fun interactivities that will delight children and adults alike. Go caroling with the Peanuts choir, finger-paint with the gang, and participate in the Spectacular Super-Colossal Neighborhood Christmas Lights and Display Contest to unlock decorations for your very own Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. You can even play Schroeder's piano (to the tune of "Linus and Lucy", of course). Note highlighting helps to introduce and improve musical skills.

Little readers will love turning pages with the swipe of a finger. They can also watch text highlighting as they listen to the story narration, hear individual words spoken with a single tap, touch and drag objects to make them spring to life or tilt to watch them slide and move, and much more. With something to discover on every page, this is one interactive Peanuts adventure you won't want to miss this holiday season!

Next, you'll want to check out Gameloft's 99 cent Android Games sale. I see a few games I missed during the 10 cent sales (although I did get at least one of them in the Android Market, I haven't worked out how to transfer them, yet). These generally sell in the $5-$7 range and they've even updated the list with new games that were just released this week. Do be sure to configure your KindleFire to require confirmation on (or block) in-app purchases, though, before downloading any game that allows them (especially if you have kids).
  1. Asphalt 6: Adrenaline
  2. UNO (Kindle Fire Edition)
  3. Shadow Guardian HD
  4. Order & Chaos Online (Kindle Fire Edition)
  5. Block Breaker 3 Unlimited (Kindle Fire Edition)
  6. Let's Golf! 3 ** Now free
  7. Green Farm ** Now free
  8. Hero of Sparta HD
  9. James Cameron's Avatar HD (Kindle Fire Edition)
  10. Modern Combat: Sandstorm HD (Kindle Fire Edition)
  11. BackStab HD (Kindle Fire Edition)

Over on the nook blog, I saw them boasting about finaly having the Words With Friends app in their store. It's $2.99 there, but free in the Amazon store (and the Android Market), as is the add-on Words Cheat (be forewarned! I downloaded both on my Fire and my phone).
Game Description
Like words? Got friends? Perfect. You're set to play Words With Friends, the addicting word game that allows you challenge friends, family, or strangers and show off your superlative vocabulary and brilliant gaming skills.

Play Words With Friends Free, the world's number-one mobile word game, with both your Android and iPhone/iPad-toting friends. Experience for yourself why millions of players are addicted to the word-building, triple-score-seeking, chat-bubble-sending goodness of Words with Friends. Play Words With Friends Free, the #1 mobile word game, with both your Android and iPhone/iPad-toting friends. Experience for yourself why millions of players are addicted to the word building, triple score seeking, chat bubble sending goodness of Words With Friends.

For those using an eInk Kindle, Electronic Arts Inc is having a sale, with all of their Kindle games at 99 cents.
  1. SCRABBLE
  2. BATTLESHIP
  3. YAHTZEE
  4. MONOPOLY
  5. TRIVIAL PURSUIT Master Edition
  6. EA Sudoku
  7. EA Solitaire
  8. EA Texas Hold'em
  9. POGO Hearts, Spades and More!

Mobigloo's Mahjong Solitaire Holiday Edition is 99 cents (for eInk Kindles), as is Jewels.
Mahjong Solitaire Holiday Edition
It's time to celebrate the Holiday season with this special edition of the popular matching game Mahjong Solitaire on Kindle.

In Mahjong Solitaire, you match pairs of identical tiles in order to remove them from the board. Only free tiles can be matched. Tiles are considered free if they do not have other tiles to either the left or right of them, or on top of them. The objective of the game is to clear all the tiles from the board. The game ends when all tiles have been removed or when there are no more free tiles left to match.

Mahjong Solitaire tracks the number of pairs of free tiles available to be matched for you. In addition, the game allows for unlimited undos, and contains a Hint feature that will give you suggestions for your next move, as well a Shuffle feature that will rearrange the tiles when you get stuck.

The Mahjong Solitaire Holiday Edition gives you 10 different game board layouts to choose from and two special Holiday tile sets.


Jewels
A Best of 2011 Editors' Pick -- Discounted to $0.99 for a limited time (offer ends January 2)

Jewels is a matching game which will put your planning and pattern recognition skills to the test.

The rules of Jewels are simple: you swap adjacent jewels (horizontally or vertically) to create combinations of three or more jewels of the same type. Once matched, the jewels are removed and the remaining jewels above it slide down to take their place. The challenge comes when there are few potential matches to find, and you must pick your next move carefully or risk eliminating remaining matches when the jewels shift down. If that's not challenge enough, then consider playing the timed mode where you race against a relentlessly decreasing timer and each successful match adds just a bit of time back to the clock.

If you cannot find a match, use the Hint feature to show you the next move. The game keeps track of your ten best scores for both Easy and Timed modes, so you can see just how much the pressure of the timer affects your performance!

Electronic Arts Inc. has several of their Android apps on sale as well; although not at the same discount as the Kindle apps, most of these are a dollar less than the usual prices.
  1. THE GAME OF LIFE ($2.99)
  2. SCRABBLE (Kindle Fire Edition) ($1.99)
  3. SimCity Deluxe (Kindle Fire Edition) ($3.99)
  4. MADDEN NFL 12 by EA SPORTS ($1.99)
  5. Worms ($1.49)
  6. Bejeweled 2 ($1.99)
  7. TETRIS ($1.99)

Mystery Castle: Winter's Night, by Runestone Games Limited, is currently half-price at 99 cents.
Game Description
Mystery Castle: Winter's Night is the sequel to the top-rated favorite Mystery Castle: Dawn of Illusion.

Monty is back and he's going to save the Holidays! An ice palace has appeared in the middle of the night and Monty the Wizard returns with 32 stages of puzzles and adventure in this new quest to defeat the nasty demon scaring the people and penguins of a small village. Slide across the ice in this winter wonderland, collecting the evil demon's magic crystals.

Find boxes to build bridges across the dark abyss, and clear the path ahead with giant bombs. Teleport to different areas with the magical staircases and reveal secret areas with the 'Eye of Truth'. Be careful you don't fall through the cracked floor!

Mystery Castle: Winter's Night is for people that like brainteasers, puzzles and adventure. Can you solve the mysteries of the castle and save the villagers? Monty is counting on you!

Braintonik Games has a few of their Kindle games marked down to 99 cents.

Picture Cross Christmas Edition ($0.99), by puzzle.tv
Game Description
Merry Christmas picture puzzlers! 100 all new festive-themed Picture Cross puzzles.

Starting with a grid of empty squares, Picture Cross gives you clues in each column and row with which you must work out whether each square in the grid is black or white. Find all of the black squares to reveal a festive picture. Detailed instructions and helpful tutorial are included, and a hint feature is available if you get stuck. Once finished, you can reset each puzzle so you can replay as many times as you like.

Picture Cross Christmas Edition includes 100 unique hand-made puzzles, each with a seasonal theme. Puzzles come in grids of various sizes, with 20 each of: 8 by 8, which are nice and easy, 10 by 10, 15 by 15, 20 by 20, and 25 by 25 which are very challenging!

The game features fast navigation, check marks and hidden puzzle names.

If you love Christmas and love logic puzzles, you'll love Picture Cross Christmas Edition on Kindle!

Holiday Word Search ($0.99), by Oak Systems Leisure Software
Game Description
Enjoy the classic Word Search game on your Kindle this holiday season.

Holiday Word Search includes 50 13x13 puzzles, each with a different delightful holiday theme. With categories from Songs and Movies to Road Trips, there is sure to be fun for all ages!

Your goal is to locate and mark off words in the grid using the 5 way controller or the touch screen. Each word appears in a straight line, horizontally, vertically or diagonally in the grid - but be careful, sometimes the words are backwards! Play at your own pace or against the clock and see who can get the fastest time for each puzzle. Pause partway through a puzzle and return to where you left it. You can reset each puzzle and try it again as many times as you like. If you get stuck on a more challenging puzzle then you can give up and see the correct solution.??

People who like Word Searches and Holidays will have a great time with this game on Kindle.

Ultimate Christmas Quiz ($0.99), by HandyX
Game Description
Take the Christmas quiz challenge and prove that you really have the festive spirit: Ho, ho, ho!

Test your knowledge of all things festive with this fun interactive quiz experience. Question topics include Christmas movies, stories, carols and popular music, interesting festive facts, food and drink and Xmas traditions from around the world. Featuring 500 questions, this fun and educational quiz will get you in the Christmas mood.

Answer sets of questions in rounds of 10, or in a continuous stream. If you think you know it all then crank up the tension with the question countdown timer for an even greater challenge. In the 'Timer Play' contestants in the hot seat are under increased pressure to correctly answer questions before the time runs out!

Be inspired by fascinating facts from Christmas past and wonderful carols that conjure up happy family days. This quiz is perfect for sharing with friends and family members, and as a fun Christmas party activity!

Christmas Cocoa Stand ($0.99), by Play Gray, might even teach your kids some math (but don't tell them, that).
Game Description
Christmas Cocoa Stand is a game of fun, luck, and skill inspired by classic 'Lemonade Stand'-style strategy and simulation games. Each day, you decide the number of cups to buy, the price, and the taste of your cocoa. You then find out how many people bought your cocoa, and how much money you made. Pay attention to the weather and to your customer feedback so you can make the right decisions. Invest your earnings back into your business by buying extras from the shop, including cocoa flavoring and color posters, that will help you sell even more the next day.

Christmas Cocoa Stand is fun for all ages, and a great game for the holidays. If you make the right decisions, you'll see your stand grow from simple beginnings to selling hundreds of cups to eager customers each day. If you're lucky, Santa may even stop by and give you a tip!

Snakes Christmas ($0.99), by Applications Innovations
Game Description
Snakes Christmas is a Christmas themed game where you control a constantly moving snake to collect Christmas items.

The game has two modes: Unlimited Play and Adventure Play.

Unlimited Play: Collect as many pellets as possible before your snake runs into its tail, a wall, or another stationary object. This becomes increasingly more challenging as your snake grows longer and longer with each item collected. Three difficulty modes (Easy, Medium, Hard) will increase the speed and growth rate of your snake.

Adventure Play: Become a Snake Master by completing all 40 levels, each with a different layout and a specific goal of items to collect.

If you like challenging retro-style video games with a Christmas theme, Snakes Christmas is for you.

Fivestar Holiday Memory Classic ($0.99), by JoyBits
Game Description
Greet the holidays with this special edition of Memory Classic, featuring brand new art and a Pass 'n' Play mode!

Fivestar Holiday Memory Classic is a fun matching and memory game for Kindle.

In Fivestar Holiday Memory Classic, you are challenged to find pairs of illustrations hidden beneath tiles on a game board. The game board starts at 2 tiles x 2 tiles for easy play, and progresses to 5x6 for a really challenging game.

There are three game modes with over 15 difficulty levels each. Take your time in Relaxed Mode, or race against the clock in Classic Mode. In the Arcade Mode you will need to clear the screen while new rows of tiles appear as the time passes. The Pass-n-Play mode designed to hold the tournaments between two real players on the same Kindle device. The leaderboard feature lets you compete against friends and family for the top spots in the Hall of Fame!

Stretch your memory with Memory Classic today.

Bargain and Free Book Roundup

Just a reminder, today is the last day on the current Kindle Big Deal sale.

Additional formats on free books:

The short story anthology A Walk In The Woods was written by an internet friend, Margaret Lake. It's her first time trying free books in the Lending Library and it's only free today. If you like it, you'll want to check out the rest of her titles, all of which are very reasonably priced and well reviewed (just ignore the picture on her author page, though, as that looks like a prom picture from long ago).
Book Description
A Walk In The Woods (Flash Fiction): In search of the perfect woman, Mathias the Wizard invents the most perfect spell ever made.

Sweet Savage Charity (Novelette): In 1621 New England, a Puritan woman fights for her right to choose.

Grindel’s Tale (Short Story): Grindel fights developers who would destroy the woods he protects.

Only In My Dreams (Novelette): After 30 years of marriage, Delia can still dream, can’t she?

Sir Dragonbreath (Short Story): Gwendolyn is a lonely witch, looking for love.

Of Love And War (Novelette): It’s John v. Julie in this vintage battle of the sexes.

A Slice of Life (Novella): Grace is 37, painfully shy, and she must overcome her fears to save her family restaurant.

J.A. Konrath (Jack Kilborn) has three books free on Kindle today and his co-author one one also has a free book; I suspect they are one-day also.
  • The List A technothriller about a group of ten people who each have tattoos of numbers on the bottoms their feet, and don't know why.

    One of them, a Chicago Homicide cop named Tom Mankowski, has had one of these strange tattoos since birth. When he investigates a violent murder and discovers the victim also has a tattooed number, it sets the ball rolling for an adventure of historic proportions.

    To say more would give away too much.

  • Flee - A Thriller (Chandler Series #1)
    She's an elite spy, working for an agency so secret only three people know it exists. Trained by the best of the best, she has honed her body, her instincts, and her intellect to become the perfect weapon.

    FLEE

    Then her cover is explosively blown, and she becomes a walking bulls-eye, stalked by assassins who want the secrets she holds, and those who'd prefer she die before talking.

    Chandler now has twenty-four hours to thwart a kidnapping, stop a murderous psychopath, uncover the mystery of her past, retire five highly-trained contract killers, and save the world from nuclear annihilation, all while dodging 10,000 bullets and a tenacious cop named Jack Daniels.

    Buckle up. It's going to be one helluva ride.

  • Desert Places (with Blake Crouch)
    The first installment in the Andrew Z. Thomas Series and a prequel to Crouch's and Konrath's thriller STIRRED...

    Greetings. There is a body buried on your property, covered in your blood. The unfortunate young lady's name is Rita Jones. In her jeans pocket you'll find a slip of paper with a phone number on it. Call that number. If I have not heard from you by 8:00 P.M., the police will receive an anonymous call. I'll tell them where Rita Jones is buried on your property, how you killed her, and where the murder weapon can be found in your house. (I do believe a paring knife is missing from your kitchen.) I strongly advise against going to the police, as I am always watching you.

    Andrew Z. Thomas is a successful writer of suspense thrillers, living the dream at his lake house in the piedmont of North Carolina. One afternoon in late spring, he receives a bizarre letter that eventually threatens his career, his sanity, and the lives of everyone he loves. A murderer is designing his future, and for the life of him, Andrew can't get away.

    Dear Reader: Please keep the light on tonight. What happens next will scare you. Guaranteed.

  • Run (Blake Crouch)
    For fans of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Thomas Harris, picture this: a landscape of American genocide...

    5 D A Y S A G O
    A rash of bizarre murders swept the country…
    Senseless. Brutal. Seemingly unconnected.
    A cop walked into a nursing home and unloaded his weapons on elderly and staff alike.
    A mass of school shootings.
    Prison riots of unprecedented brutality.
    Mind-boggling acts of violence in every state.

    4 D A Y S A G O
    The murders increased ten-fold…

    3 D A Y S A G O
    The President addressed the nation and begged for calm and peace…

    2 D A Y S A G O
    The killers began to mobilize…

    Y E S T E R D A Y
    All the power went out…

    T O N I G H T
    They’re reading the names of those to be killed on the Emergency Broadcast System. You are listening over the battery-powered radio on your kitchen table, and they’ve just read yours.

    Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son. You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family. You don’t know why, but you don’t have time to think about that any more.

    You only have time to….

    R U N

For you Maria Schneider fans, she has a new anthology on Kindle; Black-Tie Bingo is 99 cents and contains both a cozy mystery and a fantasy story. It isn't quite free, but you can borrow it from the Lending Library if you want.
Book Description
Two short stories:

Black-Tie Dance: an undercover caper that sends an agent running for his life, dangling from a windowsill and visiting the morgue. Let's hope he makes it out of there alive.

Bingo: Not your average deal with the devil.

It's that time of year again. You know what I mean! When you reread Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel to get into the final mood for the holidays! This year, though, you can do so at a discount, if you haven't already bought the ebook. Since he has another book coming out, this Kindle edition with bonus material is down the $3.99, as is the same edition at Barnes & Noble, iTunes and Kobo. They all still have a full price ($9.99) edition, so be careful trying to buy from your device (I'd recommend against it, with most of them), but Kobo also has an odd-man-out edition for $1.99. It's the same publication date as the $9.99 edition (which oddly, has V2.0 added to the title) and doesn't contain the bonus materials.
Book Description
For a limited time, devour a heartwarming tale of Christmas terror in Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel, for a special price. Also included is a sneak peek at his forthcoming novel, Sacre Bleu, A Comedy d'Art.

In The Stupidest Angel, 'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit.

But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.

But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle," he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.

Move over, Charles Dickens -- it's Christopher Moore time.

Next To Die ($1.99) is the third title in the Navy SEAL series by Marliss Melton.
Book Description
Penny Price dreads the sound of her ringing phone. She's convinced that the person barraging her with threatening calls is a man who got away with murder--her father's. Armed with evidence but branded a target, Penny's only salvation is the playboy nextdoor--Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander Joe Montgomery. The sole survivor of the worst disaster in Special Forces history, Joe has been drowning his guilt in a potent mix of alcohol and isolation. Penny refuses to indulge his behavior and a tentative friendship begins, charged with desire. But as her father's killer sets his sights on Penny, all bets are off. The killer will do anything to protect his identity and Joe fears Penny is...NEXT TO DIE.

Den of Thieves ($0.99) is the first title David Chandler's Ancient Blades Trilogy.
Book Description
Born and raised in the squalid depths of the Free City of Ness, Malden became a thief by necessity. Now he must pay a fortune to join the criminal operation of Cutbill, lord of the underworld—and one does not refuse the master . . . and live.

The coronet of the Burgrave would fulfill Malden’s obligations, though it is guarded by hungry demons that would tear the soul from any interloper. But the desperate endeavor leads to a more terrible destiny, as Malden, an outlaw knight, and an ensorcelled lady must face the most terrifying evil in the land.

Rides a Dread Legion ($1.99), starts off Raymond E. Feist's Demonwar Saga.
Book Description
The last remnants of an ancient advanced race, the Clan of the Seven Stars, are returning at long last to their lost homeworld, Midkemia—not as friends, but as would-be conquerors. Led by the conjurer Laromendis, they are fleeing the relentless demon hordes that are sweeping through their galaxy and destroying the elves' vast empire planet by planet. Only by escaping to Midkemia and brutally overtaking the war-weary world can the last remnants of a mighty civilization hope to survive . . . if the Dread Legion does not pursue them through the rift.

The magician Pug, Midkemia's brave and constant defender, is all too familiar with the Demon King Maarg and his minions and their foul capacity for savagery and horror, and he recognizes the even graver threat that is following on the heels of the elven invasion. The onslaught to come will dwarf every dire catastrophe his imperiled world has previously withstood, and there is no magical champion in all of Midkemia powerful enough to prevent it. Only one path remains for Pug and Midkemia's clandestine protectors, the Conclave of Shadows: forging an alliance of formidable magical talents, from the demon-dealing warlock Amirantha, brother of Pug's hated foe, and the demon-taming cleric Sandreena, to the elven Queen Miranda, to the warrior Tomas. However, uniting enemies and bitter, vengeful former lovers will be no easy task, and even together they may ultimately be unable to turn the death tide. But a failure to do so will most certainly ensure Midkemia's doom.

White Tiger ($0.99) is the first title in the Dark Heavens series by Kylie Chan
Book Description
Emma Donahoe has just started her new job as nanny to Simone, the daughter of John Chen, a very rich Hong Kong businessman.

She understands that Simone may be a target for kidnappers but she does not expect to be drawn into a world of martial arts, magic and extreme danger, where both gods and demons can exist in themortal domain.

When John and his American bodyguard, Leo, teach Emma their particular style of martial arts, they begin to realize that Emma herself is more than she seems....

Nightwalker ($0.99) kicks off the Dark Days series by Jocelynn Drake (and isn't to be confused with Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalker series). I've added it to my TBR pile and plan on getting to it soon....
Book Description
For centuries Mira has been a nightwalker—an unstoppable enforcer for a mysterious organization that manipulates earth-shaking events from the darkest shadows. But elemental mastery over fire sets her apart from others of her night-prowling breed . . . and may be all that prevents her doom.

The foe she now faces is human: the vampire hunter called Danaus, who has already destroyed so many undead. For Mira, the time has come to hunt . . . or be hunted.

If you missed Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim when it was free last year (or earlier this year for Australians, only), now's your chance to pick it up for only 99 cents.
Book Description
Supernatural fantasy has a new antihero

Life sucks, and then you die. Or, if you're James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.

Now Stark's back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But when his first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you'd expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future.

Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse.

The Company Man ($1.99) is a standalone novel by Robert Jackson Bennett.
Book Description
The year is 1919.

The McNaughton Corporation is the pinnacle of American industry. They built the guns that won the Great War before it even began. They built the airships that tie the world together. And, above all, they built Evesden-a shining metropolis, the best that the world has to offer.

But something is rotten at the heart of the city. Deep underground, a trolley car pulls into a station with eleven dead bodies inside. Four minutes before, the victims were seen boarding at the previous station. Eleven men butchered by hand in the blink of an eye. All are dead. And all are union.

Now, one man, Cyril Hayes, must fix this. There is a dark secret behind the inventions of McNaughton and with a war brewing between the executives and the workers, the truth must be discovered before the whole city burns. Caught between the union and the company, between the police and the victims, Hayes must uncover the mystery before it kills him.

Son of a Witch ($3.99) is the second title in the Wicked Years series by Gregory Maguire.
Book Description
In this captivating New York Times bestseller, beloved author Gregory Maguire returns to the land of Oz and introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Is he really Elphaba's son? He has her broom and her cape—but what of her powers? In an Oz that, since the Wizard's departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up?

Forbidden ($2.99) is the first title in the Books of Mortals series by Ted Dekker (with Tosca Lee). He also has a stand-alone novel on sale, The Bride Collector.
Forbidden
New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker teams with Tosca Lee to create this gripping thriller set in a desolate future.

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

Fleeing pursuit, with only moments to live, a young man named Rom stumbles into possession of a vial of blood and a piece of cryptic writing. When consumed, the blood will bring him back to life. When decoded, the message will lead him on a perilous journey that will require him to abandon everything he has ever known and awaken humanity to the transforming power of true life and love.

But the blood will also resurrect hatred, ambition, and greed.

Set in a terrifying, medieval future, where grim pageantry masks death, this tale of dark desires and staggering stakes peels back the layers of the heart for all who dare to take the ride.


The Bride Collector
FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he's picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted.

It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body.

In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise's help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities that most 'sane people' sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls...or inside.

As the Bride Collector picks up the pace-and volume-of his gruesome crucifixions, the case becomes even more personal to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector's next target.

The FBI believes that the killer plans to murder seven women. Can Paradise help before it's too late?

The Heir of Night ($1.99) starts off Helen Lowe's Wall of Night series for adults and young adults/teens.
Book Description
If Night falls, all fall . . .

In the far north of the world of Haarth lies the bitter mountain range known as the Wall of Night. Garrisoned by the Nine Houses of the Derai, the Wall is the final bastion between the peoples of Haarth and the Swarm of Dark—which the Derai have been fighting across worlds and time.

Malian, Heir to the House of Night, knows the history of her people: the unending war with the Darkswarm; the legendary heroes, blazing with long-lost power; the internal strife that has fractured the Derai's former strength. But now the Darkswarm is rising again, and Malian's destiny as Heir of Night is bound inextricably to both ancient legend and any future the Derai—or Haarth—may have.

Most likely, you already have the free prequel to Goblin King ($1.99), by Shona Husk; now's your chance to nab the actual book at a discount.
Book Description
Cursed by a Druid millennia ago, Roan lives a bleak existence in the Shadowlands, desperately trying to retain his soul and not succumb to the goblin horde. When a beautiful human summons him to grant a wish, he sees a glimmer of hope. But will she ever agree to be his queen?

Free Mini-Book (Kindle/EPUB) - Chicken Soup for the Soul

You can pick up a free sampler edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories, by Susan M. Heim and Karen C. Talcott, on Kindle and from Sony. It contains three full stories and you can't beat the price.
Book Description
This free sampler of devotional stories will help start off anyone's new year with hope and inspiration with its three specially selected stories from each of Chicken Soup for the Soul's devotional books.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Free Book (Kindle) - Waiting For Spring

The AmazonEncore edition of R.J. Keller's Waiting For Spring is free in the Kindle store.
Book Description
The pain in Tess Dyer’s heart stems from a lifetime of rejection: by her distant mother, by a string of one-night stands, and by her husband, Jason. He promised to love her forever, yet here she is, divorced and shunned in her own town. She tries everything to dull the pain: sex, work, and endlessly cleaning the house. Finally, in a fit of despair, she abandons the small town of Brookfield, Maine, for an even smaller town, determined to start over with a clean slate. But she can’t run from the demons in her head, and she soon falls back on her old habits, this time with the help of her sexy new neighbor Brian. Though she tells herself he is just a warm body to dull the pain, his kindness has a soothing effect on her bruised heart. But the fear of losing his love is always there, and before long, Tess’s past threatens to destroy her fragile new happiness. Ultimately, she must make a choice: continue drifting through life, or confront the cruel realities of her past and start living. A dramatic departure from contemporary chick-lit, Waiting for Spring is a moving novel about a real woman struggling to find her place in the world.