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Friday, March 1, 2013

Get Up to $100 Back on Kindle Accessories Gift Cards

This deal is worded a bit strangely, but the upshot is that if you buy an Amazon gift card to 'give away' (hey, I give them to myself), then you'll get a promo code via email at the end of the month, worth Up to $100 Back on Kindle Accessories. Presumably that Promo code will work like others have in the past - you put the accessories in your cart, then enter the code during checkout (no one-clicking). It's the beginning of the month and time for me to get a new gift card, anyway, so I might as well grab one that gets me a discount on a new cover or earbuds...

  • Buy $50, get back $10
  • Buy $100, get back $20
  • Buy $500, get back $100

It appears that any of these gift cards you buy between now and March 14 will count, but it may only take into account a single purchase (you could put multiple cards together into one purchase). You may only earn one promo discount per account/customer.

Here's some of the fine print and the info we need to know that this "Kindle Accessories Gift Card" is just like all Amazon gift cards we've used in the past (good for anything, not just accessories):
A perfect gift, Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards can be sent via e-mail, posted on Facebook, or printed at home. Plus, Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards are redeemable storewide and never expire.

Surprise someone with an Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Card and get back 20%--up to $100--to spend on Kindle Accessories yourself. Here’s how it works. From March 1 through March 14, 2013, purchase $50, $100, or $500 worth of Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards--good for Kindle Accessories as well as millions of other items on Amazon.com. On or before April 1, 2013, we’ll e-mail you a promo code valued at 20% of your purchase to use on Kindle Accessories in April.*

*Terms and Conditions
Receive $10 off a future Amazon.com retail order of qualifying Kindle Accessories when you purchase at least $50 in Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards, or $20 off a future Amazon.com retail order of qualifying Kindle Accessories when you purchase at least $100 in Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards, or $100 off a future Amazon.com retail order of qualifying Kindle Accessories when you purchase at least $500 in Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards by March 14, 2013. Offer valid on qualified purchases of Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards between March 1, 2013, and March 14, 2013, 11:59PM (PT). Purchases must be for at least $50, $100, or $500 in combined Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Card value. Offer valid on Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards by Facebook, Print at Home Gift Cards, or E-mail Gift Cards purchased on Amazon.com and, in the case of E-mail Gift Cards scheduled in advance, delivered before March 15, 2013. For qualifying purchases, a promotional code of $10, $20, or $100 will be sent to the e-mail address associated with the purchase by April 1, 2013, and is valid through April 30, 2013, 11:59PM (PT). One code per customer/primary e-mail address. Code may be applied only to qualifying Kindle Accessories sold by Amazon.com and does not apply to products sold by third-party merchants and other sellers through the Amazon.com site. Restrictions apply.

Today's Deals 3/1

Today's First Lightning Deal on the Gold Box page at Amazon is the Jazz Icons: Series 3 (Eight-Disc Boxed Set). Only early birds get a chance at it, as it expires at 6AM Pacific (or when sold out).

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Sudoku 10'000 Plus.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Collected: A Jonathan Quinn Novel ($1.99), by Brett Battles, with the companion audiobook also $1.99. This is the sixth, and latest, in the series and I see that I can borrow the first four from my local library, so I'll probably take a chance on this one.
Book Description
A cleaner’s tasks are simple: get rid of the body so that it will never be found, and make the scene of the kill look like nothing happened.

Rule Number One: Don’t get caught.

With Jonathan Quinn’s career in question, his apprentice Nate has successfully taken on the role of full-fledged cleaner, using Quinn’s name to keep the business working seamlessly in case his boss decides to return.

But Nate’s latest job is not what it seems, and he finds himself on the wrong side of a trap.

With Nate suddenly missing, Quinn and his partner Orlando set out to find him, and learn the reasons for Nate’s disappearance are more atrocious than they anticipated.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Miser of Mayfair: A Novel of Regency England ($1.99), the first novel in M.C. Beaton's House for the Season series. Originally published under the pen name Marion Chesney.
Book Description
It was the fashion during Regency to hire a house for the Season in Mayfair—the heart of London’s fashionable West End—at a disproportionately high rent for sometimes very inferior accommodation. So why is it that Number 67 Clarges Street, a town house complete with staff, remains vacant season after season? The home of numerous families in the past to whom ill luck—even death-has befallen, Number 67 has been damned as unlucky. In the Miser of Mayfair, salvation seems to come at last in the form of a Mr. Roderick Sinclair, who has confirmed his intentions to let the house for the Season. The staff are overjoyed—until they find that Mr. Sinclair is a trrible miser and is planning so parties. Furthermore, his ward, Fiona, seems not to have a bright idea in her head. Only Rainbird, the clever and elegant butler of Number 67, plots with Fiona to bewitch, bedazzle, and confuse the earl into seeing things their way

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Wizard's First Rule ($1.99), by Terry Goodkind, with the companion audiobook also $1.99. I replaced my paper copy long ago, but it's tempting to grab this newer edition, just for access to the lower price audiobook.
Book Description
Wizard's First Rule, the first novel by Terry Goodkind, was a phenomenon from the moment it was published by Tor Books in 1994, selling more than 100,000 copies in North America alone. It still sells more than 100,000 copies a year and has gone on to bestsellerdom in the United Kingdom and in more than twenty foreign translations as well as audiobook form.

It is now being developed as one of the most ambitious television miniseries of all time. Executive Producer Sam Raimi (director of the three Spider-Man movies), in collaboration with Disney/ABC, is creating a 22-episode adaptation of the book to be filmed in New Zealand.

Richard and Kahlan's story unfolds over ten more novels, collectively known as the Sword of Truth series, concluding with Confessor in 2007. Placing Goodkind in the elite club of #1 New York Times bestselling authors, the series has sold more than twenty million copies to date worldwide.

In Wizard's First Rule, Goodkind introduced the world to an ordinary forest guide, Richard Cypher, and the mysterious, powerful woman he comes to love, Kahlan Amnell. Learning his true identity, Richard accepts his destiny as the one man who can stop the bloodthirsty tyrant Darken Rahl. Hunted relentlessly, betrayed and alone, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword and invoke something more noble within himself as the final confrontation with Darken Rahl looms.

The importance of Wizard's First Rule is sourced in Goodkind taking on the toughest of all literary challenges: to tell an electrifying story of action, violence, and adventure that also makes people think, and that would influence the choices and actions of its readers.

Years after reading Wizard's First Rule, Goodkind fans still ask themselves, "What would Richard do?" when confronted with life's obstacles and challenges. "Your life is yours alone," Richard says at a key moment. "Rise up and live it."

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three titles in Andrew Peterson's Nathan McBride series for £0.99 each (~80% off).
Ten years ago, a botched mission in Nicaragua ended covert ops specialist Nathan McBride's CIA career. Now he utilises his unique skill set in the private sector--until the night Frank Ortega, former director of the FBI, calls in a favour. In this thrilling series, there are no rules, no protocol, no backup--only McBride.
First to Kill (Main/UK; US edition $2.99)
Forced to Kill (Main/UK); US edition $3.99; companion audiobook $1.99)
Option to Kill (Main/UK; US edition $3.99; companion audiobook $2.99)


Witchling ($7.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the first novel in the Sisters of the Moon series by Yasmine Galenorn, is the Nook Daily Find; it should have already been price matched at Amazon, so wait for the pricing genie to work it's magin on the Kindle edition. I just wish that the second in the series, Changeling, would be discounted, as it's my lone holdout on replacing this series in digital form. For those who prefer to listen, the companion audiobook at Amazon is $5.49.
Book Description
We’re the D’Artigo sisters: Half-human, half-Faerie, we’re savvy—and sexy—operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But our mixed-blood heritage short-circuits our talents at all the wrong times. My sister Delilah shapeshifts into a tabby cat whenever she’s stressed. Menolly’s a vampire who’s still trying to get the hang of being undead. And me? I’m Camille—a wicked-good witch. Except my magic’s as unpredictable as the weather, as my enemies are about to find out the hard way...

At the Wayfarer Inn, a portal to Otherworld and the local hangout for humans and beasties alike, a fellow operative, Jocko, has been murdered. Every clue points to Shadow Wing, the soul-munching, badass leader of the Subterranean Realms. He’s made it clear that he aims to raze humankind to the ground, turning both Earth and Otherworld into his private playground. Our assignment: Keep Shadow Wing and his minions from creeping into Earth via the Wayfarer. The demons figure they’re in like Flynn. After all, with only my bumbling sisters and me standing in the way, how can they miss? But we’ve got a secret for them: Faulty wiring or not, nobody kicks ass like the D’Artigo girls...

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is When Jackie and Hank Met ($1.99), by Cathy Goldberg Fishman and Mark Elliott (Illustrator).
Book Description
Jackie and Hank were born eight years and one thousand miles apart. Nobody knew these babies would grow up and play baseball. Nobody knew Jackie and Hank would meet and become heroes. Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg were two very different people. But they both became Major League Baseball players, and they both faced a lot of the same challenges in their lives and careers. For Jackie, it was because of his skin color. For Hank, it was because of his religion. On May 17, 1947 these two men met for the first time colliding at first base in a close play. While the crowd urged them to fight, Jackie and Hank chose a different path. This is the story of two men who went on to break the barriers of race and religion in American sports and became baseball legends in the process. Beautiful text by Cathy Goldberg Fishman is paired with sumptuous paintings by Mark Elliott. Generous back matter material includes a photo and prose biography of each man, timelines, quotes, resources to learn more, and a selected bibliography.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Bargain Book Roundup

I swear, the fact that I have a terrible cold and feel like one of the walking dead has nothing to do with why I've picked The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, as the first title to highlight today. I love this series (on TV) and hated that Dish blocked it for a while, while they fought with AMC over the broadcast rights. I'm sending this one to my Kindle to be read soon.
Book Description
In the Walking Dead universe, there is no greater villain than The Governor. The despot who runs the walled-off town of Woodbury, he has his own sick sense of justice: whether it’s forcing prisoners to battle zombies in an arena for the townspeople’s amusement, or chopping off the appendages of those who cross him. The Governor was voted “Villain of the Year” by Wizard magazine the year he debuted, and his story arc was the most controversial in the history of the Walking Dead comic book series. Now, for the first time, fans of The Walking Dead will discover how The Governor became the man he is, and what drove him to such extremes.

The Aylesford Skull ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), a new novel in James P. Blaylock's Tale of Langdon St. Ives series, dropped first dropped at B&N, but has now caught up at Amazon. For those new to his work, you are in luck, as Subterranean Press has the omnibus edition, The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives, on sale for $4.99. At over 500 pages, it includes both of the earlier novels and several short stories in the series, along with an introduction by Tim Powers and illustrations by JK Potter.
Book Description
It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives - brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer - is at home in Aylesford with his family. However, a few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay; the crew murdered and pitched overboard. In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of Langdon St. Ives.

When Dr. Narbondo returns to kidnap his four-year-old son Eddie and then vanishes into the night, St. Ives and his factotum Hasbro race to London in pursuit...

The first new steampunk novel in over twenty years from one of the genre's founding fathers!

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), an anthology edited by John Joseph Adams, is worth picking up if you spot even one of your favorite authors below.
Book Description
From Victor Frankenstein to Lex Luthor, from Dr. Moreau to Dr. Doom, readers have long been fascinated by insane plans for world domination and the madmen who devise them. Typically, we see these villains through the eyes of good guys. This anthology, however, explores the world of mad scientists and evil geniuses—from their own wonderfully twisted point of view.

An all-star roster of bestselling authors—including Diana Gabaldon, Daniel Wilson, Austin Grossman, Naomi Novik, and Seanan McGuire…twenty-two great storytellers all told—have produced a fabulous assortment of stories guaranteed to provide readers with hour after hour of high-octane entertainment born of the most megalomaniacal mayhem imaginable.

Everybody loves villains. They’re bad; they always stir the pot; they’re much more fun than the good guys, even if we want to see the good guys win. Their fiendish schemes, maniacal laughter, and limitless ambition are legendary, but what lies behind those crazy eyes and wicked grins? How—and why—do they commit these nefarious deeds? And why are they so set on taking over the world?

If you’ve ever asked yourself any of these questions, you’re in luck: It’s finally time for the madmen’s side of the story.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo) is the first novel in James Runcie's Grantchester Mystery series. Looks like another novel is due out this year for this series, but no pre-order pages are up yet. Instead, you mightconsider his standalone novel, The Colour of Heaven, currently on sale at $3.79, although it doesn't have the same reviews as his more recent work.
Book Description
It is 1953, the coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II . Sidney Chambers, vicar of Grantchester and honorary canon of Ely Cathedral, is a thirty-two-year-old bachelor. Tall, with dark brown hair, eyes the color of hazelnuts, and a reassuringly gentle manner, Sidney is an unconventional clerical detective. He can go where the police cannot.

Together with his roguish friend, inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney inquires into the suspect suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, a scandalous jewelry theft at a New Year’s Eve dinner party, the unexplained death of a jazz promoter’s daughter, and a shocking art forgery that puts a close friend in danger. Sidney discovers that being a detective, like being a clergyman, means that you are never off duty, but he nonetheless manages to find time for a keen interest in cricket, warm beer, and hot jazz—as well as a curious fondness for a German widow three years his junior.

With a whiff of Agatha Christie and a touch of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown, The Grantchester Mysteries introduces a wonderful new hero into the world of detective fiction.

Farside ($1.99 Kindle, B&N) is definitely a must-buy for fans of Six-time Hugo-Award winner Ben Bova, at this price.
Book Description
Farside, the side of the Moon that never faces Earth, is the ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting for a tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder.

Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some thirty light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world, photographs and spectra that will show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth, and if it bears life.

Farside will include the largest optical telescope in the solar system as well as a vast array of radio antennas, the most sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference of Earth’s radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the Moon’s solid body.

Building the Farside observatory is a complex, often dangerous task. On the airless surface of the Moon, under constant bombardment of hard radiation and infalling micrometeoroids, builders must work in cumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns—mechanical and emotional—are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of them fatal.

What they find stuns everyone, and the human race will never be the same.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Saved by the Rancher ($0.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the first novel in The Hunted series by Jennifer Ryan, is for romance fans, so you don't think I've forgotten about you.
Book Description
From the moment rancher Jack Turner rescues Jenna Caldwell Merrick, he is determined to help her. Soon, he is doing more than tend her wounds; he is mending her heart. Jenna is a woman on the run—hunted down by her ex-husband, David Merrick, from the day she left him, taking part of his company with her, to the second she finds herself in the safety of Jack's ranch. More than just a haven, Jack's offering the love, family, and home she thought were out of reach.

Jack's support will give Jenna the strength she needs to reclaim her life. The hunted will become the hunter, while David gets what he deserves, when they have an explosive confrontation in the boardroom of Merrick International. But not before Jack and Jenna enter into a fight … for their lives.

If you are a programmer, you know that computer books can be costly and you always need to keep up-to-date. O'Reilly has a special on their pre-release books right now. Get 50% off using coupon code WKEARSE (expires Mar. 7, 2013) and remember that you'll get all updates to their books, for life, it purchased direct.

Today's Deals 2/28

Thru February 28, members at Audible can take advantage of the Buy One Get One Free Sale, doubling the values of your credits. It's the last day and there are twice as many books, with 100+ added to the sale.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Guilt by Degress ($1.99), the second in Marcia Clark's Rachel Knight series [Mulholland/Hachette].
Book Description
Someone has been watching D.A. Rachel Knight--someone who's Rachel's equal in brains, but with more malicious intentions. It began when a near-impossible case fell into Rachel's lap, the suspectless homicide of a homeless man. In the face of courthouse backbiting and a gauzy web of clues, Rachel is determined to deliver justice. She's got back-up: tough-as-nails Detective Bailey Keller. As Rachel and Bailey stir things up, they're shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier. Something tells Rachel someone knows the truth, someone who'd kill to keep it secret.

Harrowing, smart, and riotously entertaining, GUILT BY DEGREES is a thrilling ride through the world of LA courts with the unforgettable Rachel Knight.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Falling in Love...Again: TruLove Collection ($1.99), by Anonymous and BroadLit.
Book Description
Whether you're heartbroken or have sworn off love forever; it's perfectly timed or when you least expect it, this collection of fourteen inspirational stories will convince you that there's always a chance you'll...fall in love again. It's hard to imagine that out of the depths of despair can eventually come a new opportunity for love, but in these tales you'll meet a jilted bride, a single mom, a 9/11 widow, and a bitter city girl who all get a second chance at loving happily ever after.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is all three novels in Richard Phillips's The Rho Agenda series for $0.99 each. These are relatively new editions from Amazon's 47North publishing imprint, but were originally self-published (I know I have at least one in an older edition).

The Second Ship (companion audiobook $1.99)
In 1948, an alien starship fell from the New Mexico sky—and immediately vanished behind the walls of the Los Alamos Laboratory. Since that day the US military has endeavored to reverse engineer the ship’s alien technology through top-secret research known only as the Rho Project. Now, sixty years after the crash, the government is prepared tell all.

Or so it claims…

For there is a second ship, hidden for decades just out of the military’s reach. And when a trio of students discovers it buried deep inside a remote canyon, they are changed forever. With a single touch, the technology the government has spent billions trying to unlock is uploaded into the minds of three teenagers—teenagers who now know the frightening truth about the Rho Project. Together they are thrust into a violent world of secrets and corruption, becoming reluctant soldiers in a war destined to alter what it means to be human.
Immune (companion audiobook $1.99)
In the final pages of the spellbinding novel The Second Ship, NSA director Jonathan Riles failed to halt the Rho Project’s infiltration of the US government. Now the Project’s alien nano-serum is loosed upon the world, disguised as a miracle cure and leaving too many people—good people—dead. And anyone still alive to challenge the Project won’t be for long: an assassin known only as El Chupacabra is systematically eliminating any and all opposition.

At the top of the hit list is NSA fixer Jack Gregory, along with Heather McFarland and Mark and Jennifer Smythe, the three teenagers who first exposed the Rho Project’s evil agenda. In just a few short months, the trio has seen life as they know it stripped away, trapping them in a confusing new reality where human DNA is modified at an alarming rate. Struggling to understand what they are becoming and on the run for their lives, the teens and their remaining allies must stop the Rho Project before it alters the very fabric of humanity.
Wormhole (companion audiobook $1.99)
When the Rho Project’s lead scientist, Dr. Donald Stephenson, is imprisoned for his crimes against humanity, the world dares to hope the threat posed by the Rho Project’s alien technologies is finally over.

The world is wrong.

In Switzerland, scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider have discovered a new threat, a scientific anomaly capable of destroying the earth—and only Rho Project technology can stop it. In exchange for a full pardon, Dr. Stephenson agrees to create a wormhole that will send the anomaly into deep space. But his promise masks the alien agenda that brought the Rho Ship to earth.

Now a trio of altered humans, Heather McFarland and Mark and Jennifer Smythe, must infiltrate Stephenson’s wormhole project and stop it, no matter the cost. The ultimate battle has begun and, this time, mankind cannot afford to lose. The final installment to Richard Phillips’s Rho Agenda trilogy brings the epic tale to an explosive conclusion that will echo long past the final page.

Gardens of Water (£0.99 UK), by Alan Drew, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $11.99).
Book Description
Turkey, 1999. A devastating earthquake brings Istanbul crumbling to the ground, ripping apart the fragile stability of Sinan's world. His family home becomes a makeshift tent in a camp run by Western missionaries whom he stubbornly distrusts, and he soon finds himself struggling to protect his family's honour and values. As he becomes a helpless witness to his daughter's dangerous infatuation with a young American, Sinan takes a series of drastic decisions with unforeseeable consequences. Cultures clash, political and religious tensions mount, and Sinan's actions spiral into a powerful and heartbreaking conclusion.

In the Time of the Butterflies ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Julia Alvarez [Algonquin Books], is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.
Book Description
It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. It doesn’t have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas—“The Butterflies.”

In this extraordinary novel, the voices of all four sisters—Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and the survivor, Dedé—speak across the decades to tell their own stories, from hair ribbons and secret crushes to gunrunning and prison torture, and to describe the everyday horrors of life under Trujillo’s rule. Through the art and magic of Julia Alvarez’s imagination, the martyred Butterflies live again in this novel of courage and love, and the human cost of political oppression.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is New York Times best-selling Wintergirls ($2.99), by Laurie Halse Anderson [Penguin], with the companion audiobook for $4.95.
Book Description
“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Free Books Posts are Ended

In order to comply with Amazon's new policy, I won't be mentioning any free books on my blogs (at least, until their policy changes). Amazon has changed the associates policy to penalize any site whose readers buy "too many" free books in a month by forfeiting their entire income for that month.

I tried to set up the ability to post on another account, that simply would not be paid, but Amazon has said that doing so would result in my accounts being closed entirely. Although some readers have suggested that the links be posted without an affiliate tag, all this does is pushes any credit for that book to the last affiliate site you have been to. This also applies even if you go to Amazon on your own and enter the book in a search there. That Associate might be me or it may be some other hardworking associate whose site you were at earlier in the day.

Amazon Associates Support has also said that if you post links without tags, even on another site, if they can link you in any way, then they'll shut down your account. So, there will no longer be any links to free books at Amazon on any of my sites.

Tomorrow I'll be removing all older free book posts and moving them to an archive site. The Free Books page and links on the menus have already been removed.

If you are going to buy free books at Amazon, please consider clearing your browser cookies before doing so, after arriving at Amazon, in order to avoid costing this site or any other affiliate site their income at Amazon (to clear your cookies, press Ctrl-Shift-Delete, then choose Cookies from the page that is displayed).

Don't Upgrade your Kindle for iPad App

Got a notice on this via NetGalley -- if you upgrade your Kindle App on iOS (iPad or iPhone, etc), the current version has a bug that will delete all of your existing books on the device AND all your bookmarks and notes. The good news is, if this happens to you, you can redownload your books and your notes and bookmarks that have been backed up should be downloaded with them. For those who don't have the app already installed, you can download the current version without issue, but Amazon has issued a warning not to upgrade for existing users. A new version is on the way (and hopefully will fix the problem). More info can be read over on CNET.

Today's Deals 2/27

Thru February 28, members at Audible can take advantage of the Buy One Get One Free Sale, doubling the values of your credits. There will be a different selection every day, so be sure to stop buy and see what is new.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Dead Asleep ($0.99), by Jamie Freveletti [HarperCollins], an author that is new to me. At 99 cents, though, it looks like it may be worth taking a chance on. Be careful clicking on her other titles - there is a novella split into 3 "books" at 99 cents apiece. I have no problem with charging $2.99 for a novella of around 120 pages, but why clutter up our libraries with three entries?
Book Description
A former Chicago trial lawyer-turned-critically acclaimed thriller writer, Jaime Freveletti hit the ground running with her debut novel, Running from the Devil—winning a Thriller and a Barry Award and nominations for the Macavity and Crimespree Awards as well. With her fourth novel, Dead Asleep, Freveletti proves she hasn't let up for an instant, plunging her brilliant, tough-as-nails series protagonist, biochemist Emma Caldridge, into a Caribbean island nightmare of voodoo superstition, terrorist plots, and deadly plague. Dead Asleep is intelligent, action-packed suspense fiction—rich in invention and frightening scientific plausibility—that will enthrall fans of Lee Child and Daniel Silva, and Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen readers equally.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Whole Lotta Trouble ($1.99), by Stephanie Bond. Romance fans will need no introduction (just to go check their libraries - I picked this up on a KDP free promotion last summer).
Book Description
Sometimes the best laid plans go sideways . . .

Three female mystery book editors in Manhattan have personal and professional problems galore--which intersect with one bad-boy agent. When they set out to humiliate their problematic playboy, their plans go horribly awry. The women suddenly realize that when it comes to friendship, flirtation and felony, they're in a WHOLE LOTTA TROUBLE!

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Investigation ($1.99), by Stanislaw Lem [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]. We've seen several of his titles in Daily Deals recently and I see that one of them, Return From The Stars, is currently marked down to $2.99, only a dollar over the Daily Deal price, for those that missed it.
Book Description
A young officer at Scotland Yard is assigned to investigate a puzzling and eerie case of missing-and apparently resurrected-bodies. To unravel the mystery, Lt. Gregory consults scientific, philosophical, and theological experts, who supply him with a host of theories and clues.

Stone Maidens (£0.99 UK), by Lloyd Devereux Richards, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK. A Daily Deal in the US earlier this month, the US edition is $4.99/KLL Eligible and the companion audiobook is $1.99.
Book Description
As the chief forensic anthropologist for the FBI’s Chicago field office, Christine Prusik has worked her fair share of bizarre cases. Yet this one trumps them all: a serial killer is strangling young women and dumping their bodies in the steep, forested ravines of southern Indiana. With each victim, the killer leaves a calling card: a stone figurine carved like the spirit stones found among the primitive tribes of Papua New Guinea—the same tribes from whom Prusik narrowly escaped a decade earlier while doing field research. The similarity is eerie and, frankly, terrifying; Prusik still carries the scars from the tribesmen’s attack. But is the connection real? Or have the dark details of Prusik’s nightmares finally wormed their way into her waking life? Displaying the expertise of a veteran writer, debut novelist Lloyd Devereux Richards skillfully builds layers of psychological suspense and terror into a compulsively readable whodunit.

Hemingway's Girl ($9.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Erika Robuck [Penguin], is the Nook Daily Find. This is an Agency pricing publisher (the lone holdout, I think) and should have already been price matched on Kindle, so wait for it to drop.
Book Description
“She remembered when Hemingway had planted a banyan tree at his house and told her its parasitic roots were like human desire. At the time she’d thought it romantic. She hadn’t understood his warning.”

In Depression-era Key West, Mariella Bennet, the daughter of an American fisherman and a Cuban woman, knows hunger. Her struggle to support her family following her father’s death leads her to a bar and bordello, where she bets on a risky boxing match...and attracts the interest of two men: world-famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, and Gavin Murray, one of the WWI veterans who are laboring to build the Overseas Highway.

When Mariella is hired as a maid by Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, she enters a rarified world of lavish, celebrity-filled dinner parties and elaborate off-island excursions. As she becomes caught up in the tensions and excesses of the Hemingway household, the attentions of the larger-than-life writer become a dangerous temptation...even as straightforward Gavin Murray draws her back to what matters most. Will she cross an invisible line with the volatile Hemingway, or find a way to claim her own dreams? As a massive hurricane bears down on Key West, Mariella faces some harsh truths...and the possibility of losing everything she loves.

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is Touch ($0.99), the first novel in Jus Accardo's Denazen YA series [Entangled Teen]. Probably not suited for younger teens, as I've glanced thru a review copy and it starts out with a drunken high schooler party, with skateboarding off of a barn roof (at least they land in hay and don't have too many injuries), followed by more drinking. From there, though, the story veers off of a manual on how to upset your parents (although is a tiny bit of a cautionary tale on walking home, alone, thru the woods, afterward). In any case, it seems well written enough that I've sent it to my Kindle to see if it still hooks me when I finish my current re-read of The Scent of Shadows (which, by-the-way, is still on sale for 99 cents, as are the other 5 titles in the series!).
Book Description
When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.

Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized.

Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.

A secret Kale will kill to protect.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Bargain Book Roundup

Amazon has priced matched B&N (finally) on Otherkin, by Nina Berry, for those who wanted to get it on Kindle or to get the discounted companion audiobook.

If you have any of the $1 MP3 promo amounts on your account (from buying an Android App), the can't be combined on a single MP3 purchase (at least, my two didn't), so if you are getting one of the $1.99 MP3 albums on sale today, the other 99 cents will come out of your gift card balance or default payment type. If you want to confirm the payment details before buying (which you can't do with one-click), send the album to yourself as a gift; the confirmation page before your send it has all the payment types that will be used.

Skies of Fire ($0.99), the first novel in the urban fantasy/steampunk Ether Chronicles series by RITA® Award-nominated romance author Zoe Archer [Avon Impulse/HarperCollins]; the publisher is also discounting the second book in the series, Skies of Steel ($2.99), so you might want to pick it up now, too.

Skies of Fire
Captain Christopher Redmond has just one weakness: the alluring spy who loved and left him years before . . . when he was still just a man. Now he's superhuman—a Man O' War, made as part of the British Navy's weapons program—and his responsibility is to protect the skies of Europe. If only he could forget Louisa Shaw.

Louisa, a British Naval Intelligence agent, has never left a job undone. But when her assignment is compromised, the one man who can help her complete her mission is also the only man ever to tempt her body and heart. As burning skies loom and passion ignites, Louisa and Christopher must slip behind enemy lines if they are to deliver a devastating strike against their foe . . . and still get out alive.
Skies of Steel
In the world of The Ether Chronicles, the Mechanical War rages on, and appearances are almost always deceiving . . .

The prim professor
Daphne Carlisle may be a scholar, but she's far more comfort-able out in the field than lost in a stack of books. Still, when her parents are kidnapped by a notorious warlord, she knows she'll need more than quick thinking if she is to reach them in time. Daphne's only hope for getting across enemy territory is an airship powered and navigated by Mikhail Denisov, a rogue Man O' War who is as seductive as he is untrustworthy.

The jaded mercenary
Mikhail will do anything for the right price, and he's certain he has this mission—and Daphne—figured out: a simple job and a beautiful but sheltered Englishwoman. But as they traverse the skies above the Mediterranean and Arabia, Mikhail learns the fight ahead is anything but simple, and his lovely passenger is not entirely what she seems. The only thing Mikhail is certain of is their shared desire—both unexpected and dangerous.

Night of Fire ($0.99), the first novel in the Ether Chronicles series by Nico Rosso [Avon Impulse/HarperCollins]; the publisher is also discounting the second book in the series, Night of Steel ($1.99), so you might want to pick it up now, too. I know what you are thinking ... isn't that the series in the post above? Well, almost. Aren't the titles awfully close to the same? It turns out that Nico is Zoe's husband and both are writing for the same publisher. They each have out two books in the same series, but the two series don't interweave, from what I can tell. His series is a bit more western in flavor, too, from the synopsis, and the second in his series is quite a bit shorter (Zoe went for longer in her second title).

Night of Fire
Night of fire, night of passion

US Army Upland Ranger Tom Knox always knew going home wouldn’t be easy. Three years ago, he skipped town, leaving behind the only woman who ever mattered; now that he’s seen the front lines of war, he’s ready to do what he must to win her back.

Rosa Campos is long past wasting tears on Tom Knox, and now that she’s sheriff of Thornville, she has more than enough to do. Especially when a five-story rock-eating mining machine barrels toward the town she’s sworn to protect.

Tom’s the last person Rosa expects to see riding to her aid on his ether-borne mechanical horse. She may not be ready to forgive, but Rosa can’t deny that having him at her side brings back blissful memories . . . even as it reignites a flame more dangerous than the enemy threatening to destroy them both.

Tom’s the last person Rosa expects to see riding to her aid on his ether-borne mechanical horse. She may not be ready to forgive, but Rosa can’t deny that having him at her side brings back blissful memories . . . even as it reignites a flame more dangerous than the enemy threatening to destroy them both.
Night of Steel
Return to The Ether Chronicles, where the skies above the American West are about to get wilder than ever…

Bounty hunter Anna Blue always finds her fugitive. But her latest mission is filled with mystery: a high price for an eccentric inventor. And her biggest rival, Jack Hawkins—a startlingly handsome, entirely unsettling man whose abilities match her own—is hunting the same bounty. Neither will back down.

When a rogue Man O' War flies his airship into the California skies, guns blazing, Anna and Jack are forced to team up or die. But it isn't the danger that has them ready to flare like gunpowder. They've circled each other for years as competitors only. Fighters and outsiders, they never thought they'd find a kindred soul. As hot passion and raw need draw them together, can they survive this mission long enough to track the most elusive fugitives…their hearts?

I bought my copy of Anathem ($1.99), by Neal Stephenson [HarperCollins], quite some time ago, but those who missed it last summer now get a second chance (and at half the price it was last time). If you like getting a bargain, per page price, you'll love this at over 1,000 pages (and will be more glad you aren't lugging it around, as I did the first time I read it, long ago).

If you pre-ordered The Mongoliad, the third title in The Foreworld Saga, of which Stephenson is one of the co-authors, then you should see it your library today. For those in the UK, check your invoice, as there was apparently a price drop today (to £1.99), but after the initial release at midnight (UK time); you can return it in your MYK page and then buy it again at the lower price, if you were overcharged.
Book Description
Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable -- yet strangely inverted -- world.

Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside -- the Extramuros -- for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates -- at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.

Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros -- a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose -- as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world -- as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.

Hellhole ($2.99), the first (massive) novel in the HellHole Trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson [Macmillan], is another one you'll be glad you aren't lugging around in hardcover. Both are past Nebula Award nominees and Herbert was nominated for a Hugo for his biography of his father (Frank Herbert).
Book Description
Only the most desperate colonists dare to make a new home on Hellhole. Reeling from a recent asteroid impact, tortured with horrific storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and churning volcanic eruptions, the planet is a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits, and charlatans…but also a haven for dreamers and independent pioneers.

Against all odds, an exiled general named Adolphus has turned Hellhole into a place of real opportunity for the desperate colonists who call the planet their home. While the colonists are hard at work developing the planet, General Adolphus secretly builds alliances with the leaders of the other Deep Zone worlds, forming a clandestine coalition against the tyrannical, fossilized government responsible for their exile.

What no one knows is this: the planet Hellhole, though damaged and volatile, hides an amazing secret. Deep beneath its surface lies the remnants of an obliterated alien civilization and the buried memories of its unrecorded past that, when unearthed, could tear the galaxy apart.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

The Devil's Star ($1.99), by Jo Nesbo, translated by Don Bartlett [HarperCollins], is the fifth title in his bestselling Harry Hole series. My mother liked the series so well that we already have them all (well, except The Bat, the first in the series, which will finally be released for the US this summer and The Redeemer, #5 in the series, which I'm now seeing as a pre-order for May, but only in Hardcover so far) This is a good price for those who are catching up. The second and third in the series are also currently discounted under $5.
Book Description
Oslo is sweltering in the summer heat when a young woman is murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a pentagram—a five-pointed star—is found under her eyelid. Detective Harry Hole is assigned the case with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. He believes Tom is behind a gang of arms smugglers—and the murder of his partner. But Harry, an off-the-rails alcoholic, is barely holding on to his job and has little choice but to play nice.

Five days later, another woman is reported missing. When her severed finger is found adorned with a star-shaped red diamond ring, Harry fears a serial killer is on the loose. Determined to find the killer and expose the crooked Tom Waaler, Harry discovers the two investigations melding in unexpected ways. But pursuing the truth comes at a price, and soon Harry finds himself on the run and forced to make difficult decisions about a future he may not live to see.

One of the brightest stars of Scandinavian crime writing, Jo Nesbø has been compared to Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and Henning Mankell. His novels are bestsellers throughout Europe, acclaimed by critics and revered by aficionados of thrillers and mysteries. Brilliantly plotted and paced, The Devil's Star shows Nesbø at his absolute best, combining powerful emotional resonance with truly stunning suspense.

Coyote Blue ($2.99), by Christopher Moore, is a standalone novel that you should have on your TBR list, if you are looking for a light-hearted read (just don't read it someplace where laughing out loud might be embarrassing). I'm pretty sure this is less than I paid, back when Fictionwise was an option (long ago). Another discounted choice from the same author is Lamb ($1.99), although it might be a bit too irreverent for some.

Coyote Blue
From master of subversive humor Christopher Moore comes a quirky, irreverent novel of love, myth, metaphysics, outlaw biking, angst, and outrageous redemption.

As a boy, he was Samson Hunts Alone -- until a deadly misunderstanding with the law forced him to flee the Crow reservation at age fifteen. Today he is Samuel Hunter, a successful Santa Barbara insurance salesman with a Mercedes, a condo, and a hollow, invented life. Then one day, destiny offers him the dangerous gift of love -- in the exquisite form of Calliope Kincaid -- and a curse in the unheralded appearance of an ancient god by the name of Coyote. Coyote, the trickster, has arrived to reawaken the mystical storyteller within Sam...and to seriously screw up his existence in the process.
Lamb
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff, the Messiah's best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work "reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior's pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there's no one who loves Josh more -- except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala -- and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

Today's Deals 2/26

Thru February 28, members at Audible can take advantage of the Buy One Get One Free Sale, doubling the values of your credits. There will be a different selection every day, so be sure to stop buy and see what is new.

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is 20 MP3 Albums $1.99 Each. Save on music by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Tegan and Sara, Muse, Passion Pit, Fiona Apple, Aerosmith, and others.

Just a reminder for those with Amazon Prime that you have only two more days to borrow your February title.

For those in the UK only, if you sign up as a new subscriber to the Kindle Daily Deal, thru Feb 28, you'll get a free Kindle book as a welcome gift (there are 16 to choose from).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Quilter's Homecoming ($1.99), by Jennifer Chiaverini [Simon and Schuster], with the companion audiobook for $3.99.
Book Description
A Roaring Twenties adventure unfolds in Jennifer Chiaverini's latest bestselling Elm Creek Quilts novel, another in "a series that neatly stitches together social drama and the art of quilting" (Library Journal).

Newly wed in a festive yet poignant ceremony at Elm Creek Manor, bride Elizabeth Nelson takes leave of her ancestral Pennsylvania home. Setting off with her husband, Henry, on the adventure of a lifetime, Elizabeth packs the couple's trunk with more than the wedding quilts she envisions them dreaming beneath every night of their married lives. They are landowners who hold the deed to Triumph Ranch, 120 acres of prime California soil located in the Arboles Valley, north of Los Angeles.

"Triumph Ranch," says Mae, a traveling companion whom Elizabeth has let in on the promise of the Nelsons' bright future. "That sounds like a sure thing." But in a cruel reversal of fortune, the Nelsons arrive to the news that they've been had, and they are left suddenly, irrevocably penniless.

They are hired as hands at the farm they thought they owned, and Henry struggles mightily with his pride. Yet clever, feisty Elizabeth -- drawing on her share of the Bergstrom women's inherent economy and resilience -- vows to defy fate through sheer force of will. As her life intertwines with Rosa Diaz Barclay, native to the Arboles Valley and a fellow quilter, their blossoming friendship sheds light on many secrets that have kept each of them and their families from their rightful homes.

In the cabin where Henry and Elizabeth are living on Triumph Ranch, Elizabeth discovers quilts belonging to Rosa's mother, and in their exquisite patterns recognizes a misplaced legacy of love, land, and family. But her newfound understanding of the burden of loss that Rosa shares with the mysterious Lars Jorgensen places her in mortal danger. Only by stitching the rift between the past and the future can the inhabitants of Triumph Ranch hope to live in peace alongside history.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Mistress of My Fate ($2.99), by Hallie Rubenhold [Hachette].
Book Description
Set during a period of revolution and turmoil, Mistress of My Fate is the first book in a trilogy about Henrietta Lightfoot, a young woman who was abandoned as a baby and raised alongside her cousins, noble children of a lord and lady. At just sixteen years old, circumstance and a passionate love affair tear Henrietta away from everything she knows, leading to a new life fending for herself on the streets of 18th century London as a courtesan, gambler, and spirited intellect of the city.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Ladies of Mandrigyn ($1.99), the first novel in Barbara Hambly's Sun Wolf and Starhawk Fantasy series [Open Road].
Book Description
A brilliant mercenary must lead his army against the forces of the most powerful wizard alive

Gifted with courage, strength, and the intelligence to know when to fight, Sun Wolf is the greatest mercenary in a land overrun by war. With his first lieutenant, Starhawk—a woman more deadly than any man—at his side, he has laid waste to countless cities, taking the best of their treasures for himself, and distributing the rest among his bloodthirsty crew.

Then a woman comes to him, an emissary from the town of Mandrigyn, a lush port city recently sacked by a powerful, mad wizard of unmatched abilities. She offers Sun Wolf untold riches for the use of his army, but the captain is not fool enough to wage war against a magician. He refuses her offer, but that is not the end of it. The women of Mandrigyn can be very persuasive.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Barbara Hambly, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: How to Make Changes that Stick (£1.19 UK), by Jeremy Dean, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.10, with a companion audiobook for $3.99).
Book Description
Why is it so difficult to get in the habit of something good? Most of us would love to adopt a new positive habit – an evening run, eating more veg, clearing the email backlog by the end of the day – but canʼt quite muster the self-control to make our resolutions stick. Now, psychologist Jeremy Dean shares the new brain science of routine that can improve any personʼs life, every day. Habits are powerful, Dean explains, because of the way in which the brain runs automatically. Amazingly, we spend a third of our waking

hours falling into habits without even realizing it – ruminating over past events, or clicking through web sites trawling for updates. Such unconscious thoughts and actions can, however, be steered to our benefit. Drawing on hundreds of fascinating studies, Dean reveals how to take control of your brainʼs “auto-pilot” to transform willpower into reality.

Otherkin ($7.19 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Nina Berry, is the Nook Daily Find. No price match yet on Kindle, but if it does, you may also want the companion audiobook for $3.49.
Book Description
I thought I knew myself. Then I met Caleb.

Dez is a good girl who does as she's told and tries not to be noticed. Then she rescues a boy from a cage, and he tells her secrets about herself. Now inside her burns a darkness that will transform her.

Everything is about to change--and neither Caleb, nor the Otherkin, nor those who hunt them, are prepared for what Dez will unleash.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Guinness World Records 2013 ($2.99).
Book Description
The Guinness World Records 2013 eBook features thousands of brand new inspirational achievements and exclusive pictures chronicling Guinness World Records from all over the world! With more than 4,000 records and over a dozen chapters Guinness World Records 2013 is the must-have eBook of the year for aspiring record-breakers of all ages. From Wacky Vehicles and Animalympics to special pages devoted to a world tour of superlatives and an exploration of the extremes of record-breaking, Guinness World Records 2013 is fully designed and brings to you the world of record-breaking like you've never seen before!
This book requires a Kindle Fire, Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android app.

Bargain Book Trio

I ran across Mad Mouse: A John Ceepak Mystery ($0.99), by Chris Grabenstein, in the Audible BOGO offer that is still going on. Since the companion audiobook is only $1.99 on this one, buying the two outright is significantly cheaper than any of the prices paid on credits. Previously published by Carroll & Graf (in multiple editions), this is now self-published (later titles in the series are with Pegasus Books) and currently he has the first three titles in the series at only 99 cents apiece (and the linked audiobooks for $1.99)! The formatting on the samples looks pretty good and you can pick up all three at a steal.
Book Description
The Anthony Award Winning series continues...

It's almost Labor Day, and the end of summer could mean the end of someone's life in this exciting sequel to Chris Grabenstein's TILT A WHIRL.

Young Danny Boyle, the part-time summer cop "down the shore" in Sea Haven, New Jersey, gets taken on a wild ride when he and his longtime beach buddies become the unwitting targets of a mad-man's twisted scheme for revenge. Fortunately, John Ceepak, the cop with a soldier's unshakeable code of honor, stays at Danny's side to help him negotiate the quick twists and turns that threaten to destroy his life, his friends, and everything about the world he loves.

Whipping from the boardwalk to the beach and back again, MAD MOUSE, like TILT-A-WHIRL, keeps zigging and zagging at a breakneck pace, all the way to the surprising finish.

Kirkus named Mad Mouse one of the ten Best Mysteries of 2006!

You can pre-order Frank Tuttle's Markhat Files ($4.40) at a discount right now. This is the seventh novel in his Markhat Files series (and you can still pick up the first novel, The Mister Trophy, for free as I write this). As you might guess from the content warning, this is published by Samhain and is a part of their non-romance line of books. All of the titles in the series are $5 or less, although some are novella length.
Book Description
When the banshee howls, start looking for the lifeboats....

Take a simple, three-day cruise on a lavish steamboat casino, they said. Just keep an eye out for trouble while the Regent rolls the dice, they said.

Markhat should have known the maiden voyage of Avalante’s vampire-crewed Brown River Queen would be anything but a finder’s dream job. Especially when he charges a ridiculous fee—and gets it without a peep of protest.

Then a pair of identical murderous maidens attack him and his lady love, and it doesn’t take a banshee’s howl to confirm his sinking suspicion he’s about to earn his fee the hard way.

As the heavily guarded steamboat casts off, Markhat is forced to navigate shoals of old enemies, treacherous political undercurrents, and rogue waves of assassins. All to keep the walking dead from turning the Brown River Queen’s decks red with blood.

Warning: This is a work of fiction. Please stop trying to apply it as a cream directly to your forehead. The characters depicted herein are quite real despite this disclaimer and will be deeply hurt if you peek ahead to the ending. This prose is certified gluten-free. Not intended as an emergency substitute Flight Manual, no matter what the nerds at Popular Mechanics claim.

Devil's Bride ($1.99), the first novel in the Cynsters series by Stephanie Laurens, was offered at the same price as a Daily Deal a few months ago, and a Bonus Edition was briefly offered for sale late last year also, so be sure to check your library before buying. The companion audiobook is $2.99, though, so audio listeners may want to get this edition too, just for the companion edition discount (which you don't get with the Bonus Edition); I read a review by one fan of the narrator, Simon Prebble, that said she would pay to listen to him read a phone book!
Book Description
When Devil, the most infamous member of the Cynster family, is caught in a compromising position with plucky governess Honoria Wetherby, he astonishes the entire town by offering his hand in marriage. No one dreamed this scandalous rake would ever take a bride. And as society mamas swooned at the loss of England?s most eligible bachelor, Devil?s infamous Cynster cousins began to place wagers on the wedding date.

But Honoria wasn?t about to bend society?s demands and marry a man "just" because they?d been found together virtually unchaperoned. No, she craved adventure, and while solving the murder of a young Cynster cousin fit the bill for a while, she decided that once the crime was solved she?d go off to see the world. But the scalding heat of her unsated desire for Devil soon had Honoria craving a very different sort of excitement. Could her passion for Devil cause her to embrace the enchanting peril of a lifelong adventure of the heart?

Monday, February 25, 2013

Changes Afoot!

Some of you may have heard rumors that Amazon is making changes to the affiliate program (which is how sites like this make money, as I've mentioned in the past) in regards to how free books will affect earnings. They dropped the bomb on everyone via a midnight email a couple of days ago and many sites are scrambling, to accomodate the new rules. Any site that Amazon determines "primarily promotes free books" and has more than 20,000 free books purchased and if less than 20% of all books are paid purchases, will lose all their income for that month, starting March 1.

That sounds like a really big number, 20,000, until you break it down by day (about 670/day) and by books (on an average day, the big publishers might have 2-3 free books and the smaller publishers another half dozen; that's ignoring the probably thousand free books added in the KDP select program for indie authors). So, a site like this one that mentions 7 books a day would lose all income if 100 people bought each of the books mentioned. This can easily happen to a site with a much smaller readership than I have. Note that affiliates don't lose only the referral income due to the free books (there isn't any income from free books, of course, but sometimes there will be a small amount if someone goes on to purchase something else in the same session), but all referral income for the month (and across all of the affiliates sites: many other bloggers have multiple sites with different focuses, but share a single Amazon affiliate account).

What none of us know, right now, is how many free books are being credited to our accounts right now, because Amazon doesn't share that information with us (they hope to have reports available for this by March 1, when the new rules take effect). Another complete unknown is how many free books will get added to our accounts due to people who go on to buy more than one free book once reaching Amazon (in the above example, if 50 people went to buy those 7 free books and also bought another free one they saw on the bestseller lists or the "also bought" ad under each book, then that would be enough to hit that 700/day level; you can see how even a very small blog could end up exceeding these limits if they keep promoting free books).

I've read on some sites that they will shut down or charge for listings, as some of the large freebie only sites now do (authors pay to be featured on the site or emails, often scheduling far in advance) and a rumor of one that will charge for a daily email of free books. I've never accepted author advertising for free books and don't plan to start. But, I will have to make some changes. Right now, I am setting up a second site for free book postings (it's sort of up now, but I still need to set up the related RSS feeds, twitter, facebook, etc). If that site can continue without impacting the main site, it will keep going and the books mentioned there will be the same ones that had been mentioned here. After March 1, the main Books on the Knob site will only feature bargain books, daily deals and reviews; no free books, the same as many other sites have decided. Free MP3 music and Android Apps are not affected by the upcoming changes, so will continue to be highlighted on a daily basis, here on the website's homepage.

I don't know how this will effect those who subscribe to Books on the Knob on their Kindles - I may be able to combine the RSS feeds there, since there are no affiliate tags in the feed (and the Kindle doesn't let you click on links for blogs, anyway). There will be separate feeds for those using an RSS reader or email delivery. For the next few days, there will be no changes and I'll give you the links for the new site, just as soon as I get everything sorted out.

Outside of changes here on this blog (and across the web at other sites), I expect to see some changes in the KDP Select program, which authors use to offer free books, as well, in the next few weeks (although perhaps Amazon believes that cutting off their avenues for advertising will be enough to rein in the flood of free books and some of the resulting problems, such as Kindle Libraries that are so large they don't function well and the costs that Amazon no doubt incurs from delivery). At least one thread mentioned an author selling over 40,000 free books when mentioned on just one high traffic blog (not here! I'm nowhere near that big); that's enough to affect sales rankings at Amazon and may still be worth the advertising fees the larger sites are charging (which may go up, once they lose their Amazon earnings). A lot of indie authors are talking about leaving KDP and hope that readers will go back to paying for content, as they've run into readers who now want the entire series free, rather than just the first in a series. Of course, it isn't just the indie authors that have been gaming the system - I just read an article on how much you can pay to guarantee a #1 start on either The Wall Street Journal’s or NYT's Bestseller lists (think $70K and up) and how some agencies are gaming the sales numbers by ordering multiple singles, rather than dealing with distributors for the books for the events they arrange.