Free Book (PDF) - The Choir Boats

The Choir Boats (Longing for Yount) ($9.95 Kindle), by Daniel A. Rabuzzi, is a free download from Wowio this month. Since today is the last of the month, I'd download it quick before it disappears.

Book Description
London, 1812 | Yount, Year of the Owl

What would you give to make good on the sins of your past? For merchant Barnabas McDoon, the answer is: everything.

When emissaries from a world called Yount offer Barnabas a chance to redeem himself, he accepts their price—to voyage to Yount with the key that only he can use to unlock the door to their prison. But bleak forces seek to stop him: Yount's jailer, a once-human wizard who craves his own salvation, kidnaps Barnabas's nephew. A fallen angel—a monstrous owl with eyes of fire—will unleash Hell if Yount is freed. And, meanwhile, Barnabas's niece, Sally, and a mysterious pauper named Maggie seek with dream-songs to wake the sleeping goddess who may be the only hope for Yount and Earth alike.

Click HERE for the free download. There are about three different places you can click to get the book once there; it'll be a Secured PDF, but loads in Adobe Reader (ADE isn't required).

Blog Format Update

Apologies to those who stopped by earlier today. I've been working on the formatting, to make the blog more readable on older, non-wide format screens. In the process, there have been some rather, interesting, shall we say, formats shown on and off today.  If anyone cares to comment on the new format, leave me a note, below.

Free Classics from B&N (nook)

Barnes and Noble is continuing their free Classics in the B&N Free Library this week, with a new set of free classics. This weeks theme is 12 Enduring Stories of Romance and Passion:

1. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos
5. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
6. My Antonia by Willa Cather
7. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
8. Persuasion by Jane Austen
9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
10. Room with a View by E. M. Forster
11. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
12. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

These editions are not exactly the same as you would find at Gutenberg; Barnes and Noble Classic Series editions generally have been more carefully proofread and have introductions and scholarly notes inserted in the beginning to aid in understanding the text. If you are building a summer reading list for a student, stocking up for lit classes in college or just want to revisit the classics, these are a great (free) resource.These are DRM'd epubs, though, so will only be readable on a nook or one of the B&N reader apps.

Bargain Book Roundup, Part IV

The bargain book roundup for this month continues, this time with non-fiction and humor. These change price frequently and drastically, to check the prices at Amazon before one-clicking. Several that were under $2 last week are anywhere from $10 to $15 this week (so didn't make the roundup).

Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade ($2.15), by Rachel Louise Snyder

Book Description
Rachel Louise Snyder reports from the far reaches of the multi-billion-dollar denim industry in search of the people who make your clothes. From a cotton picker in Azerbaijan to a Cambodian seamstress, a denim maker in Italy to a fashion designer in New York, Snyder captures the human, environmental, and political forces at work in a complex and often absurd world. Neither polemic nor prescription, Fugitive Denim captures what it means to work in the twenty-first century.

Mike Bloomberg ($2.60), by Joyce Purnick

Book Description
Michael Bloomberg is not only New York City's 108th mayor; he is a business genius and self-made billionaire. He has run the toughest city in America with an independence and show of ego that first brought him great success-and eventually threatened it. Yet while Bloomberg is internationally known and admired, few people know the man behind the carefully crafted public persona.

Hope Leslie: Catharine Maria Sedgwick ($3.79), edited by Mary Kelley

Book Description
Set in seventeenth-century New England, Hope Leslie (1827) portrays early American life and celebrates the role of women in building the republic. A counterpoint to the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, it challenges the conventional view of Indians, tackles interracial marriage and cross-cultural friendship, and claims for women their rightful place in history. At the center of novel are two friends. Hope Leslie, a spirited thinker in a repressive Puritan society, fights for justice for the Indians and asserts the independence of women. Magawisca, the passionate daughter of a Pequot chief, braves her father's wrath to save a white man and risks her freedom to reunite Hope with her long-lost sister, captured as a child by the Pequots and now married to Magawisca's brother. Amply plotted, with unforgettable characters, Hope Leslie is a rich, compelling, deeply satisfying novel.

Forget You Had a Daughter ($4.28), by Michael Tierney

Book Description
Having lived a successful life in Bangkok that included friends, two teaching jobs, and her own apartment, Sandra Gregory recounts how her life took a terrible turn in 1993 and how she experienced a journey from prison to renewal. While recuperating from dysentery and dengue fever, Gregory ran out of money. With mounting medical bills to pay, she met a heroin addict who offered her $1,000 to smuggle his personal supply of heroin to Japan. It was just enough to pay her medical bills and buy a ticket home, but Gregory was arrested at Bangkok airport before she even boarded the plane. Detailing the four and a half years she spent in the notorious Lard Yao prison, dubbed the "Bangkok Hilton," Gregory describes scenes of horrific brutality and suffering before being transferred to a British jail to serve the rest of her 22-year sentence. She tells of her daily fight for survival, of many women who died with no medical care or loved ones around them, and of her acceptance of her guilt and ultimate redemption.

How to Raise a Jewish Dog ($3.99), by Rabbis of Boca Raton Theological Seminary

Book Description
Questions to Ask a Breeder: 1. What kind of job is this, growing dogs? 2. Are these dogs nice? I mean of course they are. But if not, is this refundable? 3. Is this a stable business? Do you make a decent living? 4. Does the insurance kill you or is it okay? 5. Dogs are animals ? does this mean you qualify for some kind of Federal ranch subsidies? 6. What do I say to people who want to know how I can spend $1500 and up on a dog when there are so many dogs to be rescued from the pound?

The (make-believe) Rabbis of the (fictional) Boca Raton Theological Seminary have developed the essential dog training program for raising a Jewish dog. For the first time, the same dynamic blend of passive-aggressiveness and smothering indulgence, that unique alloy of infantilization and disingenuous manipulation that created generations of high-achieving Jewish boys and girls, can be applied to create a generation of high-achieving Jewish doggies. Written (for real) by Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman, co-authors of the bestselling Yiddish with Dick and Jane and Yiddish with George and Laura, this essential "guide" is sure to be a complete howl.

Fun with Phone Solicitors: 50 Ways to Get Even ($1.99), by Robert Harris

Book Description
They wake you up Saturday morning, waste your time, and interrupt meals and precious couch time. They're phone solicitors-the only group more despised than lawyers. Now here's your chance to strike back-hustle the hustlers, annoy the annoying-and have a blast with these fifty foolproof ways to get even. Drive 'em nuts with:

• The Receptionist Ruse: Pretend to transfer your tormentor and then press sever
• The Verbatim Variation: Repeat everything the caller says in a singsong tone.
• The Drop-the-phone Drill: The more drops you can get before the solicitor hangs up, the higher your score!

Creative! Relieves stress! Fun for the whole family!

How to Stay Single Forever ($1.99), by Jenny Lombard

Book Description
With this handbook today's independant woman can easily avoid meaningful relationships with aplomb. The 101 strategies are fully explained, may be used alone or in combination and include tips such as using baby talk in bed and be brutally honest.

Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me ($4.99), by Ben Karlin

Book Description
The Emmy award-winning former executive producer of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report has assembled a stellar lineup of men who have one thing in common: all have been dumped...and are willing to share their pain and the lessons learned.

Relationships end. And in almost all of them, even the most callow among us take something away. This is a book about that something, whether it be major life lessons, like "If you lie, you will get caught," simple truths like, "Flowers work," or something wholly unique like, "Watch out for the high strung brother in the military."

This anthology will be comprised of longer and shorter pieces, drawn from an array of impressive celebrities, writers and public figures. Some pieces may be a paragraph in length while others will be full-blown essays. All of them will be about that salient something men take away from a failed relationship. Yes, men learn.

This is not a touchy-feely book. This is not a self-help book. This is a book packed with smart, funny and insightful stories from men you probably thought never got dumped, or if they did, would never admit it.

Meditations for Men Who Do Next to Nothing (and Would Like to Do Even Less) ($1.99), by N. K. Peske & B.J. Pennacchini

Book Description
As all women know, movies are more than entertainment -- they're self-medication. A good flick is like a soothing tonic that, if administered property, (and in combination with something obscenely high in fat grams), can cure everything from a bad hair day to full-fledged identity crisis. Cinematherapy: The Girl's Guide to_ Movies for Every Mood is a hilarious guide to films to suit women's every emotion (and boy do we have lots of them -- as opposed to men, who basically have 'on' and 'off').

Will Work for Fun: Three Simple Steps for Turning Any Hobby or Interest Into Cash ($3.06), by Alan R. Bechtold

Book Description
Will Work for Fun presents a simple three-step process for turning your favorite hobby or interest into a reliable source of income. Why stay trapped in a job you hate, when you could turn your fun into your job? No matter what your interests are, Alan Bechtold will show you how to what you love into a real moneymaking career. Packed with stories, examples, exercises, and links to online resources, Will Work for Fun is the cure for another dull day at the office.

My Feet Aren't Ugly!: A Girl's Guide to Loving Herself from the Inside Out ($2.85), by Debra Beck

Book Description
Do you sometimes feel like other girls are prettier, more trendy, or more popular than you? Do you ever feel bad about yourself?

In this funny, honest book, teen expert and mentor Debra Beck provides in-depth examples and exercises to develop the tools you need for self-confidence. Learn how to have fulfilling relationships, make good decisions for yourself, respect yourself and others, and love yourself for who you are.

In a humorous, breezy style, this book instructs young women about how to feel good about themselves. Beck uses personal anecdotes from her youth, as well as stories about the young women she knows and works with to illustrate her points and provide examples. She covers topics that include resisting peer pressure, being kind to your body, developing healthy habits, personal responsibility, eating disorders, suicide, and physical intimacy.

The School for Scandal ($2.00), by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Book Description
Richard Brinsley Sheridan is arguably the only comic dramatist, apart from Shakespeare, who has succeeded in pleasing changing audiences for more than two hundred years. In The School for Scandal he produced a comedy Shakespearean in range, if differing in its components. Its artificial world of heightened wit and heightened folly delights its audience; but at times it engages them with moments of human pain and happiness, before delivering them back to its brilliant comedy. The remarkable poise with which Sheridan holds these various elements together has seen the play consistently hailed as the comic masterpiece of the century. This entirely new edition, prepared for the New Mermaids series by Professor Ann Blake, reappraises and gives full vale to this classic work of comedy.

Rex: A Mother, Her Autistic Child, and the Music that Transformed Their Lives ($1.41), by Cathleen Lewis

Book Description
he inspiring story of Rex, a boy who is not only blind and autistic, but who also happens to be a musical savant.

How can an 11-year old boy hear a Mozart fantasy for the first time and play it back note-for-note perfectly-but struggle to navigate the familiar surroundings of his own home? Cathleen Lewis says her son Rex's laugh of total abandon is the single most joyous sound anyone could hear, but his tortured aversion to touch and sound breaks her heart and makes her wonder what God could have had in mind. In this book she shares the mystery of Rex and the highs, lows, hopes, dreams, joy, sorrows, and faith she has journeyed through with him.

My Three Fathers ($4.05), by Bill Patten

Book Description
Bill Patten grew up in the heart of privileged society to American parents-a debutante mother, a diplomatic father-stationed in Europe. Weekends away from his English boarding school were often spent at the regal country estates of important policy makers and historical figures of the mid-twentieth century. When Bill was twelve years old, his father, William Patten, died, and his mother remarried the renowned columnist Joe Alsop. Patten was swept into Washington during the Kennedy years, where he bore witness to his stepfather's legendary power-brokering, and watched a very different father figure at work. In 1996, when he was forty-seven years old, Bill Patten learned that his biological father was not William Patten, but the noted English diplomat, Duff Cooper. In this quest to know his triumvirate of fathers, Bill Patten offers an unforgettable memoir. My Three Fathers is a search for identity-and a luscious chronicle of a fascinating, bygone era of American aristocracy.

The Think Big Manifesto: Think You Can't Change Your Life (and the World)? Think Again ($3.87), by Michael Port & Mina Samuels

Book Description
Think Bigger. About Who You Are. And What You Offer the World.

Stand for something before someone stands on you. Revolt against the play-it-safe, don't disturb the peace, cynical and silenced society that, more often than not, buries big thoughts.

Michael Port, bestselling author and creator of ThinkBigRevolution.com, knows it's not always easy to think big. But big thinking must happen now; today, tomorrow, and forevermore.

At this very moment, you are the change you want to see in the world—should you choose to accept personal responsibility. Devour every word of The Think Big Manifesto. It is the handbook to your personal revolution.

You are more than you know. And you can do more with less than you think...

• Unhook from the guru track
• Learn how to be comfortable with discomfort
• Join people doing powerful things
• Be one of the big thinkers that others rave about

This book, and life, is not a conceptual, theoretical experiment in how to do big things. No, this is just what you need if you're on, or want to be on, the path to doing big things and are willing to invest in your future.

Join or incite a worldwide revolution that inspires others to follow. All it takes is one big thought and the revolution is unleashed. One thought, one person at a time, quickly followed by another—soon big thinking becomes the norm. Your big thoughts enable you to achieve greatness, be remarkable, and create a better world.

Are you a member of the Think Big Revolution? If so, this is your Manifesto.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ($4.95), by Stephen R. Covey

Book Description
The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People is a comprehensive program based on developing an awareness of how perceptions and assumptions hinder success---in business as well as presonal relationships. Here's an approach that will help broaden your way of thinking and lead to greater opportunities and effective problem solving. Be Pro-Active: Take the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen. Begin With an End in Mind: Start with a clear destination to understand where you are now, where you're going and what you value most. Put First Things First: Manage yourself. Organize and execute around priorities. Think Win/Win: See life as a cooperative, not a comprehensive arena where success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others. Seek First to Understand: Understand then be understood to build the skills of empathetic listening that inspires openness and trust. Synergize: Apply the principles of cooperative creativity and value differences. Renewal: Preserving and enhanving your greatest asset, yourself, by renewing the physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional dimensions of your nature. Stephen R. Covey is the most respected motivator in the business world today. Learn to use his 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People--and see how they can change your life.

Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities ($4.48), by Adam Kahane

Book Description
Tough problems usually dont get solved peacefully. They either dont get solved at allthey get stuckor they get solved by force. These frustrating and frightening outcomes occur all the time. Families replay the same argument over and over, or a parent lays down the law. Organizations keep returning to a familiar crisis, or a boss decrees a new strategy. Communities split over a controversial issue, or a politician dictates the answer. Countries negotiate to a stalemate, or they go to war. Either the people involved in a problem cant agree on what the solution is, or the people with powerauthority, money, gunsimpose their solution on everyone else..The way we talk and listen expresses our relationship with the world. When we fall into the trap of telling and of not listening, we close ourselves off from being changed by the world and we limit ourselves to being able to change the world only by force. But when we talk and listen with an open mind and an open heart and an open spirit, we bring forth our better selves and a better world.

First Aid Guide and Home Doctor ($4.28), by MobileReference

Book Description
n illustrated survival guide with step-by-step instructions, a world-wide list of emergency phone numbers, first aid techniques, and detailed description of what-to-do in over 60 medical emergency conditions. Navigate from Table of Contents or search for words or phrases. FREE Basic First Aid, First Aid Techniques, and Bites Chapter in the trial.

The Bartenders Black Book, Updated 9th Edition ($2.78), by Stephen Kittredge Cunningham & Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Book Description
The newest and ninth edition to the Bartenders Black Book franchise adds 143 brand-new recipes that were created by bartenders, professional and laymen, around the world in the last two years. That brings the total beverage count to 3,000, more than double that of any other drink guide. All the sections have been expanded and updated, including Robert M. Parker, Jr. s Vintage Guide and Mr. Cunningham s already vast Martini section. Of course this book still has all its classic features: an index by ingredients, in-depth mixing instructions, metric conversion tables, a list of every possible garnish, sections on hot drinks, frozen drinks, beers, ales, lagers, and malternatives.

Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?: Insanely Annoying Modern Things ($4.99), by Steve Lowe & Alan McArthur

Book Description
An encyclopedic attack on modern culture so hilariously bitter that it actually becomes uplifting. Based on two runaway UK bestsellers, this new American edition has been ingeniously adapted and features exclusive new material for US audiences by Brendan Hay, a former Daily Show headline producer and contributing writer to America: The Book.

If you hate chick lit, Che Guevara merchandise, pop Kabbalah, cosmetic-surgery-gone-wrong-as-tv-programming, DVDs with ads you can't skip, or any of a few hundred other insanely annoying modern things, then this book will finally lend creedence to your frustrations.

Say NOto the awful ideas, terrible people, useless products, and infuriating doublespeak that increasingly dominates our lives. Never before has there been a book so completely full of shit.

Clearly, it isn't just you...

Consumed ($4.02), by Benjamin R. Barber

Book Description
A powerful sequel to Benjamin R. Barber's best-selling Jihad vs. McWorld, Consumed offers a vivid portrait of an overproducing global economy that targets children as consumers in a market where there are never enough shoppers and where the primary goal is no longer to manufacture goods but needs. To explain how and why this has come about, Barber brings together extensive empirical research with an original theoretical framework for understanding our contemporary predicament. He asserts that in place of the Protestant ethic once associated with capitalism-encouraging self-restraint, preparing for the future, protecting and self-sacrificing for children and community, and other characteristics of adulthood-we are constantly being seduced into an "infantilist" ethic of consumption.

Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About ($3.10), by Kevin Trudeau

Book Description
Are you getting deeper and deeper into debt while they make bigger and bigger profits? Not after you read...Debt Cure$ "They" Don't Want You To Know About! In this new book, Kevin Trudeau blows the lid off the banking and credit card industries, exposing the greatest rip off of our citizens in this nation's history. The credit card industry is one of the most profitable industries in this country, but they don't want you to know it. You can fight back! You can apply Kevin's solutions to your debt problems, and keep more money in your pocket today. You can learn how to use credit to build wealth! Read Debt Cure$ and cure your debt forever. You will learn:

• How the credit lending business is rigged against you!
• How the financial industry wants to keep you in debt!
• How the banks and credit card companies are making obscene profits off of you and how you can change that!
• How to reduce or possible totally eliminate your debt!
• How you could cut your payments in half!
• How to correct your credit with two magic words!
• How to improve your credit virtually overnight!
• How to get free money that you never have to pay back!
• Find out why the financial industry wants to keep you in debt.
• Turn bad debt into good credit.
• Create wealth through financial health.

Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today's Global Depression ($1.02), by William Bonner

Book Description
When the first edition of Financial Reckoning Day was published more than six years ago, many critics felt that maverick financial writers Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin were overly critical of the United States increasing debt and the start of what seemed to be foreshadowing of economic concerns. Fast-forward to 2009, and much of what the authors predicted has come true-high unemployment rates, record setting foreclosures and bankruptcies along with the near global collapse of the financial institutions once thought to be so secure.

With the Second Edition of Financial Reckoning Day, Bonner and Wiggin bring you even more down-to-earth wisdom. This timely guide reveals that the hazards of democratic consumer capitalism and the financial follies of history are not a thing of the past-but an ongoing issue with no end in sight. With this book, you'll gain a better perspective of what's really going on and discover the steps you need to take to survive the difficult times ahead.

• Bonner and Wiggin are astute observers of the global financial arena and perfectly positioned to offer you solid advice in this field
• Discusses what's behind all the financial turbulence, what's in store, and what you can do to safeguard your investments
• Other titles by Bonner: Empire of Debt, Financial Reckoning Day, and Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets
• Other titles by Wiggin: I.O.U.S.A., Demise of the Dollar, and Financial Reckoning Day

Honest and accurate, the Second Edition of Financial Reckoning Day offers you the best chance to protect your assets and grow your portfolio in these difficult financial times.

Thriving in the New Economy: Lessons from Today's Top Business Minds ($2.14), by Lori Ann LaRocco

Book Description
Survive and thrive in today's economy

These are make-or-break times for business leaders. In today's defining moment, the "New Economy," CEOs and other leaders in a wide variety of industries must face unprecedented conditions.

Thriving in the New Economy gives you a unique look into some of today's best economic and business minds. A series of close profiles, the book offers inspirational personal stories, useful advice, and actionable strategies you can use immediately to skirt financial peril, seize opportunities, and flourish in the New Economy.

• Profiles include financial publisher Steve Forbes, The Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle, Former National Economic Council Director and Former Special Assistant to the President on Economic Policy Lawrence Lindsey, former FDIC chair Donald Powell, Saks CEO Steve Sadove, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. President Jim Lentz, legendary vulture investor Wilbur Ross and more
• Looks at how leaders in economics, banking, automobiles, real estate, and retail are not just avoiding the unraveling economy, but actively evolving and growing their businesses
• \Foreword by H. Wayne Huizenga; Afterword by Rudy Giuliani

If you're looking for the way forward through today's business wilderness, Thriving in the New Economy lets you in on how some leaders use challenges not just to survive but thrive.

The Sages ($2.99), by Charles R. Morris, is one of two identically priced editions. The second one has a subtitle, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets, but also appears to be in topaz format, so I'd pick this mobi formatted edition.

Book Description
Throughout the violent financial disruptions of the past several years, three men have stood out as beacons of judgment and wisdom: Warren Buffett, George Soros, and Paul Volcker. Though their experiences and styles vary-Buffett is the canny stock market investor; Soros is the reader of shifting global tides in trade and currencies; and Volcker is the regulator and governor, sheriff and clean-up crew-they have very much in common. All three men have more than fifty years of deep involvement in markets. All are skeptical of Wall Street frenzies. They believe that markets tend to be right, but usually only over the medium term. They have seen too many cycles of herd-driven, emotion-riding booms and busts to make their views hostage to the sweeping and simplistic assumptions of "efficient-markets" models. With the benefit of his own deep understanding of markets and finance, Morris brilliantly analyzes the records of these men, distilling their wisdom and experience-and argues for the importance of consistent values in navigating the treacherous terrain of today's globalized world.

Bargain Book Roundup, Part III

The bargain book roundup for this month continues....

Worldwar: In the Balance/Tilting the Balance ($6.29), by Harry Turtledove, contains two books in one volume, at pennies above the cost of the first title alone, as well as being the only Kindle choice that contains Tilting the Balance.

Book Description
Harry Turtledove's best-selling alternate-history Worldwar series is now a must-have addition to your eBook library. For a limited time only, take advantage of this exciting opportunity--buy Tilting the Balance and get In the Balance for free!

In the Balance: From Pearl Harbor to panzers rolling through Paris to the Siege of Leningrad and the Battle of Midway, war seethed across the planet as the flames of destruction rose higher and hotter. And then, suddenly, the real enemy came. The invaders seemed unstoppable, their technology far beyond human reach. And never before had men been more divided. For Jew to unite with Nazi, American with Japanese, and Russian with German was unthinkable. But the alternative was even worse. As the fate of the world hung in the balance, slowly, painfully, humankind took up the shocking challenge.

Tilting the Balance: No one could stop them--not Stalin, not Togo, not Churchill, not Roosevelt... The invaders had cut the United States virtually in half at the Mississippi, vaporized Washington, D.C., devastated much of Europe, and held large parts of the Soviet Union under their thumb. But humanity would not give up so easily. The new world allies were ruthless at finding their foe's weaknesses and exploiting them. Whether delivering supplies in tiny biplanes to partisans across the vast steppes of Russia, working furiously to understand the enemy's captured radar in England, or battling house to house on the streets of Chicago, humankind would never give up. Yet no one could say when the hellish inferno of death would stop being a war of conquest and turn into a war of survival--the very survival of the planet...

After the Zap ($4.99), by Michael Armstrong

Book Description
The Zap gives... and the Zap takes away.

Because of the very nature of the Zap -- the big thermonuclear bomb that had scrambled and rearranged the neurons of everyone's brains -- there was no way of telling what it had taken from them all. The past was a jumbled mass of tantalizing glimpses and agonizing blanks. But the Zap's gifts were many and varied.

The "Readers" got the rare and often dangerous ability to make sense of the writings of the past...
The "Memors" got perfect recall -- of everything they'd heard since the Zap...
The "Bush Punks" got a chance to live free and easy -- and die the same way...
The "God Weirders" got religion -- if you could call it that...
The "Blimpers" got a purpose -- a purpose that could save them, or destroy them all.

Now Holmes, a "Reader, " was in the perfect position to tip the scales for or against survival -- if only he could figure out which side was which.

Agviq ($4.99), by Michael Armstrong

Book Description
AGVIQ is the totem of the "Real People," the Inupiaq, who endured the Arctic territories for 7,000 years--until the modern world destroyed the ancient ways. But then the modern world itself was destroyed.Among others, a white archeologist named Claudia has survived. The People need her to teach what has been taken; she needs them--to live. And together, they must face the ice and confront the ancestors' greatest challenge . . .

Killer Cruise ($3.99), by Laura Levine, is the eighth in her Jaine Austen series, following Killing Bridezilla ($4.47). In fact, only one of the first eight in the series is over five bucks (at $5.29) and the very most recent title, Death of a Trophy Wife, is $9.99, but was briefly free last May.

Book Description
Wordsmith Jaine Austen's ship has finally come in. Her new teaching gig on a fancy cruise line nabs her a free vacation--and access to a 24-hour buffet! But sooner than you can say "bon voyage," Jaine's all-expenses-paid trip to the Mexican Riviera seems destined to be a wreck. . .

Things are already off to a rocky start when Jaine discovers a stowaway amidst her luggage--her persnickety cat Prozac. Jaine's sinking sensation grows stronger at dinner, where she meets chatty Emily Pritchard, a wealthy seventy-year-old who's traveling with her two nephews. Jaine can't help noticing the tension among them, especially when the cruise's charming--and sleazy--British dancer, Graham, whisks Emily out onto the dance floor.

Soon Emily is accepting Graham's invitations to every social event on the ship. Two nights later the bubbly couple announces their engagement, but the news is quickly overshadowed the next morning by the discovery of Graham's body with an ice pick protruding from his chest. . .

Between hiding a furry fugitive, flirting with Emily's nephew Robbie, and baiting the hook for a clever murderer, Jaine is about to dive into her most dangerous case yet. . .

The Family Next Door ($1.18), by Barbara McMahon

Book Description
His young daughter has already lost too much. Widower Joe Kincaid doesn't want her forming attachments that will break her heart. So he'd appreciate if his pretty new neighbor didn't charm the girl with hot chocolate, fun stories and big smiles. After all, Gillian Parker is from glittering Las Vegas--she won't last a month in their quiet Maine town. But Gillian isn't what he expected at all. And when her painful past catches up with her, Joe finds himself opening his door--and his heart--wider than he ever dreamed possible.

Operation: Rescue ($0.91), by Anne Woodard

Book Description
From the moment he found himself staring down the end of her gun, Derrick Marx knew Dr. Elizabeth Bradshaw was no wilting flower. A recluse, she'd devoted her life to the island's natural treasures. But only she could help him rescue his brother from jungle terrorists. He couldn't take no for an answer. Elizabeth had ghosts she wasn't yet willing to face. And a sexy security expert, brandishing his machismo as a powerful lure, couldn't force her to do anything. Even if her heart was beginning to tell her otherwise!

Undercover Stranger ($1.03), by Pat White

Book Description
With her girl-next-door looks and quaint doll museum, Ciara O'Malley seemed innocent. But she was secret agent Griffin Black's number one suspect for a terrible crime and he knew how to get close enough to uncover her illicit activities. By seducing the truth right out of her. Then walking away. Except all of Griff's make-believe attraction turned surprisingly real once Ciara became a target herself. Suddenly Griff found himself protecting Ciara rather than using her. And yet, even with all his special training, Griff didn't know which was more frightening--how deep this criminal network ran...or how far one beautiful redhead had worked her way under his skin.

Seducing the Matchmaker ($1.30), by Elaine Overton

Book Description
As the owner of Love Unlimited, a matchmaking firm, Noelle Brown has an enviable track record. When world-renowned and drop-dead gorgeous architect Derrick Brandt graces her doorway, she's incredibly pleased. Hooking him up will raise her agency's profile and give it an incredible public-relations boost. But after a few moments of conversation with the arrogant Derrick, Noelle understands why the tabloids have labeled him the most ineligible bachelor in the city.

Derrick needs to find himself a wife--a woman who understands his demanding career. He's stunned to find himself captivated by the sexy siren Noelle. As the sparks of passion heat up between them, they both wonder if their relationship is indeed the perfect match....

The Pirate And The Puritan ($2.14), by Mary Clayton

Book Description
1704 -- Dangerous times, when the colonies of the Americas are threatened by Queen Anne's War. It is not the French but a pirate who captures Mercy Penhall, mute Puritan spinster. In fear for her life and virtue yet drawn to the captain in spite of herself, Mercy has unknowingly begun on a course of adventure, heartbreak that will test her courage to the utmost. And in the end the secret she carries in her soul threatens to prevent even the small chance of happiness inherent in an impossible love.

Tall, Dark, and Dangerous Part 1 ($4.69), by Suzanne Brockmann, is marked down from what seems a ridiculous digital list price of $22.65, until you read the description and realize that it contains four novels in one bundle. Two more bundles round out the series of eleven titles: Tall, Dark, and Dangerous Part 2 ($13.59) and Tall, Dark, and Dangerous Part 3 ($9.99).

Book Description
Tall, Dark and Dangerous...they're who you call to get out of a tight spot...or into one. Four sexy Navy SEALS find heartstopping adventure and blistering romance in these captivating stories by New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann. Bundle includes Prince Joe, Forever Blue, Frisco's Kid and Everyday, Average Jones.

If He's Sinful ($3.49), by Hannah Howell

Book Description
Secrecy and intrigue ignite dangerous passions in New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell's seductive new novel. . .

It is whispered throughout London that the members of the Wherlocke family are possessed of certain unexplainable gifts. But Lord Ashton Radmoor is skeptical--until he finds an innocent beauty lying drugged and helpless in the bedroom of a brothel.

The mystery woman is Penelope Wherlocke, and her special gift of sight is leading her deep into a dangerous world of treachery and betrayal. Ashton knows he should forget her, yet he's drawn deeper into the vortex of her life, determined to keep her safe. But Penelope is no ordinary woman, and she's never met the man strong enough to contend with her unusual abilities.

Until now....

The Big Love ($1.99), by Sarah Dunn, has been marked down to this price at least once before, but this time it's by the publisher.

Book Description
Alison Hopkins isn't just looking for Mr. Right . . . or even Mr. Big. She's holding out for the Big Love.

When 32-year-old Alison's first real boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her - he steps out to buy mustard for a dinner party and never returns - it's time for Alison to reassess her lifelong search for romantic fulfillment. Does true love even exist? Is every romantic involvement with a coworker inevitably doomed? Does sex without commitment always lead to disaster? Is a girl's evangelical Christian upbringing an impediment to her finding true happiness?

Funnier than any "chick-lit," as poised and accomplished as any literary debut this year, The Big Love is a big-hearted, hilariously entertaining novel that readers all across America are falling for.

The Toy ($1.24), by Claire Thompson, is no Three Men and a Maid (free) by PG Wodehouse, but it is a full length novel at just over 200 pages.

Book Description
The Toy is the story of a young woman, Gina, who is kidnapped by two men: one a romantic, the other a sadist. Gordon and Frank use the terrified girl for their pleasure, keeping her prisoner in a room full of mirrors. While Gordon introduces Gina to the whip, the cane and the rope, Frank introduces her to the kiss and a sexual awakening that leaves her hungry for more. Gradually Gina changes from a frightened girl to a fully sexual woman. Boundaries blur between consensual and nonconsensual, between pleasure and pain, between control and love.

Ace of Slaves: A Tale of Enforced Submission ($1.78), by Adrian Hunter, is a little shorter than the last one, at 136 pages.

Book Description
Welcome to the Stratosphere, a surreal world of bondage, blackjack, slavery, slots and sexual torment in the world's tallest casino, created by the winner of SIGNY "Best Bondage Writer" Award. When Interpol agent Sunday Briggs arrives in Las Vegas, she's not supposed to make direct contact with suspect Paul Forte, the shadowy owner who's trying to corner the market on Internet gambling. So she goes undercover, only to find herself captured and cruelly tortured by high rollers with a taste for sadistic entertainment. Sunday will need a lot more than luck to escape the bonds chaining her diminutive body to its fate in the ticking tower. With the deck stacked against her, will she wind up as the ace, or the joker? Ace of Slaves is a gripping BDSM action-adventure from the devious mind of award-winning author Adrian Hunter, a ruthless combination of crime, punishment, suspense and suspension that's guaranteed to keep bondage erotica fans on the edge of their seats, if not strapped to it.

Secret Smile ($4.99), by Nicci French

Book Description
You meet a man - You have an affair - You finish it and you think it's over - You're dead wrong - It's only just beginning....

Miranda's sister, Kerri, has a new boyfriend, a handsome charmer who seems to dote on Kerri. But Brendan isn't the man he says he is. Miranda should know - she broke off her own affair him just a few weeks ago when she found him reading her diary. Rarely do the phrases "page-turning thriller" and "will keep you up all night" truly apply as well as they do to this unpredictable, intelligent, and vastly entertaining tale of one woman's strength and one man's madness.

Crime Minister: Rebound ($4.99), by Ian Barclay, is the third in the series, with Crime Minister: Reckoning ($4.99) and Crime Minister: Retribution ($4.99) also on Kindle (no sign of the first two yet, which are long out of print).

Book Description
It's a mission-dollar job for Richard Dartley, the world's most select assassin-for-hire, the man with many aliases and a thousand ways to kill. For him, the fatal hit should be a simple matter of clear planning and clean execution. But amid the shifting loyalties and tangled intrigue on American's newest and hottest battleground , he knows damn well things are a lot more dangerous than they seem...