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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

More Free on Kindle - Backlist and Self-Pubbed

My fingers are getting a bit sore from one-clicking this morning, but I've found a few more for you to grab today, while they are free.

First up, two free books from Scott Nicholson, who runs the small press Haunted Computer Books: The Skull Ring (Julia Stone) and As I Die Lying. Scott has been kind enough to send me review copies of his books from time to time, but I didn't have either of these in my library. His children's book, Duncan the Punkin, is still free today and you'll find a number of titles at 99 cents if you look thru his catalog.
The Skull Ring (Julia Stone)
Julia Stone's past comes creeping back when she discovers a strange silver ring, and three men want to help her--but choosing the wrong one could cost not only her heart but her soul.

THE SKULL RING

Dr. Pamela Forrest is determined to bring Julia's memories to the surface, hoping to heal Julia's panic disorder. The therapist keeps returning Julia to a night twenty-three years ago when Julia was four. A night of hooded figures, strange chants, pain, and blood. The night her father disappeared from the face of the earth.

But the line between the past and the present begins to blur when Julia finds a silver skull ring that bears the name "Judas Stone." Someone is leaving strange messages inside her house, even though the door is locked. The handyman, who has a key, spends a lot of time in the woods behind her house. Her boyfriend Mitchell becomes distant and violent. And the cop who investigated her father's disappearance has followed her to the small Appalachian town of Elkwood.

Now she has a head full of memories, but she doesn't know which are real and which are the creations of Dr. Forrest. The shadows of Julia's panic are growing larger and darker. But succumbing to madness seems safer than heeding the whispers that claim ownership of her body and soul.


As I Die Lying
Richard's life is a horror story. And it's all the fault of that evil, soul-hopping spirit that took over his head. Or maybe the other four people in there.

Richard Coldiron journeys through a troubled childhood, where he meets his invisible friend, his other invisible friend...and then some who aren’t so friendly.

There’s Mister Milktoast, the protective punster; Little Hitler, who leers from the shadows; Loverboy, the lusty bastard; and Bookworm, who is thoughtful, introspective, and determined to solve the riddle of Richard’s disintegration into either madness or genius, and of course only makes things worse. They reside in the various rooms of his skull, a place known as the Bone House. And the people outside his head aren't so comforting, either--little Sally, his hapless mother, his cruel dad, and a misfit teen named Virginia who also hears voices.

Richard keeps his cool despite the voices in his head, but he’s about to get a new tenant: the Insider, a malevolent soul-hopping spirit that may or may not be born from Richard’s nightmares and demands a co-writing credit and a little bit of foot-kissing dark worship.

Now Richard doesn’t know which voice to trust. The book’s been rejected 117 times. The people he loves keep turning up dead. And here comes the woman of his dreams.

I do have a review copy of Steven Konkoly's The Jakarta Pandemic floating around on my Kindle, but haven't managed to start reading it yet (past the sample, anyway). Today, you can all get a copy and see if you can beat me to finishing it. If you are into military fiction, you might also check out his other title, Black Flagged, currently $2.99 (and in the KLL).
Book Description
THE DEADLIEST PANDEMIC FLU IN HISTORY IS BEARING DOWN ON NEW ENGLAND, AND ALEX FLETCHER HAS A BIG PROBLEM...

HIS FAMILY IS PREPARED, BUT NOBODY ELSE IS.

AS THE FLU SPREADS, AND THE WINTER INTENSIFIES...

THE FOOD TRUCKS STOP, HOSPITALS TURN AWAY THE SICK, AND RIOTS ROCK THE CITIES. POWER PLANTS WILL START TO TRIP OFFLINE WITHIN DAYS.

EVERYONE IS DESPERATE...

ALEX'S PROBLEM IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!

In the late fall of 2013, a lethal pandemic virus emerges from the Islamic Republic of Indonesia and rages unchecked across every continent. When the Jakarta Flu threatens his picture perfect Maine neighborhood, Alex Fletcher, Iraq War veteran, is ready to do whatever it takes to keep his family safe. As a seasoned sales representative for Biosphere Pharmaceuticals, makers of a leading flu virus treatment, Alex understands what a deadly pandemic means for all of them. He particularly knows that strict isolation is the only guaranteed way to protect his family from the new disease.

With his family and home prepared for an extended period of seclusion, Alex has few real concerns about the growing pandemic. But as the deadliest pandemic in human history ravages northern New England, and starts to unravel the fabric of their Maine neighborhood, he starts to realize that the flu itself is the least of his problems. A mounting scarcity of food and critical supplies turns most of the neighbors against him, and Alex is forced to confront their unexpected hostility before it goes too far. Just when he thinks it can’t get any worse, the very face of human evil arrives on Durham Rd. and threatens to destroy them all. Alex and his few remaining friends band together to protect the neighborhood from a threat far deadlier than the flu, as they edge closer to the inevitable confrontation that will test the limits of their humanity.

Doranna Durgin has another title free today, Making the Rules, a stand-alone action romance, previously published by Silhouette .
Book Description
Kimmer Reed is a Hunter Agency operative, a street foundling escaped from an abusive family and raised to be code-name Chimera--a fierce, savvy loner with a natural gift for reading people. Now on her first assignment with the one man she trusts--the one man she can't read--she finds herself overseas in the Basque countryside, framed for the theft of the very antiquity she has been sent to guard and doubting her ability to work with a partner at all--never mind the man she loves.

Rio Carlsen, former CIA field officer who left the agency with scars both physical and emotional, joins Hunter Agency field operations with reservations--and only because his partner is Kimmer. Now he's caught in the schemes of a woman from Kimmer's past. Political terrorism, antiquities theft, and revenge--this woman wants it all, and she's on her way to getting it.

Framed, cut off from the agency, and tangled in Basque Nationalist splinter terrorist groups, the biggest challenge Kimmer and Rio face is coming to terms with their pasts and with each other--so they can live through the day on the way to saving it.

My Lord Viking was originally published by ImaJinn Books under the pen name J A Ferguson in 2001, then reprinted in 2007 under Jo Ann Ferguson as part of their Forever Romance line.
Book Description
Viking Nils Bjornsson turns his back on a warrior's reward to find his chieftain's stolen knife and erase the dishonor brought upon Nils's family. When he appeals to the Norse gods to send him a handmaiden to help him fulfill his pledge to bring the knife to his chieftain, he forgets how the old gods like to meddle in the lives of mortals.

Lady Linnea Sutherland knows her father wishes her to marry their neighbor Lord Tuthill. It is certain to be the perfect match for a Regency miss. But Linnea is looking for a hero, a man who excites her heart as boring Lord Tuthill does not. When she discovers Nils injured on the shore, she is caught up in the adventure of helping this handsome, dangerous man complete the vow he made nearly a millennium before. But first she must teach this Viking how to act like a Regency gentleman.

To help Nils means that Linnea must dare the ancient ways of his past and risk her future. In a game played in the Norse gods' hall of Asgard, two human hearts are of little consequence and love can become an ally or a foe.

Speaking of Imajinn Books, you'll find fifteen of their books free in the Kindle store today, including The Sea Star, by Jean Nash.
Book Description
When Susanna Sterling's brother loses his half interest in the Sea Star to Jay Grainger, a powerful hotel magnate, she fears that Grainger will ultimately gain full control of her beloved hotel.

As she battles to regain her birthright, Susanna finds herself falling in love with her irresistible adversary. Meanwhile, her mother, who abandoned the family years ago, returns to the Sea Star to further complicate Susanna's life.

In time, duplicity, a tragic secret, and a devastating fire threaten to destroy Susanna's love for Jay and all that she holds dear.

If your reading tastes lean more towards erotica, author Selena Kitt has a half-dozen of her titles for free, including Foreign Exchange (An Erotica / Erotica Coming of Age Romance).
Book Description
David has been brightening up his gray Surrey, England days with the porn collection hidden in his parents' shed, but when he finds that their American foreign exchange student, Dawn, has discovered his magazines, things really begin to heat up. David’s parents insist that he look for a job, but Dawn has the week off and is determined to work on her tan. Distracted David finds himself increasingly tempted by their seductive, older foreign exchange student, who makes it very clear what she wants. In spite of the Study Abroad program’s policy that no “relations” are allowed between a student and anyone in their host family--not to mention David’s mother’s insistence that they treat each other as “brother and sister,”--Dawn’s teasing ways slowly break down the barrier between them until they both give in to their lust. But what are they going to do about the feelings that have developed between them in the meantime?

Author's Note: This story appeared in another, now rather infamous book of mine titled NAUGHTY BITS. Foreign Exchange is a slightly less naughty, but no less sexy re-telling of those events--updated and redressed for your reading pleasure.

$3 Instant Video Credit at Amazon (KSO)

This offer is only for those with a Kindle with Special Offers. This is a very limited time offer and must be claimed by tomorrow.

Get $3 off Amazon Instant Videos

Click on the offer, then click on the link on the offer page sign up and you'll get an email with the promotion code. Sign-up for this offer expires on December 28.

You'll get an email (right away), a link to the Instant Video page, a promotion code and a link to the redemption page. This one works like a gift card and you need to apply the credit to your account first, before going shopping. Once you have entered the promotional code(s), you have until January 31, 2012. to complete your purchases. I'd recommend that you apply the credit right away, since it works on any video purchase - then you can shop on the web, from your Kindle Fire or your Roku (currently $10 off, if you don't have one yet) and it will be used automatically.

You can use this credit on a rental or to purchase single items or entire television seasons. I'll probably use mine for the occasional 99 cent movie rental; if you have multiple KSO's, be sure you have them registered to different accounts before you try to claim this one or they'll all end up with the same code. With different accounts, each KSO can claim and use the code (three $1 rentals each should be enough to keep you in movies for the month, if you have 2 or 3 KSO's!).

Dozens of Free Books from Konrath/Kilborn and Crouch (K)

It may be a glitch or it may be a promotion, but if you act fast, you'll find plenty of free reading from these horror/thriller authors:

Free Short Stories by Howard Fast (K/N/I/E)

There are several republished short stories by Howard Fast that are currently free in the main ebookstores, courtesy of Open Road (who hopes you'll look at his recently released backlist). But, the best bargain amongst his novels is one published by Sourcebooks, Immigrants (Lavette Family), currently on sale for $1.79 on Kindle ($1.99 elsewhere, coupon eligible).
The Art of Zen Meditation (Kindle/B&N/iTunes/Sony)
Howard Fast began to formally practice Zen meditation after turning away from communism in 1956. The Art of Zen Meditation, originally published by the antiwar political collective Peace Press in 1977, is the fruit of Fast’s study: a brief and instructive history of Zen Buddhism and its tenets, written with a simplicity that is emblematic of the philosophy itself. Fast’s study of Zen also inspired his popular Masao Masuto mystery series about a Zen Buddhist detective in Beverly Hills, which he published under the pseudonym E. V. Cunningham.

The Art of Zen Meditation is illustrated with twenty-three beautiful photographs.


Spain and Peace (Kindle/iTunes/Kobo/Sony)
Howard Fast was a longtime proponent of the antifascist movement in Spain. During the Spanish Civil War, Fast supported a hospital for Popular Front forces, and in 1950 he was sentenced to three months in jail for refusing to give the names of other supporters of that hospital to the House Un-American Activities Committee. In this pamphlet, published in 1951, Fast gives an overview of Spain under the rule of General Francisco Franco, including the mass strikes that were organized to weaken him. Fast’s fervent appeals to readers to reject American military agreements with Spain demonstrate his passionate opposition to fascism. As Fast writes, “Spain fights on, and in those three words there is a miracle. . . . There is no Spanish worker, professional, intellectual or peasant who strikes a blow for freedom without our being intimately concerned.”

The Incredible Tito: Man of the Hour (Kindle/B&N/iTunes/Kobo/Sony)
The world was mired in the Second World War when Howard Fast wrote The Incredible Tito. Upon the book’s publication in 1944, there was still no united Yugoslavia, the Axis controlled most of Europe, and D-Day was only in the planning stages. In the Balkans, Tito was a beacon of hope against the advancing Nazis. He led a force of resistance fighters that bedeviled the occupying German army throughout Slavic regions and empowered people’s committees to act as local government in all liberated areas. For observers on the political left, Tito seemed uniquely poised to unite the East and West against fascism—once and for all.

Immigrants (Lavette Family) ($1.79 Kindle; $1.99 B&N/iTunes/Kobo/Sony)
In this sweeping journey of love and fortune, master storyteller Howard Fast recounts the rise and fall of a family of roughneck immigrants determined to make their way in America at the turn of the century. Quick to ascend from the tragic depths of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Dan Lavette becomes the head of a powerful shipping empire and establishes himself among the city's cultural elite. But when he finds himself caught in a loveless marriage to the daughter of San Francisco's richest family, a scandalous love affair threatens to destroy the empire Dan has built for himself.

The first of a compelling family saga, The Immigrants is a fast-paced, emotional novel that captures the wide range of relationships among immigrant families during the tumultuous events that defined the early twentieth century in America.

Free Book - The Pawn (K/N/I/E)

Update: 1/5/12 Now free from iTunes.
Update: 12/28/11 Now free from ChristianBook and Sony.

The Pawn, the first title in the Patrick Bowers series by AUTHOR, returns once again as a free title in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Christian publisher Revell.
Book Description
Special Agent Patrick Bowers never met a killer he couldn't catch.
Until now.

Called to North Carolina to consult on the case of an area serial killer, Bowers finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Cunning and lethal, the killer is always one step ahead of the law, and he's about to strike again. It will take all of Bowers's instincts and training to stop the man who calls himself the Illusionist.

Thrilling, chilling, and impossible to put down, The Pawn will hold you in its iron grip until the very last page.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.
Get the free book from iTunes.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Today's Deals

Additional formats on free books:

The Detachment ($0.99), the seventh and latest title in the John Rain series by Barry Eisler, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. You can also get three of his short stories for free: Paris Is A Bitch (Rain/Delilah), The Lost Coast (Larison) [or both together in Double Tap] and one in 2:46: Aftershocks. He's publishing with Amazon's Thomas & Mercer now, but earlier books in his two series were published by Random House and Penguin.
Book Description
John Rain is back. And “the most charismatic assassin since James Bond” (San Francisco Chronicle) is up against his most formidable enemy yet: the nexus of political, military, media, and corporate factions known only as the Oligarchy.

When legendary black ops veteran Colonel Scott “Hort” Horton tracks Rain down in Tokyo, Rain can’t resist the offer: a multi-million dollar payday for the “natural causes” demise of three ultra-high-profile targets who are dangerously close to launching a coup in America.

But the opposition on this job is going to be too much for even Rain to pull it off alone. He’ll need a detachment of other deniable irregulars: his partner, the former Marine sniper, Dox. Ben Treven, a covert operator with ambivalent motives and conflicted loyalties. And Larison, a man with a hair trigger and a secret he’ll kill to protect.

From the shadowy backstreets of Tokyo and Vienna, to the deceptive glitz and glamour of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and finally to a Washington, D.C. in a permanent state of war, these four lone wolf killers will have to survive presidential hit teams, secret CIA prisons, and a national security state as obsessed with guarding its own secrets as it is with invading the privacy of the populace.

But first, they’ll have to survive each other.

The Detachment is what fans of Eisler, “one of the most talented and literary writers in the thriller genre” (Chicago Sun-Times), have been waiting for: the worlds of the award-winning Rain series, and of the bestselling Fault Line and Inside Out, colliding in one explosive thriller as real as today’s headlines and as frightening as tomorrow’s.

Guinness Book of World Records 2012 ($1.54 / £0.99 UK), by AUTHOR, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.87).
Book Description
From the Olympic to the apocalyptic, the new, fully updated digital edition of the planet’s biggest-selling copyright book is bursting with all-new photos and updated features. Guinness World Records 2012 boasts thousands of amazing records, covering everything from record-breaking Royals to incredible creepy crawlies, taking a trip to the centre of the Earth and travelling further afield to the International Space Station. Get to know the fastest, strongest, biggest and greatest record holders, and learn about their jaw-dropping achievements. Packed with fascinating information and trivia from around the globe (and beyond!), the Guinness World Records 2012 ebook edition offers an unforgettable experience.

Jamestown Experiment ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Tony Williams, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.
Book Description
The American dream was built along the banks of the James River in Virginia.

The settlers who established America’s first permanent English colony at Jamestown were not seeking religious or personal freedom. They were comprised of gentlemen adventurers and common tradesmen who risked their lives and fortunes on the venture and stood to reap the rewards—the rewards of personal profit and the glory of mother England. If they could live long enough to see their dream come to life.

The Jamestown Experiment is the dramatic, engaging, and tumultuous story of one of the most audacious business efforts in Western history. It is the story of well-known figures like John Smith setting out to create a source of wealth not bestowed by heritage. As they struggled to make this dream come true, they would face relentless calamities, including mutinies, shipwrecks, native attacks, and even cannibalism. And at every step of the way, the decisions they made to keep this business alive would not only affect their effort, but would shape the future of the land on which they had settled in ways they never could have expected.

The Jamestown Experiment is the untold story of the unlikely and dramatic events that defined the “self-made man” and gave birth to the American dream.

Tony Williams taught history and literature for ten years, and has a master’s in American history from Ohio State University. He wrote Hurricane of Independence and The Pox and the Covenant, and is currently a full-time author who lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with his wife and children.

Free Book - Balancing the Chakras (K)

Balancing the Chakras: The Body's Energetic Channels, by Michael Solis, is free in the Kindle store, courtesy of publisher Charles River Editors (Vook).
Book Description
Many of us have heard the term chakra before, but few truly understand its meaning or its potential significance. Put simply, the word chakra means "wheel of light" in Sanskrit. But that certainly won't answer the questions you are asking yourself by now.

Given the unfamiliarity most people have with these important ideas, Balancing the Chakras seeks to help guide readers of all backgrounds and experiences. Balancing the Chakras explains the chakras based on the teachings of the ancient Hindu texts. In this short guide, you will learn about the idea of the chakras, their individual characteristics, and techniques that yout can perform to help balance certain aspects of your body, mind, emotions, and personality. 7 chapters will present you with information on each of the seven central chakras, as well as advice on how to more effectively balance these energetic centers.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Free Audiobook - The Steve Jobs Way

The audiobook short story The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation ($9.36 Kindle), by Jay Elliot and William L. Simon, narrated by Christopher Hurt, is free over on Audible.
Book Description
In iLeadership, Jay Elliot gives the reader the opportunity of seeing Steve Jobs as only his closest associates have ever seen him, and to learn what has made him--and the mystique of his management style--capable of creating tools so extraordinary that they have remade three industries and have transformed the way we create, consume, and communicate with each other.

Jay Elliot worked side by side with Steve as Senior Vice President of Apple and brings us his deep insider perspective of Steve's singular iLeadership style--which encompasses four major principles: product, talent, organization, marketing.

Jay shares the lessons that come out of Steve's intuitive approach to show how the creative and technological brilliance of iLeadership can be utilized to drive breakthroughs in any organization, irrespective of size.
Get the free audiobook from Audible.

Free Audiobook - The Booktaker

The audiobook short story The Booktaker: A Nameless Detective Mystery, by Bill Pronzini, narrated by Nick Sullivan, is free over on Audible.
Book Description
The Nameless Detective is called upon to find out how rare books and maps are being stolen from an antiquarian bookshop with a faultless alarm system. He goes undercover in the store, only to be foiled when a theft occurs right under his nose. Then, as he ponders the case (while on a date with the lovely Kerry), he's violently struck from behind by a car that seems bent on driving him off the road. Will Nameless survive this attempt on his life and solve the case?
Get the free audiobook from Audible.

Free on Kindle - Backlist and Self-Pubbed

A roundup of some interesting looking backlist and/or self-published titles that are free today (some are today only) in the Kindle store. Many of these are now Kindle exclusive titles, as that is a requirement fo an author to add a book to the Kindle Lending Library.

Leopard's Daughter, by Lee Killough, originally published by Questar / Popular Library and later reprinted by Yard Dog Press. She has several titles at $2.99 on Kindle.
Book Description
In an ancient Africa of verdant Sahara plains, warrior woman Jeneba Karamoke has grown up scorned by her people because her father was a leopard man. When she rescues a party of fellow warriors from cannibalistic monster half-men, she hopes it will finally win acceptance for her. But no...in order to prove she isn't lying about the vanished hero Tomo Silla's part in their capture by the half men she must make Tomo face the tribe. Can she find him, and then survive more monsters, foreign tribes, and a curse laid on a fabled city to bring him back alive?

Ice Age, a short story collection by Iain Rowan, is currently free (so are several of the included short stories as individual titles, which I'd skip). He has an additional story in the free collection infinities, published by Infinity Plus and following the authors included there turns up these free books:
Ice Age
ICE AGE is a collection of eight short stories of the strange and the chilling by award-winning author Iain Rowan.

Stories of the dead and the living, and cities at war where it is hard to tell one from the other. Lonely roads and forest paths and wrong turnings. Very wrong turnings. The fiery martyrdom of The New Way, distant voices that call from the sea, and the ice creeping in, ever in.

Stories in this collection have been reprinted in year's best collections and featured in anthologies nominated for Stoker and Shirley Jackson awards.

ICE AGE features the stories Lilies, The Call, Through The Window, Driving In Circles, Sighted, The Circular Path, Here Comes The New Way and Ice Age.


infinities
An anthology of short stories, novel extracts and a complete novelette from infinity plus and friends: Eric Brown, John Grant, Anna Tambour, Keith Brooke, Garry Kilworth, Iain Rowan, Kaitlin Queen, Linda Nagata, Scott Nicholson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Steven Savile (edited by Keith Brooke)

From high-tech science fiction, through action-packed thriller to wacky satire, there's something for everyone in infinities, the first of a series of anthologies offering you the chance to sample authors' work at no cost.


Sweats (a near-future science-fiction technothriller)
All the forensics point to Joey Bannerman - the DNA profile, the fingerprints, the pheromone signature, the security cam records... But Joey wasn't there, he wasn't in his body at the time of the hit. Joey is a sweat, and he was safely warehoused away while someone else paid to ride his bones... Or at least, that's his defence.

After its initial publication in Postscripts, Sweats was adapted to become part of Brooke's critically-acclaimed novel The Accord, described by SF Site as "one of the finest novels of virtual reality yet written".

A high-tech, near-future cyber-thriller, Sweats showcases the short fiction talent of an author described by Locus as belonging in "the recognized front ranks of SF writers".


The Undead: Zombie Anthology
THE UNDEAD is a stunning collection of 23 tales of the living dead by zombie fan favorites and up-and-coming authors. The Undead includes classic tales of survival in a world populated by the living dead as well as an array of unique takes on the zombie genre: zombies as reality entertainment, glimpses from inside the "life" of the undead, intergalactic war with humanity's own dead turned against us, and everything in between. The Undead will leave zombie fans hungry for more!

Duncan the Punkin
A magical bedtime story for all ages.

Halloween is coming, and Duncan the Punkin's mom teaches him to hide in the pumpkin patch so he doesn't get turned into a jack-o-lantern. Being good is boring, and Duncan's not afraid of any old farmer. But someone else has been keeping an eye on the pumpkin patch. Skeerdy-Cat-Crow has been hanging on a pole all summer, and now he's hungry. He's heard nice little pumpkins are just right. But Mom knows a trick that will teach both Skeerdy-Cat-Crow and Duncan something new.

Features 30 color pages (will appear in black-and-white on Kindles) of rhyming fun, magic, and Halloween mystery. Scott Nicholson is author of the children's books IF I WERE YOUR MONSTER and TOO MANY WITCHES, as well as 20 books for adults. Sergio Castro has illustrated for the comic books LITTLE SHIVERS, DREAMBOAT, and GRAVE CONDITIONS.

The Zombie Anthology above is published by Permuted Press and checking their catalog on Kindle turns up a number of other free titles:
Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder
The war is over and the Vampires have won. The drying up of the world's oil resources leads to the fabled End of Days. Technology stagnates and communities grow ever more insular. With communication between cities lost and attention turned inward, the vampires rise from the shadows where they have survived for centuries and sweep across the globe. By the time word spreads it is far too late and Vampires enslave humanity and keep them in walled cities to breed. The Vampires are masters of the darkness but maintain control by day through the use of Thralls--humans who have been bitten but have not yet crossed over, and whose inhuman lusts make daylight as terrifying as night. In the midst of chaos, a small band of rebels lead a terrified existence, but their survival is threatened by the Vampire's new scanning procedures. John Harris is an ordinary man. Young and reckless, he is frustrated with the group's stagnation and pushes for one more daring mission. His recklessness has exposed the group--but it has also increased the size of their community. Now, as circumstances force them to take the offensive, and accompanied by a small group of professional Vampire assassins, John will make one last stand for humanity's survival in the Vampire Apocalypse.

Down the Road: The Fall of Austin
When the dead rise, the living must unite.

Officer Mike Runyard of the Austin Police Department and his partner, Derek Tucker, are stuck in the middle of a city overrun with the living dead. With resources and luck running out, Runyard is flung into a fight for survival among the living, the dead, and a wave of criminals released from jail into the streets of central and south Austin.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military fights to reclaim Texas, with failure meaning the complete loss of the capital, Austin. A military Humvee traveling down IH-35, headed into the zombie-ridden city, holds the key to a plan meant to turn the tide in the fight. It’s a simple plan, but it’s a plan that’s about to fail with devastating consequences...


Eleven Twenty-Three
Layne Prescott, a former high school teacher returning to America after months of living abroad, meets a strange man in a Shanghai airport and ends up carrying a mysterious briefcase with an attached wrist shackle home with him. Back in the small town of Lilly's End, Layne must cope with more than just the effects of his past indiscretions and his recently deceased father's funeral. Each day at precisely 11:23, the small town of Lilly's End sinks into violent chaos, and people are dying. Cut off from the rest of the world by a strict military quarantine and with the population in rapid decline, Layne and his friends wait with dread as the clock ticks downward.

Among the Living
The dead walk. Now the real battle for Seattle has begun.

When a gas leak causes the National Guard to forcibly evacuate the neighborhood, Lester isn't going anywhere. The former dope pusher has a new clientele… the kind that require him to deal lead instead of drugs.

Mike, a newspaper reporter, suspects a conspiracy lies behind the chaos. He’s driven to find the truth, even if it means dragging his beautiful co-worker into danger.

Kate has a dark secret: she’s a budding young serial killer. As society collapses, her skill in dealing death may be the one thing that can keep her alive.

These survivors, along with others, are drawn together in their quest to find not only the truth behind the spreading apocalypse, but also to escape the madness they face at every turn.


Winds of Change
A shooting star marks the beginning nightmares for the small town of Crowley’s Point. Those who venture outdoors instantly transform into piles of salt. Is it the result of biological experimentation gone awry? A terrorist’s plot? Or is it the fulfillment of a horrific Biblical prophecy?

Among those stranded in the local hardware store are a newlywed couple who may be hiding a secret, a hard-living family of four who are known primarily for their aversion to the law, and an elderly man that found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. As the carnage spreads and the mystery deepens, those trapped inside stumble across clues that hint at fallen angels, omens, and widespread bloodshed. And all signs indicate that one of the group who isn’t what they seem.

Will the survivors root out the impostor before it’s too late? Or will they all themselves transformed into piles of salt, blown asunder by Winds of Change?


Doranna Durgin has two free books on Kindle: Emerging Legacy: A Story of the Wolverine's Daughter (a short story) and Hidden Steel. You'll find several titles at 99 cents, some of them previously published on Baen (and now yanked from there); be sure to check the length on those you are interested in, as some are full novels at that price, while others are short stories.
Emerging Legacy: A Story of the Wolverine's Daughter.
Kelyn of Ketura:

Daughter of a legendary warrior who left the mountains before she was born. Brave. Strong. Tempered by her struggle to survive in the hostile, craggy Keturan mountains. And plagued by moments of enormous and puzzling clumsiness.

"Find your father," the local wisewoman tells her. "To find your true self, find the Wolverine."

Angered by his abandonment, Kelyn doesn't care about her father--but the lure of adventure in the Out Lands calls to her, just as it called to the Wolverine before her, and she accepts the challenge.

New languages, new weapons. Magic. Witch hunts. The treacheries of civilization. She doesn't know just how much of a challenge it'll be.


Hidden Steel.
Steve Spaneas doesn't have a clue.

Who'd have thought that the woman who stumbles her way into his gym, looking and acting so very much like a street person off her meds, is really a CIA case officer whose memory has been obliterated by experimental drugs used by some very bad people?

And seriously, who'd have thought that her attempts to untangle the few clues she's got would lead him right into her world of spies and counterspies, death and deception--and holy cow, stockpiled nuclear weapons?

But Steve had better figure out who he trusts--his years of experience on the streets, or the heart of a gritty woman determined to reclaim herself--and he'd better figure it out fast. Because suddenly there's a body out behind the gym, surveillance teams lurking, and a series of unsavory goons following the trail of a woman temporarily named Mickey right through his life.

Heaven's Fire, is the second title in Patricia Ryan's Fairfax Family series, originally published by Topaz/NAL. You'll also find Silken Threads, the first title in her Wexford Family series, and Still Life With Murder, the first in her Nell Sweeney Mysteries under the pen name P.B. Ryan, marked down to 99 cents.
Book Description
The sequel to Falcon's Fire. Celibate priest and Oxford scholar Rainulf Fairfax finds himself drawn to a humbly born young woman after he rescues from her vicious overlord.

The Serpent's Tail, by Sarah A. Hoyt, is a short story from an author whose more recent works are being published by Spectra (Random House).
Book Description
A bioengineered werewolf, his bioengineered truck, the blond time-traveling secret agent they rescue, and a plot to save the world despite itself.

What could possibly go wrong?

Shifter, P.I., by Bonnie Dee, was originally published by Liquid Silver Books; her recent works are published by Samhain Publishing and Carina Press.
Book Description
A private eye. His hardnosed secretary. A dastardly cult and a werewolf curse. If you like your mysteries noir, Shifter, P.I. is for you.

New Orleans detective, Rick Plazier is hired by a client to look into her possibly cheating husband. In an effort to prove her investigative skills, Rick’s receptionist, Amy Chang agrees to follow the same woman on behalf of her untrusting husband. Working from opposite sides, Amy and Rick uncover much more than a case of faithless spouses. A deadly paranormal society plans to hold an auction of human beings and one or the other of their clients may be a target.

Amy’s disappearance prompts Rick to finally come to terms with his shapeshifting curse and use his wolf aspect to track and rescue her. But will the pair acknowledge their constant arguing is due to mutual attraction and will they move from bickering into bed?

Banana Hammock - A Harry McGlade Mystery (A "Write Your Own Damn Story" Adventure) is today's free title from J.A. Konrath / Jack Kilborn (if he keeps this up, I might eventually collect them all!).
Book Description
Formatted expressly for Kindle!

Private Detective Harry McGlade is hired by an Amish woman who suspects her husband is cheating on her. Going undercover into their community, Harry must untangle a web of lies and deception to find the truth. This will be his biggest challenge yet. Because Harry McGlade is an idiot.

Lead Harry through a series of comic misadventures and bad puns as he traverses the J.A. Konrath universe, popping into many familiar books and stories. Prepare to be shocked and amazed by scenes that are just plain wrong.

It's over 60,000 words of Harry McGlade, which is probably way too much.

About "Write Your Own Damn Story" Adventures
Banana Hammock is not a single, linear book, and should not be read sequentially, page by page. Instead, it is an interactive text adventure.

This ebook is meant to be read out of order, depending on the path you, the reader, choose.

Harry McGlade is a continuing character in the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels series. At the end of each section, you decide where Harry goes, and what he does. By following different paths, you can arrive at many different endings. There are literally hundreds of variations.

You control the character. You control the fun.

Join Harry and a cast pulled from JA Konrath and Jack Kilborn stories, and push ebook technology to the boundaries of reading enjoyment, or something like that.

From the Author
This ebook is filled with raunchy humor, and has something to offend everyone. If you believe there are taboo things that shouldn’t be laughed at or made fun of, don't buy it. Instead, pick up one of my other, less-offensive books. But if you like roasting sacred cows, read on. You’ll laugh.

Free Book - Essential Rules from Richard Templar (N)

Essential Rules from Richard Templar ($19.24 Kindle), by Richard Templar, is free from Barnes & Noble.
Book Description
Discover the simple, easy-to-follow rules that can supercharge your career, optimize your management effectiveness, and transform your life!

In three remarkable eBooks, international best-selling author Richard Templar shares a complete, 100% practical “code” for personal success in management, work, and life! The Rules of Management, Expanded Edition covers everything from setting realistic targets to holding effective meetings; finding the right people to inspiring loyalty. You’ll learn when and how to let your people think they know more than you (even if they don't) – and recognize when they really do. Next, in The Rules of Work, Expanded Edition, Templar reveals the “secrets” of people who seem naturally great at their job: those rare individuals who always seem to say and do the right thing, get raises, get promoted – without compromising their principles, or even seeming to break a sweat. Finally, in The Rules of Life, Expanded Edition, Templar uncovers yet another vital set of secrets: the learnable attitudes and easy-to-use techniques that make some people more contented, more fulfilled, more enthusiastic about life. These are the simple, common-sense, easy-to-follow rules that happy, successful people follow: the rules that can change your life!
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - In Search of Balance (N)

In Search of Balance: Keys to a Stable Life ($7.99 Kindle), by Richard Swenson, is free from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Christian publisher NavPress. It's likely to end up free on Kindle in a day or two.
Book Description
In Seach of Balance by Richard A. Swenson, MD, author of the best-selling book Margin, helps us understand the dangers of living in a fast-paced world and gives us hope for recovering a foundational sense of equilibrium.

Dr. Swenson offers not only important organizing principles for making sense of our priorities but also scores of practical tips for finding rest and contentment in a world that emphasizes materialism and busyness. His advice is grounded in the daily realities we all experience, but his wisdom has been honed by the big-picture perspective of an exhaustive study of the stresses of modern life.

Let Dr. Swenson be your gentle guide for reaching a new stage of personal balance. Want to use the book in a group? See the free online discussion guide below.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book/Game - Puzzlebook: 12 Christmas Puzzle Quizzes (K/I)

Puzzlebook: 12 Christmas Puzzle Quizzes, by The Grabarchuk Family, is free in the Kindle store, today only. This book (not active content, it works on any Kindle and can even be used on the apps) is usually 99 cents and, as the title says, contains 12 puzzles for you to work out. The first few are pretty easy, but the difficulty increases as you go thru the book. Each puzzle has a multiple choice list of answers and clicking one will tell you if you are correct or need to go back and try again. I actually received a review copy of the book and my only real complaint is that it seemed a bit short (and has little replay value), but that is readily solved in their other two volumes of 100 and 102 puzzles at $2.99 each. I played thru the volume on the Kindle Fire, where all the puzzles were in full color.

If you have an iThing, be sure to check out their free apps: Sliding Tiles (a small Christmas app), Puzzle Quizzes (over 100 puzzles), iCut and LetsTans 10-in-1 for iPhone and iPad.

Book Description
*** Special Christmas gift to all puzzle lovers - FREE, interactive, and color (offer ends December 26) ***

Here is a special Christmas present for the lovers of the Top Rated "Puzzlebook: Puzzle Quizzes" series. In this new puzzle collection you will find 12 holiday themed, pictorial, hand-crafted puzzle quizzes. Be sure to check "Puzzlebook: 100 Puzzle Quizzes," "Puzzlebook: 101 Puzzle Quizzes," and "Puzzlebook: 102 Puzzle Quizzes" for more!

Novelty
All puzzle quizzes are original creations by the Grabarchuk Family and delivered exclusively for Kindle.

Interactivity
You can interactively answer and check a puzzle quiz by clicking the respective answer button. Only the correct answer leads to the solution page.

Ranking
The collection is specially created for all kinds of solvers - beginners, skillful, and expert alike. The puzzles are arranged so that you start with the easy (*) puzzles and progress to the hard (****) puzzles.

Enjoy It in Color Too!
The book is created in full-color. Enjoy a colorful experience playing it in a Kindle app on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, etc.

Happy Holiday Puzzling!

Free Book - Sunfire (K/N/E/DF)

Sunfire, the first Pure Wildfire title by Lynne Connolly, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, AllRomance, Sony and the publisher Ellora's Cave. This full length novel (310 pages) is a blistering 5 on the heat index at ARe.
Book Description
Rock meets classical. Paranormal meets mortal. Will anybody get out alive? The members of rock band Pure Wildfire are firebird shape-shifters. Manager John Westfall will sacrifice anything for the power they wield, even his daughter Corinne.

Corinne attracts Aidan in a way he's never known before. He'll do anything to release her from Westfall's trap. He offers her marriage, but Aidan wants more from Corinne — he wants her heart. And he'll give her his in return.

Classical guitarist Corinne is desperate to escape her father's control. She loves Aidan but craves her freedom — can she trust him to give it to her? Can she trust the wild man of rock with her heart? There's only one way to find out. Dive into the wildfire!

Publisher Note: This book was previously released under the title Wildfire. It has been expanded for publication at Ellora's Cave.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from AllRomance.
Get the free ebook from Ellora's Cave.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Get $2 off an Amazon Favorites MP3 Album (KSO)

This offer is only for those with a Kindle with Special Offers. This is a very limited time offer and must be claimed today.

Get $2 off one of our Customer Favorite MP3 Albums of 2011

To take advantage of this offer:
  1. First, turn on your Kindle with Special Offers, click Menu, then View Special Offers.
  2. Find the offer: Get $2 off one of our Customer Favorite MP3 Albums of 2011. Click on it, then on the link to Email Me This Offer.
  3. You will get an email from Amazon with your promotional code, right away.
  4. Once you have the promotion code (and have selected your album; see below), click this link, then on the button labeled Enter Your Code, at any time up to the expiration date of January 26, 2012.
  5. Enter your code and follow the directions.
  6. Choose any of these albums and you'll get $2 off
You'll have a promotion code on your account that will apply to the FIRST album you buy (from the list) after that. Note that even if the album is free, you'll pay three dollars, so be careful which one you pick after you enter the code -- make sure you don't grabbing a low cost title by accident, which can happen if you apply the code right away, before you are ready to buy the album. Current prices range from $1.99 to over $14.99. You should save the code and not enter it until you are ready to buy an album.

To recap: you must claim the offer by December 26 (today) and must do so from your Kindle with Special Offers. You'll get a promotion code via email and you have until January 26, 2012, to enter and redeem the code. Once you enter it, it will work on the next album from the list that you purchase.

There are a hundred albums to choose from and right now some of them are marked down to $5 or less (I saw three at $1.99 - $2 off means it is free), so if one of those is on your wish list, I wouldn't wait until the last day to use this one (although some might be marked down next month, there is no guarantee that any will be).

Today's Deals

You may have noticed in the posts late last night that I'm changing the way I flag book formats/stores just a little. Rather than having the list right after "free book", I'm moving it to the end and I'm also shortening to a single letter:
  • K - Kindle/Amazon
  • N - nook/Barnes & Noble
  • I - iBooks/iTunes
  • E - EPUB/various stores
  • P - PDF/various stores
  • DF - DRM-Free
I might add some others later on. This should help those getting twitter notices to see the entire message/book title.

Additional formats on free books and those now free in the US Kindle store (the Bell Bridge books didn't drop, although they did end up bargain priced from $0.99 to $1.99):
Today is the last day to take advantage of these KSO deals:
I don't see an equivalent for those in the US, but in the UK, Amazon is offering The 12 Days of Kindle, featureing books priced prices starting at £0.99, with more books added daily (Dec 26 - Jan 6).

Life of Pi ($0.99), by Yann Martel, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. Be careful buying this one on your computer, as there are two editions and only one is on sale.
Book Description
Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional-but is it more true? Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.

Those in Peril ($1.54 / £0.99 UK), by Wilbur Smith, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $12.99). Those in the UK will find the rest of his backlist more reasonably priced than in the US, as well, with Elephant Song bargain priced under $4 (£2.29) and several others under £5.
Book Description
Hazel Bannock is the heir to the Bannock Oil Corp, one of the major oil producers with global reach. While cruising in the Indian Ocean, Hazel's private yacht is hijacked by African pirates. Hazel is not on board at the time, but her nineteen year old daughter, Cayla, is kidnapped and held to ransom. The pirates demand a crippling twenty billion dollar ransom for her release. Complicated political and diplomatic considerations render the civilized major powers incapable of intervening. When Hazel is given evidence of the horrific torture which Cayla is being subjected to, she calls on Hector Cross to help her rescue her daughter. Hector is the owner and operator of Cross Bow Security, the company which is contracted to Bannock Oil to provide all their security. He is a formidable fighting man. Between them Hazel and Hector are determined to take the law into their own hands.

Thunder Dog ($4.60 Kindle, B&N), by Michael Hingson, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. This is a pretty good price on this one, if you missed it when it was the Kindle Deal of the Day in September.
Book Description
A blind man and his guide dog show the power of trust and courage in the midst of devastating terror.

It was 12:30 a.m. on 9/11 and Roselle whimpered at Michael’s bedside. A thunderstorm was headed east, and she could sense the distant rumbles while her owners slept. As a trained guide dog, when she was “on the clock” nothing could faze her. But that morning, without her harness, she was free to be scared, and she nudged Michael’s hand with her wet nose as it draped over the bedside toward the floor. She needed him to wake up.

With a busy day of meetings and an important presentation ahead, Michael slumped out of bed, headed to his home office, and started chipping away at his daunting workload. Roselle, shivering, took her normal spot at his feet and rode out the storm while he typed. By all indications it was going to be a normal day. A busy day, but normal nonetheless. Until they went into the office.

In Thunder Dog, follow Michael and his guide dog, Roselle, as their lives are changed forever by two explosions and 1,463 stairs. When the first plane struck Tower One, an enormous boom, frightening sounds, and muffled voices swept through Michael’s office while shards of glass and burning scraps of paper fell outside the windows.

But in this harrowing story of trust and courage, discover how blindness and a bond between dog and man saved lives and brought hope during one of America’s darkest days.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Free Book - Chili Cookbook (K/N/E/I)

Update: 1/1/12 Now free from Sony and iTunes.
Update: 12/31/11 Now free from Barnes & Noble.
Update: 12/26/11 Now free in the US Kindle store.

Chili Cookbook (Main/UK), by Gooseberry Patch, is free for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning (and on nook fairly soon, as well).
Book Description
Get a taste of Gooseberry Patch in this collection of over 20 favorite chili recipes! Grab a spoon and dig in! Warm, hearty and oh-so-delicious, we've included plenty of recipes for your one-pot family favorite in our Chili cookbook. Try southwestern chili casserole, Grandpa's favorite chili and oh-so-cheesy chili dip.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from iTunes.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Free Book - Resting In the Bosom Of the Lamb [UK] (K)

Resting In the Bosom Of the Lamb (Main/UK), by Augusta Trobaugh (Bell Bridge Books), is free for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.
Book Description
Four elderly southern women share a house, a history, and heartbreaking secrets. Baby girl, I hope you’re listening real good to what I’m gonna tell you about that sure-enough miracle we got us. Had to be a miracle, because in all my born days, I didn’t never think it could turn out like this. Didn’t never think you’d be sitting right here on this very porch with me, hearing me talk about all us folks you don’t know nothing much about yet.. . . Back then, I didn’t really know that all the folks who came ahead of us are like the brown roots of a big old vine growing close to the porch, and even though those roots are way down deep in the ground where we can’t see them, they’re still there.

And we grow from them, our whole lives, and then, if we’re lucky, others grow from us. Well, I expect that the ones who came before us—black and white—had things they had to keep still about, too, just like me and Miss Cora. Things we had to do, whether we liked it or not. And then never speak of them again.

Augusta Trobaugh is the acclaimed author of fine novels including Praise Jerusalem, Sophie and the Rising Sun, and coming soon, Music From Beyond the Moon.

Free Book - Praise Jerusalem! [UK] (K)

Praise Jerusalem! (Main/UK), by Augusta Trobaugh (Bell Bridge Books), is a repeat freebie for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.
Book Description
Fans of southern novels that explore the complex relationships between white families and their black hired help will find a compelling story about race relations in PRAISE JERUSALEM. Amelia, an aging Georgia matron forced by money woes to move in with two other women--outlandishly preachy Maybelline and take-no-nonsense Mamie, who is black--begins to confront her childhood memories of the black women who worked for her family. Their lives, both tragic and yet sublimely proud, haunt Amelia even now, as she searches for a way to make peace with the sorrows she innocently observed.

PRAISE JERUSALEM is a rare mix of poignant drama but also wry humor. Both the elder Amelia and her childhood self are primly rebellious and irrepressible; Amelia's sharp eye for petty human foibles never fails her.

Free Book - Striking Back [UK] (K)

Striking Back (Main/UK), by Mark Nykanen (Bell Bridge Books), is a repeat freebie for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning. Also has a self-published novel, HUSH, for 99 cents.
Book Description
Justice is coming.These men like to hurt women. Now it's payback time for an unknown murderer who's slaughtering the abusers in ways that mirror the ugly violence they forced upon the women in their lives. As the death count grows-and media interest explodes-innocent people could get caught in the killer's revenge.Los Angeles therapist Gwyn Sanders keeps her ugly family history to herself. More than twenty years ago, when she was still a teen, her violent stepfather died a grisly, mysterious death. Gwyn knows all the secrets but she's not talking about the past-she's too busy trying to change the future by breaking the cycle of domestic violence. The men she counsels aren't saints, but maybe she can change the mindset that makes their lives-and the lives of the people closest to them-so miserable. But when someone starts killing her controversial clients, Gwyn becomes LAPD's primary suspect. After all, there's the unsolved mystery of her stepfather's bizarre death. Maybe Gwyn has a hidden desire for justice that's far from therapeutic.

Mark Nykanen is an Emmy-winning former NBC correspondent and the author of acclaimed thrillers HUSH, SEARCH ANGEL, THE BONE PARADE, PRIMITIVE and, writing as James Jaros, BURN DOWN THE SKY.

Free Book - A Dog Named Slugger [UK] (K)

A Dog Named Slugger (Main/UK), by Leigh Brill (Bell Bridge Books), is a repeat freebie for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.
Book Description
The true life story of a dog who changed everything for one woman. For the first time in my life, I didn't need to pretend, I didn't need to be tough: I only needed to be honest. "I have cerebral palsy. I walk funny and my balance is bad. I fall a lot. My hands shake, too. That means I'm not so good at carrying things. And if I drop stuff, sometimes it's hard to just bend down and get it." I waited anxiously for the interviewer's response. She smiled. "It sounds like a service dog could be great for you."

So began Leigh Brill's journey toward independence and confidence, all thanks to a trained companion dog named Slugger. The struggling college student and the Labrador with a "a coat like sunshine" and a tail that never stopped wagging became an instant team. Together, they transformed a challenge into a triumph. Together, they inspired and educated everyone they met. Now, Leigh honors her friend with the story of their life, together.

Free Book - Mai Tai One On [UK] (K)

Mai Tai One On (Main/UK), by Jill Marie Landis (Bell Bridge Books), is a repeat freebie for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.
Book Description
Six months ago, if anyone would have told Em Johnson she'd end up divorced, broke, and running the dilapidated Tiki Goddess Bar on the magical North Shore of Kauai she would have told them to shove a swizzle stick up their okole.

As if all that isn't bad enough, when an obnoxious neighbor with a grudge is found dead in the Goddess luau pit, suspicion falls on Em and the rest of the Goddess staff. With the help of a quirky dance troupe of over-the-hill Hula Maidens, Em and the cast of characters must ban together to find the killer and solve the mystery before the next pupu party.

JILL MARIE LANDIS has written over twenty-five novels, which have earned awards and slots on such national bestseller lists as the USA TODAY Top 50 and the New York Times Best Sellers Plus. She is a seven-time finalist for Romance Writers of America's RITA Award in both Single Title and Contemporary Romance as well as a Golden Heart and RITA Award winner. She's written historical and contemporary romance as well as inspirational historical romance, and she is now penning The Tiki Goddess Mystery Series, which begins with MAI TAI ONE ON.

Free Book - Beer Is Proof God Loves Us (K/N)

Update: 12/26/11 Now free in the US Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Beer Is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing (Main/UK), by Charles W. Bamforth (FT Press), is a repeat freebie for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.
Book Description
Beer Is Proof God Loves Us is a funny, engaging, and downright joyous examination of the whole world of beer and brewing. Your guide, Charlie Bamforth, may be the world's #1 expert on every aspect of beer: After a worldwide search, he was selected as the first Anheuser-Busch Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis. Now, he presents the most compelling social history of beer ever written: where it's come from, where the brewing business stands now, and what the future holds. In this far-reaching book, he reveals

  • The extraordinary complexity and artistry that can be found in great brewing.
  • The factors that impact beer quality and wholesomeness.
  • Centuries-old cultural values embedded in good beer.

Bamforth also explains what the rise of new craft breweries means to beer drinkers and what the latest global trends will have on beer consumption. The book concludes with a look to the future, illustrating how environmental issues will change the brewing industry and addressing radical new approaches to brewing, such as Happoshu and malternatives.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Deliver! (K/N)

Update: 12/26/11 Now free in the US Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Deliver!: How to Be Fast, Flawless, and Frugal (Main/UK), by Jim Champy (FT Press), is a repeat freebie for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.
Book Description
Jim Champy revolutionized business with Reengineering the Corporation. Now, in Deliver!, the third book in a series about what's new and really works in business, he shows how to leverage the rich treasure of potential competitive advantage that's hiding in plain view: your operations. Deliver! presents five original, chapter-length case studies of organizations performing at levels that were once viewed as impossible. They range from Campbell's Soup to the US Navy. Their offerings range from industrial tools to premium California wine. What do they share in common? Their success hasn't been grounded in breakthrough strategy: it's built on goals, discipline, details… the grittiness of everyday execution. In an era of highly constrained resources, these organizations offer you the most realistic path to sustainable success: Increase operational efficiency. Drive real savings. And use those savings not merely to maintain your competitive position, but to drive it forward.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Curious Folks Ask (K/N)

Update: 12/26/11 Now free from Barnes & Noble.
Update: 12/26/11 Now free in the US Kindle store.

Curious Folks Ask: 162 Real Answers on Amazing Inventions, Fascinating Products, and Medical Mysteries (Main/UK), by Sherry Seethaler(FT Press), is a repeat freebie for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.
Book Description
  • Why does the flu change every year?
  • What makes glue sticky?
  • What causes out-of-body experiences?
  • Are all brands of gas the same?
  • Will adult stem cells work as well as embryonic stem cells?
  • Is one “horsepower” really equal to the power of one horse?
  • Why can’t you sneeze with your eyes open?
  • How much does a cremated body weigh?
These are just a few of the fascinating science and health questions real people have asked top science writer and San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Sherry Seethaler. Curious Folks Ask brings together 162 of her best answers–all crystal-clear, accurate, quick, and a pleasure to read. Seethaler is one of this generation’s best science explainers, and it shows: Every answer is accurate, fun to read, and distilled to a single page or less! Want to know how canned air works…or nuclear bombs? What causes goose bumps, earwax, dandruff, headaches? Whether it’s healthy to crack your knuckles, drink decaf, eat chocolate? What it costs to run all those LED lights around your house? It’s all here–and a whole lot more!
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.