Today's Deals

There are a few free tunes you can pick up on Google Play today, that look interesting. Blue Train, by John Coltrane, is free on the main Music page, there is an entire playlist from Lollapalooza, they've updated the Free Songs page, and (if you are into rap), two exclusive cuts from Busta Rhymes. Generally, their free songs do require a credit card on file, so be sure to check the total shown before confirming the "purchase" (it should be "Free" or "$0.00", which seem to alternate).

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is The River Witch ($1.99), by Kimberly Brock.

Book Description
Can the river heal her?

Roslyn Byrne is twenty-four years old, broken in body, heart and soul. Her career as a professional ballet dancer ended with a car wreck and a miscarriage, leaving her lost and grieving. She needs a new path, but she doesn't have the least idea how or where to start. With some shoving from her very Southern mama, she immures herself for the summer on
Manny's Island, Georgia, one of the Sea Isles, to recover.

There Roslyn finds a ten-year-old girl, Damascus, who brings alligators, pumpkins and hoodoo into her sorry life.

Roslyn rents a house from Damascus's family, the Trezevants, a strange bunch. One of the cousins, Nonnie, who works in the family's market, sees things Roslyn is pretty sure she shouldn't, and knows things regular people don't. Between the Trezevant secrets and Damascus's blatant snooping and meddling, Roslyn finds herself caught in a mysterious stew of the past and present, the music of the river, the dead and the dying who haunt the riverbank, and a passion for living her new life.

Escape ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), by Barbara Delinsky, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.99).

Book Description
Have you ever wanted to walk out on your life?

One Friday morning, Emily realises that, somewhere in life, she has chosen the wrong path. She’s stifled by her job as a New York lawyer, she barely sees her husband, James, and their attempts to start a family have proven unsuccessful.

So Emily escapes. She walks out of the office, turns her phone off, packs a bag and leaves New York. She doesn’t even tell James she’s leaving…

But when a new path leads back to her past, and an old lover, new problems arise. As Emily begins to carve out a new life, where does that leave everything and everyone she left behind?

Guilt by Degrees ($12.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Marcia Clark, is the Nook Daily Find. Hachette is an Agency Price publisher, so it should be price matched on Kindle; I'm reporting the price and if enough of us do, Amazon should force them to drop the Kindle price. If they don't by late in the evening, though, remember that you can always read B&N's books on your Kindle Fire (using the nook App) or other tablet, if you don't have a NOOK reader.

Update: Finally price matched at Amazon!

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

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

Walk Two Moons ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the 1995 Newbery Medal winner by Sharon Creech, is the Nook Daily Find for Families, price matched on Kindle. If you have kids (or grandkids) in this age group (8+), don't miss also picking up Absolutely Normal Chaos, Chasing Redbird, The Wanderer (a 2001 Newbery Honor book) and Ruby Holler (winner of the 2002 Carnegie Medal), all of which are also on sale for $1.99 apiece. None of these are in a series, so can be read in any order and you don't have to worry about skipping the titles that aren't on sale.

Book Description

"How about a story? Spin us a yarn."
Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. "I could tell you an extensively strange story," I warned.
"Oh, good!" Gram said. "Delicious!"
And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic.

As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold--the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.

Grade Level: 8 and up

Free Audiobook - Moby Dick

Update: Looks like this deal is over.

Get a free MP3 download and PDF ebook of Moby Dick ($27.95 Audible), by Herman Melville and Norman Dietz (narrator), over at Tantor media.

Book Description
On a previous voyage, a mysterious white whale had ripped off the leg of a sea captain named Ahab. Now the crew of the Pequod, on a pursuit that features constant adventure and horrendous mishaps, must follow the mad Ahab into the abyss to satisfy his unslakeable thirst for vengeance. Narrated by the cunningly observant crew member Ishmael, Moby Dick is the tale of the hunt for the elusive, omnipotent, and ultimately mystifying white whale - Moby Dick.

On its surface, Moby Dick is a vivid documentary of life aboard a 19th-century whaler, a virtual encyclopedia of whales and whaling, replete with facts, legends, and trivia that Herman Melville had gleaned from personal experience and scores of sources. But as the quest for the whale becomes increasingly perilous, the tale works on allegorical levels, likening the whale to human greed, moral consequence, good, evil, and life itself. Who is good? The great white whale who, like Nature, asks nothing but to be left in peace? Or the bold Ahab who, like scientists, explorers, and philosophers, fearlessly probes the mysteries of the universe? Who is evil? The ferocious, man-killing sea monster? Or the revenge-obsessed madman who ignores his own better nature in his quest to kill the beast?

Get the free audiobook from Tantor media. Once you've completed the purchase and added to your library, you can download at any time, so no rush on that (like there is with Sync).

Two Free Audiobooks - Daughter of Smoke & Bone and A Tale of Two Cities

There are two new free audiobook from Sync today. First, I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

The first free audiobook is Daughter of Smoke & Bone ($9.99 Kindle; $19.95 Audible), by Alfred C. Martino, narrated by Mark Shanahan.

Book Description
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Grade Level: 10 and up

A Tale of Two Cities ($21.95 Audible), by Charles Dickens, narrated by Simon Prebble, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle, although the 60 available might be a bit too much of a good thing. In any case, you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.

Book Description
Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities is a sprawling tale of London and revolutionary Paris with a complex plot portraying the results of terror and treason, love and supreme sacrifice.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." - opening line of A Tale of Two Cities

It was the time of the French Revolution, a time of great change and great danger. It was a time when injustice was met by a lust for vengeance, and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. Against this tumultuous historical backdrop, Dickens' dramatic story of adventure and courage unfolds.

Unjustly imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, Dr. Alexandre Manette is reunited with his daughter, the gentle Lucie Manette, and safely transported from France to England. It would seem that they could now take up the threads of their lives in peace. As fate would have it, however, the two are summoned to the Old Bailey to testify against a young Frenchman, Charles Darnay, falsely accused of treason. Strangely enough, Darnay bears an uncanny resemblance to another man in the courtroom: Sydney Carton, a dissolute barrister. It is a coincidence that saves Darnay from certain doom more than once, as the two men's fates become intertwined with that of the Revolution.

And there is Madame Defarge, a female revolutionary who has an implacable grudge against the aristocratic Evrémonde dynasty and who knits as she watches the beheadings.

The storming of the Bastille, the death carts with their doomed human cargo, the swift drop of the blade of La Guillotine - this is the French Revolution that Charles Dickens vividly captures. Brilliantly plotted, the novel is rich in drama, romance, and heroics that culminate in a daring prison escape in the shadow of the guillotine.

Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date). Two new titles each Thursday!

Today's Deals

I've been having some computer issues, but should be back now. On the positive side, I seem to have solved the extreme overheating issue on my notebook computer, which was causing it to lock up several times a day, my keyboard is cleaner than it has been for a long time and I can now remove the keyboard in only a few minutes, after removing ONLY 10 screws, loosening another half dozen to remove two cover plates (the other 20 or so screws I had to remove to clean the fan can be ignored) and removing the hard drive. However, on the negative side, I lost bluetooth completely (apparently the modem was overheating; now it's dead). Hopefully I'll get caught back up, but I'm going to have to delay my planned bargains post until the weekend.

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is the AmazonCrossing exclusive English translation of The Zurich Conspiracy ($1.99), by Bernadette Calonego and Gerald Chapple (Translator).

Book Description
Thirty-something Josefa Rehmer is as smart and ambitious as they come, qualities that have earned her the enviable position of events manager at Loyn, an exclusive Zurich leather accessories company. But when Werner Schulmann is appointed to be her new supervisor, Josefa’s professional ambitions are dealt a serious blow. After all, it was Schulmann’s sexual harassment that nearly derailed her career years earlier. Unable to stomach the thought of working for such a man, Josefa resigns, abandoning Loyn for another local firm. But when Schulmann is murdered and Loyn’s CEO commits suicide, Josefa begins to suspect that something other than sexual impropriety is plaguing her former company. She sets out to uncover the truth and soon realizes the two deaths are just the tip of the iceberg. As she digs deeper, Josefa finds herself caught in a complex and dangerous web of blackmail, corporate espionage, and murder. And if she’s not careful, she will be the next one to take the fall. This dramatic tale of corporate intrigue doubles as an intricately plotted thriller about the darkest side of office politics and the people who will do anything to come out on top.

Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), by Tim Jeal, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $17.20).

Book Description
Between 1856 and 1876, five explorers, all British, took on the seemingly impossible task of discovering the source of the White Nile. Showing exceptional courage and extraordinary resilience, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Samuel Baker, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley risked their lives and their reputations in the name of this quest. They journeyed through East and Central Africa into unmapped territory, discovered the great lakes Tanganyika and Victoria, navigated the upper Nile and the Congo, and suffered the ravages of flesh-eating ulcers, malaria and deep spear wounds. Using new research, Tim Jeal tells the story of these great expeditions, while also examining the tragic consequences which the Nile search has had on Uganda and Sudan to this day. Explorers of the Nile is a gripping adventure story with an arresting analysis of Britain's imperial past and the Scramble for Africa.

Fear ($4.61 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by L. Ron Hubbard, is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
Professor James Lowry doesn't believe in spirits, or witches, or demons. Not until one gentle spring evening when his hat disappears, along with four hours of his life. Now the quiet university town of Atworthy is changing; just slightly at first, then faster and more frighteningly each time he tries to remember. Lowry is pursued by a dark, secret evil that is turning his whole world against him while it whispers a warning from the shadows: "If you find your hat you'll find your four hours. If you find your four hours then you will die. . . ."

The Wide-Awake Princess ($7.59 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by E. D. Baker, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.

Book Description
In this stand-alone fairy tale, Princess Annie is the younger sister to Gwen, the princess destined to be Sleeping Beauty. When Gwennie pricks her finger and the whole castle falls asleep, only Annie is awake, and only Annie-blessed (or cursed?) with being impervious to magic-can venture out beyond the rose-covered hedge for help. She must find Gwen’s true love to kiss her awake.

But who is her true love? The irritating Digby? The happy-go-lucky Prince Andreas, who is holding a contest to find his bride? The conniving Clarence, whose sinister motives couldn’t possibly spell true love? Joined by one of her father’s guards, Liam, who happened to be out of the castle when the sleeping spell struck, Annie travels through a fairy tale land populated with characters both familiar and new as she tries to fix her sister and her family . . . and perhaps even find a true love of her own.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Today's Deals

The new list of 100 Kindle books for $3.99 or less is up. I'll get a post together later today with some good picks I've already spotted (including one or two I bought last night, when I noticed the price drops).

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Occultation ($1.99), by Laird Barron. Published by Night Shade Books, Barron's second short story collection has two starred reviews (Booklist and Publishers Weekly) and includes six reprints and three original stories.

Book Description
Laird Barron has emerged as one of the strongest voices in modern horror and dark fantasy fiction, building on the eldritch tradition pioneered by writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, and Thomas Ligotti. His stories have garnered critical acclaim and been reprinted in numerous year's best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards. His debut collection, The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, was the inaugural winner of the Shirley Jackson Award.

He returns with his second collection, Occultation. Pitting ordinary men and women against a carnivorous, chaotic cosmos, Occultation's eight tales of terror (two never before published) include the Theodore Sturgeon and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated story "The Forest" and Shirley Jackson Award nominee "The Lagerstatte." Featuring an introduction by Michael Shea, Occultation brings more of the spine-chillingly sublime cosmic horror Laird Barron's fans have come to expect.

Stirred ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), a Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels/Luther Kite thriller by Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99/KLL eligible).

Book Description
This Bonus Content Edition includes an authors' introduction, afterword interview between J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch, a linked cast of characters and storyline endnotes, and more!

Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels has seen humanity at its most depraved and terrifying. She's lost loved ones. Come close to death countless times. But she always manages to triumph over evil. Luther Kite is humanity at its most depraved and terrifying. He's committed unthinkable acts. Taken human life for the sheer pleasure of it. He is a monster among monsters, and no one has ever caught him. Each is the best at what they do. Peerless. Unmatched.

Until now...

In Luther's experience, people are weak. Even the strong and fearless break too easily. He wants a challenge, and sets his depraved sights on Jack. But with a baby on the way, Jack is at her most vulnerable. She's always been a fighter, but she's never had so much to fight for. So he's built something especially for Jack. His own, private ninth circle of hell - a nightmare world in a forgotten place, from which no one has ever escaped.

It's J.A. Konrath's greatest heroine versus Blake Crouch's greatest villain in Stirred, the stunning conclusion to both Konrath's Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller series and Crouch's Andrew Z. Thomas series.

Only one can survive. And it won't be whom you think.

Don't Try This at Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Kimberly Witherspoon, is the Nook Daily Find. It is price matched on Kindle, but cannot currently be purchased, as it is "under review", which usually means there are serious formatting errors that are being worked on by the publisher.

Book Description
From Gabrielle Hamilton on hiring a blind line cook to Michel Richard on rescuing a wrecked cake to Eric Ripert on being the clumsiest waiter in the room, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. With a great, new piece by Jamie Oliver, Don’t Try This at Home is a delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren’t always perfect-and a hilarious must have for anyone who’s ever burned dinner.

Warriors: Enter the Clans ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Erin Hunter, is the Nook Daily Find for Families, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Contains the complete text of both Secret of the Clans and Code of the Clans.

Welcome to the world of ThunderClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and SkyClan. . . . Here, the secrets behind the Clans are revealed. Find out how apprentices learn to fight, hunt, and help their Clans. Explore the territories with an insiders-only tour. Discover the origins of the warrior code, which governs how Clan cats live side by side in times of war and peace.

Grade Level: 3 and up