30% Off Select Kindle Accessories (KSO)

This offer for those with a Kindle Fire with Special Offers only. On your Kindle Fire with Special Offers, swipe the top menu to the left until you see Offers, then press/click in order to see the current offers. At the bottom, you should see the offer to 30% Off Select Kindle Accessories. Click on the offer, then on the orange button to add the credit directly to your account. It's nearly instant and the next screen offers to take you to Amazon so you can spend that credit away! If you miss that screen, though, don't worry - a document about the offer will appear on your home page.

The discount is limited to Select Kindle Accessories and they must be "sold by Amazon.com". You can put multiple items into your cart, then go thru the full checkout process - you should see the discount in your Order Summary at the upper right corner of the page. The total discount is limited to $30 (30% off $100 in purchases) and will expire at midnight (PT), October 15.

There are the usual assortment of cases to choose from (although, not the ones actually made by Amazon), along with stands, earbuds and styluses that will work with many different devices.

Today's Deals

BooksonBoard is running a sale for all non-Agency titles; those published in 2012 are 40% off (including rewards dollars) and anything pre-2012 is 50%. On their site you call tell the Agency titles by the presence of a red diamond next to the price. Last I checked they were giving discounts on HarperCollins titles, but no reward dollars, but the other Agency publishers had not yet complied with the court-ordered dissolution of their Agency contracts (there or anywhere else).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is the Wool Omnibus Edition ($1.99), by Hugh Howey. Although you can still get the first volume, Wool, for free, even at indie author prices it will cost you more to finish out this well-reviewed series when buying the individual titles. Lengthwise, the omnibus is estimated to cover 550 pages in print, so about a 2-novel equivalent in today's market for the genre.

Book Description
This Omnibus Edition collects the five Wool books into a single volume. It is for those who arrived late to the party and who wish to save a dollar or two while picking up the same stories in a single package.

The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Rough Weather: A Spenser Novel ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), the 36th novel in the Spencer series by Robert B. Parker, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well-connected. She's also a notorious gold digger only recently separated from her latest husband – and she's hired Spenser to act as her stand-in spouse.

The Boston P.I. is to accompany Heidi to her private island to attend her daughter's wedding. It should be a straightforward job, but when his old nemesis Rugar – the Gray Man – arrives, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. As a storm strikes, cutting off the island, a kidnapping and a series of murders turn celebrations into chaos.

With six dead bodies and more questions than he can handle, Spenser begins a search for answers – and the Gray Man.

Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command ($13.91 Hardcover, $2.99 B&N), by Haden Blackman, is the Nook Daily Find, in celebration of Star Wars Read Day. A graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics, there is no Kindle edition.

Book Description
Still haunted by the death of Anakin Skywalker''s beloved Padme in Revenge of the Sith, Darth Vader is tasked with a mission to locate a lost Imperial expeditionary force-led by the son of Vader''s rising nemesis, Moff Tarkin. But the perils of Vader''s journey into the unexplored Ghost Nebula are compounded by traitors among his crew and the presence of the system''s religious leader, the beautiful and mysterious Lady Saro.

The American Spring: What We Talk About When We Talk About Revolution ($7.99 Kindle, $5.99 B&N), by Amelia Stein, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.

Book Description
Since the eviction of Occupy Wall Street protestors from encampments in many cities throughout the world, smaller and more targeted occupations have continued. Workers in a Chicago factory occupied–with the support of their union–to protest layoffs. Teachers and students in Tucson staged a walkout to protest the removal of Chicano history books from the curriculum. Home foreclosures were disrupted, even avoided, by direct community action. But what does it all mean? What do we talk about when we talk about ‘revolution,’ if we talk about it at all? Journalist Amelia Stein sat down with some of our most prominent thinkers, artists, and activists and asked them. The resulting conversations were lively, thoughtful, and engaging. This is the perfect handbook for anyone looking to engage more deeply with our own, ongoing, American Spring.

Today's Kindle Young Readers Daily Deal is Five Mary Downing Hahn Ghost Stories for $1.99 each.

The Doll in the Garden

When Ashley discovers a turn-of-the-century doll it is just the first of several puzzling events that lead her through the hedge and into a twilight past where she meets Louise, an ailing child whose beloved doll has mysteriously disappeared.

Grade Level: 1 and up

Wait Till Helen Comes

Since its publication in 1986, the deliciously frightening novel Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story has not only haunted countless readers, it has also won 11 state book awards. The spine-chilling tale begins when 12-year-old Molly and her 10-year-old brother Michael learn they’ll be moving to a refurbished old church in rural Maryland with their mother’s new husband Dave and their younger stepsister Heather. Heather is an insufferable brat, but that turns out to be the least of the family’s worries. When she strikes up a friendship with Helen, the malevolent ghost of a seven-year-old girl who died in a mysterious fire more than 100 years ago, things really heat up… and Heather’s unsettling threat "Wait till Helen comes" becomes a grim reality.

Grade Level: 3 and up

The Old Willis Place

Diana and her little brother Georgie have been living in the woods behind the old Willis place, a decaying Victorian mansion, for what already seems like forever. They aren’t allowed to leave the property or show themselves to anyone. But when a new caretaker comes to live there with his young daughter, Lissa, Diana is tempted to break the mysterious rules they live by and reveal herself so she can finally have a friend. Somehow, Diana must get Lissa’s help if she and Georgie ever hope to release themselves from the secret that has bound them to the old Willis place for so long.
Mary Downing Hahn has written a chilling ghost story in the tradition of her most successful spine-tingling novels. The intriguing characters, frightening secrets, and plot twists will delight her many fans.

Grade Level: 4 and up

Deep and Dark and Dangerous

A chilling supernatural tale!

Just before summer begins, thirteen-year-old Ali finds an old photograph. She recognizes the two children. One’s her mother, the other her aunt Dulcie…but who is the third person, the one who’s been torn out of the picture? Ali will have all summer to figure it out, since she’s spending the summer with her aunt and her cousin in the same house her mom and aunt used to visit when they were kids.

Then Ali meets Sissy. Sissy is mean, spiteful, and determined to ruin Ali’s summer. Sissy also has a secret. Could it have something to do with the old photo? Ali is dying to find out, and if she’s not careful, that’s exactly what might happen to her.

Grade Level: 4 and up

All the Lovely Bad Ones

Travis and his sister, Corey, can’t resist a good trick—so when they learn that their grandmother’s sleepy Vermont inn has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little “haunting” of their own. Scaring the guests proves to be great fun, and before long, the inn is filled with tourists and ghost hunters eager for a glimpse of the supernatural.

But Travis and Corey soon find out that they aren’t the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Restless, spiteful spirits swarm the inn, while a dark and terrifying presence stalks the halls and the old oak grove on the inn’s grounds. To lay the ghosts to rest, Travis and Corey must first discover the dark history of Fox Hill and the horrors visited on its inhabitants years earlier.

Grade Level: 4 and up

Today's Deals

Sony has a special offer going this month, for those who buy 6 or more ebooks in their store and who opt in for their newsletter before the end of the month, they'll give you a promotion code for a free book (from a limited selection) in the newsletter next month. There are a few interesting titles in the mix and you don't have to buy high priced book (but free books are excluded, of course). It's not a huge incentive, but a decent reward if you already buy in the Sony store.

If you have little ones and a Kindle Fire or other Android device, don't miss today's free Android App, Alphabet Car, an alphabet and spelling game.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City ($1.99), by Nelson Johnson and Terence Winter.

Book Description
Providing the inspiration and source material for the upcoming HBO series produced by Academy Award–winning director Martin Scorsese and Emmy Award–winning screenwriter Terence Winter, this riveting and wide-reaching history explores the sordid past of Atlantic City—forever a freewheeling town long-dedicated to the fast buck—from the city's heyday as a Prohibition-era mecca of lawlessness to its rebirth as a legitimate casino resort in the modern era. A colorful cast of powerful characters, led by “Commodore” Kuehnle and “Nucky” Johnson, populates this stranger-than-fiction account of corrupt politics and the toxic power structure that grew out of guile, finesse, and extortion. Atlantic City's shadowy past—through its rise, fall, and rebirth—is given new light in this revealing, and often appalling, study of legislative abuse and organized crime.

Fracture ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Megan Miranda, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $8.54).

Book Description
By the time seventeen-year-old Delaney Maxwell is pulled out of the icy waters of a frozen lake, her heart has stopped beating. She is in a coma and officially dead. But Delaney pulls through. How? Doctors are mystified. Outwardly she has completely recovered. But Delaney knows something is very wrong. Pulled by sensations she can't control, she finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her brain predicting death or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who lost his whole family in a car accident and emerged from a coma with the same powers as Delaney. At last she's found a kindred spirit who'll understand what she's going through. But Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature - or something much more frightening?

Death of a Kitchen Diva ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the first novel in the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery series by Lee Hollis, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Welcome to Bar Harbor, Maine, one of New England's most idyllic coastal towns. But as new food writer Hayley Powell is about to find out, the occasional murder can take a bite out of seaside bliss. . .

Single mom Hayley Powell is barely keeping her leaking roof over her head when her boss at the Island Times gives her a new assignment--taking over the paper's food column. Hayley's not sure she has the chops--she's an office manager, not a writer, even if her friends clamor for her mouth-watering potluck dishes. But the extra income is tempting, and Hayley's chatty first column is suddenly on everyone's menu--with one exception.

When rival food writer Karen Appelbaum is found face-down dead in a bowl of Hayley's creamy clam chowder, all signs point to Hayley. To clear her name, she'll have to enlist some help, including her BFFs, a perpetually pregnant lobster woman, and a glamorous real estate agent. As she whips up a list of suspects, Hayley discovers a juicy secret about the victim--and finds herself in a dangerous mix with a cold-blooded killer.

Includes seven delectable recipes from Hayley's kitchen!

The Affluent Society ($9.39 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by John Kenneth Galbraith, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.

Book Description
Galbraith's classic on the "economics of abundance" is, in the words of the New York Times, "a compelling challenge to conventional thought." With customary clarity, eloquence, and humor, Galbraith cuts to the heart of what economic security means (and doesn't mean) in today's world and lays bare the hazards of individual and societal complacence about economic inequity. While "affluent society" and "conventional wisdom" (first used in this book) have entered the vernacular, the message of the book has not been so widely embraced--reason enough to rediscover The Affluent Society.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Hush Little Baby ($1.99), by Sylvia Long. There are two editions and this is the older one, which should work on all Kindles, although it is optimized for larger screens; the second and much newer edition is for Kindle Fire and selected apps only.

Book Description
Bedtime is a special ritual for parents and children. Lullabies often play an important role. This best-selling version of the beloved lullaby Hush Little Baby is now available in a sturdy board book making it perfect for sharing with the youngest children.

Grade Level: P and up

Today's Deals

Over at Kobo, it looks like WANTEDMAN30 is working for most titles, not just the Jack Reacher title (although it may only work for some regions, still).

Tantor Media has a number of romances in their current $6.99 download sale, along with a nice selection of SciFi, Thrillers and even some non-fiction, for those that enjoy listening to audiobooks.

For those in the UK, Amazon has a Grisly Reads for under £2 sale to get you ready for Halloween. Choose your fright from gritty, scary or horrid on the Grisly Meter.

Today is the last day to take advantage of this KSO deal:

• Get a Select Kindle Book for $1

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is For the King's Favor ($1.99), the third title in the William Marshal historical fiction series by Elizabeth Chadwick, which was also released under the title "The Time of Singing" in other markets. This was briefly free for part of one day in early 2011, apparently as part of a pricing error. If you missed it then, this is a good price to pick it up, as her books aren't often on sale and seldom at a lower price.

Book Description
A Bittersweet Tale of Love, Loss, and the Power of Royalty

When Roger Bigod arrives at King Henry II's court to settle a bitter inheritance dispute, he becomes enchanted with Ida de Tosney, young mistress to the powerful king. A victim of Henry's seduction and the mother of his son, Ida sees in Roger a chance to begin a new life. But Ida pays an agonizing price when she leaves the king, and as Roger's importance grows and he gains an earldom, their marriage comes under increasing strain. Based on the true story of a royal mistress and the young lord she chose to marry, For the King's Favor is Elizabeth Chadwick at her best.

In the Land of the Long White Cloud ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Sarah Lark and D.W. Lovett (Translator), is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99/KLL eligible). This selection is also historical fiction, but in a completely different setting; it's an Amazon exclusive translation from their AmazonCrossing imprint.

Book Description
Helen Davenport, governess for a wealthy London household, longs for a family of her own—but nearing her late twenties, she knows her prospects are dim. Then she spots an advertisement seeking young women to marry New Zealand’s honorable bachelors and begins an affectionate correspondence with a gentleman farmer. When her church offers to pay her travels under an unusual arrangement, she jumps at the opportunity.

Meanwhile, not far away in Wales, beautiful and daring Gwyneira Silkham, daughter of a wealthy sheep breeder, is bored with high society. But when a mysterious New Zealand baron deals her father an unlucky blackjack hand, Gwyn’s hand in marriage is suddenly on the table. Her family is outraged, but Gwyn is thrilled to escape the life laid out for her.

The two women meet on the ship to Christchurch—Helen traveling in steerage, Gwyn first class—and become unlikely friends. When their new husbands turn out to be very different than expected, the women must help one another find the life—and love—they’d hoped for.

Set against the backdrop of colonial nineteenth-century New Zealand, In the Land of the Long White Cloud is a soaring saga of friendship, romance, and unforgettable adventure.

The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved ($4.99 Kindle, B&N), by Jonathan Fenby, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Rather than historical fiction, B&N has chosen actual history for their selection today. It's a bit more than their usual choices, but the list price on this one is $33. If you have a history buff on your shopping list, don't forget that you can set it up as a gift and have it delivered at the time of your choosing.

Book Description
No leader of modern times was more uniquely patriotic than Charles de Gaulle. As founder and first president of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle saw himself as “carrying France on [his] shoulders.” In his twenties, he fought for France in the trenches and at the epic battle of Verdun. In the 1930s, he waged a lonely battle to enable France to better resist Hitler’s Germany. Thereafter, he twice rescued the nation from defeat and decline by extraordinary displays of leadership, political acumen, daring, and bluff, heading off civil war and leaving a heritage adopted by his successors of right and left. Le Général, as he became known from 1940 on, appeared as if he was carved from a single monumental block, but was in fact extremely complex, a man with deep personal feelings and recurrent mood swings, devoted to his family and often seeking reassurance from those around him. This is a magisterial, sweeping biography of one of the great leaders of the twentieth century and of the country with which he so identified himself. Written with terrific verve, narrative skill, and rigorous detail, the first major work on de Gaulle in fifteen years brings alive as never before the private man as well as the public leader through exhaustive research and analysis.

Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America ($13.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Allen C. Guelzo, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012. This has a publisher set price from Simon and Schuster, so it may be price matched on Kindle later today (and probably should be already).

Book Description
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history.

What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country's most formidable politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. Lincoln challenged Douglas directly in one of his greatest speeches -- "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- and confronted Douglas on the questions of slavery and the inviolability of the Union in seven fierce debates. As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation.

Of course, the great issue between Lincoln and Douglas was slavery. Douglas was the champion of "popular sovereignty," of letting states and territories decide for themselves whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln drew a moral line, arguing that slavery was a violation both of natural law and of the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence. No majority could ever make slavery right, he argued.

Lincoln lost that Senate race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the "Little Giant," whom almost everyone thought was unbeatable. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas brings alive their debates and this whole year of campaigns and underscores their centrality in the greatest conflict in American history.

The encounters between Lincoln and Douglas engage a key question in American political life: What is democracy's purpose? Is it to satisfy the desires of the majority? Or is it to achieve a just and moral public order? These were the real questions in 1858 that led to the Civil War. They remain questions for Americans today.

I highly recommend today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal, Ashfall ($1.99), by Mike Mullin. Even if this title is "supposed to be" for younger teens, due to the age of the main character, it is really better suited for an older audience, in some ways, which is reflected in the description of the sequel. I received a review copy of this title and the sequel and stayed up all night reading them straight thru. The timing of the sale is pretty good, too, as Ashen Winter will be released in five days. There are only a very few bad reviews on this one (one hated the writing and that it wasn't Christian Fiction, one objected to the sexual content and violence), with the majority at 4 and 5 stars. Most parents will probably want to read this first for less mature teens (like in SM Stirling's Emberverse series, people trying to survive do awful things), but most should be able to relate well (and have been exposed to the baser nature of man via the news and internet).

Book Description
Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park don’t realize that the boiling hot springs and spraying geysers are caused by an underlying supervolcano, so large that the caldera can only be seen by plane or satellite. And by some scientific measurements, it could be overdue for an eruption.

For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to seach for his family and finds help in Darla, a travel partner he meets along the way. Together they must find the strength and skills to survive and outlast an epic disaster.

Grade Level: 6 and up

Kindle Lightning Deals

Starting at 5PM Eastern/2PM Pacific, Amazon will be having a different Kindle accessory (and one for the iPad) in the Lightning Deals every hour. There are clues as to which ones we'll see, but not the prices. If they are popular, or there aren't many available at the sale price, count on these selling out just after the hour changes each hour.

• 5PM/2PM - Reduce glare, fingerprints, and smudges on your Kindle Fire (not compatible with HD models)
• 6PM/3PM - Give your Kindle, Paperwhite, or Touch some international flare with this popular case from Verso
• 7PM/4PM - Save on a great Belkin standing case for your Kindle Fire HD 7"
• 8PM/5PM - Save on a genuine leather case for your Kindle Fire (not for HD)
• 9PM/6PM - Great deal on highly reviewed iPad stand - great for gifting!