Today's Deals

Today's free MP3 is a children's album, Bunny Party, sort of a musical storybook.

Over at Audible, it's Listener Appreciation Month - Buy 4 audiobooks and you'll get a $10 credit. Qualifying books must have "regular" price of $14.95, but you can buy the ones on sale (such as a discounted companion audiobook) or using built-up credits. You can get up to $20 added to your account and the credits will be placed in your account no later than December 6, 2012.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is On Thin Ice ($1.99), the sixth novel in the Ice series by Anne Stuart, and the companion audiobook is only $3.95.

Book Description
Elizabeth Pennington has come to the war-torn South American country of Callivera to volunteer at a tiny mission. Kidnapped by the local rebels who are more interested in ransom than politics, she ends up at their camp in the Andes where she meets Finn MacGowan, member of the infamous Committee, a covert organization dedicated to destroying terrorism. MacGowan has been held hostage for almost three years, and he's chosen the night she arrives as the night he plans to escape. When he does, she follows him, heading down the steep mountainous terrain with another hostage, the teenage son of a Hollywood millionaire. Rebels, soldiers, traitors and near-drowning follows them on their journey. As they travel from the mountain fortress to a transatlantic freighter, an old cafe in Spain ending in a shootout at a farmhouse in France, MacGowan reluctantly falls in love, and Beth learns that the cynical, dangerous soldier-of-fortune might be worth saving after all.

The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), by Zhu Xiao-Mei and Ellen Hinsey, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $5.99/KLL eligible and the companion audiobook is only $1.99).

Book Description
Zhu Xiao-Mei was born to middle-class parents in post-war China, and her musical proficiency became clear at an early age. Taught to play the piano by her mother, she developed quickly into a prodigy, immersing herself in the work of classical masters like Bach and Brahms. She was just ten years old when she began a rigorous course of study at the Beijing Conservatory, laying the groundwork for what was sure to be an extraordinary career. But in 1966, when Xiao-Mei was seventeen, the Cultural Revolution began, and life as she knew it changed forever. One by one, her family members were scattered, sentenced to prison or labor camps. By 1969, the art schools had closed, and Xiao-Mei was on her way to a work camp in Mongolia, where she would spend the next five years. Life in the camp was nearly unbearable, thanks to horrific living conditions and intensive brainwashing campaigns. Yet through it all Xiao-Mei clung to her passion for music and her sense of humor. And when the Revolution ended, it was the piano that helped her to heal. Heartbreaking and heartwarming, The Secret Piano is the incredible true story of one woman’s survival in the face of unbelievable odds—and in pursuit of a powerful dream.

A Lawman's Christmas ($7.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the fourteenth and most recent title in the McKettricks series by Linda Lael Miller, is the Nook Daily Find; there's no price match on Kindle (yet), but you may be better off getting the multi-title volume A Lawman's Christmas\Daring Moves ($6.55), anyway.

Book Description
The sudden death of the town marshal leaves Blue River, Texas, without a lawman…and twentyfiveyearold Dara Rose Nolan without a husband. As winter approaches and her meager seamstress income dwindles, she has three options. Yet she won't give up her two young daughters, refuses to join the fallen women of the Bitter Gulch Saloon and can't fathom condemning herself to another loveless marriage. Unfortunately she must decide—soon—because there's a new marshal in town, and she's living under his roof.

With the heart of a cowboy, Clay McKettrick plans to start a ranch and finally settle down. He isn't interested in uprooting Dara Rose and her children, but he is interested in giving her protection, friendship—and passion. And when they say "I do" to a marriage of convenience, the temporary lawman's Christmas wish is to make Dara Rose his permanent wife….

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Eight Anastasia Krupnik Series Books by Lois Lowry for $1.99 apiece. Oddly, this skips over the first title in the series, Anastasia Krupnik ($3.99).

Award-winning author Lois Lowry has an undeniable knack for knowing the minds of young people, and her Anastasia Krupnik series wonderfully showcases Lowry's talent. All eight of the books in today's deal are wildly funny, touching, and loaded with personality.

Grade Level: 4 and up

1. Anastasia Again!
2. Anastasia at Your Service
3. Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst
4. Anastasia on Her Own
5. Anastasia Has the Answers
6. Anastasia's Chosen Career
7. Anastasia at This Address
8. Anastasia, Absolutely

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America ($6.74 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Timothy Egan, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.

Book Description
National Book Award–winner Timothy Egan turns his historian's eye to the largest-ever forest fire in America and offers an epic, cautionary tale for our time.

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in the blink of an eye. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men to fight the fires, but no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them. Egan recreates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force, and the larger story of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, that follows is equally resonant. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by every citizen. Even as TR's national forests were smoldering they were saved: The heroism shown by his rangers turned public opinion permanently in favor of the forests, though it changed the mission of the forest service in ways we can still witness today.

Bargain Book Trio (K)

Just a quick trio of bargain books for the night - these are not likely to be reduced for long (I know the first will go back up on the 4th). I'm going to buy all three, as they look to be very good reads.

The double novella When the Blue Shift Comes ($0.99), by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro and Robert Silverberg (Phoenix Pick), is priced less than a short story from Silverberg usually goes for. He also publishes via Penguin and Valentine Pontifex: Book Three of the Majipoor Cycle can now be pre-ordered (at what is a decent price from this publisher, $9.99).

Book Description
A grand new adventure by a Grandmaster of science fiction.

Life has spread across the stars, and everyone enjoys a long life. However, only those who are Earth-born are truly immortal.

But what happens when the immortals of Earth are suddenly faced with their ultimate destruction?

Hanosz Prime, a near-immortal (though not truly so, not being of true Earth stock) travels to humanity’s ancient home to discover the ultimate answer to humanity’s end.

A new Silverberg story in the tradition of the old classics, with an accompanying novella by up-and-coming writer Alvaro Zinos-Amaro.

Hide Me Among the Graves ($0.99), by Tim Powers (HarperCollins), almost looks like a pricing error (the paperback doesn't come out until next year).

Book Description
London, winter of 1862, Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute, arrives on the doorstep of veterinarian John Crawford, a man she met once seven years earlier. Their brief meeting produced a child who, until now, had been presumed dead. McKee has learned that the girl lives—but that her life and soul are in mortal peril from a vampiric ghost. But this is no ordinary spirit; the bloodthirsty wraith is none other than John Polidori, the onetime physician to the mad, bad, and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron. Both McKee and Crawford have mysterious histories with creatures like Polidori, and their child is a prize the malevolent spirit covets dearly.

Polidori is also the late uncle and supernatural muse to the poet Christina Rossetti and her brother, the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. When she was just fourteen years old, Christina unwittingly brought Polidori's curse upon her family. But the curse bestowed unexpected blessings as well, inspiring Christina's poetry and Gabriel's paintings. But when Polidori resurrects Dante's dead wife—turning her into a horrifying vampire—and threatens other family members, Christina and Dante agree that they must destroy their monstrous uncle and break the spell, even if it means the end of their creative powers.

Determined to save their daughter, McKee and Crawford join forces with the Rossettis, and soon these wildly mismatched allies are plunged into a supernatural London underworld whose existence goes beyond their wildest imaginings. Ultimately, each of these disparate individuals—the sensitive poet, the tortured painter, the straitlaced animal doctor, the reformed prostitute, and even their Artful Dodger–like young daughter—must choose between the banality and constraints of human life and the unholy immortality that Polidori offers.

Sweeping from the mansions of London's high society to its grimy slums, the elegant salons of the West End to the pre-Roman catacombs beneath St. Paul's Cathedral, Hide Me Among the Graves blends the historical and the supernatural in a dazzling, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride—a modern horror story with a Victorian twist.

The Cloud Roads ($1.99), by Nebula-nominee Martha Wells (Night Shade Books), has a Starred Review from Publishers Weekly. The next in the series, The Serpent Sea, can now be pre-ordered for January delivery, with a third book already on the publishing schedule.

Book Description
Moon has spent his life hiding what he is - a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as Moon is once again cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself... someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into his community. What this stranger doesn't tell Moon is that his presence will tip the balance of power... that his extraordinary lineage is crucial to the colony's survival... and that his people face extinction at the hands of the dreaded Fell! Now Moon must overcome a lifetime of conditioning in order to save himself... and his newfound kin.

Today's Deals

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Gathering Dead ($1.99), by Stephen Knight.

Book Description
The Horde Is Always Hungry...

The zombie apocalypse has begun, and Major Cordell McDaniels is given the most important mission of his career: lead a Special Forces team into New York City to rescue the one man who can stop the ghastly virus that reanimates the dead.

But as a growing army of flesh-eating corpses takes over the streets and a violent storm renders airborne extraction impossible, McDaniels struggles to find a way out of the Big Apple. The odds of anyone getting out alive plummet further when slaughtered members of his own Special Forces team join the ranks of the gathering dead... with their military skills intact!

The No Rules Handbook for Writers ($1.59 / £2.56 UK), by Lisa Goldman, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $13.79).

Book Description
The No Rules Handbook for Writers is a timely, creative and refreshing antidote to prescriptive guides for writers. It will inspire playwrights, screenwriters and novelists; offer fresh insights to teachers, editors, dramaturgs, directors and producers.

"Lisa Goldman’s book is like the best of British new writing: it is personal, well-written, clearly thought out and resonant. Its advice is passionately felt but perfectly controlled. And its ideas sing and inspire." – Aleks Sierz (author of In-Yer-Face Theatre)

Lisa Goldman takes 40 established conventions of creative writing. She explores why these rules persist, how to master them, bend or break them and why the most important rules to overturn are your own. The book weaves together industry experiences, psychological observations and inspirational tips. It also contains practical advice from 40 rule-breaking writers including:

Hassan Abdulrazzak, Oladipo Agboluaje, Ronan Bennett, Sita Bramachari, Trevor Byrne, Anthony Cartwright, Matthew Greenhalgh, Tanika Gupta, Neil Hunter, M.J. Hyland, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Dennis Kelly, Bryony Lavery, Chris Paling, Stacy Makishi, Neel Mukherjee, Hattie Naylor, Anthony Neilson, Kim Noble, Tom Palmer, Lucy Prebble, Philip Ridley, Paul Sirett, Edmund White, Roy Williams.

The No Rules Handbook for Writers will be a valuable addition to the bookshelves of anyone curious about the craft, context and process of writing.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal ($8.54 $2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Eric Schlosser, is the Nook Daily Find. Update: Now price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Are we what we eat?

To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar Amerca. Though created by a handful of mavericks, the fast food industry has triggered the homogenization of our society. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled the juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.

Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from the California subdivisions where the business was born to the industrial corridor along the New Jersey Turnpike where many of fast food's flavors are concocted. He hangs out with the teenagers who make the restaurants run and communes with those unlucky enough to hold America's most dangerous job -- meatpacker. He travels to Las Vegas for a giddily surreal franchisers' convention where Mikhail Gorbachev delivers the keynote address. He even ventures to England and Germany to clock the rate at which those countries are becoming fast food nations.

Along the way, Schlosser unearths a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths -- from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the industry has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even real estate. He also uncovers the fast food chains' efforts to reel in the youngest, most susceptible consumers even while they hone their institutionalized exploitation of teenagers and minorities. Schlosser then turns a critical eye toward the hot topic of globalization -- a phenomenon launched by fast food.
FAST FOOD NATION is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that may change the way America thinks about the way it eats.

How to Win an Election: An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians ($5.37 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Quintus Tullius Cicero and Philip Freeman (Translator), is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.

Book Description
How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign. What follows in his short letter are timeless bits of political wisdom, from the importance of promising everything to everybody and reminding voters about the sexual scandals of your opponents to being a chameleon, putting on a good show for the masses, and constantly surrounding yourself with rabid supporters. Presented here in a lively and colorful new translation, with the Latin text on facing pages, this unashamedly pragmatic primer on the humble art of personal politicking is dead-on (Cicero won)--and as relevant today as when it was written.

A little-known classic in the spirit of Machiavelli's Prince, How to Win an Election is required reading for politicians and everyone who enjoys watching them try to manipulate their way into office.

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is Catching Jordan ($1.99), by Miranda Kenneally.

Book Description
ONE OF THE BOYS

What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though- she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

But everything she's ever worked for is threatened when Ty Greeen moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he's also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan's feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart's on the line?

Grade Level: 7 and up

Today's Deals, Part II

Amazon's hand selected list of 100 Kindle books for $3.99 or less is up for this month. There are several interesting choices, as usual, including a cookbook Guy Fieri.

The guys updating the Nook Daily Find page are now half-awake and have updated the Daily Find (but not the Election 2012) for the day: Blood Rights ($7.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), the first novel in the House of Comarré series by Kristen Painter. It's an Agency priced title, so should be the same in both stores; I've reported the lower price at Amazon and hope this one drops by late afternoon.

Book Description
Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarré -- a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world...and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

Today's Deals

No Nook deals this morning, as it appears that someone forgot to set up the listings and yesterday's books are still there.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale ($1.99), by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff.

Book Description
It was love at first sight. Amid the frenzied barking and prancing of a house full of Great Danes, one pup was shivering in the corner. Gracie. But when Dan Dye reached her, she struggled to her feet like a clumsy foal, raised her forehead to his, and announced, as clearly as if she had actually spoken the words, You know I'm the one. Now get me outta here!

By turns funny, moving, tender, and inspiring, Gracie's tale is a treat for every dog lover. There is Gracie's first morning, racing around Dan in the snowy yard. Gracie's first determination to prove to her step-sisters, Dottie the Dalmation and Sarah the Black Lab, that she's one of the girls. Gracie's defiant romance with a pint-size charmer named Byron, a Boston Terrier from the wrong side of the fence.

Then born of necessity, the eureka moment: When Gracie's delicate constitution starts turning into anorexia, Dan teaches himself how to cook, and in three days is baking her the cookies that will spur her appetite, launch Three Dog Bakery, and transform their lives forever.

Courage. Compassion. Kindness. Soul. Tenacity. And joy, above all, joy. These qualities Gracie possessed in abundance, and shared with everyone, human or canine, who had the good fortune to cross her path.

Rastamouse: Marathon Mystery ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), a children's picture book by Genevieve Webster and Michael De Souza, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
The Big Cheese Marathon is coming up, and Scratchy is training hard to win the trophy. But how is it that Rubba keeps beating her without putting in any effort? Rastamouse is suspicious, especially when he discovers that Rubba has two identical pairs of running shoes, two identical tracksuits, and one identical twin brother!

It's a race against time to solve the mystery before Scratchy crosses the finish line - and to prove for once and for all that cheating doesn't pay.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Willoughbys ($1.99), by Lois Lowry.

Book Description
Abandoned by their ill-humored parents to the care of an odious nanny, Tim, the twins, Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and their sister, Jane, attempt to fulfill their roles as good oldfashioned children. Following the models set in lauded tales from A Christmas Carol to Mary Poppins, the four Willoughbys hope to attain their proscribed happy ending too, or at least a satisfyingly maudlin one. However, it is an unquestionably ruthless act that sets in motion the transformations that lead to their salvation and to happy endings for not only the four children, but their nanny, an abandoned baby, a candy magnate, and his long-lost son too. Replete with a tongue-in-cheek glossary and bibliography, this hilarious and decidedly old-fashioned parody pays playful homage to classic works of children’s literature.

Grade Level: 1 and up