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Friday, May 31, 2013

Weekend Bargain Book Roundup

Beauty and the Bounty Hunter ($2.99 Kindle), the first novel in the Once Upon a Time in the West series by Lori Austin [Signet/Penguin]
Book Description
Cathleen Chase is no killer—but as Cat O’Banyon, she is a ruthless bounty hunter who always gets her man. Catching one lowlife after another, she continues her search for the only man she really cares to locate. The one whose voice she will never forget; the man who murdered her husband. She’ll stop at nothing to find him.

Con artist Alexi Romanov taught Cat every trick she knows. He is a master of deceit, disguise, and desire. He’s difficult to trust, and even more difficult to resist, but he has news she can’t ignore. The man she’s after has placed a bounty on her head. To get him before he gets her, she’ll have to team up with Alexi again....And just like before, the two of them together are nothing but trouble.

The Affinity Bridge ($2.99 Kindle), the first in the Newbury & Hobbes Investigations series by George Mann [Tor Books/Macmillan]. Now's your chance, if you missed this when it was on sale two years ago.
Book Description
Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by unfamiliar inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, while ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen, and journalists.

But beneath this shiny veneer of progress lurks a sinister side.

Queen Victoria is kept alive by a primitive life-support system, while her agents, Sir Maurice Newbury and his delectable assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes, do battle with enemies of the crown, physical and supernatural. This time Newbury and Hobbes are called to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot, while attempting to solve a string of strangulations attributed to a mysterious glowing policeman, and dealing with a zombie plague that is ravaging the slums of the capital.

Get ready to follow dazzling young writer George Mann to a London unlike any you’ve ever seen and into an adventure you will never forget....

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Inspector Morse: The first three novels ($9.99 Kindle), is an omnibus edition by Colin Dexter [Pan - may be self-published backlist, but print editions are still available from Ivy].
Book Description
Featuring the first three books in this classic crime series starring Inspector Morse: Last Bus to Woodstock, Last Seen Wearing and The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn.

Last Bus to Woodstock: The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man – facing charges of wilful murder, sexual assault and rape. But as the obvious leads fade into twilight and darkness, Morse becomes more and more convinced that passion holds the key . . .

Last Seen Wearing: Morse was beset by a nagging feeling. Most of his fanciful notions about the Taylor girl had evaporated and he had begun to suspect that further investigation into Valerie’s disappearance would involve little more than sober and tedious routine . . . The statements before Inspector Morse appeared to confirm the bald, simple truth. After leaving home to return to school, teenager Valerie Taylor had completely vanished, and the trail had gone cold. Until two years, three months and two days after Valerie’s disappearance, somebody decides to supply some surprising new evidence for the case . . .

The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn: Morse had never ceased to wonder why, with the staggering advances in medical science, all pronouncements concerning times of death seemed so disconcertingly vague. The newly appointed member of the Oxford Examinations Syndicate was deaf, provincial and gifted. Now he is dead . . . And his murder, in his north Oxford home, proves to be the start of a formidably labyrinthine case for Chief Inspector Morse, as he tries to track down the killer through the insular and bitchy world of the Oxford Colleges . . .

Lisa McMann's The Unwanteds and Island of Silence, the first two novels in the pre-teen The Unwanteds series, are on sale for $2.99, in anticipation of the concluding volume of the trilogy, Island of Fire, being released in September [Simon and Schuster]. If you are willing to take a chance, you can pre-order The Unwanteds Omnibus, which contains all three volumes, at the same $2.99. It's a bit of a risk because, although the hardcover edition will clearly be released on the same September 3 as Island of Fire, the Kindle edition is now marked with a 2030 release date. So, it may release at the same time as the hardcover, or the publisher may bury the listing and never release it at all; if the former, you get all three books for under a buck each and if the latter, you don't spend a cent. If you know your kids (or you) want to read the series, hedge your bets by grabbing the two titles on sale and pre-order the omnibus edition, so that you also get the third in the series at under 1/3 the regular price.

The Unwanteds
A riveting middle-grade dystopian novel from New York Times bestselling Wake author Lisa McMann that Kirkus Reviews calls “The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter.”

When Alex finds out he is Unwanted, he expects to die. That is the way of the people of Quill. Each year, all the thirteen-year-olds are labeled as Wanted, Necessary, or Unwanted. Wanteds get more schooling and train to join the Quillitary. Necessaries keep the farms running. Unwanteds are set for elimination.

It’s hard for Alex to leave behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted, but he makes peace with his fate—until he discovers that instead of a “death farm,” what awaits him is a magical place called Artimé. There, Alex and his fellow Unwanteds are encouraged to cultivate their creative abilities and use them magically. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it’s a wondrous transformation.

But it’s a rare, unique occurrence for twins to be divided between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron’s bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artimé that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate magical battle.
Island of Silence
Following the life-altering events at the conclusion of The Unwanteds, the stark world of Quill and the magical haven of Artimé are now home to whoever wants to live there, whether they are Wanteds, Unwanteds, or Necessaries.

In Artimé, Alex Stowe and his friends continue to hone their artistic magical spells while welcoming newcomers, wondering how long this peace between Quill and Artimé will last. Alex is stunned when Mr. Today comes to him with a very special request—one Alex questions his readiness for, until circumstances offer a dramatic answer.

And back in Quill, Aaron Stowe, Alex’s twin, faces a very different path. Devastated by his loss of status after Justine’s defeat and seething with rage toward Alex, Aaron is stealthily planning his revenge and return to power.

Alex and Aaron’s separate stories proceed with suspenseful pacing, colliding in a stunning climax that elevates sibling rivalry to epic proportions and leaves the fate of both worlds hanging in the balance.

Strangers on a Train ($2.99 Kindle), by Patricia Highsmith [W. W. Norton]
Book Description
A major new reissue of the work of a classic noir novelist.

With the acclaim for The Talented Mr. Ripley, more film projects in production, and two biographies forthcoming, expatriate legend Patricia Highsmith would be shocked to see that she has finally arrived in her homeland. Throughout her career, Highsmith brought a keen literary eye and a genius for plumbing the psychopathic mind to more than thirty works of fiction, unparalleled in their placid deviousness and sardonic humor. With deadpan accuracy, she delighted in creating true sociopaths in the guise of the everyday man or woman. Now, one of her finest works is again in print: Strangers on a Train, Highsmith's first novel and the source for Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1953 film. With this novel, Highsmith revels in eliciting the unsettling psychological forces that lurk beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.

A Town Called Valentine ($1.99 Kindle), by Emma Cane [Avon/HarperCollins]. You can also pre-order what looks like a novella anthology, All I Want for Christmas Is a Cowboy ($1.99 Kindle), which lists Ms Cane, Jennifer Ryan and Katie Lane as authors (but doesn't have any descriptive copy, yet).
Book Description
Small towns, rugged cowboy heroes, and passion are a perfect combination when it comes to contemporary romance—just ask the many fans of Susan Wiggs, Robyn Carr, Lori Wilde, and Linda Lael Miller. Now newcomer Emma Cane joins their ranks, transporting readers to fictional Valentine, Colorado. In the first book in Cane’s heartwarming and deliciously sexy series, a young woman with a painful past and a rancher who’s no stranger to heartbreak find love in a tiny western town known for happily-ever-afters … A Town Called Valentine.

Amelia Peabody Omnibus ($9.99 Barnes & Noble), contains four novels by Elizabeth Peters [Constable & Robinson]; the only Kindle Edition that I see on this one, though, isn't available for sale in the US.
Book Description
Amelia Peabody is Elizabeth Peters' most brilliant and best-loved creation, a thoroughly Victorian feminist who takes the stuffy world of archaeology by storm with her shocking men's pants and no-nonsense attitude!

In this first adventure, our headstrong heroine decides to use her substantial inheritance to see the world. On her travels, she rescues a gentlewoman in distress - Evelyn Barton-Forbes - and the two become friends. The two companions continue to Egypt where they face mysteries,mummies and the redoubtable Radcliffe Emerson, an outspoken archaeologist, who doesn't need women to help him solve mysteries -- at least that's what he thinks!

Join our plucky Victorian Egyptologist , together with her devastatingly handsome and brilliant husband Radcliffe, in another exciting escapadeWhen Lady Baskerville's husband Sir Henry dies after discovering what may have been an undisturbed royal tomb in Luxor, she appeals to eminent archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson and his wife Amelia to take over the excavation. Amid rumours of a curse haunting all those involved with the dig, the intrepid couple proceeds to Egypt, where they begin to suspect that Sir Henry did not die a natural death, and they are confident that the accidents that plague the dig are caused by a sinister human element, not a pharoah's curse

The irascible husband of Victorian Egyptologist Amelia Peabody is living up to his reputation as 'The Father of Curses'. Denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor, Emerson is awarded instead the 'pyramids' of Mazghunah - countless mounds of rubble in the middle of nowhere. Nothing in this barren spot seems of any interest but then a murder in Cairo changes all of that. The dead man was an antiques dealer, killed in his shop, so when a sinister-looking Egyptian spotted at the crime scene turns up in Mazghunah, Amelia can't resist following his trail. At the same time she has to keep an eagle eye on her wayward son Rameses and his elegant and calculating cat and look into the mysterious disappearance of a mummy case...

The 1985-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, her dashing husband Emerson and their precocious eight-year-old son Rameses. The much-coveted burial chamber in Dahshoor is theirs for the digging. Yet there is a great evil in the wind that caresses the hot sands sweeping through the bustling streets and marketplaces of Cairo. An expedition cursed by misfortune and the daring moonlit abduction of Rameses alerts Amelia to the presence of her arch-enemy, the Master Criminal. And his is now a personal quest for the most valuable and elusive prize of all: vengeance on the meddling lady archaeologist with the parasol who has sworn to deliver him to justice...Amelia Peabody herself!

The Sam Gunn Omnibus ($7.59 Kindle; $7.99 B&N), by Ben Bova [Tor Books/Macmillan], collects a number of older stories from an author who is still writing (his Orion and King Arthur, the sixth novel in the Orion series, released last July).
Book Description
A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women--though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained…and dumped.

But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice. (And he really does love money and women.) Whether he's suing the Pope, helping twin sisters entangled in the "virtual sex" trade, or on trial for his life on charges of interplanetary genocide, you can be sure of one thing: this is one space jockey who'll meet every challenge with a smile on his lips, an ace up his sleeve…and a weapon in his pocket.

Now, for the first time between covers, Hugo-winner Ben Bova presents all the tales of Sam Gunn to date, including three never before collected in book form. Here is the entire chronicle of Sam Gunn, trailblazer and scoundrel, as he scams his way from one end of the Solar System to the other, giving bold new meaning to the term "venture capitalist."

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

The Darwath Trilogy: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight ($9.99 Kindle), by Barbara Hambly [Open Road], gets you three novels for only a couple of bucks more than any one of them stand-alone.
Book Description
Barbara Hambly’s celebrated trilogy about a murderous force that threatens a far-off magical world and the two ordinary Californians who are drawn into the battle to save mankind

As a student of medieval history, Gil Patterson is a woman familiar with dark stories. She knows the Crusades, the Black Death, and the other horrors of the Middle Ages all too well, but it is another kind of atrocity that has begun to haunt her dreams. She sees forces of evil assaulting a beleaguered kingdom, whose kind people are on the brink of annihilation, and awakes each morning in a cold sweat.

In The Time of the Dark, Gil dismisses the dreams until a wizard appears in her apartment. He has crossed into her dimension, passing through the fraying fabric of the universe, to ask her help. For mankind to survive he must protect an infant prince, whom he plans to hide in Gil's world. She is about to get much closer to evil than she ever imagined.

In The Walls of Air and The Armies of Daylight, Gil and Rudy know the world is no longer safe and there is nowhere to hide from the Dark. Since the Dark Ones returned, the world has been laid to waste. The land’s wizards have been slaughtered, its cities destroyed, and its people scattered in terror. Few have witnessed more of the destruction than Gil and Rudy, and both of them will need all their strength to survive this final challenge.

Ingold, the master wizard, has devised a spell to hide the user from the deathly stare of the Dark, and he intends to use it to strike at their very heart. Finally, Gil, Rudy, and the rest of mankind’s survivors will take the offensive, bringing an end to this terrible war, for better or for worse.

Snow Adrift ($1.99 Kindle), is a brand-new Kindle Serial by Rex Kusler [Thomas & Mercer]
Book Description
This book is a Kindle Serial. Kindle Serials are stories published in episodes, with future episodes delivered at no additional cost. This serial currently contains one episode out of an estimated six total episodes, and new episodes will be delivered every two weeks.

Former Las Vegas homicide detective Jim Snow’s luck has been going from bad to worse, spurred by a series of rash decisions and a quickly developing mid-life crisis. He quit the force a few years ago to play poker for a living and has been losing steadily for months. His money is running out—and so is his live-in girlfriend.

After one of Snow’s poker buddies—a real estate investor and landlord who worked as a clown—is found shot to death in his home following their weekly game, Snow finds himself under suspicion by his former Metro Homicide partner, Marcia Stevens.

At forty-four, Snow is in the worst mess of his life. He’s not sure what to do, who to turn to, or who to trust as he scrambles to stay one step ahead of an arrest warrant for first-degree murder.

Smart and tightly plotted, Snow Adrift is the hardboiled origin story to Kusler’s popular Las Vegas Mystery series.

Daily Deal - Plastered in Stonington (DF)

Plastered in Stonington ($4.50 $3.60 Kindle), the third title in the Kate Bart Mysteries series by Rosemary Goodwin [Samhain Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $0.90 (9 copies left).
Book Description
Sour grapes are the least of their problems…

The new skill decorating Kate’s resume—licensed PI—officially qualifies her to be Dutch’s partner in crime fighting. Unofficially, their personal relationship has grown well into serious territory.

Both halves of her life are called into service when Kate is hired to redesign the tasting room at Fiona and Cameron MacPherson’s winery. It doesn’t take long to figure out all is not sunshine and roses at Goose Pond, and Dutch agrees to look into some serious safety issues that have led to a string of mishaps.

When another incident results in a death, and it’s clear that this time it’s no accident, Kate and Dutch dig deeper to zero in on who’s responsible. The neighboring vintner who covets Goose Pond’s winery? The tasting room totsie seen skulking about with the MacPhersons’ sulky son?

As their investigation comes closer and closer to bearing fruit, the bullets start flying—and it seems that whoever’s pulling the trigger wants them all to pay the piper—in blood.

Warning: Contains an interior decorating PI with a talent for finding trouble, and her tough-and-tender PI boyfriend who can’t wait to get his hands on her. If only it’s to pull her out of harm’s way.
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out. Deals change at 11AM Eastern Time, USA.

40% Off Select Kindle Accessories (AL)

This is repeat of the earlier AmazonLocal deal, so if you signed up earlier, you are still signed up for this deal (you just get longer to make a selection).

Click on Apply from the Free Voucher for 40% Off Select Kindle Accessories page, then complete the purchase on the page after that. Yes, it now says "Apply" instead of "purchase" on these free offers, but nearly the same process: you must be in the US and have a credit card on file, make a "purchase" at zero cost, then the promo code is automatically applied to your account (no waiting for an email and dealing with a promo code). Sign-up for this offer expires June 4, 2013 or when the number of vouchers set aside by Amazon have been exhausted.

Grab a voucher now, before they sell out and you'll have three days to look thru the qualifying items and decide which ones you want (although popular ones may sell out, as happened earlier with this deal, but it appears to have been restocked with some new choices). Also, be sure to click on the headings for your particular Kindle model (or the one you're buying for Dad), once you get to the Accessories page - only a few are displayed when you first arrive and there are actually quite a few for each Kindle model. Besides the usual assortment of cases, there are headphones made specifically for the Kindle Fire (presumably with a thin connector, so it will work with the Fire in an Amazon case).
Deal Description
Dad's life changed when he got that Kindle. This Father's Day, support his newfound passion by getting a free voucher good for 40% off up to $250 worth of accessories from the Kindle Accessories Store. Give him a Kindle cover that will identify his device as his alone, or a protective molded case to keep it secure while it's in his briefcase or backpack.
  • Free voucher for 40% off up to $250 worth of select Kindle accessories
  • Choose from a huge variety of covers, cases, easel stands, and sleeves
  • Make sure Dad's Kindle is both stylishly attired and secure
  • Voucher will expire if not used toward a qualifying purchase in the Kindle Accessories Store by June 11, 2013
  • Voucher is valid for a 40% discount on your order total (up to the first $250 spent) for qualifying items in the Kindle Accessories Store; your order total can be over $250, but the maximum discount is $100.
  • Limit 1 voucher per customer; limited quantities available
  • This promotion may not be combined with other offers, including promotional certificates

Free Nook App - Wordsearch Deluxe

Wordsearch Deluxe (no Amazon or Google edition available), by Astraware, is this week's Free Friday App from Barnes & Noble.
App Description
Word search is a popular pastime everyone enjoys! In each puzzle you are given a list of words and you need to find them hidden in a grid full of letters. For this reason, word search puzzles are also known as Word Seek, Word Find or Word Sleuth games.

Astraware Wordsearch Deluxe offers over 1000 puzzles in different themes. You can also download and play a new Daily word search each day - top the global leaderboard by completing the puzzle in the fastest time! For more of a challenge there is a Weekender puzzle available each Friday with an even bigger grid.

Great features include:

  • A collection of over 1000 built-in word searches
  • Over 12 categories of words for themed word searches
  • Words may run horizontally or vertically, forwards or backwards. Hard puzzles also include words diagonally!
  • Unlimited access to our Daily and Weekender puzzles*
  • Intuitive interface
  • 4 save slots available to have several word search on the go at once, so you can stop for a break and come back to a puzzle later
Get the free App from Barnes & Noble.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/31

Today's Gold Box at Amazon saves 61% on "Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures" on Blu-ray. The current Lightning Deal is $200 off a Sony HDRPJ260V High Definition Handycam 8.9 MP Camcorder with 30x Optical Zoom, 16 GB Embedded Memory and Built-in Projector, which normally isn't discounted at all. It's a pretty neat idea, bypassing the need for anyone to figure out how to connect the camcorder to a television in order to view what you've recorded (and you can watch outside, where everyone can see). If you do want to connect to your computer, the USB cable is built-in, so you can't lose it or leave it behind.

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Genius Scan, which turns your phone or your Kindle Fire into a scanner.

Today is the last day to take advantage of these deals and it's also the last day for those on Prime to pick out and borrow a book thru Prime Lending.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Strong Poison ($1.99), the sixth novel in the Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries series by Dorothy L. Sayers [Open Road].
Book Description
She is lovely, smart, and talented—and only Lord Peter can save her from the gallows

Lord Peter Wimsey comes to the trial of Harriet Vane for a glimpse at one of the most engaging murder cases London has seen in years. Unfortunately for the detective, the crime’s details are distractingly salacious, and there is little doubt that the woman will be found guilty. A slightly popular mystery novelist, she stands accused of poisoning her fiancé, a literary author and well-known advocate of free love. Over the course of a few weeks, she bought strychnine, prussic acid, and arsenic, and when her lover died the police found enough poison in his veins to kill a horse. But as Lord Peter watches Harriet in the dock, he begins to doubt her guilt—and to fall in love.

As Harriet awaits the hangman, Lord Peter races to prove her innocence, hoping that for the first time in his life, love will triumph over death.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dorothy L. Sayers including rare images from the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Scandalous Marriage ($1.99), by M. C. Beaton, writing as Marion Chesney [RosettaBooks].
Book Description
As far as matrimonial prospects were concerned, Lucy Bliss was told she’d make an excellent clergyman’s wife.

Her mother, however, had loftier aspirations for her lovely younger sister Belinda. Belinda would marry a duke. More specifically, the Duke of Wardshire. Lucy was truly horrified. “Lucifer” Wardshire! Why, he was rumored to be as wicked as the devil, with orgies and mistresses—and worse!

As the London Season unfolded, Lucy couldn’t decide who was more abominable, her vulgar mama or the arrogant yet disconcertingly handsome duke. No matter, Lucy vowed to go to any lengths to protect her sister, even if her mission should take her into the very arms of the devilish duke himself….

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Bridge ($1.99), by bestselling author and screenwriter John Skipp & Craig Spector [47North]. This was originally issued in print by Spectra/Bantam, then Leisure, but is now under on of Amazon's imprints.
Book Description
When the great storm comes, the good life ends. And hell on Earth begins. For 100 years we’ve been tossing our toxic waste over our shoulders. No more. This morning, while we slept, something woke up. It’s virulent. Malign. Intelligent. Ambitious. It’s in our food, our water, our air. It’s inside our bodies themselves. And it’s not leaving. We are.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big and Believe in Yourself ($2.99), by two-time Olympian Jennie Finch and award-winning sportswriter Ann Killion [Triumph Books].
Book Description
Dream Big and Believe in Yourself

In a society that sends incredibly mixed identity messages, sports help preteen and teenage girls make the right choices. Athletic girls not only grow up to be healthier; they learn teamwork, gain self-confidence, and mature into society s leaders.

Throw Like a Girl inspires, motivates, and answers questions about issues specific to today s female athletes. NCAA softball champion, two-time Olympian, and sports icon Jennie Finch offers sound advice on how to translate the lessons she learned from sports into everyday life.

Topics including body image, femininity vs. sports, peer pressure, nutrition, and the balancing act today s young women construct between school, extra-curricular activities, family, and friends are addressed in an engaging and instantly relatable personal style. Fiercely competitive and fashionably cool, Jennie fills the role of girlfriend, big sister, team captain, and mentor as she offers candid observations from personal experience bound to resonate with young women everywhere and inspire them to dream big, work hard, and believe in themselves.