Thursday, June 30, 2011

Fire and Ice - $0.99

Fire and Ice (Liam Campbell #1)

Amazon.com Review

Dana Stabenow won an Edgar Award for her books about Kate Shugak, a resourceful Indian woman living in Alaska. The series is full of respect for the landscape and the hard work it takes to survive in the far north. Now she starts a new series starring Liam Campbell, an Alaskan State Trooper with a troubled past and an uncertain future; the environmental issues of the 1980s appear to have been back-burnered in favor of the personal needs and feelings of the 1990s.

You might think there are one too many colorful eccentrics or jaunty drunks in the town of Newenham, where former Sergeant Campbell has been demoted after his own bout with booze and self-doubt. But you'll definitely admire the way Stabenow jumpstarts her story: within a few minutes of his arrival from Anchorage, Campbell has to deal with one murder (a pilot almost decapitated by his propeller), one old girlfriend (the exotic and possibly dangerous Wy Chouinard), and a man held hostage in the town's only decent burger joint--held for shooting out a jukebox that was playing Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.

Stabenow can also grab your attention with the details of everyday life in an Alaskan fishing village, such as this description of the contents of a light plane: "There was a handful of candy wrappers, two maps of Bristol Bay, five small green glass balls which Liam recognized as Japanese fishing floats, a walrus tusk broken off near the root, a survival kit, two firestarter logs, two parkas, two pairs of boots, a litre-sized plastic Pepsi bottle half full of yellow liquid, a clam gun, a bucket, three mismatched gloves and three handheld radios, which to Liam seemed a bit redundant." The Kate Shugak books include A Cold Day for Murder, Breakup, A Cold-Blooded Business, Blood Will Tell, Dead in the Water, A Fatal Thaw, Killing Grounds, and Play with Fire. --Dick Adler

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Julius Katz Mysteries - $0.99

Julius Katz Mysteries

Product Description

These award-winning Julius Katz mysteries have delighted thousands of mystery fans since first appearing on the pages of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2009. 'Julius Katz' introduced readers to Boston's most brilliant, eccentric and possibly laziest detective, Julius Katz, as well as his sidekick, Archie, a tiny marvel of whizbang computer technology with the heart and soul of a hard-boiled PI. In Julius and Archie's second adventure, 'Archie's Been Framed', the little guy is framed for murder and Julius needs to use all his wits to keep his inimitable assistant out of the slammer.

'Julius Katz' attracted a devoted following from mystery readers when it first came out, and has since won the Shamus Award for best story from the Private Eye Writers of America, as well as the Derringer Award for best novelette from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. 'Archie's Been Framed' won 1st place in Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award, with their readers choosing it as their favorite story published by the magazine in 2010. If you haven't had a chance to meet Julius and Archie yet, now's your chance to get caught up in these charming, delightful and very unusual mystery stories.

If you enjoy these mysteries, look for the first full-length Julius Katz mystery novel, Julius Katz and Archie, available now as a Kindle download.

Book Link

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Quick History Story - 6/29/11

Jun 29, 1613:

The Globe Theater burns down


The Globe Theater, where most of Shakespeare's plays debuted, burned down on this day in 1613.

The Globe was built by Shakespeare's acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, in 1599 from the timbers of London's very first permanent theater, Burbage's Theater, built in 1576. Before James Burbage built his theater, plays and dramatic performances were ad hoc affairs, performed on street corners and in the yards of inns. However, the Common Council of London, in 1574, started licensing theatrical pieces performed in inn yards within the city limits. To escape the restriction, actor James Burbage built his own theater on land he leased outside the city limits. When Burbage's lease ran out, the Lord Chamberlain's men moved the timbers to a new location and created the Globe. Like other theaters of its time, the Globe was a round wooden structure with a stage at one end, and covered balconies for the gentry. The galleries could seat about 1,000 people, with room for another 2,000 "groundlings," who could stand on the ground around the stage.

The Lord Chamberlain's men built Blackfriars theater in 1608, a smaller theater that seated about 700 people, to use in winter when the open-air Globe wasn't practical.




Quote of the Day - June 29

Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
- Publilius Syrus

The Baxter Trust - $0.99

The Baxter Trust (Steve Winslow Mystery, #1)

Product Description

Sexy young Sheila Benton loses a multi-million dollar trust if she's involved in any scandal, so it probably would have been wiser not to do drugs, run around with a married man, and find a dead blackmailer on her kitchen floor. Defending her from a murder charge is a tough first case for attorney Steve Winslow, particularly since her trustee won't pay him, and he can't afford to quit his day job, driving a cab.

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A Very Special Delivery - $0.00

A Very Special Delivery

Product Description

It was the surprise of a lifetime for recluse Molly McCreight when single dad Ethan Hunter entrusted her with his infant daughter while he delivered medicine to an elderly man during an ice storm. Past experience had taught Molly how fragile life could be, but she was touched by this stranger's faith in her abilities. Once the storm had passed, though, and her guests returned home, normalcy eluded Molly. The Hunters' presence had brought much-needed joy to her quiet world, but their absence threatened to crush her forever. Still, was she ready to admit that this tiny family held the key to the future she'd always secretly craved?

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Regret - $0.99

Regret

Product Description

*As a Special Promotional Deal, REGRET will be priced at $0.99 for a limited time, leading up to the release of Dan Dawkin's short story collection THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE, due out in June. Get it at this great price while you can!*

Dan blamed himself for his wife's untimely death... at first, that is.

Dan, a newly published bestselling author has just begun to taste the good life: Money in the bank, house in a quiet neighborhood, beautiful wife. His monster of a fictional character--a wealthy, handsome, womanizing murderer--is the catalyst for Dan's good fortune, intriguing millions of readers. But when Dan sleeps with his agent on a business trip, and then confesses the whole thing to his wife in near tears, he sets off a chain of events that cause him to lose his wife and his grip on everything, including reality.

Fleeing his hometown in an attempt to outrun tormenting memories, Dan lands himself in a nearly forgotten small town in Oklahoma, taking up indefinite refuge in a Bed and Breakfast. While here, Dan's demons begin to prey on his mental instability, and the character that he's thrilled his readers with begins to come off the page and out into the flesh, sending shockwaves through the otherwise peaceful town, and giving Dan some interesting and horrific ideas on how to cope with his pain.

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Pinpoint - $0.99

Pinpoint

Product Description

A lawyer, a murderer and a policeman – caught in a tangled web of love, loss, terror and intrigue

When criminal lawyer Julia Grant interviews Sam Smith who has been charged with a vicious murder, she feels a strange connection to him.

Has she met him before? Does he hold a key to her lost childhood memories?

He feels a connection too. “Julia, you are the only one who can help me,” he pleads.

Is it the same connection? Does he know something she cannot recall?

When he is duly convicted despite her best efforts, he suddenly turns on her in the courtroom and threatens that one day he will make sure to wreak his revenge on her.

But why?

What has she ever done to him?

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A Family Affair - $0.99

A Family Affair

Product Description

When Christine Blacksworth’s larger-than-life father is killed on an icy road in Magdalena, New York, a hundred miles from the ‘getaway’ cabin he visited every month, she discovers a secret that threatens everything she’s always held to be true. Her father has another family which includes a mistress and a daughter. Determined to uncover the truth behind her father’s secret life, Christine heads to Magdalena, prepared to hate the people who have caused her to question everything she thought she knew about her father. But what she finds is a woman who understands her, a half sister who cherishes her, and a man who could love her if she’ll let him. The longer she’s around them, the more she questions which family is the real one. . .

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The Pigeon King - $0.99

The Pigeon King

Product Description

On the streets of New York, two young men live two very different versions of the American Dream.

The book follows the paths of two main characters, Wesley Archer Price and
Owen King.

Wesley is an ultra-wealthy student at the Ivy League Nelson College trying to find meaning in the fast-paced world of New York's elite party scene.

Owen King is a low level drug dealer in the fictional Chapel Hill, a poor neighborhood where he is a member of a feared local gang.

The novel takes you on a journey through these two very different worlds, as each young man struggles to find meaning in an imperfect America.

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Secondhand Bounty - $0.00

Secondhand Bounty (Skin Thieves)

Product Description

Two near-strangers -- one of them human, the other, something more -- confront an inhospitable wasteland in pursuit of an ancient enemy. One seeks for riches, the other for revenge... but theirs are not the only motives that will matter today.

Secondhand Bounty is the first installment in Skin Thieves, a series of fantasy short stories by Jacob Heim.

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Saturday, June 25, 2011

Quote of the Day - June 25

Why do musicians compose symphonies and poets write poems? They do it because life wouldn't have any meaning for them if they didn't. That's why I draw cartoons. It's my life.
- Charles Schultz (Peanuts)

Sweet Justice - $0.99

Sweet Justice

Product Description

Her diary is lost and the finder knows who she is and gives her the option to fulfill one fantasy with no strings attached. As horny as she is, she's willing to take him up on his offer and give her sexually sweet justice.

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Twisted - $0.99

Twisted

Product Description

“I have to do what’s best for me” has been Dionni’s motto since the horrible night she found her finance Dale entangled between the legs of her best friend Eva. Enraged and torn, Dionni goes on a hiatus from Las Vegas to clear her mind and get her heart back in order.

Dionni’s much needed vacation is interrupted once she is informed that Tiana, her other best friend was found raped, beaten and now in a coma. Without any family around, Dionni has to return home to face her past while trying to put the shattered pieces of her life back together.

Will the demons of Dionni’s past allow her to be free or continue to keep her twisted?

Twisted is the highly anticipated sequel to Over and Over Again.

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A Change Of Grace - $0.99

A Change Of Grace

Product Description

Grace had been running from her past for years, and part of her believed that she could keep her secrets forever. But when her only two children reached adulthood they were eager to get to the bottom of things. As her youngest daughter Egypt prepares for her dream wedding, she wants to know the truth about the identity of her father.

While the oldest, Kenya, struggles to understand Grace’s absence during her childhood. Kenya finally gets the opportunity to confront her mother when they drive from Charlotte, NC to Cleveland, OH for Egypt’s wedding. Grace’s revelations are so surprising that they change the lives of everyone involved.

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Friday, June 24, 2011

Amazon Kindle has Hot Recipe to Smoke the Apple iPad

If Amazon delivers its own tablet as expected, Apple's iPad may have its first real competitor...


There’s a very simple reason Samsung, Motorola (NYSE: MMI), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), and everyone else with eyes on the tablet market haven’t made so much as a dent in Apple‘s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad business: Consumers don’t want tablets.

That word, no matter how much Verizon (NYSE: VZ) tosses it around in its marketing, doesn’t mean anything to the average person. People want iPads. And they want them from Apple.

There’s good data to support this. A Bernstein Research survey discussed in a recent report at All Things Digital found that 50% of respondents said they would purchase an iPad while the rest were spread across seven other manufacturers. Not only that, but fewer than 15% of respondents said they would consider a 7-inch tablet, inferring that no matter what they buy it has to at least look like the iPad. It’s the iPod market all over again, and every other tablet is Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Zune.

Here’s the thing though: People want the iPad, but they also want Amazon‘s (NASDAQ: AMZN) Kindle, an e-reader. Much in the way that people want an iPad rather than a tablet, consumers also prefer Amazon’s device to other e-readers. What will happen, though, when the Kindle itself becomes a tablet? Apple may finally get a worthy challenger this fall if rumors are to be believed.

DigiTimes reported Wednesday that Amazon will deliver its very own tablet around September, just in time for the holidays. The article noted that component manufacturers working on the device have indicated that Amazon hopes to ship around 4 million Kindle tablets by December. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told Consumer Reports that people should “stay tuned” for news about the company’s tablet plans. Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin followed this up with a PC Magazine report that Amazon would deliver two models of tablet by the holidays.

Amazon has multiple factors working in its favor against Apple. The first is the strength of the Kindle brand. When Amazon announces this new device, consumers won’t interpret this as a new tablet, but a new Kindle that can accommodate streaming video, music playback, web browsing, and all of the other multimedia functions that have made the iPad so appealing. Sweetening this deal, at least according to Bajarin’s report, is that Amazon will be undercutting Apple on price in significant ways. The company will offer a 7-inch tablet at $349, but consumer indifference to that form factor will be mitigated by the availability of a $449 10-inch model. That 10-inch model will offer the same form as the iPad for $50, a strong draw during a time when consumer spending remains weak.

Cost and brand work in Amazon’s favor, but its strongest tool is the ecosystem of entertainment services it’s grown over the past year. The Amazon CloudPlayer music service, streaming video through premium subscription service Amazon Prime, the Amazon AppStore on Google‘s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system (which the Kindle tablet is said to run on), and the Kindle digital bookstore itself are all established outlets that Amazon is already in the process of refining and growing. Other tablet makers have released their devices with a fraction of this content — that preparedness should give Amazon a fighting chance.

Come 2012, most consumers likely still won’t want tablets. It is very possible, though, that they will want both iPads and Kindles.



Desperate Times - $0.00

Desperate Times

Product Description

Despite all the warning bells, Black Friday arrives as a devastating tidal wave that completely destroys our fragile economy in a single day. There is panic in the streets as banks close their doors, seemingly forever, at noon. Store shelves are swept bare and the gas pumps soon run dry. Jimmy Logan watches in disbelief as his world crumbles before his eyes. Luckily, he has friends who have planned ahead for this nightmarish scenario and he joins up with a group who plan to ride the storm out in northern Minnesota. Some of their group will be dead before the sun sets.

Jimmy soon finds himself in the battle of his life. The world changes in a single day and there seems to be no going back. People want what they have and they are willing to do anything, even kill, to get it. The government responds to the crisis by using the National Guard to round up the population and to secure them in relocation camps. Those who resist are shot.

This is Jimmy's story, but the premise might have been torn from today's headlines. The diverse group of people in this story could be your neighbors; your relatives, and this is a very realistic look at what the future might hold for all of us. What would you do to feed your family if you suddenly found that your life savings was as worthless as yesterday's newspaper? How far would you go to protect what you had, in case it was all that stood between you and starvation? Desperate Times explores these questions from Jimmy's point of view, the result is a thought-provoking story that may change the way you look at the world.

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Lovers and Liars - $0.99

Lovers and Liars

Product Description

Cooper catches Bari's eye from the time she comes to work at his company. She doesn't care that he's the boss, or the owner, or in a wheelchair. Acting on their mutual attraction leads to an affair, but it comes to a screeching halt when she is accused of trying to steal the technology Cooper has spent years developing. Someone is framing her, but if Cooper won't believe her, it will be the end of their romance.

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Blind Truth - $0.99

Blind Truth

Product Description

At twenty-six, attractive, successful and fun-loving Kristin has everything she ever wanted: a gorgeous fiancé, a successful career and the wedding of her dreams just around the corner. When she’s offered the chance to head up a meeting with one of Dublin’s most successful advertising executives, it seems things can’t get any better for the blossoming bride-to-be.
A life-changing accident, however, throws her whole life out of kilter.

The once-beautiful Kristin is left horribly disfigured, and it seems her beauty may have only been skin deep. After getting by on her looks for twenty-six years, she struggles to come to terms with her new appearance, as does her fiancé Rob.

She is forced to review her life choices and decide whether she can accept Rob’s love when she knows he doesn’t fancy her anymore. Things get even more complicated when she meets a mystery stranger online. They hit it off immediately, but she leaves him in the dark about the true nature of her appearance. Will he be too horrified to accept her for who she is, or will his own secrets be too much for Kristin to bear?

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Tea With Emma - $0.99

Tea With Emma (The Teacup Novellas)

Product Description

Fresh from a Jane Austen tour in England, Maddie Cooper returns home to Texas, determined to bring a touch of “Austen to Austin.” She dreams of opening an authentic English tea room and, like Austen’s Emma, put into practice her self-proclaimed gift as a matchmaker. But an airport mishap with a cranky Englishman gets her off on the wrong foot (quite literally), especially when he moves into the university guest house across the street. Can Maddie find a love for her unapproachable new neighbor, or has she finally met her match?

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Die, Lover, Die! - $0.99

Die, Lover, Die!

Product Description

Lauren Blaine is on the run...fleeing across the country, pursued by a pack of ruthless, skilled, and psychopathic killers.

That's she's dumped her husband and he hasn't taken it well.

Of course, he might have taken it better if he wasn't a major drug dealer with a gale-force temper... and if she hadn't run off with all of his cash.

Now she's marked-for-death, a moving target for every mercenary, hit man, and sadist in the Midwest.

What they don't know is that Lauren is nobody's victim... she's a resourceful, brave, and cunning woman who won't go down without a fight.

This is 10,000 words of non-stop action, violence and sex...a wild ride like nothing else you've read before...from twelve masters of suspense, who teamed up to write this rollicking story 250 rapid-fire words at a time, tag-team style, without an outline, without knowing what was coming next. The result is a pure, literary adrenaline rush.

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Relocating Mia - $0.99

Relocating Mia

Product Description

Relocating Mia is a romantic thriller and the debut of award-winning novelist Rebecca Lerwill.

Mia Trentino is the top relocating specialist at Worldmove, Inc., and her latest assignment is sending her to Siberia, Russia. But the new job comes with a new partner—a handsome threat to her career named Douglas Farland.

After a rocky start, the job is going well, and things begin to heat up between Mia and Douglas. Then, lies and secrets begin to surface that make Mia suspect her new partner might have a different agenda. What seemed like a simple relocation erupts into a cat-and-mouse game of intrigue full of drug smuggling, secret agents, and the Red Mafiya. Suddenly Mia’s in a fight for her life, and she may have to trust the one person who seems the most to blame.

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The Betrayal - $0.99

The Betrayal

Product Description

With THE BETRAYAL, Kathryn Shay adds a brand new full length novel of romantic suspense to her impressive list of forty books, with five million copies in print. Follow this tale of twists and turns as two people find their lives totally entangled, no matter how hard they struggle against their connection.

Darcy Weston flees to her grandparents’ abandoned farm after her stepfather rapes her. There, she meets Jordan Mackenzie, a local boy, and the friendship of a lifetime begins. Jordan helps sustain Darcy with food and water, and his company, for months, but eventually her whereabouts are discovered. In subsequent years, the two young people try to stay in touch from their disparate worlds, but eventually they drift apart.

Flash forward twelve years. Jordan is an accomplished teacher and Darcy, an internationally famous, reclusive artist. They meet again when Jordan publishes a book that reveals secrets about Darcy's past. But they find themselves thrown together first over the scandal his book creates, then over a murder. Once again, they turn to each other for help and comfort as they deal with police investigations, a variety of suspects from each other's worlds, and a passion between them which won't be denied.

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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

VIDEO VIXEN - $0.99

VIDEO VIXEN

Product Description

"Good girls finish last, Daniel, and I've always been at the head of the class." That's what Vixen Mallory would say, and Vikki Kirkland was saying it now -- to Dan Falkner, ace reporter who'd come to do a story on the soap opera and the star that had taken the cable network and viewer-ship by storm.

Welcome to Sodom's Crossing, just south of the equator -- well actually downtown Manhattan! From her billboard in Times Square to her rare vertical photos in Playboy - the world was finding it easy to be Vixen-ized.

Vikki had sworn to her fellow cast mates on Always Tomorrow that she would protect their secrets by being the sexy, unscrupulous siren on-camera and off - to the hilt. Making sure that investigative reporter Dan Falkner would focus on the illusion rather than the sweet, shy woman Vikki really was.

There was just one problem -- Vikki never imagined how easy it would be to enjoy being a vixen and take what she wanted. And she found she wanted Dan Falkner more than she had ever wanted any man.

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Lonely Millionaire - $0.99

Lonely Millionaire

Product Description

Dear Mr. Lonely....Mandy Clayton never answered personal ads, but this was one she couldn't resist and now she was falling for a guy she'd never met.
Adam Gray was not interested in a mail-order romance, but he was willing to write some love letters for his friend. Then he had to go "check out" the bride to be. Off he went on an undercover job at Mandy's Bed and Breakfast in a small California beach town. Adam was a good guy who always played by the rules, but one look at Mandy and he couldn't help it - he wanted her for himself! He wasn't there to romance his best friend's fiancee. He knew that. It would be wrong... He knew that too.

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A Life That Fits - $0.99

A Life That Fits

Twenty-eight-year-old Andrea returns home from a business trip to find Alex, her boyfriend of fourteen years, nervously waiting for her. Assuming he's finally going to propose, Andrea's instead horrified to learn he's been cheating on her and is leaving to be with the other woman, who he calls Andrea's opposite.

At first Andrea's paralyzed by shock and sadness, but the business analyst soon forms a plan: change every last detail of her life and become her opposite so Alex will come back to her.

It's a challenge at first, but soon Andrea's loving the changes she's making, the new activities she's doing, and the new people in her life. But will she change enough to get Alex back? And if she does, will he fit into the wonderful new life she's creating for herself?

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The Spanish Bow - $0.93

The Spanish Bow

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of turn-of-the-century Spain, this fusion of art and politics traces the professional and personal evolution of a world-class cellist. As Feliu Delargo moves from prodigy to major talent, he travels from anarchist Barcelona to royalist Madrid. The volatile relationship between the idealistic Delargo and the pragmatic pianist Justo Al-Cerraz mirrors all the passion and turmoil of a Spain on the brink of civil war. Colleagues, friends, and rivals, the two take radically divergent paths when Franco assumes power, but are reunited in Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Joining forces, they prepare for one last fateful concert in order to save Aviva, the Jewish violinist they both love. This riveting historical page-turner moves inexorably toward a heartrending crescendo. Flanagan, Margaret

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Veiled Eyes - $0.00

Veiled Eyes (Lake People)

Product Description

A vivid waking dream of giant cypress trees dripping with Spanish moss haunts Anna St. Thais. The trees sit on a black lake that resembles a dark Louisiana bayou with an evocative aura. The dream includes the presence of a man who seems to know Anna all too well and a group of people with strange telepathic powers, sometimes called veiled eyes. An orphan from Texas, she is on her way east to help out a friend when she encounters two terrifying things. Psychically, she begins to see and hear things through the eyes of an unknown individual, a man who knows more about her than she ever would have imagined. The second thing is that she has been kidnapped by a sociopathic trucker intent on making her his latest victim. When she is rescued by Gabriel Bergeron, a member of the elusive Lake People in Northwestern Louisiana, Anna doesn’t realize that he is her psychic counterpart and she has been inexplicably pulled to the area. She shares their strange colored gold eyes and their distinctive mental powers. They are a reclusive lot and know that Anna is one of them, but has been isolated by unknown circumstances. She is drawn into their incomparable world, something between that of the Creoles and Cajuns, and much in addition to those. There Anna finds a romantic link with Gabriel and the spine-tingling fear of not knowing who to trust. Her return has disturbed the inner workings of the group and threatens to expose secrets long concealed in the murky Louisiana bayous. There are secrets to be divulged about her past and why she was spirited away as an infant. Anna isn’t safe until she discovers the answers she so desperately requires.

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Beyond the Quiet - $0.00

Beyond the Quiet

Review

Beyond the Quiet is a heartfelt, deeply sincere labor of love about a woman who loses everything -- and finds her way back. --Michael Prescott, NYT Best Selling Author, including Comes the Dark, Stealing Faces, The Shadow Hunter, and Last Breath

Beyond the Quiet is a novel for all women, everywhere. This heartrending story touches on all of the joys, sorrows, trials and triumphs that come with being a woman. The plot is captivating and Lisa is a complex and likeable character. I couldn't help rooting for her every step of the way on her journey to self-discovery. Brenda Hill's writing is sensual, emotional and beautiful. --M. Jean Pike, Award Winning author of Heatherfield and Waiting For The Rain

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Monday, June 20, 2011

Are You Lonely Tonight? - $0.99

Are You Lonely Tonight?

Product Description

A Valentine's Day Short story.

It's the most romantic night of the year and Diana Mason is alone. She broke up with her boyfriend because he wanted a playmate not a soul mate, but it's someone else who haunts her thoughts on the most romantic of holidays. Is there a chance he's thinking of her, too?

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The Adventures of Whatley Tupper - $0.00

The Adventures of Whatley Tupper: A Choose Your Own...

Product Description

NEW EDITION INCLUDES 16 000 WORD PREVIEW OF THE REDEMPTION OF MR. STURLUBOK (TO BE RELEASED APRIL 30TH, 2011)!

Whatley Tupper is an A-grade janitor at a B-grade university about to become entwined in C-grade fiction!

Will he tame the troglodyte murderer living in the disused network of campus tunnels? Will he join forces with the Denny's night manager to counter a renegade group of custodians? Will he inadvertently travel into a parallel universe that sounds suspiciously similar to another plot-line? Will he journey to Honduras to reunite with his deported love? Will he suffer amnesia and begin to question his own sexuality? Will he leave all this madness behind and book a relaxing Alaskan cruise? Or will he turn out to be nothing more than a figment in the imagination of his idol, Tom Selleck?

Yes, there is something in the air tonight... Adventure! Romance! Carbon Monoxide!

The choice is yours.

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Quote of the Day 3 - June 20

The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment.
- Celia Green

Quote of the Day 2 - June 20

You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.
- Al Capone

Quote of the Day - June 20

Every situation, properly perceived, becomes an opportunity.
- Helen Schucman

Murder by Proxy - $0.99

Murder by Proxy (Edna Davies Mysteries)

Product Description

Rhode Islander Edna Davies is in Colorado on an errand of mercy when she finds herself embroiled in a mystery that may send her son to prison for murder. Grant Davies may have been the last person to speak with Anita Collier, but he is refusing to talk. The woman appears to be alive, but only because the mechanics of her life are running on autopilot. Her paycheck is deposited automatically, her bills are paid directly from her bank account, and her phone calls are answered by voice mail, but nobody has actually seen her for several weeks.

Private detective Ernie Freedman is convinced that Grant knows where Anita is, so he turns to Edna as a last resort and challenges her to help him find the missing woman. Anita must be located while she still has a chance to be united with her only remaining relative. If she isn’t found before her great-aunt dies, Anita stands to lose a multi-million dollar inheritance. Edna must try to convince Grant to reveal what he knows by whatever means she can. In her search for the truth, Edna plunges deep into danger when she uncovers more than one murder and struggles to prevent another.

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Loose Screw - $0.99

Loose Screw (Dusty Deals Mystery)

Lucy Mathews, crime reporter turned antiques dealer, avoids confrontation like a home perm. She even lets a cat shove her around.

When Lucy trips over the body of a buckskin-clad relics trader, her ex-boss asks her to cover the story. She tries to tell him no, but old habits die hard and soon she finds herself directly in the path of a killer and the exasperating, if attractive, detective in charge.

Can Lucy catch a killer or is this the last confrontation for her—period?

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War/Horror - $1.49

War/Horror

These short stories--powerful tales of the horrors of war--were written by Harry Shannon, award-winning author of Dead and Gone and The Mick Callahan Novels. Blood and Burning Straw first appeared in the magazine Cemetery Dance. Thus Was His Death was published by Horror World. And the Worm Shall Feed is from the 2006 collection A Dark and Deadly Valley.

Bonus Content: The battle scene introduction to Harry Shannon's action-packed thriller The Pressure of Darkness.

"Impeccable pacing and an eye for the terrifying will leave the reader shaken and unsettled."
-Publisher's Weekly

"Master craftsmanship!"
-Cemetery Dance

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Friday, June 17, 2011

Amazon prepping color Kindle with video streaming?

Rumors have already been circulating for months that Amazon is developing a tablet, possibly in partnership with Samsung. A new report suggests that the online retailer is developing an advanced Kindle in color.

According to the Detwiler Fenton research firm, Amazon is developing a colorized version of the Kindle that will be able to rent and stream videos. It is also still being referred to by the code name “Hollywood,” which was mentioned last month alongside another rumored Amazon tablet known so far as “Coyote.” (Hopefully those are just working titles.)

Here’s the rest of the details the firm has supposedly uncovered so far:

The device is expected to incorporate a 10” color screen and have a more robust applications processor than that expected for the smaller color Kindles AMZN is also expected to launch for the holiday season. It is particularly interesting to note that AMZN is expected to include its movie service for free for an unspecified amount of time to buyers of the device. This is the same movie service AMZN already offers for free to its Prime customers. We expect pricing will be in the $399 range in order to create enough of a pricing differential between it and the iPad.

If true, a device with these features and pricing would find itself somewhere between full-fledged tablets (i.e. iPad, Galaxy Tab, etc.) and the Nook Color. Barnes & Noble’s offering has already been heralded as one of the better (if not best) Android tablet available with its price point and Froyo on-board.

While it is capable of video playback, this new version of the Kindle would completely surpass it. However, it seems a bit unfair to compare the two, not just because the color Kindle isn’t official yet, but also because Amazon’s rumored new tablet would be just that: an actual tablet - not an e-book reader anymore.

Detwiler Fenton didn’t mention anything about the integration of Amazon’s Cloud Drive digital storage locker, but you can bet that anything Amazon builds from now on is going to incorporate that amenity.

June 30: Judgment Day for Amazon's Kindle on Apple's App Store

Time is running out for Amazon and other e-book sellers to comply with Apple’s demands to implement in-app purchases on the App Store by June 30, 2011.

June 30th, 2011 will be remembered as e-Book Judgment Day on Apple’s App Store.

Back in February, Apple changed a number of its rules concerning in-app purchases by content providers as well as for e-Book sellers. Essentially, if you provided a method for purchasing content outside of the application, you also had to include a native in-app purchase mechanism as well, so that Apple could get a 30 percent cut on each purchase.

Additionally, Apple has now required under section 11.13 of the App Store developer agreement that “Buy” buttons that spawn external browser sessions in content consumption apps are no longer permitted and will be rejected. This explains of course why SONY never got their eReader application accepted into the App Store, and the companies have been at loggerheads ever since.

The deadline for implementing these changes in subscription apps was set for June 30, 2011.

Earlier this month, Apple seems to have blinked. Newspapers and Magazines which publish apps on the App Store that handle subscription-based content appear to have been given a pass.

The “Buy” button for these subscription content providers is still banned, but the rules have been relaxed for requiring in-app purchases, and Apple will not be getting 30 percent cuts of those external transactions.

That’s great for companies like the New York Times, Newsweek or TIME Magazine. That’s not so hot for companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, however.

Apparently, the rules still apply to electronic booksellers or any other content seller, such as a Marvel or a DC Comics, which do provide in-app purchasing mechanisms.

As of today, both Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s NOOK applications for iOS still spawn external browser sessions to complete purchases, and do remote syncs of purchased content. This means they are currently non-compliant under Apple’s rules.

What are Amazon and Barnes & Noble likely to do? It’s hard to say for sure, but they have a number of options. The folks over at PaidContent.org have written a pretty good overview of what the companies could do.

The first of course would be to comply to the letter of the law and implement an in-app purchase option in addition to removing their “Buy” buttons which spawn the browser sessions.

However, my guess is that making this the only way of purchasing e-Books on their apps would be a very difficult or even an impossible pill for these two companies to swallow, with having to give Apple 30 percent on each transaction.

The second would be to make the Kindle and NOOK apps pure “Content Receiver” apps. In other words, they would sync external content purchased on the respective Kindle and NOOK web sites in user initiated browser sessions on the devices or from their PC/Macs, but you couldn’t initiate a purchase directly from the app.

The third is a bit more dramatic — cut the cord, and walk away from the “Walled Garden” of the App Store, and move to the world of HTML5 web standards to deploy their e-book content.

My industry colleague Simon Phipps over at ComputerWorld UK has recently written about the Financial Times, who has gone and done just that — escaping the “App Trap”. They’ve built a multi-platform web app in HTML5, which runs on any number of device web browsers.

Amazon has been experimenting with this sort of HTML5 technology for a while. The Kindle for the Web app is in beta and is currently used in order to show Kindle book previews on author web sites.

So what happens June 30? Well, I’m betting that at least in Amazon’s world, they’re going to go “Content Receiver” on the Kindle iOS application and very likely launch Kindle for the Web shortly thereafter, and maybe even exit the iOS ecosystem completely at a future date, especially when their very own Android Tablet arrives, likely sometime in the Fall.

Barnes & Noble? My guess is they haven’t developed anything as sophisticated as Kindle for the Web as of yet, and probably will be forced into changing their app to pure “Content Receiver” mode.

What exactly happens on e-Book Judgement Day is anyone’s guess. But for companies like Amazon which have a strong business model for selling e-books, the future for providing content to iOS-based customers is clear: The Open Web.

Will Amazon go HTML5 on Judgment Day?

Amazon's Kindle self-publishing platform hit by spam

E-book readers are no longer safe from spam. Amazon’s self-publishing service for the Kindle has become the first major target.

Reuters reports that spam has taken form on the self-publishing platform for several factors - namely how cheap and easy it is to republish another work already available, or to just make something else up altogether:

Aspiring spammers can even buy a DVD box set called Autopilot Kindle Cash that claims to teach people how to publish 10 to 20 new Kindle books a day without writing a word.

Paul Wolfe, an Internet marketing specialist, told Reuters that Kindle spam has bloomed exponentially in the last six months:

One tactic involves copying an ebook that has started selling well and republishing it with new titles and covers to appeal to a slightly different demographic, Wolfe explained.

So far, it looks like Amazon’s only significant attempt to dissuade spamming was the launch of Kindle Singles, which is for shorter pieces in general. But obviously that isn’t enough.

Amazon needs to be more vigilant and have a stronger system for weeding the spammers out. If they don’t, not only is Amazon going to lose a lot of authentic self-publishers and writers who don’t want to see their work plagarized and manipulated, but customers are going to be the first to go after they repeatedly stumble upon spam when looking through an eBookstore.

It doesn’t look like any other digital bookstores, such as Google eBooks or Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore, have been hit by spam yet. But this should serve as a wake-up call.

I, Spy? - $0.00

I, Spy? (Sophie Green Mysteries, No. 1)

Product Description

Never underestimate the blonde. "The British spy is elegant, suave and sophisticated. The British spy is not blonde, built and confused."

But Sophie Green is, and she's just been hired by a highly secret government agency. She drives a car the colour of bile and is obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She doesn't know which end of the gun to fire from and her hair hasn't been natural since she was twelve. But that's not going to stop her from trying to save the day, once she figures out who to save it from.

Sexy spies, plane crashes, firebombs and multicoloured cocktails—they're all in a day's work for Sophie. Roll over, Bond, there's a new bombshell in town. And it's got Sophie's name on it...

Warning, this title contains guns, swearing, dark thoughts about cheerful people, incomprehensible Britishisms, and painful sarcasm.

Book Link



Hex, A Witch and Angel Tale - $0.99

Hex, A Witch and Angel Tale

Product Description

Like most girls at Rosemound High School, seventeen-year-old Lily Crane is acutely aware of Ryder Kingscott. Hands down the cutest guy in school, Ryder is cool, mysterious, and utterly untouchable…especially for Lily. For when she touches someone, Lily instantly learns all about their lives. And while such a skill might seem nifty, in truth it is wrecking Lily’s life. So she is shocked when Ryder asks her out — and even more shocked to discover he has a rival. Lucian Bell is the gorgeous new kid who can’t take his eyes off of Lily. Being pursued by two hotties should make a girl happy, but Lily is skeptical. The boys act as if they’ve met before, hating each other with a passion that could only be rooted in a dark, dangerous past. A past full of terrible secrets. The kind of secrets that could get a girl killed.

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Whispering Willows - $0.99

Whispering Willows

roduct Description

A short story, a teaser for a novel For Queen and Country.

Friends and family on the farm know that Loesie makes up most of the things she says about magic. So the one time she tells the truth, they don't believe her..

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The Far Horizon - $0.99

The Far Horizon

Product Description

Of all the things ten-year-old Cory Wilson expects to do when he moves to Midway Space Station, saving aliens from humans isn't one. An important conference is about to start at the station, not usually the sort of thing kids care about, not even when the conference is between humans and aliens, and half your family is alien. However, when bullies tease Cory, he ends up in a prohibited area where he overhears some men planning to plant a bomb at the conference. Because the terrorists hide their messages in computer games, no one believes Cory, not even his father, the station director. Kids at school think he’s crazy, some even think aliens should be bombed. The conference starts, the aliens have brought a very important person, and Cory's teacher, one of the terrorists, locks Cory in the classroom. Can he get out in time? If he does, will anyone listen?

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Watcher's Web - $0.99

Watcher's Web

Product Description

She’s not your ordinary country girl, even though she might look like one. She casts webs of power, reading the feelings of living beings and telling them what to do. Nobody knows what causes it, least of all her. Her name is Jessica, but most people call her ‘freak’.

One fateful day, her ‘web’ connects with a stranger, and stray power causes the plane in which she’s travelling to crash in an alien world. An accident? The more she discovers about the world in which she has landed, the more she doubts it. She is a survivor from an ancient race that once travelled the stars. Her ancestors were powerful and dangerous, and it seems at least two people want her: the man who invades her mind, and the man who’s desperate to help her get back home. But Jessica grew up an Earth girl, and isn’t having any of this. She’ll pander to no one, thank you very much, even if her stubbornness enrages the tyrant race who hold the world in their grip.

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Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum - $0.99

Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum

Zach Kalusky, host of Sci-D TV's Xavier Paranormal Investigators, is ecstatic when he's given the opportunity to explore the most haunted site in Chicago for a Halloween Special: Rosewood Asylum, a place long made off-limits by the local government, plagued by decades of mysterious fires and unexplained events. It's Zach's dream investigation- but there's a catch: the network forces Xavier Paranormal Investigators to partner with the more dramatic-but less ethical-Demon Hunters.

Now, Zach must fight for both his show's integrity and his team's loyalty while trying to protect his team's loyalty while trying to protect his own secret: that he, himself, is possessed.

Book Link

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Shaken and Stirred - $0.99

Shaken and Stirred

Product Description

On March 11, 2011, the Great Sendai Earthquake struck Japan. As an American in Japan, Scott Rothrock was in an area spared by the worst effects of the earthquakes and tsunami. In Shaken and Stirred, he writes a poignant story about that one day and how it affected him, his friends, and his city. You will not read about death and destruction, but about an ordinary American's thoughts as he watches one of the modern era's greatest natural disasters unfold.

Notes: This book contains several pictures, which will be rendered in black and white on the Kindle.

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The Hookie-Pookie Man - $0.99

The Hookie-Pookie Man

Product Description

His mother was from Earth. His father was from another planet. He doesn't fit in anywhere. But he knows a woman of similar origin is out there, somewhere. She's his soul mate, and he's determined to find her. And so it is that Dwight Arnold Toshman, also known as The Hookie-Pookie Man, wanders the country in search of love, occasionally performing wacky stunts like walking on his hands across a construction site or painting lines on downtown sidewalks to divide them into lanes--and at other times becoming so frustrated he has to stop and scream himself sick. Join Dwight in his quest to find the Hookie-Pookie Woman. Follow Dr. Herman Schnauzer's adventures as he tries to help. The Hookie-Pookie Man is an interplanetary story of hope, love and outsider-ness.

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No Rest for the Wicked - $0.99

No Rest for the Wicked

Product Description

Fairy tale villains are real, but luckily there's one woman crazy enough to stop them: Veronica Grim, Fairy Tale Assassin.

Follow her exploits in the seedy world of fairy tale crime in these two thrilling short stories.

"Blood Don't Lie" is a 1000 word tale involving blue facial tattoos, a bloody key, and a whole closet full of trouble. Can Veronica take down a killer without becoming one of his victims?

"Heartless" is a 2600 word action tale. Porn princess Whitney Snow is in a world of hurt with no one to trust--not even her dwarf entourage! Her Stepmom wants her dead, but that's not even the worst of her problems--Veronica Grim is the one hired to track her down.

What readers are saying:

"I felt like I was dropped in on an exciting scene from an action movie. It starts quick, and then gets wild as the mayhem kicks in."

"There are glimpses of a much larger, darkly twisted world and I'd love to see more of this series..."

"I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more from this author."

Book Link

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

THE CONTROLLER-Obsession - $0.00

THE CONTROLLER-Obsession

Product Description

Richard was devastated to learn about his wife Veronica's close ties to Controller. He was so distraught that he moved out of their home and entertained thoughts of divorce. Nothing Veronica tried was able to convince Richard that their marriage could be saved.

Richard's resolve to overthrow Controller guided him to put together a team of his closest confidants. His former press secretary, Christine Morrison, insisted on being part of the effort as she was deeply in love with Richard and wanted to be near him during such a period of peril. Richard had always felt a fondness for Christine and now that his marriage was over, he found he was falling in love with her.

Richard knew that to be successful, he needed to find weaknesses within Controller's empire. He devised a methodology that would help him evaluate those close to Controller. He hoped to find support from others who had been duped by Controller.

Richard decided that he could not make any progress without the assistance of Stephen Hamilton, his former vice president and current US president. Stephen had no idea why Richard wanted to meet with him when he agreed to spend some time together at Camp David. Richard knew he could trust Stephen but was not sure if what he was going to tell him would forever fracture their friendship. When Richard gave Stephen all the details of his involvement with Controller, Stephen was visibly shaken and upset but agreed to help Richard.

As Richard started to gain confidence that his efforts could succeed, he recruited other conspirators from within Controller's empire. This proved to be dangerous not just for Richard but for everyone around him.

It soon became apparent to Richard that Controller was even more powerful than Richard could have imagined. There was only one way that Richard could see any hope of succeeding, and despite the protestations of those closest to him, he put his plan to action.

Book Link

Chasing Eden - $0.00

Chasing Eden (Eden Thrillers)

April 8, 2003. U.S. Army Chaplain Jaime Richards is stunned when her civilian friend Adara Dunbar staggers, mortally wounded, out of the Iraqi night, with an urgent "package" for Jaime to drop at ruins of the ancient city of Ur, now inside a U.S. military base. Jaime is soon pulled into a web of five-thousand-year-old secrets as she joins forces with Adara's mysterious brother on a quest through Ur, Babylon, Baghdad, and Iraq's southern swamps to save a hidden treasure that powerful men are willing to steal and kill-and start a war-to find. Smart and suspenseful, a hold-on-to-your-seat race to find the site of the original Garden of Eden.

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The Fox - $0.00

The Fox

Product Description

The Fox

In THE FOX, a historical novel, Jahna and Lovern's clan lay in the Roman's path of destruction. The death of their people is a certainty, unless a bargain is made with the Gods, even if it means a human sacrifice.

Will the trade the Druid Lovern and his visionary wife, Jahna make with the Gods, save their family? Will there be future generations to sing the songs of their dead?


Two centuries later, Aine MacRae is on their trail. She's a struggling archaeologist, on the verge of uncovering the village were Jahna and Lovern lived. She's found the farm where her site is located is for sale! But for a ghostly, visit greed almost triumphs leaving the truth and ancient stories buried forever. Read The Fox and discover if Jahna and Lovern's bloodline continues and if Aine wins her independence, finds answers to haunting questions and allows a lost love to be rekindled.

Book Link

Monday, June 13, 2011

Tip: Kindle Reset Instructions

To reboot your Kindle. Here is how you do it:
  1. Click the “Home” button to get back to your home screen.
  2. Click the “Menu” button, and select “Settings.”
  3. You will see several options, but “reboot” is not one of those options. Press the “Menu” button again.
  4. You will have several options, but choose and click the “Restart” button.
Once you do that, it will take about 1-2 minutes to reboot. Make sure your wireless is on, and the Kindle will go look in the Amazon store to see what is pending to be downloaded...

Death of a Cozy Writer - $0.99

Death of a Cozy Writer

Product Description

Winner of the 2008 Agatha Award for Best First Novel

From deep in the heart of his eighteenth century English manor, millionaire Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk writes mystery novels and torments his four spoiled children with threats of disinheritance. Tiring of this device, the portly patriarch decides to weave a malicious twist into his well-worn plot. Gathering them all together for a family dinner, he announces his latest blow – a secret elopement with the beautiful Violet... who was once suspected of murdering her husband.

Within hours, eldest son and appointed heir Ruthven is found cleaved to death by a medieval mace. Since Ruthven is generally hated, no one seems too surprised or upset – least of all his cold-blooded wife Lillian. When Detective Chief Inspector St. Just is brought in to investigate, he meets with a deadly calm that goes beyond the usual English reserve. And soon Sir Adrian himself is found slumped over his writing desk – an ornate knife thrust into his heart. Trapped amid leering gargoyles and stone walls, every member of the family is a likely suspect. Using a little Cornish brusqueness and brawn, can St. Just find the killer before the next-in-line to the family fortune ends up dead?

Death of a Cozy Writer was chosen by Kirkus Reviews as a Best Book of 2008, nominated for a Left Coast Crime award (the Hawaii Five-O for best police procedural), short-listed for the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery, nominated for the Anthony Award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for the David G. Sasher, Sr. Award for Best Mystery Novel.

G.M. Malliet's Death of a Cozy Writer won the 2008 Agatha Award for Best First Novel and a silver medal for the IPPY awards in the category of Mystery/Suspense/Thriller.

Book Link




Free Poem 6/13 Poem 2

DREAM

Lets all look up into the sky and dream
See that everything as not as it may seem
Look left and right and see it all mine
Mine to take and as I diligently try to find
The path that sets my course to the direction
When I see myself as in my imagination
The king of the world right here on earth
No certain fate is given to us since birth
We make the rules and the opportunities
And take everything as an exciting challenge
That would release us from all these bondage
As we all were destined to fly high in the sky
All we have to do is, be sure to give it a try
As we finally see a sudden glimpse of light
We know that we are now a step away from bliss
A transition into reality of our heart felt dreams

Free Poem 6/13 Poem 1

I thought I saw you the other day…
I lost my mind (it ran away).

I searched the world through memories,
Through picnic blankets and chestnut trees,
I ran across moonlit sand dunes,
Your palm gripped tight in mine.
I tasted swordfish steak and cayenne peppered oysters,
Then mulled the meaning of wine,

But, still, I found myself lost; failed to locate my mind.

Instead, I saw the heartache of several sunsets combine,
then rise as one beyond that dusty old blind of yours,
The one I gazed through all of those mornings
when I couldn’t sleep
Through fear of snoring:
All of those mornings when I didn’t mind
Because you were mine to keep

And though I haven’t seen my mind since then,
I miss it every day.
It only dream of you at night and kept waking dreams at bay.

Donor - $1.10

Donor

Product Description

The first Dr Steven Dunbar thriller.

When seven-year-old Amanda Chapman is admitted to hospital with acute renal failure, her parents are in despair. Their hope is renewed when Amanda is accepted for treatment in a pioneering, state-of-the-art dialysis unit in an exclusive private hospital in Glasgow, but behind the lavish hospital corridors, private rooms and friendly staff lies something much more sinister. Dr Dunbar goes undercover to find out in the first of Ken McClure's gripping thrillers featuring the ex-Special Forces medic.

Book Link

Drives Like a Dream - $1.24

Drives Like a Dream: A Novel

After his well-received, quirky 2000 debut, The Obituary Writer, Shreve succumbs to the sophomore slump with a dull and far-fetched follow-up. Cars are in Lydia Modine's blood: her father had worked for Ford, Tucker and GM, she's an expert on his former boss, Preston Tucker, and she still lives right outside a tarnished and crumbling Detroit. Now divorced after 33 years of marriage, Lydia, a "social historian of the automobile," sees too many parallels between herself and the subject of her fifth book: " 'planned obsolescence.' Out with the old, in with the new." In the wake of her ex-husband Cy's wedding to a younger woman, 61-year-old Lydia is desperate to escape her sense of loss and restore a sense of family with her three grown children. Shreve's considerable historical research is obvious and admirable, but unless the reader is fascinated by the car industry, it will seem like overkill. Leads that could have been interesting remain unpursued, while an unlikely relationship between Lydia and Cy's new in-laws is developed. Also unlikely is Lydia's scheme to lure her children back home, which borders on the slapstick. Shreve shows promise with some strong character writing, but erratic storytelling, a hasty conclusion and a surfeit of auto lore stall the tale.

Book Link

London Calling - $1.11

London Calling (Inspector Carlyle 1)

Product Description

Can you win an election and cover up murder at the same time? When Inspector John Carlyle finds a body in a luxury London hotel room he begins a journey through the murky world of the British ruling classes which leads all the way to the top. In the middle of a General Election, a murderer is stalking the man poised to be the next Prime Minister. With power almost in his grasp, Edgar Carlton will not stand idly by while his birthright is threatened. Operating in a world where right and wrong don't exist and the pursuit of power is everything, Carlyle has to find the killer before Carlton takes the law into his own hands.

Book Link

The Widow's War - $0.99

The Widow's War

Mystery author Gunning (Fire Water) moves to literary historical with this provocative tale of a whaling widow determined to forge a new life in colonial Cape Cod. When Lyddie Berry's husband drowns in 1761, her grief is compounded by the discovery that he's willed her the traditional widow's share—one-third use, but not ownership, of his estate. Lyddie's care, and the bulk of the estate, have been entrusted to their closest male relative, son-in-law Nathan Clarke, husband to their daughter Mehitable and a man used to ordering a household around. Lyddie's struggle to maintain a place in her radically changed home soon brings her into open conflict with an increasingly short-tempered Nathan and his children from two previous marriages. Gunning infuses the story with suspense and intrigue, as Lyddie's plight brings her into the orbit of local Indian Sam Cowett; community censure then brings her an ally in sympathetic lawyer Ebeneezer Freeman. Gunning resists easy generalizations and stereotypes while the story pulls in 18th-century law and Anglo-Indian relations, but the dull period dialogue, of which there is a great deal, reads awkwardly. Yet she makes Lyddie's struggle to remake her life credible and the world she inhabits complex.

Book Link

Alchemy - $0.99

Alchemy

The summer of 1984 was a golden time in America. From California, where gymnast Mary Lou Retton was winning Olympic gold, to Cape Cod, where explorer Barry Clifford was discovering pirate gold, the nation seemed obsessed with the precious metal. But for 15-year old Al, that obsession hits a little too close to home when he finds a code-filled notebook belonging to his missing father that may contain the ancient formula for turning lead to gold. Convinced that his father’s sudden disappearance is connected to his secret experiments in alchemy, Al sets out to find the truth. He enlists the help of Cammie, a beautiful girl staying for the summer while her marine biologist father tracks a wayward manatee, and together they begin unraveling the mystery. But the closer they get to an answer, the closer they grow to each other, and as the end of summer draws nearer, Al wonders if they can break the code without breaking his heart.

Book Link

Friday, June 10, 2011

Pandora's Children Book 4: The Wretched Ones

Pandora's Children Book 4:  The Wretched Ones

$0.99

Product Description

In the fourth volume of this psychological horror collection, take a peek into the lives of:


A man who learns the folly of pretending to be what he isn't by the very people he is impersonating (Stolen Honor, 10,000 words)

A housewife who breaks her home's sewer system and discovers an unpleasant truth about her house(SM Services, 6,000 words)

And a rapist and murder who is offered a second chance at a new beginning (Pandora's Children, 17,500 words)

Book Link

Paradise Seekers - $0.99

Paradise Seekers

Product Description

Sam awakens into the new world of Haven knowing nothing of his past, save a recurring dream that haunts him nightly. As he adapts to his new surroundings, Sam find others who are like him: groups of teenagers calling themselves "Paradise Seekers." At first Sam believes he has found a utopia. But as the dream turns darker and a strange insanity begins to rip apart the other Paradise Seekers, Sam finds himself in a race against time to save not only himself, but the girl he loves from spiraling down into an unknown and unquestionable fate.

A full novel at over 70,000 words, Paradise Seekers is a novel filled with rich symbolism and haunting undertones. It is a novel both young adults and older audiences will enjoy and want to read a second time the minute they hit the last page.

Book Link