Content FREE (and bargain) books for the Kindle - September 2011

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The Keeper: A Short Story Prequel to Forbidden, by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee, is currently 99 cents, but should be free shortly (as it's already free on Sony).

Book Description
In the Russian wasteland, a man named Talus bears a secret so terrible that it will cost him no less than his life to share it... a secret so terrible that he must share it in order to find those who will help him protect the knowledge that will one day save humanity. He has chosen two brothers, both hermit monks, to join him in his quest. But time is short... and no man is ready to receive the news that Talus must now share with them both: That they are both already dead.

THE KEEPER is the short story prequel to Forbidden, the first novel in The Books of Mortals series. First there was the Circle Trilogy. Now a new stunning epic begins.

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Two more 99 cent books from B&N Publishing:
The Duchess and the Dragon, by Jamie Carie
Powers: A Novel, by John B. Olsen

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Now free for US Kindle:

Shrouded in Silence by Robert Wise

When the Devil Whistles by Rick Acker

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Free at the US and UK kindle stores - may be a mistake?

We Are All Weird (E-Galley Review Copy) by Seth Godin (Amazon Main, Amazon UK)

It's a pre-order and under The Domino Project. No book description yet.

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FYI, currently just free for those in the UK

French Quarter: Hot in the City, Book 1 by Lacey Alexander (Samhain Publishing) (Amazon Main, Amazon UK)

Product Description
The decadence of Bourbon Street is beckoning…

Hot in the City, Book 1

When prim, proper Liz Marsh suspects her fiancé is cheating on her, she’s almost too embarrassed to hire a P.I. to prove it. And when she gathers her courage and walks into Jack Wade’s office, she has no idea he’ll be the sexiest man she’s ever encountered, nor that his light Cajun accent will make her tingle in all the wrong—or is that right?—places.

After Jack brings her questionable yet undeniably arousing evidence, the only solution is for Liz to get a closer look with her own eyes. And Jack is more than happy to show her everything she’s been missing. One night in the French Quarter’s entrancing red light district, and Liz finds herself caught up in the sensual allure of an erotic new atmosphere and the sudden, urgent need to experience it for herself—with Jack.

Jack’s normally a keep-it-casual guy, but as nights with Liz get hotter, so do Jack’s feelings for the sensual woman in his arms. Bourbon Street decadence beckons and Liz embarks on a sizzling journey of sexual awakening that has her more willing to shed her inhibitions minute by carnal minute. But someone else has noticed her insatiable appetite for sensual adventure, someone who’s just beginning to realize what he’s lost—and who’s determined to tear Jack and Liz apart…

This book has been previously published.

Warning: Contains sizzling hot sex any way she wants it—and a man (or two) more than willing to show her the ropes. Let the good times roll, baby!

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Free backlist book from David Crookes:

Redcoat by David Crookes

Product Description
1873... A landslide at a diamond mine in Africa leaves autocratic British army major, Spencer Shackerly, badly injured and in a deep coma. He awakens to find himself a helpless cripple and his military career over. Holding Lieutenant Jeffrey Guest responsible for his plight, he is determined to have the young officer face a court martial.
Jeffrey Guest has since returned to England, planning to marry his childhood sweetheart. On his wedding day he is blamed for the death of a soldier when the army attempts to arrest him. But aided by family and friends he manages to flee the country.
So begins a relentless worldwide manhunt. Shackerly uses his aristocratic family's wealth and influence in high places at home and abroad to mercilessly hunt down the fugitive across the United States, Canada and Australia until eventually the hunted becomes the hunter.

About the author
David Crookes self-published his first novel BLACKBIRD in 1996. It was quickly picked up by Hodder Headline, now HATCHETTE GROUP, and became a best seller in multiple editions, as did THE LIGHT HORSEMAN'S DAUGHTER and SOMEDAY SOON and other titles. Now most of his many novels are available as ebooks.

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More free from indies:

Dark Tidings: Volumes I & II by Gregory Marshall Smith and Shontrell Wade (Red Hot Publishing)

Product Description
Tired of ho-hum horror and science fiction stories that fail to keep your interest? Want some tales to keep you awake at night? Then try this double anthology of original science fiction and horror.

An astronaut exploring a new world faces a terrible fate…a doctor with a revolutionary cure learns how far some will go to restrict progress…scammers in Africa get their just “desserts”…a man’s attempt to get out from under a crushing debt could cost him far more than money…how well do you truly know your neighbors…read these and other tales that will keep you awake at night.

This collection of science fiction and horror short stories is for the fans who like traditional, as well as modern science fiction and horror with a little dark fiction thrown in for good measure.

Bonus Content: This ebook includes a sixteen-chapter excerpt from Hunters, the newest novel from Gregory Marshall Smith about modern-day vampires and the humans dedicated to eradicating them once and for all.

Realms of the Red Rabbit (Realms of the Red Rabbit series, Book 1) by Laura Eno

Product Description
“At last the time has come.” The voice spoke like a clap of thunder, menace choking off the breeze that had sprung up.

“Seven hundred years I have waited for the Red Rabbit to appear once again. There will be much sorrow here soon…and pain. That is what makes the waiting worthwhile.” With that proclamation the pair of enormous emerald green eyes faded back into the darkness.

A spoiled, rich young woman is catapulted into an alternate universe because of an ancient legend. As she fights to find her way back home, she must adjust her way of thinking or remain trapped in the Realms for eternity. Along the way she learns the meaning of friendship, love and honor while struggling against the dangerous adversaries who are intent on keeping her there.

Realms of the Red Rabbit-Jake (Realms of the Red Rabbit series, Book 2) by Laura Eno

Product Description
“You belong to me, Alyson,” he whispered softly, but with the clash of steel filling his voice as he spoke. “I will have you.”

Loving the wrong woman led to his downfall. Now Jake must spend eternity trapped in the Realms, inflicting terror at his master’s command, the entity known as Green Eyes.

Meeting Alyson rips Jake’s carefully constructed world apart, leading him to wonder about his very existence. Havoc reigns as he seeks to keep Alyson against her will. Can her influence change the life he’s led for four thousand years, or is he doomed forever?

They Call the Wind Muryah by Gregory Marshall Smith, C.J. Ellisson and Sydney Jelinek

Product Description
During the final visit to Planet 505-D before human colonization begins, the crew of the Humboldt starts acting strange―shirking their duties and responsibilities. The chief engineer, Devin Calloway, wants no part of it, but Captain Marie Penski and the rest of the crew become tired of his attitude. Until the day they get a most unexpected visit from Muryah Abernathy, a woman reported lost on the original mission to 505-D —ten years earlier.

Soon, the crewmembers are under her spell, ignoring even their own safety… with deadly consequences.

Bonus Content: This 72-page novella (approx. 18,000 words) includes a sixteen chapter excerpt from Hunters, a new horror and contemporary fantasy novel involving modern-day vampires and the human hunters determined to exterminate them once and for all.

Just Another Day in Paradise by Katherine Tomlinson

Product Description
Life in the big city is not for the faint of heart.

Shadows lurk in sunlight; blood spills on floors; hope and dread are just two sides of a neon sign; and loneliness is a paper cut on the heart, an invisible wound that eventually kills.

In these stories, Katherine Tomlinson explores the dark heart of urban living—the violence that seeps through walls like rancid cooking odors, the paranoia that grows in the dark, nurtured by guilt and grief; the retribution that strikes as suddenly and implacably as summer lightning. And every day brings a new challenge.

It is what it is…Just Another Day in Paradise…

Immaculate Fetish by Jamie Antonia Symonanis

Product Description
After witnessing a strange light show on a hot summer night in Southern Illinois, Greta Garbova's life is permanently changed. It is a time of chaos, greed, terror and the warning signs of a world in peril. Immaculate Fetish takes you on an adventurous Journey of Love seeking to save humanity from itself. A sparkling, humorous, erotic and loving vision of life on planet Earth at the start of the 21st century, and the change needed for humanity to save itself. A must read for Sci-Fi fans, and all who hope to call Earth their home into the 22nd century and beyond.

I Zombie I by Jack Wallen

Product Description

"The virus has spread." In a moment of pure chaos, the majority of the Earth's population has become the walking dead. One man promises to help bring the truth to light. "The lies have spread." When journalist Jacob Plummer is infected, Jacob turns to the written word to not only ease the pain of change, but to bring to surface a truth far deeper and deadlier than anyone could have imagined. "The truth must now be spread." With some new friends, Jacob helps to fight off the growing undead horde in hopes of saving himself and the planet from the rot growing within.

Short stories:

A Reluctant Vampire by Carla Krae

A Miracle in Shreveport (Fiction Friday) by Michael Jasper

The Man Who Murdered Himself: A Short Story by Nancy Fulda

The Premium: A Short Story by Joshua Scribner

How to Make Love to a Woman (Henry Birch's Guide to Life) by A.M. Elm

Awkward Memoirs From Actual India by Romi Moondi

Song of the Vampire by Carole Gill

The Doll House: Inventory by Richard Roberts

Vilkas by Vidas Mykolas

An Outrider's Tale (Fiction Friday) by Michael Jasper

Zombie Joe and the pogo stick legs by Geltab

Committed: A Short Story by N. Primak

One Foot in the Grave-A Holiday Short Short Story by J. Steven York

Wet Work (A Greg Kelton Story) by Brian Springer

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The Way of Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy) by Brent Weeks from Orbit ($1.99) is the Kindle Deal of the Day (Sept 15) *Wait for price to reflect discount before 1-clicking

Product Description
For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.

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Now also free for US Kindle:

French Quarter: Hot in the City, Book 1 by Lacey Alexander (Samhain Publishing)

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Royal Weddings: An Original Anthology, by Stephanie Laurens, Gaelen Foley and Loretta Chase, is free for Australian customers in the Kindle store.

Book Description
You are cordially invited
To help celebrate the Royal Wedding of
Prince William to Catherine Middleton
As we present a 77 page original anthology
Written by three utterly wonderful authors!

Stephanie Laurens' The Wedding Planner: Lady Margaret is proud plan the ton's most important nuptuals—including that of a prince. But it's Lady Margaret who falls in love . . . with dashing Gaston Devilliers!

Gaelen Foley's Ever After: How scandalous! Eleanor Monford, Countess of Archer, is in love with her own husband. And as Princess Charlotte of England weds Prince Leopold, Eleanor's "secret" is about to come out.

Loretta Chase's The Jilting of Lord Rothwick: On the eve of Queen Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert, the Marquess of Rothwick learns his fiancÉe, Barbara Findley, has broken their engagement! So he desperately rides out of London to seek her out . . . and to win her back.

Before the Witches: An Original Novella, by Karina Cooper, is free for Australian customers in the Kindle store.

Book Description
In America, they didn’t care about witches. But all that was about to change.

Katya Zhuvova fled a country that feared her gifts, but her escape to Seattle left her at the mercy of a ruthless man. With no one left to turn to, Katya hatches a desperate escape plan.Undercover Detective Nigel Ferris is determined to bring down a prostitution ring, whatever the cost.In order to get the answers he needs, he attempts to win the trust of one of the prostitutes involved—but one look at the deceptively sultry Katya and the cool, objective cop disappears.Before either can put their plans into place,Mother Nature shrugs: a cataclysm rocks Seattle,and life is turned upside down.

Brought together by chance, Nigel and Katya are in the fight for their lives. Surrounded by death and fear, shattered by immeasurable loss, they have only a bond forged in fire to cling to as they struggle to survive in a world gone straight to hell.

A Lady's Wish, by Katharine Ashe, is free for Australian customers in the Kindle store.

Book Description
From Katharine Ashe comes an original, exclusive “Rogues of the Sea” Series novella . . .

To the world, Lady Patricia Morgan is a proper lady.But in secret, she yearns for a scorching romance—a single night of passion to make her feel alive.For years ago she had had that with a breath-taking gentleman she has never forgotten.They spent one perfect day together, but he disappeared before she could learn his name.

Eight years ago, Captain Nikolas Acton ran off to join the navy so he could forget the mysterious young lady who, after promising him her heart,simply vanished. Now he has returned to England as a war hero, and is staggered to come face to face with the woman who still possesses his heart . . .

The Bronze Horseman, by Paullina Simons, is free for Australian customers in the Kindle store.

Book Description
The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler's armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.

Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana—and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander's impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects—a secret as devastating as the war itself—as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.

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Welcome to My World, by Miranda Dickinson, is 80 cents in the UK (and $19.99 in the US, which appears to be a mispricing).

Book Description
A travel agent who longs to travel. An intrepid explorer who just wants to find a place to call home.

And a Big Idea that changes everything….

Close your eyes and imagine the world is your oyster…And now imagine never seeing it. Welcome to Harriet Langton's world. All her life she's dreamt of travelling the globe - fate always got in the way.Working as a travel agent, the closest Harri comes to her dream destination of Venice is booking the trip for someone else. But everything changes when travel fanatic Alex drops in.

With her boyfriend Rob tied up with work, Harri is persuaded to help Alex in his quest for love. But in her attempts to help, Harri soon discovers that she's alienating those around her.

Desperate to leave her life behind, will her dreams finally come true? Or will Harri's leap of faith be her biggest mistake yet?

A gorgeous love story for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Jill Mansell.

Fairytale of New York, by Miranda Dickinson, is $1.60 for UK customers in the Kindle store (it's $6.99 for those in the US). This one was free last year.

Book Description
Are happy-every-afters made in Manhattan?Once upon a time an English girl went to New York to live out her very own fairytale…

Florist Rosie Duncan's life couldn't be better, she has a flourishing business on New York's Upper West Side and fantastic friends. Moving to Manhattan feels like the best decision she ever made. Even though at the time, it was her escape route from heartbreak . . .

For the past six years Rosie has kept her heart under lock and key, despite the protests of her closest friends - charming, commitment-phobic Ed, unlucky in love Marnie and the one-woman tornado that is Celia.

Then a blossoming friendship with publishing hot-shot Nate begins to shake Rosie's resolve at the same time as her brother arrives in the Big Apple, hiding a secret.

But a chance meeting brings Rosie face to face with her past, unravelling the mystery behind her arrival in New York. Rosie is forced to confront questions she has long been trying to ignore, including will she ever get her very own happy-ever-after?

A sparkling, romantic comedy about an English girl who finds herself in the city where dreams can come true - or so she thinks…

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Notorious Australian Women ($18.99 US), by Kay Saunders, is currently discounted for Canadian ($1.09) and Australian ($1.07) customers in the Kindle store.

Book Description
The sensational lives and exploits of some of Australia's most audacious women Notorious Australian Women celebrates the lives of some of Australia's most fearless, brash and scandalous women. There's Tilly Devine, who went from streetwalker in London to wealthy Sydney madam and standover merchant; Mary Bryant, the highway robber and First Fleeter who escaped by rowing from Port Jackson to Timor with her two children; Lola Montez, the Irish-born grande horizontale, who destroyed King Ludwig I of Bavaria; Ellen Tremaye and Marion Edwards, women who challenged the gender order and became men; and Helena Rubinstein, who rewrote her humble Polish background and became one of the most successful and astute businesswomen in the world. From bushrangers, courtesans and cross-dressers, to writers, designers and a radical or two, what these splendid rebels have in common is a determination to take their destinies into their own hands. Kay Saunders AM was Professor of History and Senator of the University of Queensland from 2002 to 2006. In 2001 she received the Medal of the National Museum of Australia, and in 2006 was the recipient of the John Kerr Medal from the Royal Historical Society of Queensland.

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A Taint in the Blood: A Novel of the Shadowspawn ($9.99 US), by S. M. Stirling, is marked down to $3.24 in several non-US regions: Asia & Pacific, India, Lat. Am & Carribean and Middle East.

Book Description
Eons ago, the powerful Homo Nocturnis ruled the earth. While their numbers have been greatly reduced, they still exist-though not as purebreds. Adrian Breze is one such being. Wealthy and reclusive, he is more Shadowspawn than human. But he rebelled against his kind, choosing to live as an ordinary man. Now, to save humanity, he must battle the dark forces of the world-including those in his own blood...

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Bargain for the US Store:

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster) is $1.99

Product Description
Meet Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors -- but the upshot is she's good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family's firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people's privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.

Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to "recreational surveillance"); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed "Lost Weekends"). But when Izzy's parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy's new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there's a hitch: she must take one last job before they'll let her go -- a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.

The Spellman Files is the first novel in a winning and hilarious new series featuring the Spellman family in all its lovable chaos.

About the Author
Lisa Lutz is the author of The New York Times bestselling, Edgar- and Macavity-nominated, and Alice Award-winning Spellman Series. She is most recently the author of Heads You Lose, written with David Hayward, and lives and works in California.

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HarperCollins has put 25 Agatha Christie short stories up for pre-order in the Kindle store, all at 99 cents each:

The Rajah's Emerald; The Harlequin Tea Set; The House at Shiraz: A Parker Pyne Story; Poirot and the Regatta Mystery; The Red Signal; Philomel Cottage; The Dream; The House of Lurking Death: A Tommy & Tuppence Adventure; The Gate of Baghdad: A Parker Pyne Story; The Under Dog; Sanctuary; The Second Gong; The Case of the Missing Lady: A Tommy & Tuppence Adventure; Strange Jest; Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds; The Mystery of the Spanish Chest; The Man in the Mist: A Tommy & Tuppence Adventure; Triangle at Rhodes; The Case of the Perfect Maid; Yellow Iris; The Love Detectives; The Witness for the Prosecution; The Case of the Caretaker; The Dead Harlequin; and Tape Measure Murder.