Friday 22 April 2011

Great Kindle Deals Newsletter - Friday, 22nd March.

Hello, and welcome to this weekend's edition of Great Kindle Deals. It's been an absolute scorcher of a week with temperatures almost hitting 30 degrees in some parts of the country, and it's only April. What happened to the April showers? Now, that's proof of global warming if you ever needed any. For the religious amongst us, Happy Easter! And for everyone, I hope you have a great week ahead!

Feature: Spotlight on Scott Nicholson
This week we are taking a look at Scott Nicholson, writer of US-number 1 Kindle bestseller Liquid Fear. He's partnered up with Great Kindle Deals over the coming months to get you some of his books at spectacular prices. His work has had rave reviews and is still at number one in bargain books in the US. In fact, we've featured this number-1 best-seller as one this week's cheap books in this newsletter. Next week we'll be featuring an interview with the man himself.

News:
1. E-books outsell paperbacks - A few months ago we reported that Amazon is now selling more e-books than paperbacks and no-longer is this confined to just Amazon.com, no. Now, in the entire US more e-books are being sold than paperbacks. That's more e-books from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other e-book stores than from traditional high-street stores. It almost seems impossible to believe but e-books really have taken the US by storm. Let's hope the UK follows suit and save some trees. I do however think that shops such as WHSmith are very aware of this fact - my local WHSmith sells toys now and the books section is less than a quarter of the entire shop floor. I do not want to see these shops go, or books go in general. I just think that writers are now getting a fairer percentage of their work through direct sales but we'll always need physical books to get signed by authors, right? Apparently not. See below.

2. Digital book signing - The Daily Mail reports that "a new electronic book app is offering readers the chance to get their virtual books signed by their favourite authors without them having to resort to writing on the outside of their Kindle or iPad cases. The Autography application allows fans to have the signature of their favourite writers added to the inside page of their eBooks." As one commenter said: "Anyone can electronically copy signatures over and over, once someone gets it they can copy it and email it to someone else and it becomes completely devalued, this is just one thing that cant replace the reality of human contact."

3. Borrow from your library with your Kindle (US) - In another move that is set to increase the proliferation of Kindle adoptance, and enrage UK consumers, US Kindle users will now be able to borrow books from their library digitally and even make annotations on it. These will be retained if you borrow the book again or buy yourself a copy from the Kindle Store. The service will be provided through Amazon and OverDrive. OverDrive currently operate in the UK with a similar system available for Sony e-readers - it's even available in my local library. The selection for the current uK OverDrive system is about 20 e-books at my local library. Let's hope that the Amazon Kindle compatible service comes over here too and allows us a much wider choice.

4. German Kindle Store - BusinessWeek reports: "Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that it has launched its Kindle e-book store in Germany, bolstering a catalog of German-language books that it had already offered to customers of its U.S. and U.K. websites. The store launched with more than 25,000 German-language e-books. "

5. Kindle Android update - As Amazon makes its platform available on more devices, it has now updated its Android app to be compatible with Honeycomb Tablets. CNET reports that "the updated version offers a virtual bookshelf that stretches across the screen to let people visually browse and view titles at the Kindle store. The new interface also provides quicker access to customer reviews, recommendations, and other items of interest to book buyers. Further, Amazon has tweaked the layout for magazines and newspapers so that readers can now see full color images on their tablets."

Cheap books:
Rated 4 stars average from 12 reviews
Synopsis: "The US Number 1 Kindle Best-seller. hen Roland Doyle wakes up with a dead woman in his motel room, the only clue is a mysterious vial of pills bearing the label “Take one every 4 hrs or else.”
Ten years before, six people were involved in a secret pharmaceutical trial that left one of them dead and five unable to remember what happened. Now the experiment is continuing, as Dr. Sebastian Briggs concludes his research into fear response and post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s backed by a major drug company and an ambitious U.S. Senator, but he also has a personal stake in the outcome.
Only by taking the mysterious pills can the survivors stave off the creeping phobias, sexual impulses, and inflicted madness that threaten to consume them. But the pills have an unexpected side effect—the survivors start remembering the terrible acts they perpetrated a decade ago. They are lured back to the Monkey House, the remote facility where the original trials took place, and Briggs has prepared it for their return.
Now they are trapped, they each have only one pill left, and cracks are forming in their civilized veneer. After the pills are gone, there’s only one option. “Or else.”
Rated 4 stars average from 100 reviews
Synopsis: "Although it's billed as "the first great 19th-century novel of the 21st century," The Crimson Petal and the White is anything but Victorian. It's the story of a well-read London prostitute named Sugar, who spends her free hours composing a violent, pornographic screed against men. Michel Faber's dazzling second novel dares to go where George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss and the works of Charles Dickens could not. We learn about the positions and orifices that Sugar and her clients favour, about her lingering skin condition, and about the suspect ingredients of her prophylactic douches. Still, Sugar believes she can make a better life for herself. Despite its 800-plus pages, The Crimson Petal and the White turns out to be a quick read, since it is truly impossible to put down."
Rated 4.5 stars average from 36 reviews
Synopsis: "One of Rosemary Sutcliff's acclaimed books set in Roman Britain. The Eagle of the Ninth tells the story of a young Roman officer who sets out to discover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of the Ninth Legion, who marched into the mists of northern Britain and never came back.The Eagle of the Ninth is the first in an outstanding series of books about the Roman occupation which was followed by The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers also published by Oxford Children's Books.Packed with real-life detail about Roman warfare and featuring a likeable adventuring hero, this story will have particular appeal for boys.Rosemary Sutcliff is the acknowledged master of children's historical storytelling, she was awarded the OBE for her services to children's literature in 1975. She died in 1992." 
4. A Game of Thrones (Song & Ice of Fire 1) - £5.49
Rated 4.5 stars from 476 reviews
Synopsis: " The first volume of George R R Martin’s glorious high fantasy tells the tragic story of treachery, greed and war that threatens the unity of the Seven Kingdoms south of the Wall. Martin unfolds with astonishing skill a tale of truly epic dimensions, thronged with memorable characters, a story of treachery and ambition, love and magic. Set in a fabulous world scarred by battle and catastrophe over 8000 years of recorded history, it tells of the deeds of men and women locked in the deadliest of conflicts and the terrible legacy they will leave their children. In the game of thrones, you win or you die.And in the bitter-cold, unliving lands beyond the Wall, a terrible winter gathers and the others — the undead, the neverborn, wildlings to whom the threat of the sword is nothing — make ready to descend on the realms of men." If you are going to buy this, I'd advise you to buy the paperback as unfortunately it is cheaper than this version.


Free books:
1. Rampant
Rated 4.5 stars average from 7 reviews
Synopsis: " The moment she arrives at her rented vacation cottage in Scotland, Zoe Daniels feels it—an arousal so powerful she's compelled to surrender to the unusually forceful carnal desires...with nearly anyone who crosses her path. Crawford Logan, the boat builder with the wayward grin. The devilish restaurateur Cain Davot, who seems to know more about Zoe than he lets on. Even her sexy neighbor Grayson Murdoch, whose eyes delve into her soul as he explores every inch of her body. Yet there's something unsettling about the way the locals watch her, something eerie about these overwhelming encounters. Zoe knows she's not quite in control and wonders if there's any truth to the legend of Annabel McGraw, a powerful, promiscuous eighteenth-century witch who once owned the cottage, and whose spirit is rumored to affect anyone who stays there. Zoe doesn't believe in anything occult, but now strange visions are turning frightening...and only one man's touch can bring her back to earth."

2. The Secret Holocaust Diaries
Rated 4 stars average from 6 reviews
Synopsis: "How this story came to be written is a big part of the drama. The only World War II survivor of her wealthy Russian, devout Christian family, Nonna Lisowskaya came to the U.S. in 1950, married Henry Bannister, and never spoke about her Holocaust ­experience––until a few years before her death in 2004, when she revealed her diaries, originally written in six languages on paper scraps that she had kept in a pillow strapped to her body throughout the war. Now those diaries, in her English translation, tell her story of fleeing Stalinist Russia, not knowing what was waiting in Hitler’s Germany, where she saw her mother murdered in the camps, escaped a massacre of Jews shot into a pit, was nursed by Catholic nuns, and much more. The editors’ commentary in different type constantly interrupts the memoir, but the notes are helpful in explaining history and context. The added-on heavy messages celebrating Nonna’s Christian forgiveness seem intrusive and unnecessary, no matter how heartfelt. --Hazel Rochman"

3. Almost Perfect
Rated 4 stars average from 3 reviews
Synopsis: "A Free Spirit and a Reformed Bad Boy -- a Perfect Match?

Maddy was always the artistic one of the group, alive with color and mischief from her saucy red curls to her vintage hippie skirts. Her challenge, the friends decide, is to get her artwork accepted at a gallery. A job as arts director at a summer camp near Santa Fe—with its multitude of galleries—seems like a start in the right direction.

There’s just one catch: The camp is run by Maddy’s high school flame, Joe, whose heart she broke—okay, smashed—and his anger towards Maddy hasn’t cooled one bit. But neither has their attraction.

Old desires burn hotter than ever as Joe makes it clear there’s only one way back to his heart: She has to get serious about her art. But will falling in love help or hinder Maddy as she struggles to meet her challenge?"

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That's it for this week folks, see you next time!

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