History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle (19 July 09)

Blending historical fact with fiction, a novel set in other times and places can transport you into the past more convincingly than a dry historical treatise - and entertain you in the bargain. What I look for in historical fiction are books by authors who, after reading the histories and doing the research, create stories based in the past that include characters I want to know better and a plot that keeps me turning pages - books like Peter Ackroyd's The Clerkenwell TalesBernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdomand Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

Now you can spend less time searching and more time reading as I watch for new historical fiction in the Kindle Storeso you don't have to. New on historical fiction shelves:

Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburgby John Hough Jr. S&S. TIME FRAME: 1860s U.S. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (3 reviews) Kindle edition $9.99.
"... Luke and Thomas Chandler grew up on Martha's Vineyard, raised by their abolitionist father and Rose, their headstrong and beautiful Cape Verdean housekeeper. When a recruiter comes to the island, the boys, who have already witnessed their father and Rose helping a runaway slave to freedom and who are determined to join the fight against slavery, eagerly enlist in the storied Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry...Throughout the hot days of early summer the brothers march with the army through Virginia and Maryland... They experience unaccustomed hardships: food that is barely edible, terrible thirst, chilly nights, and rain-soaked marches. They share in the camaraderie of their fellow soldiers, spending their evenings discussing over card games what they will do when the war ends, alternately exhibiting anxiety and bravado as the next battle looms. The brothers quickly discover that their abolitionist views make them unpopular with many of their fellow soldiers... And then one day their march ends in a little town none of them has ever heard of, Gettysburg..."

"It reads as if you were there. Captures the chaos, excitement, brutality and nature of the battle as well as anyone has. It is the way I think a soldier in combat saw it." - Scott Hartwig, Gettysburg Battlefield Historian.

The Convict's Swordby I. J. Parker. Penguin. TIME FRAME: Eleventh-century Japan. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99.
"I. J. Parker's phenomenal Akitada mystery series has been gaining fans with each new novel. The latest, The Convict's Sword, is the most fully realized installment to date, weaving history, drama, mystery, romance, and adventure into a story of passion and redemption. Lord Sugawara Akitada, the senior secretary in the Ministry of Justice, must find the mysterious killer of a man condemned to live in exile for a crime he did not commit. Meanwhile, Akitada's retainer, Tora, investigates the sudden death of a blind street singer, whose past life is a bigger mystery than anyone thought..." - Amazon.

Girl in a Blue Dress: A Novel Inspired by the Life and Marriage of Charles Dickensby Gaynor Arnold. Crown. TIME FRAME: Victorian England. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $14.29.
"At the end of her life, Catherine, the cast-off wife of Charles Dickens, gave the letters she had received from her husband to their daughter Kate, asking her to donate them to the British Museum, 'so the world may know that he loved me once.' The incredible vulnerability and heartache evident beneath the surface of this remark inspired Gaynor Arnold to write Girl in a Blue Dress, a dazzling debut novel inspired by the life of this tragic yet devoted woman." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Wantingby Richard Flanagan.

The Road to Jerusalemby Jan Guillou. HarperCollins. TIME FRAME: 12th century Sweden. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $14.29.
"The Road to Jerusalem, the first volume of Jan Guillou's new trilogy, involves Swedish politics, familial drama, social oppression, ice fishing, wolf-hunting, political assassination, young sex and the Knights Templar. It's a great book." - Diana Gabaldon review at washingtonpost.com.
$9.99 or less alternative: Brethrenby Robyn Young.

The Glassblower of Muranoby Marina Fiorato. St. Martin's Griffin. TIME FRAME: 17th century and modern-day Venice. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (33 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99.
"Venice, 1681. Glassblowing is the lifeblood of the Republic, and Venetian mirrors are more precious than gold. Jealously guarded by the murderous Council of Ten, the glassblowers of Murano are virtually imprisoned on their island in the lagoon. But the greatest of the artists, Corradino Manin, sells his methods and his soul to the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, to protect his secret daughter. In the present day his descendant, Leonora Manin, leaves an unhappy life in London to begin a new one as a glassblower in Venice. As she finds new life and love in her adoptive city, her fate becomes inextricably linked with that of her ancestor and the treacherous secrets of his life begin to come to light." - Amazon.

Alexandriaby Lindsey Davis. Minotaur Books. TIME FRAME: 1st century Rome. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 (17 reviews). Kindle edition: $9.99.
"...Falco has taken his pregnant wife, two daughters, and brother-in-law to Alexandria on what is ostensibly a vacation....In fact, Falco is charged with keeping his eye on things, and indeed trouble brews right away - the Librarian of Alexandria's great library is found dead in his sealed office. There's been plenty of controversy surrounding the Librarian already, and the controversy over who will succeed him turns bloody. Who knew that the race for a top library spot could be so intriguing? The mystery is intricately plotted, the characters are well drawn, and Falco is as engaging a protagonist as ever, still tough but wiser and more reflective, too. Another winner for historical mystery fans." - School Library Journal.

A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 17 Jul 09

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the July 17th issue include:


The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayalby Ben Mezich. Doubleday. NONFICTION. EW's slant: "tries to paint the birth of Facebook as a hormone-fuled affair full of treachery and white-hot greed." Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99.
"Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends - outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and long-time legacies. They shared both academic brilliance in math and a geeky awkwardness with women. Eduardo figured their ticket to social acceptance - and sexual success - was getting invited to join one of the university’s Final Clubs, a constellation of elite societies that had groomed generations of the most powerful men in the world and ranked on top of the inflexible hierarchy at Harvard. Mark, with less of an interest in what the campus alpha males thought of him, happened to be a computer genius of the first order. Which he used to find a more direct route to social stardom: one lonely night, Mark hacked into the university's computer system, creating a ratable database of all the female students on campus...In that moment, in his Harvard dorm room, the framework for Facebook was born...The Accidental Billionaires is a compulsively readable story of innocence lost - and of the unusual creation of a company that has revolutionized the way hundreds of millions of people relate to one another." - Amazon.

American Adultererby Jed Mercurio. S&S Books. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...fictionalized, but well-researched account of how JFK conducted himself while president." Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (30 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99.
"Startlingly empathetic, darkly witty and deft, American Adulterer is a moving account of a man not only crippled by back pain, but enduring numerous medical crises, a man overcoming constant suffering to serve as a highly effective Commander-in-Chief, committed to a heroically idealistic vision of America. But each affair propels him into increasingly murky waters. President Kennedy fears losing the wife and children to whom he's devoted and the office to which he's dedicated. This is a stunning portrait of a virtuous man enslaved by an uncontrollable vice and a novel that poses controversial questions about society's evolving fixation on the private lives of public officials and, ultimately, ignites a polemic on monogamy, marriage and family values." - Amazon.

The Wedding Girlby Madeleine Wickham. Thomas Dunne Books. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Sophie Kinsella hides behind the pen name Madeleine Wickham this time around, but her lighthearted tone and penchant for ditzy, flawed female characters are plain to see." Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99.
"At the age of eighteen, in that first golden Oxford summer, Milly was up for anything. Rupert and his American lover, Allan, were an important part of her new, exciting life, so when Rupert suggested to her that she and Allan should get married to keep Allan in the country, Milly didn’t hesitate.
Ten years later, Milly is a very different person and engaged to Simon - who is wealthy, serious, and believes her to be perfect...To have and to hold takes on a whole new meaning when one bride’s past catches up with her and bring the present crashing down." - Amazon.

In the Heart of the Canyonby Elizabeth Hyde. Knopf. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...there's nothing predictable about either Hyde's plot or her searing conclusion." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $14.27.
"...a gripping new novel about a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon that changes the lives of everyone on board. Meet Peter, twenty-seven, single, and looking for a quick hookup; Evelyn, a fifty-year-old Harvard professor; and Ruth and Lloyd, river veterans in their seventies. There’s Mitchell, an overeager history buff with no qualms about unstaging the guides with his knowledge. There’s Jill from Salt Lake City, wanting desperately to spark some sense of adventure in her staid Mormon family; and seventeen-year-old Amy, so woefully overweight that she can barely fit into a pup tent, let alone into a life jacket...Over the next thirteen days, as various decisions are second-guessed and sometimes regretted, both passengers and guides find that sometimes the most daunting adventures on a Colorado River trip have nothing to do with white-water rapids..." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Hyde's earlier novel Crazy As Chocolate.

Rain Godsby James Lee Burke. S&S Books. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Terrific dialogue and a filigreed plot..."marred only by a mystical turn of events on the very last page." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $14.29.
"...a tale replete with colorful prose and epic confrontations in his second novel to feature smalltown Texas sheriff Hackberry Holland... An anonymous phone call leads Holland, a Korean vet who survived a POW camp, to the massacre and burial site of nine Thai women, a crime that brings FBI and ICE...officials running. As a slew of bad guys relocated from New Orleans after Katrina grapple for advantage in new territory, mercurial killer Preacher Jack Collins finds plenty of work. Pete Flores, a possible witness to the massacre, and his girlfriend are targeted by Collins for elimination, and by the FBI for bait. Holland must protect the hapless Flores and his girl from both. Three strong female characters complement the full roster of sharply drawn lowlifes. The battle of wills and wits between Holland and Collins delivers everything Burke's fans expect." - Publishers Weekly.
$9.99 or less alternative: Burke's 2007 David Robicheaux novel Pegasus Descending.

Kindle E-Books on the Cheap: A Weekly Selection (15 Jul 09)

16 Jul 09 Update: Two additional free titles on Amazon:

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #2: Skybornby John Jackson Miller. Del Rey. SCIENCE FICTION. Download site: Amazon. Format: AZW. Price: FREE.
This follow-up to Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #1: Precipicewill be released on July 21 and is now available for pre-order. More info on Skyborn at Starwars.com, but beware of spoilers if you haven't read book one.

Free by Chris Anderson. Hyperion. NONFICTION. Download site: Amazon. Format: AZW. Price: FREE.
"...makes the compelling case that in many instances businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them... a business strategy that may well be essential to a company's survival. ...explains different models for unleashing the power of Free; and shows how to compete when your competitors are giving away what you're trying to sell." - Amazon.

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Once you've purchased an Amazon Kindle e-book reader, the wonderful world of public domain, Creative Commons and free e-book promotions opens up to you. In this weekly Kindle Reader feature, I point you to a few of the most interesting new free (or very cheap) e-books available for download from the web.

Free e-book selections for this week include a practical guide for the self-motivated learner, a sci-fi novel about a robot called Snookums, an Arthur Conan Doyle wannabee, a sci-fi/horror short story, and a novel written one tweet at a time.

Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar: How Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion Can Lead to a Lifetime of Successby James Marcus Bach. NONFICTION. Download site: Amazon. Format: AZW. Price: FREE.
"Like so many young people, James Bach, the son of the famous author Richard Bach, struggled in school. While he excelled in the subjects that interested him - learning As in physics and calculus - he barely passed the courses that didn't. By the time he was sixteen, he dropped out. He taught himself computer programming and software design and started working as a manager at Apple Computers only four years later - and he never looked back. With The Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar, James shows us how he developed his own education on his own terms, how that unorthodox education brought him success, and how the reader can do it too...." - Amazon.

Unwise Child by Gordon Randall Garrett. SCIENCE FICTION. Download site: Manybooks. Format: AZW. Price: FREE.
"When a super-robot named Snookums discovers how to build his own superbombs, it becomes obvious that Earth is by no means the safest place for him to be. And so Dr. Fitzhugh, his designer, and Leda Crannon, a child psychologist acting as Snookums’ nursemaid, agree to set up Operation Brainchild, a plan to transport the robot to a far distant planet." - Manybooks.net.

Ashton-Kirk, Investigator by John T. McIntyre. MYSTERY. Download site: Manybooks. Format: AZW. Price: FREE.
"Those who have found their way to Ashton-Kirk's door have been of many races and interests. Men of science have often been surprised to find him in touch with the latest discoveries, scholars searching among strange tongues and dialects, and others deep in tattered scrolls, ancient tablets and forgotten books have been his frequent visitors. But among them come many who seek his help in solving problems in crime." - Manybooks.net. See interesting essay about Ashton-Kirk at the always entertaining blog Redeeming Qualities.

There Will Be School Tomorrow by V. E. Thiessen. SHORT STORY/SCIENCE FICTION/HORROR. Download site: Manybooks. Format: AZW. Price: FREE.
"You will possibly shudder, but you will certainly remember for a long time, this story of what happens when Tomorrow's gently implacable teachers are faced with a problem for which there seems to be only one solution." - Manybooks.net.

Eating Grass by Small Stories. NOVEL (TWOVEL?). Download site: Feedbooks. Format: Mobipocket/Kindle. Price: FREE.
"A Twitter novel written one tweet at a time. A story about love, alienation and extraordinary powers."


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Kindle Genre Watch (13 Jul 09)

Genre fiction - as opposed to nonfiction, graphic novels and picture books - lends itself to enjoyable Kindle reading because when you pick up a book of fiction you don't necessarily expect it to be illustrated. Authors of mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, romance novels and westerns paint word pictures and their readers use their own imagination to picture the scene of the crime or the stare of a vampire or the track of an alien space craft hurtling towards earth.

Now you can spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Storeso you don't have to. Recent genre fiction releases include:

FANTASY

Mark of the Demonby Diana Rowland. Bantam. Kindle edition $6.39.
"Why me? Why now? That’s what Beaulac, Louisiana, detective Kara Gillian was asking herself when an angelic creature named Rhyzkahl unexpectedly appeared during a routine summoning. Kara was hoping to use her occult skills to catch a serial killer, but never had she conjured anything like this unearthly beautiful and unspeakably powerful being whose very touch set off exquisite new dimensions of pleasure. But can she enlist his aid in helping her stop a killer who’s already claimed the lives—and souls—of thirteen people?...Kara may be the only cop on Beaulac’s small force able to stop the killer, but it is her first homicide case. Yet with Rhyzkahl haunting her dreams, and a handsome yet disapproving FBI agent dogging her waking footsteps, she may be in way over her head..." - from the paperback edition.

City of Souls by Vicki Pettersson. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99. This is book four of the author's Signs of the Zodiac series. The earlier volumes (in order) are The Scent of Shadows,The Taste of Night,and The Touch of Twilight.
"Joanna Archer, Agent of Light, has survived a violent initiation into the paranormal world lurking behind the seedy seams of Las Vegas. She's found a home, friends, and even the chance for a new life and love. But evil never rests, and to save her beloved city, and herself, Joanna must venture into a new world hidden among the shadows, one where the line between good and evil is barely visible, every agent is a rogue - and each breath could be her last." -vickipettersson.com.

Preyby Rachel Vincent. Mira. Kindle edition $5.76. This is book four of the Faythe Sanders series. The earlier volumes (in order) are Stray,Rogue and Pride.
"Sometimes playing cat and mouse is no game… Play? Right. My Pride is under fire from all sides, my father's authority is in question and my lover is in exile. Which means I haven't laid eyes on Marc's gorgeous face in months. And with a new mother and an I-know-everything teenager under my protection, I don't exactly have time to fantasize about ever seeing him again. Then our long-awaited reunion is ruined by a vicious ambush by strays. Now our group is under attack, Marc is missing and I will need every bit of skill and smarts to keep my family from being torn apart. Forever." - Amazon.

Naamah's Kissby Jacqueline Carey. Grand Central Publishing. Kindle edition $14.84. This is the 7th volumes in Carey's Kushielseries.
"Once there were great magicians born to the Maghuin Dhonn; the folk of the Brown Bear, the oldest tribe in Alba. But generations ago, the greatest of them all broke a sacred oath sworn in the name of all his people. Now, only small gifts remain to them. Through her lineage, Moirin possesses such gifts - the ability to summon the twilight and conceal herself, and the skill to coax plants to grow...After Moirin undergoes the rites of adulthood, she finds divine acceptance...on the condition that she fulfill an unknown destiny that lies somewhere beyond the ocean. Or perhaps oceans. Beyond Terre d'Ange where she finds her father, in the far reaches of distant Ch'in, Moirin's skills are a true gift when facing the vengeful plans of an ambitious mage, a noble warrior princess desperate to save her father's throne, and the spirit of a celestial dragon." - Amazon.

Darkness Callsby Marjorie M. Liu. Ace. Kindle edition $6.39.
"Nomad born and bred, demon hunter Maxine Kiss has always relied upon herself to fight the darkness that surrounds her, the predators - human, zombie, and otherwise - who threaten the earth. But one man has penetrated her lonely life: Grant, the last of his kind... And now his life is in danger. Haunted by the past, determined to change the future, Maxine soon understands that to save Grant, she has only one choice - to lose control, and release her own powers of darkness..." - marjoriemliu.com.


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MYSTERIES/THRILLERS

Apostle by Brad Thor. Atria. Kindle edition $14.57.
"A new administration and a new approach to dealing with America's enemies have left covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath without a job. But when American doctor Julia Gallo is kidnapped in Afghanistan, the terms of her ransom leave the president with only one course of action. In a dangerous assignment that the United States government will deny any knowledge of, Scot Harvath must secretly infiltrate Kabul's notorious Policharki Prison and free the man the kidnappers demand as ransom - al-Qaeda mastermind, Mustafa Khan. But when Harvath arrives, he quickly learns that there is more to the kidnapping than anyone dares to admit..." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Thor's first Scot Harvath thriller The Lions of Lucerne

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich. St. Martin's Press. Kindle edition $15.37.
"Recipe for disaster: Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head - literally...Stephanie Plum is working overtime tracking felons for the bonds office at night and snooping for security expert Carlos Manoso, A.K.A. Ranger, during the day. Can Stephanie hunt down two killers, a traitor, five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, solve Ranger's problems and not jump his bones? So good you'll want seconds." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Eleven of Evanovich's earlier Stephan Plummysteries are priced under $9.99.

Deadly Intentby Lynda La Plante. An Anna Travis mystery. TF Ebooks. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Ruthless drug trafficker Alexander Fitzpatrick is one of the most wanted men in the Western Hemisphere. But for ten years, there's been no sign of him. Is he dead, or just trying to appear that way? When an ex-colleague from the murder squad is found shot in a dank drug den, Anna Travis is pulled into the case. She's grateful for the distraction after her breakup with DCI Langton and soon finds herself involved with someone new. But as the bodies pile up and the mystery deepens, Travis and Langton must put aside their personal history and work together to track down one of the canniest criminals they've ever encountered." - Amazon.

Swimsuitby James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. Kindle edition $15.11.
"A breathtakingly beautiful supermodel disappears from a swimsuit photo shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. Only hours after she goes missing, Kim McDaniels's parents receive a terrifying phone call. Fearing the worst, they board the first flight to Maui and begin the hunt for their daughter.
Ex-cop Ben Hawkins, now a reporter for the L.A. Times, gets the McDaniels assignment. The ineptitude of the local police force defies belief - Ben has to start his own investigation for Kim McDaniels to have a prayer. And for Ben to have the story of his life. All the while, the killer sets the stage for his next production..." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Patterson's earlier thriller 1st to Die- if you haven't already read it.

ROMANCE

Black Hillsby author. Publisher, Date. Amazon customer rating: Kindle edition $9.99.
"...Nora Roberts takes us deep into the rugged Black Hills of South Dakota, where the shadows keep secrets, hunters stalk the land, and a childhood friendship matures into an adult passion. A summer at his grandparents' South Dakota ranch is not eleven-year-old Cooper Sullivan's idea of a good time. But things are a bit more bearable now that he's discovered the neighbor girl, Lil Chance, and her homemade batting cage...Each year, with Coop's annual summer visit, their friendship deepens from innocent games to stolen kisses, but there is one shared experience that will forever haunt them: the terrifying discovery of a hiker's body. As the seasons change and the years roll, Lil stays steadfast to her dreams of becoming a wildlife biologist and protecting her family land, while Coop struggles with his father's demand that he attend law school and join the family firm. Twelve years after they last walked together hand in hand, fate has brought them back to the Black Hills when the people and things they hold most dear need them most...now they must work together to unearth a killer of twisted and unnatural instincts who has singled them out as prey." - Amazon.

Burn by Linda Howard. Ballantine Books. Kindle edition $9.95.
"Money certainly changes Jenner Redwine’s life when she wins a lottery jackpot. But it also costs her plenty: Her father rips her off and disappears, her fortune-hunting boyfriend soon becomes her ex, and friends-turned-freeloaders give her the cold shoulder when she stops paying for everything. Flush with new money, Jenner can’t imagine ever finding a place in the world of the wealthy. Seven years later, though, she’s rubbing elbows with the rich, despite the fact she still feels like a party crasher. Luckily she finds an ally–and a guide to the rarefied realm of privilege–in shy, kind-hearted heiress Sydney Hazlett, who quickly becomes Jenner’s confidante and surrogate sister. When Sydney invites Jenner on a charity cruise aboard a luxury liner, Jenner reluctantly agrees. But while she’s expecting–and dreading–two weeks of masquerade balls, art auctions, and preening glitterati, what she gets is more like a Hitchcock movie than a Love Boat episode. Taken hostage by a menacing stranger, Jenner must cooperate in a mysterious cloak-and-dagger scheme - or else." - Amazon.

What Happens in London by Julia Quinn. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $6.39.
"When Olivia Bevelstoke is told that her new neighbor may have killed his fiancé, she doesn't believe it for a second, but, still, how can she help spying on him, just to be sure? So she stakes out a spot near her bedroom window, cleverly concealed by curtains, watches, and waits...and discovers a most intriguing man, who is definitely up to something. Sir Harry Valentine works for the boring branch of the War Office, translating documents vital to national security. He's not a spy, but he's had all the training, and when a gorgeous blonde begins to watch him from her window, he is instantly suspicious. But just when he decides that she's nothing more than an annoyingly nosy debutante, he discovers that she might be engaged to a foreign prince, who might be plotting against England. And when Harry is roped into spying on Olivia, he discovers that he might be falling for her himself." - Amazon.

Return to Sullivans Island by Dorothea Benton. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.95.
"...Newly graduated from college and an aspiring writer, Beth Hayes craves independence and has a world to conquer. But her notions of travel, graduate study, and writing the great American novel will have to be postponed. With her mother, Susan, leaving to fulfill her own dreams in Paris and her Aunt Maggie, Uncle Grant, and stepfather, Simon, moving to California, Beth is elected by her elders to house-sit the Island Gamble...Buoyed by sentimental memories of growing up on this tiny sandbar that seems to be untouched by time, Beth vows to give herself over to the Lowcountry force and discover the wisdom it holds. She will rest, rejuvenate, and then reenter the outside world. Just as she vows she will never give into the delusional world of white picket fences, minivans, and eternal love, she meets Max Mitchell. And all her convictions and plans begin to unravel with lightning speed..." - Amazon.

Straight from the Hipby Susan Mallery. HQN. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Izzy has always been the fearless Titan sister. But when an oil rig blows up, leaving her barely able to see, her sisters find themselves as concerned by her emotional withdrawal as by the possibility that the explosion was no accident. Are the mind games their long-lost brother Garth has been playing turning physical? Or is someone else out to get them? When her sisters enroll her in a survivor training camp, Izzy is not happy. Nick, her instructor, is determined that she won't be left in the dark. In more ways than one. But if he tells her the terrible truth behind why he's helping her, he'll never see her again..." - Amazon.

Loving A Lost Lordby Mary Jo Putney. Zebra. Kindle edition $4.76.
"...In early 19th-century northern England, Mariah Clarke inherits beautiful Hartley Manor. George Burke, Hartley's former owner, claims that Mariah's father won the estate by cheating at cards and attempts to regain it by courting Mariah, who recklessly claims she's already married. When she rescues an amnesiac man from the sea, she sees her chance to make the lie true..." - Publishers Weekly.

Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $5.59.
"Spunky English girl overcomes impossible odds and outsmarts heathen villains. That's the headline when Zoe Lexham returns to England. After twelve years in the exotic east, she's shockingly adept in the sensual arts. She knows everything a young lady shouldn't and nothing she ought to know. She's a walking scandal, with no hope of a future...unless someone can civilize her. Lucien de Grey, the Duke of Marchmont, is no knight in shining armor. He's cynical, easily bored, and dangerous to women. He charms, seduces, and leaves them - with parting gifts of expensive jewelry to dry their tears. But good looks, combined with money and rank, makes him welcome everywhere. The most popular bachelor in the Beau Monde can easily save Zoe's risqué reputation...if the wayward beauty doesn't lead him into temptation..." - Amazon.

Rapture: The Shadowdwellersby Jacquelyn Frank. Zebra. Kindle edition $9.99. This is book two of the Shadowdwellers series, following Ecstasy: The Shadowdwellers.
"Magnus is a man of contradictions - a spiritual leader in a warrior's body. To him, laws are for enforcing and visions must be followed - even if that means freeing a beautiful slave and making her his reluctant handmaiden...Daenaira grew up hearing tales of a fearsome priest who seemed more myth than reality. But Magnus is very real - every inch of him - and so is the treachery surrounding them. Beneath Sanctuary's calm surface, an enemy is scheming to unleash havoc on the Shadowdwellers, unless Magnus trusts in a union ordained by fate, and sealed by unending bliss..." - Amazon.

The School for Heiresses: Wed Him Before You Bed Him by Sabrina Jeffries. Pocket Ebooks. Kindle edition $7.99.
"At eighteen, Charlotte Page made a life-altering mistake. She wronged a man in an impulsive act that she came to deeply regret, though it led her to her present life as Mrs. Charlotte Harris, owner of Mrs. Harris’s School for Young Ladies. Unbeknownst to her, that man is now her anonymous benefactor, the mysterious “Cousin Michael.” His masquerade began as preparation for a devastating revenge, but soon became a labor of love. Now Charlotte desperately needs his help. Can he save her from disaster as his real self without revealing the ugly secret behind his charade?... -sabrinajeffries.com.

Bending the Rulesby Susan Andersen. HQN. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Tall, dark and intense, Detective Jason de Sanges excites all kinds of fantasies in Poppy Calloway. But when she suggests the three teens caught spray-painting a Seattle neighborhood be given art-related community service and he just wants to see them pay - all bets are off. With the men in his family always in and out of the slammer, Jase was raised in foster care. He knows what it takes to walk the line. And his number one self-imposed rule? Avoid his hunger for sexy, irresistible Poppy, who challenges him on everything. But it's a vow that's getting harder and harder to keep..." - Amazon.

Branded by Fireby Nalini Singh. Berkley. Kindle edition $6.39. Book six in the paranormal romance series Psy-Changelings.
"When a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped, DarkRiver sentinel Mercy, a cat, and SnowDancer lieutenant Riley, a wolf, must work together to track the young man-before his shadowy captors decide he's no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it'll leave them both branded by fire. - Publishers Weekly.

SCIENCE FICTION

Wirelessby Charles Stross. Ace. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Prolific novelist Stross pauses to collect short stories that have not (yet) been stitched up into his longer work. Stories that...demonstrate Stross's ability to crisscross genres, blending SF, fantasy, horror and espionage. He also pays homage to his literary forebears, combining Lovecraft and the Iran-Contra scandal... and bringing in Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould as characters..." - Publishers Weekly.

Winter Dutyby E. E. Knight. ROC. Kindle edition $9.99. This is book eight in Knight's Vampire Earth series. The first volume in the series is Way of The Wolf(2003), followed by Choice of the Cat(2004), Tale of the Thunderbolt(2005), Valentine's Rising(2005. Paper edition only), Valentine's Exile(2006),Valentine's Resolve,(2007) and Fall with Honor (2008).
"The tense eighth installment of Knight's Vampire Earth series...continues David Valentine's adventures in 2076 as the invading Kurian Order decides to exterminate rebellious Earthlings. The Southern Command authorizes Valentine to wage a guerrilla war with the goal of creating a Kentucky freehold. His ragtag battalion (including some controversial Quisling and alien Grog recruits) must deal first with a power plant outage that blacks out Evansville and Owensboro and then a blizzard and the Kurians' plot to unleash a ravies epidemic on the human herd..." - Publishers Weekly.

The New Space Opera 2edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan. HarperCollins. $9.99.
"...19 new stories that show how far space opera has come since its pulp beginnings in the '30s and '40s. These entertaining and provocative tales of interstellar adventure, written by a laundry list of genre heavyweights, range from Mike Resnick's Catastrophe Baker and a Canticle for Leibowitz, a campy misadventure that follows a larger-than-life freelance hero on his quest to regain a musical theater producer's lost song, to John Meaney's From the Heart, set in his Nulapeiron universe, which revolves around spy Carl Blackstone and an unlikely - and surprisingly poignant - love story at the galactic core..." - Publishers Weekly.

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century Americaby Robert Charles Wilson. Tor. Kindle edition $14.27.
"In the reign of President Deklan Comstock, a reborn United States is struggling back to prosperity. Over a century after the Efflorescence of Oil, after the Fall of the Cities, after the Plague of Infertility, after the False Tribulation, after the days of the Pious Presidents, the sixty stars and thirteen stripes wave from the plains of Athabaska to the national capital in New York City. In Colorado Springs, the Dominion sees to the nation’s spiritual needs. In Labrador, the Army wages war on the Dutch. America, unified, is rising once again. Then out of Labrador come tales of a new Ajax - Captain Commongold, the Youthful Hero of the Saguenay. The ordinary people follow his adventures in the popular press. The Army adores him. The President is ... troubled. Especially when the dashing Captain turns out to be his nephew Julian, son of the falsely accused and executed Bryce...As told by Julian’s best friend and faithful companion, a rustic yet observant lad from the west, this tale of the 22nd Century asks - and answers - the age-old question: 'Do you want to tell the truth, or do you want to tell a story?'" - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Wilson's Blind Lake.

WESTERNS

The Town Council Meetingby J. R. Roberts. (The Gunsmith 332). Jove. Kindle edition $4.79.
"In Cannon City, Wyoming, Clint Adams is playing poker with a lawyer, the judge, and the mayor when he's accused of murdering a ranch owner. And with twenty angry ranch hands waiting for a verdict, it just might be the Gunsmith's last hand." - Amazon.

Waco's Badgeby J. T. Edson. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99.
"In wide-open Arizona, outlaws run rampant, since the authority of the local marshal ends at his town's borders. A different breed of peace officer is needed, and rancher Bentram Mosehan has accepted the responsibility of organizing a new Arizona State Police force. He's looking for men who are brave, honest, and lightning fast with a six-gun - talents that a drifter named Waco and his amigo, Doc Leroy, possess in abundance. But the two young Texans remember all too well their run-ins with the Lone Star law, and the last thing Waco and Doc want is to wear a badge..." - Amazon.

.45-Caliber Widow Makerby Peter Brandvold. Berkley. Kindle edition $4.79.
"Cuno Massey is determined to start a new, peaceful life. But when he comes across a prison wagon under attack, he can't just ride on. A gang of outlaws is hell-bent on granting four hardened convicts an early release, and with two other lawmen down, the marshal is badly outnumbered. Dispensing frontier justice from the barrel of his Colt .45, Cuno does his best to even the odds and keep the murderous animals where they belong..." - Amazon.

The Big Huntby J. T. Edson. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $5.99.
"For years, there have been none better at the trade than buffalo-skin hunter Kerry Barran. But he's taken part in too much killing of beast and man alike and now he wants to lay down his gun for good. But the hunter's got powerful enemies in Otley Creek and a partner who's unhappy about Kerry's refusal to finish one more job. If teaching the stubborn loner a lesson means breaking his bones, then so be it. In a town owned by his adversaries with a ruthless gang of toughs on his tail Kerry Barran's going to need all the help he can muster. And he's found it in the most unlikely quarters: with a dapper English dude and his sister...with a Texas gunslinger...and with a whip-wielding hellcat who goes by the name Calamity." - Amazon.

A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 10 Jul 09

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the July 10th issue include:

A Monster's Notesby Laurie Sheck. Knopf. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...brainy, lyrical first novel...thrilling feat of literary scholarship, beautiful wordsmithing and deep empathy." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $16.50.
"What if Mary Shelley had not invented Frankenstein’s monster but had met him when she was a girl of eight, sitting by her mother’s grave, and he came to her unbidden? What if their secret bond left her forever changed, obsessed with the strange being whom she had discovered at a time of need? What if he were still alive in the twenty-first century?
This bold, genre-defying book brings us the “monster” in his own words...In the course of the monster’s musings, we also see Mary Shelley’s life from her childhood through her elopement with Percy Bysshe Shelley, her writing of Frankenstein, the births and deaths of her children, Shelley’s famous drowning, her widowhood, her subsequent travels and life’s work, and finally her death from a brain tumor at age fifty-four. The monster’s fierce bond with Mary and the tale of how he ended up in her fiction is a haunted, intense love story, a story of two beings who can never forget each other..." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: The novel that created the monster - Frankenstein- is available free for the Kindle on Amazon.

Strangersby Anita Brookner. Random House. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...keen insights on the emotional toll of a painful past..." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $14.30.
"Paul Sturgis is resigned to his bachelorhood and the quietude of his London flat. He occasionally pays obliging visits to his nearest living relative, Helena, his cousin’s widow and a doyenne of decorum who, like Paul, bears a tacit loneliness. To avoid the impolite complications of turning down Helena’s Christmas invitation, Paul sets off for a holiday in Venice, where he meets Mrs. Vicky Gardner. Younger than Paul by several decades, the intriguing and lovely woman is in the midst of a divorce and at a crossroads in her life. Upon his return to England, a former girlfriend, Sarah, reenters Paul’s life. These two women reroute Paul’s introspections and spark a transformation within him." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: About Schmidtby Louis Begley.

Best Friends Foreverby Jennifer Weiner. Atria. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $14.84.
"Some bonds can never be broken...Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat. Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents' house in their small hometown of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She's just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat..." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Weiner's earlier Good in Bed.

Obsessionby Gloria Vanderbilt. HarperCollins. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Quick, someone shield Anderson Cooper's eyes!." Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99.
"...a passionate, sensual, witty, and puzzling tale of erotic obsession, beauty, and revenge, told in tandem by two women obsessed with the same man - and, ultimately, with each other. Talbot Bingham is a renowned architectural genius who, with his formidable wife, Priscilla, creates an architectural community. When he dies unexpectedly in the middle of their tenth wedding anniversary celebration, the devastated Priscilla is left keeper of the flame of Talbot's genius. Going through her husband's archives, she comes unexpectedly upon a pile of neatly tied letters, and the shocking secret of her husband's intimate life - a discovery that shatters the foundation of her soul and spirit..." - Amazon.


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The Kindle Revisits Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld

The info in my August 2008 post about Kelley Armstrong is woefully out-of-date so let's revisit this author known primarily for her paranormal fantasy Women of the Otherworld, a gripping character-driven series portraying a parallel world of otherworldly beings who blend invisibly into today's society. Armstrong and one of her most popular characters are now twittering as @KelleyArmstrong and @ElenaMichaels respectively.

All volumes in the Otherworld series are now available in Kindle editions:

1. BITTEN
My favorite Women of the Otherworld character - featured prominently in Bitten, Stolen and Broken - is Elena Michaels, a Canadian journalist who struggles with a new identity after being bitten and turned into a werewolf by her lover. "It's not easy to find a fresh angle for the werewolf theme, but this debut novel from a Canadian writer proves that solid storytelling and confident craftsmanship can rejuvenate one of the hoariest of all horror cliches. Elena Michaels is a self-described 'mutt,' a werewolf who left her secretive pack in upstate New York for a life among humans. In the year since she relocated to Toronto, she's embarked on a career as a journalist and begun a pleasingly mundane relationship with a decent man. All this is jeopardized when she agrees to help her old packmates hunt some troublesome mutts who are converting common criminals to werewolves and leaving a trail of conspicuous carnage. An impressive debut thriller...Kelley Armstrong is very good on the sheer exhilaration of shape-changing, of running on four feet through forests, suburban greenery and urban back alleys." - Amazon.

2. STOLEN
"It was in Bitten, Kelley Armstrong’s debut novel, that thirty-year-old Elena Michaels came to terms with her feral appetites and claimed the proud identity of a beautiful, successful woman—and the only living female werewolf. In Stolen, on a mission for her own elite pack, she is lured into the net of ruthless Internet billionaire Tyrone Winsloe, who has funded a bogus scientific investigation of the 'other races' and their supernatural powers. Kidnapped and studied in his underground lab deep in the Maine woods, these paranormals—witches, vampires, shamans, werewolves—are then released and hunted to the death in a real-world video game. But when Winsloe captures Elena, he finally meets his match." - Amazon.

3. DIME STORE MAGIC
"A convincing small-town setting, clever contemporary dialogue, compelling characterizations and a touch of cool humor .... This story’s special strength lies in its seamless incorporation of the supernatural into the real world." - Publishers Weekly

4. INDUSTRIAL MAGIC
"Set in a supernatural but credible underworld of industrial baron sorcerers and psychologically crippled witches, the fourth novel in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series ...follows young renegade witch Paige Winterbourne as she pitches a group of uptight business-suited witches to join her alternative coven, which she claims will re-empower the new generation. It's a task made nearly impossible by Paige's romantic association with sorcerer/lawyer Lucas Cortez; in Armstrong's world, witches and sorcerers are bitter enemies. Lucas aims to bring down the mafia-like cabal to which he's heir apparent, but this goal and Paige's are put on the back burner when someone starts murdering the children of rival cabal leaders...As in the author's first book..., breakneck action is tempered by deep psychological insights, intense sensuality and considerable humor." - Publishers Weekly.

5. HAUNTED
"Eve Levine — half-demon, black witch and devoted mother — has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can’t be killed again — which comes in handy when you’ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn’t too bad — all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she’ll be happy. But fate — or more exactly, the Fates — have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they’ve just called it in." - Amazon.

6. BROKEN
"In this thrilling new novel from the author of Industrial Magic, a pregnant werewolf may have unwittingly unleashed Jack the Ripper on twenty-first-century—and become his next target. Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough—only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers—unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs." - Amazon.

7. NO HUMANS INVOLVED
"Readers around the world have fallen for Kelley Armstrong’s intoxicating, sensual and wicked tales of the paranormal, in which demons and witches, werewolves and vampires collide – often hilariously, sometimes violently – with everyday life. In Armstrong’s first six novels, Elena, Paige and Eve have had their way with us. Now get ready for Jaime Vegas, the luscious, lovelorn and haunted necromancer. . ." - Amazon.

8. PERSONAL DEMON
"A page-turning thriller. Fans of the paranormal will delight in the eighth Women of the Underworld yarn, with its ass-kicking, Bollywoodbeautiful, former-socialite heroine and full complement of sorcerers, witches, werewolves, and other paranormal beings." - Booklist.

9. LIVING WITH THE DEAD
"Bestseller Armstrong's newest will be greeted with warm enthusiasm by fans awaiting the return of the half-demon Hope Adams and her werewolf boyfriend, Karl Marsten. Hope's friend Robyn is mourning the recent murder of her good Samaritan husband, Damon, and trying to tolerate her job as a PR representative for Portia Kane, a tabloid celebutante. But when Portia is shot and Robyn becomes the prime suspect, she flees, only to find herself inexplicably in the middle of the supernatural world Hope has been trying to shield her from. Stalked by a psychopathic clairvoyant and tracked by the cop, John Findley, who happens to see dead people, Robyn is way out of her league." - Publishers Weekly.

Frostbitten, book ten of the Otherworld series, is slated for publication on September 29, 2009 and is available for pre-orderin hardcover now. No info yet on whether it will be available for the Kindle on that date.

If, like so many others, you become caught up in Armstrong's alternative world, be sure to visit her website where you'll find discussion forums, a book club, contests and a free newsletter.


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Kindle Has a New Oberon Cover and It's Heavenly

When I purchased my first Kindle, I was happy with the Amazon cover - until the hinge broke. Looking for a replacement, I discovered the striking covers made by Oberon Design, but baulked at the $75 price, opting to purchase the less expensive - and quite excellent - M-edgeExecutive jacket.

When I bought the Kindle 2, I once again started looking for a cover. By this time I saw the Kindle as pretty much a constant companion worthy of a beautiful jacket so I looked at the Oberon covers once again and was immediately overwhelmed with choices - some nineteen different designs for Kindle 2.

My ideal Kindle cover would have a personal "bookish" connotation, so I looked for a design with a literary connection and the Roof of Heaven design immediately caught my eye. For the History of English Literature class I took in my undergraduate years, the professor required everyone in the class to memorize selected passages from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English. The Roof of Heaven cover reminded me of a medieval woodcut, with the figure in the lower left hand edge reminiscent of one of the Canterbury pilgrims. So, although The Raven cover, with its Edgar Allen Poe association, tempted me sorely, I decided to go with the Roof of Heaven.

After I'd placed my order for the design, the good folks at Oberon pointed me to some background information about the Roof of Heaven. It seems the design is actually from a wood engraving of uncertain origin known as the Flammarion woodcut. It first appeared in Camille Flammarion's 1888 book L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire. The caption in Flammarion’s book reads in part, 'What, then, is this blue sky, which certainly does exist, and which veils from us the stars during the day? ... And yet this dome does not exist. In a balloon, I myself have risen higher than where the Greek gods were supposed to live without getting to this point, which of course disappears at the same rate in which we approach it."

Oberon Kindle covers are hand made in Santa Rosa, California from custom tanned, deep tooled leather. The covers are securely held on either by three leather corners and a mini bungee cord or by a velcro closing (your choice). Each cover features a hand cast cover pewter button that harmonizes with the cover's design. A wool felt pad protects the Kindle screen and there are 2 side pockets for papers as well as smaller pockets.

There is one feature I like in my M-Edge Executive cover that is absent on the Oberon. Both covers have a pocket for a small Moleskinenotebook, but the M-edge also has a pencil loop for storing a mechanical pencil. Aside from that one slight inconvenience, the Oberon Kindle cover is everything I hoped it would be. In spite of the rich wrap-around tooling, it is not bulky and doesn't feel any heavier than the Amazon Kindle cover. It's easy to read with the cover folded back and the Kindle is held securely with the three leather corners and small bungee cord.

So, after a couple of days of use, I seem to be hooked on Oberon products and am saving up now for their gorgeous Tree of Life journal.

If you haven't seen the Oberon designs, check out their Kindle 1 and Kindle 2 covers. If you already have one, I'd be interested in which design you chose and why .