Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (31 Jan 10)

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and open their pocketbooks. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (02 FEB 10):
I'm Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen - My Journey Home, by Shoshana Johnson. Touchstone. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In March of 2003, when Operation Iraqi Freedom was only days old, world headlines were made when a U.S. army convoy was attacked in the city of An-Nasiriyah en route to Baghdad. Several soldiers were killed and others were taken prisoner. Jessica Lynch became the face and name associated with this tragedy, but another female soldier, Shoshana Johnson, was also wounded and captured in the ambush. A video of Shoshana being interrogated by her captors was soon broadcast on Spanish-language television and then picked up by American media. Shoshana had become the first black female prisoner of war in United States history. She was held for twenty-two days. ... I'm Still Standing is the never-before-told and much anticipated story of the headline-making ambush, capture, and rescue described with the exceptional bravery and candor of a single mom and soldier who became an American hero." - www.simonandschuster.biz/

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (03 FEB 10):
Side by Side: The Revolutionary Mother-Daughter Program for Conflict-Free Communication, by Dr. Charles Sopy, with Brown Kogen. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"As a clinical psychiatrist for the past twenty years Dr. Charles Sophy has treated both infamous young celebrities in Beverly Hills as well as foster children from all walks of life in the Los Angeles County child welfare system. Now, with his first book, he presents a concrete strategy to improve communication between mothers and daughters, the most tension-fraught, precarious family dynamic of all. Dr. Sophy introduces a revolutionary new communication approach called the Chair Strategy. Through a series of exercises, guided conversations, journaling and real-world stories this book takes the mother-daughter relationship, regardless of where it falls on the spectrum of healthy, and guides it toward a new level of understanding and love." - Amazon.

ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE COLBERT REPORT (10 FEB 10):
Voodoo Histories The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History , by David Aaronovitch. Riverhead. Kindle edition $14.82. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Our age is obsessed by the idea of conspiracy. We see it everywhere- from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, from the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana. In this age of terrorism we live in, the role of conspiracy is a serious one, one that can fuel radical or fringe elements to violence. In this entertaining and enlightening book - aimed at providing ammunition for those who have found themselves at the wrong end of a conversation about moon landings or the twin towers - Aaronovitch carefully probes and explodes a dozen of the major conspiracy theories. In doing so, he examines why people believe them, and makes an argument for a true skepticism: one based on a thorough knowledge of history and a strong dose of common sense." - Amazon.

ON NPR'S DIANE REHM SHOW (14 FEB 10):
The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason and the Laws of Nature, by Timothy Ferris. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"A sweeping intellectual history, The Science of Liberty is a stunningly original work that transcends the antiquated concepts of left and right...a passionate case for science as the inspiration behind the rise of liberalism and democracy. Ferris argues that just as the scientific revolution rescued billions from poverty, fear, hunger, and disease, the Enlightenment values it inspired has swelled the number of persons living in free and democratic societies from less than 1 percent of the world population four centuries ago to more than a third today. Ferris deftly investigates the evolution of these scientific and political revolutions, demonstrating that they are inextricably bound. He shows how science was integral to the American Revolution but misinterpreted in the French Revolution; reflects on the history of liberalism, stressing its widely underestimated and mutually beneficial relationship with science; and surveys the forces that have opposed science and liberalism - from communism and fascism to postmodernism and Islamic fundamentalism." - Amazon.

A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 29 Jan 10

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the January 29th issue include:

Bloodroot, by Army Greene. Knopf. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Some novels are so powerful, so magical in their sweep and voice, that they leave you felling drugged...Bloodroot...is such a book.". Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (22 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Named for a flower whose blood-red sap possesses the power both to heal and poison, Bloodroot is a stunning fiction debut about the legacies - of magic and madness, faith and secrets, passion and loss - that haunt one family across the generations, from the Great Depression to today. The novel is told in a kaleidoscope of seamlessly woven voices and centers around an incendiary romance that consumes everyone in its path: Myra Lamb, a wild young girl with mysterious, haint blue eyes who grows up on remote Bloodroot Mountain; her grandmother Byrdie Lamb, who protects Myra fiercely and passes down 'the touch' that bewitches people and animals alike; the neighbor boy who longs for Myra yet is destined never to have her; the twin children Myra is forced to abandon but who never forget their mother’s deep love; and John Odom, the man who tries to tame Myra and meets with shocking, violent disaster. Against the backdrop of a beautiful but often unforgiving country, these lives come together - only to be torn apart - as a dark, riveting mystery unfolds." - from the hardcover edition.

Devotion, by Dani Shapiro. HarperCollins. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "Flashes of humor and insight...but they seldom touch a deeper truth." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In her mid-forties and settled into the responsibilities and routines of adulthood, Dani Shapiro found herself with more questions than answers... Having grown up in a deeply religious and traditional family, Shapiro had no personal sense of faith, despite repeated attempts to create a connection to something greater. Feeling as if she was plunging headlong into what Carl Jung termed 'the afternoon of life,' she wrestled with self-doubt and a searing disquietude that would awaken her in the middle of the night. Set adrift by loss-her father's early death; the life-threatening illness of her infant son; her troubled relationship with her mother-she had become edgy and uncertain. At the heart of this anxiety, she realized, was a challenge: What did she believe? Spurred on by the big questions her young son began to raise, Shapiro embarked upon a surprisingly joyful quest to find meaning in a constantly changing world... In this spiritual detective story, Shapiro explores the varieties of experience she has pursued - from the rituals of her black hat Orthodox Jewish relatives to yoga shalas and meditation retreats... Her journey is at once poignant and funny, intensely personal-and completely universal." - Amazon.


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Kindle E-Books on the Cheap: A Weekly Selection (27 Jan 2009)

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. This regular Kindle Reader feature points you to a few of the most interesting new free (or very cheap) e-books available for download from the web.

Frugal e-book selections for this week include old-time pulp fiction featuring Dr. Nikola, criminal mastermind, A.E.W. Mason's epic war saga The Four Feathers, science fiction from Harry Harrison and William W. Stuart, a brace of classic whodunits and a collection of literary essays.

The Adventures of Dr. Nikola, Criminal Mastermind, by Guy Newell Boothby. MYSTERY. Download site: Amazon. Format: Kindle. Price: $0.99.
"This collection of 5 novels, features the 'anti-hero' Dr Nikola, a master of 'occult powers,' seeking immortality and world domination. Dr Nikola was a master criminal. Charming and genial in person, Nikola was gifted with great intelligence. He was also incredibly strong and a master of disguise. A potent mesmerist, he is capable of hypnotising the strongest mind, and can fool people into seeing anything he wants. He has created a variety of mutant creatures which do his bidding." - Amazon. Included: A Bid for Fortune, Dr. Nikola Returns, The Lust of Hate, Dr. Nikola's Experiment and Farewell, Nikola.
The first Dr. Nikola book (A Bid for Fortune, or Dr. Nikola's Vendetta) is available as a free download from Manybooks.net.

The Four Feathers, by A.E.W. Mason. NOVEL. Download site: MobileRead. Format: Kindle (.prc). Price: Free.
In 1898 Sudan, Harry Faversham, a British officer, resigns his post right before a battle against rebels, prompting his fiancée and three friends to give him four white feathers - a symbol of cowardice. To redeem himself, Faversham embarks on an even more daring mission as an undercover operative behind enemy lines. The Four Feathers was brought to the screen five times between 1915 and 2002, with the latest version starring Heath Ledger as Faversham and Kate Hudson as his fiancée.

The Real Hard Sell, by William W. Stuart. SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY. Download site: Manybooks. Format: Kindle (.azw). Price: Free.
"Naturally human work was more creative, more inspiring, more important than robot drudgery. Naturally it was the most important task in all the world ... or was it?" - Manybooks.

The Ethical Engineer, by Harry Harrison. SCIENCE FICTION. Download site: Feedbooks. Format: Mobipocket/Kindle. Price: Free.
"That mores is strictly a matter of local custom cannot be denied. But that ethics is pure opinion also? Maybe there are times for murder, and theft and slavery..." - Feedbooks.

If you can't get enough of Harry Harrison, consider The Harry Harrison Collection: Nine Novels and Short Stories for $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle Bookstore. Includes The Ethical Engineer (part of Deathworld) plus Planet of the Damned, Arm of the Law, The K-Factor, The Misplaces Battleship, Navy Day, The Repairman, Toy Shop and The Velvet Glove.

Murder at Bridge: A Mystery Novel, by Ann Austiin. MYSTERY. Download site: ManyBooks. Format: Kindle (.prc). Price: Free.
"Special Investigator Bonnie Dundee digs into the mystery of the 'death hand' dealt in a game of Bridge, while the inhabitants of the small town of Hamilton joke about being the dummy for fear of being murdered..." - ManyBooks.

At the Villa Rose, by A.E.W. Mason. MYSTERY. Download site: Amazon. Format: Kindle. Price: Free.
Alfred Edward Woodley Mason, otherwise known as A. E. W. Mason, was born in England in 1865. He wrote more than twenty books, including the much-filmed novel The Four Feathers for which he is best known in the U.S. He died in 1948. In this mystery a gruesome murder takes place at a country house. Another case for Mason's sleuth Inspector Hannaud. But will he catch the culprit?

By-Ways in Book-Land: Short Essays on Literary Subjects, by William Davenport Adams. ESSAYS. Download site: Manybooks. Format: Kindle ).azw). Price: Free.
"In the following pages, the writer for the most part deals with small subjects in an unelaborate manner. He leaves the highways of literature, and strays into the fields and lanes, picking here a flower and there a leaf, and not going far at any time." Originally published in 1888. Twenty-eight essays including Paper-Knife Pleasures, Shakespeare's England, Don Quixote in England, Bedside Books, English Epigraphs, The Outsides of Books, Nonsense Verses, etc.


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Kindle Genre Watch: Sci-Fi, Romance & Western Fiction (25 Jan 10)

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.

Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Recent genre fiction releases in sci-fi, romance and western fiction include:

SCIENCE FICTION

Hangfire by David Sherman and Dan Cragg. Del Rey. Book 6 in the military science fiction series StarFist which began with First to Fight. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Six agents have died hideously trying to penetrate the crime families behind a vast empire of pleasure and debauchery. Now it's up to the Marines to break the circle. Most people will visit Havanagas only in their dreams, for few can afford the exclusive resort planet that recreates ancient worlds and caters to every taste. Witches are burned at the stake in medieval towns while riotous hordes fill Rome's Coliseum to watch gladiators battle. Even the basest of human lusts are satiated by deadly sex acts and a thriving slave trade. The crime bosses' control of Havanagas and its people is brutally effective. Now three Marines from Co. L's 3rd Platoon - masquerading as discharged military buddies on holiday - are going in to break the kingpins' bloody stranglehold. From bordellos and rebellious enclaves to the very pit of the Coliseum filled with deadly beasts, Corporal Pasquin and Lance Corporals Claypoole and Dean face certain death with only their wits and skills as weapons. But they're Marines, built to survive..." - from the paperback edition.

Additional web resources for Starfist readers:
Starfist Forum: a forum for fans of the Starfist Universe.
Wikipedia article on the series.

ROMANCE

Sizzle by Julie Garwood. Ballantine Books. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Lyra Prescott, a Los Angeles film student, is closing in on graduation and facing important decisions about her future. After she unwittingly captures a shocking crime on camera, a rash of mysterious, treacherous incidents convince Lyra that she's trapped in a sinister scenario headed for a violent ending. Running scared, she turns to her best friend, Sidney Buchanan, whose connections bring dauntless and devilishly handsome FBI agent Sam Kincaid into Lyra's life. As the noose of deadly intrigue tightens and the feelings between them deepen, Lyra and Sam must place their faith in each other's hands..." - Amazon.

The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries. Pocket. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In the two decades since a tragic 'accident' took the lives of his parents, Oliver Sharpe, the Marquess of Stoneville, has survived the scandal surrounding that fateful night by living as an unrepentant rakehell. And with his grandmother vowing to disinherit him if he doesn't settle down and wed, he plans to fulfill the bargain in true Sharpe style - by bringing home a fake fiancée from a brothel! But his scheme is derailed when he rescues an American beauty in a dire predicament instead. Maria Butterfield came to London to track down her groom-to-be, who's gone missing, but her engagement won't stop Oliver from getting what he wants: her, in his bed. His rebellious masquerade may call his grandmother's bluff , but it's soon made all too real - by a love that tempts him to be a hellion no more." - Amazon.

Bitten by Cupid by Lynsay Sands, Pamela Palmer, and Jaime Rush. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $5.59. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
Three novellas with a Valentine's Day twist:

Vampire Valentine by Lynsay Sands
Mirabeau LaRouche knew she had a job to do, but she never expected her assignment to take her through New York City′s dark, dank underground-in her bridesmaid gown, no less! And when her partner turns out to be mortal private investigator Tiny McGraw, Mireabeau knows it′s no ordinary Cupid′s arrow that has struck her heart this Valentine′s Day.

Hearts Untamed by Pamela Palmer
Ten years ago Zeeland left D.C. to join the Therian Guard, needing to put some distance between himself and the still-too-young Julianne. Now he′s returned, in the midst of a Valentine's celebration to find Julianne more beautiful than ever, still angry at him for leaving, and up to her lovely eyebrows in an intrigue that threatens both of their immortal lives.

Kiss and Kill Cupid by Jamie Rush
Kat Morgan has no use for Valentine′s Day, since hearing other people′s thoughts puts a real damper on any kind of intimate relationship. When she overhears the Killer Cupid serial killer targeting her for his Valentine′s Day murder, Kat is terrified. But is Adrian, the one man whose thoughts she can′t hear, her savior, or killer? - www.harpercollins.com.


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WESTERNS

Border Snakes by Peter Brandvold. Book five in the Rogue Lawman series. Berkley. Kindle edition $4.79. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Hawk's been asked to find a merciless gang leader called Knife-Hand. One of his hands has been replaced with a Mojave axe. But Hawk has something mightier in his artillery - a personal vendetta."

Kindle Genre Watch: Fantasy & Mystery Fiction (22 Jan 10)

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.

Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Recent genre fiction releases in fantasy and mystery fiction include:

FANTASY

Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. Book 4 in The Wheel of Time series which began with The Eye of the World. Tor Books. Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"As the power of the Dark One grows stronger, Rand al'Thor and his friends face greater challenges in their war against the Shadow. From the halls of Tar Valon, where the Aes Sedai mystics discover agents of darkness in their own ranks, to the Aiel Waste, where a hidden city holds secrets forbidden to all but a few, Rand and his companions seek to fulfill the destiny laid out for them. ... Complex plotting, an array of strong characters, lavish detail, and a panoramic scope..." - Library Journal.

Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw. Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Strange things are happening on the remote and snowbound archipelago of St. Hauda's Land. Unusual winged creatures flit around the icy bogland, albino animals hide themselves in the snow-glazed woods, and Ida Maclaird is slowly turning into glass. Ida is an outsider in these parts, a mainlander who has visited the islands only once before. Yet during that one fateful visit the glass transformation began to take hold, and now she has returned in search of a cure. Midas Crook is a young loner who has lived on the islands his entire life. When he meets Ida, something about her sad, defiant spirit pierces his emotional defenses. As Midas helps Ida come to terms with her affliction, she gradually unpicks the knots of his heart. Love must be paid in precious hours and, as the glass encroaches, time is slipping away fast..." - Amazon.

Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett. Orbit. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...a pulpy, Great Depression horror story where a mysterious killer 'trails death behind him.' After his daughter is brutally murdered, a revenge-seeking Marcus Connelly leaves Memphis on a hunt across America's hobo camps and ghost towns for the grotesquely scarred, ghostly figure known as 'Mr. Shivers.' On his quest Connelly teams up with a scrappy band of hobos recovering from their own brushes with 'the gray man,' and the body count increases as they ride the rails tracking their target. Connelly's spiraling bloodlust begins to rival Shivers's, threatening to take more than just his family and friends away from him. Sprinkled with hobo folklore, Bennett's supernatural dust storm of a debut offers a killer premise and may remind readers of vintage Stephen King." - Brad Thomas Parsons.

Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson. Book 9 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen which began with Gardens of the Moon. Tor Books. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"On the Letherii continent the exiled Malazan army commanded by Adjunct Tavore begins its march into the eastern Wastelands, to fight for an unknown cause against an enemy it has never seen. The fate awaiting the Bonehunters is one no soldier can prepare for, and one no mortal soul can withstand - the foe is uncertainty and the only weapon worth wielding is stubborn courage. In war everyone loses, and this brutal truth can be found in the eyes of every soldier in every world. Destinies are never simple. Truths are neither clear nor sharp....as the last great army of the Malazan Empire seeks a final battle in the name of redemption. Final questions remain to be answered: can one's deeds be heroic when no one is there to see it? Can that which is unwitnessed forever change the world? The answers await the Bonehunters, beyond the Wastelands." - Amazon.

Iorich by Steven Brust. Book 12 in the Vlad Taltos series which began with Jhereg. Tor Books. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"House Jhereg, Dragaera's organized crime syndicate, is still hunting Vlad Taltos. There's a big price on his head on Draegara City. Then he hears disturbing news. Aliera - longtime friend, sometime ally - has been arrested by the Empire on a charge of practicing elder sorcery, a capital crime. It doesn't make sense. Everybody knows Aliera's been dabbling in elder sorcery for ages. Why is the Empire down on her now? Why aren't her powerful friends - Morrolan, Sethra, the Empress Zerika - coming to her rescue? And most to the point, why has she utterly refused to do anything about her own defense? It would be idiotic of Vlad to jump into this situation. He's a former Jhereg who betrayed the House. He's an Easterner - small, weak, short-lived. He's being searched for by the most remorseless killers in the world. Naturally, that's exactly why he's going to get completely involved..." - Amazon.

MYSTERY

Software by the Kilo by Larry Ketchersid. JoSara MeDia. Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Jason and Kenny needed investors for their startup company but when Italian drug smuggler Roberto Campioni makes them an offer they can’t refuse, they get more help than they bargain for: the Feds and Interpol are watching, the smuggler’s cartel created in violence during World War II is crumbling, and Roberto’s henchmen, even with their love of Clint Eastwood movies, aren’t the type of corporate advisers the pair dreamed of." - Amazon.

Kisser by Stuart Woods. Putnam. Kindle edition $12.61. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Stone Barrington is back in New York, and after a rather harrowing sojourn in Key West, he's looking to stay closer to home and work on some simple divorce and custody cases for Woodman & Weld. But when he crosses paths with a fetching Broadway actress - and sometime lip model - Stone gets a little more deeply involved with business than he'd expected. When his new lady love turns out to be a lady with a shady past, Stone and downtown cop Dino Bacchetti realize that her beauty may have an unusually high price..." - Amazon.
Less expensive alternative: New York Dead, the first of Woods' novels featuring police detective Stone Barrington.

Treasure Hunt by John Lescroart. Dutton. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Mickey Dade hates deskwork, but that's all he's been doing at Wyatt Hunt's private investigative service, The Hunt Club. His itch to be active is answered when a body is discovered: It's Dominic Como, one of San Francisco's most high-profile activists-a charismatic man known as much for his expensive suits as his work on a half dozen nonprofit boards. One 'person of interest' in the case is Como's business associate, Alicia Thorpe-young, gorgeous, and the sister of one of Mickey's friends. As Mickey and Hunt are pulled into the case, they soon learn that the city's golden fundraiser was involved in some highly suspect deals. And the lovely Alicia knows more about this - and more about Como - than she's letting on." - Amazon.

The First Rule by Robert Crais. Putnam. Kindle edition $11.25. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Frank Meyer had the American dream - until the day a professional crew invaded his home and murdered everyone inside. The only thing out of the ordinary about Meyer was that - before the family and the business and the normal life-a younger Frank Meyer had worked as a professional mercenary, with a man named Joe Pike. The police think Meyer was hiding something very bad, but Pike does not. With the help of Cole, he sets out on a hunt of his own - an investigation that quickly entangles them both in a web of ancient grudges, blood ties, blackmail, vengeance, double crosses, and cutthroat criminality, and at the heart of it, an act so terrible even Pike and Cole have no way to measure it. Sometimes, the past is never dead. It's not even past." - Amazon.
Less expensive alternative: The Watchman, the first Joe Pike novel.

Dying Gasp: A Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation by Leighton Gage. Soho Crime. Kindle edition $9.99. Please note that through February 5, 2010, if you purchase this book, will be automatically receive a free download of Gage's first Chief Inspector Mario Silva thriller, Blood of the Wicked. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Chief Insp. Mario Silva does battle with not only criminals but also incompetence and corruption within the Brazilian bureaucracy in Gage's darkly violent third mystery to feature the wry, competent Silva (after 2009's Buried Strangers). The case of a missing teenage girl normally wouldn't involve the Brazilian Federal Police, unless the girl, Marta Malan, is the granddaughter of Deputado Roberto Malan, a powerful politician. Marta's disappearance is tied to a kidnapping and to a vile but lucrative international trade in underage girls, prostitution, and the making and distribution of snuff films. The trail leads to Manaus—the worst city in Brazil for crooked cops, poverty, and crime. While Marta, resourceful and brave, tries to avoid her fate, Silva and his small team of top cops try to ferret out her whereabouts before it's too late. Ruthless when necessary and under no illusions about the broken system within which he works, Silva is the right man in the right place." - Publishers Weekly.


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A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly (22 Jan 10)

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the January 22nd issue include:


I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay, by John Lanchester. Simon & Schuster. BUSINESS. EW's slant: "...combining prodigious research and reporting with his storytelling gift...elegantly crafted little book - equal parts history, economic primer, and social commentary - that manages to be, by turns, acidic, frightening, and sharply funny." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Part economic primer, part fiscal and historical analysis, New Yorker and London Review of Books contributor John Lanchester offers his brilliantly witty, succinct overview of the current financial crisis. For most people, the reasons for the sudden collapse of our economy remain obscure. I.O.U. is the story of how we came to experience such a complete and devastating financial implosion, and how the decisions and actions of a select group of individuals had profound consequences for America, Europe, and the global economy overall... Weaving together firsthand research and superbly written reportage, Lanchester delivers a shrewd perspective and a digestible, comprehensive analysis that connects the dots for the expert and casual reader alike." - books.simonandschuster.com/

The Unnamed, by Joshua Ferris. Little, Brown and Company. NOVEL. EW's slant: "The premise...is intriguing...but in the end, too much of The Unnamed feels like a rushed second draft rather than a fully integrated and polished novel." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Tim Farnsworth is a handsome, healthy man, aging with the grace of a matinee idol. His wife Jane still loves him, and for all its quiet trials, their marriage is still stronger than most. Despite long hours at the office, he remains passionate about his work, and his partnership at a prestigious Manhattan law firm means that the work he does is important. And, even as his daughter Becka retreats behind her guitar, her dreadlocks and her puppy fat, he offers her every one of a father's honest lies about her being the most beautiful girl in the world. He loves his wife, his family, his work, his home. He loves his kitchen. And then one day he stands up and walks out. And keeps walking." - Amazon.

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. Harper Collins. POLITICAL HISTORY. EW's slant: "What makes their book different from others, and such a riveting read, is the depth of their material - some of it obtained the old-fashioned way, through dogged investigative reporting..." Amazon customer rating: 2 1/2 stars (225 reviews). Kindle edition $8.61 (pre-order only). Please note that publication of the Kindle edition has been delayed by the publisher until February 23 and disgruntled Kindle readers are protesting with negative reviews of the book on Amazon. The hardcover edition is available now. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton - and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told... In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns... Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story... a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: The Battle for America 2008, by Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson.

Treasure Hunt, by John Lescroart. Dutton. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...the real star here is San Francisco in all its social and political complexity, which serves as more than a mere backdrop for the mystery." Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Mickey Dade hates deskwork, but that's all he's been doing at Wyatt Hunt's private investigative service, The Hunt Club. His itch to be active is answered when a body is discovered: It's Dominic Como, one of San Francisco's most high-profile activists - a charismatic man known as much for his expensive suits as his work on a half dozen nonprofit boards. One 'person of interest' in the case is Como's business associate, Alicia Thorpe-young, gorgeous, and the sister of one of Mickey's friends. As Mickey and Hunt are pulled into the case, they soon learn that the city's golden fundraiser was involved in some highly suspect deals. And the lovely Alicia knows more about this - and more about Como - than she's letting on." - Amazon.

Where the God of Love Hangs Out, by Amy Bloom. Random House. SHORT STORIES. EW's slant: "...she'll make you believe you didn't just read these stories but lived them." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"A young woman is haunted by her roommate's murder; a man and his daughter-in-law confess their sins in the unlikeliest of places. In one quartet of interlocking stories, two middle-aged friends, married to others, find themselves surprisingly drawn to each other, risking all while never underestimating the cost. In another linked set of stories, we follow mother and son for thirty years as their small and uncertain family becomes an irresistible tribe. Insightful, sensuous, and heartbreaking, these stories of passion and disappointment, life and death, capture deep human truths." - Amazon.

Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, by Kate Braestrup. Little, Brown and Company. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "...a meditation on love and marriage [not] as immediately compelling as her previous subjects, the death of a spouse and the healing power of faith." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"As a minister, Kate Braestrup regularly performs weddings. She has also, at 44, been married twice and widowed once, and accordingly has much to say about life after the ceremony. From helping a newlywed couple make amends after their first fight to preparing herself for her second marriage, Braestrup offers her insights and experiences on what it truly means to share your life with someone, from the first kiss to the last straw, for better or for worse. Part memoir, part observation of modern marriage, and part meditation on the roles of God and love in our everyday lives..." - Amazon.

Noah's Compass, by Anne Tyler. Knopf. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Tyler's beautiful storytelling restraint, usually so rewarding, is unfulfilling here." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (22 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Liam Pennywell is a man of unexceptional talents, plain demeanor, modest means and curtailed ambition. At age 60, he's been fired from his teaching job at a second-rate private boys' school in Baltimore, a job below his academic training and original expectations. An unsentimental, noncontemplative survivor of two failed marriages and the emotionally detached father of three grown daughters, Liam is jolted into alarm after he's attacked in his apartment and loses all memory of the experience. His search to recover those lost hours leads him into an uneasy exploration of his disappointing life and into an unlikely new relationship with Eunice, a socially inept walking fashion disaster who is half his age..." - Publishers Weekly.


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Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (18 Jan 10)

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and open their pocketbooks. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

ON NBC'S MEET THE PRESS (17 JAN 10):
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. Harper Collins. Kindle edition $8.61 (pre-order only). Please note that publication of the Kindle edition has been delayed by the publisher until February 23. The hardcover edition is available now. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton - and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told... In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns... Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story... a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime." - Amazon.


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ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE DAILY SHOW (19 JAN 10):
Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility, by David M. Walker. Random House. Kindle edition $13.69. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"He's one of America's most capable, canny, candid, and independent financial experts. Now David M. Walker sounds a call to action [in] a tough-minded, innovative, inspiring guide to help us avoid the approaching economic abyss and put the country back on track again. As comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) - "the nation's top auditor" - Walker warned Congress and the administration as the federal surplus became a giant deficit under George W. Bush. As president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, he now works full-time to raise public awareness regarding mounting debt burdens being imposed on future generations. Comeback America is his crucial manifesto, a way for President Obama to end out-of-control government spending and reform our tax, retirement, health care, defense, and other systems—before it's too late. The book includes bold ideas to control spending, save Social Security, dramatically alter Medicare, and simplify the tax code - all taking into account the Obama Administration's current efforts, which receive never-before-published assessments both complimentary and critical." - from the hardcover edition.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (20 JAN 10):
The Happiness Project Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun , by Gretchen Rubin. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. 'The days are long, but the years are short,' she realized. 'Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter.' In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was..." - Amazon.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (20 JAN 10):
Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences, by Jeffery Long. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...firsthand accounts of people who have died and lived to tell about it. Through their work at the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, radiation oncologist Jeffrey Long and his wife, Jody, have gathered thousands of accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) from all over the world. In addition to sharing the personal narrative of their experiences, visitors to the website are asked to fill out a one hundred-item questionnaire designed to isolate specific elements of the experience and to flag counterfeit accounts. The website has become the largest NDE research database in the world, containing over 1,600 NDE accounts. ...Using this treasure trove of data, Dr. Long explains how medical evidence fails to explain these reports and why there is only one plausible explanation..." - Amazon.

ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE COLBERT REPORT (25 JAN 10):
Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America, by Kati Marton. Simon & Schuster. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In this true-life thriller, Kati Marton, an accomplished journalist, exposes the cruel mechanics of the Communist Terror State, using the secret police files on her journalist parents as well as dozens of interviews that reveal how her family was spied on and betrayed by friends and colleagues, and even their children's babysitter... Marton relates her eyewitness account of her mother's and father's arrests in Cold War Budapest and the terrible separation that followed. She describes the pain her parents endured in prison - isolated from each other and their children. She reveals the secret war between Washington and Moscow, in which Marton and her family were pawns in a much larger game. By the acclaimed author of The Great Escape, Enemies of the People is a tour de force, an important work of history as it was lived, a narrative of multiple betrayals on both sides of the Cold War that ends with triumph and a new beginning in America." - Amazon.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (25 JAN 10):
I Am Ozzy, by Ozzy Osbourne. Grand Central Publishing. Kindle edition $14.20. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Any Prince of Darkness worthy of the title might expect a life of mild struggle, and much of it he has already shared with us. Anything left for an autobiography? Happily, yes, some of it pathetic and maudlin, much grimly entertaining. We laugh at him, but he doesn't mind; Osbourne abandoned any attempt at dignity long ago, plumping for what-me-worry survival in the face of diversity. His life was soap years before MTV began documenting it, a place where biting the heads off animals and quad bike calamities seem a gentle diversion in an everyday saga of raising erratic children (seven in all) and four decades of rasping his satanic metal. His ghostwriter has faithfully captured his voice (Osbourne has many talents, prose stylist probably not among them), and some of his anecdotes you will want to recite to anyone passing." - Simon Garfield in The Observer.

History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle (16 Jan 10)

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 Tales, Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, and 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 Store so you don't have to. New on the historical fiction shelves:

Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler. Penguin. TIME FRAME: 19th century England. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (16 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"The year is 1846. In a cold parsonage on the gloomy Yorkshire moors, a family seems cursed with disaster. A mother and two children dead. A father sick, without fortune, and hardened by the loss of his two most beloved family members. A son destroyed by alcohol and opiates. And three strong, intelligent young women, reduced to poverty and spinsterhood, with nothing to save them from their fate. Nothing, that is, except their remarkable literary talent. So unfolds the story of the Brontë sisters. At its center are Charlotte and the writing of Jane Eyre. Delicately unraveling the connections between one of fiction's most indelible heroines and the remarkable woman who created her, Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre will appeal to fans of historical fiction and, of course, the millions of readers who adore Jane Eyre." - Amazon.

Sunflowers: A Novel of Vincent van Gogh by Sheramy Bundrick. HarperCollins. TIME FRAME: 19th century France. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"'I'd heard about him but had never seen him, the foreigner with the funny name who wandered the countryside painting pictures.' From a talented new author comes a poignant and haunting novel of creation and desire, passion and madness, art and love. A young prostitute seeking temporary refuge from the brothel, Rachel awakens in a beautiful garden in Arles to discover she is being sketched by a red-haired man in a yellow straw hat. This is no ordinary artist but the eccentric painter Vincent van Gogh - and their meeting marks the beginning of a remarkable relationship. He arrives at their first assignation at No. 1, Rue du Bout d'Arles, with a bouquet of wildflowers and a request to paint her-and before long, a deep, intense attachment grows between Rachel and the gifted, tormented soul. But the sanctuary Rachel seeks from her own troubled past cannot be found here, for demons war within Vincent's heart and mind." - Amazon.

The Honor of Spies by W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV. Putnam. Book 5 in the Honor Bound series. TIME FRAME: Argentina in the 1940s. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $14.18. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
August 6, 1943: In his brief career in the Office of Strategic Services, twenty-four-year-old Cletus Frade has already been involved in a lot of unusual situations, but nothing like the one he’s in now, standing with a German lieutenant colonel named Wilhelm Frogger in a Mississippi prisoner-of-war detention facility. Frade’s job? To help Frogger escape. Frogger’s parents are in Frade’s custody in Argentina, because of their involvement in a secret German plan to establish safe havens for senior Nazi officials in South America, and the younger Frogger has agreed to help find out what they know. Even more important, however, is the secret within the secret. Before he was captured in Africa, Frogger was part of a conspiracy; its goal: to assassinate Adolf Hitler. If the OSS can use his knowledge and connections to nudge that plot along, even just a little bit— they may be able to end this war right now. But Frade is not the only one who knows about the Froggers. Even as he stands there in Mississippi, a troop of Germans and Argentinians, led by a Colonel Juan Perón, is on its way to kill the parents and, after them, Frade himself." - Amazon.
Less expensive alternative: Honor Bound, the first book in the series.

The Queen's Dollmaker by Christine Trent. Kensington Books. TIME FRAME: 18th century France during the time of the French Revolution. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.60. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"On the brink of revolution, with a tide of hate turned against the decadent royal court, France is in turmoil - as is the life of one young woman forced to leave her beloved Paris. After a fire destroys her home and family, Claudette Laurent is struggling to survive in London. But one precious gift remains: her talent for creating exquisite dolls that Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France herself, cherishes. When the Queen requests a meeting, Claudette seizes the opportunity to promote her business, and to return home. Amid the violence and unrest, Claudette befriends the Queen, who bears no resemblance to the figurehead rapidly becoming the scapegoat of the Revolution. But when Claudette herself is lured into a web of deadly political intrigue, it becomes clear that friendship with France's most despised woman has grim consequences. Now, overshadowed by the specter of Madame Guillotine, the Queen's dollmaker will face the ultimate test." - Amazon.

The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig. This is the sixth stand-alone book in the author's Pink Carnation series. Dutton. TIME FRAME: 19th century India. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $13.65. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Everyone warned Miss Penelope Deveraux that her unruly behavior would land her in disgrace someday. She never imagined she's be whisked off to India to give the scandal of her hasty marriage time to die down. As Lady Frederick Staines, Penelope plunges into the treacherous waters of the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, where no one is quite what they seem - even her husband. In a strange country, where elaborate court dress masks even more elaborate intrigues and a dangerous spy called the Marigold leaves venomous cobras as his calling card, there is only one person Penelope can trust. Captain Alex Reid has better things to do than play nursemaid to a pair of aristocrats. Or so he thinks - until Lady Frederick Staines out-shoots, out-rides, and out-swims every man in the camp. She also has an uncanny ability to draw out the deadly plans of the Marigold and put herself in harm's way..." - Amazon.
Less expensive alternative: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, the first book in the series.

A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 15 Jan 10

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the January 15th issue include:


Remarkable Creatures, by Tracy Chevalier. Dutton. HISTORICAL FICTION. EW's slant: "In many ways...as moving a story as Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring [but] ...scientific asides... punctuate the narrative so frequently that the story never truly flows." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (21 reviews). Kindle edition $14.18. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"From the moment she's struck by lightening as a baby, it is clear that Mary Anning is marked for greatness. On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, she learns that she has 'the eye' - and finds what no one else can see. When Mary uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious fathers on edge, the townspeople to vicious gossip, and the scientific world alight. In an arena dominated by men, however, Mary is barred from the academic community; as a young woman with unusual interests she is suspected of sinful behavior. Nature is a threat, throwing bitter, cold storms and landslips at her. And when she falls in love, it is with an impossible man.Luckily, Mary finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot, a recent exile from London, who also loves scouring the beaches. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy. Ultimately, in the struggle to be recognized in the wider world, Mary and Elizabeth discover that friendship is their greatest ally. Remarkable Creatures is a stunning novel of how one woman's gift transcends class and social prejudice to lead to some of the most important discoveries of the nineteenth century. Above all, is it a revealing portrait of the intricate and resilient nature of female friendship." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Girl with the Pearl Earring, Chevalier's first novel.

The Swan Thieves, by Elizabeth Kostova. Little, Brown and Company. NOVEL. EW's slant: "The novel's most intriguing moments take place in the past...but the only person who springs fully alive from these pages is the dead woman." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $8.79 during the pre-order period. $9.99 thereafter. Please note that the publisher of this book, to their discredit, is delaying the Kindle edition of this book until 3 full months after the release of the hardcover edition. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love. THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Kostova's The Historian.


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Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (12 Jan 10)

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and open their pocketbooks. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

ON OPRAH (13 JAN 2010):
Committed, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Viking. Kindle edition $12.15. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love
, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous horrific divorces. Enough said.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government, which-after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing-gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again. Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving into this topic completely, trying with all her might to discover through historical research, interviews, and much personal reflection what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is." - Amazon.

ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (13 JAN 10):
So Stressed: The Ultimate Stress-Relief Plan for Women, by Stephanie McClellan and Beth Hamilton. Free Press. Kindle edition $14.30. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The realization that stress was the most common cause of all the different symptoms and ailments that their patients were coming to them for was a eureka moment for internationally renowned OB-GYN physicians Stephanie McClellan and Beth Hamilton. To find out how stress could be the root cause of diseases as disparate as chronic pain, gynecological disorders and depression, asthma and metabolic disorders, Drs. McClellan and Hamilton embarked on a unique medical quest to find the latest discoveries emerging around the world in the science of stress and put them all together in treatments to help their patients now. Their urgent mission took them to the leading researchers at the best medical centers around the world, where they learned the exciting findings that they reveal in this fascinating new approach to women's health..." - Amazon.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (13 JAN 10):
The IntenSati Method: Seven Secret Principles to Thinner Peace, by Patricia Moreno. Simon Spotlight Entertainment. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Renowned fitness expert Patricia Moreno has created a revolutionary mind/body fitness program so powerful, it's changing bodies and lives everywhere. Her philosophy behind IntenSati goes light-years beyond the traditional grinding workouts that get us nowhere fast and usually leave us discouraged and unmotivated. When your mind creates positive emotion during a physical workout, you actually change your body's chemistry, enabling you to not only shed the pounds but gain clarity and purpose. IntenSati fuses empowering affirmations and positive psychology with groundbreaking exercises drawn from dance, yoga, martial arts, aerobics, and strength training..." - Amazon.


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ON ABC'S THE VIEW (15 JAN 10):
The Rhythm of Success: How an Immigrant Produced His Own American Dream, by Emilio Estefan. Celebra. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Emilio Estefan - husband to singer Gloria Estefan and founder of the Latin pop legend Miami Sound Machine - is the embodiment of the American dream. He came to the United States as a Cuban refugee and went on to become a 19-time GRAMMY(r)-winning producer and develop an evergreen business with investments in real estate, entertainment, hotels, and restaurants. Emilio succeeded on his own terms, and now...he shares his guiding principles that readers will need to start and grow their own business or climb higher on the corporate ladder. Here Emilio imparts the basics needed for readers to identify their values, believe in their ideas, and establish their own plans for success." - Amazon.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (20 JAN 2010):
The Happiness Project Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun , by Gretchen Rubin. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. 'The days are long, but the years are short,' she realized. 'Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter.' In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was..." - Amazon.

Kindle Genre Watch: Sci-Fi, Romance & Western Fiction (10 Jan 10)

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.

Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Recent genre fiction releases in sci-fi, romance and western fiction include:

SCIENCE FICTION

Catalyst: A Tale of the Barque Cats by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and Anne Mccaffrey. Del Rey. Kindle edition $14.30. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Pilot, navigator, engineer, doctor, scientist - ship's cat? All are essential to the well-staffed space vessel. Since the early days of interstellar travel, when Tuxedo Thomas, a Maine coon cat, showed what a cat could do for a ship and its crew, the so-called Barque Cats have become highly prized crew members. Thomas's carefully bred progeny, ably assisted by humans - Cat Persons - with whom they share a deep and loving bond, now travel the galaxy, responsible for keeping spacecraft free of vermin, for alerting human crews to potential environmental hazards, and for acting as morale officers. Even among Barque Cats, Chessie is something special. Her pedigree, skills, and intelligence, as well as the close rapport she has with her human, Janina, make her the most valuable crew member aboard the Molly Daise. And the litter of kittens in her belly only adds to her value. Then the unthinkable happens. Chessie is kidnapped—er, catnapped—from Dr. Jared Vlast's vet clinic at Hood Station by a grizzled spacer named Carl Poindexter..." - hardcover edition.

Starbound by Joe Haldeman. Ace. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Carmen Dula and her husband have spent six years travelling to a distant solar system that is home to the enigmatic, powerful race known as 'The Others,' in the hopes of finding enough common purpose between their species to forge a delicate truce. By the time Carmen and her party return, fifty years have been consumed by relativity - and the Earthlings have not been idle, building a massive flotilla of warships to defend Earth against The Others. But The Others have more power than any could imagine - and they will brook no insolence from the upstart human race." - Amazon.

Star Trek: Mirror Universe. The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack. Star Trek. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Armed with a secret weapon of terrifying power and a vision of the alternate universe's noble Federation, Spock seizes control of the Terran Empire and commits it to the greatest gamble in its history: democratic reform. Rivals within the empire try to stop him; enemies outside unite to destroy it.
Only a few people suspect the shocking truth: Spock is knowingly arranging his empire's downfall..." - Amazon.

The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn. Tor. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Frank Compton used to be an agent for the security forces of Earth, but that was a piece of cake compared to what he’s had to deal with working for the aliens who run the Quadrail, an interstellar transportation system connecting a dozen civilizations across the galaxy. He’s been trying to end the domination of an alien lifeform called the Modhri. This enormously powerful creature wants to rule the galaxy by controlling the thoughts of all its citizens. It does so by having parts of itself 'infect' others on contact, and act as agents for it without them being aware they’re being manipulated. When Frank and his assistant Bayta journey to investigate a connection between the Modhri and the Filiaelians, they come up against a conspiracy on the Quadrail. Passengers are being murdered..." - us.macmillan.com/


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ROMANCE

How I Met My Countess by Elizabeth Boyle. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $4.79. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The Earl of Clifton intended one day to find the perfect countess - then he met Lucy. The improper daughter of an infamous spy, Lucy Ellyson saved Clifton's life and taught him everything he needed to know about serving his country - even how to fall in love. He vowed he would come back and make her his unlikely countess, but the war kept them apart for too long, and when he finally returned, she'd vanished. Lucy hadn't gone far-living a new life in the heart of Mayfair. But proper Society hasn't taught her how to mend her scandalous ways, and when Clifton happens upon her, she's landed in the sort of trouble that only a hasty marriage can solve. He's more than willing to be the hero she taught him to be and make her his countess, but all too quickly, secrets from their past threaten the passionate love that ignites them both..." - Amazon.

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky. Knopf. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"When Susan Tate's seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, announces she is pregnant, Susan is stunned. A single mother, she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an unimaginable tragedy for both Lily and herself. Then comes word of two more pregnancies among high school juniors who happen to be Lily's best friends - and the town turns to talk of a pact. As fingers start pointing, the most ardent criticism is directed at Susan. As principal of the high school, she has always been held up as a role model of hard work and core values. Now her detractors accuse her of being a lax mother, perhaps not worthy of the job of shepherding impressionable students. As Susan struggles with the implications of her daughter's pregnancy, her job, financial independence, and long-fought-for dreams are all at risk." - Amazon.

Guilty Pleasure by Lora Leigh. St. Martin's Griffin. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Marty Mathews had always known about the secret, forbidden pleasures that the women she had grown up with enjoyed. Women whose husbands or lovers were members of the exclusive 'Club,' where they took a selected 'third' into their beds. And there is one man - a dangerous, forbidden man - who is part of this world and who has haunted Marty's dreams for years. But she had been the FBI agent assigned to shadow him, making him completely off limits... That is until Khalid is cleared and Marty is released from her assignment." - http://us.macmillan.com/guiltypleasure

A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh. Vanguard Press. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Reginald Mason is wealthy, refined, and, by all accounts, a gentleman. However, he is not a gentleman by title, a factor that pains him and his father within the Regency society that upholds station over all else. That is, until an opportunity for social advancement arises, namely, Lady Annabelle Ashton. Daughter of the Earl of Havercroft, a neighbor and enemy of the Mason family, Annabelle finds herself disgraced by a scandal, one that has left her branded as damaged goods. Besmirched by shame, the earl is only too happy to marry Annabelle off to anyone willing to have her. Though Reginald Mason, Senior, wishes to use Annabelle to propel his family up the social ladder, his son does not wish to marry her, preferring instead to live the wild, single life he is accustomed to. With this, Reginald Senior serves his son an ultimatum: marry Annabelle, or make do without family funds... So begins an intoxicating tale rife with dark secrets, deception, and the trials of love - a story in which very little is as it seems." - Amazon.

The Man You'll Marry by Debbie Macomber. Mira. Kindle edition $5.76 Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Shelly Hansen was horrified when her great-aunt's wedding dress arrived because, according to family legend, she was destined to marry the next man she met. So when she tripped on an escalator and fell into Mark Brady's arms, she told him - and herself - that she wasn't interested in marriage. But then she started seeing him everywhere... Coincidence? After her own wedding, Shelly sends her best friend, Jill Morrison, the dress - which is delivered to Jill's hotel in Hawaii. But at least the man she sat beside on the plane - gorgeous grouch Jordan Wilcox - can't be the man in question, can he? She met him before she got the dress!" - Amazon.

Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz. Putnam. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"More than three centuries ago, Nicholas Winters irrevocably altered his genetic makeup in an obsessionfueled competition with alchemist and Arcane Society founder Sylvester Jones. Driven to control their psychic abilities, each man's decision has reverberated throughout the family line, rewarding some with powers beyond their wildest dreams, and cursing others to a life filled with madness and hallucinations. Jack Winters, descendant of Nicholas, has been experiencing nightmares and blackouts - just the beginning, he believes - of the manifestation of the Winters family curse. The legend says that he must find the Burning Lamp or risk turning into a monster. But he can't do it alone; he needs the help of a woman with the gift to read the lamp's dreamlight. Jack is convinced that private investigator Chloe Harper is that woman. Her talents for finding objects and accessing dream energy are what will save him, but their sudden and powerful sexual pull threatens to overwhelm them both..." - Amazon.

WESTERNS

Skull Moon by Tim Curran. Amber Quill Press. Kindle edition $5.60. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"They were called the Gang of Ten. Masked night riders that rustled cattle and imposed vigilante justice on any who stood in their way. They were powerful, above the law. But then they lynched the son of a Blackfoot medicine man who threatened to tell their terrible secret. Now something is hunting them. One by one they die in the most horrible ways, victims of an ancient evil straight out of Blackfeet folklore. Deputy Marshal Joe Longtree is a man used to getting the truth. But in Wolf Creek, the truth can kill you."

Preacher's Fire by J. A. Johnstone. Pinnacle Books. Kindle edition $4.47. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"A big city like St. Louis is the last place where a mountain man like Preacher would pick a fight. But how else will he get at the ruthless power broker who is using fear and bloodshed to take over the Western fur trade? Shaving his beard, posing as a greedy hayseed from Ohio, the Preacher comes face-to-face with Shad Beaumont - who is leaving St. Louis with an army of hired gunmen. The odds couldn't be worse and the battleground couldn't be better. For the wild frontier is no place for fancy plots or poor disguises - but a fine spot for a killing ground." - Amazon.

Longarm and the Sand Pirates by Tabor Evans. (Longarm, 374). Jove. Kindle edition $4.79. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"After a sandstorm blows over, Longarm finds himself in the middle of an abandoned town that was previously hidden under sand. And he marks the spot where some hidden loot was buried, drawing thieves like corpses draw buzzards." - Amazon.

Red River Reckoning by Jon Sharpe. (The Trailsman, 339). Signet. Kindle edition $4.79. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Fargo is working as a scout along the Red River when he comes across a trio of butchered bodies. The victims were delivering supplies to the reservations. And while most think Indian renegades are to blame, Fargo has a hunch that someone on the river has been playing pirate. And when he finds them, the Trailsman is going to blow them out of the water..." - Amazon.

Pariah by J. R. Roberts. (The Gunsmith, 337). Jove. Kindle edition $4.79. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Clint Adams is protecting a young lady from an outlaw running a nasty business bartering abducted women - leaving the Gunsmith no choice but to stop the thieving killer from distressing damsels permanently." - Amazon.

Slocum and the Backshooters by Jake Logan. (Slocum, 371). Jove. Kindle edition $4.79. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"John Slocum is having a fine time traveling across Indian Territory, until he's knocked out and robbed of a pocket full of poker winnings, his gun, and his horse. But getting back what's his will pit Slocum against a gang of killers who don't care how they kill, as long as you end up dead." - Amazon.

Kindle Genre Watch: Fantasy & Mystery Fiction (08 Jan 10)

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.

Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Recent genre fiction releases in fantasy and mystery fiction include:

FANTASY

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler. Orbit. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Living in small town Rockabill, Maine, Jane True always knew she didn't quite fit in with so-called normal society. During her nightly, clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean, a grisly find leads Jane to startling revelations about her heritage: she is only half-human. Now, Jane must enter a world filled with supernatural creatures alternatively terrifying, beautiful, and deadly - all of which perfectly describe her new friend, Ryu, a gorgeous and powerful vampire. It is a world where nothing can be taken for granted: a dog can heal with a lick; spirits bag your groceries; and whatever you do, never - ever - rub the genie's lamp." - Amazon.

Deadtown by Nancy Holzner. Ace. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"They call it Deadtown: the city's quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its borders - but Victory Vaughn, Boston's only professional demon slayer, isn't exactly human... Vicky's demanding job keeping the city safe from all manner of monsters is one reason her relationship with workaholic lawyer (and werewolf) Alexander Kane is in constant limbo. Throw in a foolhardy zombie apprentice, a mysterious demon-plagued client, and a suspicious research facility that's taken an unwelcome interest in her family, and Vicky's love life has as much of a pulse as Deadtown's citizens." - http://nancyholzner.wordpress.com.

Kitty's House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn. Book 7 in the Kitty Norville series which began with Kitty and the Midnight Hour. The series' main character, Kitty Norville, first appeared in a story published in the Summer 2001 issue of Weird Tales. You can read it online here. Grand Central Publishing. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Talk radio host and werewolf Kitty Norville has agreed to appear on TV's first all-supernatural reality show. She's expecting cheesy competitions and manufactured drama starring shapeshifters, vampires, and psychics. But what begins as a publicity stunt will turn into a fight for her life. The cast members, including Kitty, arrive at the remote mountain lodge where the show is set. As soon as filming starts, violence erupts and Kitty suspects that the show is a cover for a nefarious plot. Then the cameras stop rolling, cast members start dying, and Kitty realizes she and her monster housemates are ironically the ultimate prize in a very different game..." - Amazon.

Death's Mistress by Karen Chance. Book 2 in the Dorina Basarab series which began with Midnight's Daughter. Onyx. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Dorina Basarab is a dhampir - half-human, half-vampire. Subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs live very short, very violent lives. So far, Dory has managed to maintain her sanity by unleashing her anger on those demons and vampires who deserve killing. Back home in Brooklyn after the demise of her insane uncle Dracula, Dory’s hoping her life is about to calm down. But then she gets some visitors. A friend wants Dory’s help in finding a magical Fey relic, and the gorgeous vampire, Louis-Cesare, is desperate to find his former mistress Christine. Dory and Louis-Cesare quickly discover that the same master vampire Christine is bound to is also rumored to be in possession of the relic. But when the master vampire turns up dead, they realize that there’s more at stake than a missing mistress..." - book jacket.

Arms-Commander by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. Book 16 in the Saga of Recluce series which began with The Magic of Recluce. For more on the series, read this Saga of Recluce article in the Wikipedia. Tor. Kindle edition $15.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The keep of Westwind, in the cold mountainous heights called the Roof of the World, is facing attack by the adjoining land of Gallos. Arthanos, son and heir to the ailing Prefect of Gallos, wishes to destroy Westwind because the idea of a land where women rule is total anathema to him. Saryn, Arms-Commander of Westwind, is dispatched to a neighboring land, Lornth, to seek support against the Gallosians. In the background, the trading council of Suthya is secretly and informally allied with Gallos against Westwind and begins to bribe lord-holders in Lornth to foment rebellion and civil war. They hope to create such turmoil in Lornth that the weakened land will fall to Suthya. But Zeldyan, regent of Lornth, has problems in her family. To secure Zeldyan's aid, Saryn must pledge her personal support - and any Westwind guard forces she can raise - to the defense of Zeldyan and her son. The fate of four lands, including Westwind, rests on Saryn's actions." - Amazon.

Blood Cross by Faith Hunter. Book 2 in the Jane Yellowrock series which began with Skinwalker. Roc. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind - a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. Now the Vampire Council has hired her to hunt and kill one of their own who has broken sacred ancient rules, but Jane quickly realizes that in a community that is thousands of years old, loyalties run deep..." - Amazon.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. Book 1 of the projected 10-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Transworld Digital. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Bled dry by interminable warfare, infighting and bloody confrontations with Lord Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, the vast, sprawling Malazan empire simmers with discontent. Even its imperial legions yearn for some respite. For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his Bridgeburners and for Tattersail, sole surviving sorceress of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, still holds out - and Empress Lasseen's ambition knows no bounds." - Amazon.

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. Book 2 of the projected 10-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Transworld Digital. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Weakened by events in Darujhistan, the Malazan Empire teeters on the brink of anarchy. In the vast dominion of Seven Cities, in the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha-ik gathers an army around her in preparation for the long-prophesied uprising named the Whirlwind. Unprecedented in its size and savagery, it will embroil in one of the bloodiest conflicts it has ever known: a maelstrom of fanaticism and bloodlust that will shape destinies and give birth to legends... Set in a brilliantly-realized world ravaged by anarchy and dark, uncontrollable magic, Deadhouse Gates is the thrilling, brutal second chapter in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. A powerful novel of war, intrigue and betrayal, it confirms Steven Erikson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality - a new master of epic fantasy."

MYSTERIES/THRILLERS

The Breach by Patrick Lee. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $7.00. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Trying to regain his life in the Alaskan wilds, ex-con/ex-cop Travis Chase stumbles upon an impossible scene: a crashed 747 passenger jet filled with the murdered dead, including the wife of the President of the United States. Though a nightmare of monumental proportions, it pales before the terror to come, as Chase is dragged into a battle for the future that revolves around an amazing artifact. Allied with a beautiful covert operative whose life he saved, Chase must now play the role he's been destined for-a pawn of incomprehensible forces or humankind's final hope - as the race toward Apocalypse begins in earnest..." - Amazon.

Altar of Eden by James Rollins. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Following the fall of Baghdad, two Iraqi boys stumble upon armed men looting the city zoo. The floodgates have been opened for the smuggling of hundreds of exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles to Western nations, but this crime hides a deeper secret. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground weapons lab is ransacked - and something even more horrific is set free. Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk stumbles upon a fishing trawler shipwrecked on a barrier island. The crew is missing or dead, but the boat holds a frightening cargo: a caged group of exotic animals, clearly part of a black market smuggling ring. Yet, something is wrong with these beasts, disturbing deformities that make no sense: a parrot with no feathers, a pair of Capuchin monkeys conjoined at the hip, a jaguar cub with the dentition of a saber-toothed tiger. They also all share one uncanny trait - a disturbingly heightened intelligence..." - Amazon.

Nobody's Safe by Richard Steinberg. First published in 1999 and now available in a Kindle edition. Bantam. Kindle edition $5.20. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Picking locks is second nature to the steel-nerved protagonist of Steinberg's tough-talking - and pulp to the core - thriller. Greg Picaro, a thief who prides himself on his fine taste and self-restraint (he doesn't take unnecessary risks and can distinguish Paul Revere silver from the dross) is robbing Jack Kerry's apartment when three men enter and kill Kerry and his hired date. Mr. Kilbourne, the leader of the group, offs Kerry on the hunch that Kerry leaked information about two people named Joe and Max to tabloid TV reporter Megan Turner. Picaro is the next on Kilbourne's list. Steinberg... calls on his personal expertise in high-risk security and counterterrorism to impart realism to the courtroom scenes and chilling detail to the maneuvers of the thieves and thugs." - Publishers Weekly.

Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag. Dutton. Kindle edition $13.10. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"California, 1984. Three children, running in the woods behind their school, stumble upon a partially buried female body, eyes and mouth glued shut. Close behind the children is their teacher, Anne Navarre, shocked by this discovery and heartbroken as she witnesses the end of their innocence. What she doesn't yet realize is that this will mark the end of innocence for an entire community, as the ties that bind families and friends are tested by secrets uncovered in the wake of a serial killer's escalating activity. Detective Tony Mendez, fresh from a law enforcement course at FBI headquarters, is charged with interpreting those now revealed secrets. He's using a new technique - profiling - to develop a theory of the case, a strategy that pushes him ever deeper into the lives of the three children, and closer to the young teacher whose interest in recent events becomes as intense as his own..." - http://www.tamihoag.com/

The Sculptor by Gregory Funaro. Pinnacle Books. Kindle edition $4.47. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
In life, they were flawed. In death, they are perfect works of art - killed, preserved, and carefully molded into replicas of Michelangelo's most celebrated creations. Only The Sculptor can bring forth their true beauty and teach the world to appreciate his gift. FBI Special Agent Sam Markham has a reputation for tracking serial killers, but this artful adversary is meticulous, disciplined, and more ruthless than any he's encountered. The only clue is a note dedicating the latest 'statue' to Cathy Hildebrant, an art historian who shares Sam's fear that the killing has just begun." - Amazon.

I, Sniper: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel by Stephen Hunter. Simon & Schuster. Kindle edition $13.69. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Four famed '60s radicals are gunned down at long range by a sniper. Under enormous media scrutiny, the FBI quickly concludes that Marine war hero Carl Hitchcock, whose ninety-three kills were considered the leading body count tally among American marksman in Vietnam, was the shooter. But as the Bureau, led by Special Agent Nick Memphis, bears down, Hitchcock commits suicide. In closing out the investigation, Nick discovers a case made in heaven: everything fits, from timeline, ballistics, and forensics to motive, means, and opportunity. Maybe it's a little too perfect. Nick asks his friend, the retired Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, to examine the data. Using a skill set no other man on earth possesses, Swagger soon discovers unseen anomalies and gradually begins to unravel a sophisticated conspiracy..."