Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (31 Sep 2010)

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and generate interest in their work. 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 NPR'S MORNING EDITION (27 AUG 2010):
101 Places Not to See Before You Die, by Catherine Price. Harper Collins. Print Length: 272 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"From the Grover Cleveland Service Area to the Beijing Museum of Tap Water to, of course, Euro Disney, 101 Places Not to See Before You Die brings you lively tales of the most ill-conceived museums, worst theme parks, and grossest Superfund sites that you'll ever have the pleasure of not visiting. Journalist Catherine Price travels the globe for stories of misadventure to which any seasoned traveler can relate - including guest entries from writers such as Nicholas Kristof, Mary Roach, Michael Pollan, Rebecca Solnit, and A. J. Jacobs - and along the way she discovers that the worst experiences are often the ones we'll never forget.

ON OPRAH (27 AUG 2010):
Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home, by Laura Ling and Lisa Ling. Harper Collins. Print Length: 336 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"On March 17, 2009, Laura Ling and her colleague Euna Lee were working on a documentary about North Korean defectors who were fleeing the desperate conditions in their homeland. While filming on the Chinese–North Korean border, they were chased down by North Korean soldiers who violently apprehended them. Laura and Euna were charged with trespassing and 'hostile acts,' and imprisoned by Kim Jong Il's notoriously secretive Communist state. Kept totally apart, they endured months of interrogations and eventually a trial before North Korea's highest court. They were the first Americans ever to be sentenced to twelve years of hard labor in a prison camp in North Korea. When news of the arrest reached Laura's sister, journalist Lisa Ling, she immediately began a campaign to get her sister released, one that led her from the State Department to the higher echelons of the media world and eventually to the White House. Told in the sisters' alternating voices, Somewhere Inside is a timely, inspiring, and page-turning tale of survival set against the canvas of international politics that goes beyond the headlines to reveal the impact on lives engulfed by forces beyond their control." - Amazon.

ON NPR'S WEEKEND EDITION (28 AUG 2010):
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. Algonquin Books. Print Length: 208 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her uncommon encounter with a Neohelix albolabris - a common woodland snail. While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater under standing of her own confined place in the world. Intrigued by the snail's molluscan anatomy, cryptic defenses, clear decision making, hydraulic locomotion, and mysterious courtship activities, Bailey becomes an astute and amused observer, providing a candid and engaging look into the curious life of this under-appreciated small animal." - Amazon.

ON CSPAN'S BOOK TV (29 AUG 2010):
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Nathaniel Philbrick. Viking. Print Length: 496 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"From the moment Lieutenant Colonel George Custer galloped out of sight on June 25, 1876, controversy commenced and continues, inspiring an immense and often minutiae-minded literature about the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Riding to the rescue of overwhelmed history buffs, Philbrick applies the skills of narrative synthesis that have produced best-sellers (Mayflower, 2006) and may do so again with this title. His storytelling ability especially challenged by this subject - for surviving evidence does not permit an unassailable reconstruction of Custer’s actions - Philbrick produces a fascinating integration of known fact and defensible speculation that should rivet his audience. Shifting between the movements of Custer’s cavalry regiment and the Cheyenne and Lakota village it was approaching, Philbrick both quickens the pace and flashes back to the lives of the principal characters in the drama: Custer; his subordinate officers Frederick Benteen and Marcus Reno; and on the Indian side, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse...a compellingly readable rendition of the famous battle. - Gilbert Taylor for Booklist.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (30 AUG 2010):
Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents, by Zac Bissonnette. Portfolio. Print Length: 304 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"College costs are rising at twice the rate of inflation-and much of that increase is being financed by parents looting retirement accounts and students burdening themselves with debt loads that will change the course of their financial lives.
It doesn't have to be that way. Armed with data, experience, and a stiff dose of rational analysis Zac Bissonnette explains why so much of the 'wisdom' about choosing and financing college is not only wrong but dangerous. With a fresh approach to selecting, maximizing, and paying for college, Bissonnette gives parents practical, and often surprising, advice on how to help their kids get a champagne education on a beer budget." - Publisher.

ON NPR'S DIANE REHM SHOW (02 SEP 2010):
Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship, by Gail Caldwell. Random House. Print Length: 208 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Caldwell (A Strong West Wind) has managed to do the inexpressible in this quiet, fierce work: create a memorable offering of love to her best friend, Caroline Knapp, the writer (Drinking: A Love Story) who died of lung cancer at age 42 in 2002. The two met in the mid-1990s: 'Finding Caroline was like placing a personal ad for an imaginary friend, then having her show up at your door funnier and better than you had conceived.' Both single, writers (Caldwell was then book critic for the Boston Globe), and living alone in the Cambridge area, the two women bonded over their dog runs in Fresh Pond Reservoir, traded lessons in rowing (Knapp's sport) and swimming (Caldwell's), and shared stories, clothes, and general life support as best friends. Moreover, both had stopped drinking at age 33 (Caldwell was eight years older than her friend); both had survived early traumas (Caldwell had had polio as a child; Knapp had suffered anorexia). Their attachment to each other was deeply, mutually satisfying, as Caldwell describes: 'Caroline and I coaxed each other into the light.' Yet Knapp's health began to falter in March 2002, with stagefour lung cancer diagnosed; by June she had died. Caldwell is unflinching in depicting her friend's last days, although her own grief nearly undid her; she writes of this desolating time with tremendously moving grace." - Publishers Weekly.

Kindle Genre Watch: New in Fantasy Fiction (29 Aug 2010)

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 fiction include:

Bearers of the Black Staff: Legends of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Del Rey. Print length: 384 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"The horrors of a war-ravaged world again invade a hard-won peace in Brooks's intense follow-up to 2008's The Gypsy Morph. Five hundred years have passed since Hawk led a tattered band of survivors into a valley protected by a magical barrier. Now the wall has been breached by demons. The last known Knight of the Word, Sider Ament, wields a powerful black staff that he hopes to pass to a new leader. After rescuing talented teen Trackers Panterra Qu and Prue Liss, Sider asks them to warn the Children of Hawk. Unfortunately, their council leaders don't share Sider's certainty of an impending invasion. While Sider explores the other side of the barrier, the young Trackers find help from Arborlon Elves in this superlative Tolkien-style fantasy tweaked with a contemporary vibe.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Scholastic Press. Print length: 400 p. Kindle edition $8.02. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is the final book of The Hunger Games trilogy, following The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.
"Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12." - Amazon.

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. Orbit. Print length: 400 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"An unloved, orphaned boy is the offspring of someone important; twins assume each other's identities; an aged ruler clings to power. Weeks manages to ring new tunes on these old bells, letting a deep background slowly reveal its secrets and presenting his characters in a realistically flawed and human way. Gavin Guile is facing his final five years as leader of a magical college whose members turn colors of light into various materials. Seeking to rectify the lingering wrongs from the war against his twin, Dazen, he is instead forced to acknowledge a bastard son, face down a corrupt governor, and stop a challenge to the state religion." - Publishers Weekly.

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble by H. P. Mallory. Self-Published. Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Life isn’t bad for psychic Jolie Wilkins. True, she doesn’t have a love life to speak of, but she has a cute house in the suburbs of Los Angeles, a cat and a quirky best friend. Enter Rand Balfour, a sinfully attractive warlock who insists she’s a witch and who just might turn her life upside down. Rand hires her to help him solve a mystery regarding the death of his client who also happens to be a ghost. Jolie not only uncovers the cause of the ghost’s demise but, in the process, she brings him back to life! Word of Jolie’s incredible ability to bring back the dead spreads like wildfire, putting her at the top of the Underworld’s most wanted list..." - Amazon.

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan. Tor Books. Print length: 1000 p. Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is book eleven in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Timeseries.
"The breakneck pace, lyrical beauty and astonishing scope of the early Wheel of Time volumes established Jordan as one of the top writers in the Tolkien tradition. While more recent entries have maintained that beauty and scope, the pace has slowed to a crawl as the central characters dispersed in six directions. In contrast, the latest explodes with motion, as multiple plot lines either conclude or advance, and the march to Tarmon Gai'don - the climactic last battle between the Dragon Reborn and the Dark One - begins in earnest. Faile's captivity with the Shaido, Mat's pursuit of Tuon and Elayne's war for Caemlyn come to a close, while Egwene's capture brings the Aes Sedai war to the heart of the Tower. Jordan has said that readers will be sweating by the end of the book, and he's probably right." - Publishers Weekly.

Kindle Genre Watch: New in Mystery Fiction (28 Aug 2010)

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 releases in mystery fiction include:

Fragile by Lisa Unger. Crown. Print length: 336 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Psychologist Maggie Cooper and her husband, Det. Jones Cooper, disagree on how to handle their rebellious son, 17-year-old Rick, who prefers to spend time with his band or holed up with his girlfriend, Charlene Murray. When Charlene disappears one night after a fight with her mother, Maggie and Jones wonder if she ran off to Manhattan, but are reminded of the disappearance 20 years earlier of Sarah Meyers, whose mutilated body was found after she vanished on her way home from school. Though the alleged killer confessed, there are still unanswered questions, and Maggie and Jones find themselves forced to revisit the past as suspicion falls on Rick." - Publishers Weekly.

Mourn the Living by Henry Perez. Pinnacle Books. Print length: 352 p. Kindle edition $4.47. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Veteran Chicago Record reporter Alex Chapa is looking forward to a much needed vacation and time with his 10-year-old daughter, Nikki, whom he barely sees now that his ex has moved to Boston. Then his boss calls him back to cover for Jim Chakowski, killed in a mysterious explosion. As Alex digs into Chakowski's notes linking a string of murders to prominent city council members, he and Nikki come under fire. Short, choppy chapters move the action along at a measured clip, and detailed descriptions infuse the text with atmosphere and suspense, especially during flashbacks to Alex's childhood in Cuba and the murderer's dark and traumatic upbringing." - Publishers Weekly.

The Cobra by Frederick Forsyth. Putnam. Print length: 384 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"What if you had carte blanche to fight evil? Nothing held back, nothing off the table. What would you do? For decades, the world has been fighting the drug cartels, and losing, their billions of dollars making them the most powerful and destructive organizations on earth. Until one man is asked to take charge. Paul Devereaux used to run Special Operations for the CIA before they retired him for being too ruthless. Now he can have anything he requires, do anything he thinks necessary. No boundaries, no rules, no questions asked. The war is on - though who the ultimate winner will be, no one can tell... Frederick Forsyth is the author of fifteen novels and short story collections, from 1971's The Day Of The Jackal to 2006's The Afghan. " - Amazon.

Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs. Scribner. Print length: 320 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Diabled.

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan has a puzzle on her hands. A man has drowned under suspicious circumstances. His fingerprints identify him immediately, but here's the thing: the man apparently died more than 40 years ago. And if this is really him, then who is buried in his grave?Reading a new Brennan novel is like hooking up with old friends: you know what to expect, but that's OK, because you also know you'll have a good time. Reichs, a former forensic anthropologist herself, whose early books were occasionally a bit clunky (it's not a smooth transition, apparently, from deconstructing bones to constructing sentences), has developed into a solid writer. Fans of the television series Bones, based on Reich's life and career, will note plenty of differences between the show and the novels, but they will find that Brennan on the page still offers much to enjoy. - David Pitt for Booklist.

A Little Death in Dixie by Lisa Turner. Bell Bridge Books. Print length: 298 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The Blues were born out of need, anger and pride. Murder comes from those same dark places. Memphis has both. One of Memphis' most seductive and notorious socialites has vanished. Either she's off on another drunken escapade or the disappearance is something much more frightening. What begins as an ordinary day's work for Detective Billy Able quickly grows into a complex spider's web of tragedy, mystery, suspicion, and sordid secrets including a few of Billy's own..." - Amazon.

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman. Harper Collins. Print length: 384 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Near the start of this outstanding novel of psychological suspense from Edgar-winner Lippman (Life Sentences), Eliza Benedict, a 38-year-old married mother of two living in suburban Maryland, receives a letter from Walter Bowman, the man who kidnapped her the summer she was 15 and is now on death row. The narrative shifts between the present and that long ago summer, when Eliza involuntarily became a part of Walter's endless road trip, including the fateful night when he picked up another teenage girl, Holly Tackett. Soon after Walter killed Holly, Eliza was rescued and taken home. Eliza must now balance a need for closure with a desire to protect herself emotionally. Walter wants something specific from her..." - Publishers Weekly.

Classifying Books on Your Kindle Using the Dewey Decimal System

Those of us who purchased the first Kindle in 2007 had no simple way to arrange books by subject on our new e-reader. Owner-created collections were first added to the Kindle 2 and DX relatively recently with the latest software 2.5 update. As this feature should be of great interest to a whole new generation of Kindle readers who are buying the Kindle 3, it might be a good idea to review how it works. The collections feature allows you to group your library by subjects that you choose yourself.

So how do you do it?

1. From the home screen, push the menu button.

2. Using the 5-way controller, underline Create New Collection.

3. Type in a name for your collection.

4. Save the collection by choosing save with the 5-way controller. The new collection will appear at the top of your home screen.

5. To add books to a collection, with the 5-way controller, go to the title of the book and push the 5-way controller to the right. On the menu that appears, click on add to collection. Scroll to a collection you wish to assign the book to and click on add to this collection.

6. Repeat until you're sick of classifying books and would rather be reading. Go back to the home screen to start doing just that.



Please note that you can add a book to as many collections as you like. Unfortunately newspapers, magazines and blog cannot be put into collections so they just hang around on your Kindle waiting for Amazon to create this capability to a future software release.

Soon a brand new Kindle will be arriving at my home. Hoping to avoid the hundreds of screens of unorganized titles I've suffered with in past e-readers, I'm planning to get a good start to using the collections feature with the Kindle 3 from the start, basing my collections on that old library standby, the Dewey Decimal Classification system.

Most brick and mortar libraries in this country use either the Dewey Decimal Classification (mainly public libraries) or the Library of Congress Classification (academic and some large public libraries. The LC classification is much more detailed than the Dewey as befits its goal of arranging a large number of books in logical order on the shelves of research libraries. For the purposes of my relatively small Kindle library, I think the DDC might work better. It classifies books into broad subject fields and can be supplemented by special collections for the genres I read.

Here's the way Dewey does it:

000 - Computer science, information & general works
100 - Philosophy and psychology
200 - Religion
300 - Social sciences
400 - Language
500 - Science and mathematics
600 - Technology
700 - Arts and recreation
800 - Literature
900 - History, geography, biography and autobiography

My collections - loosely based on Dewey - will include:

Computer & Information Science
Philosophy, Psychology, Religion
Social Sciences
Language
Science, Math
Art, Music & Crafts
Literature
History,Geography, Travel
Biography
Books About Books
Reference Books
Short Stories
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Mysteries & Thrillers
Freebies
Samples

I'm combining the technology category with science & mathematics and adding some special collections that reflect my reading tastes. Freebies go in a separate collection because in some cases - a long time after acquiring a book - I ask myself why I ever bought it. I can't resist those free samples so just having the samples all together is a real plus.

The nice thing about collections is that you can change them as you go along. Removing a book from a collection does not remove it from your Kindle.

For more information about the DDC, you might want to check out this informative article: What's So Great About the Dewey Decimal System?

What's New in Nonfiction for the Kindle (24 Aug 2010)

What I like about non-fiction is that it covers such a huge territory. The best non-fiction is also creative. - Tracy Kidder.

Nonfiction encompasses a wealth of reading possibilities - history, essays, memoirs, scientific research, travel guides, cookbooks - essentially everything that is based on fact, real events and real people. Recent nonfiction titles for the Kindle that you might have missed:


Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives, by Thomas French. Hyperion. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (13 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story, an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants, both animal and human. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa’ s Lowry Park Zoo: an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco. Thomas French, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, chronicles the action with vivid power: Wild elephants soaring above the Atlantic on their way to captivity. Predators circling each other in a lethal mating dance. Primates plotting the overthrow of their king. The sweeping narrative takes the reader from the African savannah to the forests of Panama and deep into the inner workings of a place some describe as a sanctuary and others condemn as a prison." - Amazon.

The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam, by Eliza Griswold. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The tenth parallel - the line of latitude seven hundred miles north of the equator - is a geographical and ideological front line where Christianity and Islam collide. More than half of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims live along the tenth parallel; so do sixty percent of the world’s 2 billion Christians. Here, in the buzzing megacities and swarming jungles of Africa and Asia, is where the two religions meet; their encounter is shaping the future of each faith, and of whole societies as well. An award-winning investigative journalist and poet, Eliza Griswold has spent the past seven years traveling between the equator and the tenth parallel: in Nigeria, the Sudan, and Somalia, and in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The stories she tells in The Tenth Parallel show us that religious conflicts are also conflicts about land, water, oil, and other natural resources, and that local and tribal issues are often shaped by religious ideas. Above all, she makes clear that, for the people she writes about, one’s sense of God is shaped by one’s place on earth; along the tenth parallel, faith is geographic and demographic. ... an essential work about the conflicts over religion, nationhood and natural resources that will remake the world in the years to come." - Amazon.

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities : Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire , by J. C. McKeown. Oxford University Press. Print Length: 272 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (34 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...a whimsical and captivating collection of odd facts, strange beliefs, outlandish opinions, and other highly amusing trivia of the ancient Romans. We tend to think of the Romans as a pragmatic people with a ruthlessly efficient army, an exemplary legal system, and a precise and elegant language. A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities shows that the Romans were equally capable of bizarre superstitions, logic-defying customs, and often hilariously derisive views of their fellow Romans and non-Romans. Classicist J. C. McKeown has organized the entries in this entertaining volume around major themes - The Army, Women, Religion and Superstition, Family Life, Medicine, Slaves, Spectacles - allowing for quick browsing or more deliberate consumption. J. C. McKeown is Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison" - Amazon.

It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Crafting Killer Sentences, by June Casagrande. Ten Speed Press. Print Length: 224 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Great writing isn’t born, it’s built - sentence by sentence. But too many writers - and writing guides - overlook this most important unit. The result? Manuscripts that will never be published and writing careers that will never begin. In this wickedly humorous manual, language columnist June Casagrande uses grammar and syntax to show exactly what makes some sentences great - and other sentences suck. With chapters on 'Conjunctions That Kill' and 'Words Gone Wild,' this lighthearted guide is perfect for anyone who’s dead serious about writing, from aspiring novelists to nonfiction writers, conscientious students to cheeky literati. So roll up your sleeves and prepare to craft one bold, effective sentence after another. Your readers will thank you." - from the Trade Paperback edition.

The Knitgrrl Guide To Professional Knitwear Design, by Shannon Okey. Cooperative Press. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (17 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...the first-ever book targeted to designers of all experience levels who want to create, communicate and sell their work professionally to magazines, publishers, consumers and other markets. Written by an industry insider, the Guide takes a comprehensive, unflinching look behind the scenes that no knit or crochet designer can afford to be without. Includes interviews with top designers, editors and professionals who tell it like it is so you can hit the ground running, a guide to responsible social media use, information on distribution, printing, online publishing and much, much more. Shannon Okey has written or edited a dozen fiber arts books for major publishers, including the Knitgrrl series, Spin to Knit, Alt Fiber, the second edition of Knitting for Dummies, and many more.

Marcus of Umbria: What an Italian Dog Taught an American Girl about Love, by Justine van der Leun. Rodale. Print Length: 224 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (17 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Tired of her life in New York, van der Leun takes a vacation in the small town of Collelungo, in Umbria, Italy, where she falls in love with a rakish farmer named Emanuele. Soon she is back in Collelungo for good, moving in with Emanuele and his family on their sheep farm. When Justine finds an abandoned hunting dog, she promptly takes it in as her own. The dog, whom she names Marcus, becomes her constant companion around the Umbrian countryside as she observes the rituals of life on a farm, from the work of sheep herding, pig slaughtering, and horse training to the everyday rituals of family life. When her romance with Emanuele turns sour, she finds it hard to pry herself out of Italy and wonders if she can return to New York. And if her thoroughly Italian dog can survive there." - Hilary Hatton for Booklist.

Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (22 Aug 2010)

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and generate interest in their work. 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 NPR'S MORNING EDITION (20 AUG 2010):
Baby We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption, by Scott Simon. Random House. Print Length: 192 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In this warm, funny, and wise new book, NPR’s Scott Simon tells the story of how he and his wife found true love with two tiny strangers from the other side of the world. It’s a book of unforgettable moments: when Scott and Caroline get their first thumb-size pictures of their daughters, when the small girls are placed in their arms, and all the laughs and tumbles along the road as they become a real family. Woven into the tale of Scott, Caroline, and the two little girls who changed their lives are the stories of other adoptive families. Some are famous and some are not, but each family’s saga captures facets of the miracle of adoption. ...a love story that doesn’t gloss over the rough spots. There are anxieties and tears along with hugs and smiles and the unparalleled joy of this blessed and special way of making a family. Here is a book that families who have adopted - or are considering adoption - will want to read..." - Amazon.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (23 AUG 2010):
I'm With Fatty: Losing Fifty Pounds in Fifty Miserable Weeks, by Edward Ugel. Weinstein Books. Print Length: 288 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"One man’s humorous and heartfelt journey through his year-long attempt to regain his health and change his life. Where does one draw the line between being a lifelong foodie and a food addict? Edward Ugel is 36 years old and weighs 263 pounds, or as he likes to think about it: 119 kilograms. I'm with Fatty chronicles Ugel’s attempt to follow doctor’s orders and lose fifty pounds or risk dropping dead while standing in line at Popeyes. Ugel sets off on his yearlong journey to figure out how to live in a world without dim sum, smoked Italian meats, and the pleasure of cooking whatever and however he wants. Lovers of narrative nonfiction will relish this contagiously readable book that looks back at Ugel’s complicated history with food, obesity, and the ruinous effects this lifelong relationship has had on him. Filled with humor, ultimately this is a book about the private hell of being fat in America and about the fragile male psyche and the seldom-discussed issue of male body image. [It] takes the reader along on a difficult, frustrating, embarrassing, and inspiring journey, one that is the last great hope of a man desperate to save his own life - or at least own a pair of pants that fits." - Amazon.

ON NPR'S TALK OF THE NATION (23 AUG 2010):
Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science, by Sissela Bok. Yale University Press. Print Length: 224 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In this smart and timely book, the distinguished moral philosopher Sissela Bok ponders the nature of happiness and its place in philosophical thinking and writing throughout the ages. With nuance and elegance, Bok explores notions of happiness - from Greek philosophers to Desmond Tutu, Charles Darwin, Iris Murdoch, and the Dalai Lama - as well as the latest theories advanced by psychologists, economists, geneticists, and neuroscientists. Eschewing abstract theorizing, Bok weaves in a wealth of firsthand observations about happiness from ordinary people as well as renowned figures. Bringing together very different disciplines provides Bok with a unique opportunity to consider the role of happiness in wider questions of how we should lead our lives and treat one another - concerns that don't often figure in today's happiness equation. How should we pursue, weigh, value, or limit our own happiness, or that of others, now and in the future? Sissela Bok is Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, and a moral philosopher of international renown. " - Amazon.

ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (31 AUG 2010):
Dirty Sexy Politics, by Meghan McCain. Hyperion. Print Length: 208 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Meghan McCain came to prominence as the straight-talking, progressive daughter of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain. And her profile has only risen since the election ended in favor of the other guy. What makes Meghan so appealing? As a new role model for young, creative, and vocal members of the GOP, she’ s unafraid to mix it up and speak her mind. In Dirty Sexy Politics she takes a hard look at the future of her party. She doesn't shy away from serious issues and her raucous humor and down-to-earth style keep her positions accessible. In this witty, candid, and boisterous book, Meghan takes us deep behind the scenes of the campaign trail. She steals campaign signs in New Hampshire, tastes the nightlife in Nashville, and has a strange encounter with Laura and Jenna Bush at the White House. Along the way, she falls in love with America - while seeing how far the Republican Party has veered from its core values of freedom, honesty, and individuality." - Amazon.

ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (02 SEP 2010) and ON ABC'S NIGHTLINE (02 SEP 2010):
A Journey: My Political Life, by Tony Blair. Knopf. Print Length: 640 p. Kindle edition $19.25. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Tony Blair is a politician who defines our times. His emergence as Labour Party leader in 1994 marked a seismic shift in British politics. Within a few short years, he had transformed his party and rallied the country behind him, becoming prime minister in 1997 with the biggest victory in Labour’s history, and bringing to an end eighteen years of Conservative government. He took Labour to a historic three terms in office as Britain’s dominant political figure of the last two decades. A Journey is Tony Blair’s firsthand account of his years in office and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death to the war on terror. He reveals the leadership decisions that were necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships with colleagues including Gordon Brown, the grueling negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, the implementation of the biggest reforms to public services in Britain since 1945, and his relationships with leaders on the world stage - Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush. He analyzes the belief in ethical intervention that led to his decisions to go to war in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and, most controversially of all, in Iraq. Few British prime ministers have shaped the nation’s course as profoundly as Tony Blair, and his achievements and his legacy will be debated for years to come. Here, uniquely, we have his own journey, in his own words." - Amazon.

A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 20/27 Aug 2010

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the August 20th-27th double issue include:

Juliet, by Anne Fortier. Ballantine Books. Print length: 464 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...grafts a romantic thriller about a modern woman seeking clues to her past onto a historical yarn about the origins of the Bard's classic drama." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"...a high-flying debut in which American Julie Jacobs travels to Siena in search of her Italian heritage - and possibly an inheritance - only to discover she is descended from 14th-century Giulietta Tomei, whose love for Romeo defied their feuding families and inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Julie's hunt leads her to the families' descendants, still living in Siena, still feuding, and still struggling under the curse of the friar who wished a plague on both their houses. Julie's unraveling of the past is assisted by a Felliniesque contessa and the contessa's handsome nephew, and complicated by mobsters, police, and a mysterious motorcyclist. To understand what happened centuries ago, in the previous generation, and all around her, Julie relies on relics: a painting, a journal, a dagger, a ring. Readers enjoy the additional benefit of antique texts alternating with contemporary narratives, written in the language of modern romance and enlivened by brisk storytelling..." - Publishers Weekly.

Mentor, by Tom Grimes. Tin House Books. Print length: 200 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "...refreshingly genuine and engaging." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"A chance encounter between two writers, one young, one older, develops into a wonderful friendship neither expected. Frank Conroy, the author of the classic memoir Stop-Time, meets Tom Grimes, an aspiring writer and an applicant to the Iowa Writers Workshop, which Conroy directs. First as teacher and student - and gradually as friends - their lives become entwined, and through both successes and disappointments, their bond deepens. Exquisitely written, Mentor explores the writing life and the role of a very important teacher while offering an inside view of the most famous writing program in the world and the sometimes sordid business of publishing. Honest. Heartbreaking. Poignant. Grimes entered the Writers' Workshop with the dream of being a writer. Two years later, he left with that and much more." - Amazon.
"From now on, anyone who dreams of becoming a novelist will need to read Tom Grimes's brutally honest and wonderful Mentor. - Michael Dirda for The Washington Post.

Last Night at Chateau Marmont, by Lauren Weisberger. Atria. Print length: 384 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...a haunting look at what might happen if your life became a reality show but you never signed off on the cameras." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Brooke was drawn to the soulful, enigmatic Julian Alter the very first time she heard him perform 'Hallelujah' at a dark East Village dive bar. Now five years married, Brooke balances two jobs - as a nutritionist at NYU Hospital and as a consultant to an Upper East Side girls’ school, where privilege gone wrong and disordered eating run rampant - in order to help support her husband’s dream of making it in the music world. Things are looking up when Julian finally gets signed by Sony. Although no one’s promising that the album will ever hit the airwaves, Julian is still dedicated to logging in long hours at the recording studio. All that changes after he is asked to perform on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno - and is catapulted to stardom, literally overnight. At first the newfound fame is fun—who wouldn’t want to stay at the Chateau Marmont or visit the set of one of television’s hottest shows? Yet it seems that Brooke’s sweet husband - the man who can’t handle hot showers and wears socks to bed -is increasingly absent, even on those rare nights they’re home together. When rumors about Brooke and Julian swirl in the tabloid magazines, she begins to question the truth of her marriage and is forced to finally come to terms with what she thinks she wants - and what she actually needs." - Amazon.

The Good Daughters, by Joyce Maynard. Harper Collins. Print length: 288 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...less a pleasurably tense read than a tedious one." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Two families, the Planks and the Dickersons, are mysteriously entwined in this exquisite novel that centers on decades of life at a New Hampshire farm. Youngest daughters Ruth Plank and Dana Dickerson, born on the same day in the same hospital, take turns narrating the struggles they face as children. Ruth feels a coldness from her mother; Dana is unsettled by her kooky parents constantly uprooting her and her brother Ray. Regardless, the Planks pay a yearly visit to the Dickersons no matter where they've ended up living. As the girls come of age, Ruth takes an interest in art, sex, and Dana's brother, Ray, with whom she later reunites, at Woodstock, in a swirl of drugs and mud. Meanwhile, Dana realizes that her desires are directed toward women and sets off to pursue agricultural studies at a university, where she meets Clarice, an assistant professor. As time goes by, the floundering Plank Farm is in danger of being seized by Ruth's former boyfriend, a man who has had his eye on the land for years. As Ruth and Dana pursue love, contemplate children, and search for home, the truth of what unites their families is finally - at long last - revealed..." - Publishers Weekly.

NEWLY-AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK AND KINDLE EDITIONS:

Where the Money Went, by Kevin Canty. Vintage. Print length: 208 p. SHORT STORIES. EW's slant: "...powerful and poetic..." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.


"Kevin Canty is a master of the short story whose work has been compared to that of Flannery O’Connor and Raymond Carver. In Where the Money Went, he surprises us with stories about love and the desertion of love, all written from a man’s point of view. A narrator struggles with his abiding loyalty to his ex-wife, even when he finds love with another woman. A newly divorced man learns more than he wants to know about his friends’ long-term marriages. In these nine stories, which incisively touch on the complex nature of love, we find men as fathers, as husbands, and as lovers, trying their best in a world that stubbornly refuses to make sense. Canty, whose writing has been praised as 'smart, gritty, unsentimental' (New York Times), 'lovely and unforgiving' (Boston Globe), and 'enchanting and painful' (USA Today), powerfully conveys both the bitterness that can afflict romantic relationships, and the moments of humor and tenderness that cut through it." - Amazon.

Parallel Play: Growing Up with Undiagnosed Asperger's, by Tim Page. Doubleday. Print length: 208 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "...quirkily appealing memoir..." Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (19 reviews). Kindle edition $14.30. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In 1997, Tim Page won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for his work as the chief classical music critic of The Washington Post, work that the Pulitzer board called 'lucid and illuminating.' Three years later, at the age of 45, he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome - an autistic disorder characterized by often superior intellectual abilities but also by obsessive behavior, ineffective communication, and social awkwardness. In a personal chronicle that is by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Page revisits his early days through the prism of newfound clarity. It is the story of a child who memorized vast portions of the World Book Encyclopedia simply by skimming through its volumes, but was unable to pass elementary school math and science. And it is the triumphant account of a disadvantaged boy who grew into a high-functioning, highly successful adult–perhaps not despite his Asperger’s but because of it, as Page believes. " - Amazon.

The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels, by Janet Soskice. Knopf. Print length: 336 p. NONFICTION. EW's slant: ...fascinating historical adventure." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (20 reviews). Kindle edition $15.37. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In 1892, two sisters, identical twins from Scotland, made one of one of most important scriptural discoveries of modern times. Combing the library of St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai, they found a neglected palimpsest: beneath an unprepossessing life of female saints, they detected what remains to this day among the earliest known copies of the Gospels, a version in ancient Syriac, the language spoken by Jesus. The Sisters of Sinai is the enthralling account of how two ladies in middle age and without university degrees uncovered and translated this text, bringing a great biblical treasure to world attention...Janet Soskice takes us, via the lives of Agnes and Margaret Smith, on a quintessentially Victorian adventure. It is partly a physical journey: when Westerners generally feared to tread in the region, the sisters Smith traversed the Middle East, sleeping in tents, enduring temperamental camels and unscrupulous dragomen, and facing uncertain welcome from monks deceived by earlier travelers. It is also a journey of the mind..." - Amazon.

That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo. Vintage. Print length: 272 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (126 reviews). Kindle edition $9.69. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"...a novel for people who are terrified of becoming their parents, which is to say for everybody. The misanthropic hero of That Old Cape Magic jitters with the anxiety of influence, repelled and attracted to his mom and dad like Woody Allen playing Hamlet. The book's two-part structure is simple and elegant: two weddings, a year apart, the first on Cape Cod, the second in Maine. Russo's focus in both parts is on Jack Griffin, a 57-year-old English professor who's having a 'middle-age meltdown.' Even while the wedding march plays for members of the younger generation, he's busy fumbling his own 34-year marriage. Griffin loves his wife, but 'his dissatisfaction had become palpable.' He's bored with teaching, and he hankers after the excitement of his Hollywood writing days. His bigger problem, though, is that he still harbors enough 'pathological resentment' toward his parents for a therapists' convention. He's been carting his father's ashes around in the trunk of his car for nine months, waiting for just the right moment to let go of the mortal remains of the man who drove him crazy. And meanwhile, his 85-year-old mother keeps heckling him from her nursing home. It's a sign of Russo's comic genius that these two hilariously acerbic parents - one on the phone, the other in an urn - just about steal the show..." Richard Russo for The Washington Post.

Kindle Genre Watch: Sci-Fi, Romance and Western Fiction (18 Aug 2010)

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

SCIENCE FICTION

Dream Called Time by S. L. Viehl. Roc. Print Length: 384 p. Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Dispatched to investigate an unidentified ship that has emerged from a mysterious rift in space, Cherijo discovers technology far more advanced than anything she's ever seen. Before she can unravel the alien ship's mystery, Cherijo's own ship is sucked into the rift and transported through time. Unless she can find a way to reopen the rift, they will remain trapped in another time. And Cherijo will never see her family - which she's only just been reunited with-again..." - Amazon.
This is the tenth and final book of Viehl's StarDoc series which began with Stardoc. The main character in the series is Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil, a physician who - in the first book - takes an off-planet post in the Trauma Free Clinic on Kevarzangia Two, a planet with 200 different alien species where humans are definitely a minority. There she must quickly adapt to working with and treating patients not covered in Gray's Anatomy.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. Harper Collins. Print Length: 448 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books - but we are real. Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing. But they know. They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya.They killed them all. I am Number Four..." - Amazon.

The Technician by Neal Asher. Publisher. Print Length: Kindle edition $0.00. Text-to-Speech: Blank.
"The Theocracy has been dead for twenty years, and the Polity rules on Masada. But the Tidy Squad consists of rebels who cannot accept the new order. Their hate for surviving theocrats is undiminished, and the iconic Jeremiah Tombs is at the top of their hit list. Escaping his sanatorium Tombs is pushed into painful confrontation with reality he has avoided since the rebellion. His insanity must cured, because the near mythical hooder called the Technician that attacked him all those years ago, did something to his mind even the AIs fail to understand. Tombs might possess information about the suicide of an entire alien race. The war drone Amistad, whose job it is to bring this information to light, recruits Lief Grant, an ex-rebel Commander, to protect Tombs, along with the black AI Penny Royal, who everyone thought was dead. Meanwhile, in deep space, the mechanism the Atheter used to reduce themselves to animals, stirs from slumber and begins to power-up its weapons." - www.fantasticfiction.co.uk.
This is book four in the author's Polity series which began with Prador Moon.

After America by John Birmingham. Pan Macmillan Australia. Print Length: 480 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Our world went to hell on March 14, 2003. Four years after an inexplicable wave of energy decimated the American mainland, and then just as inexplicably disappeared a year later, US President James Kipper is no closer to explaining the catastrophe to the traumatized survivors. In a decaying New York City, an assassination attempt on the President prompts the suspicion that the looters overrunning Manhattan may be more organised and sinister than previously thought. Working on a farm in Texas to earn his citizenship, Miguel Pieraro believes in the promise of the New America. That is until tragedy cuts through his family. In the English countryside, Echelon agent Caitlin Monroe must once again fight for her life, a sharp reminder that her nemesis is active again. Then out of the smoking ruin of the Middle East comes an enemy that will be Kipper's toughest challenge yet. The battle for the Wild East is just beginning, but does this New America, and its gun-shy President, have the strength of will to destroy the past in order to save the future?" - Amazon.

ROMANCE

Orchard Valley Brides by Debbie Macomber. Mira. Print Length: 400 p. Kindle edition $5.49. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Norah Bloomfield is feeling a bit unneeded these days. Her father is recovering from his heart attack, and her sisters, Valerie and Stephanie, are busy planning their weddings. But then a cantankerous Texan named Rowdy Cassidy crashes his small plane in Orchard Valley. The same Rowdy Cassidy who'd been Valerie's boss and who'd demanded she marry him. Now he's Norah's patient, and in all her nursing experience she's never encountered a more difficult man. Or a more irresistible one! Except...is he still in love with her sister? When Norah's friend Sherry Waterman leaves Orchard Valley, Oregon, for Pepper, Texas, she's definitely not in the mood for Lone Star Lovin'. But if anyone can change her mind, it's Cody Bailman - a hardworking, good-looking rancher... " - Amazon.


Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt. Grand Central Publishing. Print Length: 416 p. Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"...brings steamy sensuality to the slums of early 18th-century London...Demure widow Temperance Dews desperately needs funding for her orphanage. Lazarus Huntington, the famously debauched Lord Caire, needs to find out who murdered one of his mistresses. Lazarus offers Temperance an interesting bargain: if she will be his guide in the grimy neighborhood of St. Giles, he will pay the rent she owes and introduce her to more respectable nobility who might serve as patrons. Dire circumstances force the pair into intimate situations as they discover each other's deepest secrets, and Temperance reveals the passion hidden beneath her puritanical dress. Readers will enjoy the unusual pairing of an aristocratic man and a poor but educated widow, enhanced by earthy, richly detailed characterizations and deft historical touches." - Publishers Weekly.

Veil of Night by Linda Howard. Ballantine Books. Print Length: 256 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Jaclyn Wilde is a wedding planner who loves her job—usually. But helping Carrie Edwards with her Big Day has been an unrelenting nightmare. Carrie is a bridezilla of mythic nastiness, a diva whose tantrums are just about as crazy as her demands. But the unpleasant task at hand turns seriously criminal when Carrie is brutally murdered and everyone involved with the ceremony is accusing one another of doing the deed. The problem is, most everyone—from the cake maker and the florist to the wedding-gown retailer and the bridesmaids’ dressmaker - had his or her own reason for wanting the bride dead, including Jaclyn. And while those who felt Carrie’s wrath are now smiling at her demise, Jaclyn refuses to celebrate tragedy, especially since she finds herself in the shadow of suspicion. Assigned to the case, Detective Eric Wilder finds that there’s too much evidence pointing toward too many suspects. Compounding his problems is Jaclyn, with whom he shared one deeply passionate night before Carrie’s death. Being a prime suspect means that Jaclyn is hands-off just when Eric would rather be hands-on." - Amazon.

WESTERNS

The Day the Cowboys Quit by Elmer Kelton. Forge Books. Print Length: 288 p. Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"From one of the West's greatest living storytellers, winner of numerous awards, including the Golden Spur, the Saddleman, and the Western Heritage Award, here is Elmer Kelton's rousing novel of the Canadian River cowboy strike of 1883. This was cowboy country once: a land of hardworking hands who rode for the brand come hell or high water. Now a different breed is moving in - big outfits backed by Eastern syndicates and run by power-hungry 'managers,' men who figure to make a profit, even if it means crowding a cowboy too far. Hugh Hitchcock tried to keep the peace between rancher and cowboy, but when push came to shove the wagon boss knew where his loyalties lay. And when the ranchers stole his cattle, when they lynched his friend and hired a back shooter to put him in his grave, he kept on fighting...because even is they took everything he had, they couldn't touch his pride - or his willingness to fight to the bloody end." - Publisher.

Zeke and Ned by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. Simon & Schuster. Print Length: 416 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
Originally published in 1997 and now available in a Kindle edition.
"McMurty and Ossana employ a technique they used successfully in Pretty Boy Floyd, in which a historical character of legendary proportions become the hero of a modern work of fiction. This work focuses on Zeke Proctor and Ned Christie, Cherokee Indians who became folk heroes in the Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s. Unforgiven wrongs that festered since the removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia in the 1830s become a moving force in the story of a casual love affair gone awry and the bloody feud and even bloodier legal actions that transpire when federal judges intervene. McMurty paints Zeke's courtship, murder trial, and marriage debacle with broad humor, and Ossana takes the story home with Ned's four-year standoff of armed federal marshals dispatched to take him dead or alive. A wonderfully readable historical novel that furthers the understanding of the Native-white disputes of the last century." - Thomas L. Kilpatrick for Library Journal.

Slaughter of Eagles by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone. (Eagles, 15). Pinnacle Books. Print Length: 352 p. Kindle edition $4.47. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In Phoenix a sheriff guns down a banker and robs him of a document. Going to the banker's aid, a witness hears the dying man's last words and takes hold of the map the sheriff was really after. By the time the crooked lawman realizes he has the wrong document, Jolene Wellington is on the run - and framed for the murder of the banker. Back east, Falcon MacCallister's famous brother and sister plead with him to find a young woman who has vanished out West. Her name is Jolene Wellington..." - Amazon.

Longarm and the Santiago Pistoleers by Tabor Evans. (Longarm, 381). Jove. Print Length: 192 p. Kindle edition $4.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Longarm's trailing a young killer, and the only badge-toter fit to help him is the sheriff's beautiful daughter - a little firecracker name Jessie Peckinpah." - Amazon.

Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (16 Aug 2010)

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and generate interest in their work. 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 THE CBS EARLY SHOW (10 AUG 10):
Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey Into Seeing in Three Dimensions, by Susan R. Barry. Basic Books. Print Length: 272 p. Kindle edition $9.77. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When neuroscientist Susan Barry was fifty years old, she took an unforgettable trip to Manhattan. As she emerged from the dim light of the subway into the sunshine, she saw a view of the city that she had witnessed many times in the past but now saw in an astonishingly new way. Skyscrapers on street corners appeared to loom out toward her like the bows of giant ships. Tree branches projected upward and outward, enclosing and commanding palpable volumes of space. With each glance, she experienced the deliriously novel sense of immersion in a three dimensional world. Barry had been cross-eyed and stereo-blind since early infancy. After half a century of perceiving her surroundings as flat and compressed, on that day she was seeing Manhattan in stereo depth for first time in her life. As a neuroscientist, she understood just how extraordinary this transformation was, not only for herself but for the scientific understanding of the human brain. Scientists have long believed that the brain is malleable only during a critical period in early childhood. According to this theory, Barry's brain had organized itself when she was a baby to avoid double vision - and there was no way to rewire it as an adult. But Barry found an optometrist who prescribed a little-known program of vision therapy; after intensive training, Barry was ultimately able to accomplish what other scientists and even she herself had once considered impossible. A revelatory account of the brain's capacity for change, Fixing My Gaze describes Barry's remarkable journey and celebrates the joyous pleasure of our senses." - Amazon.

ON ABC'S 20/20 (13 AUG 10):
The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases, by Michael Capuzzo. Gotham Books. Print Length: 448 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Three of the greatest detectives in the world - a renowned FBI agent turned private eye, a sculptor and lothario who speaks to the dead, and an eccentric profiler known as 'the living Sherlock Holmes' - were heartsick over the growing tide of unsolved murders. Good friends and sometime rivals William Fleisher, Frank Bender, and Richard Walter decided one day over lunch that something had to be done, and pledged themselves to a grand quest for justice. The three men invited the greatest collection of forensic investigators ever assembled, drawn from five continents, to the Downtown Club in Philadelphia to begin an audacious quest: to bring the coldest killers in the world to an accounting. The Murder Room draws the reader into a chilling, darkly humorous, awe-inspiring world as the three partners travel far from their Victorian dining room to hunt the ruthless killers of a millionaire's son, a serial killer who carves off faces, and a child killer enjoying fifty years of freedom and dark fantasy. ...Michael Capuzzo's brilliant storytelling brings true crime to life more realistically and vividly than it has ever been portrayed before." - Amazon.

ON OPRAH (13 AUG 10):
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Penguin. Print Length: 352 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy's buffet of delights - the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners - Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. 'I came to Italy pinched and thin,' she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise 'betwixt and between' realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair. Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry - conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor - as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression." - Publishers Weekly.

ON CSPANS' BOOK TV (16 AUG 10):
Lost Rights: The Misadventures of a Stolen American Relic, by David Howard. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Print Length: 352 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"David Howard follows the travels of one of the original fourteen copies of the Bill of Rights. The document was stolen by a unknown Union infantryman from the North Carolina state house near the end of the Civil War. It was later purchased by an Indiana businessman for $5 whose family later sold it 134 years later to an appraiser for $200,000. Howard, details the government's search for the document and it's eventual return to the North Carolina state house." - www.booktv.org.
"The tale pulsates with dynamic personalities greatly affected by their connection to one of the rarest, most influential and valuable documents in American history. Howard has produced a marvelously compelling read." - Publishers Weekly.

ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (17 AUG 10) and NPR'S DIANE REHM SHOW (18 AUG 10):
Through a Dog's Eyes, by Jennifer Arnold. Spiegel & Grau. Print Length: 224 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Arnold, founder and executive director of Canine Assistants, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing service dogs for people with disabilities, educates and inspires in this transformative guide to training and celebrating service animals. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 16, Arnold was encouraged by her father to start an organization devoted to helping people with physical disabilities. Now after 20 years of dog training, she shares her methodology and stories of canine intelligence, sensitivity, language comprehension, and prescience bordering on telepathy. She offers shining examples of the heroism of service dogs, from anticipating seizures to resetting a ventilator switch. Along the way, she emphasizes choice-based, positive-reinforcement-only teaching methods and shares valuable insights that every dog owner should know." - Publishers Weekly.

Kindle Genre Watch: New in Mystery & Fantasy Fiction (14 Aug 2010)

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 releases in mystery and fantasy fiction include:

MYSTERIES/THRILLERS

Tough Customer by Sandra Brown. Simon & Schuster. Print length: 288 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Colleagues, friends, and lovers know Dodge Hanley as a private investigator who doesn’t let rules get in his way - in his private life as well as his professional one. That’s why he’s the first person Caroline King - who after a thirty-year separation continues to haunt his dreams - asks for help when a deranged stalker attempts to murder their daughter...the daughter Dodge has never met. He has a whole bagful of grudging excuses for wishing to ignore Caroline’s call, and one compelling reason to drop everything and fly down to Texas: guilt. Dodge’s mind may be a haze of disturbing memories and bad decisions, but he arrives in Houston knowing with perfect clarity that his daughter, Berry, is in danger. She has become the object of desire of a co-worker, a madman and genius with a penchant for puzzles and games who has spent the past year making Berry’s life hell, and who now has vowed to kill her..." - Amazon.

Star Island by Carl Hiaasen. Knopf. Print length: 352 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"The career of singer Cheryl Bunterman (aka Cherry Pye), who debuted with Jailbait Records at age 15, is foundering due to her lack of talent and indiscriminate appetite for drugs, booze, and sex in this outrageous, offbeat novel from Hiaasen. Among those struggling to keep Cherry's career afloat are her mother, Janet Bunterman; producer Maury Lykes; and 'undercover stunt double' Ann DeLusia, who will, say, mislead the press into thinking Cherry is out and about when she's really in rehab. Hiaasen has easy targets in misbehaving celebrity sightings, tabloid stalkings, and spin control experts, and he makes the most of them. Crooked real estate developer Jackie Sebago and paparazzo Bang Abbott, who plans to hitch his wagon to Cherry's star, add to the madcap fun. Mayhem follows after Bang kidnaps Ann instead of Cherry by mistake, and ex-Florida governor and eco-vigilante Clinton 'Skink' Tyree, who was smitten with Ann after a chance encounter, rushes to her rescue..." Publishers Weekly.

Rules of Betrayal by Christopher Reich. Doubleday. Print length: 368 p. Kindle edition $14.27. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
This is the 3rd book by Reich to feature Doctor Jonathan Ransom, following Rules of Deception and Rules of Vengeance.
"Surgeon Jonathan Ransom and his secret-agent wife, Emma, return in this third installment of Reich's Rules series. Working in Afghanistan for Doctors without Borders, Jonathan has an accidental encounter with a terrorist, from whom he barely escapes. Back in the U.S., he is recruited by his wife's agency. Emma has disappeared while investigating the possible acquisition of a nuclear weapon by a terrorist cell, and now her only hope of rescue lies with her husband. Does Jonathan have the skills to become a spy and save the woman he loves? Of course, betrayal is the name of the game here. Reich's ability to craft tense story lines and to populate his high-concept spy thrillers with fully developed main characters quickly have made him one of the new masters in the spy game..." - Jeff Ayers for Booklist.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. St. Martin's Press. Print length: 352 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...a psychological thriller that pulls no punches and has a title that couldn’t be more apt. If Annie O’Sullivan’s mother isn’t exactly a warm and fuzzy parent, everything else in Annie’s life is great: she has a handsome, attentive boyfriend; loyal friends; and a real-estate career on the upswing. All that comes clear in the first few pages. Then, at an open house one sunny afternoon, a stranger with tousled blond hair and a pleasant manner kidnaps her, takes her to a remote cabin, and rapes and enslaves her. In an angry voice that unsuccessfully tries to mask her fear and pain, Annie gradually reveals, to her unnamed shrink, what she endured during her captivity - and how she is coping since her return home. People tell her she is lucky to be back, but fragile and stripped of her dignity, Annie makes a compelling case for the idea that she is really 'still missing.' Relentless and disturbing, Stevens’ dark, mesmerizing character study follows a twisted path from victimhood toward self-empowerment." - Stephanie Zvirin for Booklist.

FANTASY

Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong. Dutton. Print length: 320 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is book eleven in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series.
"At twenty-one, Savannah Levine - orphaned daughter of a notorious dark witch and an equally notorious cutthroat sorcerer - considers herself a full-fledged member of the otherworld. The once rebellious teen has grown into a six-foot-tall, motorcycle-riding jaw-dropper, with an impressive knowledge of and ability to perform spells. The only problem is, she's having a hard time convincing her adoptive parents, Paige and Lucas, to take her seriously as an adult. She's working as the research assistant at the detective agency they founded, and when they take off on a romantic vacation alone, leaving her in charge, Savannah finds herself itching for a case to call her own...Suddenly, Savannah gets the chance she's been waiting for: Recruited by another supernatural detective, she travels to Columbus, Washington, a small, dying town. Two troubled young women have been found in an abandoned warehouse, murdered. Now a third woman's dead, and on closer inspection small details point to darker forces at play..." - Amazon.

Death's Excellent Vacation edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner. Ace. Print length: 352 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"With an all-new Sookie Stackhouse story and twelve other original tales, editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner bring together a stellar collection of tour guides who offer vacations that are frightening, funny, and touching for the fanged, the furry, the demonic, and the grotesque." - Amazon.

City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane. Del Rey. Print length: 352 p. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
This is book three of the author's Downside Ghosts series, following Unholy Ghosts and Unholy Magic.
"Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case. Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime boss - and Chess’s drug dealer - gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity. Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magic—all while coping with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead." - Amazon.

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. Tor Books. Print length: 304 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...an intimate portrait of Jane Ellsworth, a woman ahead of her time in a version of Regency England where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality. But despite the prevalence of magic in everyday life, other aspects of Dorchester’s society are not that different: Jane and her sister Melody’s lives still revolve around vying for the attentions of eligible men. Jane resists this fate, and rightly so: while her skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face, and therefore wins the lion’s share of the attention. At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, Jane has resigned herself to being invisible forever. But when her family’s honor is threatened, she finds that she must push her skills to the limit in order to set things right - and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own." - www.maryrobinettekowal.com

Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead. Zebra Books. Print length: 320 p. Kindle edition $5.11. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical? But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore - free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen... But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny." - Amazon.

Stormlord Rising by Glenda Larke. Orbit. Print length: 704 p. Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is book two in Larke's Watergiver series, following The Last Stormlord.
"The last Stormlord is dead. War has come to the cities of the Quartern. The violent, nomadic Redunners have put every rainlord they could find to the sword and the cities are left without hope. Shale has been betrayed, drugged, and left at the feet of his greatest enemy. Now, he must decide to work with those who have plotted against him or let thousands of the waterless die. Terelle has escaped the Scarpen in search of her homeland and her people, the mysterious Watergivers. But a desperate message will send her back to find Shale and face her worst fears. The people of the Scarpen are in danger. Shale and Terelle must find a way to save their people and punish those who have destroyed all they ever loved." - Amazon.

A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 13 Aug 2010

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the August 13th issue include:


The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise, by Julia Stuart. Doubleday. Print length: 304 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "History buffs, animal lovers, and simply the tenderhearted will swoon over this captivating story." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years. That’s right, he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). It’s no easy job living and working in the tourist attraction in present-day London. Among the eccentric characters who call the Tower’s maze of ancient buildings and spiral staircases home are the Tower’s Rack & Ruin barmaid, Ruby Dore, who just found out she’s pregnant; portly Valerie Jennings, who is falling for ticket inspector Arthur Catnip; the lifelong bachelor Reverend Septimus Drew, who secretly pens a series of principled erot­ica; and the philandering Ravenmaster, aiming to avenge the death of one of his insufferable ravens. When Balthazar is tasked with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all the more interest­ing. ...a magical, wholly original novel whose irresistible characters will stay with you long after you turn the stunning last page." - Amazon.

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, by Mary Roach. W. W. Norton & Company. Print length: 334 p. NONFICTION. EW's slant: "...truly funny look at the less majestic aspects of the space program..." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $11.69. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"With her wry humor and inextinguishable curiosity, Mary Roach has crafted her own quirky niche in the somewhat staid world of science writing, showing no fear (or shame) in the face of cadavers, ectoplasm, or sex. In Packing for Mars, Roach tackles the strange science of space travel, and the psychology, technology, and politics that go into sending a crew into orbit. Roach is unfailingly inquisitive (Why is it impolite for astronauts to float upside down during conversations? Just how smelly does a spacecraft get after a two week mission?), and she eagerly seeks out the stories that don't make it onto NASA's website- - from SPCA-certified space suits for chimps, to the trial-and-error approach to crafting menus during the space program's early years (when the chefs are former livestock veterinarians, taste isn't high on the priority list). Packing for Mars is a book for grownups who still secretly dream of being astronauts..." - Lynette Mong.

The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Edition, by Peg Bracken. Grand Central Publishing. Print length: 224 p. NONFICTION. EW's slant: "...its appeal seems timeless. I made that stroganoff in 25 minutes flat." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (17 reviews). Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Philosopher's Chowder. Skinny Meatloaf. Fat Man's Shrimp. Immediate Fudge Cake. These are just a few of the beloved recipes from Peg Bracken's classic I Hate to Cook Book. Written in a time when women were expected to have full, delicious meals on the table for their families every night, Peg Bracken offered women who didn't revel in this obligation an alternative: quick, simple meals that took minimal effort but would still satisfy."
"Today there is an Annual Culinary Olympics, with hundreds of cooks from many countries ardently competing. But we who hate to cook have had our own Olympics for years, seeing who can get out of the kitchen the fastest and stay out the longest." - Peg Bracken.

You Lost Me There, by Rosecrans Baldwin. Riverhead. Print length: 304 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...beautiful, brainy, offbeat first novel." Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Months after his wife, Sara, is killed in a car accident, Dr. Victor Aaron is still in the throes of mourning, although he has rather peculiar ways of showing it. By day, Aaron functions as a dedicated lab rat, heading groundbreaking research and trolling for corporate grants. By night, he conducts a sexually intense but ultimately unsatisfying affair with a considerably younger graduate student named Regina, whom he pursues to the point of stalking. Further complicating his recovery are his weekly command-performance dinners with his wife's elderly aunt Betsy and the sudden appearance of his goddaughter, Cornelia, who moves in with him while interning at a local restaurant. Amid the chaos, Aaron spends his insomnia-fueled nights combing through Sara's belongings until the discovery of a series of disturbing notes, in which she chronicled the tumultuous years of their marriage, sends him into further despair. ...a capricious, poignant, yet oddly perceptive account of the quixotic nature of relationships and the fallacies of memory. - Carol Haggas for Booklist.

Another Wizard Named Harry: The Dresden Files for the Kindle

The Dresden Files is an urban fantasy series spotlighting the talents of Chicago's only modern-day wizard - at least the only one listed in the Chicago yellow pages under "wizard".
Harry Dresden works out of a shabby office (think the Maltese Falcon) earning a meager living as a detective specializing in paranormal investigations. On his office door is a sign reading "Harry Dresden - Wizard, Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment." Not many clients knock at his door, but when they do, Harry usually ends up in mortal danger which he faces with not a small touch of sarcasm.

A word to the wise: It's a good idea to read The Dresden Files in order if you wish to keep track of the characters and plot twists.

Books in the series - all of which are available for Kindle readers - include:


Storm Front.
"Harry Dresden is the best at what he does...There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get... interesting." - Amazon.

Fool Moon.
"A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses — and the first two don't count..." Jim Butcher's website.

Grave Peril.
"...a haunting, fantastical novel that begins almost as innocently as those of another famous literary wizard named Harry. In the opening scene, Dresden and his knight friend, Michael, battle the ghost of a woman who is terrorizing a local hospital's maternity ward. From there, the novel quickly evolves into an unorthodox tale spiced with sexual innuendo and subtle humor..." - Publishers Weekly.

Summer Knight.
"Private detective/wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden is suckered into tangling in the affairs of Faerie, where the fate of the entire world--and his soul--are at stake." - Amazon.

Death Masks.
"Harry Dresden is not having a good day. A vampire named Ortega is hunting the beleaguered wizard, intending to challenge him to a duel that, Ortega claims, will end the war between the vampires and the wizards. Harry has almost no hope of winning the duel, but soon he is preoccupied by another problem: Father Vincent, a priest, needs Harry's help in finding the Shroud of Turin, stolen by a trio of thieves. Harry traces two of the thieves to his hometown, Chicago, but when he finds them, he learns that he isn't the only one after them." - Booklist.

Blood Rites.
"Per usual, wizard-detective extraordinaire Harry Dresden is in trouble. He barely escapes an assassination attempt...when Thomas, a vampire who has helped Harry out on occasion, asks him to take a case. It seems someone doesn't want porno film director Arturo Genosa's latest effort to get off the ground. An entropy spell has killed two of Arturo's assistants, and Thomas wants Harry to find the culprit. With suspects abounding--Arturo has no fewer than three ex-wives--Harry decides to pose as a production assistant at the studio." - Booklist.

Dead Beat.
"Harry Dresden must save Chicago from black magic and necromancy -- but first, he must locate the Word of Kemmler. Just as soon as he figures out what that is. It's all in a day's work for the city's only professional wizard ... assuming he can live to see the end of the day." - Jim Butcher's web site.

Proven Guilty.
"Harry Dresden, Chicago's only consulting wizard, takes on phobophages, creatures that feed on fear who attack a horror film convention, in the diverting eighth installment of Butcher's increasingly complicated Dresden Files series (Dead Beat, etc.). Harry finds that fighting monsters is only the prelude to maneuvers amid the warring wizards of the White Council and the vampire Red Court." - Publishers Weekly."

White Night.
"Hardboiled wizard detective Harry Dresden learns that someone is killing Chicago's minor wizards. Joined by his police friend, Sergeant Murphy, and his Amazonian apprentice, Molly Carpenter, Harry discovers that his brother, Thomas, is a prime suspect." - Publishers Weekly.

Small Favor.
"Intricate yet accessible plotting and near-Arctic winter weather mark the 10th Harry Dresden adventure from bestseller Butcher... A friendly snowball fight opens the Chicago-based wizard-detective's latest tale, but it's not long before a host of more dangerous foes are out for Harry's blood. A missing human mobster is said to be seeking greater influence among Chicago's extranormal population, but the true threat proves both more subtle and of much greater consequence. Butcher smoothly manages a sizable cast of allies and adversaries, doles out needed backstory with crisp efficiency and sustains just the right balance of hair's-breadth tension and comic relief." - Publishers Weekly.

Turn Coat.
"Once just Chicago’s only wizard PI, Harry is now a warden of the White Council of Wizards - that is, one of the enforcers of its rules - and it seems as though every time he gets a better grasp on his magical strength, his enemies worsen. When the 'parole officer' of Harry’s youth, Morgan, grievously injured and pursued by the wardens, comes to Harry for help, it’s the opening salvo of serious confrontation with the council. Morgan stands accused of killing senior council member LaFortier. The murder was certainly an inside job, and time is short to find the real killer before Morgan is summarily executed...Fortunately, Harry’s sense of humor lightens the tone of even the most serious confrontation..." - Regina Schroeder for Booklist.

Changes.
"Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden's lover - until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it. Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it - against Harry. To prevail this time, he may have no choice but to embrace the raging fury of his own untapped dark power. Because Harry's not fighting to save the world... He's fighting to save his child." - Amazon.

In 2007, The Dresden Files, the television series, aired for one season on the Sci Fi Channel. For more information about Jim Butcher and his novels visit his web site.