Kindle Book Du Jour: A Mystery Spiced with Scientific Intrigue

Some Kindle readers, having spent a good chunk of their hard-earned money for a Kindle, look for free books to add to their new e-book library. Others find that they can now afford to read the latest best-sellers for less than than buying them in hard-cover. This Kindle Book Du Jour feature gives you a third alternative, spotlighting backlisted books you might have missed when they were first published.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. Crown, 2006. Print length: 480 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (181 reviews). Kindle edition $9.66. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In July 1910, a sensational news story spread around the world: An American doctor wanted in London for the gruesome murder of his wife - she was poisoned, flayed, deboned and buried in the couple's basement - was fleeing justice on an ocean liner headed from Antwerp to Quebec City. He was accompanied by a young woman, his lover, who was disguised as a boy. Another ship, bearing the Scotland Yard inspector in charge of the case, gave chase. Through the new technology of wireless communication, which miraculously allowed ships at sea to communicate with one another and with people on land, newspapers far and wide breathlessly reported the chase as it happened. In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the story of the events leading to this moment... Against a panoply of late-Victorian and Edwardian society and with entertaining verve and colorful style, he weaves together the lives of Hawley Harvey Crippen, murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the genius responsible for wireless technology..." - Lauren Belfer for The Washington Post.

Brief Excerpt:
"A note to readers: There is murder in this book, the second most famous in England, but what I intend here is more than a saga of violence. P.D. James in The Murder Room has one of her characters observe, 'Murder, the unique crime, is a paradigm of its age.' By chronicling the converging stories of a killer and an inventor, I hope to present a fresh portrait of the period 1900 to 1910, when Edward VII ruled the British Empire with a slightly pudgy cigar-stained hand, assuring his subjects that duty was important but so too was fun. 'It doesn't matter what you do,' he said, 'so long as you don't frighten the horses.'"

Also by Erik Larson
The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America. Publisher. Print length: 447 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars. Kindle edition $6.64. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works." - John Moe for Amazon.

Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (28 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 NBC'S TODAY SHOW (24 SEP 2010):
Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle, by Ingrid Bentancourt. Penguin. Print Length:544 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Born in Bogotá, raised in France, Ingrid Betancourt at the age of thirty-two gave up a life of comfort and safety to return to Colombia to become a political leader in a country that was being slowly destroyed by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. In 2002, while campaigning as a candidate in the Colombian presidential elections, she was abducted by the FARC. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next. She would spend the next six and a half years in the depths of the jungle as a prisoner of the FARC. Even Silence Has an End is her deeply personal and moving account of that time... The facts of her story are astounding, but it is Betancourt's indomitable spirit that drives this very special account, bringing life, nuance, and profundity to the narrative." - Amazon.

ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (24 SEP 2010):
Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen, by Vince Neil with Mike Sager. Grand Central Publishing. Print Length: 336 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Raised in Compton, Calif., just as gangs were starting to take over, Neil turned multiracial good looks and a bad attitude into a career singing for the leading hair band of the 1980s. Mötley Crüe embraced the values of rock star excess and garnered fame as much for their drunken exploits as for their music. In one grim episode, an inebriated Neil crashed his Ford Pantera into a Volkswagen, killing his passenger and critically injuring two others. Later, Neil was ejected from the band but eventually returned. Today, he lives in Vegas, making music and running several businesses, including a chain of tattoo parlors. Neil makes no pretense of being thoughtful or reflective, but with Sager's help he's done a more than adequate job of representing himself... Interviews with friends, business associates, and ex-wives bring much-needed depth to the narrative. To his credit, Neil deals honestly with the suffering he's caused." - Publishers Weekly.

ON CSPAN'S BOOK TV (25 SEP 2010):
The Truth About Obamacare, by Sally C. Pipes. Regnery Press. Print Length: 256 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that will lead to the largest expansion of government in the history of the United States. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was more than 2,400 pages long and will reportedly cost a cool $1 trillion over ten years, give or take a few hundred billion. But sticker shock is just the beginning. In The Truth about Obamacare, Sally Pipes shows how Obama’s health care 'reform' will crash into our economy and culture with a tidal wave of regulations that, taken together, will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and see our doctors. How will all those changes affect you, your family, and your fellow Americans? Pipes goes over the bill with a fine-tooth comb, laying out the specifics..." - publisher.

ON CSPAN'S BOOK TV (25 SEP 2010):
Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women, by Rebecca Traister. Free Press. Print Length: 304 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"...in her electrifying, incisive and highly entertaining first book, Traister tells a terrific story and makes sense of a moment in American history that changed the country’s narrative in ways that no one anticipated.It was all as unpredictable as it was riveting: Hillary Clinton’s improbable rise, her fall and her insistence (to the consternation of her party and the media) on pushing forward straight through to her remarkable phoenix flight from the race; Sarah Palin’s attempt not only to fill the void left by Clinton, but to alter the very definition of feminism and claim some version of it for conservatives; liberal rapture over Barack Obama and the historic election of our first African-American president; the media microscope trained on Michelle Obama, harsher even than the one Hillary had endured fifteen years earlier. Meanwhile, media women like Katie Couric and Rachel Maddow altered the course of the election, and comedians like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler helped make feminism funny. What did all this mean to the millions of people who were glued to their TV sets, and for the country, its history and its future?..." - Amazon.

ON THE FOX HUCKABEE SHOW (25 SEP 2010):
Mao's Last Dancer, by Li Cunxin. Berkley. Print Length: 528 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to Beijing, where he would study ballet. In 1979, the young dancer arrived in Texas as part of a cultural exchange, only to fall in love with America - and with an American woman. Two years later, through a series of events worthy of the most exciting cloak-and-dagger fiction, he defected to the United States, where he quickly became known as one of the greatest ballet dancers in the world. This is his story, told in his own inimitable voice." - Amazon.

ON ABC'S NIGHTLINE (27 SEP 2010) and ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (28 SEP 2010):
Obama's Wars, by Bob Woodward. Simon & Schuster. Print Length: 416 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"...the most intimate and sweeping portrait yet of the young president as commander in chief. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward tells the inside story of Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret campaign in Pakistan and the worldwide fight against terrorism. At the core of Obama's Wars is the unsettled division between the civilian leadership in the White House and the United States military as the president is thwarted in his efforts to craft an exit plan for the Afghanistan War." - Publisher.
Bob Woodward, a reporter and editor at The Washington Post since 1971, has authored or coauthored ten New York Times #1 bestsellers.

ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE DAILY SHOW (28 SEP 2010):
Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream, by Arianna Huffington. Crown. Print Length: 208 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"It’s not an exaggeration to say that middle-class Americans are an endangered species and that the American Dream of a secure, comfortable standard of living has become as outdated as an Edsel with an eight-track player. That the United States of America is in danger of becoming a third world nation. The evidence is all around us... Arianna Huffington, who, with the must-read Huffington Post, has her finger on the pulse of America, unflinchingly tracks the gradual demise of America as an industrial, political, and economic leader. In the vein of her fiery bestseller Pigs at the Trough, Third World America points fingers, names names, and details who’s killing the American Dream. Finally, calling on the can-do attitude that is part of America’s DNA, Huffington shows precisely what we need to do to stop our freefall and keep America from turning into a third world nation. - www.randomhouse.com/

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Kindle E-Books on the Cheap: A Weekly Selection (26 Sept 2010)

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.

Free or inexpensive e-book selections for this week include science fiction and fantasy with more than a touch of humor, a lot of dogs (some of whom are detectives), a larger than life barbarian - but aren't they all - and a coming-of-age novel narrated by a boy growing up in a dog zoo in Florida.

The Eye of Wilbur Mook, by H. B. Hickey. FANTASY. Download site: MobileRead. Format: .mobi for Kindle. Price: $0.00.
When the world's most cowardly man met the world's bravest - history was changed. Wilbur Mook , a timid greeting card writer, reluctantly accompanies a strange old man named Merlin back in time to the days of knights and other scary characters. Originally published in Amazing Stories magazine, November, 1948.

The Mouse in the Mountain by Norbert Davis. MYSTERY. Download site: Amazon. Format: .AZW for Kindle. Price: $0.99.
"Doan, the 'hero' of this story is a small-time detective with a dry, sardonic wit, and a huge Great Dane (Carstairs - don't call him a 'pet') in these absolutely delightful series of humor-tinged mysteries. Great fun that shouldn't be missed! In this adventure, the duo travel to Mexico during World War 2, along with an heiress, a revolutionary, an artist, and more than a few mysteries. Complex characters and good, sometimes surreal humor." - Amazon.

Vengar the Barbarian (The King, His Son, Their Sorcerer and His Lover), by Chris J. Randolph. FANTASY. Download site: Amazon. Format: .azw for Kindle. Price: $0.89.
"Welcome to the Hyperbolic Age, a prehistoric era when men were mighty, women were buxom, and neither could be trusted in the dark. Into this melodramatic yet somehow lost epoch strides a mighty figure, a king cursed to never again remember his homeland who wanders the thousand and one kingdoms in search of what he's lost. His name is Vengar, and he's a barbarian. Shudder with terror as our hulking hero faces unearthly creatures from the furthest reaches of possibility. Thrill as he seduces luscious ladies and wages war against vile sorcerers, and shake your head in dismay as he makes far too many decisions with that certain part of the male anatomy. When Vengar comes to the sandstone city of Tensara, a mysterious maiden begs him to rescue her sister from a wicked sorcerer. He accepts the mission but it quickly turns into more than he bargained for, leaving him tangled up in a dastardly plot to start a civil war. At roughly 30 pages, The King, His Son, Their Sorcerer and His Lover is a ton of fun in a bite-size package. 'The perfect afternoon read,' says the author's mother, and we think you'll agree." - Amazon.

Dogland, by Will Shetterly. FANTASY.  Download site: ManyBooks. Format: Kindle (.azw). Price: $0.00.
"The Nix family has arrived. And Latchahie County will never be the same. In an effort at improving his family's lot, the Nixes have moved to rural Florida to open Dogland: a combination zoo, restaurant and motel. But it isn't long before Nix and his clan of eccentric supporters run afoul of unsympathetic locals. The problem? Luke Nix has hired Ethorne Hawkins. Hawkins is black. And it's 1959."

In Dog We Trust: A Steve and Rochester Mystery, by Neil S. Plakcy. MYSTERY. Download site: Amazon. Format: Kindle (.azw). Price: $2.39.
"After a bad divorce and a brief prison term for computer hacking, 42-year-old Steve Levitan has returned to his home town of Stewart’s Crossing and taken a part-time job as an adjunct professor of English at his alma mater, Eastern College. While walking around his gated community, he becomes friendly with his next-door neighbor, Caroline Kelly, and her golden retriever, Rochester. When Caroline is shot and killed while walking Rochester, Steve becomes the dog’s temporary guardian. Together, these two unlikely sleuths work to uncover the mystery behind Caroline’s death." - Amazon.

Danger in Deep Space, by Carey Rockwell. SCIENCE FICTION. Download site: MobileRead. Format: .mobi for Kindle. Price: $0.00.
"The book you hold in your hands - second in the Tom Corbett series by 'Carey Rockwell' - is something special. Oh, it was a work made for hire, and after it had its day, even the author (whoever he was in real life) forgot he'd done it. But believe it or not, this book is really pretty neat. It's the tale of three young space cadets of the Solar Guard: it starts with space maneuvers and a mock attack, and run through complications on places like Venus and Tara. Cool stuff! Read it now!" - MobileRead.

Murder in the Library: A Cozy Mystery Series for the Kindle

If you enjoy character-driven cozy mysteries and haven't met Miss Zukas, you really should. Miss Zukas is a reference librarian in the Bellehaven, Washington public library who, with her exuberant artist friend Ruth, seems to encounter more than her share of cadavers whose demise she feels compelled to investigate. Helma Zukas, a send-off of the stereotypical prim and proper librarian, uses logic, persistence and an insatiable thirst for knowledge to solve crimes she is not invited to solve by the local police. While the quirky Helma can be maddening at times, she's comfortable in her own skin and the first friend you'd call on in a crisis.

Author Jo Dereske, uses her Lithuanian heritage and many years of living in northwestern Washington - Bellehaven is a fictitional version of Bellingham - to add color to the series and anyone who has worked in a library will appreciate her evident knowledge of the behind-the-scenes goings-on in a busy public library.

All books in the series are now available in Kindle editions. In order of publication they are:

Miss Zukas and the Library Murders. Avon/Harper Collins. Print Length: 272 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (13 reviews). Kindle edition $5.53. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When a body turns up in the middle of the fiction stacks, the police are baffled. But Miss Helma Zukas is tracking some baffling questions of her own. With the aid of her not-so-proper best friend, Ruth, a six-foot-tall bohemian artist, the two are soon in hot pursuit of the truth." - http://www.jodereske.com/

Miss Zukas and the Island Murders. Avon/Harper Collins. Print Length: 288 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $5.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When an anonymous note reminds her of her vow to bring her high school classmates together for a twenty-year reunion, Miss Helma Zukas begins organizing the perfect celebration. When a secret saboteur strands Helma and her old classmates on a fogbound island with a murderer in their midst, the intrepid librarian-sleuth takes charge, with a dubious assist from her raffish friend Ruth." - Amazon.

Miss Zukas and the Stroke of Death. Avon/Harper Collins. Print Length: 210 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $5.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Librarian Miss Helma Zukas reluctantly agrees to employ her long dormant canoeing skills in the service of the Bellehaven Library relay race team in the famous Snow to Surf Race. But first she has a more pressing obligation - namely keeping her flaky artist friend, Ruth Winthrop, off Death Row. After Ruth rejects the advances of a dirty old man in a local bar, he inconveniently turns up dead outside her studio." - Amazon.

Miss Zukas and the Raven's Dance. Avon. Print Length: 256 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $5.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"A most unusual death has landed Helma Zukas right in the middle of another murder scene. Stanley Plummer had been cataloging a collection of Native American books for Bellehaven's new Cultural Center when his body was found in the center's ladies room - stabbed through the heart and clutching a Barbie doll. Miss Zukas is asked by the library to finish the cataloging. Now she's been asked by the victim - in a letter dated the day he died - to get to the bottom of the mystery." - Amazon.

Out of Circulation. Avon/Harper Collins. Print Length: 212 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $5.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Miss Helma Zukas is reluctant to go hiking on the Cascade mountains, but her friend Ruth is insistent. When she agrees to go, Helma, ever the librarian, does her research, reading up on survival techniques, packing like a pro, and making up a list for her irresponsible friend. As usual, Ruth comes unprepared, having neglected to read Helma's list. But even Helma's careful preparation couldn't have anticipated the discovery of a dead body high in the rocky wilderness." - Amazon.

Final Notice. Avon/Harper Collins. Print Length: 240 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (11 reviews). Kindle edition $5.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Librarian Helma Zukas usually keeps her home as well organized as the library where she works so she never expected a visit from her elderly Aunt Em to turn her life into chaos and provide her with the makings of a hair-raising whodunit. The moment Helma and her fearless friend Ruth arrive at the airport to pick up the slightly dotty dowager, the trouble begins when Aunt Em's purse is snatched. Helma can't believe her favorite aunt would be involved in anything unsavory but, with a little investigation, she discovers that Aunt Em's life is not quite an open book." - Amazon.

Miss Zukas in Death's Shadow. Avon/Harper Collins. Print Length: 224 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $5.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"With an audit going on at Bellehaven's Public Library, it couldn't be a worse time for librarian Helma Zukas to be serving a sentence of fifty hours of community service. But Miss Zukas stubbornly refused to pay what she thought to be an unjust traffic fine and now she's doing time at the Promise Mission for Homeless men. When Helma discovers there's a rash of thefts going on at the mission, she's appalled. Add to that, the unannounced visit of a high school flame who intends to win her hand. But none of that can compare to the shock when, during the fist night of her service, a body is found just outside the mission's back door." - Amazon.

Miss Zukas Shelves the Evidence. Avon/Harper Collins. Print Length: 256 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $5.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In a boldly personal move, Police Chief Wayne Gallant has arranged a meeting between his children and Bellehaven librarian, Helma Zukas. But the long overdue introductions are interrupted - by murder. And when the chief's investigation leads to a nearly fatal fall from a cliff, a potentially incriminating library book is found within reach. When the police demand the library turn over the borrower's name, Miss Zukas is determined to uphold the privacy rights of library patrons and deletes the information from library records - but not before she takes note of it."

Bookmarked to Die. Avon/Harper Collins. Print Length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: None yet. Kindle edition $5.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Librarian extraordinaire Miss Wilhelmina Helma Zukas wakes up on the morning of her forty-second birthday in the throes of more than one midlife crisis. Her championing a collection of local authors' works ignites a dangerous firestorm of jealousy and anger in tiny Bellehaven. She's blackmailed by her conniving boss, library director May Apple Moon, into attending group counseling sessions and two of the participants turn up dead. An obnoxiously bubbly new librarian is turning the head of Helma's longtime admirer, Police Chief Wayne Gallant. And worst of all, her uncuddly feline companion, Boy Cat Zukas, disappears." - http://www.jodereske.com/

Catalogue of Death. Harper Collins. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"At last, construction begins on a new library for Bellehaven, a gift of Franklin Harrington, scion of old Bellehaven money, and one of the locally famous Harrington triplets. But when a freak snowstorm hits, Bellehaven is brought to its knees. Not so Miss Helma Zukas who is at her post, dispensing library information, overseeing wayward employees, and soothing a busload of stranded gamblers. Suddenly, an explosion rocks the snowy day, destroying the library site, killing the benefactor and a penny–pinching city finance czar. The snow melts but not trouble. Shockingly, Ms. Moon thrusts the new library project onto Helma. And Helma soon discovers why, uncovering secrets and shady dealings from start to finish - secrets in the library, in the City, and in the Harrington family - secrets worth killing for." - Amazon.

Index to Murder. Harper Collins. Print Length: 272 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"No one could be more orderly or organized than dedicated librarian Helma Zukas. No one could be more rash and raucous than avant-garde artist Ruth Winthrop. Yet the two women are best friends and a resourceful, ingenious, crime-solving team. So when two of Ruth's latest paintings - each depicting an ex-lover who met a very untimely and mysterious end - are stolen, the amazing amateur detectives get to work. But digging through Ruth's romantic rendezvous turns up more than broken hearts. There's an angry ex-wife, a jealous fellow artist, and a rampaging group of local tree-huggers..." - Amazon.

For more information about the author and her work, stop in at Jo Dereske's website.

A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly's 17-24 Sep 2010 Issue

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the September 17-24th special double issue include:

Room, by Emma Donoghue. Little, Brown and Company. Print length: 336 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "riveting...distills what it means to be a mother..." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work." - Amazon.

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, by Danielle Evans. Riverhead. Print length: 240 p. SHORT STORIES. EW's slant:"...striking debut collection offers rich slices of African-American life." Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Young, intelligent African-Americans become vehicles for their own undoing in this collection of eight stories. Armed with no easy answers but plenty of bad choices, the talented, too-smart-for-their-own-good protagonists are painfully aware of the consequences of their actions, even when they think they have no better choice. The 15-year-old girl in 'Virgins' guiltily opts for the lesser of two evils after leaving her best friend in a precarious situation. A young mixed-race girl exiled to her white grandmother’s Tallahassee home for the summer learns a rough lesson in racial disparity - and the power of a lie. A traumatized Iraq War veteran who becomes a surrogate father to his ex’s little daughter sees his good intentions backfire, big time, over his poor judgment... A welcome new talent - with a funny and dark take on being black in America." - Kirkus Reviews (via pandeliterary.com/blog/).

Man in the Woods, by Scott Spencer. Harper Colliins. Print length: 320 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Spencer is a master of description, but he seems uncertain of his own narrative..." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Spencer, a deft explorer of obsessive love and violence, confronts the consequences of doing wrong for all the right reasons in his exquisite latest. Paul Phillips, a master carpenter, is living in bucolic upstate New York with Kate Ellis, the woman Spencer first introduced, along with her beguiling daughter, Ruby, in A Ship Made of Paper. But Paul's life begins to implode after a chance encounter results in an irrevocable act that no one witnesses, save a mixed-breed dog he renames Shep. Paul suffers the burden of his terrible secret: the fear of discovery and punishment and the equally disturbing fear of getting away with his crime." - Publishers Weekly.

NEW IN PAPERBACK AND KINDLE EDITIONS:

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America, by Barbara Ehrenreich. Metropoitan Books. Print length: 256 p. NONFICTION. EW's slant: "brilliant and incisive..." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (111 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Americans are a positive people - cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: this is our reputation as well as our self-image. But more than a temperament, being positive, we are told, is the key to success and prosperity. In this utterly original take on the American frame of mind, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the strange career of our sunny outlook from its origins as a marginal nineteenth-century healing technique to its enshrinement as a dominant, almost mandatory, cultural attitude. With the mythbusting powers for which she is acclaimed, Ehrenreich exposes the downside of America’s penchant for positive thinking: On a personal level, it leads to self-blame and a morbid preoccupation with stamping out 'negative' thoughts. On a national level, it’s brought us an era of irrational optimism resulting in disaster. This is Ehrenreich at her provocative best—poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science, and ending with a call for existential clarity and courage." - Amazon.

The Financial Lives of the Poets, by Jess Walter. Harper Collins. Print length: 304 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...edgy satire..." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (35 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"A few years ago, small-time finance journalist Matthew Prior quit his day job to gamble everything on a quixotic notion: a Web site devoted to financial journalism in the form of blank verse. When his big idea - and his wife's eBay resale business - ends with a whimper (and a garage full of unwanted figurines), they borrow and borrow, whistling past the graveyard of their uncertain dreams. One morning Matt wakes up to find himself jobless, hobbled with debt, spying on his wife's online flirtation, and six days away from losing his home. Is this really how things were supposed to end up for me, he wonders... Following Matt in his weeklong quest to save his marriage, his sanity, and his dreams, The Financial Lives of the Poets is a hysterical, heartfelt novel about how we can reach the edge of ruin - and how we can begin to make our way back." - Amazon.

Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel, by Jeannette Walls. Scribner. Print length: 288 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...love letter to her flinty grandmother." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (235 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"'Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did.' So begins the story of Lily Casey Smith, in Jeannette Walls's magnificent, true-life novel based on her no-nonsense, resourceful, hard working, and spectacularly compelling grandmother. By age six, Lily was helping her father break horses. At fifteen, she left home to teach in a frontier town - riding five hundred miles on her pony, all alone, to get to her job. She learned to drive a car ('I loved cars even more than I loved horses. They didn't need to be fed if they weren't working, and they didn't leave big piles of manure all over the place') and fly a plane, and, with her husband, ran a vast ranch in Arizona. She raised two children, one of whom is Jeannette's memorable mother, Rosemary Smith Walls, unforgettably portrayed in The Glass Castle. Half Broke Horses is Laura Ingalls Wilder for adults..." - Amazon.

Skeleton Hill: An Inspector Peter Diamond Investigation, by Peter Lovesey. Soho Crime. Print length: 336 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...weaves in odd facts on everything from the English Civil War to racehorse pedigrees and Ukrainian customs." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $9.49. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...Diamond remains one of the most realistic and human of fictional sleuths. During a recreation of an English Civil War battle outside Bath, Rupert Hope, an academic who's playing a cavalier, and another participant discover a human femur. Presented with this minor puzzle, the police eventually unearth the entire skeleton, minus the skull. After someone bludgeons Hope to death, Diamond wonders whether Hope's murder and the headless skeleton are connected, and his team redoubles their efforts to identify it. A zipper found near the skeleton may point to a link with London's Russian community..." - Publishers Weekly.


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Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (20 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 (17 SEP 2010) and ON NPR'S DIANE REHM (20 SEP 2010):
The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge, by Hooman Majd. W. W. Norton & Company. Print Length: 282 p. Kindle edition $14.82. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Hooman Majd offers a dramatic perspective on a country with global ambitions, an elaborate political culture, and enormous implications for world peace. Drawing on privileged access to the Iranian power elite, Majd argues that despite the violence of the disputed 2009 elections, a group of influential ayatollahs - including a liberal, almost-secular opposition - still believes in the Iranian republic; for them, 'green' represents not a revolution but a civil rights movement, pushing the country inexorably toward democracy, albeit a particular brand of 'Islamic democracy.' With witty, candid, and stylishly intelligent reporting, Majd, himself the grandson of an esteemed ayatollah, introduces top-level politicians and clerics as well as ordinary people (even Jewish community leaders), all expressing pride for their ancient heritage and fierce independence from the West." - Amazon.

ON THE CBS 60 MINUTES SHOW (19 SEP 2010)
and ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE DAILY SHOW (20 SEP 2010)
White House Diary, by Jimmy Carter. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Print Length: 592 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Each day during his presidency, Jimmy Carter made several entries in a private diary, recording his thoughts, impressions, delights, and frustrations. He offered unvarnished assessments of cabinet members, congressmen, and foreign leaders; he narrated the progress of secret negotiations such as those that led to the Camp David Accords. When his four-year term came to an end in early 1981, the diary amounted to more than five thousand pages. But this extraordinary document has never been made public—until now. By carefully selecting the most illuminating and relevant entries, Carter has provided us with an astonishingly intimate view of his presidency." - Amazon.

ON CBS SUNDAY MORNING (19 SEP 2010):
Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century, by Michael Hiltzik. Free Press. Print Length: 512 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Decked out in art deco, the Hoover Dam is a beautiful immensity that awes throngs of visitors, and it boasts a construction epic reflecting Depression-era America: the first to impound the Colorado River, the dam is both product and symbol of the politics of water rights in the American West. It is the 1920s iteration of the latter on which Hiltzik, a business writer for the Los Angeles Times, embarks in his fascinating account of the genesis of the Boulder Canyon Project, as the enabling congressional act called the yet-unnamed dam. Starting the story at the torrid desert job site, Hiltzik recounts the rigorous organization of the project by the contract-winning consortium and its engineering chief, Frank Crowe...Astutely conveying the characters of its creators, Hiltzik marvelously captures the times of the Hoover Dam." - Gilbert Taylor for Booklist.

ON NPR'S ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (19 SEP 2010) and ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S COLBERT REPORT(29 SEP 2010):
Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry, by Steven Rattner. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Print Length: 320 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Steve Rattner is not just the man brought in by the president to save the auto industry, he is a former New York Times financial reporter who also earned a place among the top tier of Wall Street's most informed investment bankers and corporate experts. Now, from his vantage point at the helm of the historic auto-industry intervention, Rattner crafts a tightly plotted narrative of political brinkmanship, corporate mismanagement, and personalities under pressure in a high-stakes clash between Washington and Detroit. He also explains the tough choices he and his team made, working against a ticking clock and facing vocal opposition from free market champions, to keep Chrysler and General Motors in operation. As the economy faced free fall, Obama, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and economic advisor Larry Summers - all revealingly described - faced the possibility of more than a million lost jobs and the astonishing wreckage of GM (a nightmare of huge proportions, caused by terrible management) and Chrysler (a company so close to death it was nearly sacrificed)...a gripping account of one of the severest crises of President Obama's first year in office. - Amazon.

ON NPR'S THE DIANE REHM SHOW (20 SEP 2010)
Let the Swords Encircle Me: Iran - A Journey Behind the Headlines, by Scott Peterson. Simon & Schuster. Print Length: 368 p. Kindle edition $16.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"No other country so dominates the headlines: Iran is portrayed as a nuclear threat, a terrorist nation, a charter member of the Axis of Evil bent on the destruction of Israel. But behind those headlines - and the fierce rhetoric of Iran’s most hard-line leaders - is a proud nation with a 2,500-year history of Persian poetry, art, and passion. Based on more than thirty extended reporting trips to Iran, including the turbulent aftermath of the disputed June 2009 election, Scott Peterson’s portrait is the definitive guide to this enigmatic nation, from the roots of its incendiary internal struggles to the rise and slide of Iran’s earthshaking 1979 Islamic Revolution. Let the Swords Encircle Me gives voice to Iranians themselves - the clerics and the reformers, the filmmakers and the journalists, the True Believers and their Westernized and profane brethren - to understand the complexities of Iran today. In this critical and personal account, Peterson illumines the latest episodes of Iran’s century-old quest for democracy and freedom. He explains how the Islamic Revolution - launched as a beacon of justice and resistance for Iranians and all the world’s Muslims - has not lived up to its ambitious promise. He shows how the violence of 2009 damaged the regime’s legitimacy and marks the start of an irreversible decline.

ON NPR'S THE DIANE REHM SHOW (23 SEP 2010):
Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To, by Sian Beilock. Free Press. Print Length: 304 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"It happens to all of us. You’ve prepared for days, weeks, even years for the big day when you will finally show your stuff - in academics, in your career, in sports - but when the big moment arrives, nothing seems to work. You hit the wrong note, drop the ball, get stumped by a simple question. In other words, you choke. It’s not fun to think about, but now there’s good news: This doesn’t have to happen. Dr. Sian Beilock, an expert on performance and brain science, reveals in Choke the astonishing new science of why we all too often blunder when the stakes are high. In an energetic tour of the latest brain science, with surprising insights on every page, Beilock explains the inescapable links between body and mind; reveals the surprising similarities among the ways performers, students, athletes, and business people choke; and shows how to succeed brilliantly when it matters most." - Amazon.

Kindle Genre Watch: Sci-Fi, Romance and Western Fiction (18 Sep 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 sci-fi, romance and western fiction include:

SCIENCE FICTION

Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell. Adult. Print Length: 400 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
Orwell's two classic novels are available in various editions for the Kindle, but this is the first to contain both tales. It includes an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.
Animal Farm: "...the account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones's Manor Farm into Animal Farm - a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. Out of their cleverness, the pigs Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball emerge as leaders of the new community in a subtle evolution that proves disastrous. The climax is the brutal betrayal of the faithful horse Boxer, when totalitarian rule is reestablished with the bloodstained postscript to the founding slogan: But some Animals Are More Equal Than Others." - Amazon.
1984: "In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be." - Amazon.

Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall. Quirk Books. Print Length: 256 p. Kindle edition $9.59. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"This sci-fi/zombie/comedy/adventure follows a group of rag-tag Trekkies getting together for the fifth annual FedCon (billed as the 'largest Starfleet Convention in the western Gulf Coast region'). Our heroes are dressed in homemade uniforms and armed with prop phasers - but soon find themselves defending their hotel and convention center against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Suddenly, all of their useless knowledge about particle physics and old Star Trek episodes has genuine real-world applications! Packed with hundreds of gags referencing Star Trek, comic books, and fan conventions, Night of the Living Trekkies reads like the strange lovechild of Galaxy Quest and Dawn of the Dead." - Amazon.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. Pantheon. Print Length: 256 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician - part counselor, part gadget repair man - steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet in memory." - Amazon.

The Truth of Valor by Tanya Huff. Daw. Print Length: 368 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is book five in Huff's Valor Confederation series that began with Valor's Choice.
"Former Marine Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is attempting to build a new life with salvage operator Craig Ryder on his ship, the Promise. Turns out civilian life is a lot rougher than she'd imagined - salvage operators are losing both cargo and lives to pirates. And when they attack the Promise, Craig is taken prisoner and Torin is left for dead. When Torin finds out why the pirates needed Craig, she calls in the Marines to get him back - and to stop the pirates from changing the balance of power in known space." - Amazon.

ROMANCE

The Clayborne Brides: One Pink Rose, One White Rose, One Red Rose by Julie Garwood. Pocket. Print Length: 456 p. Kindle edition $0.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Travis, the youngest of the Clayborne brothers, escorts mail-order bride Emily Finnegan to Montana - but Emily makes it perfectly clear that she's taking charge of her destiny and nothing is going to interfere...except the journey with Travis across this beautiful, rugged land that opens her eyes - and her heart. Douglas Clayborne will never turn his back on anyone in need, and everyone in Blue Belle, Montana knows it...but his quiet strength faces its ultimate battle when he meets ranch owner Isabel Grant. Douglas may stop the outlaws from stealing her land, but he can't stop Isabel from stealing his heart. Adam Clayborne has always loved the power of books. An escaped slave, reading has been his only ticket to the wonders of distant lands...Until the irresistible Genevieve Delacroix comes to Montana. Genevieve shares Adam's dreams of seeing the world, and is determined to teach Adam what he'll never learn from a book - that true freedom only comes when you open your heart." - Amazon.

Ghost Moon by Heather Graham. Mira. Print Length: 384 p. Kindle edition $5.49. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Reclusive collector Cutter Merlin is seldom seen in Key West - lately, not at all. Officer Liam Beckett visits Merlin's curious house and discovers the gentleman in his study. In his death grip: a volume of occult lore and a reliquary. His eyes are wide with fright, his mouth a horrified rictus where spiders now dwell. Kelsey Donovan returns to the old house to catalog her estranged grandfather's collection of artifacts and antiquities, vowing to see his treasures divested properly. But she cannot ignore the sense that she's being watched... Is the Merlin house haunted, even cursed? Liam knows well that some ghost stories are true and he swears to protect Kelsey. But there are forces at work for whom one more life is a pittance to pay for their deepest desire..." - Amazon.

The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks. Berkley. Print Length: 304 p. Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is book one in the KGI series. KGI stands for Kelly Group International - a top-secret group formed to handle jobs (hostage/kidnap rescue, intelligence gathering) the US government can't.
"It’s been one year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly last saw his wife Rachel alive. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt over his failures as a husband, Ethan shuts himself off from everything and everyone. His brothers have tried to bring Ethan into the KGI fold, tried to break through the barriers he's built around himself, but Ethan refuses to respond... until he receives anonymous information claiming Rachel is alive. To save her, Ethan will have to dodge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise. And even if he succeeds, he’ll have to force Rachel to recover memories she can’t and doesn’t want to relive - the minute by minute terror of her darkest hour - for their love, and their lives, may depend on it." - www.mayabanks.com.

WESTERNS

Billy Gashade: An American Epic by Loren D. Estleman. Forge Books. Print Length: 320 p. Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
First published in 1997 and now available in a Kindle edition.
"In this picaresque novel, a well-to-do Eastern boy of 16 is wrenched from his comfortable New York City home during the Civil War draft riots. Caught up in a mob, he is seen injuring, perhaps killing, a crony of the powerful Boss Tweed. With the approval of his judge father, the teen is provided with an assumed name, Billy Gashade, and propelled into the dubious safety of the 1860s American West. A fairly accomplished pianist, Billy is hired to play in a series of saloons. His adventures offer him a series of encounters with such legendary figures as 'Wild Bill' Hickok, Jim Bridger, Billy the Kid, Calamity Jane, Crazy Horse, and a meeting with Oscar Wilde. A fast-paced, lively read." - Frances Reiher for the School Library Journal.

The Goodnight Trail by Ralph Compton. St. Martin's. Print Length: 384 p. Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
First published in 1992 and now available in a Kindle edition.

"In 1865, Bent and two other Texas stet cap Rangers plan to raise a herd of maverick longhorns and take them to market. They're soon joined by Rebecca and Monte Nance, a sister and brother accustomed to frontier life, and Goose, an enigmatic Lipan Apache. The trail riders engage in several skirmishes with the Comanches; they raid an Indian camp and help U.S. Army soldiers defend the town of Waco from attack. There's also the daily work of contending with cattle stampedes and chasing down 'bunch-quitters,' or strays. However, these folks do eat well: they're working with the trailblazing Charles Goodnight, who invents the chuck wagon here - as he supposedly did in real life..." - Publishers Weekly.

To Kill a Copper King by Stan Lynde. iUniverse. Print Length: 264 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Butte City, Montana Territory, 1888 The chance discovery of a virtual mountain of copper brings incredible wealth and power to two men: Irish immigrant and miner, Marcus Daly, and merchant, banker, and investor, William Andrews Clark. The two men become bitter rivals, employing armies of workers from every corner of the world as they battle head-to-head for control of 'The Richest Hill on Earth.' And then, in the spring of that year, the stakes increase dramatically. Word reaches the U.S. Marshal's office at the Territorial Capitol in Helena that a sinister assassin is stalking Marcus Daly. U.S. Deputy Marshal Merlin Fanshaw is sent to Butte City to investigate the rumor. His assignment leads him into the heart of life in the booming camp and into a desperate race against time to save Daly's life - and his own!" - www.oldmontana.com/

Wind Walker by Terry C. Johnston. Bantam. Print Length: 656 p. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is the 9th and last book in Johnston's monumental Titus Bass series that started with Dance on the Wind. It was first published in 2001.
"...covers six years (1847-1853) and sees the scarred, aging, one-eyed mountain man struggling to find peace and sanctuary in a changing world. The fur trade is finished, free mountain men are few and white immigrants are flooding the pristine and untamed wilderness. Bass knows his independent way of life is over, so he takes his Indian family north, hoping to settle with his wife's Crow relatives. Bass's final journey, however, will not be easy. Accompanied by Bass's old saddle pal, Shadrach Sweete, the clan must rescue Bass's Indian daughter from rape-minded Frenchmen, defeat a cowardly gang of wagon-train cutthroats, fight a losing battle against Brigham Young's Mormons and battle blizzards, snakebite and wolf attacks. Titus Bass is a believable, enduring character, a solitary man who lives by his wits, believes in mountain justice and is willing to use rifle or tomahawk to settle a score when he knows right is on his side." - Publishers Weekly.

Kindle Genre Watch: New in Mystery & Fantasy Fiction (16 Sep 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 mystery/thriller and fantasy fiction include:

MYSTERY

Body Work by Sara Paretsky. Putnam. Print length: 464 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is Paretsky's fourteen novel to feature veteran Chicago private investigator V. I. Warshawski. The series began with Indemnity Only.
"The enigmatic performer known as the Body Artist takes the stage at Chicago's Club Gouge and allows her audience to use her naked body as a canvas for their impromptu illustrations. V. I. Warshawski watches as people step forward, some meek, some bold, to make their mark.  The evening takes a strange turn when one woman's sketch triggers a violent outburst from a man at a nearby table. Quickly subdued, the man-an Iraqi war vet-leaves the club. Days later, the woman is shot outside the club. She dies in V.I.'s arms, and the police move quickly to arrest the angry vet.  A shooting in Chicago is nothing new, certainly not to V.I., who is hired by the vet's family to clear his name. As V.I. seeks answers, her investigation will take her from the North Side of Chicago to the far reaches of the Gulf War." - Amazon.

Three Stations: An Arkady Renko Novel by Martin Cruz Smith. Simon & Schuster. Print length: 352 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"For the last three decades, beginning with the trailblazing Gorky Park, Renko (and Smith) have captivated readers with detective tales set in Russia. Renko is the ironic, brilliantly observant cop who finds solutions to heinous crimes when other lawmen refuse to even acknowledge that crimes have occurred. He uses his biting humor and intuitive leaps to fight not only wrongdoers but the corrupt state apparatus as well. In Three Stations, Renko’s skills are put to their most severe test. Though he has been technically suspended from the prosecutor’s office for once again turning up unpleasant truths, he strives to solve a last case: the death of an elegant young woman whose body is found in a construction trailer on the perimeter of Moscow’s main rail hub. It looks like a simple drug overdose to everyone - except to Renko, whose examination of the crime scene turns up some inexplicable clues, most notably an invitation to Russia’s premier charity ball, the billionaires’ Nijinksy Fair. Thus a sordid death becomes interwoven with the lifestyles of Moscow’s rich and famous, many of whom are clinging to their cash in the face of Putin’s crackdown on the very oligarchs who placed him in power. Renko uncovers a web of death, money, madness and a kidnapping that threatens the woman he is coming to love and the lives of children he is desperate to protect" - Amazon.

Zero History by William Gibson. Putnam. Print length: 416 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Hollis Henry worked for the global marketing magnate Hubertus Bigend once before. She never meant to repeat the experience. But she's broke, and Bigend never feels it's beneath him to use whatever power comes his way - in this case, the power of money to bring Hollis onto his team again. Milgrim is even more thoroughly owned by Bigend. He's worth owning for his useful gift of seeming to disappear in almost any setting, and his Russian is perfectly idiomatic - so much so that he spoke Russian with his therapist, in the secret Swiss clinic where Bigend paid for him to be cured of the addiction that would have killed him. Garreth has a passion for extreme sports. Most recently he jumped off the highest building in the world, opening his chute at the last moment, and he has a new thighbone made of rattan baked into bone, entirely experimental, to show for it. Garreth isn't owned by Bigend at all. Garreth has friends from whom he can call in the kinds of favors that a man like Bigend will find he needs, when things go unexpectedly sideways, in a world a man like Bigend is accustomed to controlling. As when a Department of Defense contract for combat-wear turns out to be the gateway drug for arms dealers so shadowy that even Bigend, whose subtlety and power in the private sector would be hard to overstate, finds himself outmaneuvered and adrift in a seriously dangerous world." - Amazon.

Warlord: An Alex Hawk Novel by Ted Bell. Harper Collins. Print length: 544 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is Bell's sixth novel to feature British spy Alex Hawke. All are available in Kindle editions, starting with Hawke.
"Bell's fine sixth thriller featuring swashbuckling British spy Alex Hawke mixes action and suspense with just the right amount of humor and old-fashioned boys-book adventure. Hawke, who's been feeling suicidal since a personal tragedy in his last outing (Tsar), snaps out of his depression and back into secret agent mode after receiving a phone call from his old pal, His Royal Highness, the prince of Wales. Someone is targeting the British royal family for assassination, starting years earlier with Charles's uncle, Lord Mountbatten. All clues point to the IRA and the mysterious killer known as Mr. Smith. Meanwhile, a terrorist organization, Sword of Allah, has joined forces with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and is carrying out a string of devastating bombings across the globe designed to establish a worldwide caliphate." - Publishers Weekly.

FANTASY

Ghost of a Chance by Simon R. Green. Ace. Print length: 272 p. Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book one of Green's Ghost Finders series.

"The Carnacki institute exists to Do Something About Ghosts. Lay them to rest, send them packing, or kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses with extreme prejudice. The institute’s operatives are the best of the best. JC Chance: sharp, brave, charming, and almost unbearably arrogant; Melody Chambers: science geek, techno-wizard extraordinaire who keeps the anti-supernatual equipment running smoothly; and Happy Jack Palmer: the telepath with the gloomy disposition, the last person anyone would want navigating through their head." - simongreen.co.uk/


The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Book one of The Stormlight Archive. Tor Books. Print length: 1008 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war." - Publisher. 

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich. St. Martin's Press. Print length: 320 p.  Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Elizabeth "Lizzy" Tucker was surprised to inherit Great Aunt Ophelia's house in Marblehead, MA, just outside of Salem, but even more surprised to hear that her own superior cupcake baking skills came from being an Unmentionable. Diesel, agent for the Board of Unmentionable Marshalls, or BUM, drops this information bomb in order to use Lizzy's ability to find empowered objects, specifically the Seven Stones of Power.  BUM needs to have possession of all seven stones, each representing a deadly sin, before the 'other side' collects them and brings about Hell on Earth. It's hard to find a reliably humorous author, but Evanovich always delivers. Stephanie Plum fans will recognize Diesel, Wulf, and Carl the monkey from the 'Between-the-Numbers' series, and they'll also recognize some of Lizzy's characteristics, like compulsive eye-rolling, blasting her hair dry, and destroying multiple fancy black cars. But for this reader, those distractions soon fell away, and the book was only put down briefly for mealtimes." - Stacey Hayman for Library Journal.

The Grimrose Path: A Trickster Novel by Rob Thurman. Publisher. Print length: Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Bar owner Trixa Iktomi is perfectly comfortable dealing with assorted creatures of light, darkness, and all the beings in between that roam Las Vegas - especially since she’s a bit more than human herself. She’s just been approached with an unusual proposition: a demon needs her help. Normally, the only thing Trixa offers demons involves heavy weaponry and hard-to-remove bloodstains. But there’s something out there even deadlier than fallen angels. It’s slaughtered almost one thousand demons in six months. And the killing isn’t going to stop unless Trixa and her friends step into the fight. But for Trixa, that might be one, final step too far..." - robthurman.net.

Game of Cages: A Twenty Palaces Novel by Harry Connolly. Del Rey. Print length: 368 p. Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
This sequel to Connolly's 2009 novel Child of Fire is the second book in the Twenty Palaces series.
"Twenty Palace Society member Catherine Little, a lethal sorcerer committed to keeping supernatural entities and magic out of the possession of anyone but members of the society, contacts ex-convict Ray Lilly at his mundane supermarket job and recruits him to assist her with an emergency situation. Ray's actions are supposed to be limited to assisting his assigned peer, but an interdimensional predator has escaped and the society needs all the help it can get. Connolly doesn't shy away from tackling big philosophical issues - whether good ends justify evil means, how many civilian deaths can be justified in the pursuit of creatures that can destroy the world - amid gory action scenes and plenty of rapid-fire sardonic dialogue." - Publishers Weekly.

Blameless by Gail Carriger. Orbit. Print length: 400 p. Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is book three of the Parasol Protectorate series described by Carriger as "comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea." The first two books in the series - both available in Kindle editions - are  Soulless and Changeless.
"Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season. Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead. While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires - and they're armed with pesto." - Amazon.

Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (14 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 CBS'S SUNDAY MORNING (12 SEP 2010):
Hope Unseen: The Triumphant Faith of Scotty Smiley, by Scotty Smiley, with Doug Crandall. Howard Books. Print Length: 256 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"An inspiring story of triumph over tragedy in the faith and courage of an officer blinded in Iraq who now serves at West Point. Blindness became Captain Scotty Smiley's journey of supreme testing. As he lay helpless in the hospital, he resented the theft of his dreams - becoming a CEO, a Delta Force operator, or a four-star general. With his wife Tiffany's love and the support of his family and friends, Scotty's response became God's transforming moment. The injury only intensified his indomitable spirit. Since the moment he jumped out of a hospital bed and forced his way through nurses and cords to take a simple shower, Captain Scotty Smiley has climbed Mount Rainier, won an ESPY as Best Outdoor Athlete, surfed, skydived, become a father, earned an MBA from Duke, taught leadership at West Point, commanded an army company, and won the MacArthur Leadership Award.

Scotty and Tiffany Smiley have lived out a faith so real that it will inspire you to question your own doubts, push you to serve something bigger than yourself, and encourage you to cling to a Hope Unseen." - books.simonandschuster.com.

ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (13 SEP 2010): 
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, by Susan Casey. Doubleday. Print Length: 336 p. Kindle edition $13.58. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Casey, O magazine editor-in-chief, travels across the world and into the past to confront the largest waves the oceans have to offer. This dangerous water includes rogue waves south of Africa, storm-born giants near Hawaii, and the biggest wave ever recorded, a 1,740 foot-high wall of wave (taller than one and a third Empire State Buildings) that blasted the Alaska coastline in 1958. Casey follows big-wave surfers in their often suicidal attempts to tackle monsters made of H2O, and also interviews scientists exploring the danger that global warning will bring us more and larger waves. Casey writes compellingly of the threat and beauty of the ocean at its most dangerous... [and] ...smoothly translates the science of her subject into engaging prose." - Publishers Weekly.

ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (13 SEP 2010): 
Promise Me: How a Sister's Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer, by Nancy G. Brinker, with Joni Rodgers. Crown. Print Length: 304 p.  Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Suzy and Nancy Goodman were more than sisters. They were best friends, confidantes, and partners in the grand adventure of life. For three decades, nothing could separate them. Not college, not marriage, not miles. Then Suzy got sick. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977; three agonizing years later, at thirty-six, she died...In 1977, breast cancer was still shrouded in stigma and shame. Nobody talked about early detection and mammograms. Nobody could even say the words 'breast' and 'cancer' together in polite company, let alone on television news broadcasts. With Nancy at her side, Suzy endured the many indignities of cancer treatment, from the grim, soul-killing waiting rooms to the mistakes of well-meaning but misinformed doctors. That’s when Suzy began to ask Nancy to promise. To promise to end the silence. To promise to raise money for scientific research. To promise to one day cure breast cancer for good...Suzy’s death - both shocking and senseless - created a deep pain in Nancy that never fully went away. But she soon found a useful outlet for her grief and outrage. Armed only with a shoebox filled with the names of potential donors, Nancy put her formidable fund-raising talents to work and quickly discovered a groundswell of grassroots support...Nancy’s mission to change the way the world talked about and treated breast cancer took on added urgency when she was herself diagnosed with the disease in 1984, a terrifying chapter in her life that she had long feared. Unlike her sister, Nancy survived and went on to make Susan G. Komen for the Cure into the most influential health charity in the country and arguably the world." - from the hardcover edition.

ON NPR'S FRESH AIR (13 SEP 2010): 
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson. Random House. Print Length: 720 p. Kindle edition $14.58. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career." - Amazon.

ON NPR'S DIANE REHM SHOW (13 SEP 2010): 
I Curse The River Of Time, by Per Petterson. Publisher. Print Length: 224 p. Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Europe 1989. As communism crumbles, 37-year-old Norwegian Arvid Jansen’s life is falling apart. He’s getting a divorce, and his mother is dying of cancer. She’s traveled to her native Denmark, where she plans to live out her days. Though mother and son shared a passion for books, they were never close, and Arvid follows her there in one last attempt to connect. This is also the land of his childhood, and every place he goes triggers memories. He indulges recollections of past loves, beach vacations with his brothers, and time spent as a young Communist working in a factory... Norwegian novelist Petterson (Out Stealing Horses, 2007) deftly alternates between present and past, as Arvid searches for purpose in his life." - Allison Block for Booklist.

ON NPR'S FRESH AIR (13 SEP 2010): 
Ah-Choo!: The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold, by Jennifer Ackerman. Hachette Book Group. Print Length: 256 p. Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Some colds are like mice, timid and annoying; others like dragons, accompanied by body aches and deep misery.  Scientists call this the Golden Age of the Common Cold because Americans suffer up to a billion colds each year, resulting in 40 million days of missed work and school and 100 million doctor visits. They've also learned over the past decade much more about what cold viruses are, what they do to the human body, and how symptoms can be addressed. In this ode to the odious cold, Ackerman sifts through the chatter about treatments - what works, what doesn't, and what can't hurt. She dispels myths, such as susceptibility to colds reflects a weakened immune system. And she tracks current research, including work at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, a world-renowned center of cold research studies, where the search for a cure continues." - Amazon.

ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (14 SEP 2010): 
Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama, by Bill O'Reilly. Harper Collins. Print Length: 240 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When Bill O'Reilly interviewed then-Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential elections, the two had a lively debate about the nation's future. Since that time, America has changed rapidly - some would even say seismically. And many believe these shifts are doing more than just rocking the political and social climate; they're rocking the American core. What are these changes? Who, in addition to President Obama, have been the biggest forces behind them? What exactly do they mean for you, the everyday American citizen? How are they affecting your money, health, safety, freedom, and standing in this nation? Which are Pinheaded moves and which are truly Patriotic? In his latest spirited book, O'Reilly prompts further debate with the President and the American people on the current state of the union. - Amazon.

ON CSPAN'S BOOK TV (18 SEP 2010): 
Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1-July 4, 1776, by William Hogeland. Simon & Schuster. Print Length: 288 p.  Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Hogeland presents the array of plots, counterplots, resolutions, and declarations out of which came the new American nation. The Declaration of Independence we know today is different from Jefferson's original version, which did not mention God, an idea inserted in the final days before passage by self-described rhetoricians who also eliminated his denunciation of the slave trade. Heroic men met in Philadelphia, and Hogeland concentrates on John and Samuel Adams, the cousins whose labors were decisive. British troops landed on Staten Island on July 3, and a British fleet was in New York Bay, but independence had in fact been declared by July 2 (though it would become unanimous only on July 19 with New York State's vote). Thomas Paine's celebratory words end the book. John Adams despised Paine, for Adams believed in property as the bulwark of democracy, Paine in untrammeled democracy. Their difference informs the dynamic tension attendant upon our country's birth. This brief, fair study provides a sound analysis of events and a revelatory portrayal of the men who made America free." - Publishers Weekly.

History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle (12 Sep 2010)

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:

The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War by Bernard Cornwell. Harper Collins. Print Length: 480 p. TIME FRAME: 1779 New England. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"After the British establish a fort on the Penobscot River, the Massachusetts patriots mount an expedition to oust the redcoats. Unfortunately, the campaign is poorly planned and ineptly executed, pitting an ill-trained and undisciplined force against experienced British soldiers and the Royal Navy. The commander of the American land force is Gen. Solomon Lovell, a useless and dithering Boston politician, and the American navy is led by Cmdr. Dudley Saltonstall, an obstinate officer who refuses to risk his ships. Then there's Paul Revere, artillery commander and shameful yellow belly. In fact, the only American officer with any spirit for a fight is a former schoolteacher, Gen. Peleg Wadsworth. This is a rousing yarn of clashing personalities, crashing cannons, and lively musket and bayonet work, along with spies, cowardice, and moments of incredible bravery.  Cornwell presents a fascinating, accurate, and exciting history lesson enlivened with a generous blast of gun smoke and grapeshot." - Publishers Weekly.

Rag and Bone by James R. Benn. Soho Press. Print Length: 320 p. TIME FRAME: World War II London.  Amazon customer rating:  5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is book five in Benn's World War II mystery series. All five volumes are available in Kindle editions and the first book, Billy Boyle, is currently available free on Amazon.

"Billy is sent to London in the midst of a Luftwaffe bombing offensive to investigate the murder of a Soviet official. There's reason to believe that the crime could be connected to the recent discovery of mass graves in the Katyn Forest, where thousands of Polish officers were executed. Is a killer is out there, targeting Soviet officials in revenge for the Katyn Massacre? Further complicating matters, Scotland Yard names Billy's friend Kaz, now working for the Polish government in exile, as the prime suspect..." - Amazon.

Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome by Steven Saylor. St. Martin's Press. Print Length: 608 p. TIME FRAME: Rome A.D. 14 to 141. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Please note that Roma, the first book in this historical saga, is currently selling for $2.99 in the Amazon Kindle Bookstore.
"Saylor, well known for his Roma Sub Rosa historical mysteries, switched gears for his bestselling Roma and now continues the history of ancient Rome from A.D. 14 to 141 with a hefty tome of the Pinarius family as its members serve a succession of Roman emperors as soothsayers, senators, and artisans, while trying not to get killed in the slew of conspiracies that marked the Roman political scene. The patriarch, Lucius Pinarius, grooms his son, also named Lucius, to be a member of an ancient priesthood of soothsayers who interpret natural phenomenon to divine the future. Young Lucius is particularly skillful, earning the emperor's praise and confidence. Succeeding generations of Pinariuses will enjoy the favor of Trajan and Hadrian, but will suffer from the cruelty of Tiberius, the madness of Caligula, the depravity of Nero, and the murderous paranoia of Domitian. Saylor also vividly describes how the family survives the volcanic destruction of Pompeii, the burning of Rome, and the persecution of Jews and Christians." - Publishers Weekly.

A Battle Won, by S. Thomas Russell. Putnam. Print Length: 464 p. TIME FRAME: Late 18th century Europe. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Winter 1793 - the Reign of Terror rips through revolutionary France, as every able-bodied man is pressed into military service. The city of Toulon has turned itself over to the British, the red ensign of Lord Admiral Hood's flagship Victory, offering a defiant symbol of protection to its people.  In Plymouth, Master and Commander Charles Hayden is summoned to the Port Admiral - his orders are to return to the ill-fated frigate HMS Themis. Placed in temporary command, he is to join the escort for the last convoy of the season - braving the wintry seas to supply Hood's fleet in the Mediterranean. Hayden's uncanny knack for attracting the attention of the French navy sees the Themis thrown back into action only hours out of port. Soon Hayden's captaincy and military skills are stretched to the utmost as he finds himself at the vanguard of this brutal clash of empires." - sthomasrussell.com.

The Scarlet Contessa: A Novel of the Italian Renaissance by Jeanne Kalogridis. St. Martin's Press. Print Length: 464 p. TIME FRAME: 15th century Italy.  Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Daughter of the Duke of Milan and wife of the conniving Count Girolamo Riario, Caterina Sforza was the bravest warrior Renaissance Italy ever knew. She ruled her own lands, fought her own battles, and openly took lovers whenever she pleased. Her remarkable tale is told by her lady-in-waiting, Dea, a woman knowledgeable in reading the 'triumph cards,' the predecessor of modern-day Tarot. As Dea tries to unravel the truth about her husband’s murder, Caterina single-handedly holds off invaders who would steal her title and lands. However, Dea’s reading of the cards reveals that Caterina cannot withstand a third and final invader - none other than Cesare Borgia, son of the corrupt Pope Alexander VI, who has an old score to settle with Caterina. Trapped inside the Fortress at Ravaldino as Borgia’s cannons pound the walls, Dea reviews Caterina’s scandalous past and struggles to understand their joint destiny, while Caterina valiantly tries to fight off Borgia’s unconquerable army." - Amazon.

Turbulence by Gil Foden. Knopf. Print Length: 336 p. TIME FRAME: London & Scotland, 1944. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $14.27. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"The D-day landings - the fate of 2.5 million men, three thousand landing craft and the entire future of Europe depend on the right weather conditions on the English Channel on a single day. A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? And what is the relationship between predictability and turbulence, one of the last great mysteries of modern physics? Wallace Ryman has devised a system that comprehends all of this - but he is a reclusive pacifist who stubbornly refuses to divulge his secrets. Henry Meadows, a young math prodigy from the Met Office, is sent to Scotland to uncover Ryman’s system and apply it to the Normandy landings. But turbulence proves more elusive than anyone could have imagined. When Henry meets Gill, Ryman’s beautiful wife, events, like the weather, begin to spiral out of control." - Amazon.

Red Rain by Bruce Murkoff. Knopf. Print Length: 352 p. TIME FRAME: 1864 Hudson River Valley (New York). Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $14.82 Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Set in five months in 1864 in the Hudson River Valley, Murkoff's second novel (after Waterborne, 2004) vividly captures the life of the time, the damage done by war, and the ruthlessness of greed. After serving as a doctor in the army and surviving the Shoshone campaign in Utah, Will Harp returns to claim his family homestead in Rondout, guilt-ridden about his actions in the heat of battle and about lack of contact with his father before he died. Will finds an adversary in Mickey Blessing, the charmingly amoral hired muscle of a powerful businessman who needs Will's land to fulfill his dream. Their lives intersect with teenage orphan Coley Hind, who switches allegiance between the two men. ... a sprawling, meandering novel, chock-full of sensory detail that is sometimes painfully acute...  - Michele Leber for Booklist.