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Now: PLAY SCRABBLE ON YOUR KINDLE – the real game from Hasbro and EA (Electronic Arts Software)

SCRABBLE for Kindle!

A real live Kindle version of the actual SCRABBLE word game is now available in the US Kindle Store for just $4.99! I’ve downloaded it to my Kindle and you can do the same by clicking here.

The free word games that were released by Amazon earlier this year have proved very popular, and this commercial release of SCRABBLE for Kindle brings us right to the doorstep of a Kindle App Store.

Here are a couple of screen shots from my Kindle 3 to whet your appetite:

P’sst…. Don’t miss this important intro to the Kindle 3 while it is just 99 cents in the Kindle Store:


Thanks to Bufo at I Love My Kindle for tweet about Scrabble.

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Friday, September 24: Five Friday Featured Freebies including Hour of the Hunter, plus a new Detective Jackson police procedural, Thrilled to Death from L.J. Sellers (Today’s Sponsor), and Links to Over a Million Free Kindle Titles

Today we highlight Five Friday Featured Freebies including Hour of the Hunter on our free book listings for Kindle readers….

But first … a word from Today’s Sponsor

Thrilled to Death
(the latest in the popular Detective Wade Jackson Mysteries)

by L.J. Sellers
Just $2.99 in the Kindle Storewith Text-to-Speech Enabled!

Monday morning, a young mother disappears after a doctor’s appointment. Monday evening, a young socialite leaves a risqué lounge and never makes it home. Detective Jackson lands both cases, but at first he can’t find signs of foul play. When the socialite turns up dead, his investigation uncovers her dirty secrets, which complicate everything. The case runs into even bigger trouble with a suspect who hasn’t left his house in a year. Jackson must push all the boundaries to find the connection and answer the question: Where is the other missing woman?
That’s the setup for this new listing by the author who earlier this year had the top two Police Procedural titles in the Kindle Store with Secrets to Die For and The Sex Club. You may already have read my earlier post about how I’m hungrily gobbling these novels up, so here’s what some other reviewers are saying about Thrilled to Death:
  • “Ms. Sellers has a delightfully twisted mind and the talent to take her unsuspecting readers down trails that fork and bend and twist… You are gonna love this one.” —BookBitch.com
  • “L. J. Sellers is a wonderful storyteller…There are plenty of twists and turns… The characters are well-developed and engaging. Readers new to the series can begin with THRILLED TO DEATH and then go back to the other books in the series. The first page will grab the reader’s attention and from there, it’s an exciting read all the way through to the final page.”—OverMyDeadBody.com
  • “The Detective Jackson mystery series delivers yet again in Thrilled to Death, a truly chilling thriller with tricky plot twists and a surprising endgame.”—Christine Sherk, Register-Guard book reviewer

Each day’s list is sponsored by one paid title. We encourage you to support our sponsors and thank you for considering them. 

Authors, Publishers, Kindle Accessory Manufacturers:
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information:

Click here to sponsor a Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert!

Free Kindle Nation Shorts – September 23, 2010: An Excerpt from Not What She Seems, by Victorine E. Lieske, sponsored by Lynda Hilburn’s Bestseller The Vampire Shrink

By Stephen Windwalker
Editor of Kindle Nation Daily ©Kindle Nation Daily 2010

I’m very pleased to be able to share five spellbinding chapters from a highly rated romantic suspense page-turner with you today….

But first … a word from Today’s Sponsor

Today’s sponsoring novel is already a Kindle Store bestseller, and reader reviews are so strong that you may want to give it a try even if you are one of the 23 people in the world who has yet to read any vampire fiction, because it’s clear that it is equal parts humor, horror, mystery, and good old page-turning fun.


by Lynda Hilburn 
Kindle Edition

List Price:$2.99

Buy Now

Just $2.99 in the Kindle Store, and discounted an additional 5 percent by Amazon to $2.84!

“. . . a can’t put down, spine-tingling, laugh out loud book that will keep you glued till you turn the final page.” — Gotta Write Network, 2007
“A great blend of humor, horror and quirky mystery.” — Jennifer Armintrout, author of the “Blood Ties” series, 2007
“A refreshingly original twist on the vampire story. Fast-paced and fun.” — Kelley Armstrong, NY Times bestselling author, 2007
“A very well-written horror fantasy! . . . A marvelous, unique writing style causes suspense to build as the mystery unfolds.” — Simegen. com, 2007
“Lynda Hilburn creates a fascinating world — wicked and sexy!” — Kerrelyn Sparks, USA Today bestselling author, 2007

Product Description

Denver Psychologist Kismet Knight, Ph.D., doesn’t believe in the paranormal. She especially doesn’t believe in vampires. So what happens when she finds herself neck-deep in the vampire underworld?
Kismet is smart, witty and attractive. She’s respected in her field, successful and prosperous. She’s followed all the rules – done everything right. So, what’s the problem? Her life is empty. There’s no passion. No vitality. No excitement.
That is, until a new client introduces Kismet to the vampire underworld, and a drop-dead gorgeous, 800-year-old vampire named Devereux. Kismet isn’t buying the vampire story, but can’t explain why she has such odd reactions and feelings whenever Devereux is near. Kismet is soon forced to open her mind to other possibilities when she is visited in her office by two angry bloodsuckers, who would like nothing better than to challenge Devereux by hurting Kismet.
As Kismet gets pulled deeper and deeper into the vampire subculture, she struggles to hold onto her professional ideas about what is and isn’t “real.” The more she finds herself attracted to the charismatic, handsome Devereux, the more out of control her life becomes.
When one of her clients shows up in her office almost completely drained of blood, Kismet finds herself immersed in an ongoing murder investigation. Kismet is questioned by irreverent, handsome FBI profiler Alan Stevens, who warns her that vampires are very real. And one is a murderer. A murder who is after her.
In the midst of all this, Kismet realizes she has feelings for both the vampire and the profiler, but even though she cares for each of the men, facing the reality that vampires exist – along with all the other supernatural insanity she discovers – is enough of a challenge. For now. 



Chapter One

Steven stalked down the hotel hallway toward his room, gripping his briefcase, glad that no one was around.  He needed to get out of his Armani suit before someone recognized him.  Not that anyone staying in this run-down hotel would be hanging around his social circles.  But someone might recognize him from the news.
Excitement shot through him.  He almost felt like a little kid.  If he could get away with it, he would be just another regular person by tomorrow.
He heard footsteps coming up the stairs.  A young tow-headed boy appeared, followed by his mother.  The child ran down the hall sideswiping him, knocking his briefcase out of his hand.  Files and papers spilled out onto the floor.

The boy turned around.  “Oh, sorry.”  He bent down and scooped up some files, while his mother rushed to help as well.
“No problem, I need to sort through these anyway.”
The young woman flashed a smile at him, and then turned to her son.  “Connor, you need to be more careful,” she said, getting down on her hands and knees.  Her hair was piled on top of her head in a loose bun, with several curly blond strands hanging down.  She was quite attractive, despite her frumpy sweat pants and t-shirt.  Steven found himself checking out her left hand.  No ring.  Then he mentally smacked himself.  What was he doing?  He needed to get away, and have some time for himself.  Forget about women.  They all wanted the same thing from him.  He had six point four billion reasons why any woman would want to be with him.  Unfortunately, none of them had anything to do with his personality.
Oh, he was good looking enough.  He knew that.  His jet black hair and bright blue eyes turned plenty of heads.  But he could always tell the moment they recognized him, and the mild interest would be replaced with strong attraction.
The woman handed him a pile of papers, with an apologetic look on her face.  “Sorry about that.  He’s just been cooped up in the car too long I think.”  She stood and brushed some hair from her face.
“It’s no big deal.”  He adjusted his overnight bag on his shoulder.  “Thank you,” he said, searching her face for any sign of recognition.
“You’re welcome.”  She shied away from his blatant staring, looking to the floor, then to her son.  “Come on, Connor, we need to get going.”
Steven turned around.  She hadn’t recognized him.  That was a good thing.  His plan might work.  Pulling out his key card, he walked to his door while they disappeared into their own room.  He made a mental note of the woman’s room number.  Maybe he would pay for her bill as well.  Her tattered clothes gave him the impression the seventy five dollars a night might be a bit steep for her.
******

Emily opened her hotel door, and followed Connor into the dimly lit room.  Richard sat on one of the beds, waiting for her.
“Who were you talking to in the hallway?” he asked, his hair hanging in his face, concealing his dark eyes.
“No one.  Just some guy down the hall.”  She turned her head away.
“Well, what were you talking about?”  He glared at her, and she knew she had better satisfy him.
“Nothing.  He dropped some papers, and we helped him pick them up.  That was all.”  She folded her arms and her eyes flashed at Richard, daring him to keep it up.
He stared back at her for a moment, and then lowering his voice he said, “Well, who is he anyway?”
“I don’t know.  Some guy that looks like Steven Ashton.”  She reached up to her hair, fiddling with it.
“Yeah, right.  Like Steven Ashton would stay in this dump.”  Richard kicked off his shoes, letting them land in the middle of the floor.  “You and the kid get the bed by the air conditioner.  The noise will keep me up all night.”
He stretched out on the bed and turned on the television with the remote.  He fell asleep on his back, still in his dingy Iron Maiden t-shirt and jeans.  Emily rolled her eyes as his snores filled the room.  She dressed Connor in his green dinosaur pajamas, brushed his teeth, and tucked him into bed.  She smoothed his long blond hair out of his eyes and kissed his forehead.  He desperately needed another haircut.  She would have to trim it herself again.  Richard would never let her spend the money to get it done at the barber shop.  
Emily slipped into her flannel nightgown.  Her life was a mess.  Connor needed stability, a place to stay and call their own.  This constant running needed to stop.
If only she hadn’t killed William, then none of this would have happened.

******

Steven stood, waiting for the balding man behind the hotel counter.  The man seemed to be a walking advertisement for how one should look when needing a room at the Sleepy Time Inn.  He punched some keys on the computer.  “Do you have your key card?”
Steven flipped it onto the counter.  “I’d like to pay for room two-fifteen also.”
The man scowled, and punched some more keys on the computer.  “That room is already paid for.”
“Then when she checks out you’ll have to tell her there was a mix up in the computer, and that you have to give her a refund.”  He smiled and added, “And you can keep this for your trouble.”  He pushed several bills at him and left before there were any more arguments.
The September sun wasn’t up when Steven slipped into his new truck.  As he left Mesquite, Nevada and crossed the border into Arizona, he marveled at the beauty of the land.  The rising sun danced off the vast open desert as it peeked above the mountains.  Splashes of color changed before his eyes as the day began.  Starting to feel renewed, he stretched back, glad that he had decided to do this.
Not that he had been planning to get away.  It was actually a spur of the moment decision.  After his Friday meeting in LA, he told his pilot that he wouldn’t need him for the return trip.  A quick call to his mother to say he was going on a vacation, and he turned off his cell phone and split.  
He probably wouldn’t have felt the need to get away if it weren’t for the last few gala events that he had been forced to attend.  The women clung to him, babbling on about senseless things.  Since when had his life become an endless sea of socialite cocktail parties and fundraisers which had little to do with saving the dolphins or AIDS research?  He was so tired of being used.  
Desperate for a break, he had decided to leave, to go where no one would recognize him.  Where there were no social elite, where everyone just left you alone.  He wanted to have a conversation with someone without wondering if they would be talking to him if he weren’t Steven Ashton the billionaire.  
He used to visit his great aunt in the small town of Huntington, Nebraska when he was young.  He had fond memories of the town.  He figured it would be the perfect place to go.

******

The small cramped car, filled with everything they owned, radiated heat.  Emily sat in the back seat with Connor while Richard drove, smoking a cigarette and flicking the ashes out the window.  She had no idea where they were going, nor did she care.  The only thing in the world she cared about was her son.  She caressed his cheek with one finger while he played with his toy dinosaur.
Richard turned off the highway, following a road into a small town.  Emily watched the scenery change from the outskirts of town, to the business district.  Richard stopped in front of a pawn shop.  He left the motor running.  “Stay in the car.”  He grabbed a duffle bag from the front seat and left.
Emily closed her eyes, and pretended she didn’t know what he was doing.  He never took her and Connor on the jobs with him, but sometimes they were with him when he unloaded the merchandise.
What a life she was subjecting her son to.  Pain washed over her as she thought of his innocence.  He would be old enough for kindergarten soon.  What would she do then?  Richard would never allow him to go to school.
She would have to get some money somehow, and leave Richard soon.

Chapter Two

Driving across the country turned out to be fascinating.  Steven stopped in Grand Junction to fuel his truck and get lunch.  To amuse himself while he ate, he watched the people around him.
A few feet away a young couple struggled to keep their daughter in her chair.  He suspected they had been driving for a while, and now that she was free from her car seat she was taking advantage of it.  Giggles cascaded from her as she ran past Steven for the fifth time.
Two bikers wearing leather jackets came in.  They wore long beards and reminded him of a ZZ Top video he saw quite a few years ago.  They were having an animated discussion.  On the other side of the restaurant sat two teenagers dressed completely in black.  The young woman had short spiked hair, dark eyeliner, black painted fingernails, hanging silver chains, and was eating with a young man of exactly the same description.
An older woman with disheveled grey hair was sitting beside a balding man picking at his food.  Every once in a while she would lean over and ask quite loudly if he was done eating.
Steven chuckled to himself.  He wondered what people saw when they looked at him.  He glanced down at his dress shirt and slacks, and frowned.  Throwing his trash away, he left.
Before leaving Grand Junction, Steven stopped at a department store and purchased a selection of t-shirts, denim jeans and tennis shoes.  He even purchased a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses to wear.  Blending in shouldn’t be a problem now.  At least he wouldn’t look like some rich jerk.
Steven hopped back into his truck and continued along I-70.  As Steven drove, the time seemed to fly by, and he could see the mountains turn into hills, and then flatten out as he neared Nebraska.  The countryside was quite beautiful, with the rocky hillside and the occasional tumble weed blowing by.  
Steven thought back to the conversation he’d had with his mother on Friday.  She had asked him if he was taking anyone on his vacation, her voice hopeful.  He smiled and shook his head.  He knew she wanted him to settle down and marry someone.  
She hadn’t always been so bothered by him being single, but now that he was into his thirties she was coming on a bit stronger.  It’s not like he hadn’t dated.  Steven knew his mother was aware of his failed relationships.  The worst had been Bailee.  Pain still stabbed at him when he thought about her, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
They were celebrating Valentine’s Day, and he had taken Bailee to an upscale restaurant in downtown Manhattan.  She had her auburn hair swept up in a French knot, and her black evening gown complimented her slender figure.  She was breathtaking, as always, and Steven smiled as they chatted during their dinner.  They had been dating for several months, and Steven knew he could easily fall in love with her, if he hadn’t already.  She politely excused herself from the table, and while she was gone he had slipped the small jewelry box onto her seat.
He watched her face light up when she came back and saw the small jewelry box.  
“Steven, what is this?” Bailee asked, smiling.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.”  Steven watched as she opened the jewelry box.  A frown crept across her face when she saw the diamond earrings he had picked out for her.  The frown disappeared and a look he couldn’t quite comprehend replaced it.  “Earrings, how precious.”
Later that evening, when he dropped her off at her apartment she had passionately kissed him good night.  As he was leaving it had dawned on him that she had probably thought he was going to propose to her.  Feeling like a dolt for disappointing her, he went back to apologize.  He knocked on her door and let himself in when she didn’t answer right away.  He was going to call her name when he heard her talking on the phone in the other room.  He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when he heard what she was saying, he froze.
“Can you believe it?  He got me earrings for Valentine’s Day.  I swear, if he doesn’t ask me to marry him soon I’m going rip my hair out.  I can’t stand much more of this.  He’s a complete bore.  I think I fell asleep three times listening to him drone on tonight.  There’s got to be more interesting billionaires in New York City.”   
Silently he left her apartment, devastated with what he had heard her say.  After several days of brooding, he finally confronted her with what he had heard.  She didn’t even try to deny it.  
“Look, Steven, you need a wife with poise and refinement, and I need the kind of lifestyle that you can provide,” Bailee said with her hands on her hips.  “I know how to act in your social circles, and you must admit we do look good together.  In our social class every marriage isn’t about falling in love.”  Steven frowned, muttered something about her being deplorable, and left thoroughly disgusted with her.  He had never told anyone why he had stopped seeing Bailee.
Monday morning brought with it a light smattering of rain, and Steven got on the road once more.  Blending in to a small town turned out to be harder than Steven had thought it would be.  As he drove through Nebraska, he stopped in several places to eat and get fuel for his truck.  The brand new truck he had purchased seemed to attract just about everyone’s attention, and he even caught a glimpse of someone taking his photograph on their cell phone as he drove by.  Feeling a bit foolish for choosing such a flashy truck, he decided to trade it in for a less noticeable vehicle.  After eating lunch in Lexington, he stopped at the first used car lot he saw.  He ended up leaving with an older pickup, one with quite a few miles on the odometer and a bit of rust peeking out from under the body.
Steven pulled into Huntington at seven o’clock.  He drove through the small downtown, looking at the few restaurants placed sparsely throughout the area.  His stomach growled.  Chinese didn’t appeal to him, and he definitely didn’t want to eat at a fast food joint.  He found himself slowing down in front of a small café with red and white striped curtains and the words ‘Downtown Café’ scrawled across the top.  The inside was brightly lit, and with dusk quickly disappearing into the night Steven found the café inviting.  He pulled into a parking stall and turned off his truck, satisfied to have found such a nice place to eat.
As he walked into the Downtown Café, he was enveloped by the savory kitchen smells.  He was hungrier than he had thought.  The hostess appeared young.  This was probably her first job, or perhaps she was the daughter of the owner.  She handed him a menu and led him to one of the round Ethan Allen style pedestal tables.
His waitress was in her early fifties, with several grey streaks running through her dark curly hair.  The lines around her eyes told him that she liked to smile, which she did as she approached Steven.
“What can I get for you, sweetie?” she said with a slight Midwestern accent.
“What would you recommend, Rose?” he asked, reading her name tag.
Her face brightened and she said, “We have a really nice grilled flank steak, with fried onions and tomatoes, but our herbed chicken breast is pretty good too.”
“I’ll have the steak, thank you.”
“And how would you like your steak?”
“Medium rare, please.”  Steven adjusted his wire rim glasses as Rose made some notes on her order pad.
“And would you like soup or salad with that?”
“I would love some of that wonderful smelling broccoli cheese soup.”
“Oh, that’s a good choice-” Rose paused, probably hoping to get a name from him.  Steven had not thought about that yet.  He surely wasn’t going to go by Steven Ashton.  He glanced down at the table.
“Ethan,” he said.
“Good choice, Ethan.” Rose said with a smile.
Steven got up early the next day and started looking for an apartment.  The town was clean; the people kept their lawns trimmed and neat.  He found a small furnished two bedroom apartment for rent just a few blocks away from the short downtown strip.  He looked forward to walking around the town and relaxing for a few days.
After he unpacked his things, and felt a little more settled, he decided to see what was on the television before going out to get groceries.  He flipped through the channels, looking for something interesting.  He stopped to watch the afternoon news.  The newscaster was saying something about a fire in California.
“In other national news, Steven Ashton, New York’s youngest and wealthiest entrepreneur has been missing now for several days…”
Steven’s breath caught in his throat as he stared at his photograph on the television.  

Categories Books

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Thursday, September 23: Who Is Mark Twain? An Amazingly Contemporary New Release of Previously Unpublished Shorts from HarperCollins, plus Recollections (Today’s Sponsor), and Links to Over a Million Free Kindle Titles




Twenty-six wickedly funny, thought-provoking, previously unpublished essays by one of America’s favorite writers make up today’s latest addition to our free book listings for Kindle readers….

But first … a word from Today’s Sponsor








by Jim Chambers


As one of the first post-WWII Baby Boomers, the author’s childhood and early teenage years were in the 1950s, a remarkable decade for the United States that saw enormous political, technological, and cultural changes. Although many books have covered the headline-making events of the era in great detail, few of these books give the reader a real feel for what daily life was like for Americans living in that decade, especially for kids growing up then. The author remembers the little nuts and bolts things of daily life for families during the fascinating decade known as the Fabulous Fifties. “Recollections” perfectly blends paying homage to the little day-to-day rituals with a larger scale examination of social issues and mores of the times, and it’s equally entertaining on either level. “Recollections” is a warm, lovingly honest, and fascinating portrait of America in the mid-20th Century. Print Length: 144 pages.







Praise for Recollections:


“From the clothes drying on the line in the backyard to
Leave It To Beaver playing on the black and white TV set, Recollections is a fantastic journey down memory lane for the baby boomers and a trivia filled, historical reference for the younger generations.” – Shannon Yarbrough, The LL Book Review

“Mr. Chambers has opened a time capsule, of sorts, that is as fresh and innocent today as it was in 1955. He allows the rest of us to be a fly on the wall as he strolls through a simpler time, when war was a cataclysmic explosion in history rather than a generational inheritance. A world where the children all rushed to Christmas trees that hovered over Hula Hoops and Frisbees, Erector Sets, Davy Crockett slippers. We were first turned on to science by Mr. Wizard, or our first microscope. It’s all here, neatly folded and pressed…. But Chambers uses his “canvas” as a window, as well as a mirror.

“He allows for the real struggle, confusion and fear of the times. What child was not made to feel tiny in the Cold War era of bomb shelters and Apocalyptic threats? He lets the world know how our generation came upon it’s fascination with all things electronic and gadget-y. And just when we are about to slip into an easy chair with our fond memories of homemade ice cream and Ozzie & Harriet, Chambers shakes up the scenery by calling up images of civil rights marches and segregation. But he does it as an affirmation, rather than an indictment, of America. He helps us to understand how the progress made in race relations during that decade prepared the nation for the broad brush strokes of civil rights advancement a decade later. So the book is not just about the 1950’s. It’s about who we were during that era, and what went into shaping our coming of age.”  –Richard Kenyada

Find out why Recollections: A Baby Boomer’s Memories of the Fabulous Fifties has already received 37 5-star reviews from Amazon reviewers….





Each day’s list is sponsored by one paid title. We encourage you to support our sponsors and thank you for considering them. 

Authors, Publishers, Kindle Accessory Manufacturers:
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information:

Click here to sponsor a Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert!

Free Today in the Kindle Store!



New and Free From HarperCollins: Who Is Mark Twain?
by Mark Twain (HarperCollins




Who Is Mark Twain? is a collection of twenty six wickedly funny, thought-provoking essays by Samuel Langhorne Clemens—aka Mark Twain—none of which have ever been published before, and all of which are completely contemporary, amazingly relevant, and gut-bustingly hilarious.

Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled  

“Who Is Mark Twain? is a refreshing reintroduction to both [Twain’s] critical analytical thought and his playful sense of humor.” (Los Angeles Times )  
“As funny and insightful as any of [Twain’s] published and well-known works, these essays take on the federal government, religion, race, fame, and even the literary canon with a sharp-eyed clarity we can chuckle over as we read while feeling uncomfortable knowing that they feel all too contemporary.” (Walter Mosley )  
“Twain’s wit and lethally precise powers of description are on full display in Who Is Mark Twain?” (Maud Newton )  
“[Twain] was, in the phrase of his friend William Dean Howells, ‘the Lincoln of our literature’…At the heart of his work lies that greatest of all American qualities: irreverence.” (Washington Post )  
“More than 100 years after [Twain] wrote these stories, they remain not only remarkably funny but remarkably modern….Ninety-nine years after his death, Twain still manages to get the last laugh.” (Vanity Fair ) 



Dead Reckoning by Ronie Kendig (Abingdon Press) 
4.7 out of 5 stars  (29 customer reviews) Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled   
Underwater archeologist Shiloh Blake is consumed with passion for the water and inflamed at the injustices of life. When her first large-scale dig traps her in the middle of an international nuclear arms clash, she flees for her life. When she spots a man trailing her, the questions are, Who is he? and How is he always one step ahead? Reece Jaxon is a former Navy SEAL and now serves his country as a spy. His life is entangled by the beguiling Shiloh Blake as he hunts down the sources to a nuclear dead drop in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai, India. The only way to end this nightmare and prevent a nuclear meltdown is to join forces with Reece. Will Shiloh violate her vow to never become a spy? 
                                                                                                                                                                      

Elvis Takes a Backseat by Leanna Ellis 
4.8 out of 5 stars  (10 customer reviews) Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled   

When Claudia, a 40-something Texas widow, holds a garage sale to offload some of her late husband’s belongings, she discovers a note he scribbled in the last days of his illness, asking her to return a bizarre three-foot bust of Elvis Presley to Memphis. Reluctantly, Claudia embarks on a return to sender road trip to Tennessee with her 60ish aunt, who knew Elvis personally, and a caustic teenage girl who is harboring a secret. 

“Heartwarming, funny, delightful…I was floored by the way this book made me feel. Elvis Takes a back Seat is first-class entertainment.” RomanceReaderAtHeart.com


4.9 out of 5 stars  (20 customer reviews) 
Digital List Price: $10.49  Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled  
Nazis flee under cover of darkness as American troops near the town of St. Georgen. A terrible surprise awaits the unsuspecting GIs.  And three people—the wife of an SS guard, an American soldier, and a concentration camp survivor—will never be the same. Inspired by actual events surrounding the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp, From Dust and Ashes shows the healing power of forgiveness.    


by Edward D. Hess and Charles F. Goetz 
4.8 out of 5 stars  (6 customer reviews) Digital List Price: $15.99 Kindle Price: $0.00 
From Booklist: Two former corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and now professors Hess and Goetz combine their wisdom and experience to offer new and wannabe business owners some critical thinking, management strategies, and tried-and-tested pointers. Their book is written in a simple albeit very academic style, with logical headlines, practical sidebars, and summarized “lessons learned” at the end of each chapter. Although the authors are generous about sharing the ABC’s of business, whether it’s how to find and keep good employees or explanations of financial gotta-haves, the overall subtitle—8 Steps to Take—gets buried in a welter of other numbers: the 8 mistakes business owners make (e.g., pricing incorrectly), the 7 techniques to get a customer to try your product (references/testimonials), the rule of 3s and the rule of 7s (only manage 7 or fewer people at any given time). Use this as a novice’s springboard (and remind the authors to follow their own advice: keep it simple!). –Barbara Jacobs

UK Kindle Nation Free Book Alert: UK Kindle Store Prices are Higher Than US, But Customers May Be Saying “Thanks But No Thanks”


Our latest survey of ebook prices reveals the surprising news that ebook prices in the UK Kindle Store are now higher across the board than ebook prices in the UK Kindle Store….


But first … a word from Today’s UK eBook Sponsor 
4.7 out of 5 stars  (19 customer reviews) 
Kindle Price:  $0.99 Text-to-Speech: Enabled  
“Shawn Cormier is a wonderful new voice in fantasy, as he leads the reader on a fun and stout-hearted journey into imaginative and colorful Princess Bride territory. Nomadin will surely strike a receptive chord with fans of Tolkien and Robert Jordan. More, Shawn Cormier!”  
–Nancy Holder – author of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood and Fog  
Young Ilien knows nothing of the dark tales told around late-night fires, or of the legendary Nomadin wizards and the prophesy that haunts them. But all that is soon to change. For a shadow touches the peaceful land of Nadae. An ancient evil is stirring. Already a NiDemon has crossed from the land of the dead. And now Ilien must run – from a monster of unimaginable cunning and power, toward a fate more frightening than that which hunts him. But he cannot run forever. Eventually he will have to make a stand. Sooner or later he will have to face what even the legendary Nomadin cannot . . . himself.
UK Kindle customers: Click here to download Nomadin (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
US Kindle customersclick here to download Nomadin
Authors, Publishers, Kindle Accessory Manufacturers:
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information. 
UK Kindle Store Prices are Higher Than US, But Customers May Be Saying “Thanks But No Thanks”
By Stephen Windwalker 
Editor of Kindle Nation Daily
©Kindle Nation Daily 2010

Although the average prices of ebooks among the UK Kindle Store’s Top 100 Paid Bestsellers remain dramatically lower than those that make up the US Kindle Top 100 Paid Bestsellers, our most recent comparative analysis of UK and US Kindle Store prices reveals a dramatically different story.

In fact, the overall array of UK Kindle Store ebook prices is significantly higher.

Back on August 5, a few days after the launch of the separate UK Kindle Store, Kindle Nation Daily reported that an unscientific comparison of the top 25 bestsellers showed U.S. Kindle owners were paying 60% more for their favorite books than U.K. Kindle Store customers:

“As of 4:30 pm Eastern time today, August 5, a US Kindle customer could have purchased the top 25 bestselling books in the US Kindle Store sales rankings for a grand total of $252.10.  Over in the UK, at exactly the same time, a UK Kindle customer could have purchased the top 25 bestselling books in the UK Kindle Store sales rankings for a grand total of £99.13, which is the equivalent of $157.58 in US dollars.”

While prices at the top of the bestseller list haven’t changed much and remain significantly cheaper in the U.K., a broader analysis of the overall composition of the Kindle Store catalogue during the past 48 hours shows higher prices in the UK. Looking at the US catalog of over 700,000 Kindle ebook titles as of September 5 and the UK catalog of 456,329 Kindle ebook titles as of September 21, we compared converted price points to conform with the major U.S. Kindle Store price ranges that we have been studying throughout the year:
  • £6.43 and up, which converts to $10 and up in US dollars; 
  • £1.92 to £6.42, which converts to $2.99 to $9.99 in US dollars; and 
  • £0.00 to £1.91, which converts to $0.00 to $2.98 in US dollars.  
Using these ranges, we found that more than twice as high a percentage of the UK Kindle Store’s catalog is priced at the equivalent of $10 and up as the percentage of such titles in the US Kindle Store: 
  • 34.76% of the UK catalogue is priced at £6.43 and up, compared with 15.96% of the US catalog at $10 and up;
  • 45.79% of the UK catalogue is priced at £1.92 to £6.42, compared with 63.47% of the US catalog at $2.99 to $9.99;
  • 19.45% of the UK catalogue is priced at £0.00 to £1.91, compared with 20.57% of the US catalog at $0.00 to $2.98.
Although Amazon has been cutting back on free Kindle books offered directly in the Kindle Store, the 16,700 free US Kindle Store titles (2.28% of the catalogue) still is more than double the percentage of free UK Kindle Store titles (4,821 titles, or 1.06% of the catalogue).

Of course, it’s one thing to set higher prices and another thing to get higher prices. Only Amazon and perhaps some publishers have access to the numbers that would tell us whether the average transaction price for actual Kindle Store sales is higher in the UK than in the US. The price array of the titles that compose the UK Kindle Store’s Top 100 Paid Bestsellers compared with those that make up the US Kindle Top 100 Paid Bestsellers, might be taken to suggest that UK Kindle customers are more price conscious that their counterparts in the States: only 12 of the top 100 paid bestsellers in the UK store are priced in the £6.43 and up range, whereas 32 of the US top 100 are priced in the equivalent $10 and up range.

But other explanations are also quite likely: Amazon.co.uk, unconstrained by the agency model through which publishers are fixing ebook prices in the US, is obviously cherrypicking likely UK bestsellers and offering them as loss leaders in order to build its UK Kindle store and installed base and compete with other ebook retailers.

In our next analysis of UK Kindle issues and how they affect Kindle owners on both sides of the pond we’ll take a look at the growing controversy over Hachette’s efforts to impose the agency model on UK ebook retailers.

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Wednesday, September 22: Spies in the Swim of Things, plus “The Harvard Man” (Today’s Sponsor), and Links to Over a Million Free Kindle-Compatible Titles

Underwater archeologist Shiloh Blake and former Navy SEAL Reece Jaxon get along swimmingly in the Christian spy novel that is today’s latest addition to our free book listings for Kindle readers….

But first … a word from Today’s Sponsor



by John Arthur Long




THE HARVARD MAN


He is brilliant, possessing intelligence most would classify as genius, and he has always believed he was destined for Harvard University.  However, there is a flaw.  He is also mentally unstable, a  psychopath with violent tendencies.  Harvard has rejected his application.


Now, he is determined to exact revenge in sweeping strokes of violence that will display his brilliance and bring America’s most prestigious university to its academic knees.  If he can’t have Harvard, no one can!

Vellum Publishing Inc. is offering the riveting new thriller, THE HARVARD MAN by John Arthur Long, at the sweet price of $2.99 for Kindle readers.

Click here to download THE HARVARD MAN (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!

All Vellum Publishing Inc. Kindle store offerings are formatted for easier reading and guaranteed to be reasonably priced at $7.99 or less.  Click here to see the entire Kindle catalog from Vellum Publishing.



Each day’s list is sponsored by one paid title. We encourage you to support our sponsors and thank you for considering them. 

Authors, Publishers, Kindle Accessory Manufacturers:
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information:

Click here to sponsor a Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert!

Free Today in the Kindle Store!


Dead Reckoning by Ronie Kendig (Abingdon Press) 
4.7 out of 5 stars  (29 customer reviews) Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled   
Underwater archeologist Shiloh Blake is consumed with passion for the water and inflamed at the injustices of life. When her first large-scale dig traps her in the middle of an international nuclear arms clash, she flees for her life. When she spots a man trailing her, the questions are, Who is he? and How is he always one step ahead? Reece Jaxon is a former Navy SEAL and now serves his country as a spy. His life is entangled by the beguiling Shiloh Blake as he hunts down the sources to a nuclear dead drop in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai, India. The only way to end this nightmare and prevent a nuclear meltdown is to join forces with Reece. Will Shiloh violate her vow to never become a spy? 
                                                                                                                                                                      

Elvis Takes a Backseat by Leanna Ellis 
4.8 out of 5 stars  (10 customer reviews) Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled   

When Claudia, a 40-something Texas widow, holds a garage sale to offload some of her late husband’s belongings, she discovers a note he scribbled in the last days of his illness, asking her to return a bizarre three-foot bust of Elvis Presley to Memphis. Reluctantly, Claudia embarks on a return to sender road trip to Tennessee with her 60ish aunt, who knew Elvis personally, and a caustic teenage girl who is harboring a secret. 

“Heartwarming, funny, delightful…I was floored by the way this book made me feel. Elvis Takes a back Seat is first-class entertainment.” RomanceReaderAtHeart.com


4.9 out of 5 stars  (20 customer reviews) 
Digital List Price: $10.49  Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled  
Nazis flee under cover of darkness as American troops near the town of St. Georgen. A terrible surprise awaits the unsuspecting GIs.  And three people—the wife of an SS guard, an American soldier, and a concentration camp survivor—will never be the same. Inspired by actual events surrounding the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp, From Dust and Ashes shows the healing power of forgiveness.    


by Edward D. Hess and Charles F. Goetz 
4.8 out of 5 stars  (6 customer reviews) Digital List Price: $15.99 Kindle Price: $0.00 
From Booklist: Two former corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and now professors Hess and Goetz combine their wisdom and experience to offer new and wannabe business owners some critical thinking, management strategies, and tried-and-tested pointers. Their book is written in a simple albeit very academic style, with logical headlines, practical sidebars, and summarized “lessons learned” at the end of each chapter. Although the authors are generous about sharing the ABC’s of business, whether it’s how to find and keep good employees or explanations of financial gotta-haves, the overall subtitle—8 Steps to Take—gets buried in a welter of other numbers: the 8 mistakes business owners make (e.g., pricing incorrectly), the 7 techniques to get a customer to try your product (references/testimonials), the rule of 3s and the rule of 7s (only manage 7 or fewer people at any given time). Use this as a novice’s springboard (and remind the authors to follow their own advice: keep it simple!). –Barbara Jacobs

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert: Elvis Takes a Backseat, plus Key Lime Blues, the latest from The Storm Killer author Mike Jastrzebski (Today’s Sponsor)


A 40-something Texas widow brings Elvis back to Memphis in today’s latest addition to our free book listings for Kindle readers….

But first … a word from Today’s Sponsor




Key Lime Blues by Mike Jastrzebski 
4.3 out of 5 stars  (6 customer reviews) Kindle Price: $2.39 Text-to-Speech: Enabled  
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of introducing Mike’s earlier novel, The Storm Killer, to Kindle Nation readers with this commentary: I’ve been lucky enough to be able to share some great stuff with you here over the past three weeks, and I’ve let you know what I liked. But I’ve also been aware — not to put fine a point on the analogy since fiction cannot be rated in the linear way that one rate a performance, say, on the balance beam — that I wanted to save the 10s, because I knew The Storm Killer was coming. If a novel could be a 10, I’d say this is a  10. It is a wonderfully ambitious historical novel, and the author, Mike Jastrzebski, delivers on its potential in every way, with every sense, and with an astonishing ability to create, or perhaps recreate, the times and places and characters in this work of fiction. 

Today’s sponsoring novel, Key Lime Blues, comes at reality from a very different angle, but Mike’s gifts as a novelist are equally in evidence. Here’s the setup:
For some people working in the family business means suits, power lunches, and afternoon meetings. For Wes Darling it was guns, lies, and dead bodies.  
The Darling Detective Agency was founded in 1876 by Aaron ‘Dusty’ Darling. Now Wes’s chain smoking, stressed out mother is grooming Wes to take over. How does he handle his mother’s demands? He heads to Key West, moves onto a sailboat, and takes a job tending bar at a little joint called Dirty Alvin’s.  
Life is carefree until his mother’s lover, a man who mentored Wes for years, is murdered on a Key West Beach. Reluctantly, Wes is drawn into a spinning web of murder, sex and deceit.   First there are his mother’s pleas for help. Throw in a six-foot-tall red-headed stripper, a retired mobster who acts like it’s the 1940’s, a pair of dim-witted hit men, a phobic psychic named Elvis, a small fortune in stolen diamonds, and what do you have? Mayhem in Key West.

Free Today in the Kindle Store!



                                                                                                                                                                      

Elvis Takes a Backseat by Leanna Ellis 
4.8 out of 5 stars  (10 customer reviews) Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled   

When Claudia, a 40-something Texas widow, holds a garage sale to offload some of her late husband’s belongings, she discovers a note he scribbled in the last days of his illness, asking her to return a bizarre three-foot bust of Elvis Presley to Memphis. Reluctantly, Claudia embarks on a return to sender road trip to Tennessee with her 60ish aunt, who knew Elvis personally, and a caustic teenage girl who is harboring a secret. 

“Heartwarming, funny, delightful…I was floored by the way this book made me feel. Elvis Takes a back Seat is first-class entertainment.” RomanceReaderAtHeart.com


4.9 out of 5 stars  (20 customer reviews) 
Digital List Price: $10.49  Kindle Price: $0.00 Text-to-Speech: Enabled  
Nazis flee under cover of darkness as American troops near the town of St. Georgen. A terrible surprise awaits the unsuspecting GIs.  And three people—the wife of an SS guard, an American soldier, and a concentration camp survivor—will never be the same. Inspired by actual events surrounding the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp, From Dust and Ashes shows the healing power of forgiveness.    


by Edward D. Hess and Charles F. Goetz 
4.8 out of 5 stars  (6 customer reviews) Digital List Price: $15.99 Kindle Price: $0.00 
From Booklist: Two former corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and now professors Hess and Goetz combine their wisdom and experience to offer new and wannabe business owners some critical thinking, management strategies, and tried-and-tested pointers. Their book is written in a simple albeit very academic style, with logical headlines, practical sidebars, and summarized “lessons learned” at the end of each chapter. Although the authors are generous about sharing the ABC’s of business, whether it’s how to find and keep good employees or explanations of financial gotta-haves, the overall subtitle—8 Steps to Take—gets buried in a welter of other numbers: the 8 mistakes business owners make (e.g., pricing incorrectly), the 7 techniques to get a customer to try your product (references/testimonials), the rule of 3s and the rule of 7s (only manage 7 or fewer people at any given time). Use this as a novice’s springboard (and remind the authors to follow their own advice: keep it simple!). –Barbara Jacobs