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Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Friday, November 26: A brand new pre-order that could arrive just in time for those Black Friday charges on your credit card, plus … Holly Hook’s 2010 Amazon Breatkthrough Novel Awards Semifinalist TEMPEST (Today’s Sponsor)

Our 150+ Free Book Alert listings will help you manage your holiday budget in at least two ways. First, they’re all free, and second, today’s latest addition will download automatically to your Kindle or Kindle app on Tuesday morning … perhaps just in time to help provide some smart moves in case those Black Friday deals have turned your head….

But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor

Sixteen-year-old Janelle considered herself a normal teenager, despite the odd birthmark on her arm. Things take a stormy turn when she sees the same markings on the arm of someone else….



by Holly Hook 
4.5 out of 5 stars – 10 Reviews
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

Here’s the set-up for this 2010 Amazon Breatkthrough Novel Awards Semifinalist:

Sixteen-year-old Janelle never thought the gray spiral birthmark on her arm meant anything special. That is, until she meets Gary, a boy her age with a birthmark exactly like hers.


Gary’s attractive, brooding, and perfectly normal…except for the fact that he materialized out of a dangerous hurricane right in front of her. Janelle’s certain of only one thing. Gary’s mark—and hers, too—mean something, but he’s reluctant to tell her what.


At last she squeezes the truth from Gary about their markings. And the truth is utterly terrifying: Janelle and Gary are more connected to the destructive power of nature than she ever dreamed possible. And learning the truth about herself is only the start of her nightmare.



“Meteorology may seem an odd literary motivation, but this novel puts weather at the center of a solid fantasy-adventure.”–Publishers Weekly

Click here to download Tempest (Destroyers) (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
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Free Kindle Nation Shorts, November 25, 2010 – An Excerpt from A Touch of Deceit, An Amazon Kindle Exclusive Novel by Gary Ponzo

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


There are a number of different approaches we can take here, but they all come out the same way.

You could listen to what I have to say about the very talented novelist behind the Nick Bracco series, and I would tell you that Gary Ponzo is the real thing, a suspense novelist with full command of the tools of the trade.

You could listen to the literary gatekeepers who have honored this author’s work by twice nominating him for the prestigious Pushcart Prize for short fiction and showering him with other awards,

You could listen to your fellow Amazon readers, and the verdict there is the most stellar that I have seen for any fiction writer yet to participate in the Free Kindle Nation Shorts program. 24 readers have reviewed A Touch of Deceit. 20 have rated the novel with 5 stars, three with 4 stars, and one with 3 stars. That is a pretty amazing testimonial.

But the good news is that you do not have to listen to anyone else, because Gary Ponzo has provided us with a generous 11,500-word excerpt. If you are a fan of suspense fiction, I will be surprised if he does not grab you like he grabbed me with the first few paragraphs. Clear out a few hours this weekend and budget two bucks for the download, because you’re not likely to stop reading until you’ve read the whole thing.

Click here to begin reading the free excerpt

This novel is an Amazon Kindle Exclusive

Here’s the set-up:

FBI agent Nick Bracco can’t stop a Kurdish terrorist from firing missiles at random homes across the country. The police can’t stand watch over every household, so Bracco recruits his cousin Tommy to help track down this terrorist. Tommy is in the Mafia. Oh yeah, it gets messy fast. As fast as you can turn the pages.

 Winner of the Southwest Writers Award, Thriller category.


 

Click on the title or cover image below below to download the complete book to your Kindle or Kindle app for just $1.99

 

A Touch of Deceit
by Gary Ponzo

 4.8 out of 5 stars – 24 Reviews
Kindle Price: $1.99

Text-to-Speech: Enabled 

Gift the gift of reading
  A Touch of Deceit to a friend

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here:

Click on the title to download 
(or the free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
 

Nick Bracco is an FBI agent with a terrorist on his tail.  Normally he would rely on his team of anti-terrorist agents to protect him and his wife, but they’re severely restricted by the Constitution.

Fortunately his cousin Tommy doesn’t have as many restrictions.

He’s in the Mafia.  And nobody messes with Tommy’s family.


An Excerpt from   
A Touch of DeceitAn Amazon Kindle Exclusive Novel
by  Gary Ponzo

Free Kindle Nation Shorts
November 25, 2010

 

Copyright © 2010 by Gary Ponzo and reprinted here with his permission.

  

    There was a time when Nick Bracco would walk down Gold Street late at night and young vandals would scatter.  The law was present and the guilty took cover.  West Baltimore was alive with crime, but Gold Street remained quarantined, reserved for the dirtiest of the dirty.  That’s how Nick remembered it anyway.  Before he left for the Bureau to fight terrorists.  Now, the narrow corridor of row houses felt closer to him and the slender strip of buckled sidewalk echoed his footsteps like a sentry announcing his presence.  It wasn’t his turf anymore.  He was a foreigner.
    Nick scrutinized the landscape and searched for something out of place.  The battered cars seemed right, the graffiti, even the shadows seemed to darken the proper corners.  But something was missing.  There were no lookouts on the concrete stairwells.  The ubiquitous bass line of hip-hop was absent.  The stillness reminded him of jungle birds falling silent in the prelude to danger.  The only comfort came from the matching footsteps beside him.  As usual, Matt McColm was by his side.  They’d been partners for ten years and were approaching the point of finishing each other’s sentences.
    “You’re awfully quiet,” Matt said.
    “Did I mention that I don’t have a good feeling about this?”                
    “Uh, huh.”  Matt tightened his collar against the autumn chill and worked a piece of gum with his jaw.  “That’s your theme song.”
    “Really?  Don’t you ever get a bad feeling about a call?”
    “All the time.”
    “How come you never tell me?”
    “I’m going to feed the flames of paranoia?”
    They walked a little further in silence.  It got darker with every step.  The number of working streetlights dwindled.
    “Did you just call me paranoid?” Nick said.
    Matt looked straight ahead as he walked; his casual demeanor caused him to appear aloof, but Nick knew better.  Even at half-mast, Matt’s eyes were alert and aware.  
    “Maybe paranoid is too strong of a word,” Matt said.
    “I would hope so.”
    “More like Mother-henish.”
    “That’s better,” Nick said.  “By the way, did you eat your broccoli tonight?”
    “Yes, Dear.”     
    They strode further; low-lying clouds gave the night a claustrophobic feel.     
    “This guy asked for you specifically?” Matt said.
    Nick nodded.  
    “That bother you a little?” Matt asked.
    “No,” Nick said.  “That bothers me a lot.”      
    Up ahead, a parked car jostled.  They both stopped.  Neither of them spoke.  They split up.  By the book.  Years of working together coming into play.  Matt crouched and crept into the street.  Nick stayed on the sidewalk and gave the car a wide berth.  In seconds Matt became invisible.  The car maintained a spastic rhythm.  It was subtle, but Nick understood the familiar motion even before he flashed his penlight into the back seat and saw a pair of young eyes pop up through the grimy window.  They were wide open and reacted like a jewel thief caught with a handful of pearls. The kid’s hair was disheveled and his shirt was half-off.  His panting breath caused the inside of the window to fog up.  He wasn’t alone.  A pair of bare legs straddled his torso.
    From the other side of the vehicle, Matt emerged from the shadows and charged the car with his pistol out front.  He was just a few yards away when Nick held up his hand and said, “No.”
    Matt stopped dead.  He must’ve seen the grin on Nick’s face and realized the situation.  He slowly holstered his Glock and took time to catch his breath.
    Nick heard the kid’s voice through the closed window.  “I ain’t doing nuthin’, man.”
    Nick clicked off his penlight and slipped it back into his jacket.  He smiled.  “It may be nothing, but you sure worked up a sweat doing it.”
    When Matt fell back into step next to his partner, Nick said, “You seemed a little . . . uh, paranoid?”
    Matt returned to nonchalant mode.  “Kids that young shouldn’t be doing the nasty out in the street.”
    “Consider their role models,” Nick said.  “You can’t change the tide with an oar.”
    “Pardon me, Professor Bracco.  Who said that one-Nietzsche?”
    “I just made it up.”
    “It sounded like it.”
    They slowed their pace until Nick stopped in front of an old brick building with a worn, green awning above the entrance.  Nick gestured down a dark flight of stairs where a giant steel door stood menacingly secure.  “There it is.”
    Matt nodded.  “You bring me to all the best spots.”   
    When he was certain of their solitude, Nick descended the stairs.  Matt followed, keeping an eye on their rear.  In the darkness, Nick barely made out Matt’s silhouette.  
    “Listen,” Nick said, “it’ll be easier if we don’t have to use our creds, but let’s see how it goes.  I don’t want to say any more than I have to, and you say nothing at all.  Just be the silent brute that you are.  Capisce?”
    “Understood.”
    “If we get lucky, I’ll see a familiar face.”  Nick raised his fist, hovered it in front of the door, then stopped to sniff the air.  “You wearing aftershave?”
    “A little.”
    “You have a date after this?”
    “Uh huh.”
    “When?”
    “Midnight.”
    “Who makes a date with you at midnight?”
    “Veronica Post.”
    “First date?”
    “Yup.”
    “At midnight?”
    “She’s a waitress.  She doesn’t get off until then.”
    In the murky darkness, Nick sighed.  He turned to face the door and, just like a thousand times before, he said, “Ready?”
    He couldn’t see the response, but he heard Matt unfasten the flap to his holster.  Matt was ready.
    Nick used his wedding band hand to pound on the metal door.  He shifted his weight as they waited.  Nick heard Matt chewing his gum.
    Nick said,  “Midnight, huh?”
    A rectangular peephole slid open allowing just enough light through to see a dark face peering out.  The face was so large the opening supported only enough room for one of his eyes.
    “Yeah?” the man grunted.
    Nick leaned close to the opening so the man could see his face.  The opening quickly slid shut.
    They stood in the silence while Nick thought of his next move.
    “He seems like a nice fellow,” Matt said.  
    The clang of locks unbolting was followed by the door squeaking open.  It reminded Nick of an old horror movie.  
    The large black man wore a large black shirt that hung over his jeans and covered enough space to hide a rocket launcher. The man ignored Nick and gave Matt the once over.  
    Matt gave him the stone cold glare of a pissed-off FBI agent.  No one did it better.
    Then the man turned his attention to Nick.  His head was round and clean-shaven.  His expressionless face seemed to be set in cement.
    Nick spread open his hands and raised his eyebrows.  “Well?”
    The man’s face slowly softened, then worked its way into a full out smile.  “Where the fuck you been, Bracco?”  He engulfed Nick into a giant bear hug, momentarily lifting him off of his feet.
    Nick patted the beast a couple of times on the back and slid down to face him.  “I can’t believe you still work here.”  He gestured to Matt, “This here is Matt McColm.  Matt, this is Truth.”  
    Truth nodded to Matt, then slapped Nick on the shoulder.  “Last time I saw you, you were still with the Western.”
    “It’s been a decade.”  
    “Wow, seems like just yesterday you’d come in and drag Woody to G.A. meetings.”
    Nick grinned.  He looked over the big man’s shoulder to the solid green door that Truth guarded.  Beyond the fireproof frame was a large, unfinished basement filled with poker tables. This time of night the tables would be surrounded by chiropractors, strippers, tax accountants, firefighters and probably even a couple of cops from Nick’s old beat.  A mixture of cigar and cigarette smoke would be lingering just below the fluorescents.  
    “How’s the crowd?” Nick asked.     
    “Not too bad.  You want a seat?”
    Nick shook his head.  “I’d scare them all off.  You know I’m with the feds now?”
    Truth frowned.  “You don’t come around for ten years and the first thing you think to do is insult me?”
    Nick stood silent and waited.
    “We may be compulsive gamblers,” Truth explained, “but we’re not illiterates.  I read the story.  Local boy makes good.”
    Nick held up a hand.  “Hold on.  Don’t believe everything you read in the rags.”
    “Since when is Newsweek a rag?”
    Nick shrugged.  “Sometimes the legend exceeds the facts.”
    Truth waved a thick finger back and forth between the two agents.  “He’s the partner.  They called you two the Dynamic Duo or the A-Team or some shit.”
    Nick said nothing.
    Truth snapped his large fingers.  “Dream Team.  That’s it.  I knew it was something like that.  You two dug up some kind of terrorist cell planning to waste the Washington Monument.  Isn’t that right?”
    He pointed to Nick.  “According to the article, you the brains and he’s the muscle.”
    Matt stood stone-faced.
    “The way you say it,” Nick said.  “It makes my partner here sound like a bimbo with large biceps.  Look at him.  Does he look like he pumps iron?”
    Truth examined Matt’s long, thin frame and shook his head.  “Nope.  So he must be good with a 9.”
    “Precisely.  He’s the FBI’s sharp-shooting champ three years running.”
    Truth smiled.  “You two aren’t here to raid the place, I know that much.  They wouldn’t send that much talent for this old joint.”
    “Come on, Truth.”  Nick said.  “This is a landmark.  My father used to play here.  I’d rather see it turned into a museum first.”
    Truth’s smile transformed into something approaching concern.  “And you’re not here to play poker either?”
    Nick shook his head.
    “Then it must be business.”
    Nick stood motionless and let the big man put it all together.
    Truth looked at Nick, but nodded toward Matt.  “You wouldn’t bring the cowboy unless you felt a need for backup.  Something I should know?”
    Nick thought about how much he should tell him.  He trusted Truth as much as any civilian.
    “I’m not sure,” Nick said.  “I need to see Ray Seville.  Is he still playing?”
    “Seville?  Yeah, he’s back there making his usual donations.  What do you want with a weasel like him?”
    “He called the field office and left a message for me to meet him here.”  
    Truth smiled.  “The snitch strikes again.”
    “Maybe,” Nick said.
    Matt cleared his throat in a forced fashion.
    “Oh, yeah,” Nick said.  “Matt’s in a bit of a hurry.  He’s got a date tonight.”
    Truth engaged Matt’s hardened face again, only this time Matt threw in a wink.
    Truth smiled and held out his hand, “All right then, gents.  Hand them over and I’ll get Ray for you.”
    Nick cringed.  
    Matt glared at his partner.  “You can’t be serious?”
    Truth didn’t budge.  His palm remained open while his fingertips flexed impatiently.  
    “Truth,” Nick said.  “Is that really necessary?”
    Truth looked at Matt this time.  In a tone that denoted overuse, he said, “A long time ago there was a shootout in the parlor.  A couple of drunks got carried away during a tight hand.  The drunks were Baltimore PD.  Fortunately, they were more drunk than cops that night and neither one got hurt too bad.  When one of their fellow officers was called to the scene, he came down hard. Even though the two drunk cops were his senior, he was someone everyone respected and they obeyed his commands.  Back then he made a rule: if Lloyd’s was going to stay open it had to be firearm free.  No exceptions.  The Mayor, the Governor.  No one.”
    Truth took his time to look back at Nick.  “Do you remember who that cop was?”
    Nick nodded, reluctantly.  “Me.”
    “Bingo,” Truth smiled.     
    Nick fished the 9MM from his holster and handed it to Truth.  He looked at Matt and said, “Sorry, I forgot.”
    Truth took Nick’s gun and shoved it into the abyss under his oversized tee shirt.  He looked at Matt and kept his hand out.  “It’s only out of respect that I don’t pat you down,” Truth said.  “I trust Nick.”
    Matt moaned while removing his Glock.  “Forgot, my ass.”
    “Relax, Truth has our back until we’re done here.  Right Truth?”
    “Fifteen years,” Truth said.  “No one’s got by me yet.”  He gestured for them to follow and he stopped after only a few steps.  He pointed to an open door and said, “Wait in there and I’ll get him for you.”
    Before entering the room, they watched Truth walk down the hall and open the green door.  As he pulled the door shut behind him, a burst of cigar smoke escaped along the ceiling and crept toward the front door.  Nick followed Matt into the small sitting room and remained standing. Matt eased onto a dingy green sofa, rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together.
    The room was a windowless twelve by twelve with two corduroy sofas facing each other.  Between the sofas was a carved up oak coffee table that wobbled without ever being touched.  The only light came from a pair of bare fluorescent bulbs that hung from a cracked ceiling.
    “I’m just glad you didn’t agree to wear a blindfold,” Matt said.  “We would have missed this beautiful decor.”
    “Calm down,” Nick said.  “I wouldn’t want you to be uptight for Valerie.”
    “Veronica.”
    “Right.”  
    Nick paced while Matt tapped his fingertips.       
    Nick heard the green door open. Truth was followed by a wiry man with deep pockets under his eyes.  He wore a baseball cap with the brim twisted to the side.
    Nick gestured for him to sit down.   
    Truth said, “I’ll be right outside if you need me,” then pulled the door shut behind him.
    Ray Seville sank into the couch across from Matt and pulled a mangled pack of cigarettes from his jeans pocket.  He flipped open a pack of matches and flicked one against the striker.  He sucked the cigarette to life, then shook the match and pointed the extinguished stick at Matt.  “Who’s he?”
    Matt glared.
    “He’s my partner,” Nick said.
    “I thought I left a message for you to come alone.”  
    “He’s my partner.  He goes where I go.”
    “Yeah, well, how do I know I can trust him?”
    “How do you know you can trust me?”
    Seville managed a meager grin.  “Aw, come on.  Me and you, we have history.”
    “History?” Nick said.  “I arrested you half a dozen times working Gold Street.”
    Seville waved the back of his hand.  “Yeah, but you was always straight with me.  A lot of other cops were pure bullshit.  Tell me one thing, then come at me from a different angle two minutes later.”
    Nick sighed.  “Listen, Ray, I’m not with the Western anymore.  You want to roll over on one of your buddies, I’ll call a shoe and get him to meet you somewhere safe. Not down here in the basement of Lloyd’s poker house.”
    Seville took another drag of his cigarette and looked past Nick at Matt still leaning forward, elbows on his knees, “What’s his problem?”
    “I told you, he’s my partner.”
    “Doesn’t he know how to speak?”
    “He’s just here to intimidate.”
    “Intimidate?  Intimidate who?”
    The guy was a pure idiot.  Nick wondered how Ray survived among the predators that prowled West Baltimore on a nightly basis.  Nick glanced at his watch and said, “Ray, where are we going here?”  
    Seville stared at the hardwood floor while the flimsy ash danced between his feet.  “A couple of weeks ago I get a call from this guy asking me for a phony drivers license.”
    “How did he know to call you?” Nick asked.
    “I dunno.  Maybe somebody told him.  Stop being a cop for a second and listen.”
    Nick folded his arms.
    “Well, anyway, I meet him and get the info he wants me to use on the license.  I usually ask some questions to see what I’m getting myself into, but this guy cuts me off before I can even start.  I never been eye-fucked like that before.”
Categories Books

Book lovers have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving: New Ways To Read Books, New Books To Read, New Authors To Enjoy

Don’t miss today’s Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert: Cybill Shepherd Tells All You’d Ever Want to Know, and More, plus … Will the Pope be sorry for opting out of the concordat with the Templar Knights? Find out in Terrence O’Brien’s gripping The Templar Concordat (Today’s Sponsor)

By Tom Dulaney, Contributing Reporter

Book lovers have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving, including so many things that were not in our lives a year ago:

We aren’t enslaved to a particular reading device, thanks to Amazon.com’s continuing rollout of apps letting us read our ebooks on everything from iPad, the new kid in eBook reading, to the Kindle, the father of the ebook revolution in many ways.  (Kindle wasn’t the first eBook reader, but it’s the one that caught the world’s attention.)

We can save a load of money and still read, read, read.  Millions of ebooks await our download.  All we have to sort out is how to get which freebie from wherever onto our reading device of choice.  Amazon makes that a snap for the tens of thousands of free ebooks it carries, and the iPad makes it easy once you know where to look.

Our reading horizons are stretching wide, wider, widest.  Again, Amazon gets the lion’s share of the credit here, for several reasons:  

  • New titles from great authors.  Just this week, Amazon announced acquiring 121 titles for their Kindle Store from The Toby Press.  That brings some of the finest overseas authors to US readers–in English.
  • New ebooks for our kids, like the just-added. Rainbow Magic series from Daisy Meadows
  • New authors.  With its Digital Text Publishing (DTP) that makes publishing a book a snap, we readers can discover new authors.  These budding writers get a chance they never had before ebooks and DTP.
  • Bestselling author bargains.  The A-list of popular authors, including the everywhere present James Patterson, lets us sample huge chunks of their upcoming books.  Sometimes, they give us one of their older books, a get-to-know-you marketing method that, nevertheless, gives us a great read at a great price.
  • A mountain of books to choose from.  Our options range from Gutenberg.org and other such sites, with towering lists of classics now downloadable for free.  Plus, Amazon–again way out ahead–now offers us 750,000 ebooks, and the number is only going up.
  • Bargain pricing–much of the time, but not all of the time.  A strong contingent of ebook buyers expect their ebooks to cost less than the printed book.  That argument rages on, and no one really knows if a general policy will settle into place.
  • And more…from saving trees, cutting distribution costs, leaving room in our homes that piles of books used to take, and so on.
So while there is much to be thankful for, there are also events to make us wonder.  For example, until this coming Monday, Amazon is having a Black Friday sell-a-thon.  It doesn’t seem to extend to books in the Kindle Store, but we get good bargains there every day of the week.  Current pricing during the Black Friday event seems to turn the “ebooks should be cheaper” argument upside down, but that’s temporary.
But, for example, today’s bargains include Sarah Palin’s America By Heart  at $12.99 is a penny more than the hardcover Black Friday deal.
And James Patterson’s Cross Fire costs $14.99 as an ebook, but $14.00 in the deals.  Former President George Bush treats ebook buyers better on Decision Points, with a $9.99 price tag in the Kindle Store and $14.00 as a Black Friday deal.

At the other end of the “famous author” spectrum are authors whose names are new to most of us.  A great example of the “Kindle-made” author is Boyd Morrison.  He couldn’t get a “yes” from a publisher, so he published to his web site and Amazon via DTP.  Sales took off, and Simon & Schuster revisited.

His first official release, The Ark, has already nailed 98   5- and 4-star reviews out of 120.  On November 30, what I think is an even greater book, Rogue Wave, releases for $5.99 in both ebook and print format.
  Already-famous thriller writers like Douglas Preston and James Rollins give rave reviews to the book, now available for pre-order.

And there’s much more in the new author pen.  J.A. Konrath is gaining fame as an author coming at publishing from his own unique direction.  He shook things up with Shaken this fall, giving 75% of it away, betting readers would pay $2.99 to reward the author–and find out what happened. 

More recently,  Gayle Tiller’s 24 Hour Lottery Ticket gave us a hilarious 46,000-word tale of a crusty older woman fighting off the forces of political evil with the help of a down and out young woman lawyer.
And just this week, the gutsy and brave Carla Rene offered up a Victorian period novel, The Gaslight Journal, in the style of Jane Austen.
All in all, book lovers have much to be thankful for this day.  And for those of us who have weathered the economic meltdown, or are beginning to climb out of the mess, there’s tomorrow–Black Friday–and the heart of the gifting season just ahead.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Read a free sample of our eBook of the Day, Cliff Ball’s THE USURPER, without leaving your browser


“A cold-blooded, Clancy-esque political thriller; The Usurper is sure to entertain.” –Nurture Your Books 
Ever wonder what would happen if our worst fears were realized and we elected someone who was willing to destroy the USA, even if he was destroyed himself? The Usurper is that novel. It is a fictional account of what would happen if the Soviet Union and KGB were given the chance to take down the United States from within. They use the American political system, education system, terrorism, and commit environmental disasters to achieve these goals.

The Soviet Union and the KGB refuse to let the purging of communists in the United States as awhole by Senator Joe McCarthy, and the House Un-American Activities Committee, deter them. Soviet Premier Khrushchev authorizes the KGB to embark on an ambitious, decades long plan to destroy the United States from within through the corruption of American politicians, the American education system, terrorism, and environmental disasters. Gary Jackson, the main character, is the fulfillment of the KGB plan to destroy the United States from within. They raise him from birth to hate everything about the United States, indoctrinate him, and introduce him to terrorists across the world, where the KGB dictates all terrorist attacks. When Gary is a teenager, he is sent to the United States to assimilate and begin his mission. Nothing will deter his goals of completely and utterly destroying the United States.

When the Soviet Union dissolves, he is given a choice, and he decides to continue with the mission. A terrorist organization ends up filling in the gap left by the absent KGB, and they, together with Gary, conspire to destroy everyone in the United States who doesn’t agree with them….

About the Author

Cliff Ball is from Texas, The Usurper is his third novel. The other two published novels are, Out of Time and Don’t Mess With Earth. Cliff has a BA in English, and is a freelance copy-editor. Visit his website at cliffball.webs.com, follow on twitter, @cliff_ball, or on Facebook, facebook.com/cliff.ball.author

And here, right in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample!

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Thursday, November 25: Cybill Shepherd Tells All You’d Ever Want to Know, and More, plus … Will the Pope be sorry for opting out of the concordat with the Templar Knights? Find out in Terrence O’Brien’s gripping The Templar Concordat (Today’s Sponsor)

It’s Thanksgiving morning, which means many things. Among them: Before you get back to your usual routines on Monday there will be time to read several Kindle books, and for less than three bucks you can download a great read from Terry O’Brien plus a dozen of the latest additions to our 150+ Free Book Alert listings….
But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor
Will the Pope be sorry for opting out of the concordat with the Templar Knights? Find out in Terrence O’Brien’s gripping The Templar Concordat
 

The Templar Concordat
by Terrence O’Brien
Kindle Price:     $2.99
Text-to-Speech: Enabled 


Find out what motivates one reviewer to end a 5 star view with this praise:“Could hardly put it down for 2 days. Highly recommended.”

Here’s the set-up:


When the truth is your greatest danger, and the enemy knows the truth, things can only go downhill when the enemy finally gets the proof. And that’s the proof the Hashashin get when they steal what the Vatican doesn’t even know it has.


Now the infallible decrees of two Twelfth Century popes and three kings, stolen by the Hashashin, threaten to catapult the bigotry, bias, and religious blood baths of the Third Crusade straight into the Twenty-First Century.


When Templars Sean Callahan and Marie Curtis are drawn into the mess, they face an ancient enemy that has already nearly won the battle, a newly elected Mexican pope being undermined by entrenched Vatican powers, world class scholars who will sell their prestige to the highest bidder, and terrorists lingering over lattes in sidewalk cafes.


Moving from Rome to London, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia, Callahan and Curtis are desperate to find some way to stem the success the Hashashin are having enlisting the majority of moderate Muslims in their Jihad.


Outmanuevered at each step by the Hashashin, only a last ditch roll of the dice has any chance of success. But it’s the only chance they have.

Here’s the set-up:


When the truth is your greatest danger, and the enemy knows the truth, things can only go downhill when the enemy finally gets the proof. And that’s the proof the Hashashin get when they steal what the Vatican doesn’t even know it has.


Now the infallible decrees of two Twelfth Century popes and three kings, stolen by the Hashashin, threaten to catapult the bigotry, bias, and religious blood baths of the Third Crusade straight into the Twenty-First Century.


When Templars Sean Callahan and Marie Curtis are drawn into the mess, they face an ancient enemy that has already nearly won the battle, a newly elected Mexican pope being undermined by entrenched Vatican powers, world class scholars who will sell their prestige to the highest bidder, and terrorists lingering over lattes in sidewalk cafes.


Moving from Rome to London, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia, Callahan and Curtis are desperate to find some way to stem the success the Hashashin are having enlisting the majority of moderate Muslims in their Jihad.


Outmanuevered at each step by the Hashashin, only a last ditch roll of the dice has any chance of success. But it’s the only chance they have.


More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon’s Terrence OBrien Page


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The Templar Concordat


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Cybill Disobedience
By: Cybill Shepherd and Aimee Lee Ball
Added: 09/03/2010 4:00:33am

Just In: Amazon Giving Away a $100 Gift Card Each Day for Next 30 Days in Promotion on Facebook


Just Posted by Amazon Kindle Team:

Happy Holidays! We are feeling the holiday gifting spirit and are giving away one FREE $100 Amazon Kindle Gift Card EACH DAY from 11/26/2010 through 12/25/2010. All Kindle fans on Facebook, who are at least 18 years of age and U.S. residents, are eligible. These $100 gift cards are redeemable for Kindle books, accessories, and millions of items on Amazon.com. Visit http://www.facebook.com/kindle?v=app_172341942779663 to become a fan and enter now.

Click above image, or cut and paste this into your browser:
http://www.facebook.com/kindle?v=app_172341942779663

Lots of Brand New Gifts For Book-loving Kindle Store Shoppers


The ebook elves in the Kindle Store have been working overtime for months to make this holiday season a terrific one for Kindle Nation citizens.  For ebook lovers, there are lots of presents.

Just yesterday, Amazon added to the big pile of ebook reading treats. It is showering the world with such a wealth of goodies its nearly too much to absorb. All you need to claim the bounty is an email address and an account at Amazon.

Of course, Kindle Nation now includes many who don’t even own a Kindle.  The apps to “buy once, read anywhere” grant citizenship to anyone with a PC, iPhone, iPad, Android smart phone, or Blackberry. For those of us who are ardent fans of the Kindle Reading Device (it’s formal name at Amazon), the apps open our ebook world to millions, and we benefit. We can now give (and receive!) ebooks as gifts and “No Kindle Required” lets us broadly share the bounty.  Plus, we ourselves can read our books across all the gadgets we may own, with the Kindle our home base.

But first let’s get the grinchy part of this holiday season out of the way.  Amazon is blazing with Black Friday Deals in all its departments–with one conspicuous absence, unless we are missing something.

Black Friday Deals: Deals of the Day on Amazon, including massive discounts, doorbuster-style “lightning deals,” are running through Cyber Monday (Nov. 29) on books and other products.  But there seems not a whisper of Black Friday deals for Kindle ebooks.  So far.  Check the image at the right, listing departments for Black Friday Deals.  The alphabetical list jumps from “jewelry” to “magazines,” leaping right over the spot we’d love to see the words “Kindle Store.”

Price Check: If you venture into a non-virtual book store and pack an iPhone, you can price check books right in the aisles.  Use Amazon’s new Price Check app. It’s limited to the iPhone for now, but maybe they’ll make it iPad and Android friendly in the future. What it does: Say you’re in a book store deciding whether to download a title from the Kindle Store later, or buy a physical book now.   Tell the app which book you are checking out. Do that by scanning the book’s bar code, taking a photo of it, speaking the book’s name, or typing in the name. Amazon tells you their prices for the book in various formats, shows you reviews, lets you share it on Twitter, Facebook or via text message or email. Or you can order it from Amazon on the spot.  Sharing your book selection is a great way to let people off the hook if they’ve been begging to know what you would like as a gift.  The next new feature from Amazon makes it easy for them to give the book to you as an ebook.  And vice versa.

Gift an eBook: For the first time, Amazon lets you buy and give an eBook to anyone with an email address—whether they have a Kindle or an iPad or and Android phone or any of the “Kindle for” apps. “No Kindle Required” is Amazon’s big slogan this year. Every Kindle Book Store book now has a gift link, with exceptions. The exceptions: free books in the Kindle Store. Do that yourself by emailing the link for the free book to their person, tell them “I am a cheapskate, gifting you with an ebook that was free,” and smile. To gift a paid ebook, click the link, type in the recipient’s email address, click and send. Done!  right from your iPad!

More Great Books: Amazon’s recent announcements today quietly inserted a new number: 750,000. That’s now the official count of ebooks available in the Kindle Store, up from 720,000 a few weeks ago. Joining the ebook lists:

The bestselling Rainbow Magic series of children’s books by Daisy Meadows and from RosettaBooks and HIT Entertainment in conjunction with Amazon. Some 73 titles are already available in the Kindle Store
and they are EXCLUSIVE AS EBOOKS IN THE AMAZON STORE.

And Amazon is adding 121 titles and 61 of the finest authors from abroad to the Kindle Store, with an acquisition from The Toby Press. Between the AmazonEncore program, which brings back previously published books, and AmazonCrossing, which published translations of foreign-language books into English, The Toby Press acquisition is just one more way in which Amazon is enriching the ebook world in America.

Best Books of 2010: Need an idea for that gift book? Amazon.com’s Editorial Team shares their picks with the Best Books of 2010. Go here  for their “list of lists,” including the Editor’s choices, the Top 100 Customer Favorites, and breakouts of the Top 10s by genre and category.

Facebook Gift Card Giving:  Let’s you tap into your Facebook account, choose a friend, select a gift card design, pick a date for delivery of the card, and insert the amount of the gift card. It’s another way to give an ebook but still have something to wrap and put under the tree.  Santa never had it so easy.

And welcome Italy to the fold: The Amazon stores, including the Kindle Store, set up shop from Sicily all the way up the boot through Rome, Florence, Venice and to the Alps by opening their Amazon.it operation.