February 2011 - Page 8 of 12 - Kindle Nation Daily

Think “The West Wing meets I Am Legend….” – Free Kindle Nation Shorts – February 13, 2011: An Excerpt from TORMENT, A Novel of Dark Horror by Jeremy Bishop

May 16, 2011February 13, 2011 by KND

Free Kindle Nation Shorts – February 13, 2011

An Excerpt from

TORMENT

A Novel of Dark Horror

By Jeremy Bishop

Think “The West Wing meets I Am Legend….”

By Stephen Windwalker
Editor, Kindle Nation Daily
©Kindle Nation Daily 2011

Small town reporter, Mia Durante, finds herself having brunch with the President of the United States on the day civilization comes to an end.

An electromagnetic pulse blinds the U.S.

Cars crash.

Planes fall.

Chaos reigns.

Power is restored within minutes, but it’s already too late.

Russian nukes are falling. U.S. allies around the world are all ready wiped out.

The United States will cease to exist inside of five minutes.

After giving the order to launch a full-scale retaliation, dooming the planet, the president, White House staff, Secret Service and those lucky enough to be visiting the white house, are whisked below ground where they board several Earth Escape Pods. As the EEPs launch into Earth orbit, missiles descend.

Less than forty survive the end of the world. When they return, they’re greeted by survivors of a different sort. The bloodbath that follows leaves Durante and nine other survivors on the run. They find themselves fighting for survival in a world in which only torment remains and where death is the only escape.

Click here to begin reading the free excerpt of TORMENT

That’s the set-up for Jeremy Bishops’s bestselling novel TORMENT, from which we are serving up a nice 7,800 excerpt this evening through our Free Kindle Nation Shorts program. Well, perhaps “nice” is not the best choice of words here.

But it doesn’t matter. With a set-up like that, I think there are very few readers who haven’t clicked through already to begin reading the free excerpt. So I don’t think there will be a lot of attention paid here to my choice of adjectives. After all, it’s the book that’s important here, and if you start reading I think you’ll quickly agree….

Click here to purchase the entire book from Amazon for just $2.99

TORMENT

A Novel of Dark Horror

by Jeremy Bishop

Kindle Edition

Kindle Price: $2.99

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UK CUSTOMERS: Click on the title below to download

TORMENT – A Novel of Dark Horror

PRAISE FOR TORMENT

“Jeremy Bishop takes a terrifying bite out of the zombie genre with TORMENT. This is a dark and devious post-apocalypting thrill-ride!” -Jonathan Maberry, NY Times Bestselling authr of PATIENT ZERO and ROT & RUIN

“TORMENT is a nightmarish descent through Armageddon. With barely a pause for breath, Bishop drags you out of normality, straight into the depths of a devastated post-apocalyptic landscape. Surreal and extraordinary locations, grotesque characters and outlandish events rise up from the devastated ashes of the familiar in this startlingly original horror novel. Dreamlike, disturbing and never predictable, once you start reading, you won’t want to put it down.” — David Moody, author of HATER, DOG BLOOD & the AUTUMN series.

“Jeremy Bishop explodes onto the zombie scene with TORMENT, a thought-provoking gorefest that turns the genre on its head. Both shocking and riveting, this is a debut novel that leaves the reader hungry for more.” — Steven Savile, #1 International bestselling author of PRIMEVAL and SILVER

“With originality not seen since Fleischer’s Zombieland, Bishop’s debut novel will drag you kicking and screaming to the very bloody end. Look out Maberry … there’s a new sheriff in town.”
— Thenovelblog.com

“This is one of those kick-ass icky books that constantly surprised me. I’m looking forward to what Bishop has up his sleeve next.” — Jeff Ayers, Author Magazine

“TORMENT is a fast paced horror story filled with monsters and zombies (but not the kind you might expect in a novel like this). [It’s] gory and intense, all things a book like this should be.”
— TheManEatingBookworm

BONUS CONTENT

Exclusive excerpt of BENEATH by Jeremy Robinson
Exclusive excerpt of 33 A.D. by David McAfee

Free Kindle Nation Shorts – February 13, 2011
An Excerpt from

Torment

A Novel of Dark Horror

By Jeremy Bishop

The physical toll of reentry seemed paltry compared to the pulsing acceleration of liftoff. Mia’s stomach lurched when gravity took hold, but other than that, she remained fully conscious and aware. The view out the window shifted from dark space, to deep purple and then to clear blue sky. Not a cloud in sight. The view through the command center window was much more expansive than the small portal had been, but she still could not see the ground.

And that’s what she really wanted to see.

She expected the world to be scorched and decimated. Ruins of the human civilization. Over time, what was left would be reduced to dust, and future generations, born from the children of the few survivors, would build a new world. Villages at first. Then small cities. Migrations would come next. Trade routes. Countries. Wars. Human civilization would be remade and probably, someday in the future, undone again.

She wondered for a moment if this could have happened before. Maybe the flood was some kind of man-made cataclysm? she thought. Six thousand years in the future, our descendants might debate the mythology surrounding the time when God burned the Earth, sparing those who fled into space, in EEPs that contained all the knowledge and life of the previous earth. The knowledge, all digital, wouldn’t survive long. Batteries would die and the technology to recreate them wouldn’t exist for a long time to come. But in the years to come, using the technology on the EEPs, they would recreate Earth’s animal life.

She knew it was all ludicrous, but that didn’t keep her from hoping.

What else is there to hope for? she wondered.

The parachutes deployed and jolted the EEP hard, slowing the descent to a swaying flutter.

She unlocked the bar restraint and pushed it back over her head.

“What are you doing?” Austin asked.

“I want to see.” The cushioning system disengaged with the removal of the bar and she could move again. She undid the Velcro snaps and pushed out of her chair. But she didn’t make it far. While gravity was now tugging her toward the Earth’s core, her brain had yet to readjust. Some part of her mind expected to float free of the chair, but she merely bounced in the seat.

Austin chuckled. “Heavier than you remember?”

“Hey,” she said, before standing and leaning toward the window.

“When we touch down, you’ll want to be back in the chair and strapped in,” he said, undoing his own restraints. “It could be rough.”

The EEP had swayed back so she could see only sky. “Won’t the shock absorbers take most of it?”

“Unless we land on a ledge and flip over.”

She looked back at him. “That could happen?”

“If it’s a short fall we could end up upside down or on our side. If it’s a long fall, the EEP would right itself-it’s bottom heavy-but the parachutes might not slow us down again.”

Mia frowned, but felt the EEP sway in the other direction. She leaned over the command console and looked out the window. As the world below came into view, Austin joined her.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

“Well, that’s not what I expected.”

A residential neighborhood, seemingly untouched by the war, stood one thousand feet below. Things looked different in the distance-darker-but this small part of the world looked livable.

“Do you think there are survivors?”

“I don’t see how it’s possible. Then again, I don’t see how this is possible either. I was expecting ruins everywhere.” As the EEP spun around, Austin saw a gleaming white circle below them. “There’s EEP Beta.”

Mia strained to see. The massive spacecraft had come to rest atop of a house, now flattened beneath it.

“EEP Alpha, do you read?”

Austin toggled the com system. “We hear you Reggie. What’s the score?”

“The system was right. I’m on the ground. The air is breathable. The Geiger counter is pinging at normal levels. No fallout anywhere. It’s like the missiles never dropped.”

“Have you seen any survivors?”

“Not a one.” Reggie was quiet for a moment. “No animals either. No birds. No bugs. Somehow this neighborhood survived.”

A stiff breeze caught EEP Alpha and began pulling them away from EEP Beta. “Looks like we’re going to touch down a few blocks away,” Austin said. “Stay where you are. We’ll come to you.”

“Copy that, Austin.”

Austin motioned to the chairs and sat down. “Better strap in, we’ll be on the ground in thirty seconds.”

Mia nodded, took her seat and began to lift the bar restraint over her body. But before she did, Reggie’s voice came over the speakers again. “Oh my God, I see survivors!”

Mia and Austin launched from their chairs and looked out the window. EEP Beta was further away, but still visible. They could see Reggie in front, waving his arms, and his group of survivors exiting the EEP behind him. Further down the street, a crowd of people approached.

“Looks like the whole neighborhood,” Reggie said. “Sounds like they’re shouting something.”

“What are they saying?” Austin asked, while keeping one eye on their distance from the ground. Maybe fifteen seconds left.

“Can’t tell. They’re all shouting. Making it hard to hear.” Reggie’s voice grew louder as he spoke to the people, who were now just a few feet away. “One at a time! I can’t hear you!”

A new voice, feminine, came over Reggie’s mic. “Please run! I don’t want to hurt-“

“Reggie…” Austin said. Something about the woman’s voice bothered him. But he didn’t get any further.

“What?” Reggie said, “I don’t–” The scream that followed was horrible, like something from a B-movie actress, but worse because it came from the voice of a man.

“Fuck,” Austin said. They were far from the action now, but the jerky violent movements of the mob as they descended on the survivors, coupled with Reggie’s scream told him everything he needed to know. They were being slaughtered. The last thing he saw was a group of the mob peel off and head in their direction. Then a tall power line passed by the window.

He shoved Mia into her seat and dove into his. “Hold on!”

The impact came a moment later. The EEP shook and screeched as they plowed through a house, scraped across the open street and slammed into a second home. The EEP tipped for a moment as the full parachutes tugged, but the heavy base settled to the ground with a thud.

They were still for only a moment when Austin leapt from his seat and yanked her up. There was no time to ask about injuries. No time to ponder what had happened. They needed to move.

“There an armory on board?” she asked.

Austin nodded. They were on the same page.

Though the neighborhood looked as American as they come, he didn’t know where they had landed. What he did know was that the locals were hostile and would reach them inside five minutes.

They had to run.

They had to fight.

The war, it seemed, wasn’t over.

America

“Everyone up!” Mia shouted as she rejoined the others. She felt happy to see Garbarino and Paul Byers jump up at the ready.

When Austin added, “Move! We have hostiles incoming!” Vanderwarf and White stood. Austin pointed to them, “You two, weapons cache. I want a firearm in the hands of everyone over seven years old in under a minute.” He turned to Garbarino and Byers. “Joe, break out the survival packs. One for everyone.”

Garbarino waved for Paul to follow him, then looked back. “What about the kid? She won’t be able to carry it.”

“I’ll double up,” Austin said.

“So will you,” Mia said to Garbarino as she pulled Liz free of her restraints and picked her up. “I’m carrying Liz.”

He frowned for a moment, but then nodded. It made sense.

“Explain the situation to them while I check things out.” Austin said as he moved around Mia and headed for the exterior hatch.

Mia watched him unlock the hatch and step outside, no pause or consideration given to the survivability of the atmosphere. When she turned back, Mark, Collins and Chang were staring at her wide-eyed.

“What’s happening?” Collins asked. “Is it the Russians? Did they survive somehow?”

“We’re in a residential neighborhood,” Mia said, and then thought about her next words. She didn’t want to scare Liz further. She could feel the little girl’s limbs shaking as she silently held on tight. “EEP Beta landed a few blocks over. They…encountered a large hostile group.”

Chang sucked in a breath. “They’re dead?”

Mia shot her a look as Liz tightened her grip.

Chang looked at the floor. “Sorry.”

Mia tried to think of a way to say things without Liz understanding. She decided on military speak, which she knew thanks to Matt. “They’re KIA,” Mia said. “Yes. Some of the group is coming this way.”

“Hence the backpacks and weapons,” Mark said. “We’re on the run.”

Vanderwarf and White reentered the room, each carrying a small arsenal-several handguns, spare clips, two shotguns and three MP5 submachine guns. They laid them out on a reclining chair. Mia had spent a lot of time at the shooting range with various men in her former life and was a pretty good shot. She felt thankful for that as she took a Sig Sauer handgun and four spare clips, and shoved them all into a pocket with one hand while holding Liz with the other.

Collins took a handgun as well. He didn’t look comfortable holding it.

“You’ve shot before?” Paul asked him.

“I’ve only fired a gun a few times. My father took me hunting. Never liked it.” He moved the weapon up and down, feeling its weight in his hand. “Not sure I could shoot someone.”

Mia let out scoffing laugh. “Says the man who pushed the button.”

Collins stiffened. “Hey-“

“No time for talking, you two,” White said. “Focus on surviving or you’re likely not to.” He held a handgun out to Mark. “Not going to be a stereotype, are you?”

“Hardly,” Mark said, taking an MP5 and a Sig Sauer.

Vanderwarf squinted at him, motioning to the MP5. “You know how to use that?”

“The handgun, yes.” He held up the MP5. “This thing, no-“

Garbarino and Paul returned, a slew of backpacks on their backs and in their arms.

Mark pointed to Paul, “-but he does.” After taking two spare clips for the MP5, Mark handed the weapon to his brother, who had just deposited the bags at their feet.

Paul inspected the MP5, checked the clip and chambered the first round. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Mark said as he slipped on his backpack.

The exterior hatch swung open. Austin entered and found several weapons aimed in his direction. He paused for a moment, realizing he’d almost been shot, then stepped in and claimed a second handgun for himself. “Those who have never fired a weapon, please don’t aim or fire at something until those of us with experience say so. The switch on the left side is the safety. Switch it to the off position-” He demonstrated this for them. “-point it at your target and pull the trigger.”

“Right,” Chang said. She placed her handgun in her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She still wore her work clothes. She wasn’t wearing high heels, but her shoes weren’t exactly made for running. “How far do we have to go?”

While most of the people looked at her the way they might a mental patient, Austin said what they were all thinking. “As far as we have to, now-“

A distant scream cut through the air.

“What’s that?” Chang asked.

Austin moved to the hatch, leading with his gun. “They’re coming.” He turned back to the group. “Get those packs on and grab as many weapons as you can carry.”

Garbarino picked up two handguns, one of them being the weapon taken from him previously, and a shotgun. Vanderwarf and White had the MP5s and one handgun each. Collins took the second shotgun.

A gunshot echoed loudly inside the EEP sending hands to ears.

“Fuck!” Garbarino shouted.

“They’re here!” Austin squeezed off two rounds. “Garbarino, take them south. I’ll slow them down!”

Mia followed Garbarino out of the EEP and on to the street of the McMansion lined neighborhood. The blacktop street smelled of new pavement and was bisected by two bright yellow lines, perhaps days old. The maple trees lining the street were bare, and the grass brown, but being the middle of February in what looked like the American Northeast to her, that was expected. What wasn’t expected was the temperature, which Mia pegged around eighty degrees. Other than that aberration, the neighborhood looked like so many others hastily built over the previous ten years. There was no rushing mob, but she did see two bodies lying face down one hundred feet away. As the others exited and followed Garbarino around the backside of the EEP, Mia stopped by Austin. “You shouldn’t stay by yourself.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You could die.”

“I know I’m not paid to do this anymore, but it’s still my job.” Austin motioned toward Liz. “And it’s not like you can help.”

“What about Garbarino? Why did you put him in charge?”

“He’ll toe the line as long as he feels respected,” Austin said. “If I don’t make it back, he’s in charge in a fight, you’re in charge of everything else. He’ll go for that.”

“If he doesn’t?”

Austin looked over her shoulder. “Then you’ll have help.”

Paul had waited for her. He stood there, brandishing his submachine gun like a true war hero. And he’d heard everything.

“But that’s not going to happen,” Austin said. “I just want to give you a head start. I can catch up.”

A terrified voice called out from the distance.

“Is that one of ours?” Paul asked.

“Wrong direction,” Austin said, taking aim past the two bodies he’d already shot. “Now go!”

Paul took Mia by the arm and led her around the EEP. She was surprised to see Garbarino waiting there for them and wondered if he had heard any of their conversation. But he just waved them on, shouting, “Move your asses!”

Two shots rang out from Austin’s position.

Mia saw the rest of their crew jogging down the street, away from the EEP and the oncoming crowd. She looked back the way they’d come. It didn’t feel right, leaving Austin. But then Liz leaned back, looked her in the eyes and said, “What the hell are you waiting for, Auntie Mia, move your ass!”

She started forward. Then two more shots set them all to running, like horses out of the gate. They didn’t slow until they caught up to Collins, who was already out of breath.

Mia thought about it and realized she’d never seen photos of or heard news about this president going out for jogs. In fact, she seemed to recall he had heart problems. Great.

Two blocks from the EEP, more gunshots rang out. Then a scream. A man’s scream.

Then silence. They all stared back at the EEP, waiting for Austin to come running, but he didn’t.

After a moment, Mia turned to Garbarino, placed her hand on his arm, and very intentionally said, “Lead the way,” all the while feeling like she’d just handed them all over to the devil.

Within twenty minutes, Mia, Collins, Chang and the Byers brothers lagged behind their three Secret Service escorts. Mia was in shape, but lacked endurance, especially when carrying a fifty pound seven year old. Liz seemed to sense this and tapped her shoulder. “I can run now,” the girl said. “I’m not afraid anymore.”

Mia looked the girl in the eyes. “You sure?”

She nodded.

“Stay right next to me.”

The nod continued. Mia put her down, then put her hands on her knees while she caught her breath. The brothers and Chang stopped with her, while Collins walked on ahead, his body soaked in sweat.

Garbarino heard the number of moving feet behind him change and turned around. “Hey! Keep moving.”

“We need to rest,” Mia said.

“Those people might still be chasing us,” he said, stomping toward her.

“There hasn’t been a sound or a gunshot for a while,” she countered.

Garbarino stood above her. “That’s probably because Austin is dead and those sons-a-bitches are sneaking up on us. Now…” He took her arm and yanked her up. “Move!”

“Hey!” Liz shouted and went to hit Garbarino, but Mia caught her little fist.

She stood face-to-face with the man, and when she did she realized she stood a good two inches taller. “Right now, if those people charged us, I wouldn’t have the energy to run. We’ve been through a lot and the non-stop adrenaline rush of being launched into space by a series of nuclear blasts, watching the world be destroyed, floating in zero gravity, dropping back down to Earth and then being attacked by crazed survivors, is starting to wear off.”

Garbarino’s face slowly fell as he listened to her. The words seemed to suck the energy out of him. He looked around the neighborhood. “Houses up there look big. Might be a good place to hole up.”

Mia looked up the road and saw several new and very large houses. They were the kind contractors built in a month, the kind she mocked when she drove by, but right now they looked incredibly normal and inviting. She smiled. “Thank you.”

“Let’s move,” Chang said. “Maybe the plumbing still works.”

Mark followed after her. “I could go for a shower.”

“I’ll take a bath,” Paul said, loping ahead of the other two, looking ridiculous with his submachine gun.

Mia took Liz’s hand and nodded at Garbarino. “You did the right thing.”

“Yeah, well, let’s hope it doesn’t get us killed.” He motioned for her to get moving and followed behind her. She looked

Move over, Jessica Fletcher, Agatha Christie, and Mary Higgins Clark! Jackie King’s The Inconvenient Corpse: A Grace Cassidy Mystery is a new star in the “Murder at the Bed and Breakfast” Category!

May 16, 2011February 12, 2011 by KND

If you like bed and breakfast settings, friendly cats, delightful, quirky characters and a little tea thrown in with your murder, you’ll love Jackie King’s The Inconvenient Corpse: A Grace Cassidy Mystery – Just $2.99 on Kindle!

Here’s the set-up:

The man was about 60, pot bellied, quite naked and also quite dead. And in the middle of Grace Cassidy’s bed.

She ran from the room, her shouts sounding throughout the Victorian bed and breakfast. As she blurted the news, she didn’t realize that she would have to solve this mystery, with or without help.

Reviewers were charmed and “at home” with this mystery in the old fashioned style reminiscent of Agatha Christie:

A naked corpse in her bed is only the first surprise for our heroine in Jackie King’s charming bed-and-breakfast mystery. Cozy readers will be happy guests among these lively characters.

—Marcia Preston, winner of the 2004 Mary Higgins Clark Award

If you like bed and breakfast settings, friendly cats, delightful, quirky characters and a little tea thrown in with your murder, you’ll love The Inconvenient Corpse.

—Bob Avey, author of Beneath a Buried House and Twisted Perception

This book is a delight. The dialog is slick and fast flowing. I felt so at home with the believable quirky, colorful characters that they almost felt like friends by the time I had finished the book.

I must admit I love the “bed and breakfast and murder” books. Grace Cassidy is just the kind of heroine I like to meet. Grace just thought losing all her money along with her husband (to another woman) was the worst thing that could happen to her. She has to put all that on the back burner to clear herself of a murder charge. Grace has to learn how to run a B&B and become a detective all on the fly.

This is one of the best new cozy series I’ve read in quite a while. It’s full of interesting characters (rather than cartoon-types), written with a deft, light touch.

What a great read! It held my interest from page 1 and never let me go! The characters were interesting and the deeper into the story, the more hooked I was. I especially loved that I couldn’t figure it out until the very end.

About the Author:

Jackie King loves books, words, and writing tall tales. She especially enjoys murdering the people she dislikes on paper. King is a full time writer who also teaches writing at Tulsa Community College. THE INCONVENIENT CORPSE, her latest novel, is a traditional (cozy) mystery.

King has also written five novellas as co-author of the Foxy Hens series. “Warm Love on Cold Streets” is her latest novella and is included in the anthology THE FOXY HENS MEET A ROMANTIC ADVENTURER.

Her nonfiction book, DEVOTED TO COOKING, is a collection of family stories and recipes. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Oklahoma Writers Federation and Tulsa NightWriters.

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Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Saturday, February 12: Two Brand New Freebies Top Our List of Over 220 Free Kindle Books, plus … Think “Da Vinci Code meets Indiana Jones” and You’ve Got Joanna Penn’s Pentecost: A Thriller (Today’s Sponsor)

May 16, 2011February 12, 2011 by KND

It’s a Winter Weekend, you’ve got your Kindle handy, and you’re ready to set aside a few hours to read! You could scroll down to check out the business books that are this morning’s latest additions to our 220+ Free Book Alert listings…. But first….

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4.1 out of 5 stars 21 Reviews

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Raiders of the Lost Ark meets the Da Vinci Code!

Here’s the set-up:

When Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, the Apostles took stones from his tomb as a symbol of their brotherhood. At Pentecost, the fire of the Holy Spirit empowered the stones and the Apostles performed miracles in God’s name throughout the Empire. Forged in the fire and blood of the Christian martyrs, the Pentecost stones were handed down through generations of Keepers who kept their power and locations secret.

Until now.

The Keepers are being murdered, the stones stolen by those who would use them for evil in a world transformed by religious fundamentalism. Oxford University psychologist Morgan Sierra is forced into the search when her sister and niece are held hostage. She is helped by Jake Timber from the mysterious ARKANE, a British government agency specializing in paranormal and religious experience.

From ancient Christian sites in Spain, Italy and Israel to the far reaches of Iran and Tunisia, Morgan and Jake must track down the stones through the myths of the early church in a race against time before a new Pentecost is summoned, this time powered by the fire of evil.

What the Reviewers Say

“Pentecost is a cracking read. Joanna Penn has created a novel that is highly entertaining and has a definite “unputdownableness”. There is plenty to keep you entertained with great characters that have oodles of story left in them (more please … Pentecost II?) and a plot that is equally enjoyable and “uncomplicatedly” complicated… I enjoyed this novel immensely and I highly recommend it.”
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“The first paragraph of Pentecost grabbed me by the lapels of my jacket and didn’t let go. It is a gripping tale – part thriller, part historical fiction but all good and all of the time intertwined between great characters and narration. Joanna Penn’s descriptions of places are excellent and make the reader feel as if they are actually there. The characters are three-dimensional with very good dialogue that moves the plot forward.”
—Joseph L. Giacalone, author

About the Author

I’m an author, speaker and business consultant based in Brisbane, Australia although I’m British. I’ve just started writing religious thriller novels and my first one, Pentecost is available now.

I’m passionate about digital publishing and using the internet to build a platform, market and promote books worldwide. It is an exciting time in publishing! Authors have the chance to get their work out worldwide using new technologies. Brilliant!

Visit Amazon’s Joanna Penn Page

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Discover what’s causing all the buzz about our Kindle Nation eBook of the Day, Terrence O’Brien’s The Templar Concordat – Here’s a Free Sample!

May 16, 2011February 11, 2011 by KND

Today’s Kindle Nation eBook of the Day came out of nowhere last week to make the list of the Top 25 Most Wanted Books at the Kindle Lending Club, our EBOTD partner site. Isn’t it time for you to find out what all the buzz is about?

Here’s the set-up for Terrence O’Brien’s The Templar Concordat:

Download it now for $2.99 on Kindle!

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.

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May 16, 2011February 11, 2011 by KND

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The Truth About Dating
by Julie Christensen

Already on Kindle’s Top 100 in Humor and Contemporary Fiction

with Two Dozen Five-Star Reviews!

Kindle Price: $0.99

Text-to-Speech: Enabled

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

“This book isn’t insulting to single women like a lot of these dating tales are- it was intelligent and funny and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At this price, you have to get it.”–Andrea Fehl

Here’s the set-up:

Lifelong introvert Quinn Malone was sick of spending her evenings at home, doing crossword puzzles and watching Jersey Shore. Successful, smart, and funny, 38-year old Quinn embarks on a quest to find a man, using blind dates, speed, and internet dating to get things moving.

Quinn overcomes her shyness to suffer through dates that are so bad, they’re funny (see the chapter on hunchbacks). With the help of good friends, she successfully transitions through the seven stages of dating: excitement (I’ve still got it!); infatuation (he makes me feel beautiful); disappointment (he looks nothing like his online photo); anger (why is he online if he’s married?); fatigue (I can’t bear the thought of another date); depression (I’m going to grow old and die alone); and acceptance (dating: it is what it is). Through the triumphs and heartbreaks of dating, and of life in general, Quinn uncovers the resilient, dynamic person she’s always been. The question is, has Mr. Right been waiting in the wings all along?

What the Reviewers Say

“I read this book in 3 days….could not put iy down and sometimes when I did put it down, I came back to find my husband reading it! Even he laughed and felt he could identify at times.”
–RoughWriter

“This is the kind of book that you can just gobble up in a weekend. It made me laugh, and at some points I was even nodding emphatically, thinking “she hit the nail on the head.” This book isn’t insulting to single women like a lot of these dating tales are- it was intelligent and funny and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At this price, you have to get it.”
–Andrea Fehl

“Looking for a fun gift for the holidays? Taking the train? an airplane? Whatever, you, your friends, co-workers (an office grab bag gift) family members, will enjoy this neat novel.”
–J. F. Malone

About the Author

After many jobs in various locations from New York to Barcelona, Julie Christensen moved to Omaha where she discovered how hard dating is when you are an old thirty-something. She began writing about her horrible dates to amuse her single friends and make her married friends appreciate their husbands. The Truth About Dating is based on these experiences. Julie was introduced to her future husband by an acquaintance who read a draft of The Truth About Dating and was inspired to try some matchmaking. Julie continues to paint (juliechristensen.net) and write (julielivingthedream.blogspot.com).

Visit Amazon’s Julie Christensen Page

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The Truth About Dating

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Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey Results: How Agency Model Publishers Are Killing Their Own Kindle Sales

August 17, 2011February 10, 2011 by Steve Windwalker

(One of several Kindle Nation posts exploring the results of the Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey. Click here to see a breakdown of results.)

By Tom Dulaney, Contributing Reporter

Every salesman from Seth Godin to the guy at your local used car lot or Lexus dealership knows that one of the likeliest death knells for any prospective sale is signalled by these words from the buyer: “Let me think it over.”

eBooks are no different. While it is certainly true that the Kindle environment makes ebook purchases and downloads magically friction-free and convenient, that seamlessness does not turn Kindle owners into a nation of idiots.

For a whopping 88% of the 2,275 respondents in the Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey, “Let me think it over” translates into identification with the survey’s statement that “I frequently choose to delay purchasing an ebook that I want to buy if I think the price is too high.” 60% clicked “strongly agree” with the statement, and another 28% selected “agree.”

Those not coming down on the side of “wait-and-see” are a paltry 3% not sure about their actions, 4% who disagree and don’t delay, and another 4% who strongly disagree and pay up with abandon.

The DMZ no man’s land in the price struggles between publishers and readers is bordered by the $10 price line and the $12.99 price line, the survey suggests. In that range, 50% of survey respondents say they have paid the price occasionally for newly released titles. Some 8% “strongly agree” they have done so, while 42% “agree.” Some 46% disagree or strongly disagree; they haven’t flinched and paid. A neutral 4% sits in the middle.

So, half the respondents occasionally do pay from $10 to $13 dollars for an ebook, and just under half never do so. Cross the $13 parallel into more expensive waters, and things change dramatically, as shown a bit further below.

Whether large or small, traditional or indie, publishers and authors would do well to read between the lines here. For anyone with the sense to juxtapose these survey results with a look at the price composition of the Kindle Store bestseller lists, it becomes clear in a hurry that it is customers, not publishers, who are setting prices in the Kindle Store.

And any publisher or author who blows off the issue thinking the “delay” means the buyer will be back sooner or later needs to audit Business 101 next semester: You never recoup 100% of pushed-off sales.

Ominous news from the survey for big-league publishers and bestselling authors pushing higher prices are these figures from the survey: 76% of respondents say if “publishers keep charging higher bestseller prices, I’ll buy more backlist or indie titles.” To paraphrase the song, if you can’t be with the author you love, then love the one you’re with.

Once again, it’s worth a look at the composition of the Kindle Store bestseller lists: 18 of the top 50 bestselling titles in the Kindle Store are by indie authors, compared with zero just nine months ago when publishers were launching their ill-fated agency model price-fixing scheme. Those 18 indie titles will sell over a million Kindle copies this month alone, and those are a million copies that traditional publishers will never have a chance to sell again.

There’s no doubt readers are much more price conscious this year. “With recent ebook price controversies, I’ve become more price conscious,” is the statement presented in the survey. Some 83% subscribe to the statement, with 43% saying they “strongly agree” that they are more price conscious and 40% saying they “agree” that they pay more attention to prices. Only 8% say they are not more tuned into prices, with another 10% opting out of the question by saying they are “not sure.”

Additional data indicates a smattering of respondents are occasionally paying more than $9.99 for books. The survey statement was: “I didn’t think I would be willing to pay over $9.99 for ebooks, but I’ve been doing it at least twice a month.” Only 14% admit cracking against their resolve, with only 2% strongly agreeing that they pay more and 12% merely agreeing they do so.

Some 36% disagree, denying they pay over $9.99 and 39% strongly disagree with the statement. An unsure 12% sit in the middle. To sum that up, nearly 75% say—in this survey question at least—they are not paying over $9.99 “at least twice a month.”

Exceed the $12.99 ceiling for newly released titles and resistance stiffens. “I occasionally pay $13 or more for newly released ebook titles,” is the statement respondents were presented with. Only 3% “strongly agree”; 16% “agree”. That is a 31% fall off from the 50% who relented and paid in the $10 to $12.99 range. To sum it up, 74% hold firm and do not buy newly released titles priced over $12.99.

Even if the ebook is professional or technical in nature, price resistance over the $9.99 tag is strong. For those types of ebooks, only 6% strongly agree that they would pay the surcharge for the specialty ebooks, and only 15% agree. A large 24% are unsure, perhaps never faced with the decision. But 32% disagree, indicating they would not pay more, and 23% strongly disagree.

(One of several Kindle Nation posts exploring the results of the Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey. Click here to see a breakdown of results.)

Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey Results: Citizens of Kindle Nation, Meet the Citizens of Kindle Nation

August 17, 2011February 10, 2011 by Steve Windwalker

(One of several Kindle Nation posts exploring the results of the Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey. Click here to see a breakdown of results.)

By Tom Dulaney, Contributing Reporter

She’s an avid reader.

She’s “a woman of a certain age,” and without putting too fine a point on it, just between us we can acknowledge that she’s over 54.

She loves to pick up new technology, the earlier the better if her budget permits.

She lives in the US.

An ebook’s author and price are important factors when she decides whether or not to buy an ebook, but so are recommendations by those she trusts, including friends and family, Kindle Nation Daily, and the “crowd sourcing” of Amazon reviewers.

She’s very aware of ebook pricing and the price wars of the past year. She is a partisan in passionate support of lower ebook prices and greater selection, and she is willing to play a pro-active role and be the price-setter herself.

Who is she?

She may be you, and she is certainly the “typical” ebook lover among the record 2,275 people who responded to the Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey conducted by Kindle Nation Daily in January.

A point of interest: Survey respondents were asked for their demographic information in the most gentle of ways. 2,228—or 98% of all 2,275 respondents—shared information about age, gender, and more.

The preponderance of respondents own and love their Kindle devices. The survey was open to the whole world during end of January, regardless of device they use to read ebooks. Survey details indicate large numbers of the respondents have devices other than Kindles on which they can read books from the Kindle Store. However, the overwhelming number of respondents do own Kindle devices, but are multi-device households.

The survey’s 15 questions collected detailed information on readers’ ebook buying habits, their preferences, their resistance to higher ebook prices, and their opinions on the key players in the book business, including authors, traditional publishers, independent authors, literary agents, Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs of Apple, and even Kindle Nation.

The data collected is detailed, so we will offer a series of articles breaking down the responses during the next few days.

For now, a closer look at the people who responded in general terms:

67% are female, 33% male
51.5% are over 54; 46.4% are between between 25 and 54; only 1.3% are under 25.
70% call themselves “tech savvy,” but a significant 17.2% say they are not.
75% love technology, and 70.1% are early adopters of new gadgets.
17.3% use their Kindles when traveling internationally.
About 93% live in the US.
1.5% are Canadian; 1.3% live in the UK, and another 3% are spread around the rest of the world.
7.1% frequently speak or read a language other than English.
14% are — at some level — authors, publishers, journalists or bloggers.

(One of several Kindle Nation posts exploring the results of the Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey. Click here to see a breakdown of results.)

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Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey Results: How Agency Model Publishers Are Killing Their Own Kindle Sales

Winter 2011 Kindle Nation Citizen Survey Results: Citizens of Kindle Nation, Meet the Citizens of Kindle Nation

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