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It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out Night Fire (Night Fire Trilogy Book 1) by Catherine Coulter
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out Night Fire (Night Fire Trilogy Book 1) by Catherine Coulter
Perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Daniel Hurst and Kiersten Modglin. Theo Baxter’s Psychological Thriller Box Set by Theo Baxter
Perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Daniel Hurst and Kiersten Modglin. Theo Baxter’s Psychological Thriller Box Set by Theo Baxter
Will she be giving up a heartland of joy by not daring to prove them wrong? Heartland Joy (A Heartland Cowboy Sweet Romance Book 1) (A Heartland Cowboy Christmas) by Jessie Gussman
Will she be giving up a heartland of joy by not daring to prove them wrong? Heartland Joy (A Heartland Cowboy Sweet Romance Book 1) (A Heartland Cowboy Christmas) by Jessie Gussman
While always up for a good fight, he has second thoughts when the terrorists turn their full attention on him…. Search Party (The 56th Man Book 14) by J. Clayton Rogers
While always up for a good fight, he has second thoughts when the terrorists turn their full attention on him…. Search Party (The 56th Man Book 14) by J. Clayton Rogers
When the world keeps moving on without them, Noah and Autumn will need to decide if they’ll survive the storm . . . The Goodbye Storm (Rough Waters Series Book 1) by Danielle Stewart
When the world keeps moving on without them, Noah and Autumn will need to decide if they’ll survive the storm . . . The Goodbye Storm (Rough Waters Series Book 1) by Danielle Stewart
The unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet… Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach, “America’s funniest science writer”
The unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet… Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach, “America’s funniest science writer”
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out The Highland Lodge Getaway by Julie Shackman
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out The Highland Lodge Getaway by Julie Shackman
A heartwarming adventure! Romeo Learns Confidence Building: A Fun Picture Book about Emotions, Changes, and Choices by S.L. Jungle
A heartwarming adventure! Romeo Learns Confidence Building: A Fun Picture Book about Emotions, Changes, and Choices by S.L. Jungle
A haunted man. A murdered friend. A deadly enemy. White Gold by Rachel Amphlett
A haunted man. A murdered friend. A deadly enemy. White Gold by Rachel Amphlett
For fans of Dungeons & Dragons… The Black River Chronicles: Level One by David Tallerman
For fans of Dungeons & Dragons… The Black River Chronicles: Level One by David Tallerman
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out Blood Test (An Alex Delaware Book 2) by Jonathan Kellerman
It’s Giveaway time! Get a free bonus entry into our monthly raffle and check out Blood Test (An Alex Delaware Book 2) by Jonathan Kellerman
Let Jolene take you on an unforgettable adventure full of joy, peace, and fluffy fun! Jolene the Fluffy Cow: Mindfulness by Tara Emerson
Let Jolene take you on an unforgettable adventure full of joy, peace, and fluffy fun! Jolene the Fluffy Cow: Mindfulness by Tara Emerson
Did you know that you can download the classic Philip K. Dick story behind Matt Damon’s new movie The Adjustment Bureau for just 99 cents on Kindle? That’s just one of the treats in store for you in today’s Top Ten List, followed by a complete and freshly updated listing of hundreds of free contemporary titles in the Kindle Store….
But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor
Here’s your chance to go behind the scenes of reality TV. Personal trainer Cassidy Novak thinks that her appearance on a reality show will help fund her dream, but it turns out that not only does she have to walk the plank, she is now being stalked by a crazed murderer. Can she trust hunky photographer Zach Gallagher to help her?
“Reading Sink or Swim made me feel like I was Cassidy. People don’t ever know what happens behind the scenes. I thought it was a great read and kept me in suspense.” –Michelle Costa, former contestant Big Brother 10
“I loved this book! – Great suspense, tight writing, interesting plot, excellent character development.“ –Stacy L. Daniels
Here’s the set-up:
When reality TV turns to murder, it’s sink, swim or die. Ambitious personal trainer Cassidy Novak has gained national fame for starring on Sink or Swim, nicknamed SOS, a hit reality game show set aboard a Tall Ship. She hopes the prize money will help to launch her dream of owning a chain of fitness centers. Not only does she lose the competition and have to walk the plank in the finale, after the game show ends, the terror begins. Upon returning to her small Massachusetts hometown, Cassidy discovers she has attracted a stalker masterminding his own twisted game. She struggles to focus on her health club job and celebrity endorsement opportunities, but her stalker has other plans. As her former competitors get knocked off one-by-one, Cassidy refuses to play by his bizarre rules. She’s also being shadowed by hunky photographer Zach Gallagher, who has been assigned to capture her personal moments for a spread in the local newspaper. She wants to trust Zach, but fears he may not be the nice guy that he seems. With or without Zach’s help, when the stalker forces a showdown by threatening her family, Cassidy must once again walk the plank – this time for her life.
Kindle edition includes bonus excerpts from authors Darcia Helle and Maria Savva, and a sample chapter of Stacy Juba’s mystery novel Twenty-Five Years Ago Today.
What the Reviewers Say
“Sink or Swim was an easy read and extremely well written… I would love to see it come out as a movie one day!” –Stephenie LaGrossa, former contestant Survivor: Palau, Guatemala, Heroes vs. Villains
“With Sink or Swim, Stacy Juba takes a look at our reality TV craze. Whether you enjoy reality shows or not, it’s hard to miss the famous and the infamous that these shows create. Sink or Swim takes us behind the scenes and shows us what happens after the cameras have stopped filming.” –BookAddict
“As with the first book, 25 Years Ago Today, I could not put this book down until the end. Well written with real characters that come alive as the story unfolds. Just how paranoid can you get when you know you have a stalker? How can anything be normal in every day life? Considering I got the stalker wrong, you’ll be surprised at the twists and turns that will make you second guess the identity of the stalker. Again, I highly recommend this book to everyone out there who enjoys a good mystery.” –Fettwolf
About the Author
Award-winning writer Stacy Juba is the author of arresting mysteries from light to literary, including Twenty-Five Years Ago Today and Sink or Swim. She is also the author of the recently released patriotic children’s picture book The Flag Keeper. Her paranormal young adult thriller Dark Before Dawn will be released in early 2012.
Stacy is a past recipient of the William F. Deeck – Malice Domestic Grant for new mystery writers. Her young adult novel Face-Off, about twin brothers competing on the hockey rink for their father’s approval, was published by Avon Books when she was 18 years old under her maiden name, Stacy Drumtra. Stacy has written more than 2,000 articles and won over a dozen writing awards.
Click here to downloadSink or Swim (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
UK CUSTOMERS: Click on the title below to download
In another case of sweet serendipity, it turns out that a new novel by this week’s sponsor for Kindle Nation’s free weekly email newsletter — Deb Hosey White, author of Pink Slips and Parting Gifts — has just been selected to advance to the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. We asked Ms. White to submit a piece explaining how it all works, and she came through very nicely for us:
If you haven’t yet discovered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards (ABNA), now’s your chance. Writers from around the world enter this contest, but what makes ABNA unique is the quality of the contenders and the camaraderie among contestants.
In the same spirit of shared experience offered by Amazon and Kindle Nation, the ABNA reflects a writing community interested in helping their peers. As the entry deadline approaches, the buzz on the ABNA message boards is all about writing a good pitch, editing excerpts, and guiding contest newcomers on the rules of the competition. Since the contest was conceived four years ago, the ABNA community boards have become a forum for sharing literary experiences and resources, peppered with humor, personal interest, and some clever writing. Amazon, CreateSpace, Penguin Group USA and Publishers Weekly collectively sponsor the ABNA.
With 10,000 entries, it’s great news that my novel Tales of the Sofa has made the cut and advanced to ABNA’s second round.
What happens next?
Between now and March 22, Amazon Vine Reviewers play an important role by reviewing the top general fiction and young adult novel excerpts to determine the contest’s quarter-finalists.
Then the real fun begins for Amazon readers.
Once the quarter-finalists are announced at www.amazon.com/abna Amazon customers can download, rate and review ABNA contest excerpts, providing feedback to Penguin editors about submissions. Finalists are announced in June.
If you decide to take a look, you’ll find more great reads from an amazingly diverse group of writers – there’s definitely something for everyone.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Pink Slips and Parting Gifts, which you might say has been mutually selected by Steve Windwalker and myself to serve as the sponsor of this week’s issue of Kindle Nation’s weekly blast!
Wasn’t it Freud who famously asked, “What do demons want?” You’ll find all the answers to this question and more in today’s listings of over 240 contemporary free titles in the Kindle Store….
But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor
Imagine Orwell’s Winston and Julia in a dystopian London of the near future, but here we’ll call them Lucas and Angela. Poetry has been forced underground, theatres and schools are shuttered, and women are not allowed to work outside the home. Can Lucas and Angela escape? A great read at a great price – just 99 cents on Kindle….
“The Miracle Inspector is one of the few novels that everyone should read, it’s a powerful novel that’s masterfully written and subtly complex.” –-5* SciFi and Fantasy Books
A darkly comic literary thriller set in the near future. England has been partitioned and London is an oppressive place where poetry has been forced underground, theatres and schools are shut, and women are not allowed to work outside the home. A young couple, Lucas and Angela, try to escape from London – with disastrous consequences.
“If you’re looking for something different, something unique and dark – reminiscent of The Road even – then check out The Miracle Inspector. It’s worth it.” –Maria Elizabeth Perez
“The future world that Helen Smith paints is frightening in the fact that I could envision it being real instead of fiction. The women are not allowed to work but have to stay home. They have to cover up when they venture out of the confines of home. This reminds me of my time when I was living in Saudi Arabia and had to cloak when I ventured out of my Western compound but The Miracle Inspector is set in London, England! With the happenings in today’s world, it is easy to envision that this just might be the future for us. Perhaps it is a warning?” –Kristie Leigh Maguire, author of Second Chances
“The book is almost a sardonic commentary on the results of unchecked paranoia over pedophiles, rapists, and the dangers of free thought: we are safest when children, women, and philosophers are invisible or nonexistent in society at large.”
–Alice Y. Yeh, Stimulated Outlet Book Reviews
About the Author
Helen Smith is a member of the Society of Authors and the Writers Guild of Great Britain. She traveled the world when her daughter was small, doing all sorts of strange jobs to support them both – from cleaning motels to working as a magician’s assistant – before returning to live in London where she wrote her first novel, which was published by Gollancz in 1999. She writes novels, children’s books, poetry, plays and screenplays and was the recipient of an Arts Council of England Award. She’s a long-term supporter of the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture and mentors members of an exiled writers group to help them tell their stories.
She is currently under commission to write a play in 2011 and has a pilot for a TV series in development. She’s also working on a new novel. She likes knitting but she doesn’t like driving. She likes dancing. She has a blog: http://helensmithblog.blogspot.com. Come and say hello!
Click here to downloadThe Miracle Inspector (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
UK CUSTOMERS: Click on the title below to download
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information.
Free Contemporary Titles in the Kindle Store
HOW TO USE OUR NEW FREE BOOK TOOL:
Just use the slider at right of your screen below to scroll through a complete, updated list of free contemporary Kindle titles, and click on an icon like this one (at right) to read a free sample right here in your browser!Titles are sorted in reverse chronological order so you can easily see new freebies.
Somebody else’s trash may be your whodunit if you check this morning’s latest additions to our 200+ Free Book Alert listings….
But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor
How does one small-town reporter get some respect? Madeline Mann conducts a search for her missing friend – and no one, not even Madeline’s boyfriend – escapes her scrutiny…
“Julia Buckley’s character Madeline Mann is witty, brave, smart, and . . . downright cool.” –Cornelia Read, author of Invisible Boy
Madeline Mann is a small town reporter whom nobody takes seriously until her old high school friend disappears; when Maddy begins her search for Logan Lanford, everyone takes notice.
This might be because just about everyone is a suspect in Logan’s disappearance, from his neglected wife to the shady mayor to Logan’s jealous brother. Even Madeline’s boyfriend seems to harbor some resentment toward the AWOL Logan and his reputation as a philanderer.
In searching for her old friend, Madeline is also searching for vindication of her career choice and a chance to be independent from a family that threatens to drive her crazy.
What the Reviewers Say
“In her bright debut, Maddy is a welcome addition to the cozy scene.” –Kirkus Reviews
“An intriguing debut in an engaging, fresh new series. Make mine Madeline Mann!” –Julia Spencer-Fleming, author of I Shall Not Want
“This tightly plotted mystery is a fast-paced exhilarating ride, and investigative reporter Madeline Mann is by far the best female lead to come along since Stephanie Plum. A cool, clever, funny read, and the beginning of an absolutely delightful series. Julia Buckley rocks.” –Anne Frasier,bestselling author of Hush and Pale Immortal
“Madeline Mann is an absolute delight. Oh, that all murder mys-teries could be so much fun to solve. I love Buckley’s flawless style; her small town American settings are perfect, and her characters are so real it wouldn’t surprise me to discover one of the brothers rummaging in my refrigerator. Julia Buckley has a winner here—charming, intelligent, and exciting. More ‘Mad-man,’ please—and soon!” —Robert Fate, author of the Baby Shark series
“Reporter Madeline ‘Madman’ Mann is a great character: smart, warm, witty, and just wacky enough for spice. I hope this is the beginning of many, many Madman books to come.” –Barbara D’Amato, author of the Cat Marsala Mysteries
Click here to downloadMadeline Mann (The Madeline Mann Mysteries) (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
UK CUSTOMERS: Click on the title below to download
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information.
Free Contemporary Titles in the Kindle Store
HOW TO USE OUR NEW FREE BOOK TOOL:
Just use the slider at right of your screen below to scroll through a complete, updated list of free contemporary Kindle titles, and click on an icon like this one (at right) to read a free sample right here in your browser!Titles are sorted in reverse chronological order so you can easily see new freebies.
I don’t know about you, but as a reader, a former bookstore owner, and an author, I’ve always been a sucker for books about books … about booksellers … about libraries … and lately, about ebooks.
But King’s novella was short and had a bit of the “made-to-order” product placement about it, so now I’m happy to share with you the news that a terrific full-length novel by JL Bryan has become available on the Kindle and … yes … about the Kindle. And it’s a real treat to be able to share this 5,000-word free excerpt with you through our Free Kindle Nation Shorts program!
The author is in the midst of a blog tour to promote the book, and he is giving away some nice prizes. You can find out more about those here — http://www.jlbryanbooks.com/thehauntedebooktour.html — but to be totally truthful I should let you know that I called him up at home this evening and told him “Jeff, I’m happy to mention the blog tour and the giveaways, but you’ve got a terrific book here and I don’t want the other stuff to get in the way of that/”
So here at Kindle Nation, we’re all about the book, and here it is. Enjoy….
Dee escapes her dreary librarian job and unfaithful boyfriend by reading romance and fantasy on her Kindle.
She tries The Haunted E-book, the story of a 19th century tramp printer whose ghost awakens whenever someone reads a book he created. The ghost stalks his readers and threatens them with death if they stop reading the book. Though she doesn’t usually like ghost stories, Dee can’t stop herself from reading it.
Then Dee learns the stories in the book are true, the malevolent ghost is real, and Dee might be the next character to die.
“Don’t that thing hurt your eyes?” asked the children’s librarian, Cloris Measley. Cloris was in her fifties, her hair a shade of red that could not be found in nature.
“No, it’s not like a computer screen.” Dee tapped the Amazon Kindle in her hands. “It’s made just for reading.”
“Seems like it’d hurt your eyes.” Cloris sat across from Dee at the picnic table.
Dee was enjoying her half-hour lunch break. The picnic table behind the library was under a stand of old oak trees, and it offered the only shade in sight on a hot September day.
“These kids are worse every summer,” Cloris said. “I can feel my hair turning gray. Mind if I smoke?”
Dee shook her head.
Cloris glanced back over her shoulder at the back door of the library, then slipped a Virginia Slim into her mouth.
“Sorry,” Cloris said. “Have to sneak when I can. Leslie still don’t let me smoke on library property. Which don’t make it easy, listening to kids holler and cleaning snot off their books.”
“I’m sorry,” Dee said.
“I’m sorry for you, too,” Cloris said. “You should have been promoted to Circulation Librarian II. I don’t see why Maggie got it, she’s not all there.”
“Maggie’s in Leslie’s bridge club,” Dee said. “I’m not, and I haven’t been invited, either.”
“Would you play, if they invited?” Cloris asked.
“No!”
They both laughed.
“And how is that boyfriend?” Cloris asked. “You still seeing Justin?”
“I see him, but I’m not sure he sees me,” Dee said.
Cloris gave an uncomfortable laugh. She looked at the Kindle and changed the subject. “What are you reading?”
“It’s a seventeenth-century romance,” Dee said. “The Pirates of Paris.”
“Why on Earth would there be pirates in Paris? There’s no ocean.”
“They have to spend their loot somewhere,” Dee said. “In this case, the rugged pirate captain Jacques Forquois is wooing a young noblewoman, Mireille. But she’s engaged to an aristocrat, the Marquis du Chappelier. So they have to meet in secret places, brothels, playhouses…”
“How exciting!” Cloris said. “Do they got it as a real book, too? Or just a computer thingy?”
“I’m not sure.”
The back door of the library swung open, and branch manager Leslie McKenna stood there, hunched over her cane. Cloris heard the door open behind her and visibly panicked, looking down at the burning cigarette in her fingers.
“Cloris?” Leslie asked. “Cloris, what are you doing back here?”
“I’m just looking at Dee’s new computer book whatcha-callit!”
“There are two children in need of reading recommends,” Leslie sang. “Why don’t you come in now?”
Cloris crushed out her cigarette.
“Now, Cloris!”
Cloris crammed the cigarette butt down between two boards of the picnic table. She stood, brushed off, and gave Dee a nervous smile.
“Cloris!” Leslie yelled.
“Good luck,” Dee whispered.
Cloris walked to the back door of the library. Leslie took up most of the doorway, leaning on her cane, and refused to move. Cloris had to turn sideways and squeeze past her. Leslie sniffed at Cloris and shook her head.
Leslie cast Dee a suspicious look, then slammed the heavy metal door.
Dee’s cell phone rang, for the third time today. Justin. She didn’t want to hear about how he was working late again, or going out to Danny O’s with the boys again. She could tell when he was lying.
Instead, she turned off her phone and dove into the world of charming pirates, French court politics, and eager Mireille’s heavy and passionate bosom. It was her only escape from Leslie, from Justin, from the hot and dying town of Elmer, Georgia, where she’d gotten trapped somewhere between the end of college and the start of her real life, the one that would begin on some yet-to-be-determined day on the future.
Dee read:
“I will love you forever,” Jacques proclaimed, grabbing Mireille hastily in the wardrobe room of the theater. Out beyond the stage, the audience sighed at a sad moment in the play.
“But we cannot be together!” Mireille sighed. “My father would forbid it!”
“In my world, the world of pirates, nothing is forbidden,” Jacques breathed suavely, caressing her.
“Oh, but in my world, everything is!” Mireille sighed.
The rest of her day at the library was as dull as the morning had been. Dee suffered under the hawkish stare of Leslie, who had never adjusted to the county assigning a black woman to work in her library, though Dee had been at the library four years now.
Dee went home to an empty apartment. It was small, tucked into the upper corner of a rundown brick building. The building had four apartments in all, and the two downstairs had been empty as long as she’d lived here.
The apartment was cramped but comfortable, with secondhand bookshelves along most of the walls. These were stuffed with poetry, plays, fantasy, romance. Most of her books were tattered paperbacks scrounged from flea markets and garage sales.
Dee walked into the kitchenette and pressed the automatic can opener. Skitter bounded into the room as fast as his heavy belly would allow. The fat orange cat must have been sleeping in her bed, or on the cool tiles of her bathroom floor, since those were the only other rooms in her apartment.
“There you are.” Dee scratched Skitter’s neck. He purred while she poured dry food in his bowl. “You decide to make an appearance?”
She was convinced Skitter had the power to turn invisible. Even in this tiny apartment, he could disappear for days at a time. The only evidence of his existence would be the magically disappearing cat food and the magically dirty litter box.
“Where do you think Justin is?” she asked Skitter. “Working late, grinding the sausage? Shooting pool with the guys? What do you think?”
Skitter had no opinion. He crunched into his cat food.
Dee called Justin’s phone, but he didn’t answer.
“Justin, we don’t have much to eat,” she said to his voice mail. “Since you’re at the grocery store, grab us something. Not pickles and bacon again, either.” She hung up.
He probably wasn’t at the Farm-N-Fresh Grocery Mart, making yet another “special meat order.”
Ella Rae was a cashier at the Farm-N-Fresh. She was twenty-four, ten years younger than Justin, but always looking at Justin with her chest poked out, twirling her purple hair around her fingertip and snapping her gum. Dee saw how she winked at him, how she punched him in the arm and giggled, and now Dee couldn’t stand to shop at Farm-N-Fresh anymore. She had to drive twenty miles to the Kroger in Americus.
Dee picked up the Kindle again.
Jacques kissed her full, ripe, red, strawberry-like lips. He kissed her with great ardor, caressing her curvaceous bosom.
“Oh, Jacques,” Mireille sighed. “You are such a dangerous and manly pirate.”
“I can’t do it anymore, Skitter,” Dee said. “This book is too stupid.”
Skitter licked his paw indifferently.
“I’m sick of romance. It’s all bullcrap. In real life, your boyfriend isn’t a dashing and suave pirate who ties roses to your doorknob as a secret message. He slices bologna at the Farm-N-Fresh and forgets to wear deodorant and then he sleeps with some drugged-out checkout girl and pretends you don’t know it. And you wonder what you were thinking, dating a townie.”
Skitter jumped into the easy chair and curled up. He closed his eyes.
“Thanks for your support,” Dee said.
She picked up the Kindle and clicked the bookstore link. Dee’s neighbor BJ had a wireless internet thing, and let her feed it off it. She supposedly paid him a few dollars a month for this, but he never really accepted the money.
Dee stared at the bookstore page. She wanted something dark and twisted. Like real life. Something where the characters seemed real, everybody suffered, and nobody was happy at the end.
This mood eventually led her to the horror section. Each book had a cover graphic, so this meant sifting through pages of skulls, castles, candles, tombstones, sinister red churches, countless pale and sallow vampires.
One oddball book caught her attention. The cover was plain and black-no lingerie models dripping blood from their mouths, no rotten hands jutting out of the grave. The title, in ghostly letters, was:
THE HAUNTED E-BOOK
By Unknown
Dee snickered at the title. It might as well be called The Evil Penguin or The Demonic Shoelace. And the author hadn’t even put his name on it, a pretty bad sign.
She decided she could use a laugh, so she downloaded the free sample chapter of the book.
The first page of the book said:
WARNING: Publisher not responsible for any supernatural incidents, events or hauntings that may result from reading this book.
“Ha!” Dee said. “Cute. Skitter, you should read this.”
Skitter was asleep on his back, snore-purring, his fluffy white belly exposed to the world.
Dee pressed the arrow button to flip the page. The story began:
THE HAUNTED E-BOOK:
Chapter 1.
Madison was alone on the seventh floor of the university library. She sat at her favorite table, by the windows. Outside, the night was as dark as death. The full moon stared at her like a cold yellow eye, watching and waiting.
Madison had not noticed as the handful of other students left over the past hour, taking their books and notes with them. She liked the ninth floor because it was quiet, especially at night. The floor held odd-sized books, like art folios. It was the top floor, the most remote.
She liked being away from everyone. People always stared at the twisted pink burn scars on the left side of her face and down along her neck.
If she had noticed everyone was gone, she would have been glad. The library was her retreat from her annoying, peppy roommate, who didn’t mind having loud and squealy sex with her boyfriend Tyler, even when Madison was trying to sleep in the same room.
Madison didn’t notice she was alone because she was absorbed in the Kindle reader in her hands. The story had completely drawn her in, and she lost all sense of her own surroundings. She was reading something called The Haunted E-book. It was kind of stupid, but also kind of scary. And it was getting scarier.
Madison read:4
THE HAUNTED E-BOOK:
Chapter 4.
Parker stalked away from her friends, who still laughed at her from the food court. Her face was red and angry. It wasn’t funny that Brenden had cheated on her with Misty. She didn’t see how that was funny at all.
To be alone, she walked down the mall’s south wing, where a lot of the stores had permanently closed. The storefronts were either covered in plywood or just staring out like blank glass eyes. The only two stores still open up here were a Candy’s Candles and a Buddy’s Book-A-Rama.
Parker glanced into Candy’s Candles. It was illuminated only by candlelight, with dozens of odors swirling together-jasmine, vanilla, cherry blossom, chocolate, musk. The combination of so many smells was sickening.
Inside the store, an elderly clerk slumbered at the checkout. Her wrinkled eyelids were closed behind her glasses, which had slid down to the tip of her nose.
Parker walked past the candle store. At the end of the south wing was Buddy’s, her favorite place when she was a child. On Saturdays, they used to have people dressed like famous book characters, Peter Pan or the grinning Cheshire cat. Their children’s book section was a wonderland that took up half the store, with fairy castles and furry hand puppets.
She’d lost interest in Buddy’s around age eleven, when she started middle school. Now she stepped into the store for the first time in five years.
Buddy’s had not thrived. The linoleum floor in the grown-up part of the store was filthy and cracked. The bright orange carpet in the children’s half was spattered with dark stains, and some areas were frayed and showed the concrete floor beneath. The handpainted castle was peeling and dusty.
The Storytime Land behind the cheerful picket fence, where the children’s specialist used to read stories to young customers, had once been decorated with brightly colored chairs and cushions. Now it was a storage area crammed with cardboard boxes, bulging garbage bags and empty rotating paperback racks.
Puppets lay strewn on the floor of the children’s section like bodies after a war. She saw Larry the Lion, his arm sheared off, his eyes gouged out, his mane clotted with years of snot. The smiling puppet clown Pupeeto had a pencil stabbed through his mouth, and it looked like he was choking on it.
Half the lights were out overhead, and the remaining yellow fluorescent bars sizzled and flickered, giving the store a shuddering, nauseating look. She didn’t see any customers, or any employees in their smiley-face yellow Buddy’s Book-A-Rama aprons. The four checkout lanes were empty, their jaunty twirling lights switched off.
Parker walked past aisle after aisle of books, seeing no people. The bookshelves seemed understocked and dusty, with large empty gaps in every section. Torn books were scattered on the crumbling linoleum floor.
“Hello? Is anybody here?” Parker heard herself ask. It was a stupid question. The store was open, so obviously somebody was here. They must be working in the back. A great chance to swipe something.
Parker walked down the horror aisle, looking for books with the scariest, goriest covers. She didn’t care about reading them, but she wanted Brenden to see her reading books like that. Then she could look up at him with cold, glaring eyes over a black book with snarling red corpses on the cover, like she was plotting revenge. Maybe she could do that at school Monday.
She found the grossest zombie paperback the store had, with a guy’s face eaten up by maggots. She looked around. She didn’t see any cameras, or any of those weird rounded mirrors she was convinced might be cameras, too.
She shoved the book down the front of her jeans. She adjusted her wide belt, then quickly covered the bulging waistband of her jeans with her shirt.
A loud squeaking, clacking sound echoed through the store the moment she had the book covered. She looked up again, panicked, but still couldn’t see any sign of security cameras. No way anybody had seen her swipe the book way back here in the aisle.
Parker strolled as casually as she could out of the aisle, listening to the squeaking and clacking as it slowed down. She stepped into the open central space of the store.
She still didn’t see anybody, but she found the source of the squeaking. In the story-land-turned-storage-area, one of the empty paperback racks was spinning. Something tacked to it kept clacking against the other empty racks. It looked like someone had tied something to the rack, given it a hard spin, and then run away.
Parker walked past some cheesy display with a big projection screen above it. She stepped over the fence into the children’s section and approached the rack as its spinning slowed. It stopped when she reached it. Whatever had been tied to the rack was behind it, caught on another rack.
Parker lay her shaking hand on the rack. She slowly turned it until she saw what had been attached.
It was Pupeeto the clown, pencil impaled through his mouth, pinning him to the rack.
She held the clown in her hand. Its big orange wig and puffy shirt buttons were stiff with years of kid saliva. One button eye dangled by a thread.
“Pupeeto?” she said aloud.
There was a loud clattering, then a crash. Parker spun around.
The store was closed. The wire mesh security wall had just rolled down across the entrance, trapping her inside.
“Hey!” Parker yelled. She ran to the mesh and tried to pull it up, but it wouldn’t give. It felt locked into place. She pulled as hard as she could, and the middle fingernail on her left hand bent backward and snapped.
“Ow!” Parker slapped both palms against the wire security mesh. “Hey! Somebody help me!” she yelled into the deserted south wing of the mall. Empty storefronts stared back at her.
She heard footsteps behind her. Immediately she thought of the stolen paperback in her jeans, which felt as big as a Buick right now. She looked down at her shirt, hoping the rectangular bulge wasn’t too obvious.
Now she knew what had happened. Some manager had seen her swipe the book. He was bored and so had gotten all sadistic, freaking her out with the clown puppet and the security gate. He was probably in back now, calling mall security, or the police.
Parker’s mom was going to kill her.
She was sweating now, her heart thumping fast. Her eyes darted around the store for a place to unload the book before the manager nabbed her.
Then, row by row, the fluorescent lights went out. Only the panel above her still glowed, plus the emergency exit sign at the back of the store, and also the stupid yellow display with the glowing projection screen.
Parker didn’t know whether to cry out again or not. There was nobody outside the store to hear her. Besides, the mall closed at eleven. She checked the time on her phone: 10:55.
Usually when Amazon and Kindle publishers role out a dozen brand new free contemporary titles there’s something for most reading tastes, and that seems definitely to be the case with this morning’s latest additions to our 220+ Free Book Alert listings….
But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor
“Kathryn Shay is a master of her craft. Promises to Keep will hold you on the edge of your seat with an ending you’ll remember long after you turn the last page.” –USA Today bestselling author Catherine Anderson
“Kathryn Shay never disappoints.” –Lisa Gardner, NYT bestselling author
By-the-book Secret Service Agent Joe Stonehouse is paired with rebel Agent Luke Ludzecky as they go undercover in a typical high school that has the potential to erupt in deadly violence. The two women they meet cause the situation to be even more explosive. Originally published by Berkley Press.
What the Reviewers Say
“I can’t say enough about this author’s work—pure perfection.” –Old Book Barn Gazette
“Kathryn Shay’s first mainstream romantic suspense is a gripping story that will haunt readers with its authenticity. And those who pick up a copy will find not one, but two absorbing romance threads, full of sensuality and fire. If ever the label of “sure thing” were deserved by a book, Promises to Keep is such a book.” –The Romance Reader
“These are all living breathing people you might meet anywhere at any time. The action and suspense balance well with the love, so that neither plot is skimped upon. I eagerly await her next release.” –Huntress Reviews
And don’t miss Kathryn’s trilogy of new novellas, The Educators…
a bold new series of never before published novellas. Veteran teacher Shay returns to one of her favorite settings and vividly portrays the teachers, administrators and students of Crystal Corners High School. As is her trademark, sizzling romances are back-dropped by controversial, complicated and sometimes dangerous situations.
STILL THE ONE for $.99 In Still the One, Annie Jacobs has made something of herself after a rough adolescence. She’s the mother of twin boys, a respected and well-liked English teacher and has good friends. But when her former high school teacher, Dylan Kane, comes back to town, Annie’s carefully created world starts to crumble. She and Dylan have a past, one which almost destroyed her. Now, he wants to be the next principal of her school. Annie’s afraid their previous relationship will endanger the job she loves. She’s even more fearful that her feelings for Dylan will rekindle, or worse, never died.
SOMEONE LIKE YOU for $1.99 In the second installment, Someone Like You, teacher Brie Gorman and Coach Nick Corelli have been at odds for years. She never liked the sexy jock himself, and hates how the school tends to coddle athletes. But when one of Brie’s students, the star quarterback of the football team, goes into a downward spiral, she and Nick must work together to help him. Unexpectedly, a fiery passion they can’t ignore erupts between them, even when they clash over the best way to save the boy’s life.
MAYBE THIS TIME features Delaney Dawson, a good teacher who has just been transferred to the high school. Her lessons are innovative, she participates in school activities and her students love her. But when she hooks up with the Gage Grayson, the father of a girl she has in class, a myriad of problems occur. First, the two adults didn’t know of their connection through Stephanie. And Stephanie hates her father, which jeopardizes the troubled teen’s burgeoning relationship with her teacher. But when they learn that Steph is being lured in by a bad crowd with a proclivity towards school violence, all three must work together to prevent deadly consequences.
About the Author
Kathryn Shay is a lifelong writer. At fifteen, she penned her first ‘romance,’ a short story about a female newspaper reporter in New York City and her fight to make a name for herself in a world of male journalists – and with one hardheaded editor in particular. Looking back, Kathryn says she should have known then that writing was in her future. But as so often happens, fate sent her detouring down another path as a teacher.
But by the early 1990s, she’d again made room in her life for writing. It was then that she submitted her first manuscript to publishers and agents. Despite enduring two years of rejections, she persevered. And on a snowy December afternoon in 1994, Kathryn Shay sold her first book to Harlequin Superromance.Since that first sale, Kathryn has written twenty-two books for Harlequin, ten mainstream contemporary romances for the Berkley Publishing Group, and two online novellas, which Berkley then published in traditional print format.
These days, she lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children. “My life is very full,” she reports, “but very happy. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to pursue and achieve my dreams.”
Click here to downloadPromises to Keep (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
UK CUSTOMERS: Click on the title below to download
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information.
Free Contemporary Titles in the Kindle Store
HOW TO USE OUR NEW FREE BOOK TOOL:
Just use the slider at right of your screen below to scroll through a complete, updated list of free contemporary Kindle titles, and click on an icon like this one (at right) to read a free sample right here in your browser!Titles are sorted in reverse chronological order so you can easily see new freebies.
This morning’s latest additions to our 200+ Free Book Alert listings cover a wide range of interests from crockpot recipes to social media and marketing innovations….
But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor
A straight 5-star rating for this short story collection the author calls, “Eros and Thanatos. Stories of sex and death“…
“These are great stories. Really enjoyed them. Transgressive, odd, some straight ahead, some dreamlike and surreal. Highly unusual and original.” –Daniel Loeb
Here’s the set-up via reviewer Gabriela Popa “Forbidden Stories is a collection of vivid, expertly crafted fiction stories spanning a wide range of events (growing up as a kid in Los Angeles, traveling to Europe, living in France) told with passion, nostalgia and – some of them – a relaxed wisdom that borders a zen-like attitude… Anyone who wants to explore the human condition will appreciate the multilayered “Green Parrot at My Window” – a complex story about death and the inextricable EXIT sign that awaits us all. A tangled criss-cross of relationships develops in “The Cake Girl”, “Euro-Looting” and “La Hongroise”- stories in which the author, part mastermind and part subject, keeps a keen eye on what’s happening around him while himself progressing as a character along the story.
Yet for all their significant metaphorical content and multidimensional messages, these stories are charmingly accessible and captivating and speak about the universal value of human relationships. This is a great collection of stories – and a must for literature lovers.”
And don’t miss Steve Silkin’s novel….
Did you love L.A. Confidential? Boogie Nights? The Candidate? Pulp Fiction? Weave them all together into a smart, edgy, fast-paced political thriller that you can read right on your Kindle for less than two bucks, and you’ve got Steven Silkin’s The Cemetery Vote.
Jace Kingman, a drug dealer, is recruited to round up Latino day laborers and take them to the polls on Election Day. Dan Vienna, a fired police officer on the road to become an Internet porn producer, tries to extort a million dollars from a losing candidate for U.S. Senate by claiming he can prove the election was stolen. Jace and Dan will cross paths as both schemes go awry. Can they save themselves? Or will they destroy each other?
The Cemetery Vote takes you on a roller-coaster ride over a landscape of ballot-box stuffing, Internet porn production and drug trafficking, plus a love story – or rather two or three or four of them. Featuring iconoclastic twins, an ex-con philosopher and an X-rated actress who’s more than she appears. It’s a political thriller with philosophical underpinnings….
“These stories, forbidden or not, are written in prose so clear it’s nearly transparent, allowing you to see all the way to the deep sense of loss that lies like muck at the bottom. Maybe that’s why they’re forbidden; the current’s strong, and you can’t tell how deep the water is. Still, each piece is laced with enough humor and insight to keep them from feeling like they’re going to pull you under. I’ve enjoyed Silkin’s other books but this one’s my favorite, and not just because I have a crush on Cake Girl.” –R. Toady
“After reading Silkin’s “The Cemetery Vote” I couldn’t wait to sample more from this perceptive talent. I’ve read all his books now, but this one was my favorite. With “Forbidden Stories” Silkin has taken that forbidden step into the dark recesses of human relationships, and this is something that most of us dare not do. What makes this collection of stories so disconcerting is that they resound with the clear ring of truth. –Gregory J. Barina
“Steve Silkin’s growing list of titles–which also includes Telescope Builder and Cemetery Vote–is bolstered by this latest collection of stories, some autobiographical, some semi-autobiographical, and a few completely imagined, set mostly in Europe and the far reaches of the LA suburbs in the days before the freeways were even finished. Written without any pretense (think of Hemingway or Fitzgerald wandering the San Fernando Valley), the tales exhibit Silkin’s overriding desire to communicate many things–among them feelings of sadness and loss, with some youthful jubilation occasionally peeking through. If you’re looking for a well-written title with pathos, humor and other actual, human emotions, step away from the James Franco…and buy or download Forbidden Stories instead.” –Book Guy
Click here to downloadThe Forbidden Stories (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
UK CUSTOMERS: Click on the title below to download
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information.
Free Contemporary Titles in the Kindle Store
HOW TO USE OUR NEW FREE BOOK TOOL:
Just use the slider at right of your screen below to scroll through a complete, updated list of free contemporary Kindle titles, and click on an icon like this one (at right) to read a free sample right here in your browser!Titles are sorted in reverse chronological order so you can easily see new freebies.
. 
to download Sink or Swim
by Philip K. Dick
by J.A. Konrath
by Debbi Mack
by Victorine E. Lieske
by Debbi Mack
by Stephanie McAfee
— has just been selected to advance to the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. We asked Ms. White to submit a piece explaining how it all works, and she came through very nicely for us:
, now’s your chance. Writers from around the world enter this contest, but what makes ABNA unique is the quality of the contenders and the camaraderie among contestants. 
is one of the few novels that everyone should read, it’s a powerful novel that’s masterfully written and subtly complex.” 
and 
series
will hold you on the edge of your seat with an ending you’ll remember long after you turn the last page.” 
for $.99
for $1.99
and 
