Horror

Mongrels

Somebody described this book as “trailer park werewolves” and it went immediately on my TBR list. Okay, not your typical alpha werewolf story. The description hints at a compelling mixture of horror, a coming of age tale and Native American lore. Mongrels is $1.99 for a limited time

FINALIST FOR THE SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD * FINALIST FOR THE BRAM STOKER AWARD * FINALIST FOR THE THIS IS HORROR AWARD  *  HONORABLE MENTION, LOCUS AWARDS  *  NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2016 BY TOR.COM AND BOOK RIOT
A spellbinding and darkly humorous coming-of-age story about an unusual boy, whose family lives on the fringe of society and struggles to survive in a hostile world that shuns and fears them.
He was born an outsider, like the rest of his family. Poor yet resilient, he lives in the shadows with his aunt Libby and uncle Darren, folk who stubbornly make their way in a society that does not understand or want them. They are mongrels, mixed blood, neither this nor that. The boy at the center of Mongrels must decide if he belongs on the road with his aunt and uncle, or if he fits with the people on the other side of the tracks.
For ten years, he and his family have lived a life of late-night exits and narrow escapes–always on the move across the South to stay one step ahead of the law. But the time is drawing near when Darren and Libby will finally know if their nephew is like them or not. And the close calls they’ve been running from for so long are catching up fast now. Everything is about to change.
A compelling and fascinating journey, Mongrels alternates between past and present to create an unforgettable portrait of a boy trying to understand his family and his place in a complex and unforgiving world. A smart and innovative story– funny, bloody, raw, and real–told in a rhythmic voice full of heart, Mongrels is a deeply moving, sometimes grisly, novel that illuminates the challenges and tender joys of a life beyond the ordinary in a bold and imaginative new way.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this lyrical but meandering novel, Jones (After the People Lights Have Gone Off) delicately portrays the coming of age of a young boy growing up in a family of werewolves. Throughout the novel, the unnamed narrator and his aunt, Libby, and uncle, Darren, both werewolves, wander the present-day American South working low-wage jobs while always wary of the dangers of staying in one place for too long and being recognized for what they really are. The narrator’s voice is heartfelt and absorbing as he learns the rules of being a werewolf while always wondering whether he will become one himself, a question that drives the story to its moving conclusion. There are jailbreaks and various battles, including one with a bear, alongside several encounters with other werewolves. While the episodic structure sometimes causes the novel to feel as aimless as its characters, it’s still an often moving portrait of a family struggling to survive in a world that “wants us to be monsters.” (May) –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Stephen Graham Jones is the author of fifteen novels and six story collections. He has received numerous awards, including the NEA Literature Fellowship in fiction, the Texas Institute of Letters Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction, the Independent Publisher Book Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the This Is Horror Award, as well as making Bloody Disgusting’s Top Ten Horror Novels of the Year. Stephen was raised in West Texas. He now lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife and children.–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

A spellbinding and darkly humorous coming-of-age story about an unusual boy, whose family lives on the fringe of society and struggles to survive in a hostile world that shuns and fears them

He was born an outsider, like the rest of his family. Poor yet resilient, he lives in the shadows with his aunt Libby and uncle Darren, folk who stubbornly make their way in a society that does not understand or want them. They are mongrels, mixed blood, neither this nor that. The boy at the center of Mongrels must decide if he belongs on the road with his aunt and uncle, or if he fits with the people on the other side of the tracks.

For ten years, he and his family have lived a life of late-night exits and narrow escapes—always on the move across the South to stay one step ahead of the law. But the time is drawing near when Darren and Libby will finally know if their nephew is like them or not. And the close calls they’ve been running from for so long are catching up fast now. Everything is about to change.

A compelling and fascinating journey, Mongrels alternates between past and present to create an unforgettable portrait of a boy trying to understand his family and his place in a complex and unforgiving world. A smart and innovative story—funny, bloody, raw, and real—told in a rhythmic voice full of heart, Mongrels is a deeply moving, sometimes grisly, novel that illuminates the challenges and tender joys of a life beyond the ordinary in a bold and imaginative new way.

Advance Acclaim for Stephen Graham Jones’s Mongrels

“Stephen Graham Jones has written a wondrous shape-shifter of a novel. Mongrels exists somewhere in the borderlands of literary and genre fiction, full of horror and humor and heart—at once a nightmarish road trip and a moving story about a broken family leashed together by their fierce love and loyalty. A bloody great read.”—Benjamin Percy, author of The Dead Lands, Red Moon, and The Wilding

“Mongrels isn’t just a coming-of-age story or a horror story. It looks at the world through a disturbing, uncomfortable lens, and offers up a brutal mythology of werewolves. I’ve never seen anything quite like it and I won’t forget it anytime soon.”—Carrie Vaughn, New York Times bestselling author of the Kitty Norville series

“You know how you once wished you were a werewolf? How you stood in front of the mirror and wanted to see a transformation? Mongrels takes you by the hand, guides you down that road, finally, to that change. . . . Stephen Graham Jones is as powerful as the monsters herein.”—JOSH MALERMAN, author of Bird Box

“With lupine tongue tucked well into cheek, Mongrels is at once an adolescent romp through the tangled woods of family history and a rich compendium of werewolf lore, old and new.”—CHRISTOPHER BUEHLMAN, author of Those Across the River and The Lesser Dead–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Thriller

The Old Man

The must-see series based on Thomas Perry’s The Old Man has two incredible Rottweilers that totally steal the show. We are all eagerly awaiting season two of this compelling thriller.

Now an original series from FX starring Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, and Amy Brenneman: a retired intelligence officer living off the grid is caught in “[a] harrowing hunt-and-hide adventure” (The New York Times).

To all appearances, Dan Chase is a harmless retiree in Vermont with two big mutts and a grown daughter he keeps in touch with by phone. But most sixty-year-old widowers don’t have multiple driver’s licenses, savings stockpiled in banks across the country, or two Beretta Nanos stashed in the spare bedroom closet. Most have not spent decades on the run.

Thirty-five years ago, as a young army intelligence hotshot, Chase was sent to Libya to covertly assist a rebel army. When the plan turned sour, Chase acted according to his conscience—and triggered consequences he never could have anticipated. To this day, someone still wants him dead. And just when he thought he was finally safe, Chase is confronted with the history he spent much of his life trying to escape.

Edgar Award–winning author Thomas Perry writes thrillers that move “almost faster than a speeding bullet” (Wall Street Journal). The Old Man is his latest whip-smart standalone novel, and has been adapted into a critically acclaimed television series starring Jeff Bridges as retired CIA Agent Dan Chase.

“Perry drives deep into Jack Reacher territory in this stand-alone [novel] . . . Swift, unsentimental, and deeply satisfying.” —Kirkus Reviews

Science Fiction

The Citadel of Weeping Pearls – $1.99

Aliette de Bodard’s The Citadel of Weeping Pearls is a facinating and  beautiful lyric space opera set in the Xuya Universe, a Vietnamese space empire of the future.  There are several other books set in this universe, including some free short stories on the author’s website.

The Citadel of Weeping Pearls was a great wonder; a perfect meld between cutting-edge technology and esoteric sciences—its inhabitants capable of teleporting themselves anywhere, its weapons small and undetectable and deadly.

Thirty years ago, threatened by an invading fleet from the Dai Viet Empire, the Citadel disappeared and was never seen again.

But now the empire itself is under siege, on the verge of a war against an enemy that turns their own mindships against them; and the Empress, who once gave the order to raze the Citadel, is in desperate need of its weapons. Meanwhile, on a small isolated space station, an engineer obsessed with the past works on a machine that will send her thirty years back, to the height of the Citadel’s power.

But the Citadel’s disappearance still extends chains of grief and regret all the way into the fraught atmosphere of the Imperial Court; and this casual summoning of the past might have world-shattering consequences . . .

A new book set in the award-winning, critically acclaimed Xuya universe.

History

How the Irish Saved Civilization -$4.99

irish_civilizationThomas Cahill’s classic How the Irish Saved Civilization, normally $11.99, is on sale today for $4.99. A best seller when it was originally released, it is a fascinating look at the important role the Irish played in maintaining Western culture during the dark ages.

The perfect St. Patrick’s Day gift, and a book in the best tradition of popular history — the untold story of Ireland’s role in maintaining Western culture while the Dark Ages settled on Europe.

Every year millions of Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but they may not be aware of how great an influence St. Patrick was on the subsequent history of civilization. Not only did he bring Christianity to Ireland, he instilled a sense of literacy and learning that would create the conditions that allowed Ireland to become “the isle of saints and scholars” — and thus preserve Western culture while Europe was being overrun by barbarians.

In this entertaining and compelling narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. Not only did Irish monks and scribes maintain the very record of Western civilization — copying manuscripts of Greek and Latin writers, both pagan and Christian, while libraries and learning on the continent were forever lost — they brought their uniquely Irish world-view to the task.

As Cahill delightfully illustrates, so much of the liveliness we associate with medieval culture has its roots in Ireland. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated.

In the tradition of Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant MirrorHow The Irish Saved Civilization reconstructs an era that few know about but which is central to understanding our past and our cultural heritage. But it conveys its knowledge with a winking wit that aptly captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilization.

BONUS MATERIAL: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from Thomas Cahill’s Heretics and Heroes.

This is the first volume in what later became the Hinges of History series which you can find here on Amazon.

Fantasy

Chronicles of Narnia and other C.S. Lewis books on sale

Talk about Turkish Delight! Today only, you can find the complete collection of  C. S. Lewis’ classic Chronicles of Narnia series for just $1.99 each.

This  beloved classic series has captivated children’s imaginations with magic doorways, evil sorceresses, adn talking animals for  well over fifty years. The  sale includes all seven volumes in the series:

  • The Magician’s Nephew
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  • The Horse and His Boy
  •  Prince Caspian
  • The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
  • The Silver Chair
  • The Last Battle

The complete sale collection of Narnia titles on Amazon is here.

C.S. Lewis was also a scholar and penned several well-known works on Christian theology. Several of these are also on sale today, ranging in price from $1.99 to $2.99. Titles include:

  • The Screwtape Letters
  • The Great Divorce
  • A Grief Observed
  • The Abolition of Man
  • The Four Loves

You can find the complete list of Lewis’ titles on sale on Amazon here.

Urban Fantasy

Death Masks (The Dresden Files, Book 5) – $1.99

Are you a fan of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series?

Today, Book 5 in the series, Death Masks, is on sale for just $1.99. The book is normally $9.99

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But he also knows that whenever things are going good, the only way left for them to go is bad. Way bad. Such as:

• A duel with the lethal champion of the Red Court, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards…
• Professional hit men using Harry for target practice…
• The missing Shroud of Turin—and the possible involvement of Chicago’s most feared mob boss…
• A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified…

Not to mention the return of Harry’s ex-girlfriend Susan, who’s still struggling with her semi-vampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life. Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you’re charging.

The Dresden Files is a 15 book urban fantasy series. The Jim Butcher series has been called “the gold standard” for urban fantasy. You can see the other books in the series here.

Fantasy

Lake Silence by Anne Bishop – $7.99

This one is for fans of Anne Bishop’s The Others series.

Lake Silence is the first book in the spin-off series, The World of the Others. Today, the book is $7.99. It was previously priced at $12.99.

In this thrilling and suspenseful fantasy set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, an inn owner and her shape-shifting lodger find themselves enmeshed in danger and dark secrets.

Human laws do not apply in the territory controlled by the Others–vampires, shape-shifters, and even deadlier paranormal beings. And this is a fact that humans should never, ever forget….

After her divorce, Vicki DeVine took over a rustic resort near Lake Silence, in a human town that is not human controlled. Towns such as Vicki’s don’t have any distance from the Others, the dominant predators who rule most of the land and all of the water throughout the world. And when a place has no boundaries, you never really know what is out there watching you.

Vicki was hoping to find a new career and a new life. But when her lodger, Aggie Crowe–one of the shape-shifting Others–discovers a murdered man, Vicki finds trouble instead. The detectives want to pin the death on her, despite the evidence that nothing human could have killed the victim. As Vicki and her friends search for answers, ancient forces are roused by the disturbance in their domain. They have rules that must not be broken–and all the destructive powers of nature at their command.

The sequel, Wild Country,  book two in The World of the Others series,  is due out on  March 5, 2019.

Kindle Unlimited

Get 2 months of Kindle Unlimited for 99 cents

Right now, Amazon is running a  special trial offer for Kindle Unlimited on the Kindle Books main page. The offer allows you to try the service for two months for only 99 cents.

The fine print:

  • This offer is only open to new subscribers. Existing Kindle Unlimited subscribers are NOT eligible.
  • The offer must be redeemed before   March, 11 2018.
  • The cost is $0.99 for the first two months and $9.99/month after that until you cancel.

With Kindle Unlimited, you may read Kindle books and listen to Audible audiobooks from a designated list of titles an unlimited number of times for so long as you are a member of the program. You may borrow 10 titles at a time.

The service features over a million titles, revolving monthly magazine selections, and books with Audible narration that can be read on any device or app.

You can see the regular 30 day free trial Kindle Unlimited offer and plans here.

Uncategorized

What’s a Bargain Book?

When it comes to ebooks, what constitutes a bargain? If you have looked at the prices of ebooks lately, you’ll see that it is not unusual for new releases to cost anywhere from $11.99 to $15.99 per title. YIKES! That’s a lot!

Even if you read genre fiction like mysteries, fantasy and romance, it is still typical for these ebooks to cost from $7.99 to $9.99. If you are an avid reader like I am, that adds up quickly. I joke that I have a $8 to $10 a day book habit, LOL!

Luckily for readers, most retailers offer daily, weekly and monthly sales on ebooks. It is not unusual to see titles from major publishers on sale for as little as $1.99 or $2.99. Sale prices of $3.99 to $4.99 on bestsellers are not uncommon.

If you like indie authors, your chances of finding bargain books are really good. Whether it is a new author starting out self publishing or a seasoned author who has gained control of their backlist titles, indie book offer some great reads at bargain pricing.

Subscription services such as Kindle Unlimited and Scribd can also offer significant savings on your favorite reads, with both of these services costing $10 or less a month. Both services also offer options for audiobooks as well as ebooks.

And best of all, there are quite a few sources of legal, free books available from a variety of sources.

On this blog, we will talk about all of those sources and more.

Everyday, I look for book bargains. This is where I will share my finds and tips and tricks for acquiring bargain books.

If you love to read and also love a bargain, stay tuned!