science fiction – Me and My Kindle

The 110 Most Useful URLs for Kindle Owners

January 1, 2016September 10, 2023 meandmykindle Leave a comment

Digital Publishing vs. the Gutenberg press

Every year on New Year’s Day, I assemble a “master list” of shortcuts to over 100 of the most useful pages for Kindle owners, like all of the free ebooks, games, and comic books that Amazon’s now making available. But this year there’s 10 new links that highlight some fun new content that in 2015 became a part of our Kindle universe!

Instead of trying to memorize a bunch of complicated URLs, I’ve created shorter, easier-to-remember addresses that still lead to the same pages.

And all 110 of them start with TinyURL.com …

FREE EBOOKS AND GAMEStinyurl.com/FreeKindleGames
There’s also free games for your black-and-white Kindle readers — 19 of them — most created by Amazon to show off the Kindle’s versatility.

tinyurl.com/DickEbooks
Six free science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick are available for your Kindle!

And here’s Amazon’s interview with President Barack Obama available as a free Kindle Single.

Also, Transformations is a free 200-page ebook published in 2014 by Amazon about “authors, innovators, and small businesses” around the world who are all enjoying new success using Amazon.

FREE COMIC BOOKS

tinyurl.com/KindleFCBD
There’s 45 free comic books in the Kindle Store from “Free Comic Book Day”, a real-world event which happens every year on the first Saturday in May. (Mark your calendars!) There’s The Avengers, Rocket Raccoon and The Guardians of the Galaxy, and even Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge

Plus, here’s all of Amazon’s best-selling free Kindle comic books. (And you can also click here for a shortcut to all of Amazon’s Digital Kindle Comics.

tinyurl.com/ComicsNewsletter
Amazon’s free newsletter about digital comic books. And when you subscribe, they’ll give you a free Kindle edition of Superman No. 1 from the “New 52” series.

FREE LAUGHS FROM AMAZON

tinyurl.com/FunnyFakeAmazonReviews
Amazon’s own list of their favorite funny fake customer reviews.

tinyurl.com/MoreFunnyAmazonReviews
Amazon’s second list of their favorite funny customer reviews.

tinyurl.com/AmazonTours
In 2014, Amazon finally started offering free tours of their own fulfillment centers in six different states!

FREE MUSIC
tinyurl.com/FreeMp3List
I love how Amazon is always ready with terrific mp3s — many of them free. And you can always find a complete list at this URL!

Plus, last year Amazon started making thousands of songs available for free to subscribers of their Amazon Prime service.

FREE VIDEO
tinyurl.com/PrimeInstantVideo
If you’ve signed up for Amazon’s free “Prime” two-day shipping service, they’ll also let you watch a ton of movies and TV shows for free on your Kindle Fire! (Or over the internet…) Browse through the complete selection here – everything from the original episodes of Star Trek and The Twilight Zone to modern favorites like Bones and even new shows created by Amazon!

And then there’s John Goodman’s show “Alpha House” — written by Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau!Â It’s exclusively available on Amazon Instant Video. Watch the first episode free online!

tinyurl.com/2015Pilots
Amazon’s competing with Netflix by offering their own original programming! (Previous pilot’s included Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle and their Emmy award-winning Transparent

tinyurl.com/KindleFlare
The Onion finally unleashed their fake news stories on the Kindle, joking that Amazon had released a Kindle with a very annoying new feature. (And you can also have The Onion delivered directly to your Kindle.)

tinyurl.com/BezosMarketplace
A fascinating interview with the author of the controversial book about Amazon, “The Everything Store,” which includes a discussion (with audio) about the sound of Jeff Bezos’s laughter.

tinyurl.com/JeffBezosRemembers
Just 7 years after the launch of Amazon, Jeff Bezos shared its story with a roomful of young entrepreneurs, reminiscing about his site’s early days — and the library where he’d read books as a teenager.

BARGAIN EBOOKS

$3.99 Kindle eBooks
Every month, Amazon picks 100 ebooks to offer at a discount of $3.99 or less. There’s always a new selection on the first day of the month, so if you visited the page on the last day of the month, you’d see 100 discounted books — and then the next day you’d see an entirely new selection!

If you’re in England, Amazon’s created a different page for their bargain ebooks — go to $3.99 Kindle eBooks in England

And if you’re in France, there’s also a different URL for your (English-language) bargain ebooks — it’s at $3.99 Kindle eBooks in France

tinyurl.com/DailyKindleDeal
In addition, Amazon’s also created a special “Daily Deal” page, where they pick a new ebook each day to sell at a big discount for 24 hours. Past deals have included a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming and Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night — and I’m always surprised by the variety.

tinyurl.com/DailyDealsEmail
Amazon will also just e-mail you every “Daily Deal,” so you never have to worry about missing one of them!

tinyurl.com/KindleSelect25
Each week Amazon highlights 25 more books

tinyurl.com/CheapThrillers
Amazon’s special selection of “international thrillers” — all priced at $4.99 or less

KINDLE SINGLES

tinyurl.com/AmazonKindleSingles
All of Amazon’s short, cheap “Kindle Single” ebooks

And Stephen King even published a 25-page personal essay titled “Guns”, which he’s selling as a Kindle Single for 99 cents.

NEW FROM AMAZON

tinyurl.com/AmazonPrints3D
Amazon introduced a new 3-D printing store in 2014 with everything you’ll need to get started making!

tinyurl.com/AmazonBookLists
Amazon’s created their own list of “100 Books to Read in a Lifetime”

Amazon’s new Echo sstand-alone “digital assistant” plays music and answers questions – activated by your voice!

And here’s Amazon’s line of classic and cutting-edge high-definition color Kindle tablets

Don’t miss Amazon’s slick new, high-contrast version of their Kindle Paperwhite

Amazon has also offered this giant 9.7-inch black-and-white Kindle DX.

tinyurl.com/KindleSending
Amazon’s free “Send-to-Kindle” plug-in for web browsers

tinyurl.com/CustomKindleCovers
Convert your own photos into a custom Kindle cover

FAVORITE AUTHORS

If you love Game of Thrones, you’ll love George R. R. Martin’s two graphic novels

tinyURL.com/XKCDAuthor
XKCD cartoonist Randall Munroe became a best-selling author in 2014, thanks to “What If,” his mind-blowing collection of serious answers to “absurd hypothetical questions.” And in 2015, he published yet-another book with mind-blowing illustrations called Thing Explainer

A fun unpublished Dr. Seuss manuscript — with illustrations! — was finally discovered in 2015!

tinyurl.com/EbertEbooks
I’ll never forget Roger Ebert. Here’s the Kindle editions for all his ebooks.

Elmore Leonard has also left us — but here’s Kindle editions of all his books.

Amazon also has an exclusive new serialized collection of seven previously unpublished works by Kurt Vonnegut.

tinyurl.com/KurtVonnegutEbooks
Every Kurt Vonnegut ebook in Amazon’s Kindle Store – including a free edition of his science fiction short story, “2 B R 0 2 B”

tinyurl.com/BukowskiEbooks
Every Charles Bukowski ebook in Amazon’s Kindle Store.

tinyurl.com/AgathaChristieEbooks
All the Kindle editions of Agatha Christie’s mysteries.

My favorite Kindle mystery — a 384-page detective novel following a police detective’s homicide investigation in Houston called Back on Murder.

tinyurl.com/JamesBondEbooks
Every James Bond novel by Ian Fleming has been released as a Kindle ebook — officially licensed by Amazon publishing.

One of the founders of the dating site “OK Cupid” released the stunning book “Dataclysm” towards the end of 2014, revealing the surprising insights achievable with massives amounts of data.

There’s also Amazon’s discounted version of the Hunger Games trilogy.

tinyurl.com/BrightBooks
Classic children’s picture books revived by the loving granddaughter of author/illustrator Robert S. Bright.

tinyurl.com/CalvinAndHobbesKindle
Three different “Calvin & Hobbes” collections were finally released as Kindle ebooks in 2014. Here’s Amazon’s complete selection.

tinyurl.com/DilbertEbooks
My favorite newspaper comic strip is Dilbert, about the life of an office cubicle worker. In 2012, creator Scott Adams finally collected all the comic strips together into a series of ebooks that you can buy for your Kindle!

tinyurl.com/DoonesburyEbook
Doonesbury, the long-running newspaper comic strip by Garry Trudeau, is now finally available on the Kindle — in four massive ten-year retrospective collections!

tinyurl.com/PlayboyEbooks
Playboy announced for their 50th anniversary that they’d release 50 of their best interviews as 99-cent Kindle ebooks. They’re now available in the Kindle Store, including fascinating and sometimes even historic interviews with famous figures from the last 50 years, including Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter, Muhammad Ali, Bill Gates, Hunter S. Thompson, Stephen Hawking, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jon Stewart.

George Takei is the 75-year-old TV actor who’d played Mr. Sulu on Star Trek. But now he’s also a huge internet phenomenon — and he’s finally released his first Kindle ebooks (including Oh myy! (There Goes the Internet)…!)

One of the biggest events in publishing was the release of all J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels as Kindle ebooks.

Two Maurice Sendak URLs
Where the Wild Things Are was written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, a beloved children’s book author who died in 2012 at the age of 83. Though his books were never released in Kindle Format, you can still download the full-length novel adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are that was written by Dave Eggers And you can even buy a DVD at Amazon of the rare 1970s adaptation of Sendak’s stories into television cartoons with narration by Peter Schickele.

MORE FUN EBOOK LINKS

tinyurl.com/100AmazonBooks
In 2014, Amazon created a fun list of “100 Books to Read in a Lifetime.”

tinyurl.com/TopAmazonAuthors
Amazon has released a special feature showing their most popular authors at any given moment — updating the list every hour!

Amazon’s Editors pick the best new books of the month

tinyurl.com/BooksWithBuzz
The hottest new and upcoming books are featured here.

tinyurl.com/BestBooksOf2012
A fun list where Amazon’s editors also choose their selections for the “Best Books of 2012”. It’s a special web page with their picks in 30 different categories, including the best print books, the best Kindle ebooks, and the best biographies, mysteries, and even cookbooks!

tinyurl.com/AmazonFallBooks
Amazon’s picks for the best books of autumn

AMAZON’S CUSTOMER SUPPORT

tinyurl.com/kindle-cs
Amazon’s Customer Service has drawn rave reviews. (If your Kindle is broken, Amazon will usually mail you a replacement overnight!) This page collects all of Amazon’s support URLs. And at its far left, there’s a special link labelled “Contact Kindle Support,” which leads to the support phone numbers for 10 different countries, and there’s also an online contact form and the ability to start a live text chat!

Amazon lets you return any ebook within 7 days, no questions asked. So you’ll always be able to get a refund if you’re not satisfied with your purchase. (And you can also use this URL for returning Kindles!)

MY EBOOKS AND GAMES

It’s my list, so of course it includes shortcuts for a couple very special projects…

tinyurl.com/500Quotes
My very first Android app — “500 Inspiring Quotes” — is available free in Amazon’s Android store, and also in the Nook and Google Play Store.

An original word game for Kindle became one of the top 100 most-popular games for the year — and I’m it’s co-author! Check out all the fun at this URL, and discover why dozens and dozens of people gave it a five-star review! And we’ve just released a brand-new sequel too…

“For Thanksgiving, try this game. Find the guilty turkey’s name!”

I wrote a special “mystery poem” that was finally published in November as a funny, illustrated ebook. There’s cartoon-y pictures which show four turkeys in a farmer’s pen on Thanksgiving Day. The farmer’s approaching with an axe — but one of the turkeys has a plan to escape! (“Can the farmer figure out which one? And can you?”) The short “Turkey Mystery Rhyme” is only 99 cents — a real bargain for a fun, holiday smile.

Lucca is a cuddly Cocker Spaniel dog who was rescued from an animal shelter, and he now adores his new family — my girlfriend and me! My girlfriend’s been telling her friends how she received “the best present ever” — this short collection of funny photos of her dog, along with sweetly humorous captions that tell the story of his life. (Like the day he met that white cat that moved in downstairs…) If you want to preview a “sample chapter first, go to tinyurl.com/GoodReadsDog — but the whole “short picture scrapbook” is only 99 cents, and it offers a nice peek at a very wonderful dog…

GAMES

tinyurl.com/FreeAmazonApps.
Amazon’s Android app store offers a free app every day — both for your Kindle Fire tablet and for any Android smartphone.

Amazon has a web page devoted just to all the games you can play on your Kindle. (There’s over 400 of them!) It’s fun to see all the colorful game “covers” collected together into one magical toy store-like page.

Free Kindle Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine cover illustration

FREE AND DISCOUNTED KINDLE MAGAZINES

tinyurl.com/KindleMagazineDeals
These magazines have been heavily discounted when delivered to your Kindle.

A VERY SPECIAL KINDLE BLOG

It’s my blog! (This is the URL for its page on the Kindle Store.) If you want to tell your friends how to find me, this URL makes it easy to remember. Just practice saying “TinyURL . com/MeAndMyKindle” and soon we’ll all be sharing the latest Kindle news together.

KINDLES ON TV

I love Amazon’s Kindle TV ads — and you can watch them all online at YouTube.com/Kindle.

tinyurl.com/KindleFireSong
There was a spectacular new TV ad when Amazon announced their new Kindle Fire tablets. It showed the evolution of print from a quill pen dipped in ink to Amazon’s latest full-color multimedia touchscreen tablet. But I loved the song they played in the background, by a new Louisiana-based band called the Givers. (“The words we say today, we’ll say… we’ll see them again. Yes, we’ll see them again…”) I’d called it an ode to all the self-published authors who are finding new audiences on the Kindle — and at this URL, you can hear the entire song on YouTube!

tinyurl.com/AmyRutberg
Before she became “the woman from that Kindle commercial,” actress Amy Rutberg appeared in a zany stage production called “The Divine Sister.” Playbill (the official magazine for theatre-goers) had her record a backstage peek at the theatre and its cast for a special online feature — and it’s a fun way to catch a peek at another part of her career. That URL leads to the video’s web page on YouTube, and there’s also a second part which is available at http://tinyurl.com/AmyRutberg2

MISCELLANEOUS

tinyurl.com/kindlemap
Ever wonder where all the Kindle owners are? Someone’s created an interactive online map, where Kindle owners can stop by and leave “push pins” showing their location! There’s big clusters on the east and west coast of America (though you could still leave the first push pin for Arizona or Nevada!) It’s an adapted version of one of Google’s maps of the world, so you can also spot “Kindlers” in Iraq, Romania, and Ethiopia. And if you click on the push pins, you’ll find the Kindler’s name and sometimes a comment. (One Kindler in Spain simply posted: “Tengo un Kindle DX!”)

tinyurl.com/GoldBoxPage
Every day Amazon also offers discounts on a new item — sometimes even expensive electronics equipment. And you can always find them all at tinyurl.com/GoldBoxPage

A new ebook by the Amazon manager who was in charge of the Kindle on the day it launched!

And finally, here’s the most useful URL of all.

tinyurl.com/110KindleURLs

It’s a shortcut to this page — so you can find all of these URLs in 2016!

Happy New Year!

Amazon Discounts More Kindle eBooks!

August 28, 2015November 29, 2019 meandmykindle Leave a comment

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Right now Amazon’s running several special sales on Kindle ebooks. First there’s the “$3.99 or less” sale. (Every month Amazon selects nearly 300 ebooks, which they sell at a discount until the end of the month.) But now Amazon is also running a second sale where the ebooks are even cheaper!

For a shortcut to Amazon’s sales, point your browser to this page for the $1.99 and $3.99 ebooks

Here’s some of the highlights.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke ($1.99)

It’s one of the most famous science fiction stories of all time. (In the Kindle Store’s science fiction section, it’s still one of the top 50 best-selling books!) It’s a sprawling 324-page novel about humanity’s migration into space, including a famous confrontation between astronauts and a computer named HAL. But this edition also contains a secret second story about the director of the film, and the man who’d created the book.

30 years after he’d first published 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke penned a brand new introduction for its special anniversary edition. And then two weeks later, he received word that Stanley Kubrick had just died. “He was planning a special promotion of the movie in the year 2001,” Clarke remembers, now writing his second new introduction. “I am very sad that I am unable to share the occasion with him.”

Enter The Saint book cover by Leslie Charteris

Enter the Saint by Leslie Charteris

Before he played James Bond, Roger Moore starred as “The Saint”, a suave crimefighter, in a TV series which ran for 7 years. But that series was an adaptation of a very popular series of books, which was written over a period of 35 years by a colorful author named Leslie Charteries. Now his books have finally found their way into Amazon’s Kindle store — and Amazon’s discounting two of them to just $1.99. “Enter the Saint” was his very first story about the tough swashbuckler who goes up against a mob of drug smugglers. And they’re also discounting another book with three more classic stories, in a 282-page collection titled The Saint vs. Scotland Yard.

Goosebumps - Night of the Living Ventriloquist's Dummy

Classic Goosebumps #1: Night of the Living Dummy by R. L. Stine ($1.99)

This month Amazon’s discounting five different books from R. L. Stine’s popular “Goosebumps” series. There’s Werewolf of Fever Swamp and The 13th Warning, but also two newer entries in the 2012 relaunch of the franchise, which was titled “Goosebumps Most Wanted”. There’s Planet of the Lawn Gnomes and Zombie Halloween — and just in time for Halloween, Amazon’s also discounting a great tale about a ventriloquist’s dummy. One reviewer on Amazon described it as children’s horror literature, adding that Night of the Living Dummy “is quite possibly the greatest Goosebumps book ever writtenâ€¦”

That’s no small claim, since there’s over 60 different books in the series, and It’s hard to underestimate the huge popularity of the series. Over 350 million Goosebumps titles have been sold, and one newspaper even called their author the Stephen King of children’s books. So it’s especially nice that Amazon’s discounting one of the very first books in the series, which they’re lovingly describing as a “fan-favorite thriller and chiller”. (And it even includes new bonus material — about the scary ventriloquist dummy who comes to lifeâ€¦!)

Dorn of the Mountains by Zane Grey ($1.99)

It’s one of the classic western adventure novels — and the book itself has its own story, according to its description on Amazon. “When this powerful tale of adventure, danger, romance, and hope was first published — under the title Man of the Forest — it was dramatically different from what Zane Grey had originally written.” Its plot describes a desperate race against time for justice, and apparently its editors wanted to help speed things up. “Long passages had been removed, other passages written by someone else were inserted, and the hero’s name had been changed to Dale. Now, restored from Grey’s original manuscript, this wonderful novel can finally be enjoyed the way its author actually wrote it.”

Remember for a shortcut to Amazon’s sales, point your browser to the $1.99 and $3.99 ebooks here
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Amazon Offers Free Philip K. Dick Stories!

February 4, 2015February 5, 2015 meandmykindle Leave a comment

Total Recall book cover by Philip K Dick

A Scanner Darkly book cover by Philip K Dick

There’s seven free science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick that are now available in Amazon’s Kindle Store. (Many of the famous author’s earliest short stories have fallen into the public domain.) And Amazon’s also discounting the Kindle version of several of his full-length novels to just $2.99!

For a shortcut to Amazon’s Philip K. Dick stories, point your browser to
tinyurl.com/DickeBooks

The ~~six~~ seven free short stories are:

        The Crystal Crypt
        Piper in the Woods
        Beyond Lies the Wub
        Mr. Spaceship
        The Variable Man
        Beyond the Door
        The Skull

Two more ebooks are available for just 99 cents — the author’s 93-page novel Second Variety, and a special 364-page collection of 13 of the author’s best stories. And the Kindle Store is also offering big discounts on eight more Philip K. Dick novels.

        The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch ($2.99)
        A Scanner Darkly ($2.99)
        The Man in the High Castle ($2.99)
        Ubik ($2.99)
        VALIS (Book 1 of the VALIS Trilogy) ($2.99)
        Time Pawn ($2.99)
        Total Recall ($3.99)
        The Father Thing ($3.99)

Most of these ebooks can be synced with their audiobook version, for a futuristic reading experience. While reading the text of an ebook, you can instantly switch over to its audiobook version on your Kindle tablet smartphone – and the audiobook’s narrator will continue reading right where you left off! And Amazon’s offering a special “Read and Listen” deal for three of the ebooks. You can purchase their audiobook and Kindle editions together for just $8!

        The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
        A Scanner Darkly
        The Man in the High Castle

But best of all, there’s 26 Philip K Dick novels that are all being made available free for subscribers to Amazon’s “Kindle Unlimited” program!

        Total Recall
        The Man in the High Castle
        Ubik
        Now Wait for Last Year
        The Simulacra
        Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
        Time Out of Joint
        The Penultimate Truth
        Martian Time-Slip
        Eye in the Sky
        The Game-Players of Titan
        A Maze of Death
        Dr. Bloodmoney
        The Crack in Space
        The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
        A Scanner Darkly
        VALIS (Book 1 of the VALIS Trilogy)
        The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (Book 3 of the VALIS Trilogy)
        Galactic Pot-Healer
        Gather Yourselves Together
        Confessions of a Crap Artist
        We Can Build You
        The World Jones Made
        The Cosmic Puppets
        Dr. Futurity
        Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick

Amazon’s just released the pilot for an original TV series based on “The Man in The High Castle”. (Offering an “alternate timeline” where the Nazi’s won World War II, it presents a world filled with spies and imposters and raises questions about both authenticity and history itself.) Its executive producer is Ridley Scott, who first popularized the author to mainstream audiences with his 1982 film Blade Runner. It’s nice to see that the author’s stories are also being giving careful attention, and that they’ll survive humanity’s ongoing movement towards digital reading formats.

I want to believe there are people at Amazon who appreciate Philip K. Dick just as much as we do.

Remember, for a shortcut to Amazon’s Philip K. Dick ebooks, point your browser to
tinyurl.com/DickeBooks

January’s Kindle eBook Discounts!

January 14, 2015January 14, 2015 meandmykindle Leave a comment

Every month Amazon picks a special selection of Kindle ebooks to sell for $3.99 or less. And this month has some fascinating books to expand your mind with both history and science fiction. But Amazon’s discounted over 100 different Kindle ebooks to just $3.99 or less, so there’s lots of bargains to choosse from.

For a shortcut to Amazon’s discounts, point your browser to
tinyurl.com/399KindleEbooks

Here’s some of the most interesting selections…

Moonshine: A Cultural History of America’s Infamous Liquor by Jaime Joyce ($2.99)

It’s a $25 history of moonshine – now discounted in Amazon’s Kindle store to just $2.99! “Hooch. White lightning. White whiskey. Mountain dew…” begins the book’s description at Amazon — promising “Nothing but clear, 100-proof American history.” The underground infamy of backwoods booze is an all-American tradition that dates back several centuries. But this book dips into the facts and the folklore behind untaxed liquors and unlicensed stills, whether brewed up by mountain people or the “craft distilling” that’s still being practiced today!

Regarding Ducks and Universes - science fiction book cover

Regarding Ducks and Universes by Neve Maslakovic ($1.99)

It’s an awesome title, and this science fiction book lives up to its promise. “On a foggy Monday in 1986, the universe suddenly, without warning, bifurcated,” explains a description on Amazon. 35 years later, a food writer in “San Francisco of Universe A” discovers a photograph showing himself with his father, dated 10 days before the writer was actually born! Of course there’s only one thing to do — head to “San Francisco B”, flagrantly violating the rules of both worlds, and spying on his other self. But it turns out that someone knows he’s changed universes, and the answer to all these provokative mysteries lies, impossibly, in a rubber duck…

The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend by Bob Drury ($1.99)

The Lakota warrior chief was nearly 90 years old when he died in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, having served as chief for 41 years from 1868 until 1909. But his fascinating life included an 1875 visit to Washington D.C., according to Wikipedia, where he attempted to persuade President grant “to honor existing treaties and stem the flow of miners into their lands.” This 2013 biography was chosen as the best book of the year by Salon magazine, and it also became a New York TImes best-seller. It’s the story of of the only American Indian in history to defeat the U.S. Army in a war, and one reviewer praised its beautiful handling of the historical material, calling it “epic…big, blazing history, writ large on the High Plains.”

900 Miles: A Zombie Novel by S. Johnathan Davis ($0.99)

This book describes its hero’s “harrowing 900 mile race against time to get to his wife just as the dead begin to rise.” There’s no rules left in society, only one man bringing rumors of an underground stronghold, and so a New York businessman teams up with an ex-army pilot in an intense and fast-paced thriller. “Zombies are not the only things to fear in a DEAD world…our fellow Man is!” wrote one reviewer on Amazon — one of 145 people who awarded the novel five stars. It enjoyed 8 months as one of Amazon’s top 100 occult horror novels, and spent several weeks in the #1 spot on Amazon’s list new ebooks. And after finishing this frightening story, one reader even posted a review on Amazon that was titled “It’s settled – when the zombie apocalypse comes, I’m stealing a humvee….”

Remember, for a shortcut to Amazon’s discounts, point your browser to
tinyurl.com/399KindleEbooks

100 More Kindle eBooks for $3.99 or Less

July 12, 2013July 12, 2013 meandmykindle Leave a comment

I really love browsing the discounted ebooks that Amazon makes available each month. Each month there’s a new selection (as part of Amazon’s special sale, “100 ebooks for $3.99 for less”.) Here’s my picks for some of the most interesting ebooks discounted by Amazon for the month of July.

Check out the great discounts at
tinyurl.com/399books

Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson ($2.99)

The infamous gonzo journalist who wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas finally sat down to write a memoir at the age of 65 — just two years before his death in 2005. The former political/cultural correspondent for Rolling Stone finally revealed his experiences as a war correspondent during the 1983 Reagan-era invasion of Grenada — and how he escaped legal action on various charges in a 1990 Colorado trial. It was a wild life, and Amazon promises that the book even covers “his stint in the Air Force…the beginning of his journalism career; his unsuccessful, though illuminating, bid for Sheriff of Aspen, Colorado in 1970 as the Freak Power candidate…and numerous examples of present-day injustice and hypocrisy–all with his characteristic mix of brutal frankness laced with humor.”

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut ($1.99)

This was Kurt Vonnegut’s second novel, according to the book’s description at Amazon, and it was immediationely nominated for 1959’s prestigious Hugo award for outstanding fantasy/science fiction. (It eventually lost to Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, “in what Harlan Ellison has called a monumental injustice.”) I like how Amazon describes the book as a “picaresque” novel “which almost defies being synposized [following] lead character Malachi Constant, a feckless but kind-hearted millionaire as he moves through the solar system on his quest for the meaning of all existence…” They describe this 338-page novel as “more hopeful” than most Vonnegut stories, and Amazon’s top-rated customer review describes this as possibly Vonnegut’s very best book.

Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings by Brian Harker ($1.99)

Louis Armstrong was just 26 when he released the first jazz records under his own name, but “Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five” had deep roots in New Orleans. They’d all performed together when Louis was just a teenager growing up in Louisiana — except for the fifth member of the band, Louis’s wife Lil Hardin (who played the piano). In a fascinating analysis, music historian Brian Harker calls these recordings “a revolution” in music history, and last month Amazon picked his book as one of the Best Books of 2013 (so far). Applauding the book’s thoughtful and original approach, one jazz site calls Armstrong’s journey through his first recording group “a great adventure story” — and the book has already become Amazon’s #1 best-selling ebook about jazz.

2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke ($1.99)

Have you ever wondered what happened in the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey? 14 years after the original science fiction novel about astronauts lost in space, Arthur C. Clarke released a sequel that picks up the story, according to the book’s description at Amazon. “Nine years after the ill-fated Discovery One mission to Jupiter, a joint Soviet-American crew travels to the planet to investigate the mysterious monolith orbiting the planet, the cause of the earlier missionâ€™s failure — and the disappearance of David Bowman.” The mission includes the computer scientist who designed the notorious HAL computer, but they stumble into what Amzon describes as “an unsettling alien conspiracy – surrounding the evolutionary fate of indigenous life forms on Jupiterâ€™s moon Europa, as well as that of the human species itself.” When the novel was released in 1983, it won the Hugo award for the best science fiction novel of the year — and when the ebook version was finally, released this year, Amazon named it one of the best ebooks of 2013.

See all of Amazon’s discounted ebooks at tinyurl.com/399books

100 More Discounted Kindle eBooks For June!

June 19, 2013June 23, 2013 meandmykindle Leave a comment

Amazon discounted Kindle ebooks for $3.99 or less

Every month, Amazon offers a special discount on over 100 different Kindle ebooks — and I’m especially excited about their selection for June. For the first time, they’re offering a discount on an ebook that I’d actually just started reading — and for an extra $1.99 more, they’re also offering a full audiobook version, too! The sale is called “100 eBooks for $3.99 or Less”, and like every month, you can see the whole selection by pointing your web browser to:

tinyurl.com/399books

But in addition, Amazon’s also offering “20 Kindle Books for $2” at the bottom of the same page (including the classic western, The Sixth Shotgun by Louis L’Amour for just $2.00). And there’s even another link promising 30 Kindle Books for $3 Each.

Here’s some of the most interesting discounted ebooks this month.

To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West by Mark Lee Gardner ($1.99)

This book gives you the real history behind the legendary outlaw and the man of justice who apprehended him — while also painting an accurate picture of the American West. I found it to be really engrossing, and one reviewer at Amazon described it as “a vivid telling of the true story behind one of the wild west’s most enduring legends.” That’s why I’m so excited that for another $1.99, I can also get the professionally-narrated audiobook, hearing the wise old voice of Alan Sklar telling it like a tale of the old frontier. “For others to survive, Billy could not,” his introduction begins. “Garrett could not. These two men perished long ago, and that is the cold truth of history, but their ghosts are still there. Billy forever calls out to us from the darkness of the past…

Listen to a sample of the narration at tinyurl.com/BillyTheKidAudiobook

Saturday Night by Susan Orlean ($2.99)

The author of The Orchid Thief once asked a surprisingly interesting question — why do Americans feel that Saturday Nights are special? “To answer it, she embarked on a remarkable journey across the country,” reads the book’s description at Amazon, “and spent the evening with all sorts of people in all sorts of places – hipsters in Los Angeles, car cruisers in small-town Indiana, coeds in Boston, the homeless in New York, a lounge band in Portland, quinceanera revelers in Phoenix, and more – to chronicle the one night of the week when we do the things we want to do rather than the things we need to do.” One reviewer at Amazon described it as “exquisite voyeurism”, while another applauded her wide-sweeping research which according to Amazon leads to “an irresistible portrait of how Saturday night in America is lived.”

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke: The Star, Volume III (Arthur C. Clarke Collection: Short Stories) – $2.99

He’s best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey — and for years he was considered one of the world’s greatest science fiction authors. This month, Amazon’s discounting a massive 976-page anthology of over 100 short science fiction pieces by Clarke, in a lavish Kindle ebook showcasing “not only Clarkeâ€™s technological imagination – but also a deep poetic sensibility that led him to ponder the philosophical and moral implications of technological advances.” One reviewer at Amazon described it as “surely the greatest single volume of short Science Fiction ever published” (and Amazon’s web page reports that “13 reviewers made a similar statement.”) He quotes the amazon first lines of one Clarke short story, which almost seem like a symbol for the author’s grand and sweeping imagination. “Many and strange are the Universes that drift like bubbles in the foam upon the River of time. Some – a very few – move against or athwart its current; and fewer still are those that lie forever beyond its reach, knowing nothing of the future or the past…”

Folly and Glory: A Novel by Larry McMurtry ($2.99)

In 2004, the famous novelist (and Texas enthusiast) Larry McMurtry completed the epic finale to his four-volume series, the Berrybender Narratives. His characters encounter real figures from history, like
Kit Carson the explorer and Captain Clark (from the Lewis & Clark expedition). Amazon’s description promises the book offers both “a sense of closure and a meditation on the nature of the American frontier.” (Though some reviewers recommend you read the entire series). “The story is gritty, with lots of hardship…” notes one reviewer on Amazon, calling the book “entertaining and enjoyable.” And Amazon’s also offering a huge discount on the audiobook version of this novel — just $2.99. (When I listened to its sample at Audible.com, the first line that I heard the narrator reading was “GIve your brother his rooster!”)

When you also purchase the audiobook, Amazon will enable their special “WhisperSync for Voice” feature, which lets you switch back and forth between the text version on your Kindle and the professionally-narrated audiobook version. (Without ever losing your place!) And of course, these aren’t the only books being discounted this month. Some other interesting titles include:

They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie ($1.99)
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut ($2.99)
We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness by Alice Walker ($3.99)
Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley ($2.99)

Amazon’s even offering a discount on a Harlequin Historical Romance titled “Never Trust a Rake”!

Which just goes to show that this month, there’s something for everybody…

100 New eBook Discounts for March!

March 1, 2013March 1, 2013 meandmykindle Leave a comment

It’s the first day of the month, which means that Amazon’s discounted a new set of 100 Kindle ebooks! Each ebook has been discounted to just $3.99 (or less!) for the month of March. As always, you can find the whole selection at tinyurl.com/399books.

And this month, Amazon also has a special section of “Editor’s Picks”, seven extra-special books that they’ve discounted to $2.99 or less

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes ($1.99)
Lamb by Christopher Moore ($1.99)
The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage by Sarah Silverman ($1.99)
Dracula (Illustrated Classics) by Bram Stoker – $2.99
Anathem by Neal Stephenson – $1.99
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke ($2.99)
The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined by Salman Khan ($1.99)

Amazon’s also discounted some famous suspense novels, like The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty and The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin. But here’s a list of five more discounted ebooks that look especially interesting!

Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella ($2.99)

The movie Field of Dreams was based on this book — though in the novel, it’s a ghostly baseball announcer’s voice who first whispers to an Iowa farmer one night that if you build it, he will come. “[T]he dreaming, idealistic man knows just what he is supposed to do,” explains the book’s description at Amazon. “He knows that digging up the corn field in the back of his house will inspire the return of baseball legend Shoeless Joe Jackson, a man whose reputation was forever tarnished by the scandalous 1919 World Series.” In the novel, the farmer also seeks out real-world author J. D. Salinger (whose book Catcher in the Rye had been an inspiration). According to Wikipedia, Salinger was furious when he heard he’d been portrayed in a novel, so when the book was adapted into Field of Dreams, Salinger’s character was replaced by an entirely fictitious author named Terence Mann, who was played by James Earl Jones!

Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke ($2.99)

He wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey, but 15 years earlier, when he was just starting his career, Arthur C. Clarke penned a 218 page novel which many readers and critics both still consider to be his very best novel (according to Clarke’s official biography ). It was just five years after he began his writing career, and Childhood’s End tells the story of humanity being confronted by a powerful alien presence, according to the book’s description at Amazon. “Their demands, however, are surprisingly beneficial – end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age – or so it seems…”

Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages by Dean Koontz ($1.99)

Best-selling horror novelist Dean Koontz released a fascinating new book this September. It’s his first novel for teen readers, which Amazon describes as “a beautifully illustrated and visually stunning story about a magical band of living toys who learn to overcome the fears we all face in the dark.” Through 180 magical pages, they confront a strange allegorical adventure, since “Locked up in the dark sub-basement, another group of toys is climbing out of boxes and crates and coming to life as well…” It looks like a fun read from a master of suspense, since “The stormy night is perilous and the Oddkins face a danger that threatens not only their magic…but the magic in us all!”

The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook: Inside the Kitchens, Bars, and Restaurants of Mad Men by Judy Gelman ($3.99)

Normally this special cookbook costs $16.95, but Amazon’s slashed the price more than 75%. “Ever wish you could mix an Old Fashioned just the way Don Draper likes it?” reads the book’s description, “Or prepare Oysters Rockefeller and a martini the way they did fifty years ago at one of Roger Sterling’s favorite haunts, The Grand Central Oyster Bar?” Yes, this unorthodox cookbook is “unofficial and unauthorized,” the description warns, but it still promises that readers can “dine like Draper and drink like Sterling with more Than 70 recipes from the kitchens, bars, and restaurants seen on Mad Men.”

When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories by Molly Ringwald ($2.99)

Making it’s second appearance as a discounted ebook is this debut novel by Molly Ringwald, the star of those iconic teen comedies from the 1980s directed by John Hughes, like Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club.) Now that she’s 44, Molly Ringwald “mines the complexities of modern relationships,” according to the book’s description at Amazon, â€œin this gripping and nuanced collection of interlinked stories.â€ In this 237-page novel, Ringwald describes a Los Angeles family and their friends, “revealing the deceptions, heartbreak, and vulnerability familiar to us all…” revealing “a startling eye for the universality of loss, love, and the search for connection.” It’s only been available since August, and it’s already racked up 77 five-star reviews.

And remember, you can find the whole selection at tinyurl.com/399books.

Amazon Announces Holiday Deals on eBooks!

December 14, 2012December 14, 2012 meandmykindle Leave a comment

Amazon Holiday Deals on discounted Kindle ebooks

I’ve been waiting for this. Amazon’s already been offering discounts on their Kindle devices for the holiday shopping season. But now on a new web page, they’ve also announced a big sale on hundreds of ebooks! “Now through December 22…save up to 88% on more than 500 Kindle books!”

Browse the selection at tinyurl.com/NewEbookDeals

There’s discounted ebooks in lots of categories, including Mysteries and Thrillers, Science Fiction, Comics and Graphic Novels, and even Romance. Plus, there’s a special category they’ve named “Gift Ideas & Editors’ Picks.” I was surprised to find that Agatha Christie actually wrote a mystery novel called Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. And now through December 22, Amazon’s selling it for just $2.99.

Plus, Amazon’s also discounted some Kindle ebooks that were the basis for famous movies. For $1.99, you can buy the novel “Howl’s Moving Castle,” and there’s also a science fiction title that I recognize. The classic movie The Incredible Shrinking Man was based on a science fiction novel by Richard Matheson. Amazon’s reduced it’s price through December 22 to just $2.99.

Surprisingly, in the nonfiction category there’s some discounted ebooks that were written by rock musicians. Steven Tyler remembers his time as a judge on American Idol — and touring with his band Aerosmith — in the book Does the Noise in My Head Bother You. And Amazon’s also discounted a memoir by Marilyn Manson titled The Long Hard Road Out of Hell. Both these ebooks are just $2.99.

I see over 32 cookbooks that have been discounted — plus 45 romance novels, and even some literary fiction. There’s ebooks from children, like Beverly Cleary’s The Mouse and the Motorcycle ($1.99). Brave New Worlds by Aldous Huxley has also been discounted to $2.99. And there’s even an intriguing ebook called Geek Mafia that’s on sale for $1.99.

I spend a lot of time shopping in the free section of the Kindle Store — because I’m trying not to spend too much money on ebooks. This might be a good time to stock up on some great titles — especially since there’s now 500 discounted ebooks to choose from!

Browse the selection at tinyurl.com/NewEbookDeals

Amazon’s Free Kindle Science Fiction Magazine!

August 3, 2011August 3, 2011 meandmykindle Leave a comment

It’s “the best fiction magazine in America,” according to Stephen King. And Amazon’s sending it to your Kindle for free!

It’s “Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine,” a legendary collection of short stories and commentary which has been publishing for over 60 years. “Each bimonthly issue offers compelling short fiction,” Amazon explained in a press release, plus ,”the science-fiction field’s most respected and outspoken opinions on books, films, and science.” You can sign up for your free subscription by pointing your web browser to tinyurl.com/FreeSciFiMag .) And according to Wikipedia, this magazine has a long history of publishing some of the world’s most imaginative authors.

For example, in October of 1978, they began publishing all the Stephen King short stories which would later appear in the first volume of “The Dark Tower”. They published Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (which ran as a serial in 1959 titled “Starship Soldier”). They published the novella “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, and Harlan Ellison was a regular columnist, contributing short stories like “Jeffty is Five” and “The Deathbird”. And the magazine even published Kurt Vonnegut’s short story Harrison Bergeron in 1961 — a story which later appeared in the collection “Welcome to the Monkey House”. (It’s set in the year 2081, shortly after the United States passes the 213th amendment to its Constitution mandating absolute equality…)

Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine is “the definitive magazine of the genre,” according to Amazon’s Vice President for Kindle Content. “We know our Kindle customers are huge fans of this category, and we’re excited to offer them a free and exclusive subscription to the magazine to read anywhere.” There is one small caveat. Though each issue of the print edition — published six times a year — has a whopping 256 pages, Amazon’s free offer is for only a smaller “digest edition”. According to Amazon’s press release, subscribers “will get access to all of the magazine’s editorial content – editor’s recommendations, ‘Curiosities’ (odd books of enduring interest), film reviews, book reviews, cartoons and humor, and ‘Coming Attractions’ (highlights of each issue) – along with one short story, all at no cost.”

But you can also sign up your Kindle to receive the full 256-page edition for just 99 cents more — and it’s available exclusively on the Kindle. (Though it’s also available on the Kindle apps for the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android devices.) I’m a big fan of science fiction stories, so I’m seroiusly signing up to receive all 1,536 pages each year. I still remember when Stephen King a science fiction story about a Kindle which could receive descriptions of events from the future.

In real life, Stephen King has always been a big fan of the Kindle — and judging by Amazon’s latest press release, he’s even more excited now. When he heard the news about a free version of “Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine,” Stephen King had one more sentence to add.

“Kindle readers are in luck.”

Who’s Reading on the Kindle?

October 7, 2010March 29, 2011 meandmykindle Leave a comment

Publishers Weekly reports that in July, declines were reported in the print sales for all trade paperbacks, with total sales of around $60 million for nine mass market publishers. But what’s really interesting is that e-book sales for the same period were $40.8 million — representing a big increase from their earlier figures — for the 14 publishers who report ebook sales. For the year, their ebook sales are averaging $31.3 million a month.

In fact, “Sales of printed romance books have fallen for the first time since records began,” according to one technology analyst. Citing data from Nielsen BookScan, they note that certain genres seem more popular in the realm of ebooks. In one 10-week period this summer, science fiction and fantasy books represented 10% of e-book sales, more than triple its market share in the world of printed books. And romance and “saga” books performed even better, accounting for 14% of all ebooks sold in the same period — seven times their market share in the world of printed books. But so far in 2010, sales of printed romance books are down 7.5%, and there’s also been a decline in the sales of printed science fiction and fantasy books.

The New York Daily News described a bookstore that’s “combating the Kindle – with candy.” Sort of. The Union Square bookstore replaced a 40-foot counter below their check-out registers, which had been stocked with used paperback books. But now they’re selling “nostalgic” candies like Charleston Chews and bubblegum cigars, and the store’s 82-year-old co-owner says “We’re selling five times as much candy as we did â€˜register books.'” The article also notes that Barnes and Noble now stocks chocolate bars at its cash registers, and even the Borders bookstore at Penn Station “has racks of ‘movie candy’ for shoppers headed to a nearby multiplex.”

One science writer suggests the 2010 Nobel prize for physics could ultimately have an impact on the Kindle. It’s a carbon film — exactly one atom thick — which can be transparent, and could one day replace platinum, iridium, and even the screen of your Kindle! “Atom for atom, graphene turned out to be 100 times stronger than steel…” noted MSNBC, adding that this year, researchers reported that they created a working touch-screen display using graphene.”

Meanwhile, results of a new survey suggest that 44% Kindle owners earn over $80,000 per year, compared to just 39 percent of iPad owners, and 37 percent of iPhone owners. In addition, 27% of Kindle owners have a graduate school degree — either a masters or doctorate degree.

And Starting Sunday, the Kindle will be available at the Staples chain of office supply stores. C|Net reports Best Buy and Target are also featuring the Kindle in their stores – and that the Kindle still remains the #1 best-selling item at Amazon.com

William Gibson vs. the Kindle

September 28, 2010March 29, 2011 meandmykindle Leave a comment

Science fiction fans have a special affection for William Gibson. The 62-year-old author coined the term “cyberspace” nearly 30 years ago, and, according to Wikipedia, later popularized the idea in his 1984 breakthrough cyberpunk novel, “Neuromancer.” In 2007 he finally reached the mainstream best-seller lists with a science fiction novel called “Spook Country.” That novel was continuing a contemporary, post-9/11 storyline which finally culminated in the book “Zero History” — a brand new novel that Gibson released just a few weeks ago.

It’s currently the Kindle’s #1 best-selling science fiction ebook — though there’s no evidence that Gibson himself has ever used an e-reader. But something very strange happened last week at a book signing in Washington…

At the headquarters of Microsoft’s campus at Redmond, Gibson was asked how he felt about signing printed books in what may be a new age of virtual books and tablet-sized digital reading devices. Gibson told the audience he could always etch his signature into the back of a device, by using an industrial-strength carbide tip. (The man who asked the question, Dave Ohara, described the historic event on his blog.) Gibson later discovered that his questioner was also the second person in line for a book-signing. And instead of bringing a book, they’d downloaded an ebook of the latest Gibson novel — and now wanted the author to sign the back of their Kindle!

Gibson acknowledged it was the first time he’d ever signed a Kindle, and then, using a black magic marker, autographed it in big, curvy letters. Later, Gibson’s fans discovered he’d commemorated the moment on Twitter. He’d “tweeted” a status update which announced, “Signed very first Kindle at Microsoft. Actually, *touched* very first Kindle. Appealing unit, IMO.”

“Is this a trend yet…?” joked another blog. “It certainly offers an interesting work around to the inability to get author signatures in the front covers of eBooks.” In fact, last year in Manhattan someone requested an autograph on their Kindle from humor writer David Sedaris. “In mock horror,” The New York Times reported, Sedaris signed their Kindle with the perfect epitaph.

“This bespells doom.”

But I think it’s even more interesting when the device is presented to the visionary science fiction author who first popularized the “cyberspace” concept. Gibson’s original story defined cyberspace as “A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation… Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding.”

Now we’re living in a world where there’s a second invisible ether that’s also always around us, and always being accessed for its virtual repository of 700,000 ebooks.