Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 111

TODAY ONLY: Bargain Ebook: Dreams and Shadows: A Novel by C. Robert Cargill

Dreams and Shadows: A Novel by C. Robert Cargill is $1.99 TODAY ONLY. It is not part of the sale I have featured today on the blog. It has been on my alert list for a while and is now a Deal of the Day.

Screenwriter and acclaimed film critic C. Robert Cargill makes his fiction debut with Dreams and Shadows, taking beloved fantasy tropes, giving them a twist, and turning out a wonderful, witty, and wry take on clash between the fairy world and our own.

Something is missing from Ewan and Colby’s lives. Residing in the corners of their memories is their time in Limestone Kingdom, a realm filled with magic and mystery, a world where only some may travel amongst the menagerie of mystical souls and sinister demons.

Cargill offers well-crafted characters and an absorbing, intricate plot that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Lev Grossman. Dreams and Shadows pulls you into an extraordinary universe of darkness that exposes the magic and monsters in our world, and in ourselves.

Ebook Deals: Oxford University Press Titles

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.

Here are two nonfiction titles in the sale, both from Oxford University Press:


Folk Music:A Very Short Introduction by Mark Slobin is $1.99. List price is $9.99, usually sells for $7.99.

Book description:

When we think of folk music, most of us picture Pete Seeger singing "This Land is My Land" or Joan Baez singing "Barbara Allen." But this stimulating Very Short Introduction throws open the doors on a remarkably diverse musical genre, in a wide-ranging portrait that goes far beyond America's shores to discuss folk music of every possible kind and in every corner of the globe. Written by award-winning musicologist Mark Slobin, this is the first compact introduction to folk music that offers a truly global perspective. Slobin offers an extraordinarily generous portrait of folk music, one that embraces a Russian wedding near the Arctic Circle, a group song in a small rainforest village in Brazil, and an Uzbek dance tune in Afghanistan. He looks in detail at three poignant songs from three widely separated regions--northern Afghanistan, Jewish Eastern Europe, and the Anglo-American world--with musical notation and lyrics included. And he also describes the efforts of scholars who fanned out across the globe, to find and document this ever-changing music.

From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages by Michael Adams is is $1.99. The hardcover is $13.47.

Book description:

From the Elvish language Tolkien invented for denizens of Middle Earth to the science fiction lingo spoken by the Klingons in Star Trek, writers have always endeavored to create new forms of expression, not only in the English language, but in languages that exist only in their own imaginations.

Now, in From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages, a group of leading linguists offers a lively investigation of all manner of invented languages. Each chapter focuses on a different language, or group of languages, and explores the origins, purpose, and usage of these curious artifacts of culture. We learn about the new languages invented to enhance the experience of video and online games, from the complexities of Gargish, the language of gargoyles in Ultima VI, to Simlish, the emotionally expressive language of The Sims, and 1334, the entirely exclusionary and satirical language of international gamers. We also learn about the futuristic languages, Newspeak and Nadsat, invented by George Orwell and Anthony Burgess in their dystopian novels 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, and many more. The book explores all aspects of invented languages--their unique grammar, vocabulary, and usage--and includes fascinating analysis of sample dialogues and expressions. Written by experts in their fields, chapters cover such topics as International Auxiliary Languages, Invented Vocabularies, Literary "Nonsense", and Language Reconstruction and Renewal. It's all "maj" (good) as the Klingons would say, or "doubleplusgood," as a "duckspeaker" in Orwell's 1984 might observe.

For anyone wanting to understand more fully the intricacies and attractions of invented languages, From Elvish to Klingon offers the most thorough study of the subject available today.

Ebook Deals: The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler (A Top SurLaLune Pick)

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.


The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler was my first purchase of the sale and one of my top recommendations if your budget is limited and you've not read this yet. It is $1.99 today, usually $4-8, closer to $8. My niece also enjoyed this Twelve Dancing Princesses inspired novel. It has never been discounted before and is worth much more than every penny of $1.99.

Book description:

Zita is not an ordinary servant girl—she's the thirteenth daughter of a king who wanted only sons. When she was born, Zita's father banished her to the servants' quarters to work in the kitchens, where she can only communicate with her royal sisters in secret.

Then, after Zita's twelfth birthday, the princesses all fall mysteriously ill. The only clue is their strangely worn and tattered shoes. With the help of her friends—Breckin the stable boy, Babette the witch, and Milek the soldier—Zita follows her bewitched sisters into a magical world of endless dancing and dreams. But something more sinister is afoot—and unless Zita and her friends can break the curse, the twelve princesses will surely dance to their deaths.

A classic fairy tale with a bold twist, The Thirteenth Princess tells the unforgettable story of a magical castle, true love, spellbound princesses—and the young girl determined to save them all.

Ebook Deals: Spellcaster by Claudia Gray

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.


Spellcaster by Claudia Gray is $2.99. This is the first in a new series by Gray just released this past March and usually $7+. The reviews have been strong for it.

Book description:

When Nadia's family moves to Captive's Sound, she instantly realizes there's more to the place than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia can sense that a spell has been cast over the tiny Rhode Island town—a sickness infecting everyone and everything in it. The magic at work is darker and more powerful than anything she's come across and has sunk its claws most deeply into Mateo . . . her rescuer, her friend, and the guy she yearns to get closer to even as he pushes her away.

Mateo has lived in Captive's Sound his entire life, shadowed by small-town gossip and his family's tormented past. Every generation, the local legends say, one member of the family goes mad, claiming to know the future before descending into insanity. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl from a car accident actually come true, he knows he's doomed.

Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his terrible family curse, and to prevent a coming disaster that even now threatens the entire town, including Nadia's family, her newfound friends, and her own life. Shimmering with magic and mystery, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray's new novel depicts a dark and unforgettable world of witches, curses, buried secrets, and star-crossed romance.

Ebook Deals: Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.

   

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs, the first in a series, is $1.99. It usually is $6+. It was released a few years ago during the surge in mermaid titles for YA readers.

The second book, Tempest Unleashed (Tempest Maguire), is $6.15. The third Tempest title, Tempest Revealed, was just released a few weeks ago and is $9.61. If you keep up with fantasy novel cover tropes in recent years, these covers probably amuse you. They click many boxes for recent trends, poses, tatts, etc.

Book description for Tempest Rising:

Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her-and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance.

Ebook Deals: Levine and Vande Velde

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.


The Two Princesses of Bamarre (Enchanted) by Gail Carson Levine is $1.99, the best price it has ever been. I featured it a few weeks ago when it was $3.49 and I bought it then. It usually ranges between $4-6. The other Levine titles I featured then have all gone back to those prices.

Book description:

A kingdom beset by monsters . . .
A disease that weakens and destroys . . .
An epic poem and a hero of long ago . . .
A story of danger and desperation.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre couldn't be more different. Princess Addie is fearful and shy. Her deepest wish is for safety. Princess Meryl is bold and brave. Her deepest wish is to save the kingdom of Bamarre. They are sisters, and they mean the world to each other.

Then disaster strikes, and Addie -- terrified and unprepared -- sets out on a perilous quest. In her path are monsters of Bamarre: ogres, specters, gryphons, and dragons. Addie must battle them, but time is running out, and the sister's lives -- and Barmarre's fate -- hang in the balance.

Gail Carson Levine left her mark on fantasy with her well-loved 1998 Newbery Honor book Ella Enchanted. Now she has created another shimmering and tapestried landscape of fantasy and fairies. Bamarre and the journeys of its two princesses will burn themselves into the minds of readers, and all will relish this moving saga about two sisters groping their way toward heroism.

Cloaked In Red by Vivian Vande Velde is also $1.99. It's price fluctuates but usually sits at about $4.99.

Book description:

So you think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl with the unfortunate name and the inability to tell the difference between her grandmother and a member of a different species? Well, then, try your hand at answering these questions: Which character (not including Little Red herself) is the most fashion challenged? Who (not including the wolf) is the scariest? Who (not including Granny) is the most easily scared? Who is the strangest (notice we're not "not including" anyone, because they're all a little off.)? Who (no fair saying "the author") has stuffing for brains? Master storyteller Vivian Vande Velde crafts eight new stories involving one of the world's most beloved (and mixed-up) characters in literature. You may never look at fairy tales in quite the same way again.

Ebook Deals: Michael Hague Titles

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.

These two books will only work on tablet ebook readers since the illustrations are imperative to the books.


The Man Who Kept House (Michael Hague Signature Classics) illustrated by Michael Hague is $1.99. Hague has illustrated many fairy tales and fairies in general during his career.

Book description:

Award-winning artist Michael Hague illustrates this funny tale about a farmer who trades places with his wife, convinced his work in the fields is harder than his wife's work at home.

Lionel and the Book of Beasts (Michael Hague Signature Classics) also illustrated by Michael Hague is $1.99.

Book description:

What if the turn of a page released the power of a dragon?

When young Lionel becomes king, he is told not to open the Book of Beasts. But how can he resist when mythical creatures spring to life right out of the pages? One page that should have remained unturned brings to life a terrifying dragon, and Lionel learns what being a king is truly about.
The combined talents of beloved author E. Nesbit and renowned illustrator Michael Hague create a magical adventure for any reader whose imagination brings books alive in this stunning new Signature edition.

Ebook Deals: Ed McBain Titles: Rumpelstiltskin and Cinderella

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.


Rumpelstiltskin (Matthew Hope) by Ed McBain is $1.99, usually $4.99.

Book description:

When Victoria Miller and her backing band, Wheat, broke out with a string of gold records in the sixties, the sultry chanteuse seemed shy of crowds, refusing to perform in public. Years after her last success, Victoria makes her stage debut, but the magic is long gone, and shortly after that, so is she—the victim of a brutal murder. Victoria’s six-year-old daughter, Allison, is missing too, but nobody’s come forward for a ransom. The only clue is a mysterious call—I’ll be stopping by to collect—but who’s collecting, and what? Even if Allison could be found, lawyer Matthew Hope can’t seem to locate Victoria’s missing will with Allison’s guardianship. And when Victoria’s old producer comes forward, claiming Victoria wasn’t quite the natural talent she’d seemed to be, Matthew’s left wondering who gave her the golden touch and why they’d take it back right now.

Part of Ed McBain’s masterful Matthew Hope series, Rumpelstiltskin finds the good-hearted lawyer in a plot where everyone’s a suspect, and all debts are paid in full.

Cinderella (Matthew Hope) by Ed McBain is $1.99, usually $4.99.

Book description:

Private detective Otto Samalson sees the tail—a black Toronado he can’t shake. One dark window rolls down, exposing the barrel of a gun, and the detective is dead.

Otto had already known his days were numbered and said as much to his friend, attorney Matthew Hope. Having hired Otto to watch a cheating husband for a client, Matthew is now left with only Otto’s tape recorder, filled with proof of an affair. But could the evidence lead to something larger, something that would drive a man to kill?

Meanwhile, a mysterious woman is on the run, her face and name unknown to all except two stepsisters who couldn’t care less if a violent pair of Cubans got their hands on her. If Matthew can decipher the clues in Otto’s evidence, there’s a chance he could reach the girl first and save her life.

A chilling addition to the Matthew Hope series from Ed McBain, Cinderella is the tale of a woman known by many names and the men who will do anything to find her.

Ebook Deals: E. D. Baker Titles

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.


The Salamander Spell (Tales of the Frog Princess) by E. D. Baker is $1.99.

Book description:

Grassina, Emma's wonderful, magical aunt, is herself a teen in this prequel to the Frog Princess books. She and her sister, Chartreuse (Emma's irritating mother from the other books) are vying to see who will get the family's inherited magical skills as they navigate the intricacies of being a princess in a magical kingdom-a bevy of mostly terrible would-be suitors, a father who becomes a ghost, a mother who changes from a stressed, but semi-normal human to a selfish witch, and the arrival of some terrible werewolves. When Grassina finds and falls in love with a wizard-in-training, Haywood, and invokes the wrath of her sister, it is the werewolves, who despite their evil ways, bring about Grassina's change from mortal princess to Green Witch powers. Every bit as funny and satisfying as the other stories!

Wings by E. D. Baker is also $1.99. It is usually in the $4.61 range.

Book description:

Tamisin has always been a little weird. Her freckles actually look more like sparkles and occasionally, she likes to dance under the full moon. Then one day, wings sprout from her back, and Tamisin learns that her parents adopted her from fairyland. Inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream, this fairy tale will delight fans of The Tales of the Frog Princess and new readers alike.

Brother and Sister and Sally Jean Once Upon a Time Jewelry

In June, I spent an afternoon with my mother and niece at Belle Meade Mansion here in Nashville, one of my favorite antebellum plantation homes in the South. We spent a while in the gift shop and I discovered this pendant above in a display. I debated and then bought--because, yes, fairy tales! (It was only $15 so I wasn't breaking the bank.) 
Thus I am sharing with you today. I think what appealed to me most was the designer's unintentional salute to one of my favorite fairy tales, Brother and Sister, with the inclusion of the deer. Most people don't look at a deer and think of a fairy tale, but the good readers here know their fairy tales! And a deer isn't Bambi. A deer is an enchanted brother! I came home and searched and the Sally Jean line has some pieces left, but the pendant I purchased appears to be out of production. The new ones found on this page separate Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After to different pendants and have removed the deer. 



BUT! A few pieces are on Amazon, too, one a watch. And it still has the deer! I am tempted since I have a clock fetish anyway...

Sally Jean "Once Upon a Time" Watch Pendant Necklace is marked down 31% today to $19.95 since I last looked at it for a sale, so I guess it's better than I've been too busy to write about this!