Intriguing Kindle Book Describes a Place where Bizarre is Normal

In the small state of Maine on the North-eastern coast of United States, hidden in a nondescript residential street there is a house where bizarre is normal. This is the stage where the drama in “The Monsterjunkies, An American Family Odyssey” is played out.

The main characters of this story are the 12 year old  boy Cromwell or Crow, and a 14 year old girl Indigo. The two siblings together manage bullying and emotional abuse in their unique way combing smarts and emotional quotient.

The Monsterjunkie estate and the family is unusual in many ways and it’s inhabitants seeks privacy making it difficult for children to have a normal life and do things other kids take for granted like having friends over.  They face ignorance combined with aggression in their attempt to lead their lives in their ancestral home.

Erik Daniel Shein, author of “The Monsterjunkies, An American Family Odyssey” does a great job in providing a peek inside the secret life of a family who struggles with inheritance and science. The characters are well developed and the plot flows on smoothly. Recommended for Teens, parents, teachers and school libraries.

Re-emergence of Serial Novels, Powered by Kindle

Serial books are the perfect way to enjoy your kindle. Have you joined the Serial Novel trend? It's an old genre re-emerging into its own. For good reason. They are quick and easy to read, and addictive. Also, the eBook reader revolution is helping re-emergence of the serial books because they make the logistics of getting the next installment easy and inexpensive. 

From an author's point of view, writing a Serial Novel is a great motivation to 'write,' and to engage reader so they are as committed to the journey.

Short and sweet, easy to read with a chapter ending and chapter beginning that leave you wanting 
more.  

Reading a serial is as good as watching a good TV series. We all just loved them. Once someone is in, she is hooked. I never want a good series to end. 

I recently started reading "Crossing Lily" which is going to be like that. I agree with the reviewer "Richard" who says on his Amazon review "Maries Clair's writing continues to enthral" 


Like Richard, I find Marie's ability to describe the range and intricacy of human emotions to be excellent. She truly has the a quality of writing that keeps both the story moving and the reader involved,

Here is an excerpt from "Crossing Lily" by Marie Clair

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1919

Lily is a young woman scorned, jilted twelve days prior to her wedding to Bill. He was so much more than Lily had dared to dream. ‘I could drown in that smile, Lily. Save it just for me, love,’ Bill said.

Lily locked her newfound radiance in a secret place inside her. It was more precious than the most exquisite dress she had ever sewn, her wedding dress. She gave the key to Bill.

Ed, Lily’s husband, has one mission in life. To unpick the lock to Lily’s secret place, releasing Lily’s radiance for him. His tender love turns tough, crossing boundaries to reach her secret place.

Lily’s radiance turns dark, becoming complex, dulling her capacity to love freely. Affecting, infecting her marriage and her children, and their children’s children, subtly but surely.

Lily’s story is everybody’s story, about cause and effect. About conditioning, about life matters and the wars that wage within. Most of all it is a story about choice, and the capacity to change. Or, does Lily leave the key to her happiness, with Bill?

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KINDLE BOOK: Nashville eMemoirs “I MET A GREEK GODDESS IN NASHVILLE” for Free!

Amazon.com is offering Author Kalpanik S.' book of Nashville memoirs “I Met a Greek Goddess in Nashville” for FREE for a limited time.  The eBook is an excellent and hilarious looks at Nashville from the eyes of an Asian Indian Californian. 

The book's introduction dramatically states  “Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and wondering whether where you were in San Francisco or San Diego, Silicon Valley or Seattle, New Delhi or Nashville” and captures all the major cities author has lived in and gets us ready for a multicultural point of view.

As we read the book, we experience author’s first hand experiences adjusting to life in Nashville and its comparison to his life in Silicon Valley and Seattle, where he lived before coming to Nashville, he also briefly but beautifully covers experiencing the southern hospitality.

The rather poetic observation, when he watches the snowfall on his 2nd day in Nashville sums up his life philosophy:

“The snowflakes descend slowly, floating in the air, allowing the air current to carry them with it, letting it change their paths. They have chosen not to confront their destiny, choosing instead to enjoy every second of their short lives, their journey to the ground.”

the book has a 4.5 star rating at Amazon.com. It can be downloaded for FREE at Amazon Kindle Stores in United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain for a limited time. Only a limited quantities are available, once they are gone, they are gone. Check by clicking on the link to see if the book is still available for FREE. 

Video Book Review of "I Met a Greek Goddess in Nashville" by 

Audrey 16, a synthetic voice

Kindle Book - "Amazon Kindle Kindles a Fire of Creativity" Self Published Author Describes His Success Story

Amazon.com is offering "Amazon Kindle Kindles a Fire of Creativity" for FREE  at Kindle Stores in United States and United Kingdom, Kindle-shop in Germany, Boutique Kindle in France, Tienda Kindle at Amazon Español and Kindle store in Italy. 

In "Amazon Kindle Kindles a fire of creativity", which is at top sales rank in its category at the time of this writing, the author describes how he was inspired by Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing to self publish his stories and his initial success. This book which is written in a humorous style can be downloaded for Free for next 12 hours at Amazon.com. 

The latest edition of Kindle (tm), dubbed Kindle Fire is an hybrid eBook and entertainment device rolled in one. Kindle Fire was one of the coolest, most sort after high-tech Christmas gift. Most people look at Kindle(tm) as a device which had simplified reading books, listening to music and with Kindle Fire(tm), watching videos. 

But one of the benefit which is frequently overlooked is how Kindle has eliminated the middlemen in the publishing process - Thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing - a gifted author can directly upload a manuscript using Kindle Publishing and voila, a new book is available to readers. By simplifying the publishing process and bringing it to reach of the average user, Amazon Kindle (tm) has revolutionized the process of publishing. 

Here is an excerpt from this eBook: 

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With self-publishing, I get to choose when my books get published. Heck, in ebook format, I even get to choose when it gets republished, in revised format. Amid all this talk about self-published books being poorly edited, the ebook platform actually allows books to be better edited, because they can be modified after the readers (not the editors) have given their feedback.

I get to choose, too, how my books get marketed. Oh yes, contrary to what some writers may think, once you get your book published, you can’t just leave it to fare for itself in the big wide wonderful world. No, you need to help it out, market it, through blog posts, SEO, promotions, etc. It’s just something you gotta learn to do.

By combining Internet marketing with self-publishing, I was able to get my ebook to best-selling status in its category and at the top of the "Hot New Releases" list within a few weeks. As you can see below in the Amazon KDP screen shot, 5,355 copies of my ebook "Inside the Giant Machine: Confessions of aFormer Amazon.com Technologist" were downloaded in the last week of January alone. (Net includes adjustment for any returns.)

My second best-selling ebook, "The Inferno: An Eyewitness Account of San Diego on Fire," was downloaded a net of 1,670 times in that week. 

And the above sales are just at the US Kindle Store. Several hundred copies of the English edition were also sold at Kindle Store in UK, and of the German translation  “Im Inneren der Gigantischen Maschine: Eine Amazon.com Story,” at the Kindle-Shop at Amazon.de.

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Amazon Announces Plans to Purchase TenMarks, a Online Instruction Start-up to Help Accelerate development of Educational apps on Kindle

Seattle based Amazon.com, world's leading online retailer has announced plans to acquire California based online education start-up TenMarks in a deal that is expected to be finalized by the end of the year. 

TenMarks touts that it delivers innovative education to students all over the country in form of personalized online mathematics instruction curriculum, that includes practice tests, hints and videos. It claims that the personalized format offers a clear and manageable way to learn mathematics to K-12 students. TenMarks has emphasized individualized engagement in their online instructional system and curriculum design. 

Dave Limp, a Vice President at Amazon stated that Amazon, like TenMarks values student learning highly. By joining hands, the two companies will be able to deliver innovative educational content and applications across multiple platforms. It's obvious that Amazon will be using this addition to the company to bolster educational apps on kindle. 

Amazon has other programs such as "Amazon Student" to attract students to sign up for company's prime program. In the past, it has also offered discounts to students on its Kindle Fire product line.  

"Educational apps are becoming more main stream in K-12 education," says Aarti Chandna, CEO of Foundze, inc. a leading site for Educational apps.  "Effectiveness of an app used in the classroom, is dependent not only on the ease of use but also how well it captures a student’s attention and engages them during a learning process. From a teacher’s perspective, the app should simplify and personalize assignments based on student ability and automate grading. The acquisition of Ten Marks by Amazon further validates that teaching is moving away from the traditional method, as bigger players are showing mote interest in acquiring Educational apps."

Terms of Amazon’s acquisition of TenMarks were not disclosed and are subject to various closing conditions.

HERE IS THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE ON THIS PROPOSED TRANSACTION: 

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire TenMarks, a company that is helping teachers and parents deliver innovative mathematics curriculum to students across the country.

“I've used TenMarks for the past two years at Grand View with fourth and fifth grade students to help a diverse group of students achieve in math and take ownership of their own learning”

“Amazon and TenMarks share the same passion for student learning. TenMarks’s award-winning math programs have been used by tens of thousands of schools and Amazon engages with millions of students around the world through our Kindle ecosystem," said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Together, Amazon and TenMarks intend to develop rich educational content and applications, across multiple platforms, that we think teachers, parents and students will love.”

“Amazon and TenMarks share a commitment to developing easy-to-implement solutions for schools and families,” said Rohit Agarwal, TenMarks co-founder. “We currently offer teachers, students and parents access to effective resources to foster the vision of the Common Core curriculum in math, including scalable professional development and tools for connecting with parents. We back this belief with our business model, where teachers can register and access our product for free, while being able to opt in for premium features, if needed. Going forward, we believe Amazon and TenMarks will create significant innovations in the K-12 arena.”

“I've used TenMarks for the past two years at Grand View with fourth and fifth grade students to help a diverse group of students achieve in math and take ownership of their own learning,” said Sujata Bhatt, founder of the Incubator School and a National Board Certified teacher who spent 11 years at Grand View Boulevard Elementary in Los Angeles Unified School District. “As we launch the Incubator School this year, we focus on technology that truly activates learning and self-starting. TenMarks’s products are designed to enable both students and teachers to be in the driver's seat by seeing where they're successful and where they need to revisit. TenMarks is an important part of our math plan this year.”

TenMarks offers personalized online math instruction and practice in a clear, manageable format for K-12 students complete with helpful hints, video lessons, and real-time results. TenMarks’s products are designed to help students be individually motivated, engaged and nurtured.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Subject to various closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the world’s best-selling and most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX features a stunning exclusive 7” or 8.9” HDX display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0 including X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, Prime Instant Video downloads, and the revolutionary new Mayday button. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display, high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de,www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es,www.amazon.com.br, www.amazon.in, and www.amazon.com.mx. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

About TenMarks

TenMarks's web-based math programs have been used by students across tens of thousands of schools and thousands of districts. Each day, students across the country use TenMarks to improve their math skills and confidence. TenMarks believes that students learn best when they are individually engaged, nurtured, and motivated.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Contacts

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr

Kindle Romance, Love Comes Later

Love, honor, duty, and passion are all instrumental in forging a bond. But when conflict forces us to choose one above the other, we are face to face with an unrelenting dilemma.

Love ComesLater begins with two cousins engaged to be married. Abdullah, the young widower, wants more than what the elders have decided for him. While his fiancée, Hind is seeking a larger life outside the limiting boundary of her arranged marriage. The story is made further interesting when Sangita, an Indian/American Hindu girl who provides friendship to Hind and a complicated, yet blossoming love for Abdulla.

Readers will have a glimpse of the daily lives of the Qatari society, its rich and technologically advanced citizens, placed in paradox by limiting traditions. The reader will feel the dilemma of the two cousins as they deal with the machinations of their families and try to lead their own lives.

This novel by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar will take you on a trip through shifting scenery of Qatar (where she has resided since 2005) and to London, England. This well written and balanced story will keep you interested and drawn to the possibility that romance can still overrule the agony brought by bigotry and sadness.

Featured Kindle Erotic Romance: Lips, Hips and Fingertips by Jan Lowery

As a mommy, most of my days are spent making meals, cleaning up messes and addressing the needs of my family. After my day is over, I just want to lose myself with a good book and a glass of wine. I love to power up my Kindle and get lost in a book. I found that I love to read Kindle erotica, as it removes me from my daily life and transports me into a world of sensuality and temptation.

While some may make fun of me for reading mommy porn, I don’t mind. I know what I am reading is making me feel as if I am character in the book. One recent Kindle erotica piece that I read was called Lips, Hips and Fingertips by Jan Lowery. This book is about a woman in love, well passionate infatuation, with two men. These two men both please her physically, and she is happily bedding both men.

Unfortunately, even with passionate connection to both men, no triangle can last forever. Raye, the lead character, must decide whom her heart actually belongs to. This book isn’t just mommy porn, but also a traditional romance novel. Every woman knows what it feels to like be wooed and chased. Two men are chasing Raye, and she is stuck in this triangle-not knowing whom to pick.

This book will not only transport you into a world of sex and temptation, it will also make your heart swell. There are very tender romantic moments, mixed amongst the hot and steamy scenes. This book is a wonderful addition to the Kindle erotica world.