FREE & BARGAIN EBOOKS – {01-10-2021}

Dug the Drummerby Ike Hamill

My heart is pounding. The bar is packed. My hands are so sweaty that I can barely grip the sticks. It’s just me and the guys against a whole crowd of drunkards. It doesn’t feel like a calling, but it sure as hell doesn’t feel like a life I chose. I fell backwards into drumming. It’s all I’ve ever known.

Trout Fishing in Americaby Richard Brautigan

A book “that has very little to do with trout fishing and a lot to do with the lamenting of a passing pastoral America . . . an instant cult classic” (Financial Times).

Richard Brautigan was a literary idol of the 1960s and ’70s who came of age during the heyday of Haight-Ashbury and whose comic genius and iconoclastic vision of American life caught the imaginations of young people everywhere. Called “the last of the Beats,” his early books became required reading for the hip generation, and on its publication Trout Fishing in America became an international bestseller. An indescribable romp, the novel is best summed up in one word: mayonnaise.

This new edition features an introduction by poet Billy Collins, who first encountered Brautigan’s work as a student in California.

From the introduction: “‘Trout Fishing in America’ is a catchphrase that morphs throughout the book into a variety of conceptual and dramatic shapes. At one point it has a physical body that bears such a resemblance to that of Lord Byron that it is brought by ship from Missolonghi to England, in 1824, where it is autopsied. ‘Trout Fishing in America’ is also a slogan that sixth-graders enjoy writing on the backs of first-graders. . . . In one notable exhibition of the title’s variability, ‘Trout Fishing in America’ turns into a gourmet with a taste for walnut catsup and has Maria Callas for a girlfriend. Through such ironic play, Brautigan destabilizes any conventional idea of a book as he begins to create a world where things seem unwilling to stay in their customary places.”

Lost Girlsby Caitlin Rother

“Rother is the next Ann Rule.” –Gregg Olsen

Chelsea King was a popular high school senior, an outstanding achiever determined to make a difference. Fourteen-year-old Amber Dubois loved books and poured her heart into the animals she cared for. Treasured by all who knew them, both girls disappeared in San Diego County, just eight miles and one year apart. The families’ anguish galvanized the community and captivated the media. A desperate search led authorities to John Albert Gardner, a brutal predator, convicted sex offender hiding in plain sight–and a complex man whose own mother, a psychiatric nursing professional, failed to see the signs of trouble.

Ultimately, Gardner shared a prison unit with Charles Manson. In 2010, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Chelsea's Law: anyone convicted of certain sex offenses against a child in California would get life in prison without parole. Based on Pulitzer-nominated author Caitlin Rother’s exclusive access, Lost Girls is an incisive, heartbreaking true-life thriller that strikes at our deepest fears.

“A a cautionary tale and a horror story, done superbly.”
—Los Angeles Times

“A terrifying portrait of a man who was sweet and cuddly one day and a crazed killer the next.”
—San Diego Reader

“Gripping . . . chilling . . . a must-read.”
—Sue Russell

“Boldly dissects how a boy with psychological problems formed into a man indifferent to his monstrous acts.”
—Katherine Ramsland

“Caitlin Rother stirs up the lethal stew of family dysfunction, mental illness, substance abuse and deadly psychopathology. . . . Frank and riveting.”
—Diane Fanning

Debussy’s Slippersby Steve Exeter

George Gershwin thinks he could do better, better than Broadway.

Ira Gershwin disagrees, why get funny ideas about writing po-faced Piano Concertos that no one hears, when you’re already getting much respect and much money (and much female attention) from writing hit shows? But what George wants George gets, and soon the brothers are travelling to Europe to meet French maestro Maurice Ravel – you know, a real composer.

Despite dreading this American invasion on his artistic privacy, the haughty Ravel warms to George, the two men share musical ideas and beaucoup du vin. It all turns sour when George returns to New York, unintentionally carrying in his luggage Ravel’s most treasured possession: a pair of slippers that belonged to Ravel’s musical forefather, the French national hero – Claude Debussy.

Now, Debussy’s slippers may reek, they may look slightly ridiculous, but their inspirational power is undeniable. Once George feels their effect, he’s loath to return them, and sets about stalling an increasingly irate Ravel. Things come to a head when Ravel unexpectedly returns Gershwin’s visit.

Four Dark Talesby Mark Lukens

Enter four dark worlds . . .

ACID RAIN: A mother and her daughter get trapped in a gas station with strangers as a storm suddenly moves in, unleashing rain that destroys everything it touches. But is there something worse waiting in the rain?

SAFE HAVEN: When the government, the Russian mob, and a drug cartel are after you, where do you go? There’s a safe haven for the super-rich running from their troubles – a beautiful tropical island – but there’s a heavy price to pay for safety.

HEALER: Meet a teenage boy who heals a woman at the brink of death after a car accident. When a man who witnesses the miracle abducts the boy to heal his sick wife, things go horribly wrong.

THE HAMMER MURDERS: Agent Ridley with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation is called to a horrific and baffling murder of a family at a remote farmhouse with only one survivor – the youngest son, an eight-year-old boy who may hold the key to finding the monster who killed his family.