Many libraries aren't renting out e-books yet. However, about 11,000 libraries are lending them, and it looks like more will start.

This is a guest post by Derrick Cruise

Students tend to measure money in terms of the number of Taco Bell burritos they could get instead of whatever they have to buy. Assuming the student enjoys the Beefy Five Layer burrito, one unit of TBB (Taco Bell Burrito) equals about $.85.
Textbooks aren't cheap. They often cost over $100, or 117 TBBs. The resentment a student feels paying this only triples when they return it at the end of the semester to find out it's now only worth about 23 TBBs, or worse, none at all because their college is updating their version next year.

Luckily, Amazon-another student favorite-has a response, if not an answer. Students with a Kindle can rent textbooks from them for 30 days minimum, making it perfect for the single-month semesters some schools feature in January. Past that, rental is by the day. Since many schools run odd semesters, and the professors use several textbooks in their classes, 30 days will be all many students need. The included flexibility this gives students will help keep the total TBBs spent on a book that just lies around unused to a minimum.

Some students save up to 80 percent off the cover price, but those are likely the ones who are renting them for a short period of time. Each per-day charge remains reasonable, though, so don't worry about it being too expensive to keep the book for your entire class. The savings are enough that many students can make up the amount they would spend on a Kindle just after one semester of renting through Amazon.

The move toward online education and storing academia in the cloud doesn't end with simply renting textbooks from Amazon. For Amazon to be a major player in selling textbooks, they're surprisingly working with students to help bring their costs down.

Kindle has also connected with libraries across the nation to offer free e-books. The process looks a lot like renting a book from the library in person, except students won't have to drive to their local library. For students taking online classes, this means saved time from having to drive around their city. For those living away from home, it may be the only way they have access to content from their local libraries for most of the year.

There are some caveats, of course. Many libraries aren't renting out e-books yet. However, about 11,000 libraries are lending them, and it looks like more will start. Since the library is basically lending someone the digital rights to a specific book, they'll need it back. Due dates and renewals still exist, but it's easy enough to renew a book through the Kindle.

The library rental program will also help students save money by letting them rent many of their books for English classes through the system. Using Amazon's Whispersync technology, it's also the only way they'll ever be able to take notes on a library book. The notes will be saved in the cloud, and if they ever rent the book again, they'll pop back into place.
If you're interested in signing up for the ebook library program, call your local branch. If they participate in it, they'll be able to tell you how to access their online portal and check out books. You'll have to have a valid library card.

Students interested in the textbook rental program should just search for their books on Amazon's regular website. If it's available in a lendable ebook, it will show up next to the new and old versions.

This is a guest post by Derrick Cruise.

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by Tim Kay

The zombie apocalypse doesn’t have to feel like the end of the world. Lives may be cut short, yet some people find a way to keep going. In the wake of all-consuming tragedy, they stagger forward, hands reaching out for the same people who once gave their lives hope and meaning. They need them now more than ever. They’re hungry.

Unable to think for themselves, zombies remember nothing but their most basic instincts, but not all are so completely brainless.

For Kaveh, ending life as an immigrant and a chef, he never had an instinct to follow the mob, and his mortal remains cling to the leftovers of his culinary habits. He stumbles onto something of interest in the people he encounters, that his awareness increases the more he eats their brains.

As he begins a search for his new choice of ingredients, a former ally named Lisa recognizes self-awareness in the man who ended his life to save hers, forcing her to rethink what she thought were just monsters. For his part, Kaveh sees he’s found someone who could feed both his longing to be understood and his undying hunger for braaains…

Night of the Loving Dead weaves a story of horror, romance and comedy about the emotional connections that mean more to us than ever when it feels like the world is trying to eat us alive.

Click on the link below to read this free ebook online:-
Night of The Loving Dead – 12 Chapters (eSerial / Webnovel – HTML)

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by T.M. Camp

When their mother is lost in a terrible car crash, two children set out to bring her back from the Underworld – a nightmare place populated by remnants from old mythologies, defunct pantheons, and forgotten folklore. Along the way, the children discover that they cannot rescue their mother without rescuing themselves first.

Sometimes frightening, sometimes funny, and often heartbreaking, Assam & Darjeeling is the story of a brother and sister who have to go through hell together in order to learn the true meaning of family.

‘A masterful and nuanced book’ This is hands-down one of my favorite books of the year. I absolutely loved it.’ – Julie Davis, SFF Audio/Forgotten Classics.

‘The depth and literary flesh of the two lead characters is one main draw of the work, but the real star here is Camp’s near-perfect prose. This is a beautifully written book, plain and simple. Few contemporary authors write with such elegance.’ – Wes Covey, The Contrarian.

‘The first podiobook I ever listened to, this story holds a special place in my heart. It’s amazingly well written, and held my attention through all four books. I recommend this one to everyone I meet.’ – Goodreads

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Assam And Darjeeling – 279 pages (PDF), Audio (iTunes, MP3)

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by Lily Alex

As the Son of the Devil he could have such fun as no human being could have. But appearing as a forty-two year old respectable businessman, Noirson had to follow general rules, pretending to be an ordinary man and only his closest partners and servants knew his real status.

Not for the first time Robert Noirson had been involved in a benevolent arrangement, so he knew the entire event thoroughly. Some speeches, some performances, he would write a check. Reporters would then take some pictures.

Easy, usual, boring. Robert tried not to yawn. He was the Beast, a wild animal, and only the Power of his father made him look like a man. This was why he did not understand the most of human entertainment and he watched the gymnastic performance with indifference.

Click on the link below to read this free ebook online:-
Lost on Earth: Fateful Love – 13 Chapters (eSerial / Webnovel – HTML)

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Hellwatch: Pilot Episode

by Larime Taylor

A young disabled woman in a wheelchair protects an unaware world from demons and monsters.

Ester Vasquez, born with arthrogryposis, hunts the monsters and demons that hide from the unsuspecting masses along with her 6’8, 360lbs Samoan care provider, Sammy. In episode one – ‘Pilot’ – Ester and Sammy travel just over the Mexican border from their home in Arizona to help a little boy possessed by a demon, but what awaits them when they return home is far worse than anything they’ve ever faced. It will take all of Ester’s brains and Sammy’s brawn to repel an attack that threatens not just years of hard work, but their lives as well.

Ester Vasquez, 25, was born with arthrogryposis. As a child she showed a natural aptitude with computers that eventually led to the online underworld of hacking, where she became a star. Though she was never caught, she decided to turn her skills to more legal endeavors, attending Arizona State University and offering her services as an online security specialist. A successful early career followed. Roughly four years ago, however, something happened within her family that shook her to the core and brought on some drastic changes over time. She still refuses to talk about it.

After several years as the ‘It Girl’ of online security, she all but gave up the profession and took up a more peculiar one – hunting demons and monsters. She continues to live on the money that her company makes, though she has very little to do with its day to day functions and dealings, leaving that to a business manager and several other young hackers hired on to take her place after she walked away just over two years ago. A former Catholic priest turned demon hunter in Boston named Jacob Bridges took her on as a student and became her long distance mentor.

Ester met Samuel ‘sammy’ Lutui, a registered nurse, soon after when his grandmother hired her because she was convinced that he was possessed by a demon. Grandma was old and old fashioned, and being gay was something she just couldn’t come to accept. Funny enough, it turned out that there was a demon in Sammy, but it had nothing to do with his being gay, and Ester easily got rid of it. In his gratitude, Sammy became Ester’s live in care provider as well as her demon hunting assistant, and in the two years that followed they’ve become best friends. Together they protect the unaware masses from the monsters and demons that lurk in the shadows and prey upon them.

Hellwatch is planned to be an ongoing serial fiction series told in 9 monthly ‘episode’ novellas per ‘season’. This is the pilot episode, and 8 more will follow each month starting in January 2012.

About the author

Larime Taylor is a disabled artist and writer living in California. He’s an award winning playwright and director of the stage, a graphic novelist (he draws with his mouth) and now, serial fiction novelist. Most of what he writes falls somewhere between urban fantasy and horror, or dark urban fairytale, as he likes to call it. While his stories do not focus solely or specifically on matters of disability, disabled characters do feature in many of them. He basically writes the kinds of things that he would like to read, but with characters that he can relate to as a disabled person.

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Hellwatch: Pilot Episode – 83 pages, 189 KB (EPUB, MOBI)

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The Devil’s Due

by Michael Purcell

The Devil comes to a small town on Halloween evening. Terror grips the town, and one young boy’s life will be changed forever. He is slowly tormented his entire life, until the day comes when he must fight for his immortal soul. The horror will have you on the edge of your seat as Donald Lemore tries to save his sanity, and avoid spending an eternity burning in hell.

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The Devil’s Due – 50 pages (EPUB, MOBI, HTML, PDF, LRF, RTF, PDB, TXT)

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