Melody Carlson has written around 200 books for teens, women and children. That’s a lot of books, but mostly she considers herself a “storyteller.” Her books range from serious issues like schizophrenia (Finding Alice) to lighter topics like house-flipping (A Mile in My Flip-Flops) but most of the inspiration behind her fiction comes right out of real life.
Melody tops today’s Buffet with her inspirational Christmas tale The Christmas Dog.
Her young adult novels (Diary of a Teenage Girl, TrueColors etc.) appeal to teenage girls around the world. Her annual Christmas novellas become more popular each year. She’s won a number of awards (including the Rita and Gold Medallion) and some of her books have been optioned for film/TV. Carlson has two grown sons and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and yellow Lab dog.
As usual, each book here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours, except for the Bargain books in the yellow section below. Warning: Kindle book promotions can end without notice, so before downloading click the link “See Kindle price at Amazon” to verify that the book is still free. (Prices and availability may differ outside USA.)
Christmas Dog, The
Religious Fiction > Holidays > Christmas
Author: Melody Carlson
Betty Kowalski isn’t looking forward to the holidays. She just can’t seem to find Christmas in her heart. There’s church, of course. But who can she bake for these days? And who would care whether or not she pulled out the Christmas decorations?
Her new neighbor just adds to the problem. He’s doing home improvements that don’t appear to be improving much of anything. These days when Betty looks out the window, she sees a beat-up truck, a pile of junk, lots of blue tarps, and–horror of horrors–an old pink toilet.
But when a mangy dog appears at her doorstep, the stage is set for Betty to learn a very important lesson about what Christmas is all about. This contemporary Christmas story is a timely yet gentle reminder that God can work miracles through something as seemingly insignificant as a little brown dog.
Dreams of Eli
History > United States > Civil War Author: Van Heerling 
Southern soldier Eli West wakes in a cave and discovers he is held captive by a soldier of the Union. Shot, drugged, and tortured, he descends into the darkness and the beauty of his unconscious, uncovering a time when he was still in love, a time before war, a time before everything fell away.
Bad Way Out
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Author: C. Hoyt Caldwell 
E.R. Percy’s whiskey making days are turned upside down by the sudden appearance of a giant naked man, an unsavory job offer from a drug dealer, and a sultry local girl hell-bent on making it as difficult as possible for him to keep his vows to his wife. He wants nothing more than to sell his illegal wares and be left alone. Unfortunately, the whiskey man is about to come to terms with the only way for that to happen: the bad way out.
Avogadro Corp: The Singularity Is Closer Than It Appears
Thrillers > Technothrillers Author: William Hertling 
David Ryan is the designer of ELOPe, an email language optimization program, that if successful, will make his career. But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence. David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda.
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A Wild Night’s Bride (The Devil DeVere)
Romance > Collections & Anthologies
Author: Victoria Vane, Tara Chevrestt
What happens when a struggling actress and a grieving widower come together in a night of unbridled debauchery orchestrated by a bored and machinating rake? With the devil in charge…there will be hell to pay!
She’s a lonely lady down on her luck… Phoebe Scott, alias Kitty Willis, is a struggling Covent Garden actress with a bruised heart and a closely guarded secret.
He’s steadfast and eminently respectable.. Sir Edward Chambers, Ned to his intimates, is guilt-ridden over his beloved wife’s death and avowed to live out a rustic and mundane life … of celibacy.
Sell More Books! Book Marketing and Publishing for Low Profile and Debut Authors
Marketing & Sales > Sales & Selling
Author: J. Steve Miller
Writers and publishers will find the latest insider tips on writing and publishing more marketable books. Learn up-to-date information on publishing options, social networking, and “tried and true” book marketing tactics.
Includes hundreds (300+ pages in print) of practical book-selling strategies for both traditionally and self-published authors. Learn which methods may work best for your books and your personality, and which methods might be a complete waste of time.
Should all authors blog? Should all authors do Twitter? According to the authors, in some cases these strategies can produce results; for others, they will be a waste of time. This book provides the wisdom to help authors make wise (and cost effective) choices.
I’ll Have The Soup And Salad (Know About Cooking)
Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Vegetables & Vegetarian > Salads
Author: Katherine Baldwin
When you envision the perfect bowl of steamy, delicious soup, what comes to mind? Is it the soup your mother or grandmother used to make from scratch using fresh vegetables and fresh beef or chicken simmered in a savory broth with just the right mixture of herbs and garlic? Maybe your dream soup is a thick, rich bowl of New England Clam Chowder. Or maybe it’s a nice can of condensed soup that you add a can of water to and Voila – you have your favorite soup. What? Scratch that last one because you won’t find any of that in this book. You will, however, find the first two.
You will find 26 soup recipes with some of the classic soups like:
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Southern Style Vegetable Soup
- Cheddar Cheese and Potato Soup
- Seafood Gumbo
- Minestrone
Redemption (Legends of Graham Mansion)
Mystery > Historical
Author: Rosa Lee Jude, Mary Lin Brewer
Be careful what you wish for. When the breakup of her family forces Grae White’s mother to move her two children from their privileged city life to her hometown in the mountains of Virginia, all Grae wants is to be invisible in her new life. But that’s rather hard when everyone knows that her father is the latest headline-grabbing white collar criminal, the most popular boy in school wants to take Grae to the prom, and then there’s that she lives in a haunted mansion.
App Storm: Best Kindle Fire Apps, a Torrent of Games, Tools, and Learning Applications
Computers & Technology > Mobile Phones, Tablets & E-Readers
Author: Steve Weber
Psst … Hey, can we talk? It’s about your Kindle Fire.
You spent about $200 of your hard-earned money to buy it, right?
Fine, the Kindle Fire is a heckuva bargain. But think about this:
What if I could show you how to get a LOT more out of your Kindle Fire? Like $100 dollars’ worth of free downloads. Every day, 365 times a year.
That’s right, more than $100 dollars’ worth of free downloads. Every day of the year, another hundred clams’ worth of downloads. Games, apps, videos, and Kindle eBooks. Plus more than 20,000 other free apps that aren’t available in Amazon’s App Store for Kindle. I’ll show you how to get those, too.
You’ll get it, plus much more, by downloading and reading this book right now. A free paid app, every day. Plus dozens of free Kindle books (I hand-pick a fresh batch every morning).
Discover what’s missing from your Kindle library, and how to get it FREE. Plus, at least $100 worth of free stuff for your Kindle, every day, 365 times a year.
Sleepless: Insomnia & Natural Remedies
Diseases & Physical Ailments > Sleep Disorders
Author: C.D. Shelton
The past collides with the future as Jenky, the monster under the bed disrupts the sleep of a little boy. The very same monster that scared the father when he was a child. The author delivers his message on natural remedies for insomnia and straightforward methods one can take for a better night’s rest through an amusing conversation between a child, father, and grandmother.
Stage Five
Short Stories > Single Author
Author: Robert Brumm
Robert Brumm, author of Windigo Soul, Black Water Creek, and the Desolate series, brings you Stage Five – a collection of five short stories.
Warning. May contain traces of the following:
Talking cats and dogs, a serial killer on dialysis, testicle dissecting robots, prostitutes getting shot in the back, a meth head burned alive, a decapitated head kicked across the room, a puggle tempted to eat fresh vomit, a woman with a hangover wearing a Reggie White t-shirt, a pink litter box, and the extinction of the human race.
TODAY’S BARGAINS……………What’s this?
The Vow: The True Events that Inspired the Movie
Christian Living > Marriage
Author: Kim Carpenter
Regularly $3.99, Today $0.99
Life as Kim and Krickitt Carpenter knew it was shattered beyond recognition on November 24, 1993. Two months after their marriage, a devastating car wreck left Krickitt with a massive head injury and in a coma for weeks.
When she finally awoke, she had no idea who Kim was. With no recollection of their relationship and while Krickitt experienced personality changes common to those who suffer head injuries, Kim realized the woman he had married essentially died in the accident.
And yet, against all odds, but through the common faith in Christ that sustained them, Kim and Krickitt fell in love all over again. Even though Kim stood by Krickitt through the darkest times a husband can ever imagine, he insists, “I’m no hero. I made a vow.”
The Cider House Rules
Literary Fiction > Classics > Coming of Age
Author: John Irving
Regularly $7.99, Today $1.99
First published in 1985 by William Morrow, The Cider House Rules is John Irving’s sixth novel. Set in rural Maine in the first half of the twentieth century, it tells the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch—saint and obstetrician, founder and director of the orphanage in the town of St. Cloud’s, ether addict and abortionist. It is also the story of Dr. Larch’s favorite orphan, Homer Wells, who is never adopted.
Through the Smoke
Romance > Gothic
Author: Brenda Novak
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
Riches. Power. An ancient heritage of pride. The Earl of Druridge wanted only for an heir. So when he learned that his wife was carrying another man’s child, he was filled with a thirst for vengeance.
But he wasn’t the one who caused Katherine’s death. Or was he? To his horror, he remembers nothing of that dreadful night, when their last shocking confrontation ended in scorching flame and cold blood.
Rachel McTavish, the beautiful daughter of a coal miner, knows something about the fire that took Lady Katherine’s life. In secret, the strong-willed girl strikes a bargain with the desperate earl: he must send his physician to help her dying mother or he may go to the scaffold—and the devil. The earl agrees, but Rachel is still unsure that her revelation will be enough to save him when so many wish him dead.
Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football, and Assorted Absurdities
Humor > Political
Author: Chris Kluwe
Regularly $9.99, Today $2.99
What is in my book, you ask? (I’m really glad you asked, by the way, because now I get to tell you.)
Time travel. Gay marriage. Sportsballing. Futuristic goggles that DO NOTHING.
Tiny brags from my publisher, stuff like: “This is an uproarious, uncensored take on empathy, personal responsibility, and what it means to be human.”
Excessive brags about myself: “An extraordinarily clever, punishingly funny, sharp-tongued blogosphere star, NFL player, husband and father, one-time violin prodigy, voracious lifetime reader, obsessive gamer, and fearless champion of personal freedom.”
Oh, and also an essay on the Pope’s Twitter account. Honestly, if that doesn’t draw you in, there’s no hope left for humanity. I also give my own funeral eulogy, in case you were hoping I’d go away and die now!
CyberStorm
Thrillers > Technothrillers
Author: Matthew Mather
Regularly $2.99, Today $0.99
Mike Mitchell, an average New Yorker already struggling to keep his family together, suddenly finds himself fighting just to keep them alive when an increasingly bizarre string of disasters start appearing on the world’s news networks. As the world and cyberworld come crashing down, bending perception and reality, a monster snowstorm cuts New York off from the world, turning it into a wintry tomb where nothing is what it seems…and no one can be trusted…
One Snowy Night Before Christmas
Romance > Holidays
Author: Pamela Fryer
Regularly $2.99, Today $0.99
Jessica Jeffries hates Christmas. With all the commercialism, stress and chaos, there are a lot of people who feel the same way. But Jessie has more reason than most for hating it. She’s been robbed, dumped, caught pneumonia, broken her leg, and this year she ran over Santa Claus with her truck.
Tom Dunham’s holiday is turning out to be pretty awful. Not only is he suddenly responsible for a six-year-old daughter he hasn’t seen since infancy, but Amy holds him personally responsible for uprooting her, making it impossible for Santa to find her on Christmas morning.
Things go from bad to worse when Tom’s car breaks down on a freezing mountain road, but he gets a reprieve when a young woman who looks more like a Victoria’s Secret model than a tow truck driver comes to his rescue. Suddenly things are looking up—until she runs over an old man with an eerie resemblance to St. Nick.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2