Kindle Post

Introducing Kindle Paperwhite

Kindle Paperwhite--our most advanced e-reader ever--is coming to the UK. Here's what reviewers in the US had to say about it:

"...the display of the page is more important than any other factor, and that's where the Kindle Paperwhite shines." --New York Times

"So, do all of these features add up to the best e-reader out there? In a syllable: yep. Amazon was clearly focused on creating the best possible reading experience with the Paperwhite, and it's delivered." --Engadget

"The Kindle Paperwhite is a reader's dream... I'm wildly impressed with the simplicity and beauty of this device." --TechCrunch

 "Forget Everything Else, This Is the E-Reader You Want." --Gizmodo

For £109, Kindle Paperwhite offers 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, up to 8 weeks of battery life, and a thin and light design. Kindle Paperwhite 3G--the all-new top-of-the-line Kindle e-reader--is £169. Pre-order yours today.

Enter the Kindle Reading Marathon

Feeling athletic? Give your Kindle a workout this summer by joining the Kindle Reading Marathon. You can earn up to £5 to spend on Amazon.co.uk when you spend at least £10 in the sale. We have hundreds of books from as little as £0.99, including fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers and new releases.

Here Richard Guard talks about researching and writing his new book, Lost London: An A-Z of Forgotten Landmarks and Lost Traditions, which is included in the Kindle Reading Maration.

 

How do you go about choosing what to write about in an A-Z of Lost London? The subject is so big, even at first glance, then the more you read it seems to just get bigger and bigger. Truly London has all been lost at least once, then rebuilt on top of it's self so many times that every location from Barking to Mortlake has a secret past.

One of the things that first struck me as interesting were the Spa and Wells of London. I imagine most people have heard of Saddler's Wells, which was one of the first fashionable "watering holes". But as the city expanded new one's sprung up and were discovered, enjoyed a brief period of fashionability, and then were lost as the pressure for housing consumed the surrounding land. Clerkenwell, St George's Field's, Camberwell, Ladywell, Kilburn, Dulwich and Sydenham are just a few of the areas that had noted medicinal springs at one point or another. You could write a book on the lost springs and spas alone.

Eventually I decided to draw up a list of all the major lost buildings - be they palatial houses on the Strand, theatres, pleasure gardens, prisons or pubs. The list had over 400 items. There was of course a great deal of repetition - especially in terms of subject matter - dozens of theatres and sundry places of entertainment. 

Cutting this list down meant a great deal of further reading - as I had decided that to make it into the book any location would ideally have a story attached - a personal memory from some long dead inhabitant, or an event that made the location unique and especially interesting. Some places had been just so important in the capital's history that they had to be included - St Paul's Cathedral (before the one we have today), the prisons of Newgate, Fleet and Bridewell, the Royal Palace at Whitehall. Should I write about Shakespeare's Globe Theatre… or about The Theatre were he first  acted when he moved here, and reputedly the capital first permanent theatre, appropriately sited just off Curtain Road? Eventually I plumped for the Globe - not a great deal is known about The Theatre - apart from it's dates, there's scant little other history, and the story of the Globe with it's demise in fire and of burning trousers being extinguished with a handy bottle of ale was just to good a chance to miss.

It became a real pleasure to discover the personal histories that had gone on in these buildings. Katherine of Aragon's wonderful defence of her virginity before her marriage to Henry VIII at Bridewell, Pepys' diary reporting a night out in Bear Gardens or the Kilburn Well's advert "Only a morning walk from the Metropolis" all added a new colour and vitality to the city I thought I already knew quite well. 

 --Richard Guard

 

Druid Fact or Druid Fiction?: Thore D. Hansen Knows

In his debut novel, The Celtic Conspiracy, Thore D. Hansen weaves a thrilling tale of international intrigue, religious oppression and treasure-hunting, all set against the backdrop of Celtic history. Druids--a people who are often mentioned but seldom understood--play an important role in the novel's plot. So we asked its author, an avid student of religious history, to help us separate Druid fact from Druid fiction.

Statement: All Celtics who followed the Druidic belief system were Druids.
Fiction. Druids were members of the priestly class in Celtic culture, and they played many roles in society. They were early scientists as well as lawyers, healers, warriors, artists, alchemists, and soothsayers.

The idea of "sin" is unknown in Druidic thought.
Fact. Druids don't have objective standards of value or absolute truth.

Druids had naturopathic treatments for many modern ailments, including cancer.
Fact-ish. Druidic knowledge of medicinal herbs was extensive, but we don't know exactly what they could and couldn't treat reliably.

Druids were part of ancient Roman society.
Fact. Druids worked as teachers for rich Roman families. By 330 A.D., most Druids had been forced to convert to Christianity or had escaped to Britain.

Druidic texts have been found in archeological sites across Europe and Asia.
Fact. Although it is important to note that Druids used letters only for day-to-day correspondence and record-keeping (e.g., court decisions). It was forbidden to write down anything about the Druidic belief system.

Druidism is the official state religion of Ireland.
Fiction. But since 2010, Druidism has been a recognized state religion in the United Kingdom.

The modern Supreme Court has ruled on historical crimes against Druids.
Fiction. This is true only in The Celtic Conspiracy, in which the Supreme Court hears a case regarding the modern-day Catholic Church and crimes committed against Druids by the Roman Empire and early Christians.

--Thore D. Hansen

Kindle Jubilee Sale Starts Today

A diamond is forever, and so is a good book. The Kindle Jubilee Sale starts today, offering you brilliant books at prices worth celebrating, starting from £0.99. Here are our recommendations of some quintessentially English books:

The Making of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr

In The Making of Modern Britain, Andrew Marr paints a fascinating portrait of how the events of the first half of the 20^th century shape our lives today. This is a story of strange cults and economic madness, of revolutionaries and inventors, sexual experiments and raucous stage heroines. From organic food to drugs and nightclubs and from celebrities to package holidays, the echoes of modern Britain ring from every page. 

As The Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer

Charlie Trumper's progress from the teeming streets of Whitechapel to the elegance of Chelsea is only a few miles distance as the crow flies. But in Jeffrey Archer's expert hands it becomes an epic journey through the triumphs and disasters of the century, as Charlie follows a thread of love, ambition and revenge to fulfil the dream his grandfather inspired.

 

Sorry, I'm British by Ben Crystal, Adam Russ and Ed McLachlan

Explore the oddities of the British psyche with this informative and witty illustrated guide. For a nation that loves to laugh at itself, this is the perfect companion when wandering lonely through the clouds of British behaviour. From small talk to superiority, from the famous stiff upper lip to hooliganism, from cricket to condiments, and curry to class, this book will take you through the sometimes sarcastic, often poetic, generally polite, never boastful but universally proud realm of all that's British--its culture, its institutions and its people.

Kiss and Tell by Fiona Walker

The cross-country course of true love doesn't run smoothly, in this sexy new bestseller from the author of Well Groomed and Kiss Chase. Kiss and Tell is Fiona Walker at her best, and is sure to appeal to fans of Jilly Cooper. It's a big, multi-casted story set in the lushest parts of England, continental Europe and the wider world, as we follow the sexy event riders competing on the international horse trials circuit.

 

A Crown of Lights by Phil Rickman

When a redundant church is bought by a young pagan couple, the local fundamentalist minister reacts with fury. In an isolated community on the Welsh border, a modern witch hunt begins. Diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins is expected to keep the lid on the cauldron, but what she finds out will seriously test her beliefs. The cast of A Crown of Lights also includes the country solicitor who won't be parted from his dead wife,  and a killer with an old tradition to guard....

This Bleeding City by Alex Preston

This Bleeding City is the shattering tale of one man swept away in the turmoil of emotional, financial and moral boom and bust. It is a deeply human tale, told in deft prose that is at once both spare and rich. Alex Preston's rendering of desolate landscapes--both moral and physical--is expertly crafted, packing an emotional punch, shining a light of the scary giant mechanisms of modern capitalism.

 

Georgie Thompson on Kindle Post

The Twitter Diaries: 2 cities, 1 friendship, 140 characters is a book about female friendship borne out of female friendship. Read this guest blog from author Georgie Thompson and join us on May 31 at 1:00 pm to chat with her live on Twitter.

Imogen Lloyd Webber and I met at a New Year's Eve party in NYC two years ago, introduced by our mutual friend Piers Morgan. The very next day I followed her and she followed me and we began a 140 character friendship over the Atlantic and Twitter. Over the next few months we tweeted back and forth until one day an idea came to me that I just couldn't shake. I got to thinking how would a social networking generation respond to a book written entirely in tweets, a conversation between two girls, much like us sharing their stories of love, life and everything in between. We started writing/tweeting as @TuesdayFields and @StellaCavill in May of last year and almost exactly a year to the day The Twitter Diaries is out on general ebook release on Kindle.

I can't believe that a one-time figment of an overactive imagination has culminated in a published book and more importantly in a transatlantic and lifelong friendship.

While comparisons will be drawn with @TuesdayFields and @StellaCavill to myself and Imo we couldn't be further from the character profiles about which we write/tweet. We wish in many ways we were more like them; they are brave and fearless, modern women living in modern times yet somehow both vulnerable, loveable even. So in tweeting as @TuesdayFields and @StellaCavill we may have taken a little inspiration from our own experiences but let me assure you I have never broadcast from Ascot dressed as inappropriately as Tuesday and nor has Imo found herself at any time in a movie star's trailer. The latter a pity.

On May 31, I will be participating in a Twinterview, that's a Twitter-style interview, with Amazon.co.uk. Any questions you have in 140 characters or less, and I'm all yours....

--GT x

 

10 Things About Douglas Brodie

Readers were introduced to Douglas Brodie in The Hanging Shed. This month he returns to his wartime role as a trained killer in the sequel Bitter Water. But who is this troubled hero? Below are 10 things you should know about Brodie. And to learn more about the author, Gordon Ferris, join us for a live interview next week, Friday, April 13, at noon on Twitter (@KindleUK).

1. Most folk just call him Brodie. Only his Mum calls him Douglas. And Samantha Campbell when she's feeling kind.
2. He's 34 years old, tall, with dark hair and brown eyes.
3. He was born in 1912 in Kilmarnock in the West of Scotland.
4. Brodie's father was a miner but died in 1930, aged just 49, from a combination of Black Lung [the miner's disease] and mustard gas from the Great War.
5. His father refused to have his son follow him down the pits. Reluctantly, Brodie chose to honour his father's dying wish to read English and languages at Glasgow University.
6. On track for the safe and secure life of a teacher or bank manager, Brodie had had enough of doing what was expected of him and joined the Glasgow police instead.
7. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Brodie leapt at the chance of a fresh start and joined the Seaforth Highlanders.
8. Brodie was shipped home after being wounded in Italy, but recovered in time for D Day.
9. After the war he interrogated senior Nazi and SS prisoners and, traumatised by what he'd seen and what he'd been through, demobbed in 1945.
10.  He might have drunk himself to death if he hadn't been summoned to Glasgow by Advocate Samantha Campbell, to try to save an old pal from the gallows.

Shop the Kindle Spring Sale

We're celebrating the arrival of spring with the Kindle Spring Sale. Find books from popular authors--Michael Morpurgo, Anthony Horowitz, Magnus Mills, Neal Asher, Lindsey Kelk, Christopher Hitchens and more--as well as new releases, including Michael Grant's BZRK (£1.19), the first in a new thriller series for young adult. Promotion ends April 12, 2012. Terms apply.

Read more about BZRK in this guest blog from Michael Grant.

Four pounds. That's the approximate weight of the bacteria living in and on the human body. That's not counting the viruses which don't weigh much, or the amoeba, fungi or mites. It's not counting the tiny, dead-kitten-faced demodex that cluster in your eyelashes. Or the pollen that clings to you, or the seeds and spores.

The human body is not a single, discrete object, it's an ecosystem. It's a rainforest with hundreds of micro-environments. Your brain is nothing like your bowels--we hope, anyway--each has its own menagerie of microscopic beasties. The things that live in your liver are utterly unlike the creatures that swim in your cerebral-spinal fluid or ooze through the jammed highway of your arteries. 

Want a shock sometime? Go onto Google Images and search Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) plus human skin or human tongue or human hair. Get up close and personal with a louse. It will alter your perspective for ever. You may find yourself buying hand sanitizer in gallon jugs. It won't do any good.

You are not you, singular; you are you very, very plural. You're Brazil:  we don't even know all the species that call you home.

When I wrote BZRK I entered a very strange world, weirder than anything the science fiction masters have imagined. I had gone in search of aliens and a strange new world.  I found it not with a telescope but a microscope. And I wanted to find a way to take the reader down there with me, down in the meat. I wanted the reader to have an experience unlike anything they have had before. 

But I wasn't quite done at that point, because it wasn't enough to take a walk through the human jungle. I wanted to be up in the macro at the same time, to live simultaneously in both worlds. To fight for life and sanity in both worlds at the very same time. Because as much as we are home to little beasties, we are also beasties ourselves crawling on the skin of planet Earth. 

That was the challenge, to bring my characters--Sadie and Noah and Vincent and Bug Man--to life in both realities. I hope readers will find I have succeeded.

Introducing Kindle Touch

The Kindle family is growing!

Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are now available for pre-order to readers across the UK and will be released April 27, 2012. They feature everything readers already love about Kindle, plus a new easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop and take notes.

Find out more about Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G at www.amazon.co.uk/kindletouch and www.amazon.co.uk/kindletouch3G.

Special Offer: Get ½ Price Entry into Dickens Museum

Celebrate Charles Dickens's 200^th anniversary this February and see where he penned two of his most popular novels, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. Visit his 'House in Town', now a fascinating museum in London's Doughty Street, and get half price admission for you and your guest by simply showing your Kindle on the door.

For address and opening times go to www.dickensmuseum.com.

Offer valid from February 1, 2012 to February 29, 2012. Terms and conditions apply.

The 12 Days of Kindle: Hundreds of Books from £0.99

Merry Christmas! The 12 Days of Kindle is back and better than before. Stock up your library with hundreds of selected books on sale from £0.99. We've included bestsellers, new releases, cult favourites and more across a variety of genres, so there's bound to be something for everyone.

Below are 10 books that we enjoy and recommend, but don't stop there--browse the full selection. What's more, we'll be adding books to the sale each day, so check back daily for the new additions. Terms and conditions apply. Sale ends January 6, 2012.

 

Dead Simple by Peter James

Go back to the beginning of Peter James's extraordinary Roy Grace series with the first novel, Dead Simple. When a harmless stag night prank turns deadly, Detective Superintendent Grace is brought in to investigate and he soon discovers that one man's disaster is another man's fortune.

Taming Natasha by Nora Roberts

From best-selling romance author Nora Roberts comes a story of broken promises and shattered dreams. Natasha left youthful indiscretions far behind when she settled in a rural town--until Spence Kimball finds his way into her closely guarded heart.

A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

Amongst the bloodshed, cruelty and tragedy, there is also passion, charm and courage as the struggle for the Iron Throne begins in A Game of Thrones, the first volume of the hugely popular and highly acclaimed epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.

The Island by Victoria Hislop

Richly enchanting and set against the backdrop of the Mediterranean during World War II, the debut from Victoria Hislop is an enthralling story of dreams and desires, of secrets desperately hidden, and of leprosy's touch on an unforgettable family.

Shackleton's Way by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell

Sir Ernest Shackleton's adventurous ambition, incredible endurance and heroic survival against all odds is the stuff of legend. In this book, authors Morrell and Capparell capture the explorer's leadership style and turn it into lessons on how to lead with authority, integrity, humour and compassion.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, this dystopian thriller follows a boy and a girl on the run from a town where all thoughts can be heard, and the passage to manhood embodies a horrible secret.

Lemon Sherbert & Dolly Blue by Lynn Knight

Lynn Knight's family is no ordinary family, her home no ordinary home. This remarkable memoir--full of light, life and colour, and spanning three generations and two world wars--weaves a rich portrait of a community and of a family's love and loyalty.

The Psychic Tourist by William Little

William Little goes on a quest to find out whether people really can see into the future. On his journey, he encounters a witch's coven in the woods, hunts for murderers with psychic detectives and lands on the doorstep of the world's most powerful psychic.

Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce

Donn Pearce created Cool Hand Luke out of his experiences working on a chain gang. This classic tale is of a war hero turned 'pretty evil feller', whose acts of defiance and refusal to 'git his mind right' soon make him a legend amongst his fellow convicts.

The Ship Between the Worlds by Julia Golding

When David finds himself aboard a pirate ship, he knows it must be a dream. Except that he's awake. And the "dream" is more like a nightmare. Soon David is swept up in the adventure of a lifetime: volunteered to act as a spy on an enemy ship, marooned and picked up by the most fearsome band of buccaneers ever known.