Author Richard Herley tops today’s Buffet with The Penal Colony, a gripping Sci-Fi action thriller originally issued in paperback in 1988. The novel, set in a dystopian future, concerns a former Marine who is serving life imprisonment on an island inhabited by savage and cannibalistic prisoners.

richardThe book was adapted for film in 1994 as No Escape, directed by Martin Campbell and starring Ray Liotta, Lance Henriksen, Stuart Wilson, Kevin Dillon and Ernie Hudson. The movie was shot in Queensland, Australia.

Richard’s first successful novel was The Stone Arrow, which was published to critical acclaim in 1978. It subsequently won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize, administered by the Royal Society of Literature in Londony.

Now 62 years old, Richard is still a prolific author, and is self-publishing his novels directly to Kindle. His latest work is The Drowning, an action-adventure tale released last month.

As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours. 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.)

The Penal Colony

Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure > Thrillers
Author: Richard Herley
4The Penal Colony

The future.

The British government now runs island prison colonies to take dangerous offenders from its overcrowded mainland jails.

Among all these colonies, Sert, 25 miles off the north Cornish coast, has the worst reputation. There are no warders. Satellite technology is used to keep the convicts under watch. New arrivals are dumped by helicopter and must learn to survive as best they can. To Sert, one afternoon in July, is brought Anthony John Routledge, sentenced for a sex-murder he did not commit.

Routledge knows he is here for ever. And he knows he must quickly forget the rules of civilized life. But not all the islanders are savages. Under the charismatic leadership of one man a community has evolved. A community with harsh and unyielding rules, peopled by resourceful men for whom the hopeless dream of escape may not be so hopeless after all …


Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [illustrated]

Children’s Books > Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic > Classics
Author: Lewis Carroll, John Tenniel
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [illustrated]

Includes Sir John Tenniel’s classic illustrations, along with a gallery of art from six different artists’ interpretations.

Mix equal parts creativity, bewilderment, and complete nonsense and you have Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. On a day that begins like any other, Alice notices a rabbit—a rabbit with a pocket watch. She chases after it and stumbles down a hole… and keeps falling and falling and falling. That’s when things start to get weird. She encounters a bizarre cast of characters — the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, a pipe-smoking caterpillar, the Pigeon, a Duchess, the Cook, and the decapitation-happy Queen of Hearts. It’s an adventure of completely intolerable logic, as witty as it is completely insane.

Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is for most children pure pleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll’s putative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate his alleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through the rabbit hole, pursuing “The dream-child moving through a land / Of wonders wild and new.” There they encounter the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among a multitude of other characters–extinct, fantastical, and commonplace creatures.

Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be “curiouser and curiouser,” seemingly without moral or sense.For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfully non-moralistic, non-educational virtues of this classic. In fact, at every turn, Alice’s new companions scoff at her traditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that he took the “regular course” in school: Reeling, Writhing, and branches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. Carroll believed John Tenniel’s illustrations were as important as his text. Naturally, Carroll’s instincts were good; the masterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story.

3D Printing: The Next Technology Gold Rush

Engineering > Industrial Design
Author: Christopher D. Winnan
3D Printing: The Next Technology Gold Rush - Future Factories and How to Capitalize on Distributed Manufacturing

This book presents the various 3D printing systems currently on the market, covering their background, their functionality and their relative pros and cons. Separate chapters offer similarly in-depth examinations of the very latest scanning technologies, 3D modelling software and 3D file archives. Complex technical processes are explained in detail, but using language accessible to readers who are new to this fascinating subject.

Part 2 focuses specifically on areas in which a 3D printer can be used to generate income. It examines a wide range of niche markets presenting real world examples and current success stories. In addition, it identifies and explores many unfilled niches that are still wide open. The author talks extensively about his own projects and analyses large amounts of very well researched information that is unavailable elsewhere.

Part 3 looks at the bigger picture. Individual chapters concentrate upon emerging materials, how the industry is scaling up production, and where the battle lines are being drawn amongst the complex legal issues. Readers are introduced to the highly disruptive nature of distributed manufacturing, demonstrating many of the global impacts and developments that will transform entire economies in the next ten years.

Far from being a dry technical manual, this book addresses three key issues that are important to anybody interested in this rapidly evolving field.

Bent

Romance > Contemporary
Author: HB Heinzer
Bent

If there’s one thing Julia Wilson has learned in life, it’s that you can’t push your own dreams to the background for anyone. Newly divorced, Julia returns to the hometown she once swore would never see her again. Her plan is simple; enjoy the cheap rent her friend is offering and stay just long enough to develop a plan to make her own dreams come true.

It doesn’t take long before Julia realizes she’s made a big mistake.

Micah Anderson came closer to breaking Julia than anyone else ever had. After promising her forever, he broke her heart the week before she left for college. Now, Julia’s back in town and he’s going to have to tell her the truth about why he left her. It’s not possible to hide a twelve year old child when you live in a town of 5,000 people.

Is following her dreams worth it if it means giving up on a second chance with her first love? Is trying to make a relationship work worth it if his past becomes a threat to her safety?

What to Cook for Dinner for Picky Eaters

Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Parenting
Author: John Newsome, Anne Newsome
What to Cook for Dinner for Picky Eaters

Are you tired of endless mealtime battles? Worried that your child isn’t getting the right nutrition? Do you feel like you will be serving the same meal to your picky eater for eternity? All of that is about to change…

This book is your ticket to getting your child to eat more, eat better, and try new, delicious foods that the whole family will love. Each of the 23 delicious main dish recipes, ranging from a quick and easy macaroni and cheese recipe (with an ingredient many may have never thought to try) to a little more sophisticated pasta recipe, was developed by Chef John and was given the thumbs up by the Newsome’s own in-house picky eaters. The recipes will give you a variety of meats and flavor combinations to try with your children.

Also included in the book is some little-known information about what may be causing your child’s picky eating, as well as useful tips to getting kids to try new foods from the Newsomes and professional advice from their nutritionist, Suzzanne Myer.

The Zombie Wilson Diaries

Humor > Parodies
Author: Timothy W. Long
The Zombie Wilson Diaries

It should have been the perfect vacation. A beautiful island without a soul in sight. Blue sea so clear I can see the reef. Palm trees swaying in the wind, and a girl with barely a scrap of clothing on.

There is only one problem. She is a zombie and she wants to eat me.

That’s right. My only companion is a creature with a hunger for human flesh. I should bash in her brains and toss her in the ocean but I don’t have a volleyball to talk to.

All I have is this diary and my own Zombie-Wilson.

jQuery Compressed

Computers & Technology > Web Development & Design
Author: Jakob Jenkov
jQuery Compressed

jQuery is a JavaScript API that makes it easy to make your HTML pages come to life. In other words, jQuery makes it easy to modify HTML elements while the page is displayed in the browser. You can show / hide elements, create / remove elements, change CSS classes and properties, react to mouse and keyboard events, use AJAX etc.

jQuery Compressed teaches web developers how to use jQuery. The book is targeted at somewhat experienced developers, who already know what HTML, the DOM and JavaScript is. Therefore this book will get you up to speed faster than any other book out there.

The Dragon and the Unicorn (The Perilous Order of Camelot)

Science Fiction & Fantasy > Arthurian
Author: A. A. Attanasio, Jeff Bigman
The Dragon and the Unicorn (The Perilous Order of Camelot)

A dragon’s dreamsong, a hunt for the unicorn’s horn, and the ceaseless wars of angels and demons begin this bold retelling of the Arthurian cycle. Here is magic. And dark romance. Here is Merlin’s most dangerous sorcery: the supernatural love story of Uther Pendragon and Ygrane queen of the Celts.

Old as the Big Bang, the demon Lailoken assumes human form in Roman Britain as Celts battle Saxons for mastery. The druid-queen he serves calls him Myrddin and sends him to find her true love—to fulfill an ancient prophecy at the frontier of life and death for her people.

Led by a unicorn and hunted by a dragon vast as the planet, Myrddin becomes Merlinus on his quest for the queen’s mate among her remorseless enemies, the Romans. And finally as Merlin, he matches wits with gods and elves to unite Celtic queen and Roman warlord and weave the destiny of the most famous king.

In this first volume of Attanasio’s Arthurian saga, all the core elements appear: chronicling Vortigern’s defeat of the Saxons, the ascendancy of Theodosius Ambrosius (Uther Pendragon), the birth of Arthur and eventually Merlin’s lodging the sword in the stone.

Best Ever Fruit Cobbler & Crisp Recipes

Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Baking > Pastry
Author: Lori Burke
Best Ever Fruit Cobbler & Crisp Recipes (Best Ever Recipes Series)

Fruit cobblers and crisps are a wonderful dessert to serve during the cold winter months. Served warm with ice cream or flavored whipped cream they are sure to chase away the winter blahs. Homemade cobblers and crisps go back to Colonial America and were originally served for breakfast or as a main course. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that cobblers, crisps and related dishes were considered desserts.

Lori Burke brings you a collection of 30 Cobbler and Crisp recipes and 5 flavored whipped cream topping recipes. These are home-made, bake from scratch recipes using fresh fruit, spices and other natural ingredients. The recipes are all kitchen-tested.

Lori always shares recipes that are delicious, quick, easy and fun to bake,

Employee Engagement for Everyone

Management & Leadership > Training
Author: Kevin Kruse
Employee Engagement for Everyone: 4 Keys to Happiness and Fulfillment at Work

Packed with empowering exercises, surprising research and practical action items, you will discover:

  • The 4 drivers of happiness and engagement
  • Your own personal engagement style
  • 60+ specific actions you can take to drive your own engagement and the engagement of others
  • How to deal with “Debbie Downer” at work
  • The power of “5 Daily Engagement Questions”

Shattered Skies: Beginning’s End

Fantasy > Epic > Horror
Author: Heather Linn
Shattered Skies: Beginning's End

Torn between the day and the night, Catalina treads a dangerous, deadly trail among the monsters; sex is her weapon. But what happens when her heart takes over and she falls in love with the head monster, the leader of a new breed of Vampire that is chillingly capable of killing her and the humans she loves?

Courageous Catalina never had the chance to live in the normal world we take for granted. Instead she was born into a world ruled by the alien Vampires that have taken over the planet. Half the human race is dead, the survivors have been raped and pillaged, and the alien Vampire invaders have bred a nearly indestructible new race, the Dominus, a horrific genetic mix of human and vampire.

The Profiler’s Daughter

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Police Procedurals
Author: P.M. Steffen
The Profiler's Daughter (Sky Stone Thriller Series)

A grisly murder. A six-year-old eyewitness. A gun from the grave.

Sky Stone was born into the wealth and privilege of Boston’s oldest Brahmin family but chooses instead to follow in the footsteps of her deceased father, legendary FBI profiler Monk Stone. In the chilly morning hours before the Boston Marathon, when a beautiful university student is found strangled and mutilated, her body left at the base of Heartbreak Hill, Sky returns from self-imposed exile to investigate. Thirty-six hours into the investigation, Sky’s world turns upside down when she is fired from the Homicide team. They pin the murder on an innocent man, forcing Sky into a life-threatening game of cat and mouse with the real killer. From the stately mansions of Beacon Hill to the flat scrubland of central Texas, Sky keeps the reader on a razor’s edge, culminating in a no-holds-barred shoot-out.

… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks and the Kindle Daily Deal here on page 2

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