Betrayal is free for kindle

The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity is free as an e-book for kindle.

easiest places to find my books

Amazon, Smashwords, and Goodreads are the easiest places to find reader ratings and reviews of my novels and stories.

"Betrayal. . ." Free Again

I'm excited that my previously published e-book single The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity (35 pages of undergrad commencement angst, more or less) was set to free this morning and is back in the Kindle Store Top 20 in two literary fiction categories. . . humor and short stories. For that one, on amazon, I didn't solicit any of the reviews, but the three who read for free gave it five stars and called it a "masterpiece," etc. whereas the guy who paid a dollar said it was "pretentious" and disliked everything about it. . . hopefully, he's found reading more pleasurable since then. 

thankful for a five-star review

Of course, I could, and would, complain, but aside from the usual, I'm thankful for this new, unsolicited review that I discovered earlier this week for my college commencement story. If you prefer reading for free to shopping at discount, you're welcome to check it out anywhere e-books or downloaded or right off the screen at smashwords.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Is This All There Is? November 25, 2013

By BirdieTracy  

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

 

When I started reading this story I groaned. Was this going to be another tale of collegiate pothead paradise? I am sincerely glad I kept reading. As I read I became convinced that not only did the author attend college, but he has had time to mature and synthesize his experience.

The story centers around a young man who is just about to graduate. As he walks around campus he encounters a wide variety of students. The earnest protesters of the current flavor of evil, those who want to stick it to the man- as long as they don't get caught and other assorted wildlife. It is to be a day of pocket epiphanies.

If I sound dismissive then let me assure you that I am not. College students walk the razor thin line between childhood's final end and adulthood. For the most part, the only ones unconcerned about what comes next are those who already have an in somewhere (and I would imagine that even they are sweating bullets). There is an overwhelming feeling of "is this it?"

The author does a tremendous job of pulling all of this together. And I have to thank him for briefly putting me "back in the day."

 

 

Number 2 and Number 3

So along with this week's discovery of Passenger, who has more or less been anointed the Bob Dylan-in-Residence of L.U.S.K., and no doubt something bad will befall him because of it, I also noticed that according to Amazon kindle-store ratings, free e-book The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity rose as high as #2 in Humor and #3 in Short Stories, both within the wider category of Literary Fiction.

I make no sense of this.

#pdftribute redux

So the highlight of giving the story away at amazon, smashwords, and everywhere else e-books are downloaded has been watching it move as high as #15 in the amazon "coming of age" free-e-book category where it remains at #30. It may not even be "coming of age," but I'll take anything I can get. Within literary fiction, #30 or so was the high, and it's currently #53, just behind a cool-sounding Concrete Underground by one Moxie Mezcal.

There's a chance I'll break out of my rut and publish one all by myself although the usual factors seem to be impeding my march in this direction.

Thoughts?

#pdftribute

The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity may not be a peer-reviewed scholarly article, but in a way, this fiction fits the issues at hand, and so to acknowledge the open-access movement, it can be read online for free or downloaded to most electronic reading devices.

April 20 (420)

If you like to keep the flame lit with commencement angst or eternal recurrence, this could be the story for you. In other news, it sounds like the police at Colorado--Boulder are intent on bogarting the festivities with sprinkler systems and the college-ID requirements. I'm guessing the local convenience stores and sandwich shops may have mixed feelings about this intent to douse the fires of commerce.

It is somewhat amusing that a stoner holiday would depend upon such an exacting time constraint, the official 4:20 spark up, etc. Maybe someone can get through to Spicoli and find out if he'd like fries with that.

devalued content

If you, or anyone you know, becomes burdened with the gift of an electronic reading device this holiday season, you're welcome to take a crack at this sizzling e-single, my only publication of 2011 (or at least the only one that folks are invited to pay for). In Australia, a guy I don't know compares it to The Brothers Karamazov, and, well, even though it's only thirty-five pages, I hope that means it could be worth 99 cents. Try here for kindle, here for nook, and here for everywhere else e-books are downloaded.

Betrayal e-book URLs

Here are the URLs to a graduation-angst story I wrote on and off over fifteen years. It'll set you back 99 cents, but I like to think it's worth it.

You can read The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity off the screen or via download at Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/40939 (two great reviews here now)

And then at all the usual places where electronic reading devices are sold:

Amazon (kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Times-Peace-Prosperity-ebook/dp/B004MDLSMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1299991227&sr=1-1

Apple (i-etc): http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-betrayal-times-peace-prosperity/id421351533?mt=11

B&N (nook): http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Betrayal-of-Times-of-Peace-and-Prosperity/Alex-Kudera/e/2940011191442/?itm=2&USRI=alex+kudera

Diesel (epub): http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000040939/Kudera-Alex/The-Betrayal-of-Times-of-Peace-and-Prosperity/1.html

Sony: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/alex-kudera/the-betrayal-of-times-of-peace-and-prosperity/_/R-400000000000000346243

It will appear in Romanian translation over the next few print issues of Contemporary Literary Horizon as well.

Best,

Alex Kudera

Betrayal URLs

Here are the URLs to most links for my dollar burger, The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity:

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/40939 (great review here now)
 
Amazon (kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Times-Peace-Prosperity-ebook/dp/B004MDLSMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1299991227&sr=1-1 (same review here)

Apple (i-etc): http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-betrayal-times-peace-prosperity/id421351533?mt=11

B&N (nook): http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Betrayal-of-Times-of-Peace-and-Prosperity/Alex-Kudera/e/2940011191442/?itm=2&USRI=alex+kudera

Diesel (epub): http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000040939/Kudera-Alex/The-Betrayal-of-Times-of-Peace-and-Prosperity/1.html

Sony: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/alex-kudera/the-betrayal-of-times-of-peace-and-prosperity/_/R-400000000000000346243

the brother k

The Sixers beat Boston, and then minutes later I learn that an Australian gentleman named Robert Tulip, a guy I don't know, gives The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity five stars on amazon and compares my writing to Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Well, no one could ever live up to that, but by strange coincidence, the protag had plenty of buds but was short on paper, so it was mass market pages of The Brothers Karamazov that fictional John and Jake were smoking in the expurgated scenes.

Mr. Tulip wrote:

Wow, what a superb ten thousand words. I'm not sure if it just because I am reading The Brothers Karamazov at the moment, but this short story reminds me so much of Dostoyevksy in its biting social satire, its acute political insight, its ability to paint pictures in words, and its foreboding of a society that has lost its way and is on a trajectory to catastrophe. The drugs are the anaesthetic for the emotional pain of a fascistic existence in denial, enabling a crazy-brave creative prophetic vision. The description of undergraduate life is realistic if exaggerrated [sic] in a hallucinatory direction for effect, and casts a lens upon wider social trends.

Thank you, Robert. And Isaac Sweeney. And Christina at The Strand. And Kate Ledger, author of Remedies. And new acquaintance Don Ray Pollock, from Knockemstiff, Ohio. And Dan Cafaro especially. All of you brought me some good book vibrations this week and made me feel like the impossible was possible if not right around the bend.

PS--Betrayal is available for free through March 12 at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/40939

sample betrayal

A nice chunk of The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity is now available for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/40939/1/the-betrayal-of-times-of-peace-and-prosperity

It just might take you where you want to go.

Gone Dog Press

Gone Dog Press, a publisher of "awesome e-books," delivers The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity on Superbowl Sunday. This longish story, or shortish novella, has something for everyone--from fatty meat frying in the wok to inadvertent touches that can end a life. It's of a genre that could be termed "college commencement angst" although I'm having trouble thinking of a story or novel that would compare.

The book will be available at http://www.amazon.com/ as well as http://www.smashwords.com/, and eventually it should be compatible with all kinds of electronic book reading devices. At smashwords, you'll be able to read it right off the screen or download it as a printable pdf. Or so I'm told by the e-authorities from the land on book.

So you should be able to download a copy for a buck forty-nine or so. . . graduation angst at bargain-basement pricing!

Happy reading.

Peace.