KILL CITY: The Return Of Sonja Blue @ Indiegogo

Kill City Cover by Sean Hartter

Earlier this year I launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to finish the writing of and produce a print run of 500 hardcover copies of  KILL CITY, the first Sonja Blue novel in 10 years. However, the production costs associated with such an undertaking proved too daunting in light of today's economic climate--especially since Lightning Press required that I pay for the entire print run up-front. As a result, the  campaign failed to gain its funding and I was forced to rethink my publishing strategy and devise a different means of making Kill City available to Sonja's supporters and fans. 

I was forced to rethink publishing strategy and have decided to utilize Create Space's Print On Demand services instead. This will allow me to produce a trade paperback edition that can be ordered from Amazon, as well a  very limited hardcover edition that can only be purchased directly from me, There are also plans for an ebook release across all major platforms as well as a digital audiobook. You can read more about the plans for KILL CITY, as well as the perks being offered for those interested in donating to the project.

Earlier in December I relaunched the campaign, this time on Indiegogo, and I am pleased to announce that the project is already 29% funded! I chose Indiegogo this time out because their  Flexible Financing option allows me to keep the money I raise and apply it towards the completion of KILL CITY--such as purchasing ISBNs, paying my cover artist, and a copy editor, etc. You can check out the campaign here, which also features an original Sonja Blue music video, cover artwork, and an entire, never-before published chapter from KILL CITY. 

I promise that this book will be finished and released--but I can only do it with the support of you, Sonja's  loyal fans.

Remember: Only YOU Can Stop Sparkling Vampires 

Absalom's Wake: A Serial Adventure On The High Seas

Absalom's Wake is my newest release from Biting Dog Publications--but with a difference! Instead of being published in a single volume, it is being published in serialized installments, just like the old adventure serials of the 1940s, and before that, the serialized novels that appeared in the pulps!  There will be six installments. The first installment, Absalom's Wake: Gone A Whaling is currently available, and  the second installment, Absalom's Wake: Blood On The Beach, will be released shortly via Kindle,Kobo, iTunes,Nook, Sony eReader and Smashwords.

Absalom's Wake is a historical dark fantasy, set on a whaling vessel in the 1840s. The narrator, young Jonah Padgett, grew up listening to the tall tales spun by his beloved Uncle Calvin--a former whaling man forced to retire after losing his legs at sea--and has left home to sail the world as one of the crew aboard the Absalom, under  the command of his uncle's old friend, Captain Solomon.

Upon rounding the Horn, the crew hears stories of  "King Jim", a whale as big as a mountain, with skin as black as a bible, and in command of a harem of a hundred females. Captain Solomon is determined to make his fortune hunting down the elusive monster whale.But when the Absalom signs on the strange native called Koro as harpooner, the ship finds itself plagued by inexplicable disappearances and horrific death, which eventually pits shipmates against one another for fear of their lives.

Young Padgett soons finds himself adrift in a fantastical and exotic world filled with dolphin-like merfolk and nightmarish were-sharks, endangered equally by inhuman creatures from the ocean's depths and human superstition and fear--his life at the mercy of something as old and mysterious as the sea itself.

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Kick Off Cyber-Monday With A Free Ebook Courtesy Of Hopedale Press!

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly! 

So why would anyone want to celebrate it by reading tales of super/natural terror? Tradition, that's why! 

While most of you are no doubt familiar with the mythic figure known as St. Nicholas/ Santa Claus/Father Christmas/Papa Noel/Sinterklaas, who flies about the world to bring presents to good little girls and boys, many in the United States are unaware of the Jolly Old Elf's darker half, a demonic creature called the Krampus, who travels alongside St. Nicholas, searching for naughty children to stuff in its sack and carry away to its lair, to be fattened up and devoured for Christmas dinner. How's that for good ol' fashioned nightmare fuel, as well as a sure-fire means of making sure the kids stay in their beds while you're putting together the damned bicycle?

Yep,  yuletide and ghostly stories of the weird, strange and downright horrifying go together like How The Grinch Stole Christmas and A Christmas Carol. And the good people at Hopedale Press (meaning me) have decided to continue the time-honored tradition of creeping people out for the holidays by giving readers one ebook for free and discounting three others by 50%. The Krampus couldn't beat that deal with a bundle of switches!

Wait, Did I Hear You Type 'Free Ebook'?

Yes, you did. For a limited time during November and December, THE ICE WEDDING is offered free on Kindle. (Sorry, epub readers, but until iTunes and Nook start making it easier to do similar promotions, you'll have to be on the outside looking in.) 

The Happy Holidays From Hopedale Press Special starts 3am EST on November 26th  and runs to 3am EST November 29th, 2012. 

If you miss that freebie window, you get a second crack at it during The Hopedale Press Krampus Special, which runs from 3am December 23rd to 3am December 25th, 2012.   

And what, exactly, is The Ice Wedding about, you ask? Well, its a gothic fairy tale based on a real-life event. In this case, how the Empress Anna punished an unfortunate Russian nobleman, first by commanding that he become a royal jester, and then by forcing him to marry her chambermaid. The newlyweds were then told they could earn their freedom by spending their wedding night in a cottage made entirely out of ice, during the coldest winter Moscow had ever seen. Chilling, isn't it?

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You Also Said Something About 50% Off Ebooks, Didn't You?

Indeed, I did. 

To celebrate the Season of Giving, I have decided to slash prices on three of my $4.99 ebooks by 50%: Hell Come Sundown, Lynch: A Gothik Western, and Walking Wolf.  The sale will run from November 26th until December 31st, 2012 and will be available via Kindle, iTunes, Kobo, Nook, Sony and Smashwords.  

Hell Come Sundown: Sam Hell, a former Texas Ranger turned ghostbreaker, and his traveling companion, the Comanche shamaness Pretty Woman, search the Mexican border for Sangre, the vampire conquistador who turned him into one of the undead. Was $4.99--now $2.99 until Dec. 31st.

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Lynch: A Gothik Western: A Frankenstein gunslinger and his flesh-eating zombie horse ride out in search of the rogue cavalry officer responsible for lynching him and murdering his pregnant wife. Cover by Stephen R. Bissette. Was $4.99--now $2.99 until Dec. 31st.

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Walking Wolf:  An infant werewolf is found by a Comanche warrior at the site of a massacre and raises him as his own. When Walking Wolf's darker nature leads him to kill the woman he loves and his best friend, he decides to venture into the White Man's world in hopes of better understanding who, and what, he truly is. Was $4.99--now $2.99 until Dec. 31st.

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A Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Yule/Jumpin' Junkanoo/Happy Kwanzaa/Swinging Saturnalia/ Festive Festivus To All, And To All A Good Night!

And Watch Out For The Krampus!

A Very Sonja Blue (And Swamp Thing And Golgotham) Christmas Sale

The Holiday Season is upon us once for--and what better time than to treat your loved one--or yourself--to farm-fresh comic books and quality fiction, in both mass-market and rare limited collectors' editions.

Everything I sell is signed and can be personalized upon request. Prices include Shipping & Handling.

Swamp Thing Mojo Bag

Four copies of  my run on Swamp Thing (#110-#138, plus Annuals) signed and sealed in protective bag w/board. Fine to Near Mint. Your choice, although, given limited quantities on certain issues, I reserve the right to make substitutions. Personalized upon request.  $20 for US orders/ $30 for foreign/overseas.

ST Mojo Bag

ST Mojo Bag $20.00 USD ST Mojo Bag/Foreign $30.00 USD

Sonja Blue/Swamp Thing Team-Up 

One Sonja Blue T-shirt (any size), featuring artwork by the late, great Martin Emond and  two copies from my run on Swamp Thing.  Signed and in protective bags & boards. Personalized on request. $20 within the United States/$30 for foreign/overseas sales. Quantities Are Limited! 

Sizes

Medium $20.00 USD Large $20.00 USD XL $20.00 USD 2XL $20.00 USD Foreign $30.00 USD

Two-Handed Golgotham Gift Pack 

Bring home a little bit of Golgotham--the strangest little neighborhood in the Big Apple--this Holiday Season! Get signed copies  of RIGHT HAND MAGIC and LEFT HAND MAGIC for $15, shipping included! Please indicate if you want the books personalized.

         

                                 

Golgotham Gift Pack

United States $15.00 USD Foreign/Overseas $25.00 USD Option 3 $15.00 USD

Sonja Blue On Kickstarter

KILL CITY is the first  Sonja Blue novel in 10 years. But don't go looking for it at your local bookstore or Amazon. That's because the Big 6 Publishers have decided that it is ‘uncommercial’—largely due to a biting take on a certain popular series of vampire novels aimed at the Young Adult market, therefore consigning it to limbo.  So I have  decided to forego drastically re-tooling the plot and appeal directly to the fans of the Sonja Blue series for financing to complete and publish KILL CITY.

While mainstream publishers might not feel there’s enough demand to warrant the outlay for KILL CITY, I believe otherwise. I know there’s an audience out there for this novel. Every day I get emails and posts on my Facebook page from different fans throughout the world, wanting to know when Sonja Blue will be making her return. In today’s radically changing publishing world, there is no longer any need for the author of a widely read series—one that won awards and has been reprinted in ten different languages—to simply accept the say-so of a publisher as to what is commercially viable and worthy of production.

   

Incentives offered to potential supporters range from DRM-free ebook editions and T-shirts to the distinction of being killed (in print, that is) by vampire slayer Sonja Blue. The Kickstarter page also provides fans a chance to read a never-before seenexcerpt from the unpublished KILL CITY,  as well as new music video showcasing the character of Sonja Blue that includes a wide array of artwork from both professional creators and fans.

SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK, the debut novel in the Sonja Blue series, won the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for First Novel, the British Fantasy Society’s Icarus Award, and the Dal Coger Memorial Hall of Fame Award, and was nominated for the James Tiptree Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. It was also adapted into a comic book series by Glenn Danzig’s Verotik Publications.

As Kickstarter is all-or-nothing funding, the more people involved the better, so please spread 

news!

The Kill City Kickstarter Campaign runs from October 29^th to the 28^th of November.  

Happy Halloween From Sonja Blue

Sonja Blue On Kickstarter!

I have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to fund the completion and publication of KILL CITY, the first new novel in the Sonja Blue series in ten years.

 Should the Kickstarter campaign meet its stated goal amount, KILL CITY will be the first traditional ‘physical’ novel published by  Hopedale Press, a self-publishing venture I created primarily  to release ebooks and audiobooks from my back catalog.

After the initial book proposal for KILL CITY was deemed as ‘uncommercial’ by traditional publishers—largely due to a biting take on a certain popular series of vampire novels aimed at the Young Adult market—I have decided to forego re-tooling the plot in favor of taking  my case directly to the fans of the Sonja Blue series.

 I know there’s an audience out there for this novel. Every day I get emails and posts on my Facebook page from different fans throughout the world, wanting to know when Sonja Blue will be making her return. While mainstream publishers might not feel there’s enough demand to warrant the outlay for KILL CITY, I know otherwise. In today’s radically changing publishing world, there is no longer any need for the author of a widely read series—one that won awards and has been reprinted in ten different languages—to simply accept the say-so of a publisher as to what is commercially viable and worthy of production.

   

Incentives offered to potential supporters range from DRM-free ebook editions and T-shirts to the distinction of being killed (in print, that is) by Sonja. 

The Kickstarter page also provides fans a chance to read a previously unpublished excerpt from  KILL CITY,  as well as  new music video showcasing the character of Sonja Blue that includes a wide array of artwork from both professional creators and fans.

The Kill City Kickstarter Campaign runs from October 29^th to the 28^th of November.  

Happy Hopedale Halloween Giveaway!

Hopedale Press, my epublishing venture, is pleased to announce its celebrating the Halloween season with a special promotion: The Happy Hopedale Halloween Giveaway!

Starting Midnight (PST) Monday, October 22^nd  and running until the Witching Hour (PST)  Thursday, October 26^th, every Halloween-themed ebook in the Hopedale Press catalog will be available for free on Amazon Kindle.

 The ebooks that comprise the giveaway promotion are The Pumpkin Child, Judgment Night and Calaverada (which is set during Dia de los Muertos, but why split hairs?).

In THE PUMPKIN CHILD, a desperate man makes a deal with a witch to exchange his luck with that of the man he envies most, only to have his chickens come home to roost on a dark Halloween night.  

Free On Kindle

In JUDGMENT NIGHT, a group of bored, outcast kids decide to break into a house on Halloween night in order to vandalize it, only to find themselves at the mercy of a depraved serial killer.  

Free On Kindle

In CALAVERADA, a band of hired killers arrive in Old Mexico in search of outlaws on the Day Of The Dead

Free On Kindle

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM HOPEDALE PRESS!

IN THE BLOOD $2.99 Thru Halloween--And More!

PREMIER DIGITAL PUBLISHING (PDP) is holding a LIMITED TIME HALLOWEEN HORROR AND PARANORMAL PROMOTION! From Thursday October 18th until Thursday, Nov.1st,  IN THE BLOOD, sequel to SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK, starring Sonja Blue, is only $2.99  (down from $4.99) on Kindle, Nook & iTunes.

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Also, as part of the same promotion, SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK, ANGELS ON FIRE &TEMPTER have been reduced to .99 via Kindle and Nook. If you've been waiting to buy my revised novels in ebook format, now's the time to act!

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20% Off All Hopedale Press Books @ Bkclb.co

Starting October 12th, Hopedale Press ebooks will be available for purchase from Bkclb.co, a new ebook platform that is attempting to meet the needs of both readers and indie publishers.

Ebooks bought through Bkclb.co are DRM-free and come in both EPUB and Mobi formats. They accept Mastercard, Visa, Amex, debit card and PayPal. And those of you who Tweet about the Hopedale Press ebooks for sale at Bkclb.co can get  20% off the purchase of the book!

Coming October 16th to Kindle, iTunes, Kobo & Nook

Lynch: A Gothik Western

For years Johnny Pearl tried to escape his demons by being a gunslinger. With his killer’s cool and famous pearl-handled pistol, he made a name for himself in the years following the Civil War as an outlaw. But fame has proved hollow, and Johnny finds himself on the outskirts of the Wyoming Territory, on the verge of taking his own life after one gunfight too many, until he finds redemption in the smile of Katie Small Dove.

Katie understands Johnny Pearl’s pain and helps heal his broken soul, giving him the strength to turn his back on his old life of death and destruction, and build a new future. Within a year he has a wife, a homestead, and a baby on the way, and for the first time in his life Johnny knows true happiness. Of course it can not last.

Johnny Pearl’s idyllic new world is suddenly and irrevocably shattered by the arrival of Captain Antioch Drake, a psychotic cavalry officer determined to avenge the recent massacre at Little Big Horn. Within minutes of Drake and his men arriving, the homestead is ablaze, his wife and unborn child cruelly slain, and Johnny left to hang from a cottonwood. 

Normally, this would be the end of Johnny Pearl’s story—if not for the unexpected appearance of a medicine show wagon, driven by a strange old man called Doc Mirablis, who claims to have once been a friend and colleague of a certain Viktor Von Frankenstein.

The life and times of outlaw Johnny Pearl are over. But the adventures of the undead gunslinger called Lynch have just begun…

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The Thing From Lover's Lane: Now On Audiobook!

My Lovecraftian novelette THE THING FROM LOVER'S LANE, read by Shandon Loring, is now an audiobook from Audible.com!  Only $6.95. And if its one of the first 3 audiobooks bought on an Audible.com membership, the title receives a "bounty" of $25.

Heart Of The Dragon starring Elric on Kindle & Nook

Elric of Melniboné, deposed ruler of the ancient Dreaming City of Imrryr, has marshaled a band of sea-reavers in hopes of raiding his homeland and reclaiming both his throne and his beloved Cymoril from his treacherous cousin, Yrkoon. But before he can do so, he must travel to the fabled Valley of the Dragons, in hopes of procuring a flying dragon of his own in order to lead the assault. Tanoch, leader of the mysterious Eldren, a race even older than Elric's own, offers to give him all the dragons he needs to wage his war of revenge--but at what price?

This authorized 'untold tale' of Elric, the most famous of the Eternal Champions, was authorized by Michael Moorcock and originally appeared in the shared world anthology Michael Moorcock's Elric: Tales Of The White Wolf (1994). 

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Sunglasses After Dark now on KOBO!

Sunglasses After Dark is now available on Kobo!

Return To Hell House: Authorized Prequel To HELL HOUSE

In 1927 the infamous millionaire occultist Emeric Belasco disappeared without a trace, leaving behind dozens of  dead bodies in the rambling, isolated mansion known as Hell House.

In 1931 a team of parapsychologists entered Hell House in order to solve the riddle of Belasco's fate, only to meet with horror, insanity and death. The doors were locked and access denied for 9 years.

Now, in 1940, another team of psychic and scientific experts, including the 15 year-old "Ghost Boy" Benjamin Franklin Fisher--the most gifted physical medium in modern history--return to investigate the most haunted house in the world, only to find Hell House eagerly awaiting its newest guests. 

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Angels On Fire Sale! $2.99 Throughout August!

Premier Digital Publications (PDP) is offering my paranormal romance Angels On Fire for $2.99 (normally $4.99) during the entire month of August, whether you buy it from Kindle, Nook or iTunes!

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Introducing the True Sonja Blue Shop!

Looking for a Sonja Blue t-shirt? Or a signed copy of one of my books? Maybe even an e-book or two? Then check out the True Sonja Blue Shop! for your one-stop shopping needs! I also accept Paypal. Shop Now

Hopedale Press Present Walking Wolf: A Weird Western

Walking Wolf a/k/a Billy Skillet is the orphaned son of white settlers, found as an infant by the warrior called Eight Clouds  and raised to be a proud Comanche brave. He also happens to be a werewolf. When he loses control of his darker nature and ends up killing both the woman he loves and his best friend, he must head out into the White Man's world to learn more about who--and what--he is. He travels the Old West, crossing the paths of deranged serial killers, a traveling medicine show, a vampire gunslinger, and even a fellow werewolf, as well as such historical figures as Quanah Parker and Sitting Bull. But of all the dangers he finds himself facing, none is as deadly as the bounty hunter known as Witchfinder Jones, who holds the secret of Walking Wolf's origins.

Buy it from Amazon
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Buy it from Smashwords

Interview And Contests @ Literal Addiction & Book Monster Reviews July 11th!!

Literal Addiction & Book Monster Reviews are featuring an interview with Yours Truly on Wednesday, July 11th. They're also running a contest, where the lucky winner(s) get their choice of  either RIGHT HAND MAGIC or LEFT HAND MAGIC,  the first and second books in the Golgotham series, signed by me.

Hopedale Press Presents HELL COME SUNDOWN

Hell Come Sundown

Troubled by Specters, Ghosts and Phantoms? Fear No More! There Is Help! Call For The Dark Ranger: Ghost Breaking A Specialty! No Spook Too Small, No Fiend Too Fierce! Write Care of: Box 1, Golgotha, Texas. Our Motto: ‘One Wraith, One Ranger.’

Meet Sam Hell, a former law man turned professional spook-buster. He and his Comanche medicine woman companion, Pretty Woman, ride the high plains in search of Sangre,the undead conquistador responsible for transforming him into the Dark Ranger. Award-winning author Nancy A. Collins brings readers yet another thrilling tale of the Weird, Weird West.

Originally published in Dead Man's Hand (2004), this is the first reprint of this novella in any form.

 Hell Come Sundown is $4.99 and available from the following distributors:

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Hopedale Press Presents The Ice Wedding: A Chilling Gothic Fairytale

The Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna was famous for her cruel practical jokes and capricious nature towards those she considered beneath her. Neither peasant nor prince, was safe from her wrath. Prince Mikhail, the scion of a noble and powerful family, found himself forced to become her court jester on the day his wife died. Later, he was forced to marry her chambermaid in an elaborate mock wedding. When the Czarina offers the newlyweds their freedom if they agree to spend their wedding night in the cottage she has had built for them, they eagerly agree, even though it is made of solid ice. Award-winning author Nancy A. Collins crafts a chilling Gothic fairytale based on an amazing historical event.

Available for .99 at:
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Sonja Blue's DNA Part 4

The last major 'donors' to the creative DNA that resulted in Sonja Blue are millionaire socialite & kidnapping victims Patty Hearst and John Paul Getty III. The stories of these two scions of America's super-class--only slightly older than myself--who were snatched off the street and subjected to torture, rape and mutilation, before being returned to their families forever changed--had a deep impact on me at the time (1973-1974). The fact Getty's family refused to negotiate for his release until the kidnappers sent them his ear was particularly shocking, as it was the first time I realized that some families place more value on their money than their children. Even more disgusting/shocking was how the boy's grandfather, billionaire J. Paul Getty, shunned him following his release and blamed him for what happened. Its not too hard to see the paralells between the real-life Hearst famiily & Getty clan, and Denise Thorne's family in Sunglasses After Dark.

 While Patty Hearst has seemed to be able to put the horror of what was done to her by the Symbionese Liberation Army behind her, Getty III was swallowed alive by his own version of The Other, spending the rest of his life as an alcoholic junkie. He was paralyzed and partially blinded by a stroke in 1981 after ingesting a cocktail of drugs.He died in 2011 at the age of 54.

Patty Hearst circa 1974

                              John Paul Getty III circa 1973    

Patty Hearst circa 2008                                         John Paul Getty III prior to his death in 2011

Hopedale Press Presents Aphra: A Tale of Erotic Horror

A married man develops a bizarre fascination with a medical skeleton he buys at a garage sale. Award-winning horror writer Nancy A. Collins, author of Sunglasses After Dark, presents a macabre tale of sexual obsession and erotic horror. Originally published in Shudder Again (NAL, 1993)

From the Publisher's Weekly review of SHUDDER AGAIN:

"Aphra," by Nancy Collins, wittily follows the evolution of the narrator's boyhood fascination with X-Ray Specs into a spooky adult fetish.

Buy APHRA for only .99 at the following retailers:


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Hopedale Press Presents THE THING FROM LOVER'S LANE

“Ia! Ia! Shubb-Niggurath fhtagn!”

 

 

It's the 1950s and Misty Valley is just another sleepy, All-American town, nestled along the Miskatonic River. Unlike sister cities Arkham and Dunwich, Misty Valley has managed to avoid the peculiar occurrences that have plagued the region since the days of the colonial witch trials. That is, until the night Carol Anne Fairweather and her boyfriend, Billy Mahan, parked too far down on Lover's Lane. On that old, foggy night Billy was attacked and knocked unconscious, while Carol Anne was brutally raped by someone--or something--that came out of the woods. Now, in order to clear his name, Billy must discover what really happened that horrible night. But can his mind withstand the awful truth he uncovers? Or will he end up as mad as Old Gooney, the crazed hermit who claims to keep watch against the dark forces that would make Misty Valley their own? Inspired by the work of H.P.Lovecraft, award-winning horror writer Nancy A. Collins adds another tale of terror to the never-ending Cthulhu Mythos.

First published in 1995, The Thing From Lover's Lane was a finalist for the Horror Writers Association's prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Best Novelette.

Buy The Thing From Lover's Lane via Kindle  for $1.99
Buy The Thing From Lover's Lane via Nook for $1.99