Tom rachman, best-selling author of “the imperfectionists,” publishes
short story exclusively as a kindle single
Seattle--(business wire)--last year, tom rachman’s debut novel “the imperfectionists” became an instant best seller after earning a cover rave from christopher buckley in the new york times book review, landing on numerous top 10 lists and appearing on the amazon editors’ list of the best books of 2010. today, amazon.com, inc. (nasdaq:amzn) announced that tom rachman has published his first short story exclusively as a kindle single. titled “the bathtub spy,” rachman’s kindle single tells the story of a middle-aged intelligence bureaucrat and his odd relationship with his boss. it’s available now in the kindle singles store (www.amazon.com/kindlesingles) for $1.99. “it wasn’t long ago that stories like this could only be published in a magazine, collection or anthology,” said russ grandinetti, vice president of kindle content. “but kindle has really opened up the world of short stories, making it possible for authors to get compelling ideas out to their readers in a new way.” best-selling authors lee child, stephen king and karin slaughter are also publishing short stories this month as kindle singles. their work appears alongside “the eight foot woman” by matthew ducker, a university of virginia mfa graduate and a strong new voice in literary fiction. together, these authors have made the kindle singles store a go-to destination for fiction this summer. new kindle singles in fiction include: “second son” by lee child ($1.99): available now, this new reacher original digital short story flashes back to the teen years of child’s ongoing central character, jack reacher, the former military policeman who wanders the u.s. in “second son,” child offers fans of his novels new insights and information about reacher’s since-murdered brother, joe, and dead father — finally identified and deepened in this mid-1970s tale of the early, deadly connections in the reacher family. “mile 81” by stephen king ($2.99): available september 1, “mile 81” combines a coming-of-age story with heart-stopping horror, in stephen king's latest macabre, maine-based tale of death and mayhem. as good samaritans flock to a deserted rest stop off the highway with the hope of saving lives, they keep losing their own. what's killing them? and who can stop it from destroying everyone who comes near? in “mile 81,” king delivers a 16,000-word short story that will not disappoint his legions of fans. “thorn in my side” by karin slaughter ($1.99): releasing august 25, “thorn in my side” is the story of two uniquely paired brothers, out on the town on what could have been any saturday night. what happens next can only be described in two words: vintage slaughter. from the opening scene to the last line, “thorn in my side” is as darkly wicked as it is entertaining — an unforgettable piece of writing. “the eight foot woman” by matthew ducker ($0.99): released in july, this short story by literary newcomer matthew ducker quickly shot up the kindle singles best seller list. the story follows a once-promising basketball star who decides to attend her high school reunion. compelled by a mixture of curiosity and regret, she leaves behind a stable — if not entirely comfortable — life and returns to the depressed appalachian town where she grew up. but the trip home is more difficult than she expected, complicated by her feelings about the past and the catastrophic event that underlies her present. since launching in january, kindle singles have received more than 600 5-star reviews from amazon.com customers and 25 titles have made it into the top 100 in the kindle store. kindle singles are typically between 5,000 and 30,000 words and are intended to allow a single compelling idea — well-researched, well-argued and well-illustrated — to be expressed at its natural length. to be considered for kindle singles, writers can email their manuscript or a brief synopsis to kindle-singles@amazon.com. like all kindle books, kindle singles are "buy once, read everywhere" — customers can read them on their kindle, on the web with kindle cloud reader and on free kindle reading apps for android, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, blackberry, windows phone, pc and mac. with kindle worry-free archive, books purchased from the kindle store are automatically backed up online in customers’ kindle libraries on amazon, where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime. about amazon.com amazon.com, inc. (nasdaq:amzn), a fortune 500 company based in seattle, opened on the world wide web in july 1995 and today offers earth’s biggest selection. amazon.com, inc. seeks to be earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as books; movies, music & games; digital downloads; electronics & computers; home & garden; toys, kids & baby; grocery; apparel, shoes & jewelry; health & beauty; sports & outdoors; and tools, auto & industrial. amazon web services provides amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. kindle, kindle 3g, kindle with special offers, kindle 3g with special offers and kindle dx are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. kindle 3g, kindle 3g with special offers and kindle dx utilize the same 3g wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a wi-fi hotspot. kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on amazon. amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, and www.amazon.it. as used herein, “amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include amazon.com, inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise. forward-looking statements this announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27a of the securities act of 1933 and section 21e of the securities exchange act of 1934. actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. more information about factors that potentially could affect amazon.com’s financial results is included in amazon.com’s filings with the securities and exchange commission, including its most recent annual report on form 10-k and subsequent filings.
