Free (Kindle DRM-free) Siege of Stone by Chet Williamson [Supernatural CIA Thriller]

[ATDrake]

Relatively little overall in the slushpile today. Perhaps authors/publishers are starting to get as tired of the exclusive-or-else thing as I am. The ones who aren't writing really repetitive-looking porn, that is.

Or maybe they've just saved everything to dump into the slushpile on Tuesdays from now on.

Today's sf/fantasy backlist treat is actually a fantasy/horror one, and the 3rd in a trilogy which it looks like the publisher aims to get you to buy the first two by giving you the conclusion of the story.

Siege of Stone by Chet Williamson, is 3rd in his The Searchers trilogy of supernatural action/adventure government agents vs unspeakable horror thrillers, which was originally published in 1999 by Avon and is being reoffered by re-publisher Crossroads now.

Williamson, incidentally, has been multiply-nominated for the Bram Stoker and World Fantasy and probably other awards, and has a reasonably extensive ISFDB entry and a rambly Wikipedia one as well. I have not read his works, as I am not usually interested in either horror or thrillers, award-nominated or not.

Free without DRM for who knows how long @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT

Description
From Chet Williamson, winner of the International Horror Guild Award and multiple World Fantasy, Edgar and Stoker Award Nominee, comes the third in an amazing series ... The Searchers:

He is The Prisoner, ageless, deathless, powerful beyond measure – and now he is free.

A being as old as time, he has always been. For centuries a clandestine order of knights has guarded him, keeping his existence secret from an unsuspecting world. But The Prisoner has escaped his shackles, cutting a bloody swath of terror across America.

His time is now.

For covert CIA operatives Tony Luciano, Joseph Stein, and Laika Harris, the search is nearing an end. Each passing moment brings them closer to answers to the mystery they have been entrusted to solve; what spawned this awesome being and released him into the world? And what is his horrifying purpose? But their hunt has left an FBI man dead, and now the SEARCHERS are the hunted. Yet they dare not falter, for the Prisoner must be stopped at any cost, before he forges an unholy terrorist alliance that will rain destruction and death up on the Earth, and damn an enslaved human race to the torments of an eternal living Hell.

Non-repeats in the KDP slushpile. There's also some Smashwords & iTunes stuff I'll probably put into a separate thread later if it's still free when I get back, because I don't care for the idea of Amazon being perceived asthe sole source of decent backlist and established author self-pub titles from which all others peripherally stem and need to be worked around, which apparently people have been getting from having stuff all lumped into Amazon-adjunct posts.

UK writer Zoë Sharp whose ex-Special-Forces-biker-babe-turned-bodyguard mystery/thrillers were formerly published by Piatkus, returns to offer a collection of short stories with a mini-guide to the series: FOX FIVE: a Charlie Fox short story collection

Diane Story's historical American pioneer romance was 2004-Whiskey Creek published: The Overlander's Bride

Scott Nicholson & J.R. Rain team up to offer: Ghost College (The Ghost Files #1)

ISFDBed Nebula Award-nominee J. Kathleen Cheney returns with a fantasy short: Snowfall (Tales from Hawk's Folly Farm)

Michelle M. Pillow has been published by Ellora's Cave and teams up with Mandy M. Roth to offer a contemporary apparently-humourous erotic romance which one reviewer helpfully points out is "a fun book filled with SEX, SEX, SEX": Pleasure Cruise

Previously title-featured Canadian Governor General's Award for Children's Literature winner Arthur Slade returns with a volume in his Norse-mythology based YA dark fantasy/adventure trilogy, originally out from Orca Book in 1998, if you missed the omnibus edition. This is not KDP, but playing pricing-catchup with Smashwords (or is lurking at free elsewhere) so may not be free or available in all regions, but may also appear in your other preferred store if it price-matches SW: Draugr (Northern Frights)

Fellow MR member author Nancy Fulda (ISFDB entry) offers a short fantasy tale which is also not KDP, but playing pricing catch-up with Smashwords (thus, usual disclaimers apply): In the Halls of the Sky-Palace: A Short Story

Marisa Mackle is an Irish writer whose books have been published by Dodder, who also have some Maeve Binchy stuff in their listings. She offers her humourous contemporary romance, out from Dodder in 2007, and earlier from Town House in 2002: Mr Right for the Night (Irish Romantic Comedy)

John L. Moore apparently has written a bunch of articles for the New York Times, or at least someone with his name has a few turning up upon search. He offers a western adventure tale which may be Christian fiction (blurb says he has won a specified fiction award from a Christian outlet, though it may have been for something else entirely): The Breaking of Ezra Riley (The Ezra Riley Series)

Frank Mundo apparently writes for the Books section of the Los Angeles Examiner, according to a quickie google search. He offers a collection of litfic-looking shorts for which he quotes blurb praise from the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post: Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories

Dylan Metrano offers a behind-the-scenes memoir of his experiences in the music industry with his band Tiger Saw, which the Wikipedia entry says has been around since the late 90s, originally out from small press Burst & Bloom in 2009: All My Friends Are Right Here With Me: A Decade in the Indie Rock Underground

Video game designer Stephen Beam returns with the self-explanatory: Fat Rich Dog (part man, part machine, part golden retriever)

[carpetmojo]

Thanks AT - I feel a delve coming up !

[Blue Tyson]

If you stay away from the USA your chances of dying in a horror, monsters or apocalypse situation drop by about 99% I think

Thanks


Lots recently, so :-

648!

Worked it out, too - about 20% of choices are short stories

[ApK]

When I saw "Supernatural CIA thriller," I was really hoping it was about the Culinary Institute of America.

[Blue Tyson]

Yeah. Attack of the killer gourmet meals would be a bit more interesting.

[koland]

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

Yeah. Attack of the killer gourmet meals would be a bit more interesting.

You'll have to watch for this one:

Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain

In a not-too-distant future L.A. where master chefs rule the town like crime lords and people literally kill for a seat at the best restaurants, a bloody culinary war is raging.

On one side, the Internationalists, who blend foods from all over the world into exotic delights. On the other, the “Vertical Farm,” who prepare nothing but organic, vegetarian, macrobiotic dishes. Into this maelstrom steps Jiro, a renegade and ruthless sushi chef, known to decapitate patrons who dare request a California Roll, or who stir wasabi into their soy sauce. Both sides want Jiro to join their factions. Jiro, however has bigger ideas, and in the end, no chef may be left alive!

[Blue Tyson]

Nice. Hopefully will be an ebook too.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by koland

You'll have to watch for this one:

Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain

In a not-too-distant future L.A. where master chefs rule the town like crime lords and people literally kill for a seat at the best restaurants, a bloody culinary war is raging.

On one side, the Internationalists, who blend foods from all over the world into exotic delights. On the other, the “Vertical Farm,” who prepare nothing but organic, vegetarian, macrobiotic dishes. Into this maelstrom steps Jiro, a renegade and ruthless sushi chef, known to decapitate patrons who dare request a California Roll, or who stir wasabi into their soy sauce. Both sides want Jiro to join their factions. Jiro, however has bigger ideas, and in the end, no chef may be left alive!

Sounds like a dish best served cold.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by crich70

Sounds like a dish best served cold.

"It's very cold....in the blast chiller, Kirk."

[Blue Tyson]

I'd kill for some dessert.

[ATDrake]

Feature still free, a couple of minor updates, mainly for things we've gotten in series.

For those of you who picked up Zoë Sharp's Charlie Fox mystery/crime collection yesterday, she now offers the 4th in series novel. This is not linked to a paperback and I'm not going to dig, but blurb says it was "Nominated for the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel": FIRST DROP: Charlie Fox book four

Sourcebooks & Ellora-published Lisa Renee Jones returns with a paranormal romance short (may be erotic) which is a spin-off from some series of hers: Wicked Werewolf Night - (Alluring Tales: Night Moves) (Werewolf Society)

Samhain or Ellora-published Vivi Anna (probably both) offers a short which is tied into one of her published series. I think this may be a repeat but it's old enough I don't have it in the new KDP auxiliary account: Dawning (Nina Decker)

Stoker-nominee Alexandra Solokoff, who has recently joined MR as a member author, returns to offer her 2008 St. Martin's Press supernatural/horror thriller: The Price

Avalon-published Mona Ingram returns with a ghost-influenced contemporary prairie romance which she says was rewritten from its 2009 Wild Rose small-pressed version and is actually set in Canada!: Moonlight Dancer

UK writer Ken McClure, who is an actual medical researcher, returns with another one of his medical thrillers for your collection, this one out from Collins/Fontana in 1989 and reprinted by Pocket Books in 1997: FENTON'S WINTER

Berkley-published Michele Scott, whom we normally see under her self-pub pen name A.K. Alexander, returns to offer a sleuthy-looking paranormal mystery/thriller with a touch of romance, centred around the rock music scene: The Grey Tier (A Dead Celeb Mystery)

If you've been enjoying anthologized-next-to-more-established-romance-writers Diane Davis White's historical/multicultural romances, here's a multi-author holiday-themed mini-collection from the HeartSent imprint which covers her books: HeartSent Christmas

Well, if you've ever wanted to get off the beaten path and go on some really unusual tour spots for your vacations, this may be the guidebook for you: The 40 Most Interesting Czech WWII Bunkers

And, possibly after you've gotten back from that hypothetical vacation, you could make use of the helpful instructions in this book to wind down and relax a bit. Or maybe you could make use of it in general, depending on your lifestyle: The Home Distiller's Workbook - Your guide to making Moonshine, Whisky, Vodka, Rum and so much more! (The Home Distiller's Series)

Happy reading, if indeed you manage to spot something you think you might like (but maybe not too happy, if you don't have universal health coverage in your locale yet make serious use of that last book).

[Synamon]

I just stumbled on this and I know there are a few people here who like short stories, Nowhere to Go by Iain Rowan is currently free. Bonus UK link.

Eleven crime stories first published in Alfred Hitchcock's, Ellery Queen's, and elsewhere by award-winning writer Iain Rowan. Eleven stories of what people do when there is nowhere left to go.

ETA: I liked his author bio and on impulse I bought his debut novel when I checked and it was DRM free. Not something I usually do.

[ATDrake]

Thanks for finding and sharing that. It's a repeat, but one that I don't think has ever been posted because IIRC I came across a bunch of Infinity Plus sf/fantasy things much too late to add to a post before they expired (or it was from before I started to bother reposting the interesting bits of the slushpile, I forget which).

So it's a nice speculative-related fiction treat for everyone who never got a chace to see it last time, especially for people who've read and enjoyed Rowan's other freebie stories since then.

[Blue Tyson]

Amarante: A Tale of Old Tharduin - Scott Oden

http://www.amazon.com/Amarante-Tale-.../dp/B0078VFJQ4

"In the war-torn ruins of Siphais, two Orcs seek vengeance against an insurgent sorceress and her eerie minions.


"Oden's action scenes are rich with crackling vitality and his pacing is top-notch. One of the best adventure writers working today." -- Howard Andrew Jones, author of Desert of Souls"


Historical fiction author going for a bit of fantasy it appears. Jones' recommendation is enough for me.

[melmac]

Since KDP started I've been collecting Paul Levine's Jake Lassiter series there's one up today Riptide not sure if it's a repeat and I just missed it the first time or not