FREE/BARGAIN - General Fiction, Literature - 2014

[Froide]

I haven't seen a thread in which to point out deals, freebies, and resources that fit in this category (whose title I swiped from BN.com), so I've taking the liberty of starting one. However, if any MR mods believe there's already an appropriate thread for such titles, then please redirect these posts.

As with the other threads in the "Deals, Freebies, and Resources (No Self-Promotion) forum: please don't post any self-published books*, and please do a search before posting to avoid duplicates.

In case no retailer is specifically mentioned in a post, it is safe to assume it's for Amazon US.

Be aware that many freebies are only free for a day, so grab them fast!

*Unless you have read them yourself, think they are excellent, and you're not connected to the author in any way.

HELP! I should have titled this new thread "Free and Bargain People & Cultures - Fiction", and don't know how to correct the thread title. I'd be grateful if someone would either change it for me or (teach me to fish and) tell me how to do so. (I've reported this post.)

[Froide]

FREE at Amazon.com US:

Creatures Here Below [Kindle Edition] by O.H. Bennett

Book Description
Publication Date: November 8, 2011

This powerful new novel by O. H. Bennett tells the story of a makeshift family struggling to stay together as life wears away at their bonds of blood and love. At the center of the family is Gail Neighbors, the hardworking single mother of two sons, Mason and Tyler. Mason, the older, grew up without knowing his father, a feckless gambler and womanizer. Tyler, the younger, sings in the church choir and enjoys a close relationship with his father, Dan, who left Gail a few years before still spends plenty of time at the house. To make ends meet, Gail has taken in two boarders: Annie, an elderly woman with a diminishing grip on reality, and Jackie, the 20-year-old single mother of baby Cole, who can't fully accept her overwhelming new responsibilities. Creatures Here Below renders with tremendous richness and care the realities of a black teenaged male whose life is taking a turn toward the worse.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Froide

...HELP! I should have titled this new thread "Free and Bargain People & Cultures - Fiction", and don't know how to correct the thread title. I'd be grateful if someone would either change it for me or (teach me to fish and) tell me how to do so. (I've reported this post.)

That's how you get titles fixed. Unfortunately for the rank and file MobileRead member, the only way to get a thread title changed is to do just what you did: report and request. The software doesn't allow users to change these things themselves. The good news is that we don't mind such requests in the least.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

That's how you get titles fixed. Unfortunately for the rank and file MobileRead member, the only way to get a thread title changed is to do just what you did: report and request. The software doesn't allow users to change these things themselves. The good news is that we don't mind such requests in the least.

Thank you, Grand Muckity-Muck!

[Froide]

FREE:

At BN.com
At Amazon.com

Hometown Favorite
by Bill Barton, Henry O. Arnold

ISBN-13: 9781441234698
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group (Revell)
ASIN: B00702M5UE
Pages: 368
Publication date: 9/1/2008
File size: 2 MB

Talented, handsome, and personable, Dewayne Jobe rose from humble beginnings in rural Mississippi to play college football in Southern California and beyond. One of the best wide receivers in college ball, Dewayne is assured a promising career in professional football and easily finds success both on and off the field. Not only is he a great player, he's got the wife, the kids, and the pristine white picket fence to boot.

But catastrophe looms right around the corner and ultimately strikes with a crushing vengeance. Will Dewayne's faith and character stand the test of such tragedy? Or will he lose everything--including the love of his life? This modern retelling of the story of Job will capture readers with the age-old question of why bad things happen to good people--and how good people can survive.

[pstjmack]

I'm sorry, but I have to ask - if this is People and Cultures, why are both posts so far faith-based Christian materials? We already have a Christian Interest thread on here.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by pstjmack

I'm sorry, but I have to ask - if this is People and Cultures, why are both posts so far faith-based Christian materials? We already have a Christian Interest thread on here.

The key phrase is "so far". I started this thread because in the past I've often seen books by or about diverse peoples that did not fit into preexisting categories, so I didn't post them. Some such books, like those above, could either be posted in this thread or into the faith-based Christian thread, but if you'll take note you'll see: no else posted them in that thread or anywhere else in Mobileread. Some other such books by our about diverse peoples do not fit into the faith-based Christian thread, or any other preexisting Mobileread thread, but this thread can accommodate them.

This thread may develop into an "if we build it, they will come" thread, or it may not. Time will tell.

[murg]

Is there a non-faith-based Christian genre?

[Froide]

Doubtful. I used the phrase "faith-based Christian" merely to mirror pstjmack's use of it, when responding to his post. The distinction I was making was: fiction about diverse peoples and cultures -v- faith-based fiction.

[Froide]

The Souls of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois

Overview:

Originally published in 1903, The Souls of Black Folk is a classic study of race, culture, and education at the turn of the twentieth century. With its singular combination of essays, memoir, and fiction, this book vaulted W. E. B. Du Bois to the forefront of American political commentary and civil rights activism. The Souls of Black Folk is an impassioned, at times searing, account of the situation of African Americans in the United States. Du Bois makes a forceful case for the access of African Americans to higher education, memorably extols the achievements of black culture (above all the spirituals or "sorrow songs"), and advances the provocative and influential argument that due to the inequalities and pressures of the "race problem", African American identity is characterized by "double consciousness".

This extraordinary work not only recorded and explained history, it helped to alter its course. Written after Du Bois had earned his Ph.D. from Harvard and studied in Berlin, these 14 essays contain both the academic language of sociology and the rich lyrics of African spirituals, which Du Bois called "sorrow songs."

Product Details:
ISBN-13: 9781480483842
ASIN: B00K5EBF8M
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication date: 5/27/2014

At BN.com US
At Amazon.com US

NOTE: This book is collection of short fiction and nonfiction, so I'm cross-posting it.

[Froide]

Today's daily Open Road Media freebie at BN.com

Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe

Overview:

For more than 270 years, readers everywhere have been fascinated by the young fool who ran away from wealth, security, and family for a rough life at sea -- and came to his senses too late, alone on a tropical island. Alone except for cannibals, that is, and God. Robinson Crusoe's adventure takes place on a remote island. Adjusting to the primitive conditions, he learns to make tools, shelters, bread, and clothes. More importantly, he becomes a Christian.

As the sole survivor of a shipwreck, an Englishman lives for nearly thirty years on a deserted island.

From Barnes & Noble:

Based on a real-life incident, Robinson Crusoe tells the story of a young man who yearns to escape the mundane world and set sail for a life of adventure in faraway places. Defying his father's wishes he leaves on board a ship, then finds himself marooned on a tropical island where he wrestles with his fate and ponders the nature of God and man. The world has gotten smaller since Defoe penned his novel, but the human imagination still looms large. So even in today's world of space exploration, this story of an ordinary man struggling to survive has not lost its appeal for modern readers.

Product Details:

ISBN-13: 9781497659780
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication date: 8/26/2014
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 288
File size: 484 KB

[ATDrake]

Free from the author (who has been print-published by Atheneum and others for these retold traditional folktales since the 90s) via KDP Select @ Amazon:

The Songs of Power: A Northern Tale of Magic by Aaron Shepard, a children's story based on the Finnish mythological epic poem The Kalevala*, originally hardcovered from Skyhook Press (this seems to be a self-pub setup name, but he also has an official Simon & Schuster author page for his other books as well) in 2007.

Not so long ago, in the tiny, isolated villages of Finland, where prolonged summer days gave way to endless winter nights, people would pass the time by singing the many adventures of their favorite heroes: the mighty, magical men and women of ancient days.

They sang of old Vainamoinen, greatest of sages and magicians, who helped create the world but never could find a woman to wed him. They sang of his friend and ally Ilmarinen, first among craftsmen, the blacksmith who forged the dome of the heavens.

They sang of Louhi, the ancient lady of Northland, whose crafty wit and magical powers made her a worthy opponent for Vainamoinen himself. And they sang of Aila, Louhi's lovely daughter, who captured the hopes of the two old friends and drew them as rivals to the shores of Northland.

And while these songs could still be heard, there came along a rural doctor, a scholar, who gathered and wove them together in a book he called the Kalevala. And so he created for Finns a national epic, and for the rest of the world, a work of wonder.

The songs endure, the heroes live. . . .

For ages 10 and up. Not illustrated!

There's also a children's picture book of more recent vintage by him and illustrator Wendy Edelson about the WWI Christmas Truce (which incidentally has an excellent multilingual feature film on the subject), if anyone's interested: Christmas Truce @ B&N, Amazon, Kobo, iTunes

* Well, maybe not actually technically based on Lönnrot's version of the legends even though it seems to feature him, but still probably influenced by it the way that nearly all modern retellings of the Welsh legends probably crib heavily from Lady Charlotte Guest's Mabinogion compilation, as being the popularizing source document for most people's familiarity with the myths at all.

[Froide]

Today's Open Road Media freebie at BN.com.

The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas

Overview:

Alexandre Dumas' novel of justice, retribution, and self-discovery - one of the most enduringly popular adventure tales ever written.

This novel tells the story of Edmond Dantes, wrongfully imprisoned for life in the supposedly impregnable sea fortress the Chateau d'If. After a daring escape, and after unearthing a hidden treasure revealed to him by a fellow prisoner, he devotes the rest of his life to tracking down and punishing the enemies who wronged him.

[Froide]

Deleted; price changed while I was posting.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by Froide

Today's daily Open Road Media freebie at BN.com

Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe

Overview:

For more than 270 years, readers everywhere have been fascinated by the young fool who ran away from wealth, security, and family for a rough life at sea -- and came to his senses too late, alone on a tropical island. Alone except for cannibals, that is, and God. Robinson Crusoe's adventure takes place on a remote island. Adjusting to the primitive conditions, he learns to make tools, shelters, bread, and clothes. More importantly, he becomes a Christian.

As the sole survivor of a shipwreck, an Englishman lives for nearly thirty years on a deserted island.

From Barnes & Noble:

Based on a real-life incident, Robinson Crusoe tells the story of a young man who yearns to escape the mundane world and set sail for a life of adventure in faraway places. Defying his father's wishes he leaves on board a ship, then finds himself marooned on a tropical island where he wrestles with his fate and ponders the nature of God and man. The world has gotten smaller since Defoe penned his novel, but the human imagination still looms large. So even in today's world of space exploration, this story of an ordinary man struggling to survive has not lost its appeal for modern readers.

Product Details:

ISBN-13: 9781497659780
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication date: 8/26/2014
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 288
File size: 484 KB

Free now at Amazon.com US.
No longer free at BN.com.