Free (DRM-free, multiple formats) The Big Jump by Leigh Brackett [Vintage Sci-Fi]

[ATDrake]

It's that time of the month again, and sf/fantasy specialty re-publisher Phoenix Pick has another nifty Free eBook of the Month offering to kick off March.

The Big Jump by the late Leigh Brackett (Wikipedia entry), who had an interesting career which included working on the film versions of Return of the Jedi and The Big Sleep, is a vintage old school science fiction space adventure which dates from 1955, according to Wikipedia.

Phoenix Pick are not only offering this free in the formats of your choice without DRM, they also have a nice tie-in offer for some classic sf novels discounted 25% off the regular sale bundle pricing, for a total of 55% combined discount off the total list of all 5 books for $19.78 (just under $4 per title, no coupon required, use the link from the freebie book page for your choice of DRM-free ePub or Mobi).

It's got two things by Nebula nominee Daniel Galouye, L. Sprague de Camp's classic time-travel adventure Lest Darkness Fall (Wikipedia entry), best-of short stories from Brackett's husband Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett's own post-apocalyptic novel The Long Tomorrow, which I bought on sale last year and have read and can recommend as a pretty good old-school read.

If you're interested in more sale Brackett/Hamilton, Baen has a bundle of 8 of their classic sci-fi pulp space adventures for just $20, which apparently was supposed to be a time-limited discount pricing which they never bothered to remove (the other sale bundles from that time have gone up to $32): The Solar System

Anyway, to get the freebie @ Phoenix Pick, just go to their frontpage, scroll down to the link in Brackett's author entry, and enter coupon code 9991393 when it asks. PPick really do month-long freebies and both these offers will be good through March 31st.

Also, they had something in their newsletter about yanking one of their titles to KDP Select in the Prime Lending library and say that if it does well in the loans, they'll be yanking even more with the incentive of Amazon Prime members alone getting more of their books for "free" via the once-a-month borrow, effectively removing them from purchase for at least 90 days for anyone else who doesn't shop through Amazon (not to mention slapping on an extra $2+ surcharge for buyers who do, in the less fortunate countries).

I can't say that I approve of, much less encourage this, and it's probably just as well I bought the book that they've just yanked directly from them when it was on new-release sale last year.

Incidentally, just so you know, when something gets yanked at B&N so that it can be KDP-Selected, it apparently completely screws the existing purchaser's ability to re-download the affected book file, and if/when it shows back up at B&N again, it's listed as a brand-new item (similar to Amazon's occasional ASIN product changes) and people who've already bought the book who'd want to update to a fixed version or leave a "Verified Purchase"-type review or whatever would have to re-buy the book.

Now, this may be something that B&N needs to work on to at least keep the download of the already-purchased version in place for the paying customers, but fellow MR member author anamardoll describes in more detail her personal experience with this charming side effect of the rush to cash in on the KDP Select exclusive-or-else jackpot in this post here.

Description
What awaits us out in space?

New star-drive engines promise to open up the galaxy to humankind. But the first ship to use the engines disappears and a sole survivor returns...alone and dying of some strange type of radiation.

No one can figure out what has happened to the ship or the crew. Nor does anyone know what happens to a ship travelling using star-drive technology.

Does some unknown horror await us out there?

The only way to find out is to go out again. And Arch Comyn is determined to be the one to solve the mystery.

But is he, and the rest of mankind, ready for whatever awaits us beyond The Big Jump?

[Blue Tyson]

One of my all time favorite authors.

So I definitely recommend this one. And anything she wrote as well. A good way to do that is as mentioned - get the excellent chock full Baen Bundles The Solar System and The Eric John Stark Saga http://www.baenebooks.com/p-804-the-...tark-saga.aspx

Should be able to buy it on Amazon too if you are so inclined.

Both Lest Darkness Fall and The Long Tomorrow are very good.

[Dr. Drib]

Got it.

Thank you.




Don

[GA Russell]

Thanks AT!

[Blue Tyson]

Here's some of my highlights - think this is the fourth time I have read this

https://kindle.amazon.com/work/the-b...05PR5SR8/posts

[Apache]

I loved reading Leigh Brackett. Thanks for the link to another of her free ebooks.
Apache

[Gardenman]

Got the free book. Thanks

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

Both Lest Darkness Fall and The Long Tomorrow are very good.

"Lest Darkness Fall" is a superb book, but nothing to do with Leigh Brackett; it was written by L. Sprague de Camp.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by HarryT

"Lest Darkness Fall" is a superb book, but nothing to do with Leigh Brackett; it was written by L. Sprague de Camp.

It's mentioned in conjunction because it's part of the tie-in sale bundle of multi-author sf classics that PPick are offering above.

[Blue Tyson]

Yes, Harry. I am one of the last people on the planet you should be accusing of not knowing what Brackett wrote. I can likely quote all titles from memory, with variants.

[HarryT]

Very good. Bought the bundle. Thanks!

[HarryT]

Hmmm. I'm not inspired with confidence for the quality of this publisher by the fact that there's a typo on the cover of the first book that I look at! ("Simulacron-3" by Daniel F. Galouye. It says "Afterwod by Mike Resnick" on the cover).

I haven't come across "Phoenix Pick" before. Are they simply a reseller, or a publisher?

This certainly looks like a good bundle, though. Several books here that I haven't previously come across.

[Dr. Drib]

Looking at it now, on their site, it appears to have been corrected - but maybe only in their ad copy.



Don

[carpetmojo]

Looks a very intriguing little lot - many thanks for the tip(s).

carpetmojo.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I haven't come across "Phoenix Pick" before. Are they simply a reseller, or a publisher?

Publisher specializing in sf/fantasy backlist reprints and do paper versions as well as e-. I'm actually kind of surprised you don't recognize them because they've been doing the Free eBook of the Month since mid-2010, which have been posted in Deals fairly steadily since then.

They did use to mostly call themselves "Arc Manor" and that seems to be the official publisher name and Phoenix Pick their sf/fantasy (and only) imprint.

They do have a few formatting issues from time to time with no chapter breaks or proper TOC for some of their books (which is in part why I pick up the ePub versions because they're easier to tweak) but from what I've read of their books, rather few typos (I've seen worse in stuff I've bought from the major publishers).

And they're pretty good at offering tie-in sales for other works related to the monthly free e-book author and occasional special discount deals on other stuff. I've managed to pick up a fair amount of books I'd probably have never encountered on my own from more relatively-obscure authors I haven't even seen in the used bookshops around here, which I've now read and enjoyed.

It is worrisome, however, that their newest releases are now only available on Amazon and B&N, the latter of which doesn't officially sell outside the US, and the former of which I prefer not to give money for non-physical items because I don't care for certain of their business practices as regards digital stuff, and don't seem to have the Publisher Direct purchase option for those newest books, but perhaps that's something which will re-appear later.