Free and Bargain SciFi/Fantasy in November 2012

[conanfan]

Alright, I'll start up the SciFi/Fantasy November 2012 Thread:

Phoenix Pick's free book of the month for November is Larry Niven's collection, Limits. Please note that the link is to their monthly newsletter, with instructions on how to get the free ebook at the bottom of the newsletter. I recommend signing up, because they give away quality fare every month.

Here is an extraordinary mix of fantasy and science fiction from one of the masters of
science fiction, Larry Niven.

The stories in this collection include some collaborations with authors such as Jerry Pournelle (Spirals) and Steven Barnes (The Locusts), as well as stories written by Niven himself.

Larry Niven’s credits include the award-winning Ringworld series, his “Known Space” novels and the Man-Kzin anthologies. His collaborations with Jerry Pournelle include such titles as Lucifer’s Hammer, Inferno and The Mote in God’s Eye.

[scottken]

The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller is currently on sale for $2.99 main

From Publishers Weekly
Miller, and Hachette's new mass market imprint Orbit, debuts with a solid epic that posits political intrigue, ethereal prophecies and a rags-to-riches hero against a vivid if familiar fantasy backdrop (sure to provoke déjà vu in fans of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire). Fisherman's son Asher seeks his fortune in the capital city of Dorana, home to the royal family and the magic-using race called Doranen. After a chance encounter, Asher begins working in the palace as assistant/apprentice to Crown Prince Gar; meanwhile, an underground sect watches Asher and secretly guides his fate, believing him the key to an ancient, apocalyptic prophecy. The erudite Prince Gar, meanwhile, has concerns of his own: flagging popularity (over his decision to take lowly Asher under his wing) and his combative sister's inheritance, the weather-controlling magic that keeps their kingdom secure. Though Asher's cynical salt-of-the-earth act is overused, and characters can be frustratingly pouty, Miller's prose is earnest and engaging, and his complex story accelerates nicely toward a brutal cliffhanger finale.

[scottken]

The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells, is on sale for $1.99 main
not on sale anywhere other than Amazon US that I saw.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Moon's world is populated by many different intelligent species (none of them human), and he has never known which one he belongs to. Orphaned at a young age, he's wandered from tribe to tribe, hiding a dangerous secret. Like the universally hated Fell, whose only aims are slaughter and conquest, Moon can fly—which leads to predictably violent cases of mistaken identity. When he does find his own people, the Raksura, life doesn't get any easier, since their internal politics are vicious, and they too are in imminent danger from the Fell. Cue hairsbreadth escapes and feats of derring-do, as Moon helps his new family evacuate their doomed colony and then rescues a group of kidnapped children. Wells (The Gate of Gods) merrily ignores genre conventions as she spins an exciting adventure around an alien hero who anyone can identify with.

[conanfan]

Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers, one of my favorite authors (On Stranger Tides, The Stress of Her Regard, The Anubis Gates, is on sale for $.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

London, winter of 1862, Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute, arrives on the doorstep of veterinarian John Crawford, a man she met once seven years earlier. Their brief meeting produced a child who, until now, had been presumed dead. McKee has learned that the girl lives—but that her life and soul are in mortal peril from a vampiric ghost. But this is no ordinary spirit; the bloodthirsty wraith is none other than John Polidori, the onetime physician to the mad, bad, and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron. Both McKee and Crawford have mysterious histories with creatures like Polidori, and their child is a prize the malevolent spirit covets dearly.



Polidori is also the late uncle and supernatural muse to the poet Christina Rossetti and her brother, the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. When she was just fourteen years old, Christina unwittingly brought Polidori's curse upon her family. But the curse bestowed unexpected blessings as well, inspiring Christina's poetry and Gabriel's paintings. But when Polidori resurrects Dante's dead wife—turning her into a horrifying vampire—and threatens other family members, Christina and Dante agree that they must destroy their monstrous uncle and break the spell, even if it means the end of their creative powers.



Determined to save their daughter, McKee and Crawford join forces with the Rossettis, and soon these wildly mismatched allies are plunged into a supernatural London underworld whose existence goes beyond their wildest imaginings. Ultimately, each of these disparate individuals—the sensitive poet, the tortured painter, the straitlaced animal doctor, the reformed prostitute, and even their Artful Dodger–like young daughter—must choose between the banality and constraints of human life and the unholy immortality that Polidori offers.



Sweeping from the mansions of London's high society to its grimy slums, the elegant salons of the West End to the pre-Roman catacombs beneath St. Paul's Cathedral, Hide Me Among the Graves blends the historical and the supernatural in a dazzling, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride—a modern horror story with a Victorian twist.


“Endlessly inventive . . . You might finish this overstuffed novel still unsure about the connection between Einstein and astral projection, but if you give in to Powers’s imaginative leaps and relentless pacing you may find that a mere quibble.” (New York Times Book Review )



“The nonstop action of this diverting steampunk thriller will attract many readers.” (Library Journal on HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES )



“[A] breathtaking achievement, the complexity of which a review can only begin to capture...[A] powerful work.” (Locus )



“[I]nternational metaphysical intrigue involving time travel, Jewish mysticism, and Albert Einstein. . . . [I]t all somehow works in Powers’ wily storytelling logic. B+.” (Entertainment Weekly )



“[An] intense, downhill-race of a story . . . the summer sleeper hit of 2006.” (Denver Post )



“[A] stellar supernatural thriller.…Powers works an impressively original variation on the vampire theme....The meticulous attention to historical and literary detail grounds the story solidly in its period and enhances its imaginative reach.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) on HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES )



“A wild and wooly romp-fun.” (Library Journal )



“Almost despite its wonderful weirdness, this thriller moves at a frantic clip . . . [the] very outlandishness [of Powers’s metaphysics] makes the story all the more compelling.” (Booklist )



“Machiavellian . . . [A]n astonishingly sophisticated and engrossing narrative.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review)



“A writer of extraordinary imaginative powers.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel )



“In this fast-paced nail-biter... the breakneck pace and labyrinthine plot pull us through history, mythology, mystery, and horror with [Powers’] signature creative verve. ” (Booklist on HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES )

[conanfan]

Hugo and Nebula award winner Robert Silverberg's newest book, When the Blue Shift Comes, is available for $.99 at Amazon. This is really two novellas, one by Silverberg, and a sequel by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro.

A grand new adventure by a Grandmaster of science fiction.

Life has spread across the stars, and everyone enjoys a long life. However, only those who are Earth-born are truly immortal.

But what happens when the immortals of Earth are suddenly faced with their ultimate destruction?

Hanosz Prime, a near-immortal (though not truly so, not being of true Earth stock) travels to humanity’s ancient home to discover the ultimate answer to humanity’s end.

A new Silverberg story in the tradition of the old classics, with an accompanying novella by up-and-coming writer Alvaro Zinos-Amaro.

[conanfan]

Jordan Stratford's debut novel, Mechanicals, is currently free at Amazon.

Mechanicals: A Steampunk Novel of the Crimean War
A monster-hunting priest and his 16 year old protégé race across Europe in advance of a cavalry of steam-powered robots, while a young American reporter chronicles the first airship crossing of the Pacific – in reality a gun-running operation to arm the Russians.

"Stratford is the Archduke of Canadian Steampunk."
– Cherie Priest

[conanfan]

The Riddler's Gift by South African author Greg Hamerton is free from Amazon. This is the first book in the Lifesong trilogy and has received some pretty good reviews.

A shadow steals across Eyri. One by one, the Lightgifters are snuffed out. When darkness strikes her family, Tabitha receives a dangerous legacy. Soon the Riddler walks beside her, but is he on her side?

The more she searches for answers, the further into treachery she is led. The more she tries to flee, the harder she is hunted. And the more she sings the ancient Lifesong, the more the world begins to change.

Can she grasp her gift before the darkness captures the last of the light?

"In a darkening realm, which is better: the power to save your love, or to save your love from power?"

"When you reach the end of The Riddler's Gift, you're left wanting more. Highly, highly recommended." --FANTASY BOOK CRITIC

"There are moments in this novel that are sheer magic..." --SFBOOK.com

"Utterly compelling ... with a blistering climax." --TERRY GRIMWOOD

"A highly recommended fantasy novel - enormous fun to read and extremely easy to lose yourself within." --FANTASY BOOK REVIEW

[conanfan]

Guy Adams (The World House series, the Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) has a post-apocalyptic novella, The Change: Orbital, free on Amazon today. Tip of the cap to the Books on the Knob blog the heads up.

Book Description
Not a war, but an instant occupation. The Change - as those that survived would later refer to it - took only four minutes to sink its ravenous teeth into our world.

But nothing would ever be the same again.

Reality has taken a battering. Everything imaginable - dream or nightmare - can now be found on the streets of our towns and cities. Nothing is impossible and nowhere is safe.

Waking up on London's M25 motorway, Howard tries to get to grips with his new surroundings. The wide road is filled with cars and rotting carcasses. As he struggles to survive, he falls in with the road pirates - a ragged band of bikers who forage amongst the derelict vehicles for anything they can steal to survive.

But the road doesn't belong to them alone, not any more. Between the rows of metal and shattered glass an unimaginable creature has been born and nothing can stop it's hunger for destruction.

THE CHANGE: ORBITAL is the first in a series of uncompromising enthralling adventures, a road trip into London that brilliantly imagines the city's post apocalyptic future.

[Dr. Drib]

Guy Adams' book has a messed-up formatting involving question marke (?), rather than quotes (") throughout its entire short length.

As a freebie, I advise avoiding this one until the author does another pass with it on his computer.



Don

[Gunnerp245]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Guy Adams' book has a messed-up formatting involving question marke (?), rather than quotes (") throughout its entire short length. As a freebie, I advise avoiding this one until the author does another pass with it on his computer. Don

That is indicative of improper encoding.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by conanfan

Jordan Stratford's debut novel, Mechanicals, is currently free at Amazon.

This suffers from something I've seen before in Smashwords ePubs, but never in a Kindle book. The text colour is hard-coded to black, which means that you cannot read it in white-on-black mode.

[scottken]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Guy Adams' book has a messed-up formatting involving question marke (?), rather than quotes (") throughout its entire short length.

As a freebie, I advise avoiding this one until the author does another pass with it on his computer.



Don

Or one could simply buy it now while free and let it sit in the cloud until you see its kindle file has been updated.

[Indio777]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Guy Adams' book has a messed-up formatting involving question marke (?), rather than quotes (") throughout its entire short length.

As a freebie, I advise avoiding this one until the author does another pass with it on his computer.

Don

I downloaded it anyway, since it is free. I reported the problem to Amazon; hopefully formatting issues will eventually be resolved.

[sufue]

The Backlist Ebooks site has hit another 200 readers and is giving away a free book for two weeks to celebrate. I got the email just yesterday (Nov 5), so presumably the two weeks started then. I don't read much sci-fi, so don't have a feel for how good this book/author are, but Backlist Ebooks is a list for previously DTB-published authors. Here's the info.

The book is Promise of the Flame by Sylvia Engdahl:

A sequel to Stewards of the Flame, but complete in itself and can be read independently. (However, reading it first will spoil some of the suspense of the earlier book, and Stewards of the Flame is now free for a limited time.)

Three hundred people, isolated forever on a raw new planet in the hope of fulfilling a dream, the dream that their psi powers will become the foundation of a culture that can someday shape the future of humankind. If they don’t starve first. If they don’t lose heart in the face of hardships beyond any they imagined. And if their kids can be reared to believe in the dream and advance both their technology and their psi powers from one generation to the next.

Jesse hasn’t expected to be responsible for the settlement. Peter is the leader, the visionary on whose inspiration they all depend. But Peter has his hands full, not only with maintaining morale but with grueling ordeals of his own. So the job of ensuring the colony’s survival falls on Jesse. And in the end, he must stake his life in a desperate attempt to prevent the loss of all they have gained.…"

Available in both ePub and mobi. Link is here:

http://backlistebooks.com/freebie/index.html

[GeckoFriend]

Sounds like an interesting read; thanks for posting.