MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Free (Kindle KDP) Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army [GG-Award Canadian Kid Lit]

ATDrake · 01-29-2012, 01:31 PM

Something new and surprising in the KDP Select slushpile.

Today we've got not just one, but 5 offerings from a Canadian author who won the Governor General's Award, and one of those offerings is said book which won said award.

Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army by Morgan Nyberg was published by Douglas & MacIntyre in 1989, and apparently won the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature in 1987. So either Amazon's database date is wonky, or they give these things out based on advance submissions.

Nyberg also offers four more tales ranging from novel-length grown-up literary fiction to short stories.

Free (with DRM) for who knows how long @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT

Description
"In this warm and graceful story, the author achieves an artful blend of the mythological and the earthly."
From the citation for the Governor General's Literary Awards (Canada)

Young Galahad lives in the South American jungle, where he plays with snakes and crocodiles. His parents are adventurers and Nobel Prize-winning authors. But when they fail to return from an expedition in their hot-air balloon Galahad must leave the jungle to live with his grandfather in a North American slum. In this alien and fascinating world he encounters both evil and magic.

Join Galahad and the other main characters - his street-musician grandfather; blind and wheelchair-bound Wheels; Slim, who owns a tattoo parlour - as they confront the power-hungry exterminator, Creetch, who has invented a spray that makes people disappear. Boo the city's mayor, who would rather juggle on television than face the threat of Creetch. Cheer for the unlikely army of cockroaches, flies and pigeons who fight for our hero in his darkest hour.

For the following, I've only put in the first paragraph of the blurb to save space.

Bad Day in Gladland kids/YA wacky road trip turns sinister @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT

It is a time of strange “plagues”. Glitterville, where the Bugg family resides, completely disappears, consumed in a Plague of Daytime Darkness. The family’s old butler, Bentley D. Kreppit, and the 2 children, acrobatic Athena and brainy Odysseus, along with Odysseus’ pet rat, Defoe, narrowly escape. They travel from town to town, hoping to find the children’s parents. To earn money they put on shows featuring the acrobatic skills of Athena.

Mr. Millenium comic literary fiction novel for adults @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT

In the comic literary tradition of Vladimir Nabokov, Anthony Burgess and Mordecai Richler, author Morgan Nyberg plunges irreverently into the domain of "The DaVinci Code". A secret society, international conspiracies, high-level corruption, a ruthless Church - it's all here, along with the agonizing choices faced by an unhappy man who wants only peace of mind.

Since Tomorrow dystopic post-apocalyptic speculative future-fic for adults @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT

An old man rides a workhorse through the night, across mudslides, past stores abandoned for decades, past the rotted corpses of automobiles invisible under mounds of blackberry. Rain courses from his rabbit skin poncho. He carries a sword and a spear. He knows where to find the murderer. He will face him alone.

I author word-play short @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT

In spite of its noir cover image, "I" is NOT a genre piece. It is a kind of extended literary joke (although not without some metaphysical foundation). This short story-like text is meant to be fun for readers with literary backgrounds who also enjoy cleverly constructed absurdity. A one-sentence synopsis: Reincarnations of Captain Ahab continue to search for the White Whale, seeking help from a character who speaks only in palindromes.

And here's the rest of the slushpile yield, which was kind of curtailed by eReaderIQ being down and Kinlib being, well, Kinlib. I'll probably check again later and add if anything else reasonably significant comes up.

John Tully offers a kids/YA-looking historical adventure set in pre-Columbian South America, printed by Methuen in hardcover in 1974: The Glass Knife

Leslie Powell edits an anthology of poetry which was small-press paperbacked in 2000 and has a brief Publisher's Weekly review: Food and Other Enemies: Stories of Consuming Desire

Jennifer D. Munro has had short stories appear in The Mammoth Book of The Best of Best New Erotica and Best American Erotica reprint anthologies. She offers a collection of these published works: The Erotica Writer's Husband and Other Stories

Previously-featured UK writer John Matthews finally offers something other than his much-repackaged legal thriller and freebies his 2004 Penguin-paperbacked medical thriller: The Shadow Chaser

Previously-featured R.J. Jagger, who's had stuff published but I forget where and am not looking it up again, offers the self-explanatory: Witness Chase (Nick Teffinger Thriller 1)

Wendy Lindstrom offers her 2002 St. Martin's Press-published debut historical romance free to all via Smashwords: Shades of Honor She also sells her other backlist there, and will hopefully offer coupons during Read an E-book Week to take the slightly-highish prices down a bit for her fans.

Elizabeth Bevarly offers her 1998 Avon-published zany romantic comedy free to all via Smashwords: My Man Pendleton She's also got more backlist and novellas there from 99 cents to $2.99.

Signet-published Andrea Parnell offers a "novella-length prequel to the sexy Gothic romance novel Dark Splendor" free to all via Smashwords: Dark Prelude She also has some backlist novels there for $2.99, including the aforementioned Dark Splendor.

Also Signet-published Karen Chance offers 4 tie-in novellas to her popular paranormal urban fantasy series (you guessed it): free to all via Smashwords.

Previously-featured newbie horror author David Jeffery (ISFDB entry) also offers several short stories free to all via Smashwords.

Severed Press, who've been doing a lot of publishing of horror works by established authors offer this novel by unknown newbie writer Luke Keioskie whom you may want to give a try: Dead America: Zombie Noir

Russell Atwood offers a short story he says was originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine free to all via Smashwords: East Village Noir

Baen-published Sarah A. Hoyt, writing under her Berkley-published Sarah d'Almeida penname offers one of her historical mystery shorts: The Counterfeit Gypsy (Kit Marlowe Mysteries)

Newbie writer Annie Bellet (ISFDB entry) offers an adventure fantasy novella: Witch Hunt (The Gryphonpike Chronicles)

Steven Savile, who has had a story published by Phoenix Pick Press (who give us the monthly sf/fantasy freebies and have nice tie-in sales) as part of their established writer + newbie Stellar Guild novella series, offers two short stories free to all via Smashwords.

Canadian Pauline Edwards had a few New Age titles printed by Llewellyn Publishing (who currently offer us freebie mysteries from their Midnight Ink imprint). She offers a spiritual tale about a healer: Wings of the Soul (a novel)

This aspiring horror writer has no ISFDB entry or other credentials. Whatever. Their title and blurb look cracktastically entertaining, so this gets added to the pile: Everything My Grandmother Taught Me about Killing Zombies I (Jake's Zombie Hunters)

If any of the Smashwords stuff goes non-free, sometimes it will have been price-matched at one of the other outlets if it's carried there and it's generally worth trying to see if it's in the process of price-catchup (Kobo and Sony are usually slowest to update).

Happy reading, if you happen to spot something you think you might like.

01-29-2012, 01:31 PM	#1
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Free (Kindle KDP) Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army [GG-Award Canadian Kid Lit] Something new and surprising in the KDP Select slushpile. Today we've got not just one, but 5 offerings from a Canadian author who won the Governor General's Award, and one of those offerings is said book which won said award. Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army by Morgan Nyberg was published by Douglas & MacIntyre in 1989, and apparently won the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature in 1987. So either Amazon's database date is wonky, or they give these things out based on advance submissions. Nyberg also offers four more tales ranging from novel-length grown-up literary fiction to short stories. Free (with DRM) for who knows how long @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT Description "In this warm and graceful story, the author achieves an artful blend of the mythological and the earthly." From the citation for the Governor General's Literary Awards (Canada) Young Galahad lives in the South American jungle, where he plays with snakes and crocodiles. His parents are adventurers and Nobel Prize-winning authors. But when they fail to return from an expedition in their hot-air balloon Galahad must leave the jungle to live with his grandfather in a North American slum. In this alien and fascinating world he encounters both evil and magic. Join Galahad and the other main characters - his street-musician grandfather; blind and wheelchair-bound Wheels; Slim, who owns a tattoo parlour - as they confront the power-hungry exterminator, Creetch, who has invented a spray that makes people disappear. Boo the city's mayor, who would rather juggle on television than face the threat of Creetch. Cheer for the unlikely army of cockroaches, flies and pigeons who fight for our hero in his darkest hour. For the following, I've only put in the first paragraph of the blurb to save space. Bad Day in Gladland kids/YA wacky road trip turns sinister @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT It is a time of strange “plagues”. Glitterville, where the Bugg family resides, completely disappears, consumed in a Plague of Daytime Darkness. The family’s old butler, Bentley D. Kreppit, and the 2 children, acrobatic Athena and brainy Odysseus, along with Odysseus’ pet rat, Defoe, narrowly escape. They travel from town to town, hoping to find the children’s parents. To earn money they put on shows featuring the acrobatic skills of Athena. Mr. Millenium comic literary fiction novel for adults @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT In the comic literary tradition of Vladimir Nabokov, Anthony Burgess and Mordecai Richler, author Morgan Nyberg plunges irreverently into the domain of "The DaVinci Code". A secret society, international conspiracies, high-level corruption, a ruthless Church - it's all here, along with the agonizing choices faced by an unhappy man who wants only peace of mind. Since Tomorrow dystopic post-apocalyptic speculative future-fic for adults @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT An old man rides a workhorse through the night, across mudslides, past stores abandoned for decades, past the rotted corpses of automobiles invisible under mounds of blackberry. Rain courses from his rabbit skin poncho. He carries a sword and a spear. He knows where to find the murderer. He will face him alone. I author word-play short @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT In spite of its noir cover image, "I" is NOT a genre piece. It is a kind of extended literary joke (although not without some metaphysical foundation). This short story-like text is meant to be fun for readers with literary backgrounds who also enjoy cleverly constructed absurdity. A one-sentence synopsis: Reincarnations of Captain Ahab continue to search for the White Whale, seeking help from a character who speaks only in palindromes. And here's the rest of the slushpile yield, which was kind of curtailed by eReaderIQ being down and Kinlib being, well, Kinlib. I'll probably check again later and add if anything else reasonably significant comes up. John Tully offers a kids/YA-looking historical adventure set in pre-Columbian South America, printed by Methuen in hardcover in 1974: The Glass Knife Leslie Powell edits an anthology of poetry which was small-press paperbacked in 2000 and has a brief Publisher's Weekly review: Food and Other Enemies: Stories of Consuming Desire Jennifer D. Munro has had short stories appear in The Mammoth Book of The Best of Best New Erotica and Best American Erotica reprint anthologies. She offers a collection of these published works: The Erotica Writer's Husband and Other Stories Previously-featured UK writer John Matthews finally offers something other than his much-repackaged legal thriller and freebies his 2004 Penguin-paperbacked medical thriller: The Shadow Chaser Previously-featured R.J. Jagger, who's had stuff published but I forget where and am not looking it up again, offers the self-explanatory: Witness Chase (Nick Teffinger Thriller 1) Wendy Lindstrom offers her 2002 St. Martin's Press-published debut historical romance free to all via Smashwords: Shades of Honor She also sells her other backlist there, and will hopefully offer coupons during Read an E-book Week to take the slightly-highish prices down a bit for her fans. Elizabeth Bevarly offers her 1998 Avon-published zany romantic comedy free to all via Smashwords: My Man Pendleton She's also got more backlist and novellas there from 99 cents to $2.99. Signet-published Andrea Parnell offers a "novella-length prequel to the sexy Gothic romance novel Dark Splendor" free to all via Smashwords: Dark Prelude She also has some backlist novels there for $2.99, including the aforementioned Dark Splendor. Also Signet-published Karen Chance offers 4 tie-in novellas to her popular paranormal urban fantasy series (you guessed it): free to all via Smashwords. Previously-featured newbie horror author David Jeffery (ISFDB entry) also offers several short stories free to all via Smashwords. Severed Press, who've been doing a lot of publishing of horror works by established authors offer this novel by unknown newbie writer Luke Keioskie whom you may want to give a try: Dead America: Zombie Noir Russell Atwood offers a short story he says was originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine free to all via Smashwords: East Village Noir Baen-published Sarah A. Hoyt, writing under her Berkley-published Sarah d'Almeida penname offers one of her historical mystery shorts: The Counterfeit Gypsy (Kit Marlowe Mysteries) Newbie writer Annie Bellet (ISFDB entry) offers an adventure fantasy novella: Witch Hunt (The Gryphonpike Chronicles) Steven Savile, who has had a story published by Phoenix Pick Press (who give us the monthly sf/fantasy freebies and have nice tie-in sales) as part of their established writer + newbie Stellar Guild novella series, offers two short stories free to all via Smashwords. Canadian Pauline Edwards had a few New Age titles printed by Llewellyn Publishing (who currently offer us freebie mysteries from their Midnight Ink imprint). She offers a spiritual tale about a healer: Wings of the Soul (a novel) This aspiring horror writer has no ISFDB entry or other credentials. Whatever. Their title and blurb look cracktastically entertaining, so this gets added to the pile: Everything My Grandmother Taught Me about Killing Zombies I (Jake's Zombie Hunters) If any of the Smashwords stuff goes non-free, sometimes it will have been price-matched at one of the other outlets if it's carried there and it's generally worth trying to see if it's in the process of price-catchup (Kobo and Sony are usually slowest to update). Happy reading, if you happen to spot something you think you might like.