So it turns out the KDP Select exclusive-or-else slushpile does in fact yield a new main feature-eligible backlist sf/fantasy title to enjoy today.
Blue Tyson mentioned some weeks ago that William Barton was a noted sf author who'd provided a KDP freebie offering.
Today, he offers another, which happens to be a space-set novel which was nominated for both the Nebula and Philip K. Dick awards when it was published in 1999.
When We Were Real, apparently the start of the "Silvergirl" universe (the timing of this release makes it look like a prequel) by William Barton, looks like an sfnal coming of age of a young man finding his way in a space colony setting. This was originally published by Warner's Aspect line in 1999 and as I mentioned, was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award and a preliminary nominee for the Nebula, as you can see in this book's
ISFDB entry.
Speaking of which, here's Barton's own
ISFDB and his
Wikipedia entry.
This is free with or without DRM (who can tell anymore?) for who knows how long over @ Amazon
main UK DE ES FR IT
Description
This is the beginning of the Silvergirl Universe, when mankind is colonizing the drifting planetoids in the dark between the stars. Darius Murphy is a runaway, born of the Mother's Children, fleeing to find a new life for himself out among the far-flung habitats of humanity. What he finds is a cruel universe owned and run by the corporations, worlds run for profit. He goes to work for a comany named Standard ARM, and one day he meets a lovely purple optimod creature, an artificial being named Violet. Love and War. Fire. Death. Destruction. The road to freedom. Darius Murphy sees them all. Now join him on the journey.
I put most of the preliminary slushpile yield for this morning in an update to
yesterday's feature thread whose recommended main title is still free, by the way. Most of the good stuff was there, with some award-nominees putting up several of their shorts, but there are a few more nice things in these preliminary secondary updates (I'm taking a break for some lunch and to do some errands before I decide whether or not the rest of the slushpile is likely to have anything vaguely worthwhile in it), including an award-finalist LGBT litfic novel. This does seem to be the day for awards stuff to show up in the slushpile.
Tom Schabarum's novel, published in 2010 by local Washington small press Cascadia, who appear to have a bunch of multicultural spiritual-type stuff and litfic in their listings, was a finalist for the 2011 Lambda Literary Award (their website lists his book) which is a semi-major LGBT writing prize, IIRC. This looks like a litfic with a touch of suspense:
The Palisades
Charles Ortleb has had a number of humour-looking books out from St. Martin's Press a couple of decades ago. He says he has also been a journalist for the gay community and he offers a collection of literary/speculative fiction short stories about such which were the basis of an independent film available on DVD:
The Last Lovers on Earth: Stories from Dark Times
Samhain-published D.L. Snow offers another in the multi-author collaborative western romance series, this one involving ghosts and time travel:
Siren's Song (Bandit Creek)
Chuck Klein who admittedly has a very common name, does have an author page which links up an old Tyndale House non-fiction work. He offers a self-pub non-fiction set of his own experiences as a police officer, for which the blurb quotes praise from local law enforcement officials:
The Badge, Stories and Tales from both Sides of the Law
Previously-featured small-press-published Gordon Ryan offers a political thriller about a man discovering a secret cover-up related to one of his ancestors:
Love, Honor, & Consequence
Samhain-or-Ellora-I-forgot-am-not-checking-which-published Delle Jacobs offers an historical romance:
His Majesty, the Prince of Toads
Angela Hunt who has been previously published by one of the big Christian publishers (Tyndale or Baker, IIRC) offers three assorted works:
Linkage for all plus a stubborn Prime "free" one
Matt R. Jones who has one short story listed in his
ISFDB entry returns with another offering in his Hollywood Vampires series if you picked up the first one earlier:
Love, Red Wine, & Magick
Cole Coonce has apparently got a bit of a name for himself in automotive magazine hot rodding and drag racing circles. Here is his collection of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll stories:
Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby