Well, from the looks of all the greyed-out stuff that's now been yanked from being available in multiple formats at different stores and directly from them
at their catalogue, Phoenix Pick has apparently gone ahead with its proposed plans for Kindle-exclusivity, as hinted in their Free eBook of the Month newsletter.
That's really too bad, and I'll miss having them as a viable place to shop for DRM-free sf/fantasy publisher direct-buys, since I'm certainly not going to spend my money on full-priced e-books at Amazon, given the inferior proprietary format and many other issues, and B&N does not sell outside the US (aside from that little issue of yanking books from catalogue also meaning that re-downloads for purchasers are completely screwed as well and they'd have to re-buy the books if they ever showed up again).
Good thing I bought much of what I'd been planning to buy last year when it was still available on sale. And I suppose this saves me money which I can then spend elsewhere at other places before they, too, decide to yank their stuff for Kindle-exclusivity.
Anyway, they offer a freebie novella via KDP which has garnered multiple award nominations, as a teaser for an upcoming collection by the author, for which they are offering a direct-buy pre-release discount which I may be willing to take them up upon, provided it's under the same mailed-direct-to-me-in-format-of-my-choice-without-DRM terms as previous ones were.
Melodies of the Heart by Michael F. Flynn (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia) is a near-future sf novella which has garnered multiple award nominations and won the one from Analog Magazine, where it originally appeared (
ISFDB entry for the award noms).
This is supposed to be a lead story in the upcoming collection "Captive Hearts", but apparently it exists also in "The Forest of Time & Other Stories", which I bought last year direct from Phoenix Pick when they had a coupon sale, and which I would say is worth it just for the "There's a Bimbo on the Cover of My Book!" filk-song parody regarding exactly what it says in the title as far as stereotypical cover art (Y HELO THAR, BAEN!) goes. It's also got commentary and stuff on the stories by the author.
Anyway, free for who knows how long with or without DRM @ Amazon
main UK DE ES FR IT
Desription
A Romance of the Soul, of Melancholy Melodies and Long Faded Memories.
“Melodies of the Heart” can be described as many things. It is is a heart-breaking story of a parent’s love for a child; of growing old; of helplessness; but most of all, of our inner most need to cling to memories long lost.
The Story has won many accolades from critics, has won or been short listed for a number of awards and is included in a number of collections (including a ‘Year’s Best’). But as the author himself puts it “the best recognition it received was from readers who wrote me or have commented on message boards that they wept uncontrollably when they finished it.”
Technically, the story has been classified as a ‘science fiction’ (it takes place in the near future). But it is, at its heart, much more than that. Like any great story, it is a mirror into our souls.
“Melodies of the Heart” is the lead story in the forthcoming collection Captive Dreams by Michael Flynn. Release date July 2012.
If you wish to be reminded of the release of the book and the opportunity to purchase a pre-release copy of the book (fully refundable) at a significant discount please email us at Melodies [@t] PhoenixPick [d0t] com [actual email mildly obfuscated since I don't want to make the spambots' jobs any easier, especially if I decide to write in myself to inquire, though it's probably a moot point since they've spread it all over Amazon]
Other stuff which Came From The Slushpile!!!!! Not sorted, non sf/f/series repeats mostly skipped.
Robert W. Walker returns again with some more assorted horror/thrillers (may include repeats:
Linkage for the lot
Minor ISFDBed Matt R. Jones offers more assorted things, some in his Hollywood Vampires series if you've been following it:
Linkage for the lot
Speaking of vampires, Lee Killough repeats her previously title-featured 1987-Tor paperbacked vampire police procedural:
Blood Hunt (Garreth Mikaelian Detective Series)
John R. Maxim returns with a 1999-William Morrow medical/conspiracy thriller:
Mosaic
Minor ISFDBed mostly-self-pub Ian Woodhead has an omnibus of:
The Shuffling Dead Box-set
Previously title-featured Berkley-published mystery writer Mary Monica Pulver/Monica Ferris contributes to this cookbook anthology of poetry and recipes:
Hotdish Haiku
Minor ISFDBed mostly-self-pub Marilyn Peake who's had a YA novel praised by Piers Anthony returns with some assorted sf/fantasy:
Linkage for the lot
Former Scotland on Sunday article writer and Zen monk Barry Graham returns with a gritty literary/urban fiction collection which probably includes some of the stories he says appeared in particular anthologies in his bio:
Scumbo: A Novella and Stories
Allan Leverone says he has been multiply nominated for the Derringer Award and the Pushcart prize. Here's a collection of his noir and crime fiction:
Postcards from the Apocalypse
Eva Hudson says that her self-pub-looking political thriller novel won the 2011 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize from Cambridge University:
The Loyal Servant
D.L. Snow has had some stuff out from Ellora or Samhain, I forget which and am not bothering to look it up again. She offers a historical romance cross-dressing take on Robin Hood:
Thief of Hearts: Wanted
Lyon-published Judy Powell returns with a contemporary multicultural erotic romance:
Some Like It Hot
Ann Abelson says that she has been awarded a "National Endowment for the Arts Grant for her writing" and she does have a book dating back to 1960 published by Random House, so here's her self-pub historical fiction novel about the legendary violinist:
PAGANINI'S FIRE
Video game designer Stephen Beam has another sf/fantasy story which looks like some kind of magical quest thing:
Amazonian Transuniverse Nuclear Hub
Since this was last included, it's been read and recommended by some MR members in the What Are You Reading thread, so in case you missed it earlier, the probably-pseudonymous Barry Barroldson's self-published:
Alien Chicks In Citrus Bras And Stalkers From Beyond The Stars
I forget whether this is a repeat or not, but since there's more than one book in the series and you might have missed it along the way, here's Jude Pittman's:
Deadly Betrayal (The Indian Creek Texas Mysteries - Book Two) via Books We Love/BWLPP who do the Lee Killough reprints.
If you got the first volume of this parody series and liked it, you might as well pick up the second:
66 Plots Updated - Part 2 (Updating Classic Literature with Modern Technology)
Happy reading, if indeed you manage to spot something you think you might like, or the pre-order discount on the Michael F. Flynn collection turns out to be better than you anticipated.