So as a holiday treat for sfnal readers who are willing to try new things, we're getting 5 full novels (ETA: and now a 6th bonus novella) across various subgenres, free courtesy of Canadian sfnal small press Double Dragon Publishing which reprints the backlists of the late Nick Pollotta (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia, very funny and recommended) and Kenneth C. Flint (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia, pretty decent if you like Celtic-derived stuff with more than the usual smattering of mythological-historicity in it), among others, whom I've enjoyed and purchased via Fictionwise in the past, back when they were still around and had their periodic deep-discount coupon sales.
Well actually, since they haven't listed this on their blog with their previous official promos or put it in any of the other stores yet so this could just be a glitch freebie which you should enjoy while it lasts.
Anyway, it's a mix of science fiction, fantasy, apocalyptic, superhero, and technothrillers from both new and established authors, currently free just @ Amazon (seems to be available across multiple regional stores when I spot check Australia, Netherlands, Japan, and Brazil).
If it turns out you like any of these authors and would like to try more of their writing, Double Dragon's books are couponable @
Kobo and they sometimes offer direct-buy half-price and 99 cent specials in their DRM-free webstore, which are announced sporadically on their blog (I'd link you, but it seems like their webhost is down right now; this is where their main site would be:
Double Dragon eBooks, and their blog is on an entirely different domain name).
And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.
Because it's nice to get free books from a publisher that I've previously bought non-free books from in the past, even if they're not quite the same kinds of books that I actually used to buy from them.
Also, fellow Canadians, available worldwide! (as long as you have an Amazon account)
Enjoy!
- Alien Infection by Darrell Bain (ISFDB), a sci-fi medical technothriller @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and many other regional stores)
When a laboratory technician on the verge of retirement accidentally infects himself with blood from an emergency room patient, he intends to report it until government agents swarm the hospital, confiscating every sample of blood taken from the patient at gunpoint.
Deciding not to report the incident just yet for fear of being thrown into an isolation chamber, he goes home and falls violently ill. By the time he recovers and returns to work, scary things are happening. Everyone who has come into contact with that patient is being systematically killed.
On the run, he accidentally infects a woman living in the shadows of the underworld. She becomes ill as well, but survives. Then they begin feeling younger and younger. Why would the government want to suppress something like this?
After barely escaping federal gunmen, the two of them set out on a journey to try to find out what kind of infection they are harboring--while still retaining their freedom. Their path takes them on an odyssey across Texas and into the mountains of Arkansas, where they find that their adventures are just beginning and may lead them all the way off earth!
- The Christ Project by Donald Allen Kirch (ISFDB), a post-apocalyptic technothriller with a quasi-religious revivalist conspiracy in it @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and many other regional stores)
"Let us Pray!"
In the not-to-distant future, the earth is a war-torn wasteland. Surviving a terrible thirty-year conflict known as The Great War, the citizens of the planet are controlled by an insane United Nations. Using what is left of NATO, the UN enforces its laws, hoping to rebuild the world.
There is a catch: all religions are now against the law. Since religion was blamed for the last war, the UN wants to make sure that God has nothing more to do with the politics of the world. Mankind has entered a new Dark Age. But, like the early Christians of ancient Rome, an underground resistance has been formed.
Just released from an Alaskan Gulag, Marcellus has served twenty years for heading a Christmas Mass as one of the last Bishops of the catholic Church. His mission now is to enact a secret program lost in the Vatican Files, known only as "The Christ Project."
Facing NATO soldiers, terrible cannibalistic robots called Exos, forever-spying probes called Sentries, the dead zones on earth known as The Wastelands, and twelve mysterious clones known only as "The Templars", Marcellus uses the powers of science to bring about "The Second Coming."
- The Rekhaz by Chris Pearson, a modern-day fantasy adventure set in the Middle East with dragons in it @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and many other regional stores)
Beth, Matthew and Luke live a hundred kilometres or so inland from the coast of the Arabian Gulf, in an oasis town dominated by a craggy mountain called Jebel Lafeet.
Unknown to them, Asheraj, a vast dragon-like creature has been encased in the mountain for aeons, clutching in her claws a pebble-like object called a Rehkaz. This is one half of a fearsome weapon that she has been appointed to guard, but the Rekhaz has slipped out of her grasp. The other half of the weapon lies buried in a layer of volcanic rock in Cappadocia in Turkey.
The Rekhaz' one aim is to unite and destroy the world to which it has been banished.The one that has escaped starts to seek out ways to bring about union - and destruction. It begins by giving Matthew the power of flight. The little stone he finds has magical properties. If he holds it tight he can fly. He thinks it is wonderful, but the Rekhaz knows exactly where it wants him to go..
- Wind Over Troubled Waters by Edith Parzefall & Francene Stanley, 1st in an epic quest fantasy adventure series set in a post-apocalyptic magical probably-Britain @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and many other regional stores)
Corn World. Britland. After the great flood, only memories, debris and derelict buildings speak of a past civilization. Visions of these disturbing times haunt Cerridwen's dreams. When her dying mother sends Cerridwen to find a mural in Saint Eyes and lead Britland into a better future, the young healer has little choice but to set out on a life-changing quest. Her ability to perceive auras convinces her to accept nature-attuned Trevly's offer of protection.
Bent on adventure and enthralled by the promise of treasure, beautiful Sasha, cunning Aron and uncut Boris join forces to get the most out of life. Their selfish plans collide with Cerridwen's when they learn about a powerful ring and a mural pointing the way to its location.
- The Outcome of Sin by Margret A. Treiber, an sfnal superhero adventure tale @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and many other regional stores)
Becca knows she’s a monster. No amount of philanthropy or repentance can change that fact. Now in her seventies, she’s seen it all and is ready to die. Becca’s survived the world’s near extinction, and witnessed the planet transformed by cosmological catastrophe into an unfamiliar landscape and sky. She's seen it all, but nothing prepared her for what was to come next.
As a result of an ill-conceived suicide attempt, Becca’s life takes a major turn towards the bizarre. She downs a chemical cocktail containing tequila, tranquilizers, and an experimental neurological drug. The combination should have destroyed all brain activity; instead she awakens to find herself, and society around her changing.
Not only is she still alive, but she’s better than she was before. Becca discovers that she is getting smarter; and odder yet, she’s getting younger. And she’s not alone. Reports are coming in of other people gaining youth and unusual abilities from the neurological drug.
Now, physically fifty years younger and a virtual super-genius, she is absorbed into the absurd and irrational world of the newly emerging superhero lifestyle. Becca struggles to solve the mystery of who killed scientific progress, and what their sinister plans really are. And she has to do all of this without knowing with any certainty of who the actual good guys are. Soon she is forced to come to terms with her past actions; struggle with her own identity in the present; and accept a fight to save a future that she never expected to see.