Free (Kindle DRM-free) The Conjure Book by A. A. Attanasio [YA Rural Witch Fantasy]

[ATDrake]

So, guess what showed up in the KDP exclusive-or-else slushpile when I bothered to have a look?

The Conjure Book by former Nebula finalist author A. A. Attanasio (ISFDB, Wikipedia), who has generously given us many KDP freebies in the past, as well as the ones offered by his re-publisher Phoenix Pick Press, who have been so kind as to give us a free e-book every month for the past 4 years or so, is a YA coming-of-age supernatural rural fantasy originally published by Prime Books in 2007.

I'm frankly surprised that this has never been mentioned in MR, considering how popular the Attanasio KDP posts were several years ago and Attanasio's tendency to rotate and re-offer his books for free every couple of months.

Anyway, this apparently also comes with illustrations by Fleurine Rétoré.

Disappointingly, one of the included editorial reviews indicates that as far as Attanasio's normal standard of work goes, this work itself is not quite up to par. But then, he is a Nebula & World Fantasy Award finalist, so the bar is set somewhat higher.

And it's free! (for anywhere up to the next 3 days, since he already used up one yesterday and I chose a different book to post then) @ Amazon main, UK, AU, CA, DE, ES, FR, IT, and anywhere else they've sprouted up since last I did these sorts of posts.

And this has been the selected 3rd free ebook alert thread of the day. Enjoy!

Description
Life is lonely for 13-year-old Jane Riggs in the historical New England village that is her new home—until she discovers a four-hundred-year-old book of spells that really works.

Guided by the ghost of the witch who wrote the conjure book, Jane embarks on a terrifying but glorious quest for magical power. Her ambition is to contact her mother, dead these ten years and remembered only in photographs. For such a great prize, Jane is willing to risk much among the weird creatures she conjures out of the spirit world. But she will need more than courage when her magic follows her to school.

After an evil spirit-fox steals her classmate's soul, life suddenly gets very complicated. Coming of age among dark, elemental powers while not missing a day of seventh grade is not easy. And the answers Jane needs for growing up don't seem to be in the conjure book.

For the benefit of our fellow fantasy & science fiction-loving MR members who've joined over the past couple of years and probably missed things, here's a quickie list of some previously-featured print-published SF/F authors who've been so kind as to continue to make selected novels and shorter works of theirs free to all via Smashwords, without going the Amazon-only KDP exclusive-or-else route.

I haven't bothered to put in the subgenre info this time, but the usual credentials, an indication of where they've been published and what awards noms they've gotten, and whether or not they've had the taste and insight to join us here at MR are included. Every one of them has kept at least one thing free to download, though you may have to scroll a bit to find it.

Ilona Andrews (Ace) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Pip Ballantine (Ace) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Stephen Ames Berry (Ace) (ISFDB)

Kenneth Bulmer writing as Alan Burt Akers (DAW) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

David Brin (DAW, Bantam, Tor, Orbit; Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell, Locus winner) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Jeffrey A. Carver (Tor; Nebula finalist; fellow MR member author) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

J Kathleen Cheney (Jim Baen's Universe; Nebula finalist) (ISFDB)

Doranna Durgin (Baen; Compton Crook winner) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Sylvia Engdahl (Atheneum, Gollancz; Phoenix winner, Newbery finalist) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Nancy Fulda (Apex; Phobos winner; fellow MR member author) (ISFDB)

Stephen Goldin (Bantam Spectra, Fawcett, Jove; Nebula finalist; fellow MR member author) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Dominic Green, also here (Interzone; Hugo finalist) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Patty Jansen (Jim Baen's Universe; fellow MR member author) (ISFDB)

Elissa Malcohn (Asimov's; John W. Campbell finalist; fellow MR member author) (ISFDB)

Vera Nazarian (Wildside, Prime; Nebula finalist) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Ruth Nestvold (Asimov's, Realms of Fantasy; Nebula finalist) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Frances Pauli (Mundania) (ISFDB)

Iain Rowan (Prime, Infinity Plus) (ISFDB)

Liz Williams (Tor, Night Shade; Philip K. Dick finalist, Arthur C. Clarke finalist) (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

And a freebie sampler of short stories from many well-known printed authors via fellow MR member editor Keith Brooke's (ISFDB, Wikipedia) Infinity Plus imprint: Infinities

Happy reading! (If there's something in any of the above that you haven't already acquired over the years, if you happen to have been here that long.)