Free and Bargain Fantasy/SciFi Ebooks October 2012

[conanfan]

Nightbird, I love your monthly free and bargain horror threads, so I humbly apologize if I am stepping on your toes here, but I thought I'd start a similar thread for Fantasy/SciFi, and kick it off with this:

Kosmonaut Zero by Richard Evans is free at Amazon:


Marina Mernova is older sister to little Leon, Moscow resident – and a young KGB officer. She is given a simple mission to find a missing scientist of high value to the Soviet space programme. She navigates 1960s Russia, a land of rockets and shortages, a Cold War utopia with a paranoid underbelly – and her search uncovers visionary technologies that shatter the limits of humanity and longevity.

Marina is sacrificed and reborn as Kosmonaut Zero – a body sculpted from flesh and metal, controlled by drugs and a primitive computer interface.

But what remains of Marina once she is turned into something designed to exist not on Earth, but in deep space? Will she get back to Earth and her beloved brother?

"Excellent Science Fiction" Rosten Blog

"Mindblowing" Universe Magazine

More praise for Richard Evans:

"Think Asimov. Think Blade Runner. Think Richard Evans." Book Munch.

Touch Sensitive (short story, 2007) - "Moving & delicately written – one of the anthology's clear front runners." Stool Pigeon Magazine

"Manchester's greatest science fiction writer." Anthony H. Wilson

[NightBird]

Yahoo - I'm so glad you're doing this. No, you're not stepping on my toes. I stole the idea for the other threads from the romance thread. LOL

Open Road is having some bundles on sale. The prices aren't fantastic, but the best deal could be with a Kobo coupon. Available at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Sony, Google, BOB, and Apple. Links for all stores except BOB and B&N are inside the links below (not an affiliate tag - just from their newsletter):

Open Road Ebook Bundles

The Darwath Trilogy by Barbara Hambly (Fantasy) Priced from $9.99 (Amazon) and up ($12.39 at Kobo) (864 pages).

BOB

B&N

Barbara Hambly’s celebrated trilogy about a murderous force that threatens a far-off magical world and the two ordinary Californians who are drawn into the battle to save mankind

As a student of medieval history, Gil Patterson is a woman familiar with dark stories. She knows the Crusades, the Black Death, and the other horrors of the Middle Ages all too well, but it is another kind of atrocity that has begun to haunt her dreams. She sees forces of evil assaulting a beleaguered kingdom, whose kind people are on the brink of annihilation, and awakes each morning in a cold sweat.

In The Time of the Dark, Gil dismisses the dreams until a wizard appears in her apartment. He has crossed into her dimension, passing through the fraying fabric of the universe, to ask her help. For mankind to survive he must protect an infant prince, whom he plans to hide in Gil's world. She is about to get much closer to evil than she ever imagined.

In The Walls of Air and The Armies of Daylight, Gil and Rudy know the world is no longer safe and there is nowhere to hide from the Dark. Since the Dark Ones returned, the world has been laid to waste. The land’s wizards have been slaughtered, its cities destroyed, and its people scattered in terror. Few have witnessed more of the destruction than Gil and Rudy, and both of them will need all their strength to survive this final challenge.

Ingold, the master wizard, has devised a spell to hide the user from the deathly stare of the Dark, and he intends to use it to strike at their very heart. Finally, Gil, Rudy, and the rest of mankind’s survivors will take the offensive, bringing an end to this terrible war, for better or for worse.

The Lyra Novels by Patricia C. Wede. Start at $16.19 (Amazon), $18.59 at Kobo. (1268 pages)

BOB

B&N

Five fantasy novels set in the magical world of Lyra

Shadow Magic

Trouble is brewing in Alkyra. While the kingdom’s noblemen squabble, on their borders an ancient enemy, the Lithmern, raises an army. As the head of the Noble House of Brenn attempts to organize an alliance, the princess Alethia celebrates her twentieth birthday. She is a remarkable woman: quick-witted, beautiful, and handy with a throwing knife. But on the next night, she passes through a dark corridor on her way to the banquet hall, and never emerges from the shadows. The Lithmern have kidnapped the princess.

When Alethia regains consciousness, an evil Lithmern with a face made of shadows is carrying her through the forest. These are magic woods, home to fabled creatures whose existence she has always doubted. To find her way home, Alethia will have to learn to trust in the old tales, whose legends of magic and daring hold the only hope of saving her kingdom.

Daughter of Witches

Drinn is not a safe place to be a witch. Ranira knows that better than most, for when she was just a child, the temple guards burned her parents at the stake for practicing magic. Now an indentured servant for a brutal innkeeper, she lives every day with the shame of her parents’ alleged crime.

There is no worse time to visit Drinn than during the Midwinter Festival, when the city gates are sealed so that no outsider can witness the temple’s secret rituals. And at Ranira’s inn, three guests have overstayed their welcome. Attempting to protect Ranira from her master’s cruelty, the three reveal their magical powers and attract the attention of the temple guards. Now, to save her new friends from certain death, Ranira must unleash the power that cost her parents their lives.

The Harp of Imach Thyssel

When Emereck and Flindaran leave a caravan in search of adventure, it isn’t long before they stumble upon great danger. Emereck, a trained minstrel, and Flindaran, a nobleman masquerading as a tramp, have found a long-abandoned castle, and in it, one of Lyra’s most sought-after treasures: the Harp of Imach Thyssel.

Emereck recognizes the perfect white bow from legend: It is said to possess the power of life and death over all mankind. Now, to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, he’ll have to learn to harness its strength to create and destroy, with the fate of the kingdom hanging in the balance.

Caught in Crystal

For more than a decade, Kayl has run a modest country inn. She opened it with her husband, and they managed it together until a summer illness took him away, leaving her alone with their two children. The three of them get by, living happily together as the years pass, but everything changes the day a sorceress asks for a room.

Her name is Corrana, and by her silver brooch Kayl knows that she is a member of the order of Sisterhood of Stars, a coven of witches that Kayl left after a secret mission went horribly wrong. Kayl is sure that Corrana has come to take her back to the life she had renounced years before. Now, to save her family and her world, she will have to unlock a side of herself that she buried long ago.

The Raven Ring

Three weeks after Eleret’s mother is killed, the messenger arrives with the tragic news. She died far from home, succumbing to wounds sustained in battle, and Eleret must travel to reclaim her belongings. The overland journey to the city of Ciaron is treacherous, but Eleret has no fear. She straps a dagger to her leg and sets off to recover one of her mother’s prized possessions: a ring etched with a raven. Though she makes it to Ciaron safely, getting home is another story.

Eleret doesn’t know what’s special about her mother’s ring, but someone wanted it badly enough to kill for it. To make it home in one piece, she must unlock the mysteries of the ring her mother died to protect.

[koland]

Originally Posted by NightBird

The Darwath Trilogy by Barbara Hambly (Fantasy) Priced from $9.99 (Amazon) and up ($12.39 at Kobo) (864 pages).

http://www.amazon.com/The-Darwath-Tr...dp/B0090WTL90/

Looks like the individual books in the trilogy were $1.99 last november, as I have the entire trilogy. Yay!

The Lyra Novels by Patricia C. Wede. Start at $16.19 (Amazon), $18.59 at Kobo. (1268 pages)

Wrede

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lyra-Novel...dp/B0092G1BOC/

Wouldn't you know - I bought the first book in this set 8 days ago. I think I'll try for a refund anyway, via customer service, so I can get the bundle instead.

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by koland

http://www.amazon.com/The-Darwath-Tr...dp/B0090WTL90/

Looks like the individual books in the trilogy were $1.99 last november, as I have the entire trilogy. Yay!


Wrede

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lyra-Novel...dp/B0092G1BOC/

Wouldn't you know - I bought the first book in this set 8 days ago. I think I'll try for a refund anyway, via customer service, so I can get the bundle instead.

Ooo - great deal on the Trilogy.

I'm sure you won't have a problem getting a refund.

Sad to say, I have used all the Kobo coupons.

[Indio777]

Thanks conanfan. Now for the most part there are dedicated threads to my three favorite fiction genres (fantasy/sci-fi, horror, and mystery/thrillers).

Of course most of the fiction I read is extremely serious "literature."

Darwath Trilogy is pretty good. Hambly is now apparently more into into mysteries, but she has written some decent fantasy.

I think the Darwath Trilogy might be her earliest work, from early 80s, but still a good read, in my opinion. Written before multi-volume series became nearly obligatory in the fantasy genre. Which has resulted (again in my opinion) in a lot of boring, cliched writing/stories.

[bgalbrecht]

Another Open Road Media science fiction bundle is Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger trilogy, which is set in his Humanx Commonwealth universe. It's $7.99 at Google Play, and probably elsewhere, and this is $2 off the regular price for this bundle. For what it's worth, I think Google Play is selling these bundles at the same price as Amazon.

[koland]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Ooo - great deal on the Trilogy.

I'm sure you won't have a problem getting a refund.

Sad to say, I have used all the Kobo coupons.

Got the refund ... and haven't used my coupons ...

So - go for the lower price or put it on the account that the family shares?

Btw, does anyone else think the new paperwhite's insistence on telling you how many minutes it should take you to finish a chapter is annoying?

I keep setting it back to location (and I miss the bar at the bottom to show progress -- it's not as though they are using the space for anything else) but every time the kindle goes to sleep, it resets to time/chapter.

[koland]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

Another Open Road Media science fiction bundle is Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger trilogy, which is set in his Humanx Commonwealth universe. It's $7.99 at Google Play, and probably elsewhere, and this is $2 off the regular price for this bundle. For what it's worth, I think Google Play is selling these bundles at the same price as Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Icerigger-...p/B0090WS1E6/r

[koland]

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-I...6vQ/page1.html $7.69

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-L...raQ/page1.html $18.59

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-D...cvw/page1.html $12.39

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by koland

Got the refund ... and haven't used my coupons ...

So - go for the lower price or put it on the account that the family shares?

Btw, does anyone else think the new paperwhite's insistence on telling you how many minutes it should take you to finish a chapter is annoying?

I keep setting it back to location (and I miss the bar at the bottom to show progress -- it's not as though they are using the space for anything else) but every time the kindle goes to sleep, it resets to time/chapter.

Hmm. Are any of the family going to read them for sure? If so, it might be worth it. Or get the lower price and convert it?

I don't have my Paperwhite yet, but that was one of the features I was looking forward to. I like the progress bar, too.

[koland]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Hmm. Are any of the family going to read them for sure? If so, it might be worth it. Or get the lower price and convert it?

I don't have my Paperwhite yet, but that was one of the features I was looking forward to. I like the progress bar, too.

I just wish it would stick with the setting I chose, not keep reverting to some mythical number of minutes (which I could probably keep up with, if I wasn't reading in between commercial breaks or working).

One in the family would read them for sure (Foster's as well). But, it's $2.61 cheaper at Kobo with the 30% off coupon for Foster's trilogy and $4.11 less on the Lyra set with the 35% off.... together that's several more books....

None of these are in any of the libraries I belong to, either, so that's not likely to be an option (although they are adding titles all the time, I'd hate to try to get thru a 5-volume set on their deadline).

I think I'll get them at Kobo ... am I the only one that gets an "uh-oh" page after every purchase, requiring me to go find the book in my lbrary (I even get it after buying a gift card, although the purchase always goes thru ok).

[NightBird]

Do you have one of the magnetic covers? I think if you close it when you're taking a break it should work okay. Per the user guide it sounds like there's an option to have it not display if it's really bugging you.

No, I don't have that problem with Kobo.

[koland]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Do you have one of the magnetic covers? I think if you close it when you're taking a break it should work okay. Per the user guide it sounds like there's an option to have it not display if it's really bugging you.

No, I don't have that problem with Kobo.

I have a couple of covers and the Amazon one is my fav - magnetic close, turns it on and off with the cover (that is very nice, really, especially on the Fire, where the button is a bit tricky to find).

the progress, though, seems to be a choice of three items - but it won't stay with the one I pick (unless I pick one of the ones tied to minutes, which is completely meaningless to me, especially on a paperwhite, which has no audio .. at least, I assume it is tied to the audiobook length for it's timing). You don't get pages anymore (although you can see them by opening the top menu, which also gets you the progress bar) and it wont' stay with the location - which is what I prefer to see.

[NightBird]

it won't stay with the one I pick

Oh now that would be really annoying. I will have to see what mine does (not coming until the end of October, though).

[NightBird]

Cryptozoic! by Brian Aldiss is free from E-Reads.

Winner of two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Brian W. Aldiss has, for over fifty years, continued to challenge readers' minds with literate, thought-provoking, and inventive fiction. Now, E-Reads is proud to make available in eBook format the classic works of Aldiss.

Now with a New Introduction by the Author!

CRYPTOZOIC!

In the year 2093, human consciousness has expanded to the point where man can now travel to the past using a technique called "mind-travelling." Artist Edward Bush returns from a nearly-three year mind-travel to find that his government has crumbled and society is now under the leadership a new regime. Given Bush's excellent ability to mind-travel, he is recruited by the regime to track down and assassinate a scientist whose ideas threaten to topple everything they've built.