FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[batpuppy]

They have another Warhammer 40K books series at humble bundle.

Deathwatch and Rogue Trader series https://www.humblebundle.com/books/w...ore_bookbundle

Not read any of these but am tempted to get them. Anone read any of these type books?

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by batpuppy

They have another Warhammer 40K books series at humble bundle.

Deathwatch and Rogue Trader series https://www.humblebundle.com/books/w...ore_bookbundle

Not read any of these but am tempted to get them. Anone read any of these type books?

I've read a few of the short stories -- and I've gathered some of the novels. (Including this Humble Bundle. ) I keep meaning to read more of the books...

It's a very over-the-top world -- on purpose. The term "grimdark" originated from this setting. This is a world where criminals and heretics can have their body parts (including their brains) placed in a servitor so that they have to serve the Emperor forever and ever and ever...

Expect a lot of high-tech stuff and lots of violence. After all, Space Marines are going to war against literal hordes of enemies. And Inquisitors are trying to root out heretics.

Some fans believe it's best read as a satire of the dark setting. (Games Workshop has confirmed that it's a satire.) The Imperium of Man is supposed to be the good guys. But... are they really?

[salty-horse]

Lightspeed Magazine is offering a free trial subscription for 3 months.
Don't know how long this will last.
https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/m...to-lightspeed/

The magazine is always available online, with a delay, but this might still be of interest.

[salty-horse]

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch is £6 in the UK (Kobo, Amazon)
This is an omnibus containing The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

Lightspeed Magazine is offering a free trial subscription for 3 months.
Don't know how long this will last.
https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/m...to-lightspeed/

The magazine is always available online, with a delay, but this might still be of interest.

What is editor Adams accusing Amazon of having done that requires this action on his part?

And what do you mean by 'delay'?

Thanks!

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

What is editor Adams accusing Amazon of having done that requires this action on his part?

And what do you mean by 'delay'?

The issue is available at the start of the month, but its content is made available online throughout the month.
For example, the last story of the September 2024 issue says "Publishes Online on 9/26".

Amazon used to have a digital magazine subscription service, and most of the SFF magazines relied on it for survival, as this was the main source of subscriptions.
When they stopped the service, they had to scramble to regain those lost subscribers. It was especially hard because Amazon didn't share the subscriber info with the magazines other than a number, and didn't tell subscribers where to go to renew it.

Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld) describes it here (one of many editorials on this topic), and here's a report from The Verge that also mentions Fantasy Magazine has closed down, partly due to this change.

EDIT to add:
This change happened around the same time when magazines started getting many AI-generated submissions, making their job even harder.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

The issue is available at the start of the month, but its content is made available online throughout the month.
For example, the last story of the September 2024 issue says "Publishes Online on 9/26".

Amazon used to have a digital magazine subscription service, and most of the SFF magazines relied on it for survival, as this was the main source of subscriptions.
When they stopped the service, they had to scramble to regain those lost subscribers. It was especially hard because Amazon didn't share the subscriber info with the magazines other than a number, and didn't tell subscribers where to go to renew it.

Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld) describes it here (one of many editorials on this topic), and here's a report from The Verge that also mentions Fantasy Magazine has closed down, partly due to this change.

EDIT to add:
This change happened around the same time when magazines started getting many AI-generated submissions, making their job even harder.

Yeah, I was aware of Amazon discontinuing their digital magazine subscription service, but I thought that was 2-3 years ago?

Thank you for the information.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

Some fans believe it's best read as a satire of the dark setting. (Games Workshop has confirmed that it's a satire.) The Imperium of Man is supposed to be the good guys. But... are they really?

GW have described WH40K as satire but given what I have learned about the setting not everyone who is writing in universe is on board. Personally, I think it's more farce than satire. It's just too ham-fisted to be satire.

There are no good guy factions in WH40K, just various degrees of comic book evil. And Orks. The T'au originally were intended to fill that space but enough fans of the setting complained that they weren't sufficiently comic book evil so GW turned them into a nation of brainwashed puppets under another batch of farcially evil overlords.

[lkmiller]

Amazon allowed some of the magazines to be part of Kindle Unlimited. But the terms were pretty sucky and have recently gotten even worse. At least that's what I've gathered from what Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld magazine has said.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by batpuppy

They have another Warhammer 40K books series at humble bundle.

Deathwatch and Rogue Trader series https://www.humblebundle.com/books/w...ore_bookbundle

Not read any of these but am tempted to get them. Anone read any of these type books?

Those are game rule books, not novels.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Those are game rule books, not novels.

OMG! Then this is an even bigger bargain. Their game rule books generally start around $40 for a hardback.

Of course, it won't be such a bargain when they update the rules. But people who really like their lore will still enjoy reading them.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

OMG! Then this is an even bigger bargain. Their game rule books generally start around $40 for a hardback.

Of course, it won't be such a bargain when they update the rules. But people who really like their lore will still enjoy reading them.

ITYM "when they update the rules yet again." Codex Creep is a thing.

[Cactus Chef]

Dangerous Visions is on sale again for $1.99:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dangerous-visions-6

Again Dangerous Visions is still on sale, too:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/aga...rous-visions-4

Only five days left until the final volume!

[gbm]

The Seafort Saga by David Feintuch is on sale, books 1-6 are $1.99 at Amazon and books 2-6 at Kobo for $1.99.*

*If you have a VIP membership at Kobo then they are $1.79.

First in the military science fiction series that does “an excellent job of transferring Hornblower to interstellar space. A thoroughly enjoyable read” (David Drake).
In the year 2194, seventeen-year-old Nicholas Seafort is assigned to the Hibernia as a lowly midshipman. Destination: the thriving colony of Hope Nation. But when a rescue attempt goes devastatingly wrong, Seafort is thrust into a leadership role he never anticipated. The other officers resent him, but Seafort must handle more dangerous problems, from a corrupted navigation computer to a deadly epidemic. Even Hope Nation has a nasty surprise in store. Seafort might be the crew’s only hope . . . This page-turning science fiction in the vein of Robert Heinlein and Orson Scott Card—with a dash of Horatio Hornblower—marks the captivating debut adventure in Feintuch’s hugely popular Seafort Saga.

bernie

[coolhand773]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch is £6 in the UK (Kobo, Amazon)
This is an omnibus containing The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves

Such a great series!!