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Old 11-02-2011, 04:10 PM   #16
kennyc
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Cory Doctorow also makes his books available for free download.
SOME of his books.
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Old 11-02-2011, 04:16 PM   #17
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Two of the best free (public domain) books I have read are:

Philip Wylie - Gladiator
Harry Harrison - DeathWorld

Gladiator is a long time favourite of mine, so I was glad to find it in ebook format. It is the story of a boy who grows to manhood with superhuman strength and invincibility.

This book predates Superman and may have been an influence on Superman's creators. The story has great characters and is very evocative of an era.
Where can you find a (legal) downloadable version of Gladiator? I checked Amazon and they have it for $2, it isn't in Gutenberg or the MR library. Doesn't appear that it is public domain yet.
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Old 11-02-2011, 04:25 PM   #18
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Where can you find a (legal) downloadable version of Gladiator? I checked Amazon and they have it for $2, it isn't in Gutenberg or the MR library. Doesn't appear that it is public domain yet.
Here it is.
http://www.archive.org/details/Gladiator_261
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Old 11-02-2011, 06:20 PM   #19
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Manybooks also has it: http://www.manybooks.net/titles/wyli...gladiator.html
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Old 11-03-2011, 12:47 AM   #20
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Also Uller Uprising. One of my favorites by him.
Apache
I will throw in Space Viking myself. H. Beam Piper's tragic death is responsible for us getting access to these so soon.

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Old 11-03-2011, 02:21 AM   #21
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I will throw in Space Viking myself. H. Beam Piper's tragic death is responsible for us getting access to these so soon.

--
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No it isn't; his death has absolutely nothing to do with it; these are stories from the days when copyright had to be renewed in the US, whose copyright was not renewed. They are ONLY in the public domain in the US - nowhere else. His works will enter the public domain in "life+50" countries in 2015, and in "life+70" countries in 2035.
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Old 11-03-2011, 02:41 AM   #22
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Old 11-03-2011, 10:57 AM   #23
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+1 on Deathworld. Will have to check out Gladiator.

I wonder, when will the early Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlien stuff reach the PD?
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Old 11-03-2011, 12:07 PM   #24
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Nobody mentioned Peter Watts yet. I put his Maelstrom right up there among my favorite freebies. That Rifter trilogy was entertaining and disturbing. His also-free Blindsight was a more difficult read for me, yet still good.
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Old 11-03-2011, 01:40 PM   #25
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No it isn't; his death has absolutely nothing to do with it; these are stories from the days when copyright had to be renewed in the US, whose copyright was not renewed. They are ONLY in the public domain in the US - nowhere else. His works will enter the public domain in "life+50" countries in 2015, and in "life+70" countries in 2035.
And you think he would have let the copyright on those stories lapse if he had been alive?

I am sorry they are not in the public domain where you are; but they are where I am. And please don't treat people like slow witted children just because you don't understand the full thread of their thoughts.

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Old 11-03-2011, 01:44 PM   #26
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H. Beam Piper's _Little Fuzzy_
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Old 11-03-2011, 01:55 PM   #27
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H. Beam Piper's _Little Fuzzy_
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Old 11-03-2011, 01:56 PM   #28
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+1 on Deathworld. Will have to check out Gladiator.

I wonder, when will the early Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlien stuff reach the PD?
Or at least reasonably priced. On Amazon one of Heinlein earliest books Space Cadet (1948) is $9.99. I can't force myself to pay that... Especially in light of the cost of a used paperback. Rather than pay $9.99 for an early Heinlein I'll "force" myself to discover other writers such as mentioned in this thread.

Discovery is fun...

.

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Old 11-03-2011, 02:08 PM   #29
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Or at least reasonably priced. On Amazon one of Heinlein earliest books Space Cadet (1948) is $9.99.
Many of Heinlein's books are available for about $6 each on Baen Webscriptions.
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Old 11-03-2011, 05:37 PM   #30
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Flatland by E. A. Abbott is my personal preference. Written in 1884, it's about a world that is two dimensional, where all the characters are squares or triangles or trapezoids and so on. It's surprisingly funny.
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