Free and Bargain Scifi/Fantasy for December 2012

[conanfan]

I'll start it up again. Feel free to share your Scifi/Fantasy bargains for the month. And watch out for the affiliate links in your posts!

This month's free ebook from Phoenix Pick is L. Neil Smith's The Venus Belt, sequel to The Probability Breach, a previous freebie. (Link is to the monthly Phoenix Pick newsletter, which has the download code and instructions. I invite all Scifi fans to sign up, because they give away good Scifi every month).

Book Description
Publication Date: July 5, 2009
More than a 150,000 women have been kidnapped without a trace or any ransom demand in the 'normal' world run by the Federalists and the bureaucracy. But that is not the only problem, because the freedom loving population in the 'alternate' reality of the North American Confederacy are facing their own crises. *** People are disappearing across the Probability Broach, including Win Bear's closest friend, Featherstone-Haugh (who heads the Confederacy), and even Win's wife and assistant. *** Ill (and deadly) winds are blowing and threatening to destroy the Probability Broach as we know it. Win Bear, keeping one step ahead of lethal assassins and fighting incredible odds, must solve multiple apparantly disparate cases that all seem to lead to the end of freedom. ***

[mikaelalind]

Michelle Sagara West's The Sundered series are discounted to 0.99-2.99 at Amazon.

Oh, and Harlequin offers 50 % off on all e-books, including titles from their Luna imprint. ( Today only)

[HarryT]

Do Harlequin publish SF/Fantasy? I'd always associated them more with romance.

[sqdancer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do Harlequin publish SF/Fantasy? I'd always associated them more with romance.

Harlequin LUNA

[Apache]

It looks like Romance combined with Sci Fi and Fantasy.
Apache

[HarryT]

Interesting - thanks .

[NightBird]

Seven Princes by John R. Fultz from Orbit is $2.99. B&N Kobo

It is an Age of Legends.

Under the watchful eye of the Giants, the kingdoms of Men rose to power. Now, the Giant-King has slain the last of the Serpents and ushered in an era of untold peace and prosperity. Where a fire-blackened desert once stood, golden cities flourish in verdant fields.

It is an Age of Heroes.

But the realms of Man face a new threat-- an ancient sorcerer slaughters the rightful King of Yaskatha before the unbelieving eyes of his son, young Prince D'zan. With the Giant-King lost to a mysterious doom, it seems that no one has the power to stop the coming storm.

It is an Age of War.

The fugitive Prince seeks allies across the realms of Men and Giants to liberate his father's stolen kingdom. Six foreign Princes are tied to his fate. Only one thing is certain: War is coming.

SEVEN PRINCES.

Some will seek glory.

Some will seek vengeance.

All will be legends.

[artifact]

From LMB:

The Sharing Knife, Vol. 3: Passage is on sale for $3.99 as part of what I am told is a big holiday promotion at Amazon. I am not totally sure how this works, but having my book appear on a list outside its usual range of readers certainly made interesting things happen earlier this year with The Spirit Ring.

The promotion is scheduled to run 12/2 to 12/22.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by artifact

From LMB:

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Sharing-Knife-.../dp/B0010SKSWQ

[NightBird]

Last month The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells was $1.99. Now the sequel, The Serpent Sea is $1.99. From Night Shade Books.

ETA: This is actually part of the 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less SF/Fantasy section.

Moon, once a solitary wanderer, has become consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court. Together, they travel with their people on a pair of flying ships in hopes of finding a new home for their colony. Moon finally feels like he’s found a tribe where he belongs. But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core. Nearby they find the remains of the invaders who may be responsible, as well as evidence of a devastating theft. This discovery sends Moon and the hunters of Indigo Cloud on a quest for the heartstone of the tree — a quest that will lead them far away, across the Serpent Sea.

In this followup to The Cloud Roads, Martha Wells returns with a world-spanning odyssey, a mystery that only provokes more questions — and the adventure of a lifetime.

In addition, three of her self-published backlist books, originally published by Tor and HarperCollins, are $2.99 each at Amazon, Kobo (coupons can be used - bargainmoose40 for 40% off still working for net price $1.79), and B&N. I don't know if this is a regular price or how long they have been this price.

City of Bones

Khat, a member of a humanoid race created by the Ancients to survive in the Waste, and Sagai, his human partner, are relic dealers working on the edge of society, trying to stay one step ahead of the Trade Inspectors and to support Sagai's family. When Khat is hired to find relics believed to be part of one of the Ancients' arcane engines, they are both reluctant to become involved. But the request comes from the Warders, powerful mages who serve Charisat's Elector. Khat soon discovers that the deadly politics of Charisat's upper tiers aren't the only danger. The relics the Warders want are the key to an Ancient magic of unknown power, and, as all the inhabitants of Charisat know, no one understands the Ancients' magic.

Originally published by Tor Books in hardcover in 1995.

The Element of Fire

The kingdom of Ile-Rein lies in peril, menaced by sorcerous threats and devious court intrigues. As the weak King Roland, flattered and misled by treacherous companions, rules the country, only his ruthless mother, the Dowager Queen Ravenna, guards the safety of the realm. But now rumors arise that Urbain Grandier, the dark master of scientific sorcery, has arrived to plot against the throne. And Kade, bastard sister of King Roland, appears unexpectedly at court. The illegitimate daughter of the old king and the Queen of Air and Darkness herself, Kade's true desires are cloaked in mystery. Is she in league with the wizard Grandier? Or is she laying claim to the throne?

It falls to Thomas Boniface, Captain of the Queen's Guard and Ravenna's former lover, to sort out who is friend, who is foe in a deadly game to keep the Dowager Queen and the kingdom she loves from harm. But is one man's steel enough to counter all the magic of fayre?

Originally published by Tor Books in hardcover in 1993.

Wheel of the Infinite

With chaos in the wind, a woman with a shadowy past has returned to Duvalpore. A murderer and traitor--an exile disgraced, hated, and feared, and haunted by her own guilty conscience--Maskelle has been summoned back to help put the world right. Once she was the most enigmatic of the Voices, until cursed by her own actions. Now, in the company of Rian--a skilled and dangerously alluring swordsman--she must confront dread enemies old and new, and a cold, stalking malevolence unlike any she has ever encountered.

For if Maskelle cannot unearth the cause of the Wheel of the Infinite's accelerating disintegration--if she cannot free herself from the ghosts of the past and focus on the catastrophe to come--the world will plunge headlong into the terrifying abyss toward which it is recklessly hurtling. And all that is, ever was, and will be will end.

Originally published in hardcover by Avon Eos in 2000.

[NightBird]

Free - The Future, Imperfect: Six Dystopian Short Stories by Ruth Nestvold.

The Future, Imperfect is a collection of near future, dystopian short stories by Ruth Nestvold. Environmental changes -- slow in some regions, catastrophic in others -- have had a major effect on our world, not for the better. While water wars and pandemics have devastated the Mediterranean region, and a major earthquake and the resulting destruction of nuclear power plants and sensitive research facilities have made much of California a wasteland, corporate-sponsored enclaves defend themselves from the have-nots. What can any one individual do to make a difference is such a world? These are the stories both of those who tried and those who failed.

Five of the short stories in this collection were previously published in such venues as Asimov's and Futurismic. "Exit Without Saving" also appeared in Rich Horton's Science Fiction 2007: The Best of the Year. "Killfile" is an original publication.

"The Future, Imperfect," is a story collection of approximately 40,000 words.

[queentess]

I've read two of the Luna titles. They were Harlequin "romance" with a teeny bit of bad sci-fi/fantasy wrapped around it. But hey, now I know to stay away from Luna!

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by queentess

I've read two of the Luna titles. They were Harlequin "romance" with a teeny bit of bad sci-fi/fantasy wrapped around it. But hey, now I know to stay away from Luna!

As now do I. Thanks for the warning.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by queentess

I've read two of the Luna titles. They were Harlequin "romance" with a teeny bit of bad sci-fi/fantasy wrapped around it. But hey, now I know to stay away from Luna!

I don't read a lot of fantasy. But I'd say you might want to at least give them a quick look, if they cover a topic you normally enjoy.

Michelle Sagara (West) has an urban fantasy series under the LUNA imprint, and there's almost no romance in it. In some ways, I see it as a cross between "regular" fantasy and urban fantasy - the setting reminds me of the typical "medieval" tone that a lot of fantasies have (swords, horses, ladies in long gowns, etc.) It's just different enough that I really like it.

I've also liked at least one of the Maria V. Snyder series from LUNA and didn't feel it was romance 'dressed loosely in fantasy'.

But, I do enjoy romance, so I've even liked the Robin Owens series' from LUNA, and they've definitely included romances as an important part of the story.

I've probably named 90% of the LUNA books I've read in this post - like I said, fantasy isn't my first choice of genres.

I think LUNA suffers from what other Harlequin "non-romance" lines suffer from - people expect it to have romance because HQN owns it. Books don't sell well because the romance readers complain there isn't enough romance, most x-genre readers ignore them because they assume they're only romance.

So HQN slides to the safer side and tends to include more books that please the romance readers, which makes it less likely that x-genre readers will touch them....and so on.

x-genre = they have at least a couple non-romance lines, but have had others that didn't do well and were cancelled (LUNA, MIRA - ongoing, Bombshell - cancelled)

[NightBird]

Repeat freebie (from last year) from Angry Robot - The Nemesis Worm, novella/short story by Guy Haley.

A standalone novella featuring the 22nd century's greatest detectives, The Nemesis Worm sees Richards & Klein involved in another high stakes investigation. Corpses are showing up all over Old London, and the finger of suspicion points right at Richards himself. Forced to clear his name, Richards and Otto uncover a fanatical group whose actions threaten the relationship between human and AI with destruction.