FREE/BARGAIN - Science Fiction, Fantasy - 2016

[BetterRead]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I didn't. I agree with eschwartz.

Ditto.

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

issy, are you aware of Fred Allen and Senator Claghorn?

I'm surprised the Wikipedia article didn't mention that the characterization actually originated on the Alan Young radio show. Fred Allen asked Alan Young for permission to use the character, and since the Alan Young show was moving in a different direction, he had no problem with it.

I heard this in an interview with Alan Young on the Sirius Radio Classics channel.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

I'm surprised the Wikipedia article didn't mention that the characterization actually originated on the Alan Young radio show. Fred Allen asked Alan Young for permission to use the character, and since the Alan Young show was moving in a different direction, he had no problem with it.

I heard this in an interview with Alan Young on the Sirius Radio Classics channel.

Alan Young was the star of Mister Ed.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by orangekiwi

To Ride Pegasus by Anne McCaffrey (The Talents Saga Book 1) is currently $1.99 in the US
It's been discounted previously so check before you buy.

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/to-ride-pegasus
https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Pegasus-.../dp/B000FBJD3O

They were people whose gifts were unique. For years - centuries - they had not even understood just what they could do with their minds. They had sometimes become astrologers, clairvoyants, or healers, but their Talents were undeveloped and untrained. Henry Darrow was the first to explore the huge wealth of psychic gifts hidden amongst mankind, and it was he who formed the first Parapsychic Centre where Talents could train and be used to revolutionise the world. But their powers set them apart, made them feared, then threatened by the un-Talented. And when dangerous freak 'wild' Talents began to wreak havoc in the outside world, it took all their combined Talented efforts to save themselves.

I just sampled this and it's full of ocr errors. The most popular review complains of errors as well, so I would recommend skipping this version.

[elaysee]

Elizabeth Bonesteel's The Cold Between is $1.99 right now at various places including Amazon US and Kobo.

I believe this book was part of a Harper Voyager giveaway earlier this year, so confirm that you didn't get it from a different source than your usual.

Description:

Spoiler:

From debut author Elizabeth Bonesteel, The Cold Between is the start to a stellar military science fiction series that combines hints of mystery and romance with action and adventure in the tradition of Elizabeth Moon, Linnea Sinclair, and Lois McMaster Bujold.

When her crewmate, Danny, is murdered on the colony of Volhynia, Central Corps chief engineer, Commander Elena Shaw, is shocked to learn the main suspect is her lover, Treiko Zajec. She knows Trey is innocent—he was with her when Danny was killed. So who is the real killer and why are the cops framing an innocent man?

Retracing Danny’s last hours, they discover that his death may be tied to a mystery from the past: the explosion of a Central Corps starship at a wormhole near Volhynia. For twenty-five years, the Central Gov has been lying about the tragedy, even willing to go to war with the outlaw PSI to protect their secrets.

With the authorities closing in, Elena and Trey head to the wormhole, certain they’ll find answers on the other side. But the truth that awaits them is far more terrifying than they ever imagined . . . a conspiracy deep within Central Gov that threatens all of human civilization throughout the inhabited reaches of the galaxy—and beyond.

[Dr. Drib]

"To Ride Pegasus," by Anne McCaffrey is at version 3.1r_5.

Just write that down and keep track of the revision numbers as various errors get corrected.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

"To Ride Pegasus," by Anne McCaffrey is at version 3.1r_5.

Just write that down and keep track of the revision numbers as various errors get corrected.

So, if you really WANT the book, get it now at the sale price, and wait to see how many errors get corrected by others? They ought to notify you when a corrected version is posted.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

So, if you really WANT the book, get it now at the sale price, and wait to see how many errors get corrected by others? They ought to notify you when a corrected version is posted.

Amazon does sometimes, I just got an e-mail about one on the 12th:

An updated version of your past Kindle purchase of The Temporary Agent (The Agent Series) by Daniel Judson is now available.

The updated version contains the following changes:

• Typos have been corrected.

You can receive the improved versions of all your books by opting in to receive book updates automatically. You can do this by going to Manage Your Content and Devices and clicking on Automatic Book Update under the Settings tab.

Alternatively, you can get the updated version of this book by going to Manage Your Content and Devices. Find the book under Your Content tab, click on the "Update Available" button next to the book's title, and then follow the update prompts. All your devices that have the eBook currently downloaded will be updated automatically the next time they connect to wireless.

I am, unfortunately, pretty sure they don't do this for every ebook that gets an update. I had to search my e-mails to find the last one they sent, and that turned out to be back in June 2015. I have no idea what triggers the e-mails, maybe the publisher or author requests it be sent out?

[jhowell]

from Notifying Customers of Book Updates at Amaon:

We'll review the book within seven days, and may take one of the following actions:

• Corrections to distracting errors. If we find only minor corrections, we won't notify customers who already own a copy by email, but we'll activate their ability to update the content through the "Manage Your Content and Devices" page on Amazon.com.
  
• Corrections to destructive or critical errors. If we find major corrections, we will alert all customers who own the book via email. These customers can choose to receive the update through their "Manage Your Content and Devices" page on Amazon.com.
  
• Additional corrections to critical errors needed. If we find more major corrections are needed, we will temporarily remove your book from sale. We’ll notify you of the issues we found so that you can fix them. Once the improvements are made, just let us know and we’ll email customers just as with major corrections.
  Please review our Guide to Kindle Content Quality for information on the most common types of quality issues. Make sure to provide detailed examples of the corrections made when submitting your request.

Some examples of corrections that don't justify sending updates to customers who previously purchased your book are:

• New Content Added: Chapter(s) or page(s) added, deleted or revised; new images added; bonus chapter added.
• Book Plot or Character Changes: Character's name changed; book ending changed.
• Marketing Information: Links or marketing info added, deleted, or modified.

[bgalbrecht]

I'm cynical. If Del Rey hasn't corrected the typos in an ebook that Amazon and Kobo list as released in 2002, I wouldn't hold out much hope for them to do it now. Short of complaining to Todd McCaffrey or the ebook going to another publisher, I think what's available now is what's going to be available until it goes into the public domain in 2082 (or later).

[maddz]

Yeah, I got a full price Gillian Bradshaw that was riddled with ocr errors. The worst was the 4 different spellings of the lead character's name... Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way of reporting errors via the Kindle app; all I could do was to report via my account and post a bad review.

I must download the book into Calibre, turn it into epub, correct the errors, and upload a cleaned up version onto the Kobo, but that doesn't help with the app version.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by jhowell

from Notifying Customers of Book Updates at Amaon:

That just brings up more questions I think:

Corrections to distracting errors. If we find only minor corrections, we won't notify customers who already own a copy by email, but we'll activate their ability to update the content through the "Manage Your Content and Devices" page on Amazon.com.

And yet both the recent e-mail and the one from 2015 were for "Typos have been corrected." Unless they misspelled every other word in the book, typos are usually minor changes (for most readers, not all) so why did those two books trigger an e-mail? (Unfortunately I had not already downloaded the book they sent a notice for, so I can't see how many typos there were.)

And then there's this part:

Some examples of corrections that don't justify sending updates to customers who previously purchased your book are:

• New Content Added: Chapter(s) or page(s) added, deleted or revised; new images added; bonus chapter added.
• Book Plot or Character Changes: Character's name changed; book ending changed.
• Marketing Information: Links or marketing info added, deleted, or modified.

New chapters or pages being added, deleted or revised seems kinda important and worthy of an update notice. Ditto for new images. Even if they aren't critical, existing owners would probably like to know there's new images and check them out. Since they cover adding chapters earlier in that sentence, bonus chapters much mean preview chapters of other books. That one makes sense to not send out a notice on.

But then the second one... Plot and character changes, book ending changed, those are all pretty damn major changes. Those kind of things would turn most books I've read into quite different books. A character's name changing is minor (usually, I can think of ways it could be a major thing too), so it seems out of place there.

The last one makes sense to not send out update notices.

So basically Amazon's own guidelines are inconsistent. They say they don't sent out notices for minor changes, but do for just typos at times. Then they list a bunch of major changes that they don't think warrants an update notice.

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for the new StoryBundle:

Extreme Sci-Fi Bundle contains mostly indie & newly-written works, but there's a backlist novel and a collection of previously-published short stories in there as well, plus some continuations of popular series by established authors.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

So, if you really WANT the book, get it now at the sale price, and wait to see how many errors get corrected by others? They ought to notify you when a corrected version is posted.

I actually looked at the book, read a few pages, and decided to purchase it. If there are, indeed, errors (which I have no doubt that I will encounter some), I still find the book - so far, at least - quite readable.

I remember the book from some 30-plus odd years ago and buying it now - even with a few errors - is not a troublesome enterprise for me. For others, yes, it might be.

[datcha]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

The Color of Magic, by Terry Pratchett, is on sale for $1.99, in case there is anyone here who hasn't yet bought all his books.

I have not: I do not like DRM and I do not like being charged more than other customers.