FREE/BARGAIN - Science Fiction, Fantasy - 2016

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

My favorite Arthur C Clarke novel. Not quite sure why. Went to buy and Amazon says I bought in 2014. Ha.

That's a clear sign from the 'Ebook Gods' that you should re-read it right now!

[orangekiwi]

Seed to Harvest: Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, and Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler is $3.99 in the US as one of open roads daily deals today

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HALOVO
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/eb...-patternmaster

Synopsis
The complete Patternist series—Butler’s acclaimed vision of a world transformed by a secret race of telepaths and the violence, intolerance, and plague that follow their rise to power

In the late seventeenth century, two immortals meet in an African forest. Anyanwu is a healer, a three-hundred-year-old woman who uses her wisdom to help those around her. The other is Doro, a malevolent despot who has mastered the power of stealing the bodies of others when his wears out. Together they will change the world.

Over the next three centuries, Doro mounts a colossal selective breeding project, attempting to create a master race of telepaths. He succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, splitting the human race down the middle and establishing a new world order dominated by the most manipulative minds on Earth.

In these four novels, Butler tells the story that began her legendary career: a mythic tale of the transformation of civilization.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by orangekiwi

Seed to Harvest: Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, and Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler is $3.99 in the US as one of open roads daily deals today

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HALOVO
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/eb...-patternmaster

Synopsis
The complete Patternist series—Butler’s acclaimed vision of a world transformed by a secret race of telepaths and the violence, intolerance, and plague that follow their rise to power

In the late seventeenth century, two immortals meet in an African forest. Anyanwu is a healer, a three-hundred-year-old woman who uses her wisdom to help those around her. The other is Doro, a malevolent despot who has mastered the power of stealing the bodies of others when his wears out. Together they will change the world.

Over the next three centuries, Doro mounts a colossal selective breeding project, attempting to create a master race of telepaths. He succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, splitting the human race down the middle and establishing a new world order dominated by the most manipulative minds on Earth.

In these four novels, Butler tells the story that began her legendary career: a mythic tale of the transformation of civilization.

£5.49 in the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seed-Harves...octavia+butler

[Little.Egret]

SF novella, Venture Press, free

RIME (Kindle Single) (61 pp) by Tim Lebbon


Adrift in space, a gigantic freighter, Cradle, carrying seventeen million souls makes its slow journey across the universe.
They are in search of a new home, a `Goldilocks' planet to sustain human life after the decimation and downfall of planet Earth.
One man, a control room tech, is part of a generation destined to live their lives protecting those of the sleeping millions onboard Cradle.
But soon, everything is about to change...
When Cradle encounters five unknown entities flying just beyond its radars, the ship's AI calls for caution. Comms go down across the gargantuan ship, cutting the tech from the millions of other souls under his watch.
Those in cryosleep don't realise the danger they are in. Their lives are in the balance.
And the alien ships are fast approaching...
Now this lonely technician must make his decision: will he stand his ground, and risk the lives of millions?

TIM LEBBON's latest novel is the thriller The Hunt, and other recent releases include The Silence and Alien: Out of the Shadows.
The movie of his story Pay the Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage, was released September 2015,


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G4485GQ/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01G4485GQ/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01G4485GQ/

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

They are in search of a new home, a `Goldilocks' planet to sustain human life after the decimation and downfall of planet Earth.

Hmmm. If the human race had been "decimated" (ie one in ten killed), that would still leave 90% surviving, which would seem reasonably secure .

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Hmmm. If the human race had been "decimated" (ie one in ten killed), that would still leave 90% surviving, which would seem reasonably secure .

See! this is what happens when English majors in college, learn math! Nothing good can come from that . . .

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

See! this is what happens when English majors in college, learn math! Nothing good can come from that . . .

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Hmmm. If the human race had been "decimated" (ie one in ten killed), that would still leave 90% surviving, which would seem reasonably secure .

The word no longer means that. It now means "destroying a large portion of something". And it wasn't originally coined for that Roman punishment, which was a later usage.

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2...roy-one-tenth/

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The word no longer means that. It now means "destroying a large portion of something". And it wasn't originally coined for that Roman punishment, which was a later usage.

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2...roy-one-tenth/

Interesting article - thanks. Whether the original meaning was the Roman punishment or the practice of tithing to the church, it stil refers to "taking away a tenth", hence the "deci-" prefix.

[badgoodDeb]

Maybe it now means "only a tenth remaining" .... more or less. Now I'll go read the definition pointed to.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The word no longer means that. It now means "destroying a large portion of something". And it wasn't originally coined for that Roman punishment, which was a later usage.

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2...roy-one-tenth/

An interesting article. Also the OED => "rhetorically or loosely. To destroy or remove a large proportion of; to subject to severe loss, slaughter, or mortality."

So using the same adjective to describe complainers as is used in the article, it is just fine for the less "peevish" of us to use decimate in that way, as many of us do.

Those opposed to change should, perhaps, be maintaining a stance that preserves the language as that in the around 6th and 7th centuries when English emerged out of the Germanic languages and dialects, rather than trying to drive a stake in the ground at some more recent arbitrary point in the evolution of the language.

[orangekiwi]

Cross posted from FREE/BARGAIN - Children's, YA thread as it may interest some here.

Black Dog by Rachel Neumeier is 99c for the weekend (in multiple countries)
Originally published by Strange Chemistry this YA Fantasy is now published by the author

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/black-dog-26
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Dog-Rac.../dp/B01JAIXHA2

Synopsis
BLACK DOG by Rachel Neumeier takes the reader into a hidden world of magic, war, and shapeshifting that exists just behind the headlines of the human world. Think of it as Robin McKinley's SUNSHINE but with werewolves instead of vampires.

In a world where a half-hidden war has finally revealed to ordinary humans the supernatural creatures that surround them, safety is hard to find for a girl like Natividad.
Born Pure, one of the rare girls able to wield protective magic against demonic forces, Natividad and her brothers are on their own and on the run, with terrible memories and terrible enemies behind them. The only possible shelter might be found with their father’s kin, the infamous black dogs of Dimilioc . . . if they can win acceptance. But when their enemies track them to their new home, neither Natividad nor her brothers nor Dimilioc itself may survive . . .

[orangekiwi]

A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer published by Roc is currently $1.99 in the US

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/eb...rother-s-price
https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Pric.../dp/B000OIZU1M

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by orangekiwi

A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer published by Roc is currently $1.99 in the US

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/eb...rother-s-price
https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Pric.../dp/B000OIZU1M

Is it any good? Wen Spencer is new to me, and from the plot synopsis, it could get extra cheesy, extra fast, or it could be brilliant.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Is it any good? Wen Spencer is new to me, and from the plot synopsis, it could get extra cheesy, extra fast, or it could be brilliant.

It's brilliant. A stand-alone fantasy novel in an interesting universe. Well worth a read, especially at that price.

I bought it back in May 2008 from fictionwise and rated it 5/5.