FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[salty-horse]

The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North is still on sale (since Jan 1), but now available for non-US customers for $1.07, cheaper than the regular sale price of $2.99 - Amazon.com.

This is about a girl who people forget as soon as she leaves.


Claire North first novel (under than pseudonym), The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, is in the Kindle Daily Deal for $2.99 in the US only - Amazon.com.

This is about a person who keeps reliving the same life. ("Groundshog Lifetime" - an idea previously explored in Ken Grimwood's Replay)

[salty-horse]

Undertow by Elizabeth Bear is $1.99 on Amazon.com and other retailers.

Goodreads

A frontier world on the back end of nowhere is the sort of place people go to get lost. And some of those people have secrets worth hiding, secrets that can change the future–assuming there is one. . . .

André Deschênes is a hired assassin, but he wants to be so much more. If only he can find a teacher who will forgive his murderous past–and train him to manipulate odds and control probability. It’s called the art of conjuring, and it’s André’s only route to freedom. For the world he lives on is run by the ruthless Charter Trade Company, and his floating city, Novo Haven, is little more than a company town where humans and aliens alike either work for one tyrannical family–or are destroyed by it. But beneath Novo Haven’s murky waters, within its tangled bayous, reedy banks, and back alleys, revolution is stirring. And one more death may be all it takes to shift the balance. . . .

[pdurrant]

The Furthest Station, a Novella in Been Aaronovitch's Rivers of London / PC Peter Grant series is on offer today for £0.99 at Amazon UK.

[sufue]

Amazon puts the the Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner in their teen and YA category, but before noticing that, I had read and quite enjoyed the first title in the series, The Thief, and I'm not a teen or YA. So I'm opting to put it here instead of the Children & YA thread. (I noticed later that The Thief had won a Newbery Honor award.)

The second title in the series, The Queen of Attolia, is currently $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OMZTXA/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-queen-of-attolia

Spoiler:

Discover the world of the Queen’s Thief

New York Times-bestselling author Megan Whalen Turner’s entrancing and award-winning Queen’s Thief novels bring to life the world of the epics and feature one of the most charismatic and incorrigible characters of fiction, Eugenides the thief. Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief novels are rich with political machinations and intrigue, battles lost and won, dangerous journeys, divine intervention, power, passion, revenge, and deception. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Patrick Rothfuss, and George R. R. Martin.

The brilliant thief Eugenides has visited the Queen of Attolia’s palace one too many times, leaving small tokens and then departing unseen. When his final excursion does not go as planned, he is captured by the ruthless queen. The Queen’s Thief novels have been praised by writers, critics, reviewers, and fans and have been honored with glowing reviews, “best of” citations, and numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Newbery Honor, the Andre Norton Award shortlist, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. Discover and rediscover the stand-alone companions, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings, and Thick as Thieves, all epic novels set in the world of the Queen’s Thief.

This edition of The Queen of Attolia includes "Knife Dance," an exclusive story about Eugenides by Megan Whalen Turner, an introduction to the characters from the world of the Queen’s Thief, and a map of the world of the Queen’s Thief.

A Booklist Top 10 Fantasy Books for Youth
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
Parent’s Choice Gold Award
A Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book

[murraypaul]

The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F Hamilton is on sale for $1.99 at Amazon US.
This is the first of a two part spin-off from his Commonwealth series. The second part is not on sale.

[radbaddude]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F Hamilton is on sale for $1.99 at Amazon US.
This is the first of a two part spin-off from his Commonwealth series. The second part is not on sale.

Can one start Hamilton with this novel? Never read his work but love me some scifi.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by radbaddude

Can one start Hamilton with this novel? Never read his work but love me some scifi.

I haven't read it yet, so someone else might be able to help better.
It does seem to build on both the Commonwealth and Void series, so might not be the best starting point.
The first book of the Void series is currently $2.99 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UZJQLE

[WillAdams]

Downbelow Station --- C.J. Cherryh's first Alliance-Union "Merchanter" novel is $1.99 at Amazon (possibly other places):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFXK6KE

The lynchpin of that series, it's well worth reading so as to have access to _Merchanter's Luck_ and the other stories in that series.

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F Hamilton is on sale for $1.99 at Amazon US.
This is the first of a two part spin-off from his Commonwealth series. The second part is not on sale.

Thanks! I just finished the Void Trilogy 2 days ago.

radbaddude, I think you would get more out of it starting with Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained, then the Void Trilogy. Lots of characters, places, ideas, references to past events, etc. go throughout his Commonwealth books.

[radbaddude]

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

Thanks! I just finished the Void Trilogy 2 days ago.

radbaddude, I think you would get more out of it starting with Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained, then the Void Trilogy. Lots of characters, places, ideas, references to past events, etc. go throughout his Commonwealth books.

Thank you for the suggestion, looking into it !

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by radbaddude

Thank you for the suggestion, looking into it !

If you haven't read any of Hamilton's books, there are three sensible places to start:
Mindstar Rising, the first of the Greg Mandel Series
The Reality Dysfunction, the first of the Night's Dawn series
And Pandora's Star, as recommended above, the first of the Commonwealth series, which leads into the Void series, which leads into the Chronicle of the Fallers series.
Personally I think the Night's Dawn series is probably the strongest, but all are good.
Hamilton often tends to blur a little bit of fantasy into what are otherwise quite hard scifi books.

If you do enjoy Hamilton, you should also look at Neal Asher and Alastair Reynolds. For me, those three are the best of (living) modern British SciFi. (Otherwise Iain M Banks would be included)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

If you haven't read any of Hamilton's books, there are three sensible places to start:
Mindstar Rising, the first of the Greg Mandel Series
The Reality Dysfunction, the first of the Night's Dawn series
And Pandora's Star, as recommended above, the first of the Commonwealth series, which leads into the Void series, which leads into the Chronicle of the Fallers series.
Personally I think the Night's Dawn series is probably the strongest, but all are good.
Hamilton often tends to blur a little bit of fantasy into what are otherwise quite hard scifi books.

I'd actually suggest reading "Great North Road" if you want a "sample" of Hamilton. It's a great book (IMHO, of course!) and, unlike the books you list above, it's standalone, rather than part of a series.

[bgalbrecht]

Arizona State University has released a new free volume of cli-fi (climate fiction) short stories, with a foreward from Kim Stanley Robinson. Everything Change Volume 2

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'd actually suggest reading "Great North Road" if you want a "sample" of Hamilton. It's a great book (IMHO, of course!) and, unlike the books you list above, it's standalone, rather than part of a series.

I agree. Great North Road is a great intro to Hamilton if you don't want a trilogy.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

I agree. Great North Road is a great intro to Hamilton if you don't want a trilogy.

I'll third this. GNR was excellent. Pandora's Star is also a good one but you are setting yourself up for at least a 2 (very large) book commitment. He doesn't seem to care about wrapping anything up when the book is part of a series. He does do a good job closing out in the second book though so you don't feel like you need to continue on to the Void series after reading Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained.