FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Amazon UK Daily Deal

99p

Ancillary Justice: THE HUGO, NEBULA AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD WINNER (Imperial Radch Book 1) by Ann Leckie


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancillary-J...dp/B00BU1DG1S/

Great price and well worth reading.

[snarkophilus]

Originally Posted by Kieran Seymour

The Book of Years Series - Peter Morwood

Omnibus of The Horse Lord, The Demon Lord and The Dragon Lord. Books 1 and 3 have definitely been free in the past. First time I remember seeing the whole lot being given away in one go, though.

amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | amazon.ca

Still available for free at amazon.com.au too.

"Bought" it. Thanks!

[DrLimu]

Searching the Kobo store for Ancillary Justice I found this freebie instead:

Future Visions
Original Science Fiction Inspired by Microsoft
by Elizabeth Bear, Greg Bear, David Brin, Nancy Kress, Ann Leckie

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/future-visions-1. Also free on amazon.com.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What I would do is split/join as needed. Then I would proceed to clean up the CSS. I would rename all the HTML files so you know what they are by the name. I would also losslessly compress any graphics. If you have multiple CSS, I would merge them into one. I would delete any HTML ToC and any other HTML file you don't need such as a review page, or list of other books the author has written. eBooks have an advertising page that uses embedded fonts that you can dump as well as the fonts. And there are other HTML that can go.

I commonly take a similar approach, but less destructive and in a different order which serves me better. For instance, I just had a situation where a book had been published in five sections, and I wanted the whole thing in one ebook. Three sections were single-file, the other two were pre-split, and all five had similar but subtly different stylesheets.

The first thing I did was merge all of the “page” sheets, since they were minimal and identical. Nice side effect of this is that it gives you one common sheet that every file uses, so it’s the perfect place to move new or common rules into. I then opened all of the “stylesheet” sheets, combed through them for identical rules, and migrated all the ones I found into the common sheet.

That left me with two types of rules in the individual sheets: rules that matched in content but had different class names, and truly unique rules that only appeared in one or two sheets. Some of the class names conflicted between sections, so I had to be careful with searching and replacing.

That’s where it comes in handy to keep the single-file documents intact. With those, I was able to simply restrict my search/replace to the current HTML file and use that approach to bring aberrant class names into line with the consensus, allowing me to move more rules into the common sheet. (You can still do this with multifile sections, but only if you either turn off “replace all” or – my preference – make sure the searched class name is unique.)

Once I’ve moved everything into the common stylesheet, I can delete all of the others without changing any formatting. That frees me up to make any global adjustments, split the files, merge the TOCs, delete duplicated front/backmatter, and so on. I usually try to replicate the published compilation as much as possible, at least as a starting point, because that’s my goal: getting rid of the shorter serial books in favor of a combined edition. My technique certainly has its limits in that respect, but it’s not a bad place to start.

[DrLimu]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What I would do is split/join as needed. Then I would proceed to clean up the CSS. I would rename all the HTML files so you know what they are by the name. I would also losslessly compress any graphics. If you have multiple CSS, I would merge them into one. I would delete any HTML ToC and any other HTML file you don't need such as a review page, or list of other books the author has written. eBooks have an advertising page that uses embedded fonts that you can dump as well as the fonts. And there are other HTML that can go.

It sounds a lot harder then it is, but it's not all that hard to do. For example, some of the cleaning up of the HTML can be done easily with search/replace.

I like tidy books and can easily see myself spending a lot of time making changes I would never notice while reading the book. Luckily my laziness usually wins out and I restrict myself to just shrinking the indents, margins and empty space around titles, and running some of the calibre functions (remove unused CSS, fix html, beautify files, compress images).

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

^ The first 3 links don't seem to be working.

How weird! I looked it up by title and it looks the same to me.

https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Choronz.../dp/B07W8VHKXZ

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

How weird! I looked it up by title and it looks the same to me.

https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Choronzon-Jaq-D-Hawkins-ebook/dp/B07W8VHKXZ

I've copied and pasted one of the links from your original message below:

https://aax-us-east.amazon-adsystem.com/x/c/Qo62xMU0smv2hKCNtdXwsOQAAAFuBLcT0QEAAAFKAdqLelE/https://assoc-redirect.amazon.com/g/r/https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Choronzon-Jaq-D-Hawkins-ebook-dp-B07W8VHKXZ?linkCode=w61&imprToken=35lQo0ZIrnahoPq5aZMwwA&slotNum=0&tag=mr060-20[

If you change the -dp- in the bolded section to /dp/ and toss the rest into the bit bucket, the URL will work.

[Tarana]

Ok, a couple of things I did not see here on the list. This is a sale at B&N and Amazon has price matched. Most are also matched on Kobo US. I would add links, but once more, I have lost my mouse.

Storm Front (1st Dresden Files) - Jim Butcher .99
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett $3.99
Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett $4.99
Hope for the Best (#10 Chronicles of St Marys) - Jodi Taylor .99
Most of the Chronicles of St Mary's are on sale for $3.99 and $4.99
To Ride Pegasus (Talent #1) - Anne McCaffrey $2.99
Revelation Space (#1) - Alistair Reynolds $2.99
Furies of the Calderon - Jim Butcher $2.99
Curse of Chalion (#1) - Lois McMaster Bujold $3.99 (several other books too).
Hounded (#1 Iron Druid) - Kevin Hearne $2.99
Dragonflight (Pern#1 published)- Anne McCaffery $3.99
A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth #1) - Piers Anthony $2.99
High Druid of Shannara - Terry Brooks $4.99
On a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony $2.99
Fool's Errand - Robin Hobb $2.99
Ship of Magic - Robin HObb $2.99

This is just to give you an idea of what's there, but here is the listing on B&N. It's 50 pages long, but I found it took me about 20 minutes to get through it. I was unable to eliminate the fantasy/scifi erotica from the listing. Sorry about that. However, it is really worth your time to look at the entire list as I only listed books that I've read or an author I really enjoy.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I use Calibre, but that only works if The Book of Years Omnibus has an alternate cover available. As often as not, there isn't one.

In those cases I usually go with the cover of the first book, which is what I did in this case. Not perfect by any means, but better than that ugly box image.

[itisbomb]

The Peripheral
by William Gibson

is $1.99 at U.S stores

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Peripheral-Wi...t%2C405&sr=1-9

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-peripheral-1

[itisbomb]

The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle #2)
by Neal Stephenson

is $1.99 at U.S. stores

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Confusion-Two...t%2C387&sr=1-1

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-confusion

[salty-horse]

The Perfect Assassin by K. A. Doore is $2.99 in the US. Amazon.com
First book in a trilogy.

A novice assassin is on the hunt for someone killing their own in K. A. Doore's The Perfect Assassin, a breakout high fantasy beginning the Chronicles of Ghadid series.

Divine justice is written in blood.

Or so Amastan has been taught. As a new assassin in the Basbowen family, he’s already having second thoughts about taking a life. A scarcity of contracts ends up being just what he needs.

Until, unexpectedly, Amastan finds the body of a very important drum chief. Until, impossibly, Basbowen’s finest start showing up dead, with their murderous jaan running wild in the dusty streets of Ghadid. Until, inevitably, Amastan is ordered to solve these murders, before the family gets blamed.

Every life has its price, but when the tables are turned, Amastan must find this perfect assassin or be their next target.

[sufue]

I consider BooksBNimble to be an acceptable, not self-pub, press, but if you disagree with me, skip this post. (My decision is based on the facts that BNB is run by an Edgar-award winning author, they have editors and I don't find their books full of errors, and I like multiple books by a lot of their authors, including Julie Smith, Tracy Whiting, Shelley Singer, and Tony Dunbar.)

Anyway, one of the authors that I like for her mysteries, Shelley Singer, has started a post-apocalyptic series, the Blackjack Trilogy, published by BNB. And the first book in the series, Torch Song, is free right now at Kindle US. I haven't read this title, and don't read much post-apocalyptic fiction anyway, so can't vouch for this title, but free is free, and I'll probably give it a try pretty soon.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IGK6UNW

Spoiler:

IT’S 2066. AND YOU CAN'T TRUST ANYBODY…

"Fast-paced action and a decisive, strong-minded heroine make this a good choice for fans of the postapocalyptic thrillers." --Library Journal

Fans of Lisbeth Salander of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games will love Rica Marin, a new kickass, gunslinging heroine.

Rica Marin’s a mercenary—a hired gun, soldier, and spy who answers only to whoever can keep her in the meds she and her only living relative need to survive the plagues that scourge the earth after biological warfare’s wiped out pretty much everything.

It’s a strange world that’s left—composed of tiny city-states like Redwood, Sierra, and Rocky—run with a variety of futuristic machines and broken-down ones. Fancy new cars float as well as roll, but the Internet’s now so glitchy you can't even blog properly—newspapers have come back! So many machines are in disrepair that a fixer in this world isn't someone who rigs elections or cleans up after murders—it’s a person who can repair both an elevator and an ancient toilet. But roving bands of bandits, godders, causies, breeders, khakis, and toxies threaten to destroy what’s just been fixed.

Anywhere there are people—however few—there’ll be power plays, and Rica’s current job at the Blackjack Casino is to run interference between the warring clans of Tahoe, in tiny Sierra. But then the city-state of Rocky gets ambitious. And that means war.

EDIT: also free at Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IGK6UNW

[SpaceCowboy1964]

I on the other hand DO read post apocalyptic and dystopian fiction and have read this book. While it is a decent book without the errors I find in self published books it is also not one I'd re-read and I probably won't read the sequels.

Originally Posted by sufue

I consider BooksBNimble to be an acceptable, not self-pub, press, but if you disagree with me, skip this post. (My decision is based on the facts that BNB is run by an Edgar-award winning author, they have editors and I don't find their books full of errors, and I like multiple books by a lot of their authors, including Julie Smith, Tracy Whiting, Shelley Singer, and Tony Dunbar.)

Anyway, one of the authors that I like for her mysteries, Shelley Singer, has started a post-apocalyptic series, the Blackjack Trilogy, published by BNB. And the first book in the series, Torch Song, is free right now at Kindle US. I haven't read this title, and don't read much post-apocalyptic fiction anyway, so can't vouch for this title, but free is free, and I'll probably give it a try pretty soon.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IGK6UNW



EDIT: also free at Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IGK6UNW

[salty-horse]

An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe is $2.99 at Amazon.com

Set a hundred years in the future, An Evil Guest is a story of an actress who becomes the lover of both a mysterious sorcerer and private detective, and an even more mysterious and powerful rich man, who has been to the human colony on an alien planet and learned strange things there. Her loyalties are divided--perhaps she loves them both. The detective helps her to release her inner beauty and become a star overnight. And the rich man is the benefactor of a play she stars in. But something is very wrong. Money can be an evil guest, but there are other evils. As Lovecraft said, "That is not dead which can eternal lie."