FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by Apache

So, comics for adults with literary pretensions????
Apache

They're Japan's version of young adult novels and mostly targeted at high school & middle school students. So add "young" before adults and maybe it'll work.

They're pretty neat if you like reading since new volumes release every six to nine months. That's faster than most novel series in the west come out, even young adults ones. Plus the more popular ones get adapted into manga (comics) and anime. Fans of the series get to experience them in three different mediums when that happens.

Of course you need to be able to read Japanese to benefit from the faster release schedule...

[salty-horse]

I think the "comics for adults with literary pretensions" was meant as a jibe at my reply that they're "novels with illustrations", which can be read as another way of saying "graphic novels"

What I meant that they're mostly text, but there are a few full-page illustrations.
They're not comics, nor are they "illustrated books" (like the first edition of Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.

[Dr. Drib]

(To supervisor): Hey, Bob! We're almost out of popcorn!

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Fifteen bucks for some digital, high-quality Amano illustrations, eh?

And words! There's words in them thar books!

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Manabi

They're Japan's version of young adult novels and mostly targeted at high school & middle school students. So add "young" before adults and maybe it'll work.

They're pretty neat if you like reading since new volumes release every six to nine months. That's faster than most novel series in the west come out, even young adults ones. Plus the more popular ones get adapted into manga (comics) and anime. Fans of the series get to experience them in three different mediums when that happens.

Of course you need to be able to read Japanese to benefit from the faster release schedule...

Originally Posted by salty-horse

I think the "comics for adults with literary pretensions" was meant as a jibe at my reply that they're "novels with illustrations", which can be read as another way of saying "graphic novels"

What I meant that they're mostly text, but there are a few full-page illustrations.
They're not comics, nor are they "illustrated books" (like the first edition of Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.

Yep, Salty Horse is correct. My wife tells people that I am a smart aleck, although she uses a different word that starts with A.
Apache

[DNSB]

I only read them for the words.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Fifteen bucks for some digital, high-quality Amano illustrations, eh?

Besides the covers, they don't seem to be that high quality.
In the first book, they're black and white and slightly pixelated.
Example from Kindle preview (somewhat NSFW...?)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

The first 29 novels of the Vampire Hunter D series by Hideyuki Kikuchi are available in a Humble Bundle for $15.

How many of these have you read? I watched both of the animated movies and tried the first book and just never managed to get into any of them.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

How many of these have you read? I watched both of the animated movies and tried the first book and just never managed to get into any of them.

I read the first... four I think when they were first published in English in paperback. They're fine. I'd describe D as Witcher-like horror fantasy albeit through the lens of Japanese cultural sensibilities rather than Polish.

[FourOhFour]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

Besides the covers, they don't seem to be that high quality.
In the first book, they're black and white and slightly pixelated.
Example from Kindle preview (somewhat NSFW...?)

https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/10-5...-1#prettyPhoto has a higher quality copy of the first pic. The epub version is... not great, but not that bad. Though it also has the body text set to dark grey for some dumb reason.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by FourOhFour

https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/10-5...-1#prettyPhoto has a higher quality copy of the first pic.

The preview images appear to be from the physical book's production files.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Apache

So, comics for adults with literary pretensions????
Apache

This would be the just-announced The Bleeding Heart of Heavy Metal, vol. 1.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/b...ol1_bookbundle

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ratinox

This would be the just-announced The Bleeding Heart of Heavy Metal, vol. 1.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/b...ol1_bookbundle

I wonder what the rights issues are like with those old magazines? I may have to buy this bundle.

[ZodWallop]

The Heaven Makers by Frank Herbert is $1.99 at Amazon US.

Anyone read this one? I've read and enjoyed some of Herbert's non-Dune stuff (Hellstrom's Hive and The White Plague). But this one sounds like it might be played for laughs, which can come off as very clunky.

Idle immortals, hungry for entertainment, turn their attention to humans in this science fiction novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Dune.

Immortal aliens had observed Earth for centuries, making and viewing full sensory movies of wars, natural disasters, and horrific human activities... all to relieve their boredom. Then they finally became jaded by ordinary, run-of-the-mill tragedies, and found ways to create even more inventive spectacles to keep themselves amused.

But interfering with human activities is forbidden, and by the time Investigator Kelexel arrives to investigate, things are really getting out of hand...

[bookmarked]

Thieves' World Volume Three: The Dead of Winter, Soul of the City, and Blood Ties by Robert Lynn Asprin, Lynn Abbey is on sale for $1.99.

This is the third omnibus of the Thieves' World novels. The fourth omnibus is also available now, but not on sale.

Thieves' World Volume Two: Storm Season, The Face of Chaos, and Wings of Omen is also on sale again for $2.99.