FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by batpuppy

Yeah most new ebooks are the KFX format. Only way around that currently is if you have an amazon ereader they will let you download for transfer by USB in the older formats. I am sure this will end someday.

Probably not anytime soon, though. Kindle eReaders have a really long life span, and Amazon isn't going to cut those people off, because they want their money spent on new eBooks.

Still sucks that it's the only way to get past the new DRM, though.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Manabi

Still sucks that it's the only way to get past the new DRM, though.

There are other methods. See the DRM workaround: Kindle for Android thread in the Amazon Kindle forum.

[DNSB]

Perhaps the off-topic posts which I admit to having indulged in could be posted in more relevant threads?

[GlennD]

Steven Erikson Humble Bundle


The Malazan books have been on my "I should check them out" list for a while. This sounds like a good time to get them and start reading.

[Aleron Ives]

Hmm, how does the Malazan series compare to the Tad Williams bundle that just ended? It looks like you get all ten books in the main Malazan series, six novellas, and then three books from two incomplete (but in progress) trilogies.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Hmm, how does the Malazan series compare to the Tad Williams bundle that just ended? It looks like you get all ten books in the main Malazan series, six novellas, and then three books from two incomplete (but in progress) trilogies.

I'm less familiar with Steve Erikson, but that Tad Williams one had every adult novel he's published except for his forthcoming one (The Navigator's Children). And having not even yet read a book Williams wrote, I know he is in the same rarified air as George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss. That Humble Bundle was a heck of a deal.

I'll have to check out the Malazan bundle.

[ZodWallop]

Read the Wikipedia articles on Steve Erikson and Malazan. Sounds really interesting. I'm gonna pick it up.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

And having not even yet read a book Williams wrote, I know he is in the same rarified air as George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss.

I'd say he's in even rarer air: he actually finishes his series!

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'll have to check out the Malazan bundle.

Let us know what you think if you happen to start reading before the deal ends.

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Hmm, how does the Malazan series compare to the Tad Williams bundle that just ended? It looks like you get all ten books in the main Malazan series, six novellas, and then three books from two incomplete (but in progress) trilogies.

I was wondering the same thing. Apparently there is another author writing a concurrent Malazan series, and these are not part of the bundle. I grabbed the authors' suggested reading order from Wiki, and put a star next to the books in the bundle. I hope this is helpful.

*1 Gardens of the Moon Malazan Book of the Fallen #1
*2 Deadhouse Gates Malazan Book of the Fallen #2
*3 Memories of Ice Malazan Book of the Fallen #3
*4 House of Chains Malazan Book of the Fallen #4
*5 Midnight Tides Malazan Book of the Fallen #5
6 Night of Knives Novels of the Malazan Empire #1
*7 The Bonehunters Malazan Book of the Fallen #6
*8 The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 1 The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #1-3
*9 Reaper's Gale Malazan Book of the Fallen #7
10 Return of the Crimson Guard Novels of the Malazan Empire #2
*11 Toll The Hounds Malazan Book of the Fallen #8
*12 Dust of Dreams Malazan Book of the Fallen #9
13 Stonewielder Novels of the Malazan Empire #3
*14 The Crippled God Malazan Book of the Fallen #10
15 Orb Sceptre Throne Novels of the Malazan Empire #4
16 Blood and Bone Novels of the Malazan Empire #5
*17 Forge of Darkness The Kharkanas Trilogy #1
18 Assail Novels of the Malazan Empire #6
*19 Fall of Light The Kharkanas Trilogy #2
20 Dancer's Lament Path to Ascendancy #1
*21 The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 2 The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #4-6
(contains: Crack'd Pot Trail, The Wurms of Blearmouth, The Fiends of Nightmaria)
22 Deadhouse Landing Path to Ascendancy #2
23 Kellanved's Reach Path to Ascendancy #3
*24 The God is Not Willing The Witness Trilogy #1

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by GlennD

Apparently there is another author writing a concurrent Malazan series, and these are not part of the bundle.

Yes, Ian Cameron Esslemont created Malazan with Erikson as a backdrop for tabletop RPGs, and both of them write books in the Malazan universe, although Erikson's bibliography is quite a bit longer than Esslemont's.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Read the Wikipedia articles on Steve Erikson and Malazan. Sounds really interesting. I'm gonna pick it up.

We looked at the bundle, and it’s not worth it for us as we have all the content already. Himself was steadily picking them up in Amazon.co.uk Kindle deals over the years (and chucking his paper copies).

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Read the Wikipedia articles on Steve Erikson and Malazan. Sounds really interesting. I'm gonna pick it up.

I haven't read any of them yet (even the 3 I bought outside of this bundle ), but they're really popular among the more thoughtful kind of fantasy readers that usually complain about other books. There's also some sense of them being "challenging" to read, but for me that's a plus.

Here's an introductory video by Raf Blutaxt, a book critic I like: Seven Reasons Why Malazan Is For Everyone

[salty-horse]

Some UK deals:

Lone Women by Stephen LaValle is £2-3 (cheaper on Amazon) (Kobo, Amazon)

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear.

The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it—except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.

Crafted by a modern master of magical suspense, Lone Women blends shimmering prose, an unforgettable cast of adventurers who find horror and sisterhood in a brutal landscape, and a portrait of early-twentieth-century America like you’ve never seen. And at its heart is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—or redeem it.

Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman is £3 (Kobo, Amazon)
Just won the Clarke award.

The venomous lumpsucker is the most intelligent fish on the planet. Or maybe it was the most intelligent fish on the planet. Because it might have just gone extinct. Nobody knows. And nobody really cares, either. Except for two people.

Mining executive Mark Halyard has a prison cell waiting for him if that fish is gone for good, and biologist Karin Resaint needs it for her own darker purposes. They don't trust each other an inch, but they're left with no choice but to team up in search of the lumpsucker. And as they journey across the strange landscapes of near-future Europe - a nature reserve full of toxic waste; a floating city on the Baltic Sea; the lethal hinterlands of a totalitarian state - they're drawn into a conspiracy far bigger than one ugly little fish.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Hmm, how does the Malazan series compare to the Tad Williams bundle that just ended? It looks like you get all ten books in the main Malazan series, six novellas, and then three books from two incomplete (but in progress) trilogies.

If you ask for recommendations in fantasy groups and boards, Malazan is mentioned a lot -- in both regular and grimdark groups. Then, you'll have people complaining that they couldn't get into the first book because it's really long, you're thrust into the middle of the world, and there are a lot of characters -- and no obvious main character. And then fans tell them they should try reading it again and point out that it will be worth it.

I think the Malazan books might be even longer than the Tad Williams books, so you're getting your money's worth.

Here's an article about the series from The Wertzone.

[salty-horse]

Premature sale alert for a weekly deal starting tomorrow:
Season of Skulls (Laundry Files #12, and final novel in the New Management trilogy) is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)