FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[tch65721]

A Deadly Education: A Novel (The Scholomance Book 1) by Naomi Novik - $1.99

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver comes the first book of the Scholomance trilogy, the story of an unwilling dark sorceress who is destined to rewrite the rules of magic.

[salty-horse]

The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey is $2 in the US. (Kobo, Amazon)
This is the first time it's on sale, after the sequel being on sale many times before.

A dark and humorous story involving a doomsday gizmo, a horde of baddies determined to possess its power, and a clever thief who must steal it back . . . again and again.

22000 B.C. A beautiful, ambitious angel stands on a mountaintop, surveying the world and its little inhabitants below. He smiles because soon, the last of humanity who survived the great flood will meet its end, too. And he should know. He’s going to play a big part in it. Our angel usually doesn’t get to do field work, and if he does well, he’s certain he’ll get a big promotion.

And now it’s time . . . .

The angel reaches into his pocket for the instrument of humanity’s doom. Must be in the other pocket. Then he frantically begins to pat himself down. Dejected, he realizes he has lost the object. Looking over the Earth at all that could have been, the majestic angel utters a single word.

“Crap.”

2015. A thief named Coop—a specialist in purloining magic objects—steals and delivers a small box to the mysterious client who engaged his services. Coop doesn’t know that his latest job could be the end of him—and the rest of the world. Suddenly he finds himself in the company of The Department of Peculiar Science, a fearsome enforcement agency that polices the odd and strange. The box isn’t just a supernatural heirloom with quaint powers, they tell him.

It’s a doomsday device. They think . . .

And suddenly, everyone is out to get it.

[Croptop]

There's a collection of 100+ Sci-fi books by various indie authors that are being offered for free for a limited time (15-16 Mar only). Full list of titles available at:

https://www.cgockelwrites.com/sci-fi-book-blast/

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Croptop

There's a collection of 100+ Sci-fi books by various indie authors that are being offered for free for a limited time (15-16 Mar only). Full list of titles available at:

https://www.cgockelwrites.com/sci-fi-book-blast/

Anyone good?

I don't mean that dismissively, the authors just don't appear to be anyone I've heard of, so it's hard to assess.

[Croptop]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Anyone good?

I don't mean that dismissively, the authors just don't appear to be anyone I've heard of, so it's hard to assess.

There are a couple of titles from G. S. Jennsen that will likely be good. I've read a bunch of her work and have enjoyed it.

I also saw that the first book from Joseph R. Lallo's "Big Sigma" series of books is on the list. I seem to remember it being a good read when I read it a number of years ago.

I'll confess that I've not heard of most of the authors on the list myself but the synopses of a number of titles looked interesting and "free" is a good price for me to pay for a chance to discover some new authors to follow.

[andyh2000]

Originally Posted by Croptop

There are a couple of titles from G. S. Jennsen that will likely be good. I've read a bunch of her work and have enjoyed it.
...

The GS Jennsen ones are short stories and it turns out the whole series of them is free at least at Amazon UK.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08XGJ9343

Andrew

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by andyh2000

The GS Jennsen ones are short stories and it turns out the whole series of them is free at least at Amazon UK.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08XGJ9343

Andrew

They appear to be spinoffs for a novel series, though.

[sufue]

On the way to other things, I noticed one of Open Road Media's public domain editions is free right now: the short story, The Vampyre, by John William Polidori. (Of course, there are also nice versions of this in MR's Patricia Clark Memorial Library, but if you want it natively in your Kindle or Kobo library, here's your chance for free.) And my experience of Open Road's public domain books is that they are generally pretty good, especially compared to what often ends up on Kindle or Kobo. So here are links...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N14SZSN
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-vampyre-22

Spoiler:

This classic vampire story has inspired generations of authors, from Bram Stoker to Charlaine Harris.

A young English gentleman of means, Aubrey is immediately intrigued by Lord Ruthven, the mysterious newcomer among society’s elite. His unknown origin and curious behavior tantalizes Aubrey’s imagination. But the young man soon discovers a sinister character hidden behind his new friend’s glamorous facade.

When the two are set upon by bandits while traveling together in Europe, Ruthven is fatally injured. Before drawing his last breath, he makes the odd request that Aubrey keep his death and crimes secret for a year and a day. But when Ruthven resurfaces in London—making overtures toward Aubrey’s sister—Aubrey realizes this immortal fiend is a vampyre.

John William Polidori’s The Vampyre is both a classic tale of gothic horror and the progenitor of the modern romantic vampire myth that has been fodder for artists ranging from Anne Rice to Alan Ball to Francis Ford Coppola. Originally published in 1819, many decades before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and misattributed to Polidori’s friend Lord Byron, The Vampyre has kept readers up at night for nearly two hundred years.

Oh, and there are a couple of non-fiction Open Road public domain titles free right now too - see this post.

[SomeSteve]

From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury is $1.99 at Amazon US and Kobo US.

https://www.amazon.com/Dust-Returned.../dp/B00D184Q7Q

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/from-the-dust-returned

Bradbury's Killer, Come Back To Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury, recently mentioned in the Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers section, is still $1.99 from the same retailers.

https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Come-B.../dp/B085N3NDDG

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/kil...f-ray-bradbury

[svenlind]

Originally Posted by SomeSteve

From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury is $1.99 at Amazon US and Kobo US.

Thank you for that one. Added to my Bradbury library.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by SomeSteve

From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury is $1.99 at Amazon US and Kobo US.

https://www.amazon.com/Dust-Returned.../dp/B00D184Q7Q

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/from-the-dust-returned

Bradbury's Killer, Come Back To Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury, recently mentioned in the Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers section, is still $1.99 from the same retailers.

https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Come-B.../dp/B085N3NDDG

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/kil...f-ray-bradbury

Got them both!

Thank you!

[salty-horse]

After the Forest by Kell Woods is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
Was on my wishlist.

A dark and enchanting fantasy debut that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic and a young woman contending with the truth of “happily ever after.”

Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.

Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Greta has a secret, though: the witch's grimoire, hidden away and whispering in Greta's ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you've ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.

But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's magic—magic she is still trying to understand—may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first.

[salty-horse]

Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
4th novella in the Singing Cycle sequence. The first two were standnalones, I assume the others are too.
Was just shortlisted for the Nebula award.

The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest.

Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass--and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather’s body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor’s chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve.

But as Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant navigate the looming crisis, Myriad Virtues, Cleric Thien’s own beloved hoopoe companion, grieves her loss as only a being with perfect memory can, and her sorrow may be more powerful than anyone could anticipate. . .

[salty-horse]

The Edan trilogy by Philip Chase is $1 each on Amazon.com
This is in celebration of the 1-year anniversary of the trilogy's release.
It's a self-published epic fantasy series. The author also has a fantasy-focused youtube channel and is an active member of the "booktube" community.
I haven't read them but reception has been positive.
Here's a description of the first book:

The Kingdom of the Eternal will awaken when the Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond. So say the prophecies. With unrivalled power in the gift, the Supreme Priest Bledla leads Torrlond and its mighty army to convert rival kingdoms by the sword and by the fang.

Among the gathering resistance is the sorceress Sequara, whose mission is to protect her island and her Andumaic faith from the Torrlonders’ aggression.

As holy war looms over the kingdoms of Eormenlond, a chance encounter bestows a terrible curse upon a young man. Dayraven’s curse may decide Eormenlond’s fate. But first, with the help of unlikely friends, he must survive the shattering of his world.

Equal parts epic and lament, The Way of Edan is the lyrical opening of The Edan Trilogy.

[salty-horse]

From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
Anthology of original stories inspired by the film.