FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[salty-horse]

Wicked Problem by Max Gladstone is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
This is the second book in the Craft Wars trilogy that caps the Craft Sequence.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

See this post from J. Michael Straczynski on what he planned to include:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/43848905

(This was back around when he first announced he was going to do it.)

Meh, I'm much less interested in the book now. I'd prefer TLDV to be as close to what Ellison had planned (based on the contents published in Locus) as possible:

As the years passed, a number of them were withdrawn by the writers and published elsewhere, and it makes no sense to republish stories that are otherwise available.

If the authors will no longer allow the story to be part of the collection, I can understand. But Shirley Jackson's The Lottery has been republished more than once and people still manage to discover it for the first time. And:

The rights to the few stories from the original batch that will not be included in this volume will be freely and formally returned to the writers and/or their estates so that they can be allowed to see the light of day elsewhere.

To ignore stories originally written for the bookis just stupid.

Some of the remaining stories have been overtaken by real-world events, rendering them less relevant or timely, and regrettably will be omitted...

Using that logic, why read ANY old sci-fi? We don't have humaniform robots with positronic brains and the roads never rolled. Mars doesn't have a breathable atmosphere. I guess we should chuck it all.

Let The Last Dangerous Visions be a book of the time it was conceived and started. And you know what? People will buy it.

...some of the most well-known and respected writers working today have agreed to contribute stories to The Last Dangerous Visions...

Just publish that stuff as New Dangerous Visions.

At this point it's like that Led Zepplin tribute album The Song Retains the Name.

[salty-horse]

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
Young adult. Was on my wishlist.

The unforgettable story of two young women—one living, one dead—dealing with loss, desire, and the fragility of the American dream during WWII.

When Frankie’s mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary—just long enough for him to get back on his feet and be able to provide for them once again. That’s why Frankie's not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket.

Now Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other orphans—two young, unwanted women doing everything they can to survive.

And as the embers of the Great Depression are kindled into the fires of World War II, and the shadows of injustice, poverty, and death walk the streets in broad daylight, it will be up to Frankie to find something worth holding on to in the ruins of this shattered America—every minute of every day spent wondering if the life she's able to carve out will be enough.

I will admit I do not know the answer. But I will be watching, waiting to find out.

That’s what ghosts do.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Using that logic, why read ANY old sci-fi? We don't have humaniform robots with positronic brains and the roads never rolled. Mars doesn't have a breathable atmosphere. I guess we should chuck it all.

Let The Last Dangerous Visions be a book of the time it was conceived and started. And you know what? People will buy it.

If the purpose of the collection is to be provocative, then I suppose I can understand wanting to omit some stories from the collection if they end up feeling dated instead. I mean, would we really need another bog-standard post-apocalypse romp? Another Cold War metaphor?

I suppose it comes down to whether you'd like a collection that is still relevant now, or if you just want to see what the hypothetical collection from 1979 would've looked like. I could see both angles. Both Brian Wilson Presents Smile and The Smile Sessions are on my CD rack.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

If the purpose of the collection is to be provocative, then I suppose I can understand wanting to omit some stories from the collection if they end up feeling dated instead. I mean, would we really need another bog-standard post-apocalypse romp? Another Cold War metaphor?

With the Dangerous Visions books, the stories were commissioned specifically for that collection. The collection was far enough along that Ellison published a table of contents.

I suppose it comes down to whether you'd like a collection that is still relevant now, or if you just want to see what the hypothetical collection from 1979 would've looked like. I could see both angles.

There's nothing wrong with creating a collection that is relevant now. But then the publisher and Straczynski are banking on the 'finally, after fifty years!' reputation. But is publishing a book with the same title, but different contents really doing what was promised?

Both Brian Wilson Presents Smile and The Smile Sessions are on my CD rack.

The difference is Brian Wilson is still alive.

Again, publish a fourth volume of new works in the spirit of Dangerous Visions.

[Dr. Drib]

^ Off topic:

I love Brian Wilson's music. Yes, I do believe he is a musical genius.

Listen to The Warmth of the Sun.

Lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0so75T7GpI

[salty-horse]

Geodesic Dreams: The Best Short Fiction of Gardner Dozois is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
Contents. Includes Chains of the Sea, which has just been optioned for film.

[tch65721]

Tiffany Aching 4-Book Collection: A Hat Full of Sky, The Wee Free Men, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett - $3.99

This collection includes all four Tiffany Aching novels in Terry Pratchett's beloved and bestselling Discworld series.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KFG48B6

[Dazrin]

That description says "all four Tiffany Aching novels", but there are 5 of them. Sir Terry's last book, The Shepherd's Crown, was also a Tiffany Aching novel. This is still a good deal though, just need to realize there is one more in this sub-series.

[DrNefario]

Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg is £1.99 at Amazon UK at the moment. This is a new Open Road edition (from just last month) of the first half of the Mythopoeic-winning Lighthouse Duet, and the old Ace edition wasn't even available here. I would guess they might be doing the same offer in the US.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flesh-Spiri.../dp/B0D9352C9T

[salty-horse]

All Men of Genius by Lev AC Rosen is $0.75 on Amazon.com
A steampunk retelling of Twelfth Night and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Inspired by two of the most beloved works by literary masters, All Men of Genius takes place in an alternate Steampunk Victorian London, where science makes the impossible possible.

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who continues his father's policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won't be easy, not with her friend Jack's constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke's young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet's alter ego, "Ashton." Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, and the way Violet's pulse quickens whenever the young duke, Ernest, speaks to her. She soon realizes that it's not just keeping her secret until the end of the year faire she has to worry about: it's surviving that long.

[salty-horse]

Crackpot Palace by Jeffrey Ford is $1 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
2012 collection. Contents.

[salty-horse]

Rule of Capture by Christopher Brown is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
First in a series of legal thrillers. Set in the same dystopian alternate history US as the earlier Tropic of Kansas, but I don't think you need to read that first.

Defeated in a devastating war with China and ravaged by climate change, America is on the brink of a bloody civil war. Seizing power after a controversial election, the ruling regime has begun cracking down on dissidents fighting the nation’s slide toward dictatorship. For Donny Kimoe, chaos is good for business. He’s a lawyer who makes his living defending enemies of the state.

His newest client, young filmmaker Xelina Rocafuerte, witnessed the murder of an opposition leader and is now accused of terrorism. To save her from the only sentence worse than death, Donny has to extract justice from a system that has abandoned the rule of law. That means breaking the rules—and risking the same fate as his clients.

When Donny bungles Xelina’s initial hearing, he has only days to save the young woman from being transferred to a detention camp from which no one returns. His only chance of winning is to find the truth—a search that begins with the opposition leader’s death and leads to a dark conspiracy reaching the highest echelons of power.

Now, Donny isn’t just fighting for his client’s life—he’s battling for his own. But as the trial in the top secret court begins, Xelina’s friends set into motion a revolutionary response that could destroy the case. And when another case unexpectedly collides with Xelina’s, Donny uncovers even more devastating secrets, knowledge that will force him to choose between saving one client . . . or the future of the entire country.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

^ Off topic:

I love Brian Wilson's music. Yes, I do believe he is a musical genius.

Listen to The Warmth of the Sun.

Lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0so75T7GpI

Listen to this remix. It's very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z8AxEuuZAU

[salty-horse]

Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker (aka Seanan McGuire) is FREE in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
The second book in the series is also on sale for $3.

If you trust her you’ll never make it home…

Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning, to the way he completes his homework – without complaint, without fuss, without prompt.

Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable.

They live on the same street.
They live in different worlds.

On an unplanned detour from home to school one morning, Avery and Zib find themselves climbing over a stone wall into the Up and Under – an impossible land filled with mystery, adventure and the strangest creatures.

And they must find themselves and each other if they are to also find their way out and back to their own lives.