FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Yeah, I already have it configured, so it's not a huge problem for me--I download either the ASCM or the raw EPUB from Kobo and it gets pulled into Calibre through whatever workflow it takes.

It just makes me sad when the publisher advertises DRM-free and it's not. I recommend Tor books to friends enthusiastically for their DRM-free stance.

Yes, why does the Early Bird Books program override the publisher?

[Alastair_S]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

Moderan by David R. Bunch is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

74p in the UK at both Kobo and Amazon.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Even the standard "At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied." boilerplate can't be taken for granted. The book that I posted a deal for a few days ago, it says
DRM-free in the description, but the file itself is still DRM-encumbered:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/knight-s-wyrd-2

Over at eBooks.com, Knight's Wyrd is sold without DRM in ePub. It's also DRM-Free from Google Play Books.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

An idiosyncratic work, full of wonder! Recommended.

Below is the original cover.

And here it is again.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by gbm

It is because TOR has most of its back-list in Early Bird Books
debra doyle
bernie

The question is not why does Early Bird override the publisher. It's why is it listed with DRM at Kobo when eBooks.com and Google Play Books have them listed without DRM?

[issybird]

Could we try to stick to reporting and discussing current deals and skip the commentary on encryption and formats? Thanks.

[salty-horse]

Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
All of the stories in this collection were previously published elsewhere. Contents

Full of glimpses into gleaming worlds and fairy tales with teeth, Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories is a collection of acclaimed and awarded work from Amal El-Mohtar.

With confidence and style, El-Mohtar guides us through exquisitely told and sharply observed tales about life as it is, was, and could be. Like miscellany from other worlds, these stories are told in letters, diary entries, reference materials, folktales, and lyrical prose.

Full of Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Hugo Award-winning and nominated stories, Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories includes "Seasons of Glass and Iron," "The Green Book," "Madeleine," "The Lonely Sea in the Sky," "And Their Lips Rang with the Sun," "The Truth About Owls," "A Hollow Play," "Anabasis," "To Follow the Waves," "John Hollowback and the Witch," "Florilegia, or, Some Lies About Flowers," "Pockets," and more.

[salty-horse]

The Language of Liars by S. L. Huang is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
New release. Was on my wishlist.

A story of secrets, body jumping, and the power of language, The Language of Liars is a poignant, thought-provoking new masterpiece from award-winning author of The Water Outlaws S. L. Huang.

"Extraordinary."—The New York Times

"Pitch-perfect science fiction about linguistics and consequences. This book destroyed me."—Yoon Ha Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Ninefox Gambit

A New Scientist Best of 2026 Pick, an Amazon Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of April Pick

Speak another people's language. Know them. Become them.
And discover you've destroyed them.

In his training as a spy, Ro was warned: you will always be living a lie.

Jumping into a Star Eater's mind in the first place requires a moment of perfect psychic connection, and he has studied all his life to comprehend their species. Admires them, respects them, is reverent at the idea of being one of them—the only species physiologically capable of mining the element needed for lightyear-spanning space travel. The species all others crave to know more of, but who have notoriously shared so very little. The species Ro's own small civilization, with its dwindling resources and withering reach, needs to know more about.

It will feel real, his elders impressed upon him. It will never be real.

But Ro's certainty runs deep: he will be different. Ro will not be an imposter hiding the truth of his past, because his heart will be one of them. He will be one of them.

To understand is to become. It never occurs to him that the mere act of understanding can destroy.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Songs of the Dying Earth by Dean Koontz is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)



Another Tor book that says DRM-free but shows "Download options: EPUB 2 (Adobe DRM)" on the eBook Details section.

I have this book and it's great, but then I'm a huge fan of Jack Vance.

Slight correction: The book is edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois. (There's also a story by George R.R. Martin.)

The Introduction, as noted in the post, is by Dean R. Koontz.

Thanks for mentioning the sale: More readers need to discover his work, in my opinion.

[salty-horse]

The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
Recent release.

A battle-worn corporate samurai undertakes one last mission on a merciless planet where death is always a mere breath away, in this standalone science fiction epic from the author of the modern fantasy classic Jade City.

LIVE BY THE CODE. DIE BY THE KNIFE.

On the merciless planet of Aquilo, where your job determines your worth, legendary swordswoman Isako commands the highest price. But every legend must come to an end. When her longtime client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow—to walk out into Aquilo's frozen wasteland with her head high and her family enriched by her death. But when she's offered a final mission, she can't refuse, especially when she realizes who lies at its center: Martim, her last—and worst—apprentice, who's somehow made his way to the top. As she's thrust into a world of corporate espionage and shadowy secrets, what she uncovers could forever change humanity's existence among the stars.

The Last Contract of Isako is epic science fiction like only Fonda Lee can write it—set in a world where money trumps loyalty, the elite have the power to extend life or end it, and one woman in the twilight of her calling must decide what's ultimately worth living—or dying—for.

[salty-horse]

Daughter of Crows (The Academy of Kindness #1) by Mark Lawrence is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

The survivor of a brutal academy must exhume her own past in the first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of the Library Trilogy and the Broken Empire series.

Set a thief to catch a thief. Set a monster to punish monsters.

The Academy of Kindness exists to create agents of retribution, cast in the image of the Furies—known as the kindly ones—against whom even the gods hesitate to stand. Each year a hundred girls are sold to the Academy. Ten years later only three will emerge.

The Academy’s halls run with blood. The few that survive its decade-long nightmare have been forged on the sands of the Wound Garden. They have learned ancient secrets amid the necrotic fumes of the Bone Garden. They leave its gates as avatars of vengeance, bound to uphold the oldest of laws.

Only the most desperate would sell their child to the Kindnesses. But Rue … she sold herself. And now, a lifetime later, a long and bloody lifetime later, just as she has discovered peace, war has been brought to an old woman’s doorstep.

That was a mistake.

[salty-horse]

I started a thread for self-published SFF/H deals that doesn't have the "must have read this" rule: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=375071

[Dazrin]

This is probably a repeat, so check your library first, but Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric's Demon and The Adventure of the Demonic Ox are on sale for $0.99 at Amazon (and likely other stores.)

Source: Los McMaster Bojold's blog at Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blo...nts-today-only

This is a fantastic series of novellas, highly recommended.

[nana77]

There are Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Lecke @ $2,99 on Kobo.uk, and also by her The Raven Tower on Kobo.us.

[WillAdams]

The third book in Ru Emerson's _Tales of the Nedao_ is free today at least on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J90EVOS...uct_form=ebook