FREE/BARGAIN - DRM-Free - 2015

[TrevorViking]

Originally Posted by Froide

I just picked up 17 new freebies at Comixology's Free Comics page, by clicking "select all". YMMV. https://www.comixology.com/free-comics.

Wrong thread I think. These aren't DRM free.

And these are just a select few of the standard freebies at Dark Horse Digital.

[ATDrake]

Wildside Press has a new freebie for this Tuesday:

The Return of the Undead by the late Frank Belknap Long (ISFDB, Wikipedia), a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from both the World Fantasy and Bram Stoker people, and the late Otis Adelbert Kline (ISFDB, Wikipedia), a vintage spooky tale which originally appeared in the July 1943 issue of Weird Tales magazine.

To get everyone in the mood for Halloween, here is a classic vampire story by a couple of great weird fiction authors, as originally published in Weird Tales...edited and slightly modernized by John Gregory Betancourt.

Also, a reminder that expiring tomorrow on Wednesday at 11 AM Pacific Time is:

Humble Audiobook Bundle Goosebumps presented by Scholastic full of kids/YA spooky supernatural/horror adventure tales in the eponymous popular series by bestselling children's author R. L. Stine. This has added 3 more titles to the better-than-average tier, which is close enough to the $15 top tier for a total of 15 titles that you might as well splurge anyway if you haven't already since it'll only cost you $1 per book and these things are usually moderately pricey anyway.

[Dr. Drib]

Thank you for the link to "The Return of the Undead."

I've been looking for some dead things today, and this looks perfect.

[ATDrake]

New Wildside Press freebie for this Tuesday is up, and it's for:

The 2015 Halloween Horrors Megapack, which also contains a newly-released unpublished story by the late H. B. Fyfe (ISFDB), featured author of one of our previous freebies, IIRC.

Last year, we gave away a small MEGAPACK® of great horror tales on our web site for Halloween. It was meant as a one-time freebie on Free Ebook Tuesday (we give away a free ebook almost every Tuesday). But because it has an original story, we decided to release it for everyone to read, and it proved quite popular.

Here is our second Halloween MEGAPACK®—also a free giveaway on our web site, also with an original story (this time a collaboration between H.B. Fyfe and me). Our “collaboration” is actually an unsold story written in the 1950s by the late Fyfe that I discovered among his papers. (I suspect it was written with Weird Tales in mind, and though flawed—there was a reason it didn’t sell—I liked the core idea enough to revise it. Now, I think I’ve solved its problems and come up with a story that more than stands on its own. I hope you agree.

Enjoy!

There's a free tie-in novel, Golgotha Run by Dave Stone (ISFDB), originally published in 2005, to the Dark Futures RPG gaming universe from Games Workshop (creators of the highly popular Warhammer universe) as a promotion for the:

Humble Weekly Bundle Games Workshop

It needs a Steam account to redeem the freebie, so I haven't gotten around to linking mine up and checking it out yet, but it may be DRM-free.

Also, a reminder that the StoryBundle has the following offers:

The Video Game Bundle 2.0 expiring in 2 days, containing non-fiction behind-the-scenes industry and gameplay books, as well as novels.

The Monsters Bundle, expiring next week, consisting mainly of indie and backlist authors, including Star Trek tie-in author Keith R. Candido and Star Wars tie-in author Kevin J. Anderson, and one of whom, Douglas Smith (ISFDB), is a multiple Canadian Aurora Award winner (this is our top sf/fantasy genre prize, equivalent to the Japanese Seiun or British Fantasy Award).

[koland]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

There's a free tie-in novel, Golgotha Run by Dave Stone (ISFDB), originally published in 2005, to the Dark Futures RPG gaming universe from Games Workshop (creators of the highly popular Warhammer universe) as a promotion for the:

Humble Weekly Bundle Games Workshop

It needs a Steam account to redeem the freebie, so I haven't gotten around to linking mine up and checking it out yet, but it may be DRM-free.

It is; the downloads are on the main page linked in the email you get (click "ebook" on the page, down below where it wants steam info). I think Steam is only needed for the free game part of that offer.

[ATDrake]

StoryBundle has a few new offerings:

The Dark Justice Bundle curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (ISFDB, Wikipedia) contains a mix of mysteries by established and new authors, including at the top-tier a collection of short stories by Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block (SYKM, Wikipedia).

$5 minimum gets you 5 novels, including an Anthony Award-finalist 2002 1st-in-series novel by fellow MR member author Libby Fischer Hellman (SYKM). Two of the other novels, A Fatal Twist of Lemon, and Code Blues have previously been offered free in various venues. FWIW, I mildly liked Code Blues when I read it after that Kobo promotion and would consider picking up further volumes in the series on deep-discount sale, since they did seem to improve quite a bit as they went along.

$15 top-tier adds 4 novels + 1 collection, including recently-written works by multiple award-winner Rebecca Cantrell (SYKM, Wikipedia) and multiple award-winner Julie Hyzy (SYKM, Wikipedia), an offering by Rusch under her penname of Kris Nelscott, etc.

The 2015 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle contains Exactly What It Says In The Title. This is an unusual triple-tiered bundle, since the top-tier price will net you the complete contents of last year's 2014 NaNoWriMo bundle as well. The books give you practical advice on storytelling, worldbuilding, and professional considerations.

$5 minimum gets you 6 advice books, mostly about storytelling and worldbuilding, from authors including the late science fiction great Algis Budrys (ISFDB, Wikipedia), a long-time instructor at the Clarion Workshop which produced such writers as Ted Chiang and many other notables in the field.

$15 bonus tier gets you an additional 7 books with some practical pitching & marketing advice from authors such as successful Star Wars tie-in authors David Farland aka Dave Wolverton (ISFDB, Wikipedia) and Kevin J. Anderson, and others.

$25 bonus tier adds the 12 additional books that were featured in the 2014 bundle, including an anthology featuring both the stories written by, and notes about the making of, award-winning sfnal authors such as Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal, et al.

NB: A number of the titles in the 2015 set have been previously offered in other recent StoryBundle author writing advice collections, so if you think you might have gotten one of those, you should probably check your archive to see if this new bundle is cost-effective for you.

Also, a reminder that their Monsters Bundle ends in a few days, if you haven't already, and think you might be interested.

[ATDrake]

The new Wildside Press freebie for this Tuesday is up, and it's for:

The First Murray Leinster Megapack®, chock-full of Golden Age science fiction novels and stories by the late eponymous Hugo Award-winner (ISFDB, Wikipedia).

This volume assembles 25 complete novels and short stories by Murray Leinster, published between 1919 and 1963. Included are such science fiction classics as "The Runaway Skyscraper," "Space Tug," and "Operation Terror," as well as rarities like "A Thousand Degrees Below Zero," "The Gallery Gods," and "Nerve." Also includes a biographical introduction and a selected bibliography. (contents and original publication dates listed in the full blurb)

Also, several of the Agate freebies for this week have now become available worldwide as DRM-free ePubs via their direct-buy webstore, where you'll have to enter your billing address but can skip filling out the payment info section when checking out. Linkage for the eligible titles via our drm-free ebook tag

[ATDrake]

Humble Bundle has two book bundles currently running which may be of interest:

Humble Book Bundle DIY presented by Make contains a lot of nifty how-to science/technology things compiled from articles in the magazine, as well as an history of steampunk with Q&As with notable sfnal authors like Bruce Sterling and Margaret Atwood, and an annotated reprint of a vintage DIY home science education laboratory manual which looks pretty interesting (apparently people were really bad at basic safety precautions back in the day), and a discount coupon offer for subscriptions to the magazine (print & digital).

Current average is just under $12, which is close enough to the top-tier of $15 that you might as well splurge.

Pay what you want for Make: Volume 34, Explore the Deep; Make: Easy 1+2+3 Projects; Make: Volume 17, Lost Knowledge; Make: Volume 29, DIY Superhuman/Mod Your Bod; Make: Like The Pioneers; Make: Planes Gliders and Paper Rockets; and Make: Inventing a Better Mousetrap.

Pay more than the average price to also receive 21st Century Robot; Make: Volume 13, Magic; Make: Volume 28, Toys and Games; Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders; Illustrated Guide to Home Forensic Science Experiments; Vintage Tomorrows; Make: Bicycle Projects; Make: Volume 47, Made on Mars; and Make: Volume 09, Tales and Projects from the FRINGE.

Pay $15 or more all of that plus Make: The Annotated Build-It-Yourself Science Laboratory and Make: Tinkering, 2nd Edition.

Also, Humble Bundle's new Humble Comics Bundle The X-Files presented by IDW contains 2 tie-in novels written by Kevin J. Anderson and originally published by HarperCollins, and a new short story anthology with contributions from award-winning sfnal authors. Details in the Comics megathread.

StoryBundle has a new offering for:

The Sci-Fi Spectrum Bundle curated by Joseph R. Lallo, containing a variety of mostly indie-written science fiction novels, several by authors who have trad-published short story credits on ISFDB, across many subgenres.

$3 minimum gets you 5 titles, $12 top-tier an additional 4.

There's also their:

Historical Fiction Bundle again, mostly indie works, but the two novels by Helen Hollick (Wikipedia) are backlist reprints IIRC (Hollick's other historical novels and Arthurian fantasy have been republished by Sourcebooks) as well as being historical pirate fantasy, if you happen to like that sort of thing.

$3 minimum nets you 4 books, including the 1st Hollick, $12 top-tier gives you another 4 books (including the 2nd Hollick), and there's a bonus freebie for newsletter subscribers (no purchase necessary).

And this week's batch of Agate freebies have become available as DRM-free ePubs directly in their webstore. Linkage to the eligible ones via our drm-free ebook tag as always.

[Little.Egret]

Pam Uphoff reminds me that

The Lawyers of Mars: Three Novellas is free for a couple more days.

==
Lizards.

Xaero was a good IP lawyer, a junior partner with the family firm. Until she successfully defended an environmental terrorist. Now the Red Ever Mars rebels have kidnapped her cousin and something suspicious about the police response leads her to believe she'd better rescue Ralphe herself.

A spoof of lawyers and a look at what Martians might have done as their world died. A light-hearted series of adventures. With scales. And briefcases. And mad scientists.
==

I enjoyed the first of the linked Novellas when it was produced to distract someone from repeatedly asking Lois Bujold "is it ready yet" and have enjoyed rereading them all since.


http://www.amazon.com/Lawyers-Mars-T...dp/B00JN8QAU4/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lawyers-Mars...dp/B00JN8QAU4/
http://www.amazon.ca/Lawyers-Mars-Th...dp/B00JN8QAU4/

[badgoodDeb]

sounds great - thanks!

[ATDrake]

New Wildside Press freebie for this Tuesday:

The Thanksgiving Megapack™ full of seasonally-appropriate short tales by classic authors such as O. Henry, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, et al.

This selection of Thanksgiving stories and poems has been published specifically for Thanksgiving (our favorite day of gluttony!) For those outside of North America, Thanksgiving is an American tradition, celebrating the coming of autumn, the bounty of the harvest, the peaceful coexistence of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, (American) football, family—and, of course, the obligatory celebration feast. Here are 35 tales celebrating Thanksgiving in all its forms, by classic authors you know and love (O. Henry, Harriet Becher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne) and others who may be new to you. It contains 35 classic works (list in full blurb)

Also, a reminder of bundles expiring soon:

Humble Book Bundle DIY presented by Make chock-full of technocrafts and science education, ends tomorrow on Wednesday at 11 AM.

StoryBundle's Historical Fiction bundle ends in 2 days.

[ATDrake]

New Humble Bundle this week, and it's for:

Humble Book Bundle Prime Sci-Fi Fantasy, featuring a whole bunch of (mostly anthology) titles from publisher Prime Books (Wikipedia), including things edited by Ellen Datlow and a few volumes of Rich Horton's Year's Best (Genre), featuring reprinted stories by Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, and more, with the SFWA cookbook featuring recipes by sfnal authors at the top tier.

The price is fluctuating a lot on this one, but so far it's under $8 for more-than-average (extra books to be added next week), and $15 for the top tier.

Contents as follows:

Pay what you want for Obsession: Tales of Irresistible Desire, One-Eyed Jack, Digital Domains: A Decade of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Word Puppets.

Pay more than the average price to also receive Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep, The Year’s Best Science & Fantasy Novellas: 2015, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2015, New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird, and Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful.

Pay $15 or more for all of that plus Ad Astra: The 50th Anniversary SFWA Cookbook, The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2015, and Warrior Women.

This is pretty much an auto-buy for me. I like themed anthologies which have a mix of classic reprints and new stuff, and I'm a sucker for odd "professional" cookbooks.

For the next month or so, StoryBundle is offering:

The 2015 Holiday Fantasy Bundle, featuring appropriately-themed festive Chrismanukkwanzaa offerings curated by Star Wars tie-in novelist Kevin J. Anderson. This is a mix of straightforward fantasy and fantastic kids books with a few books with romantic elements in them, including works by Jody Lynn Nye (ISFDB, Wikipedia) and Tracy & Laura Hickman of that Dragonlance franchise, plus two previously-published Baen anthologies.

$5 minimum gets you 6 titles (2 anthologies, 2 single-author collections, 2 novels).

$15 top tier gets you an additional 5 titles (2 novellas, it looks like, 1 single-author collection featuring stories about all holidays and not just the winter ones, 1 anthology, and 1 kids book which may be illustrated)

[ATDrake]

Some freebies and upcoming discount sales:

LGBTQ specialty publisher Dreamspinner Press, and its DSP and Harmony Ink spinoffs have been giving away a few free books a day (thanks to fellow MR member birdbrainbb for noticing and posting), including multilingual selections, from their YA, romance, and not-primarily-romance imprints directly in their webstores, as DRM-free ePub/Mobi/PDF bundles available worldwide.

Today's titles are:

• Carnival: Decatur by Zoe Lynne, YA gay paranormal fantasy
• Choices: Waiting for Forever by Jamie Mayfield, YA gay coming-of-age contemporary set against a backdrop of religious intolerance
• Vulnerable by Amy Lane, 1st in Little Goddesses paranormal fantasy series with f/m and m/m romantic elements
• Wild and Precious by CJane Elliot, bisexual m/m contemporary romance
• A Hard Winter Rain by John Inman, m/m contemporary romantic suspense
• Taste by Mickie B. Ashling, 2nd in Horizons series of m/m lifestyle clash family drama romance; I've read a couple of her other books when they were offered as freebies and the stories seemed interesting and decently done
• Probando del Amor by Andrew Grey, a Spanish-language translation of a novel in his Taste of Love series

Dreamspinner are also offering rotating 99 cent daily specials on the front of their webstore, as well as 25% off their titles bought through said store.

Wildside Press is offering 50% off eBook purchases through Nov 30th, please see sufue's dedicated thread here.

Pan Macmillan Australia's Momentum imprint say that they will be offering 70% off their entire webstore on Nov 30th only (presumably just during Australian timezone hours) with the code cybermomentum at checkout.

They sell DRM-free ePub/Mobi bundles available worldwide (apparently there's a 10-download limit, at least for their freebies), and are mostly newly-published romance and action thrillers. But they do also have some reprints of Australian and New Zealand science fiction & fantasy, the 1st-in-series of some of which have been offered free to us previously, in case you were thinking you wanted to read further works by those authors.

[ATDrake]

A reminder that Pan Macmillan Australia's Momentum imprint's CyberMonday sale, which gives you 70% off everything in the entire store with the coupon code cybermomentum is currently ongoing, and since it's on Australian time (GMT +11), there's only about 9 or so hours left, in case you wanted to pick up any continuations of those 1st-in-series sfnal, thriller, and romance freebies they've been giving us.

ETA: I should probably mention that Momentum is non-couponable at Kobo in at least Canada, the US, and UK, so this may be your best chance of getting anything you might have wanted on sale.

Also, backlist author republishing consortium Book View Café not only have a few freebies as part of their monthly specials (the Doranna Durgin one has been on promo for a while and is also free at other stores listed in its thread here), they've some deep-discount specials. Highlights include:

For 99 cents, Across the Spectrum: Book View Café’s 5th Anniversary Celebration contains about 2 dozen or so short stories by members including notable award-winning authors like Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda N. McIntyre, Judith Tarr, and fellow MR member author Jeffrey A. Carver.

There's also more 99 cent novels by Pati Nagle (sci-fi pet detective) & Patricia Rice (contemporary romance by Sourcebooks-published author), and $2 off a couple of novellas by Laura Anne Gilman in one of her popular urban fantasy investigative series. You can browse everything on their specials promo page here.

[ATDrake]

Dreamspinner Press and spin-off imprints' CyberMonday freebies. Their 35% off sale continues in their stores through 12 PM EST tonight.

• Weathering the Storm by Caitin Ricci, YA contemporary gay coming-of age
• Safe by C. Kennedy, YA contemporary gay accidental outing with dramatic suspense consequences novella
• 'Til Darkness Falls by Pearl Love, paranormal urban fantasy with strong m/m reincarnation romantic elements
• Dissonance by Shira Anthony, m/m contemporary lifestyle mismatch romance
• A Heart for Robbie by J. P. Barnaby, m/m contemporary medical family drama romance
• Ever the Same by BA Tortuga, m/m contemporary blindness disability family drama romance

Also continuing through 12 PM EST tonight, Wildside Press' sale for 50% off eBooks or 30% off print books, details in the dedicated thread here.