FREE/BARGAIN - Science Fiction, Fantasy - 2015

[Froide]

Originally Posted by shemsha

It's so annoying that the only version of Red Country that I can get as non US customer costs $11.59.

Unless, of course, you borrow it from the public library. Here's a link to that title at Worldcat.org.

[Brendan Moody]

The latest Humble Book Bundle features titles from Subterranean Press.

Pay any amount and get:

Peter V. Brett, Brayan's Gold
Harlan Ellison, The Top of the Volcano: The Award-Winning Stories
Caitlin R. Kiernan, The Ape's Wife and Other Stories
Cherie Priest, Jacaranda: A Novel of the Clockwork Century
Dan Simmons, Muse of Fire
Connie Willis, Inside Job
Jack Vance, The Jack Vance Treasury

Beat the average (currently $8.64 and rising) and you'll also get:

Kelley Armstrong, Amityville Horrible
Clive Barker, Tortured Souls: The Legend of Primordium
Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate
Maria Dahvana Headey and Kat Howard, The End of the Sentence
Barry Hughart, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox

Pay more than $15, and you'll also get:
Joe R. Lansdale, Black Hat Jack
Robert McCammon, The Hunter from the Woods
K. J. Parker, Academic Exercises

And as always, more books will be added later. The nice thing here is that this bundle is available internationally, making many of these titles available outside the US for the first time.

I'll definitely be getting this one, though I'll wait to see what the added books are. Right now I already have the one title in the $15 tier that appeals, and I'm not sure if I want enough of the "beat the average" titles either.

[ATDrake]

^ Oops, popped up while previewing, so I'll just edit to comment on some of the selections:

There's some truly excellent stuff in the new Humble Bundle from Subterranean Press:

If you don't already have it, Barry Hughart's The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, which is simply one of the very best AU historical fantasy trilogies ever (I own a combined 5 paper copies of much of this across French and English) is more than worth the price of admission.

Also there are novellas and collected shorts by Ted Chiang, Tim Powers, Connie Willis, and Harlan Ellison, who are all amazingly good storytellers and well-deserving of their many awards. For the steampunk zombie lovers in the audience, there's a Cherie Priest Clockwork Century novella; there's some humorous non-fiction from John Scalzi, and much more, to which they'll be adding things next week.

Current pay-more-than-average is under $9, but you might as well splurge on the entire $15, since you get a 500-page short story collection by World Fantasy Award-winner K. J. Parker and a 3-novel omnibus of Joe R. Lansdale's AU Old West pulp fiction-styled adventures, so unless you don't read fantasy or AU Westerns or horror, it should probably be worth it to you.

[Dngrsone]

It does look pretty tasty... I usually push past the $15 mark-- these authors deserve some money for their work.

[pdurrant]

I wish I'd spotted this which the average price was lower. But I got in at $10. I haven't quite broken my book buying budget.

It does look like a really wonderful bundle. Although I really got it for the Ted Chiang and the Barry Hughart books.

[Andanzas]

I am going to get it for the Jack Vance Treasury alone, which has been in my wishlist for years, but I have never been able to find for a reasonable price. It has been out of print for a long time and this is the first time I see it as an ebook.

Anyway, I am going to read it about the other books before making my purchase. There are a lot of authors here I am not familiar with.

[slex]

Originally Posted by Brendan Moody

The latest Humble Book Bundle features titles from Subterranean Press.

Pay more than $15, and you'll also get:
Joe R. Lansdale, Black Hat Jack
Robert McCammon, The Hunter from the Woods
K. J. Parker, Academic Exercises

Academic Exercises alone is worth that money.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by slex

Academic Exercises alone is worth that money.

Actually, it's only worth $6.99 from Amazon, if someone is willing to pay that amount:

http://www.amazon.com/Academic-Exerc...rcises++kindle

[Geralt]

Am I the only one here that dislikes bundles and the idea of somebody else choosing books for me? I would never spent my money on some bundle, but a lot of you seem to like it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Geralt

Am I the only one here that dislikes bundles and the idea of somebody else choosing books for me? I would never spent my money on some bundle, but a lot of you seem to like it.

This isn't the place to discuss that. Please start a new thread in the "General Discussions" forum if you wish to do so.

Thanks.

[Geralt]

Sorry for being off topic, I'm bit more relaxed in expressing myself. I was just curious, but not that curious to start a new topic anyway.
Sorry for the diversion.

[TrevorViking]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This isn't the place to discuss that. Please start a new thread in the "General Discussions" forum if you wish to do so.

Thanks.

This is a joke, right? Sure, lots of offtopic posts would be bothersome but a quick question directly relevant to the thread?

I look at bundles this way: I'm never going to really want everything in a bundle, but if the things I want would total to a price more than the bundle price, then it's a great deal and a buy. The extras I don't want are just bonus.

Thanks for posting the Humble Bundle deal guys.

[Rev. Bob]

Orbit's having a sale on Gail Carriger's "Parasol Protectorate" and "Finishing School" series, in anticipation of March's release of Prudence, first in the new "Custard Protocol" series.

The five PP books are listed at $2.99 each, and the three FS books are $1.99 each. There's also a bundle of all five PP books, but at $16.99 the solo volumes are cheaper right now. Since this is a publisher sale, the prices should be good at any retailer; I've verified them on Kobo and Amazon.

For Kobo readers, I should note that the last two PP books - Heartless and Timeless - are in EPUB 3 format, as are all three FS books. Orbit migrated to EPUB 3 a while back, so this should be no surprise. However, having just purchased the last four PP books there, I can attest that I had no trouble downloading them with the regular "Adobe DRM EPUB" button. (I'd already read the series in paperback, and this was the perfect opportunity to get them as ebooks.)

Oh, what are they about? Steampunky intrigue with arch humor and a huge helping of comedy-of-manners fun, in an England where the Crown has recognized vampires and werewolves and incorporated them into society. The "Finishing School" series is about young women in a dirigible-based finishing school, where lessons in style and manners take place along instruction in martial arts and intelligence work. Fun stuff, and I just finished the third volume last night. The "Parasol Protectorate" books concern a woman whose touch negates supernatural abilities. Not permanently, only so long as the contact persists, but it gets her noticed and roped into intrigue.

FS is YA-level and happens earliest, starting in 1851. PP is standard fare and was written first, but happens later, in the 1870s. CP stars the daughter of a character from the PP series, so it should take place in the 1890s. In fact, there are several links between the series; it's one world, but each line uses a different main character.

I strongly recommend reading the first few pages of Soulless, the book that started it all, as a preview. If you like what you see, odds are you'll enjoy the rest just as much.

[Keslynn]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Orbit's having a sale on Gail Carriger's "Parasol Protectorate" and "Finishing School" series, in anticipation of March's release of Prudence, first in the new "Custard Protocol" series.

I highly recommend the Parasol Protectorate for those who love steampunk, Victoriana and comedies of manners.

[slex]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Actually, it's only worth $6.99 from Amazon, if someone is willing to pay that amount:

http://www.amazon.com/Academic-Exerc...rcises++kindle

Actually, that is what it costs at Amazon. As for getting it, a lot of the stories in the collection are available for free on the internet. However it includes two novellas previously published only in hardback. Besides, many people might be unable to get it on Amazon, because Subterranean Press books are often georestricted, so this bundle is a good opportunity to get it for a reason other than the price.

Another very good title from the offer - Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is also available for free in audio.

As a whole the bundle is good - the best so far in my opinion.