FREE/BARGAIN - General and Historical Fiction, Literature - 2015

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

A long time best selling writer I have never been able to get into.

Anthem (Xist Classics) (1939) (80 pp) by Ayn Rand

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UCI9MPE/

<snip>

The Whispersync is only $2.99 more. I noticed that it was in Amazon's most recent sale for $4.95 ($4.99?) and almost bought it then. If you are "into" Ayn Rand, this might be the least expensive quality audio of the book that you'll run across the rest of your life. And don't forget about the syncing benefit.

[GtrsRGr8]

Get a free pdf of the book that some people call Charles Dickens' other Christmas story. Never heard about it? Neither had I (but that's surprising since I don't read fiction very much).

The name of the book is The Man and the Ghost's Bargain. The version that I'm telling you about is 93 pages as printed.

Yes, it's a classic, been in the public domain forever, blah, blah, blah. I know that. But this edition is ultra clean. The cover is very attractive and was specially designed for this digital edition. I don't know how the other editions out there would compare. I rather think not very favorably. I encourage you to at least take a look and see what you think.

This version of the book is from what I have good reason to believe is a soon-to-be defunct digital classics collection. A fellow (a professor probably) at Penn State University maintained the collection, but it seems that he has moved on to somewhere else or retired or something.

Here's a link to the ebook.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Get a free pdf of the book that some people call Charles Dickens' other Christmas story. Never heard about it? Neither had I (but that's surprising since I don't read fiction very much).

The name of the book is The Man and the Ghost's Bargain. The version that I'm telling you about is 93 pages as printed.

Yes, it's a classic, been in the public domain forever, blah, blah, blah. I know that. But this edition is ultra clean. The cover is very attractive and was specially designed for this digital edition. I don't know how the other editions out there would compare. I rather think not very favorably. I encourage you to at least take a look and see what you think.

This version of the book is from what I have good reason to believe is a soon-to-be defunct digital classics collection. A fellow (a professor probably) at Penn State University maintained the collection, but it seems that he has moved on to somewhere else or retired or something.

Here's a link to the ebook.

It's actually called "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain". This is not a good version at all, in that it is completely lacking the illustrations which were an integral part of all of Dickens's Christmas Books. I am rather bemused by how you can possibly declare that other available editions would compare unfavourably when you admit yourself that you know nothing about the book, and have made no effort to actually look at any other editions of it. Dickens is, as you may know, a speciality of mine, and I have created meticulously proofed versions of all his work for the MR library.

Dickens wrote a "Christmas Book" every year between 1843 and 1848, with the exception of 1847 when he was touring the United States. The five books are:

• A Christmas Carol (1843)
• The Chimes (1844)
• The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
• The Battle of Life (1846)
• The Haunted Man (1848)

All five are collected together in a volume called "Christmas Books" in the MR library. Perhaps worth noting that until the early decades of the 20th century, "The Chimes" was far better known and more popular than "A Christmas Carol"!

[pdurrant]

Amazon UK Daily Deal: The first 8 Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell for just £0.99 each.

Blurb from first one:

Richard Sharpe avoids the tyrannical Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill and endeavours to rescue a British officer from under the nose of the Tippoo of Mysore.

But in fleeing Hakeswill, Sharpe enters the exotic and dangerous world of the Tippoo. An adventure that will require all of his wits just to stay alive, let alone save the British army from catastrophe.

Soldier, hero, rogue – Sharpe is the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles whose green jacket he proudly wears

I have them already, and highly recommend them.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Amazon UK Daily Deal: The first 8 Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell for just £0.99 each

I'm jealous! OverDrive has them here and I've been borrowing the Kindle books so I can get the Whispersync price at Audible, but it would be far handier to buy them so cheaply and then I'd own them, too, of course.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Amazon UK Daily Deal: The first 8 Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell for just £0.99 each.

Blurb from first one:


I have them already, and highly recommend them.

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm jealous! OverDrive has them here and I've been borrowing the Kindle books so I can get the Whispersync price at Audible, but it would be far handier to buy them so cheaply and then I'd own them, too, of course.

They are well worth owning, especially at this price.
Apache

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm jealous! OverDrive has them here and I've been borrowing the Kindle books so I can get the Whispersync price at Audible, but it would be far handier to buy them so cheaply and then I'd own them, too, of course.

Probably a case of different US and UK publishers. The whole series seems to regularly go on special offer in the UK. I think I've bought all 20-odd books in the series at around the 99p/book price.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Probably a case of different US and UK publishers. The whole series seems to regularly go on special offer in the UK. I think I've bought all 20-odd books in the series at around the 99p/book price.

I think Amazon UK has better ("better" meaning "more to my taste") Daily Deals overall than Amazon US. I stopped checking the US deals a long time ago, not to avoid temptation, but because it was a waste of my time.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's actually called "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain". This is not a good version at all, in that it is completely lacking the illustrations which were an integral part of all of Dickens's Christmas Books. I am rather bemused by how you can possibly declare that other available editions would compare unfavourably when you admit yourself that you know nothing about the book, and have made no effort to actually look at any other editions of it. Dickens is, as you may know, a speciality of mine, and I have created meticulously proofed versions of all his work for the MR library.

Dickens wrote a "Christmas Book" every year between 1843 and 1848, with the exception of 1847 when he was touring the United States. The five books are:

• A Christmas Carol (1843)
• The Chimes (1844)
• The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
• The Battle of Life (1846)
• The Haunted Man (1848)

All five are collected together in a volume called "Christmas Books" in the MR library. Perhaps worth noting that until the early decades of the 20th century, "The Chimes" was far better known and more popular than "A Christmas Carol"!

Omitting the "haunted" was simply a slip up.

I didn't declare that other versions would compare unfavorably. My exact words (and I always try to say exactly what I mean) were "I rather think not very favorably." I didn't know for sure, that's why I said what I did. My main point was that this version was very "clean"--exceptionally so--and it was hard to see how other versions of the book would be as good in that respect.

I wasn't aware that Dickens was a speciality of yours. I appreciate your effort in creating the proofed versions of his works for the MR library. Likewise, I appreciate your work as a moderator. I know that it's a thankless job.

The saying, "there is no such thing as bad publicity" (apocryphally attributed to P.T. Barnum and perhaps others) holds true with our exchange. People who weren't interested in the book now may very well have an interest now! And that is good.

[AnemicOak]

The first book in Patrick O'Brien's excellent Aubrey/Maturin series, Master and Commander, is on sale (US only?) for $.99 at most stores...
Amazon US | Google | B&N | Kobo (note, currently $21.59 at Kobo, link included for price checking)

This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of a life aboard a man-of-war are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.

[GA Russell]

Here is a free copy of A Christmas Carol with the original illustrations.
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Caro...dp/B017OSSW6O/

Merry Christmas!

[GtrsRGr8]

Delphi Classics is offering a free ebook, Masters of the Short Story III. It's available in either (and probably both) Kindle mobi and ePub.

"Free" in this case, as usual, doesn't mean really free. You have to have a shopping cart experience on the website. That means that you have to set up an account if you don't have one. Maybe that's not too onerous for you.

Here's a short blurb about the book on the webpage whose URL I am about to give you:
This is a collection of 28 of the finest short stories ever written, with contributions from some of literature's most celebrated authors. A huge thank you to all of our readers that contributed suggestions for the collection. (Version 1)

So, which stories did we include? Read to find out!

Of course, all of the short stories are in the public domain, but Delphi Classics adds good stuff to the public domain stories or books, they don't just simply reprint them.

Here's the link to get the freebie.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Delphi Classics is offering a free ebook, Masters of the Short Story III. It's available in either (and probably both) Kindle mobi and ePub.

"Free" in this case, as usual, doesn't mean really free. You have to have a shopping cart experience on the website. That means that you have to set up an account if you don't have one. Maybe that's not too onerous for you.

They just want an email addie. They send you offers like this one !

If this troubles anyone, note some email providers let you have as many as you wish (all go to the same mailbox) so you can tell if someone passes it on.

One of the interesting features Delphi offer is 'parts' so a compilation can be bought as one unit ('boxed set' in Amazon's terms) or as a zipped up download of one document per part or both at a discount.

Thus One Thousand and One Nights (multiple translations and selections) is $2.99, the Parts Edition is $3.99 and both are $4.99 (Sale so may be less, the web page isn't clear to me.

http://www.delphiclassics.com/shop/o...parts-edition/

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

They just want an email addie. They send you offers like this one !
<snip>

There is a box on the shopping cart, next to something like, "check here if you would like to receive emails." It is checked by default; you can un-check it. Why you would need to give your email address after doing that is anyone's guess, but I'm sure that you still will have to.

But if you have an interest in the kind of books that Delphi Classics publishes, you might actually like to be on their mailing list to learn about sales, giveaways, and such. I am on their mailing list and I probably receive only about one email every two weeks. I wish all of the companies that have my email address would be that rarely seen or heard from!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

There is a box on the shopping cart, next to something like, "check here if you would like to receive emails." It is checked by default; you can un-check it. Why you would need to give your email address after doing that is anyone's guess, but I'm sure that you still will have to.

The email addy serves as your account id and means you can access your books for future downloads, a good thing - unless there's another server debacle. Delphi also updates for errors and newly-found material.I haven't felt the same about Delphi since the crash, but their books are a good value and I still buy from them. It can be the only way to access pd titles that haven't made it to the usual sites and you avoid the badly OCRed books that haven't been proofed.