Feeding frenzy!

[GeoffR]

I got my first e-reader last month, and got a bit carried away. Just spent more on ebooks at Baens in the last 24 hours than I did on paper (fiction) books this whole year. Got some serious reading to do this summer :-)

[Blue Tyson]

Yeah, stuff like the Charles Sheffield bundles are awesome.

You did remind me to get the Ben Bova one which has some of the Orion books.

Of recently, the Monster Hunter books are fun.

Sarah Hoyt, P. C. Hodgell. There's the occasional anthology.

Hank Reinhardt's Book of Swords was really good, too - so got the knife one. That was in one of the bundles I bought - Correia, Reinhardt, a Flandry book, Rosenberg and a hybrid anthology.

[colleenFL]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

I got my first e-reader last month, and got a bit carried away. Just spent more on ebooks at Baens in the last 24 hours than I did on paper (fiction) books this whole year. Got some serious reading to do this summer :-)

Way to go! You're off to a strong start!

[koland]

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

Yeah, stuff like the Charles Sheffield bundles are awesome.

You did remind me to get the Ben Bova one which has some of the Orion books.

Of recently, the Monster Hunter books are fun.

Sarah Hoyt, P. C. Hodgell. There's the occasional anthology.

Hank Reinhardt's Book of Swords was really good, too - so got the knife one. That was in one of the bundles I bought - Correia, Reinhardt, a Flandry book, Rosenberg and a hybrid anthology.

So, I've been looking to see what to spend my last few coupons on. Probably not monthly bundles and it seems I have all of Larry Correia's books that are there. Also, all of Bova's except "Hour of the Gremlins", which is $4 (so I'll probably get it).

After meeting Sarah Hoyt at a recent convention, I would not be surprised if she pulled all her stuff from Baen. She overprices her short stories and thinks having one free once or twice a year is more than enough promo (and is very much for DRM, from what I can remember - it was surprising how many authors that are at Baen are for DRM). I might grab her bundle, since I don't think I have those (but have most of the rest in her catalog).

then, I'll have to think hard on Sheffield. that's $75 minus just a bit in coupons..... I have several, but no overlap with the bundles.

[ATDrake]

Hoyt's bundle is backlist from another publisher IIRC, so you're unlikely to have ever had it unless you bought paperbacks. Apparently she's kind of w*nky and reactionary on her blog, but she writes historical fantasy fairly well, according to posters in the Reading Recs forum, so I was willing to give her a chance (and she did have her short story collection up in the Baen Free Library for a number of years and put up some free stories every week (now ended) on her blog, so that counts for something).

Sheffield may be a bit of an acquired taste if you're not into hard sf. Maybe skim some samples and remember that Georgia On My Mind was free from Phoenix Pick earlier this year.

[koland]

Yes, I have that one and do read hard sci-fi (as does another in the family, who won't touch most fantasy that I read). I'll look at the samples.

I'm going to get Hoyt's and Hodgell's bundles, as both appear to be ones I would read (and I'm still holding out that Guy Gavriel Kay's books might some day be out as ebooks (I am seeing them now at Audible, so may have to go that way, instead).

Thanks for the suggestions.

[ATDrake]

No, don't get Hodgell's bundle from the Book Bundles section, or the Liaden books from there either. They're all reprints which were later omnibused as regular monthlies and you probably have half the stories in them already.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by koland

(and I'm still holding out that Guy Gavriel Kay's books might some day be out as ebooks (I am seeing them now at Audible, so may have to go that way, instead).

GGK's seriously not available in e-book in the US? He's readily available here in Canada (our province-wide e-book lending library has multiple copies, which seem to be out from Penguin Canada). Maybe try faking a northern accent with liberal use of the end-word "eh"* for a while at Amazon or Kobo?

* Disclaimer: As a Canadian, I rarely actually hear people say this off of TV, and usually only when there are Newfies or the like speaking.

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

GGK's seriously not available in e-book in the US? He's readily available here in Canada (our province-wide e-book lending library has multiple copies, which seem to be out from Penguin Canada). Maybe try faking a northern accent with liberal use of the end-word "eh"* for a while at Amazon or Kobo?

* Disclaimer: As a Canadian, I rarely actually hear people say this off of TV, and usually only when there are Newfies or the like speaking.

LOL... Back around the mid-80's, we were in Gatlinburg, TN and my dad got to talking to a biker who said "eh?" every third word. I looked at his license plate at one point and he was from Ontario. I know the sentiment, though: I'm from Tennessee and currently live in Alabama... All Southerners are NOT like Honey Boo Boo's family (actually very few that I know are).

[koland]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

GGK's seriously not available in e-book in the US? He's readily available here in Canada (our province-wide e-book lending library has multiple copies, which seem to be out from Penguin Canada). Maybe try faking a northern accent with liberal use of the end-word "eh"* for a while at Amazon or Kobo?

* Disclaimer: As a Canadian, I rarely actually hear people say this off of TV, and usually only when there are Newfies or the like speaking.

I don't know. As soon as that was heard in a bar in Montana, the prices tripled! We had to move to another bar (we were honorary locals, while the "northern" tourists were kids on spring break, spending the last of their US money before heading back to Canada).

In any case, my "other" acct at kobo is across the pond. I haven't managed to get one set up for above the border, though, so sort of gave up ... maybe I'll search the evil empire (you know, that Other seattle company) while on a virtual visit.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by hwlester

LOL... Back around the mid-80's, we were in Gatlinburg, TN and my dad got to talking to a biker who said "eh?" every third word. I looked at his license plate at one point and he was from Ontario.

It may be an east coast/west coast* thing. I rarely hear it in person, but I do hear in on TV (and on stuff like the news and documentaries, not just comedy improv shows).

* Fun fact: apparently Canada's unofficial national pastime is "Let's All Hate Toronto", which is a game often enjoyed by everyone who isn't from Toronto and unites us all across this great big empty land.

[koland]

Have I said how much I love Baen lately?

Got the refund and a $6 micropay credit since I used a coupon. Off to spend it on Sheffield (funny you mentioned it was "hard sci-fi"; I've read at least some of it in paper, since the sample of the first one I looked at was one I had read).

[ATDrake]

Yes, they're awesome, and I'd miss buying monthly bundles from them if they'd had stuff in them which I generally wanted to buy now that the Amazon deal is going to be in place. But I'll keep buying the special reprint and other publisher bundles directly.

Apparently they might be able to set me up with a new Dec 2005 code after I botched it while buying yesterday. I've just gone and bought a Fairwood Press bundle from them in thanks.

Also, Sheffield is generally supposed to be pretty good if you do like hard sci-fi (apparently he also wrote some softer, more social sci-fi as well; I've only read a few of his works). He was an actual physicist while he was still alive, and married to Nancy Kress, who's a Hugo/Nebula Winner. It's actually because I liked her stories so much that I started looking into his work.

[PurpleStar]

I have been wondering how exactly these coupons for free books/bundles work. Does it count as a sale but the authors get nothing in return? Or does Baen cover the cost of the book(s)? Or is it just not a sale at all?

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Yes, they're awesome, and I'd miss buying monthly bundles from them if they'd had stuff in them which I generally wanted to buy now that the Amazon deal is going to be in place. But I'll keep buying the special reprint and other publisher bundles directly.

Apparently they might be able to set me up with a new Dec 2005 code after I botched it while buying yesterday. I've just gone and bought a Fairwood Press bundle from them in thanks.

Also, Sheffield is generally supposed to be pretty good if you do like hard sci-fi (apparently he also wrote some softer, more social sci-fi as well; I've only read a few of his works). He was an actual physicist while he was still alive, and married to Nancy Kress, who's a Hugo/Nebula Winner. It's actually because I liked her stories so much that I started looking into his work.

I've read all his work and there is some variety - certainly some of your former and there's space opera and Cold As Ice series for example, which is near future, solar system murder mystery type deal. Complete with Wolfeian iconoclast. Was also a very talented short fiction writer. Not as good as the spousal unit, but pretty good. Definitely a better novelist though.