FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by tch65721

Whoa! Great price. I'd jump on that if I didn't already have them.

Same. One day I might even read them.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Same. One day I might even read them.

But if you read them, your "to read" list will get smaller. I'm pretty sure that violates some law of physics. "To read" lists always get larger.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Manabi

But if you read them, your "to read" list will get smaller. I'm pretty sure that violates some law of physics. "To read" lists always get larger.

I've just started reading one of my Mary Roberts Rinehart books (of course, I picked up 11 of her books before starting the first one)...

[ZodWallop]

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen is $1.99 at Amazon US.

A way to survive.
A way to serve.
A way to save.

Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata—a mermaid—collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home.

But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable—she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods.

To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But all is not as it seems. There's the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail . . .

Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. Because if she fails, she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it.

[itisbomb]

The Lions of Al-Rassan
by Guy Gavriel Kay

is $1.99

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-lions-of-al-rassan

Below is the blurb:
Award-wining author Guy Gavriel’s sixth novel, hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, is both a brilliant adventure and a moving story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake -- or destroy -- a world.

The ruling Asharites have come from the desert sands, worshipping the stars, their warrior blood fierce and pure. But over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, that stern piety has eroded. The Asharies empire has splintered into decadent city-states lead by warring petty kinds.

King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, adding city after city to his realm, even though Cartada is threatened by forces both within and without. Almalik is aided by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan -- poet, diplomat, soldier -- until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.

Meanwhile, in the north, the Jaddite’s most celebrated -- and feared -- military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, is driven into exile in the wake of events following the death of the king he loved. Rodrigo leads his mercenary company south, to the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan.

In the exquisite lakeside city of Ragosa, Rodrigo Belmonte and Ammar ibn Kharian meet and serve -- for a time -- the same master. Sharing the interwoven fate of these two men from different worlds -- and increasingly torn in her feelings -- is Jehane, the beautiful, accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.

[salty-horse]

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo is $3 on Amazon.com
This is set in the same world as Vo's Great Gatsby retelling The Chosen and the Beautiful, but familiarity with it is not required.

It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic.

“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

Siren Queen offers up an enthralling exploration of an outsider achieving stardom on her own terms, in a fantastical Hollywood where the monsters are real and the magic of the silver screen illuminates every page.

The Polly O'Keefe Quartet by Madeleine L'Engle is $3 on Amazon.com
The sequel/side series (it's complicated) to A Wrinkle in Time.
This is the Library of America edition, which contains annotations.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by itisbomb

The Alloy of Law (book 4 of Mistborn Saga)

Shadows of Self (book 5 of Mistborn Saga)

The Bands of Mourning (book 6 of Mistborn Saga)

are $2.99 each

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-alloy-of-law-1

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/shadows-of-self-2

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-bands-of-mourning

Originally Posted by salty-horse

If you missed the first two when they were free in the past two months, and you're not in a hurry to read the last one, maybe wait up, in case Tor offers it for free next month.

Turns out that Bands of Mourning is supposed to be the September book of the month, available from Sept 13 through Sept 16. News is from Brandon Sanderson's Weekly Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9yc_6eQeNI starting at 2:15.

[salty-horse]

The This by Adam Roberts is $1 on Amazon.com, £1 on Amazon UK and elsewhere.
Described by the author as "a science-fictional novelisation of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit". Was on my wishlist.

The This is the new social media platform everyone is talking about. Allow it to be injected into the roof of your mouth and it will grow into your brain, allow you to connect with others without even picking up your phone. Its followers are growing. Its detractors say it is a cult. But for one journalist, hired to do a puff-piece interview with their CEO, it will change the world forever.

Adan just wants to stay at home with his smart-companion Elegy - phone, friend, confidante, sex toy. But when his mother flees to Europe and joins a cult, leaving him penniless, he has to enlist in the army. Sentient robots are invading America, but it seems Adan has a surprising ability to survive their attacks. He has a purpose, even if he doesn't know what it is.

And in the far future, war between a hivemind of Ais and the remnants of humanity is coming to its inevitable end. But one woman has developed a weapon which might change the course of the war. It's just a pity she's trapped in an inescapable prison on a hivemind ship.

[salty-horse]

A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow is $3 on Amazon.com
Sequel to A Spindle Splintered.

Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues.

Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can't handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White's Evil Queen has found out how her story ends and she's desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone.

Will Zinnia accept the Queen's poisonous request, and save them both from the hot iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?

[salty-horse]

Posted this before and deleted because the price went up. Now it's down again.

The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker is $2.5 on Amazon.com
Has been mentioned in these forums before, but it's been a long while since the last sale, and maybe this is the lowest price it reached in the US.
This is grimdark, first in a completed trilogy. Some people seem to love it, some hate it.

Strikingly original in its conception, ambitious in scope, with characters engrossingly and vividly drawn, the first book in R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series creates a remarkable world from whole cloth-its language and classes of people, its cities, religions, mysteries, taboos, and rituals-the kind of all-embracing universe Tolkien and Herbert created unforgettably in the epic fantasies The Lord of the Rings and Dune. It's a world scarred by an apocalyptic past, evoking a time both two thousand years past and two thousand years into the future, as untold thousands gather for a crusade. Among them, two men and two women are ensnared by a mysterious traveler, Anasûrimbor Kellhus—part warrior, part philosopher, part sorcerous, charismatic presence—from lands long thought dead. The Darkness That Comes Before is a history of this great holy war, and like all histories, the survivors write its conclusion.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Turns out that Bands of Mourning is supposed to be the September book of the month, available from Sept 13 through Sept 16. News is from Brandon Sanderson's Weekly Update: YouTube URL is not working.

The email was recently received here.

Here is the video. The point mentioning the free eBook starts at 2:15 into the video.

[Dazrin]

Thanks for mentioning the broken URL, fixed now.

[Tarana]

The Lathe of Heaven By Ursula K. Le Guin $1.99 Amazon, Kobo, B&N

Well known scifi - way better than the weird movie.

[Aleron Ives]

Thank you! I remember liking that book the last time I read it. It's now my first e-book purchase.

[ZodWallop]

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov is $1.99 at Amazon US.

In the twenty-second century Earth obtains limitless, free energy from a source science little understands: an exchange between Earth and a parallel universe, using a process devised by the aliens. But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth's Sun—and of Earth itself.

Only a few know the terrifying truth—an outcast Earth scientist, a rebellious alien inhabitant of a dying planet, a lunar-born human intuitionist who senses the imminent annihilation of the Sun. They know the truth—but who will listen? They have foreseen the cost of abundant energy—but who will believe? These few beings, human and alien, hold the key to Earth's survival.