FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by isarl

I've similarly had inconsistent phone number behaviour on my Kobo account. I'm not sure exactly what prompted it but somehow my phone number recently got removed from my payment information. When I went to change countries, it would fail without a helpful error message and reset to my home country. I think maybe I had to switch to the desktop browser version of the site to see an error message about not having a phone number. Adding my phone number back allowed me to change countries once again as usual. Weirdness!

Does this mean you just need some type of phone number filled in, and you don't need to change it to match the country you're travelling to every time?

[isarl]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Does this mean you just need some type of phone number filled in, and you don't need to change it to match the country you're travelling to every time?

Correct.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

So you went in 'Too Deep', huh? -- I thought I told you to avoid unknown waters. There's no telling what's going to pop out of the ocean when you're not looking!!

I needed my water wings. I thought I was done with those when I was a kid!

[Aleron Ives]

Thank you, everybody. I have successfully returned from my trip abroad.

[salty-horse]

On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu is $3 on Amazon.com
Was on my wishlist. Light on fantastical elements.

Firuzeh and her brother Nour are children of fire, born in an Afghanistan fractured by war. When their parents, their Atay and Abay, decide to leave, they spin fairy tales of their destination, the mythical land and opportunities of Australia.

As the family journeys from Pakistan to Indonesia to Nauru, heading toward a hope of home, they must rely on fragile and temporary shelters, strangers both mercenary and kind, and friends who vanish as quickly as they’re found.

When they arrive in Australia, what seemed like a stable shore gives way to treacherous currents. Neighbors, classmates, and the government seek their own ends, indifferent to the family’s fate. For Firuzeh, her fantasy worlds provide some relief, but as her family and home splinter, she must surface from these imaginings and find a new way.

Return from the Stars by Stanisław Lem is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
Translated by Barbara Marszal and Frank Simpson

An astronaut returns to Earth after a 10-year mission and finds a society that he barely recognizes.

Stanisław Lem’s Return from the Stars recounts the experiences of Hal Bregg, an astronaut who returns from an exploratory mission that lasted ten years—although because of time dilation, 127 years have passed on Earth. Bregg finds a society that he hardly recognizes, in which danger has been eradicated. Children are “betrizated” to remove all aggression and violence—a process that also removes all impulse to take risks and explore. The people of Earth view Bregg and his crew as “resuscitated Neanderthals,” and pressure them to undergo betrization. Bregg has serious difficulty in navigating the new social mores.

While Lem’s depiction of a risk-free society is bleak, he does not portray Bregg and his fellow astronauts as heroes. Indeed, faced with no opposition to his aggression, Bregg behaves abominably. He is faced with a choice: leave Earth again and hope to return to a different society in several hundred years, or stay on Earth and learn to be content.

With Return from the Stars, Lem shows the shifting boundaries between utopia and dystopia.

[TheCat]

Deals on first and second book in Ray Aldridge Emancipator trilogy.

The Pharaoh Contract by Ray Aldridge is $1.99 on Amazon.com
The Emperor of Everything by Ray Aldridge is $1.99 on Amazon.com

Ruiz Aw is an Art League enforcer sent to investigate the disappearance of several slaves from the planet Pharaoh prior to their being "harvested". They are the property of the Art League and their property has been stolen. Ruiz is an ex-slave now working for the League, doing its corporate slave trading dirty work.

In the dim red light of the Beaster Level, pleasure seekers pressed against Ruiz Aw, a sea of wild eyes, wet mouths, sweat-slick bodies. He moved cautiously through the clamor and stink. Confusion protected him. In this grinding jostle, who would notice Ruiz Aw, who would report him to his employers?
The thought of discovery sent a shudder through him, raised goose bumps on his skin. The Art League's inquisitors would ask, “Ruiz Aw, tell us. Just what were you doing on Dilvermoon? What mischief brought you to the hold of Nacker the Teach, notorious bootleg minddiver?” And, “Ruiz Aw, how did you happen to be there so soon after receiving your net? Tell us, Ruiz Aw.” Ruiz could conceive of no explanation that would satisfy those grim personages.

If You don't know Ray Aldridge works this looks like Jack Vance "Demon Princes" series.

[Kieran Seymour]

This one might possibly only be of use for people located in the UK. I've just checked using the VPN in Opera and it only produces an error.

Anyway, the first original Judge Dredd novel, Deathmasques by Dave Stone, is currently free from the 2000 AD store. ePub or Mobi format.

https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/BL...d-deathmasques

[sufue]

Today's Big Deal at Kindle UK is seven books in the Chronicles of St. Mary's series by Jodi Taylor for £0.99 each.

The books include:

- And the Rest is History, #8
- An Argumentation of Historians, #9
- Hope for the Best, #10
- Plan for the Worst, #11
- Another Time, Another Place, #12
- A Catalogue of Catastrophe, #13
- The Long and the Short of It, short stories

Here's a link to the Deal webpage: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=4725112031

[isarl]

The Gods Themselves, by Isaac Asimov, is $3 today.
Kobo: US, CA
Amazon: US, CA

This book won Hugo, Locus, Nebula, and Ditmar awards for Best (Science Fiction) Novel.

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.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by isarl

The Gods Themselves, by Isaac Asimov, is $3 today.
Kobo: US, CA
Amazon: US, CA

This book won Hugo, Locus, Nebula, and Ditmar awards for Best (Science Fiction) Novel.

It's an excellent book, well worth reading! Asimov apparently wrote it in part to counter criticism about his writing. Critics claimed he couldn't write romance or aliens and that's why there weren't any of those in his novels. The aliens in this novel are very alien, and we learn about their whole life cycle. (Which is quite unusual, and fascinating.) The romance is also well done. It getting so many rewards certainly made those critics look stupid.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Manabi

It's an excellent book, well worth reading! Asimov apparently wrote it in part to counter criticism about his writing. Critics claimed he couldn't write romance or aliens and that's why there weren't any of those in his novels. The aliens in this novel are very alien, and we learn about their whole life cycle. (Which is quite unusual, and fascinating.) The romance is also well done. It getting so many rewards certainly made those critics look stupid.

If he's so smart, how come he's dead?

---

Speaking of smart people, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon is on sale for $4.99 today on the usual storefronts.

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CRQ3MA
Kobo:https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gravity-s-rainbow
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gra...=9781101594650
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/grav...ow/id534574459
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=GGPm4I3BbxAC

Apologies if $4.99 is not "enough" of a Sale for this thread. I feel like we used to hold out for $0.99 or $1.99, but some publishers seem to have made $4.99 the new "sale" price and will not go any lower.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

If he's so smart, how come he's dead?

---

Speaking of smart people, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon is on sale for $4.99 today on the usual storefronts.

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CRQ3MA
Kobo:https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/gravity-s-rainbow
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gra...=9781101594650
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/grav...ow/id534574459
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=GGPm4I3BbxAC

Apologies if $4.99 is not "enough" of a Sale for this thread. I feel like we used to hold out for $0.99 or $1.99, but some publishers seem to have made $4.99 the new "sale" price and will not go any lower.

...and Pynchon, unlike the 'Groper-Mov' is still alive and is smart!

ADDED: I do enjoy Asimov's writing.

[salty-horse]

Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever Book 1) by Stephen R. Donaldson is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon, Kobo WW is $2.5)
Was on my wishlist.

He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, because he dared not believe in this strange alternate world on which he suddenly found himself.

Yet the Land tempted him. He had been sick; now he seemed better than ever before. Through no fault of his own, he had been outcast, unclean, a pariah. Now he was regarded as a reincarnation of the Land's greatest hero—Berek Halfhand—armed with the mystic power of White Gold. That power alone could protect the Lords of the Land from the ancient evil of the Despiser, Lord Foul. Except that Covenant had no idea how to use that power. . . .

This is a bit of old news. In 2020 Adrian Tchaikovsky released Short Changes, a free ebook collection with 6 stories. I wanted to read Coat Like White Fire and saw that it was in this collection.
PDF, Epub, Mobi

[salty-horse]

Councilor (The Grand Illusion #2) by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

Expect Me Tomorrow by Christopher Priest is $1 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
This is his latest novel, was on my wishlist.

A petty thief who called himself John Smith was arrested in 1877, for theft through fraudulent behaviour. He was convicted and sent to prison.

In 1852, Adler and Adolf Beck's father died on a glacier, and their lives separated. One became a respected climate scientist; the other a globally renowned opera singer, or so he claimed. They remained in touch, to share details of the mysterious voices only they could hear.

In 2050, Charles Ramsey also has a twin. Greg is a climate journalist. Charles used to be a police profiler, but his redundancy leads to him being sent home with an experimental chip in his head. His brother urges him to explore a little-known aspect of their family history.

All these people are connected, impossibly, inexorably. All their lives will intersect.

And the climate of their world will keep on changing.

[salty-horse]

Among Thieves (Tales of Thamorr #1) by M. J. Kuhn is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

A thrilling fantasy debut—a high-stakes heist novel set in a gritty world of magic and malice.

In just over a year’s time, Ryia Cautella has already earned herself a reputation as the quickest, deadliest blade in the dockside city of Carrowwick—not to mention the sharpest tongue. But Ryia Cautella is not her real name.

For the past six years, a deadly secret has kept her in hiding, running from town to town, doing whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of the formidable Guildmaster—the sovereign ruler of the five kingdoms of Thamorr. No matter how far or fast she travels, his servants never fail to track her down...but even the most powerful men can be defeated.

Ryia’s path now leads directly into the heart of the Guildmaster’s stronghold, and against every instinct she has, it’s not a path she can walk alone. Forced to team up with a crew of assorted miscreants, smugglers, and thieves, Ryia must plan her next moves very carefully. If she succeeds, her freedom is won once and for all…but unfortunately for Ryia, her new allies are nearly as selfish as she is, and they all have plans of their own.

Hooked by A. C. Wise is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

A dark, gorgeous reimagining about what happened to Captain Hook after Neverland from the bestselling author of Wendy, Darling – filled with eerie suspense and heart-breaking anguish

Once invited, always welcome.
Once invited, never free.

Captain James Hook, the immortal pirate of Neverland, has died a thousand times. Drowned, stabbed by Peter Pan’s sword, eaten by the beast swimming below the depths, yet James was resurrected every time by one boy’s dark imagination. Until he found a door in the sky, an escape. And he took the chance no matter the cost.

Now in London twenty-two years later, Peter Pan’s monster has found Captain Hook again, intent on revenge. But a chance encounter leads James to another survivor of Neverland. Wendy Darling, now a grown woman, is the only one who knows how dark a shadow Neverland casts, no matter how far you run. To vanquish Pan’s monster once and for all, Hook must play the villain one last time…