FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[itisbomb]

The Complete Poppy War Trilogy
The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, The Burning God

is $4.99 at Kobo

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...py-war-trilogy

From R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Babel, this collection features the novels in her historical military fantasy trilogy—The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, and The Burning God—a complete epic inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic.

[Kieran Seymour]

Isaac Asimov's Prelude to Foundation is a 99p Daily Deal in the UK today.

amazon.co.uk | Kobo

[salty-horse]

Volkhavaar by Tanith Lee is $1 worldwide (Kobo US, Kobo WW, Amazon.com)
Goodreads review by author Diane Duane, who considers this is a favorite.

VOLKHAVAAR is a novel of witchcraft and wonders on a world far removed from those we know. Here the gods contend for power - the Dark forces against the Light - and here an entire city and its land is plunged into the shadow of an evil beyond anything conceivable. It is the story of Shaina the slave girl and of Volk the outcast who enslaved himself to cosmic forces to gain total power - and of how they were finally to meet and clash - with an entire world as their prize.

[salty-horse]

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
First in a series of detective novellas. Was on my wishlist.

A cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set on Jupiter.

On a remote, gas-wreathed outpost of a human colony on Jupiter, a man goes missing. The enigmatic Investigator Mossa follows his trail to Valdegeld, home to the colony’s erudite university—and Mossa’s former girlfriend, a scholar of Earth’s pre-collapse ecosystems.

Pleiti has dedicated her research and her career to aiding the larger effort towards a possible return to Earth. When Mossa unexpectedly arrives and requests Pleiti’s assistance in her latest investigation, the two of them embark on a twisting path in which the future of life on Earth is at stake—and, perhaps, their futures, together.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by Kieran Seymour

Isaac Asimov's Prelude to Foundation is a 99p Daily Deal in the UK today.

amazon.co.uk | Kobo

Since it's a prequel, you can read it without having read the Foundation series. However, you'll get a lot more out of it if you have read that first, and I'd highly recommend doing so, since there's some revelations in the last book of the series that tie into the prequels. (There's also Forward the Foundation after this one.)

[isarl]

Originally Posted by Manabi

Since it's a prequel, you can read it without having read the Foundation series. However, you'll get a lot more out of it if you have read that first, and I'd highly recommend doing so, since there's some revelations in the last book of the series that tie into the prequels. (There's also Forward the Foundation after this one.)

Seconding this recommendation! If memory serves, some lists put these stories in internal chronological order, but I agree with Manabi that publication order, and leaving the prequels for later, is a better way to read the series.

[JSWolf]

When did $1.99 become $2.00?

[DNSB]

About the same time that a car priced at $39,999.99 became $40,000.

[ballfresno]

Originally Posted by Kieran Seymour

Isaac Asimov's Prelude to Foundation is a 99p Daily Deal in the UK today.

amazon.co.uk | Kobo

I missed this but still £0.99 at ebooks.com.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When did $1.99 become $2.00?

If this is replying to me, since I round these up, I'll answer: I'm tired of this bullshit marketing psychology trick and don't want to subject others to it.

I'm also a bit tired of any repost of a "canon classic" on this forum spurs the same types of discussions, when other books don't, but whatever

[salty-horse]

Some of the Best from Tor.com: 15th Anniversary Edition is available for free until the end of the month.
https://www.tor.com/2023/07/17/downl...iction-bundle/

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When did $1.99 become $2.00?

Ever hear of Bankers Rounding? Stupid 'Schwartz' mentality
Dover books cover prices mostly broke at .50 or .95 years ago

6.99 3/10 gasoline pricing in the USA is not $7?

BTW Many stores use the last penny as a flag.
eg'
x9 regular price
x8 temporary sale
x7 closeout sale

[Apache]

Originally Posted by theducks

Ever hear of Bankers Rounding? Stupid 'Schwartz' mentality
Dover books cover prices mostly broke at .50 or .95 years ago

6.99 3/10 gasoline pricing in the USA is not $7?

BTW Many stores use the last penny as a flag.
eg'
x9 regular price
x8 temporary sale
x7 closeout sale

As long as I can remember gasoline prices, in the US have always used 9/10s. Here gas is an average of $3.089 for regular. I never understood why people think $3.08 for that rather than $3.09.
Apache

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Apache

As long as I can remember gasoline prices, in the US have always used 9/10s. Here gas is an average of $3.089 for regular. I never understood why people think $3.08 for that rather than $3.09.
Apache

Because most of us are taught (indoctrinated, really, but that's a rant for another time and place) to see digits further left as being significantly more important than digits further right. The style of pricing exploits this perception bias. And in the specific case of gasoline prices, since common US currency only goes to hundredths of a dollar, the thousandths digit doesn't seem relevant at all and rounding up takes more effort than most people are willing to put into it.

[andyh2000]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Because most of us are taught (indoctrinated, really, but that's a rant for another time and place) to see digits further left as being significantly more important than digits further right. The style of pricing exploits this perception bias. And in the specific case of gasoline prices, since common US currency only goes to hundredths of a dollar, the thousandths digit doesn't seem relevant at all and rounding up takes more effort than most people are willing to put into it.

Every time I see a ridiculous £2.99 price or (even worse) £499 I just take a second to change it in my head to £3 or £500 and work on that basis. I don't know if the original sneaky price still has some subconscious effect - probably...

Andrew