FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[ZodWallop]

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi is $2 at Amazon, B&N and Kobo.

I picked up the mass market paperback when it was new because of the buzz. But I still haven't read it

Perfect for an entry-level sci-fi reader and the ideal addition to a veteran fan’s collection, John Scalzi's Old Man’s War will take audiences on a heart-stopping adventure into the far corners of the universe.

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-and aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place.

So: we fight. To defend Earth (a target for our new enemies, should we let them get close enough) and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has gone on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force, which shields the home planet from too much knowledge of the situation. What's known to everybody is that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve your time at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine-and what he will become is far stranger.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I picked up the mass market paperback when it was new because of the buzz. But I still haven't read it

Already posted a few days ago.
It's one of the first ebooks I read :P
Fun story IIRC - I never continued the series, even though I have the second book.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

Already posted a few days ago.

Doh! Sorry man!

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

Already posted a few days ago.
It's one of the first ebooks I read :P
Fun story IIRC - I never continued the series, even though I have the second book.

You should rectify that, the rest of the series is just as good! I've read the whole series at least three times at this point.

[Fbone]

Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny is 99 cents.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F7T7R5O...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway is £1 on Amazon.co.uk
Futuristic cyberpunk noir thingy, where rich people are actual giants. Was on my wishlist.

Now $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny is 99 cents.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F7T7R5O...v_ov_lig_dp_it

Whoa! Back up to $9.99

!!!!!!!

[SomeSteve]

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang is £2.99 at Amazon UK and Kobo UK.

It "won Blackwell's Books of the Year for Fiction in 2022 and the 2022 Nebula Award for Best Novel" (Wikipedia).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Babel-Neces.../dp/B09MJTDVTJ

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/bab...ors-revolution

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Whoa! Back up to $9.99

!!!!!!!

I was going to wait and buy it today for double Kindle points. Glad I snapped it up.

I've only read Damnation Alley by Zelazny and need to read more.

[ZodWallop]

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury is $2 at Amazon, B&N and Kobo.

You could hear the voices murmuring, small and muted, from the crowds that inhabited his body.

A peerless American storyteller, Ray Bradbury brings wonders alive. The Illustrated Man is classic Bradbury— eighteen startling visions of humankind’s destiny, unfolding across a canvas of decorated skin. In this phantasmagoric sideshow, living cities take their vengeance, technology awakens the most primal natural instincts, Martian invasions are foiled by the good life and the glad hand, and dreams are carried aloft in junkyard rockets. Provocative and powerful, Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man is a kaleidoscopic blending of magic, imagination, and truth—as exhilarating as interplanetary travel, as maddening as a walk in a million-year rain, and as comforting as simple, familiar rituals on the last night of the world.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I was going to wait and buy it today for double Kindle points. Glad I snapped it up.

I've only read Damnation Alley by Zelazny and need to read more.

Jack of Shadows is part homage to Jack Vance, part prototype for ideas that went into the Amber series. You should try to find the corrected version. There is a significant copy/edit error in the original book version. It's corrected in the NESFA Press edition, matching the original serialization, but I don't know if it is corrected here.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I was going to wait and buy it today for double Kindle points. Glad I snapped it up.

I've only read Damnation Alley by Zelazny and need to read more.

I read it when it first came out. I loved it, then. But that' been...what? 40-something years ago when it first came out?

I'm anxious to re-read it, to see if I still enjoy it.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Jack of Shadows is part homage to Jack Vance, part prototype for ideas that went into the Amber series. You should try to find the corrected version. There is a significant copy/edit error in the original book version. It's corrected in the NESFA Press edition, matching the original serialization, but I don't know if it is corrected here.

Do you know if the NESFA edition is available as an ebook?

(Thanks for the information! )

The magazine serialization might possibly be available from Archive.org (?)

ADDED: And I LOVE Jack Vance's work!

[Tarana]

The Night Circus - Erin Morgestern $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N
Fantasy

Two magicians at a nighttime circus compete for survival — even as they’re drawn closer together.

The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N
Scifi

From the renowned author of Fahrenheit 451 comes an enchanting collection of stories about magic, technology, space travel, and more!

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I've only read Damnation Alley by Zelazny and need to read more.

Since October is upon us, his last novel A Night in the Lonesome October is a fitting choice.
Chapters are split by the days of the month, and there are several groups who read one chapter a day.

There's also this short story homage to it: The Portal Keeper by Lavie Tidhar