Free/Bargain Science Fiction & Fantasy in April 2014

[DrNefario]

I hope this isn't some kind of bribe to get lots of WoT fans into the voting pool. Imagine how hard it's going to be for someone to read all the winners if WoT wins. At least I only have the last three to read, myself.

[scottken]

Originally Posted by odo

Tor has just announced (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/04/the...o-voter-packet ) that the complete Wheel of Time series (created by Robert Jordan and finished by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's demise) will be included in the traditional Hugo Voter Packet.

As you may know, you only need to buy a Supporting Membership ($40 http://www.loncon3.org/memberships/membership1.php ) in order to get the Packet, that will also probably include all the other nominees (novels by Charles Stross, Ann Leckie, Ramez Naam, Wesley Chu, Sofia Samatar, Max Gladstone... and all the short fiction, graphic novels and related work). And you get also voting rights for the Hugos, of course (and nominating rights for next year's Hugos).

Great value indeed!!!

I wouldn't be surprised if these books are in the packet as pdf ebooks, however. That was the case with A Dance With Dragons a few years back.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by scottken

I wouldn't be surprised if these books are in the packet as pdf ebooks, however. That was the case with A Dance With Dragons a few years back.

I believe the packet will be available sometime before membership availability closes so you could always wait to find out first.

[Brendan Moody]

While many publishers do include novels in the packet in PDF only (sometimes even with watermarks and password-protection), Tor, the publisher of The Wheel of Time, has been more flexible, including multiple DRM-free formats for its novel nominees in the past couple years. But yes, the packet will be available well before membership availability ends, so it's better to wait if you want to be sure.

[pdurrant]

It's perhaps worth mentioning that the authors receive no money for the copies distributed in the Hugo packets.

[DrNefario]

Also, the Worldcon is in London this year, so they probably can't completely ignore the wishes of the UK publisher, which is Orbit (Hachette).

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Also, the Worldcon is in London this year, so they probably can't completely ignore the wishes of the UK publisher, which is Orbit (Hachette).

In the last couple of years, Orbit has been providing their novels as password protected PDFs that have all the printer registration marks, so they are unreadable on Nooks and Kindles because the font is too small unless you override the font size and then it's unreadable because you lose all the formatting. If this is being provided by Tor and they provide them in multiple formats, I'll attempt to read some or all of the WoT books, but if it's a (set of) unreadable PDFs, I won't bother to read any and it will get my last place vote (unless I really hate one of the other novels). I think 3 of the other books are also from Orbit, so I'll probably have to reluctantly read them from a PC, but I'm surely not doing that with a 15 book series. I wouldn't mind if Orbit had password protected PDFs that were cropped and sized so they were readable from an eInk reader, but I don't have very high expectations of books from Orbit based on past years.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

In the last couple of years, Orbit has been providing their novels as password protected PDFs that have all the printer registration marks, so they are unreadable on Nooks and Kindles because the font is too small unless you override the font size and then it's unreadable because you lose all the formatting. If this is being provided by Tor and they provide them in multiple formats, I'll attempt to read some or all of the WoT books, but if it's a (set of) unreadable PDFs, I won't bother to read any and it will get my last place vote (unless I really hate one of the other novels). I think 3 of the other books are also from Orbit, so I'll probably have to reluctantly read them from a PC, but I'm surely not doing that with a 15 book series. I wouldn't mind if Orbit had password protected PDFs that were cropped and sized so they were readable from an eInk reader, but I don't have very high expectations of books from Orbit based on past years.

As I recall, Orbit/Hachette is one of the most antagonistic pushers of DRM on ebooks, so I would expect more of the same from their books. I'm frankly surprised they include them in the packets at all.

Still, I wouldn't vote something last solely because their publisher is so antagonistic, that's not fair to the author. If you find it unreadable and vote last because of that, at least let the author know WHY. It will take author pressure to get Orbit/Hachette to change. (Although I seem to recall they ignore their authors' opinions on DRM too, so maybe they're just trying to commit corporate suicide.)

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Manabi

Still, I wouldn't vote something last solely because their publisher is so antagonistic, that's not fair to the author. If you find it unreadable and vote last because of that, at least let the author know WHY. It will take author pressure to get Orbit/Hachette to change. (Although I seem to recall they ignore their authors' opinions on DRM too, so maybe they're just trying to commit corporate suicide.)

I fear we're getting way off topic for this thread, and I apologize. This will be my last comment on the Hugo Award nominee packet. I expect that the other Orbit novels will have crappy versions in the nominee packet also, but that doesn't mean that I will automatically rank them lower than the ones that I can read easily on my Nook. I figure that with one of the novels being nominated is a third in series and I haven't read the first two, and one Campbell nominee has a couple of novels I haven't read, and others may also provide a novel, I could have over 20 novels to read plus a number of shorter works if I want to be fair to the nominees. If I find that I don't have time to read 15 WoT novels because I can only read them on a computer, I will rank it lower than the ones that I have read and can compare. Is this unfair to Brandon Sanderson (whose work I generally enjoy) and the late Robert Jordan? Perhaps, but if the final WoT book had been on the ballot, I doubt that I would have attempted to obtain the entire WoT series and read the final book, and I would have rated it last, even if it was available in epub and kindle formats (I did that with the last GRRM Game of Thrones novel too, even though I own them all, I hadn't read any of them yet and I ran out of time to read them).

One final thing. If you do become a supporting member of Loncon3 for the Hugo Award nominee packet, do the authors a favor and vote for your favorites, and not just in the novel category.

[GeoffR]

OmniLit has a 50% rebate offer on ebooks from eligible publishers (includes HarperCollins), valid today only (22 April EST). I think books with the 50% rebate also count toward your next buy-10-get-1-free coupon.

[odo]

The Longest Fall, by Liu Cixin, free on Amazon. Can't recommend it highly enough:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Longest-Fa...dp/B008RZ56LS/

[Joykins]

Sword of the Lamb (The Phoenix Legacy #1) by M.K. Wren, $1.99. Offered at BoingBoing

http://boingboing.net/2014/04/25/exc...r-mk-wren.html

Or directly from ganxy.com:

https://ganxy.com/i/93056/m-k-wren/s...oenix-legacy-1

In the 33rd Century, a vast empire teeters on the brink of collapse.

“Has the sweep and power of Asimov’s Foundation.” —Jean M. Auel, author of the Earth’s Children ® series

At the heart of the Concord, unrest is festering. Unrecognized by the Elite, the ruling class, an undercurrent of rebellion is surging through the enslaved Bond class. It’s a threat that could bring down all of civilization, creating a third Dark Age.

Lord Alexand, first born of the House of DeKoven Woolf, stands to inherit a vast industrial empire along with a seat on the Directorate, the Concord’s ruling body. But he sees the writing on the wall and realizes that if the Bonds explode into total rebellion, there will be nothing to inherit, and the toll in human suffering will be beyond calculation. He makes a terrible choice then: He chooses to “die” and join the Society of the Phoenix, a clandestine organization whose existence is known to only a few Directorate Lords, who consider membership treason and punishable by death.

[brudigia]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Sword of the Lamb (The Phoenix Legacy #1) by M.K. Wren, $1.99. Offered at BoingBoing

http://boingboing.net/2014/04/25/exc...r-mk-wren.html

Or directly from ganxy.com:

https://ganxy.com/i/93056/m-k-wren/s...oenix-legacy-1

I read it when I was younger. It is a trilogy and it is not bad. Rebellion in a stratified society. The characters were good. I might try it again.

[Tarana]

Never mind my post. What came up as free was incorrect.

[BetterRead]

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester is currently $1.99 at Amazon US.

#5 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written.

“Science fiction has only produced a few works of actual genius, and this is one of them” —Joe Haldeman

“Bester at the peak of his powers is, quite simply, unbeatable” —James Lovegrove

Marooned in outer space after an attack on his ship, Nomad, Gulliver Foyle lives to obsessively pursue the crew of a rescue vessel that had intended to leave him to die.

When it comes to pop culture, Alfred Bester (1913-1987) is something of an unsung hero. He wrote radio scripts, screenplays, and comic books (in which capacity he created the original Green Lantern Oath). But Bester is best known for his science-fiction novels, and The Stars My Destination may be his finest creation. With its sly potshotting at corporate skullduggery, The Stars My Destination seems utterly contemporary, and has maintained its status as an underground classic for fifty years.