FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[Hollow Man]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

But I can't tell you about it because I haven't read it, and it might stop being free by then

Why does the fact that you haven't read it prevent you from telling us about it?

[jbusnengo]

From the very first post in this thread:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

This thread is for pointing out free and bargain Science Fiction and Fantasy titles to each other.

Please don't post any self-published book unless all the following are true:

• you have read the book
• you think the book is a good read
• you're not connected to the author in any way

[salty-horse]

Toward Eternity by Anton Hur is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

"A love story spanning multiple millenniums, life-forms and variations on immortality, the book posits Victorian poetry as a weapon of empire, insists on nature's resilience in the face of genocide, and manipulates prose into something like a new language....Toward Eternity recognizes both the building and burning of bridges." -New York Times

Negotiating the terrain of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun and Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, a brilliant, haunting speculative novel from a #1 New York Times bestselling translator that sets out to answer the question: What does it mean to be human in a world where technology is quickly catching up to biology?

In a near-future world, a new technological therapy is quickly eradicating cancer. The body’s cells are entirely replaced with nanites—robot or android cells which not only cure those afflicted but leaves them virtually immortal.

Literary researcher Yonghun teaches an AI how to understand poetry and creates a living, thinking machine he names Panit, meaning Beloved, in honor of his husband. When Yonghun—himself a recipient of nanotherapy—mysteriously vanishes into thin air and then just as suddenly reappears, the event raises disturbing questions. What happened to Yonghun, and though he’s returned, is he really himself anymore?

When Dr. Beeko, the scientist who holds the patent to the nanotherapy technology, learns of Panit, he transfers its consciousness from the machine into an android body, giving it freedom and life. As Yonghun, Panit, and other nano humans thrive—and begin to replicate—their development will lead them to a crossroads and a choice with existential consequences.

Exploring the nature of intelligence and the unexpected consequences of progress, the meaning of personhood and life, and what we really have to fear from technology and the future, Toward Eternity is a gorgeous, thought-provoking novel that challenges the notion of what makes us human—and how love survives even the end of that humanity.

[salty-horse]

Days of Shattered Faith (The Tyrant Philosophers #3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky is £1 on Amazon UK (but should be price-matchable on Kobo)
I think these are technically standalones, but are recommended to read in order.

Welcome to Alkhalend, Jewel of the Waters, capital of Usmai, greatest of the Successor States, inheritor to the necromantic dominion that was the Moeribandi Empire and tomorrow's frontline in the Palleseen's relentless march to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world.

Loret is fresh off the boat, and just in time.

As Cohort-Invigilator of Correct Appreciation, Outreach department, she's here as aide to the Palleseen Resident, Sage-Invigilator Angilly. And Sage-Invigilator Angilly – Gil to her friends – needs a second in the spectacularly illegal, culturally offensive and diplomatically inadvisable duel she must fight at midnight.

Outreach, that part of the Pal machine that has to work within the imperfection of the rest of the world, has a lot of room for the illegal, the unconventional, the unorthodox. But just how much unorthodoxy can Gil and Loret get away with?

As a succession crisis looms, as a long-forgotten feat of necromantic engineering nears fruition, as pirate kings, lizard armies and demons gather, as old gods wane and new gods wax, sooner or later Gil and Loret will have to settle their ledger.

Just as well they are both very, very good with a blade…

[Hollow Man]

Originally Posted by jbusnengo

From the very first post in this thread:

Ah. Ever since the early days of ebooks I've personally steered away from self-published material since most I've found to be...not so good. So didn't even realize that was a rule!

[salty-horse]

The Summer Queen (sequel to The Snow Queen) by Joan D. Vinge is $4 on Amazon.com only ("Digital list price discount", so not price matching on Kobo)

The Summer Queen is the extraordinary sequel to one of science fiction's most celebrated novels, The Snow Queen. Set in a fully realized universe of wonders, this spectacular space epic, itself a finalist for the Hugo Award, is one of the most remarkable novels in the field.

A story that spans millennia, from the ruins of an ancient interstellar empire to the planets of the Hegemony that rules human space, The Summer Queen is the multi-layered story of Tiamat, a world where the dolphin-like mers are harvested for the youth-prolonging serum extracted from their blood. But Tiamat is much more, for beneath Carbuncle, its capital, lies the old empire's greatest secret: an enormous forgotten technology which, though decaying, continues to affect the fates of the fallen empire's remnant cultures via the sybil-network--a data bank that binds the past and the future in its web of knowledge, As the Smith, genius mastermind of the hidden interstellar Brotherhood, tries feverishly to unlock its secrets, BZ Gundhalinu desperately strives to save the Hegemony, while the Summer Queen herself dares to create a new future for her people and her planet. And though each is acting alone, their fates will entwine in an astonishing climax that will change the universe forever.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Ah. Ever since the early days of ebooks I've personally steered away from self-published material since most I've found to be...not so good. So didn't even realize that was a rule!

This is not always the case nowadays, and as proof a lot of self-published books are being picked up by big publishers once they become popular enough.

In my particular case, I know the author is an excellent writer, and find the current forum rules to cause a chicken-and-egg problem, since I'm more likely to read a book after it gets a sale discount and not before.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

This is not always the case nowadays, and as proof a lot of self-published books are being picked up by big publishers once they become popular enough.

In my particular case, I know the author is an excellent writer, and find the current forum rules to cause a chicken-and-egg problem, since I'm more likely to read a book after it gets a sale discount and not before.

Also some successful authors have ditched trad publishers.

[Hollow Man]

Thinking about it, I suspect keeping the rules as is is the way to go. While there are likely some good self published books, perhaps more than when I started using a Kindle, there are far too many people self publishing now. So it has the potential to flood this thread with lots of mediocre books.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

One of my favorite authors of interactive fiction has their self-published book on sale for FREE.
But I can't tell you about it because I haven't read it, and it might stop being free by then

If it's a favorite author, that's enough of a recommendation.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

If it's a favorite author, that's enough of a recommendation.

I agree. I have added this to the first post guidelines.

[salty-horse]

Finnian's Fiddle by Chandler Groover is FREE on Amazon.com
Self-published.

Dragons can often be obstinate, and when one dragon arrives at a rural seaport demanding to hear a child prodigy perform the violin, the townspeople must strategize. They send a boy named Finnian to the city to learn how to play.

Unfortunately for Finnian, the task isn’t so simple. Everyone from bandits to scheming aristocrats seem to stand in his way, and before his quest has ended, he will have to contend with a devious plot stretching into the fairy realm itself.

FINNIAN'S FIDDLE is a fantasy story for all ages—a folktale with mythic proportions.

Groover is an award-winning author of interactive fiction (the cool modern name for text adventures). He usually writes parser games, similar to Zork.
Here's the listing of his games on the Interactive Fiction Database. Most of them are short and can be completed in 2-3 hours. You can try them out by going to a game's page, and clicking the "Play Online" button on the top right.
Here's a video playthrough of Eat Me if you don't want to actually play but just sample the writing. In Eat Me, you play a child trapped in a magical castle, where all you can do is eat. The writing is very evocative.

His latest game, which won last year's Interactive Fiction Competition, is The Bat. It's a comedic piece where you play as the valet to an eccentric rich guy who thinks he's a bat. No, it's just "just" a big batman joke - it layers in many other elements. Instead of having you guess the verb, this one has a "limited parser" (similar to Eat Me) where the only action you can do as a valet is ATTEND TO things, so it's very simplified, but still has clever puzzles, and is very funny.

[salty-horse]

The Limits Of Enchantment by Graham Joyce is FREE on Amazon.com

An extraordinary story of a young woman coming of age, a novel of superstition and midwifery set in the dark heart of the English Midlands in the 1960s. Taught the art of midwifery at an early age, Fern grows up as assistant to her adoptive mother, Mammy an unlicensed midwife with a shadow in her past . From Mammy she learns that secrets are precious, men can't be trusted, hippies are filthy and people should generally mind their own business. When one of Mammy's patients allegedly dies from a potion prescribed to induce an abortion, the towns' people rally against her outdated methods and Mammy ends up hospitalized due to a fall and a broken heart. Alone and vulnerable, Fern is threatened with eviction if she can't find the overdue rent. Her only friends seem to be a bunch of hippies and a young woman with hoop earrings who has a mysterious connection to Mammy. As Fern struggles to save her home and Mammy's good name, everything around her begins to transform and she uncovers secrets from the past which may help her in the present. This is a story of the strength and courage of women, midwifery, superstition, magic, truth and identity.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

The Limits Of Enchantment by Graham Joyce is FREE on Amazon.com

Thanks. This is also free in the UK, and I don't think I'd have known about it without your post.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

The Limits Of Enchantment by Graham Joyce is FREE on Amazon.com

That sound really good. It's Amazon exclusive, so I can still use the old-fashioned de-DRM thankfully.