Free (Kindle DRM-free) AI Unbound by Nancy Kress [SF Short Story Collection]

ATDrake · 05-08-2012, 11:17 AM

This week's KDP Selected Phoenix Pick Press offering is by one of my personal favourite authors, who also happens to be a much-acclaimed Hugo & Nebula Award winner (and in fact edits the collections of Nebula stories).

AI Unbound: Two Stories of Artificial Intelligence by Nancy Kress (ISFDB, Wikipedia) collects two of her short stories on the theme of exactly what it says in the title, both of which originally appeared in Asimov's Magazine and both of which were nominated for a number of Best Novelette awards in their respective years.

The tie-in deal, appropriately enough, is for two more of collections of Kress' excellent short-to-novella-length fiction in the social consequences of genetic engineering subgenre of which she and Brian Stableford are the two best writers, IMHO, and her stories often have a mystery element as well.

Future Perfect: Six Stories of Genetics is offered for $3.99 (regularly $7.99), while The Body Human: Three Stories of Future Medicine is offered for $1.99 (regularly $2.99), available in a DRM-free ePub/Mobi bundle bought directly from the publisher via the special KDP promo page on their website. No cloud, so you'll have to make your own backups, but you get a limited number of re-downloads if you need them.

You can see the contents via the Look Inside samples on Amazon. I've read almost all of these and own most in paper collections of Kress' fiction and those Year's Best anthologies, but I will be re-buying them nevertheless as this is a very good deal for truly quality science fiction which I highly recommend.

Free without DRM for the next two days @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT

Description (PPick really need a better blurb writer who at least gives some idea of what the included stories are specifically about, or at least, what the titles actually are without looking inside)
Nancy Kress is the author of twenty-two novels and numerous short stories. She is perhaps best known for the “Sleepless” trilogy that began with BEGGARS IN SPAIN. Her fiction has won four Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the 2003 John W. Campbell Award (for PROBABILITY SPACE).

These two outstanding stories give us a fascinating look into the evolution of artificial intelligence and the impact it has on human society.

The other stuff in the slushpile today. We have a lot of romance authors coming out of the woodwork and some kind-of Canadiana as well.

Hat tip to melmac for this Lawrence Block freebie mystery/crime short which she mentioned in the dedicated Block sale thread: The Ehrengraf Defense (Ehrengraf for the Defense)

Tor and HarperCollins-published Patricia Simpson offers a sci-fi/maybe-steampunk romance novella: The Marriage Machine (The Londo Chronicles) [Kindle Edition]

Carina-published Robert Appleton offers a swashbuckling sci-fi time-travel adventure romance novella: The Temporal Man

Harlequin-published Leigh Michaels offers a non-fiction cookbook: For the Love of Tea

Berkley-published Barbara Bretton offers a contemporary romance: Second Harmony She also has several repeats under her author name.

The Wild Rose Press-published Nana Malone offers a contemporary romance which may be humourous: Sexy in Stilettos

Bell Bridge Books-published Kathleen McKenna offers a suspense/horror thriller loosely based upon the Charles Manson murders: Family Matters

Harlequin Intrigue writer Ann Voss Peterson returns with police procedural serial killer thriller with an introduction by horror writer Blake Crouch: Pushed Too Far

Gerralyn Dawson returns with a 1993 Fanfare-published western romance which is not KDP Select, but playing pricing catch-up with Smashwords: The Texan's Bride

Mike Dennis who has had a few short stories in anthologies returns with a noir thriller: MAN-SLAUGHTER (Key West Nocturnes Series)

New Zealand writer Linda McNabb returns with a 1994 HarperCollins-published childrens/YA fantasy adventure which quotes local newspaper praise in the blurb: The Stonekeeper's Daughter

Scholastic-published Irish writer Catherine Daly offers a 2004-Poolbeg small-pressed women's fiction/domestic drama novel for which she quotes local newspaper praise in the blurb: All Shook Up

Stoker award-winning Tor-published horror writer Kelley Wilde (ISFDB entry) writing as Reb MacRath offers a Christmas thriller with a lot of cameos of Canadian cultural figures: The Vanishing Magic of Snow (Reb's Rebel Yell Yuletide Chillers)

Berkley/Harlequin-published Jade Lee offers a 2010 Dorchester/Leisure-published 1st in series historical interracial mystical erotic romance which is not KDP Select, but playing pricing catch-up with iTunes: White Tigress (The Way of The Tigress, Book 1)

Colleen Gleason, who's had a short story included in the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance offers a medieval historical romance which is not KDP, but playing pricing catch-up with Smashwords: Lavender Vows (The Medieval Herb Garden Series 1)

Lauren Royal offers an historical romance novella which was originally a Signet-published short which ties into her series out from them, now in a revised Author's Cut edition: Forevermore (A Jewel Trilogy Novella) [Kindle Edition]

Pamela Bauer Mueller lists a number of small/indie award nominations for her self-pub historical novel about Native American influence on the early founding of the US colony of Georgia, which looks kind of interesting, so I include: An Angry Drum Echoed: Mary Musgrove, Queen of the Creeks

Established author & small press repeats from Carol Grace, Sharon Potts, Ryne Douglas Peterson, fellow MR member author Patty Jansen, Crossroad Press.

Happy reading, if indeed you manage to spot something you think you might like, or this is your first time reading Nancy Kress and you get to discover just how good* her writing can be.

* At shorter lengths, generally. Her novels aren't nearly as good in comparison, and I say this as someone who's read most of them and owns quite a few.

Blue Tyson · 05-08-2012, 11:24 AM

Kress is a great short story writer and novella-ist as opposed to novelist and this is a great double.

Computer Virus and Saviour are two of my all time favorite stories. So grab this one.

I agree with ATD about getting the others, too.

koland · 05-08-2012, 12:33 PM

corrected link for Sexy in Stilettos by Nana Malone http://www.amazon.com/Sexy-in-Stilet...dp/B007QY4QQM/

koland · 05-08-2012, 12:34 PM

also, The Texan's Bride by Gerralyn Dawson http://www.amazon.com/The-Texans-Bri...dp/B006ZR9N0K/

koland · 05-08-2012, 12:38 PM

Simple Simon (An Art Jefferson Thriller) by Ryne Douglas Pearson (name misspelled above)
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Simon-J.../dp/B004ZFUIG2

Synamon · 05-08-2012, 12:42 PM

Thanks for the reviews/info on Nancy Kress.

Blue Tyson · 05-09-2012, 01:08 AM

"If I had my choice, I would write only short stories and novellas. They are my favorite form. However, novels are what pay the bills -- the facts of life in publishing."

http://nancykress.blogspot.com/2012/...ollection.html

GA Russell · 05-09-2012, 01:38 AM

Thanks ATD! Picked up four.

ballfresno · 05-09-2012, 09:03 AM

Thanks for this.

Note that The Marriage Machine is free on Amazon UK at the moment as well.

pendragginp · 05-09-2012, 09:05 AM

I love Nancy Kress especially when she writes about writing.

ATDrake · 05-10-2012, 12:50 AM

A few minor late updates, since there were 4 new backlist things in the slushpile and a few more reasonably prominent established author self-pubs, plus the usual repeats.

Julie Schumacher offers a much-published 1995-Soho, 1997-Avon, and 1999-Harper Perennial contemporary litfic/drama: The Body is Water

Shirley Kennedy offers her 1999 Signet historical romance: The London Belle

Bobby Hutchinson offers a 2000 Harlequin medical thriller/romantic suspense set in Vancouver BC: Bobby Hutchinson

Hugh V. Clarke is an Australian writer who seems to have written a number of small-press (different small presses, mind you) history books over the course of several decades, and here is a 1985 International Book Services history of Australians who were: The Broke and the Broken: Life in the Great Depression

ISFDBed Locus award-nominee fellow MR member author Kathryn Lance offers a futuristic asteroid mining sfnal drama: The Ptorrigan Lode

Carina-published Robert Appleton offers a sci-fi romance: The Eleven Hour Fall (The Eleven Hour Fall Trilogy)

Bell Bridge Books-published Donna Ball offers a parents vs serial killer thriller: Shattered She also repeats some of her previous titles.

Berkley-published Barbara Bretton offers another contemporary romance: The Edge of Forever

Loose ID-published Suzanne Rock offers the self-explanatory: Quick Fix (Ecstasy Spa, Book #1 (m/f Erotic Romance))

And just because this looks cracktastically delicious: 21 Bacon Dessert Recipes That You'll Wish You Would Have Tried Sooner (Diane's Desserts Series) I wonder if it's got the recipe for Bacon Ice Cream I've seen floating around on the internet?

Backlist and established author repeats in romance, sf, mystery & crime thrillers, Christian fiction genres from Alicia Rasley, Barry Graham, Ruth Nestvold, Lisa Renee Jones, John Matthews, Martin Roth, Donna Ball, Rick Dewhurst, Gerrie Ferris Finger, L.T. Fawkes. A few new things in terms of horror, historical, and romance from small presses Post Mortem Press and Books We Love/BWLPP.

Happy reading, if you manage to pick up something you think you might like that's still free by the time you see it.

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05-08-2012, 11:17 AM	#1
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Free (Kindle DRM-free) AI Unbound by Nancy Kress [SF Short Story Collection] This week's KDP Selected Phoenix Pick Press offering is by one of my personal favourite authors, who also happens to be a much-acclaimed Hugo & Nebula Award winner (and in fact edits the collections of Nebula stories). AI Unbound: Two Stories of Artificial Intelligence by Nancy Kress (ISFDB, Wikipedia) collects two of her short stories on the theme of exactly what it says in the title, both of which originally appeared in Asimov's Magazine and both of which were nominated for a number of Best Novelette awards in their respective years. The tie-in deal, appropriately enough, is for two more of collections of Kress' excellent short-to-novella-length fiction in the social consequences of genetic engineering subgenre of which she and Brian Stableford are the two best writers, IMHO, and her stories often have a mystery element as well. Future Perfect: Six Stories of Genetics is offered for $3.99 (regularly $7.99), while The Body Human: Three Stories of Future Medicine is offered for $1.99 (regularly $2.99), available in a DRM-free ePub/Mobi bundle bought directly from the publisher via the special KDP promo page on their website. No cloud, so you'll have to make your own backups, but you get a limited number of re-downloads if you need them. You can see the contents via the Look Inside samples on Amazon. I've read almost all of these and own most in paper collections of Kress' fiction and those Year's Best anthologies, but I will be re-buying them nevertheless as this is a very good deal for truly quality science fiction which I highly recommend. Free without DRM for the next two days @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT Description (PPick really need a better blurb writer who at least gives some idea of what the included stories are specifically about, or at least, what the titles actually are without looking inside) Nancy Kress is the author of twenty-two novels and numerous short stories. She is perhaps best known for the “Sleepless” trilogy that began with BEGGARS IN SPAIN. Her fiction has won four Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the 2003 John W. Campbell Award (for PROBABILITY SPACE). These two outstanding stories give us a fascinating look into the evolution of artificial intelligence and the impact it has on human society. The other stuff in the slushpile today. We have a lot of romance authors coming out of the woodwork and some kind-of Canadiana as well. Hat tip to melmac for this Lawrence Block freebie mystery/crime short which she mentioned in the dedicated Block sale thread: The Ehrengraf Defense (Ehrengraf for the Defense) Tor and HarperCollins-published Patricia Simpson offers a sci-fi/maybe-steampunk romance novella: The Marriage Machine (The Londo Chronicles) [Kindle Edition] Carina-published Robert Appleton offers a swashbuckling sci-fi time-travel adventure romance novella: The Temporal Man Harlequin-published Leigh Michaels offers a non-fiction cookbook: For the Love of Tea Berkley-published Barbara Bretton offers a contemporary romance: Second Harmony She also has several repeats under her author name. The Wild Rose Press-published Nana Malone offers a contemporary romance which may be humourous: Sexy in Stilettos Bell Bridge Books-published Kathleen McKenna offers a suspense/horror thriller loosely based upon the Charles Manson murders: Family Matters Harlequin Intrigue writer Ann Voss Peterson returns with police procedural serial killer thriller with an introduction by horror writer Blake Crouch: Pushed Too Far Gerralyn Dawson returns with a 1993 Fanfare-published western romance which is not KDP Select, but playing pricing catch-up with Smashwords: The Texan's Bride Mike Dennis who has had a few short stories in anthologies returns with a noir thriller: MAN-SLAUGHTER (Key West Nocturnes Series) New Zealand writer Linda McNabb returns with a 1994 HarperCollins-published childrens/YA fantasy adventure which quotes local newspaper praise in the blurb: The Stonekeeper's Daughter Scholastic-published Irish writer Catherine Daly offers a 2004-Poolbeg small-pressed women's fiction/domestic drama novel for which she quotes local newspaper praise in the blurb: All Shook Up Stoker award-winning Tor-published horror writer Kelley Wilde (ISFDB entry) writing as Reb MacRath offers a Christmas thriller with a lot of cameos of Canadian cultural figures: The Vanishing Magic of Snow (Reb's Rebel Yell Yuletide Chillers) Berkley/Harlequin-published Jade Lee offers a 2010 Dorchester/Leisure-published 1st in series historical interracial mystical erotic romance which is not KDP Select, but playing pricing catch-up with iTunes: White Tigress (The Way of The Tigress, Book 1) Colleen Gleason, who's had a short story included in the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance offers a medieval historical romance which is not KDP, but playing pricing catch-up with Smashwords: Lavender Vows (The Medieval Herb Garden Series 1) Lauren Royal offers an historical romance novella which was originally a Signet-published short which ties into her series out from them, now in a revised Author's Cut edition: Forevermore (A Jewel Trilogy Novella) [Kindle Edition] Pamela Bauer Mueller lists a number of small/indie award nominations for her self-pub historical novel about Native American influence on the early founding of the US colony of Georgia, which looks kind of interesting, so I include: An Angry Drum Echoed: Mary Musgrove, Queen of the Creeks Established author & small press repeats from Carol Grace, Sharon Potts, Ryne Douglas Peterson, fellow MR member author Patty Jansen, Crossroad Press. Happy reading, if indeed you manage to spot something you think you might like, or this is your first time reading Nancy Kress and you get to discover just how good* her writing can be. * At shorter lengths, generally. Her novels aren't nearly as good in comparison, and I say this as someone who's read most of them and owns quite a few.

05-08-2012, 11:24 AM	#2
Blue Tyson Blue Captain Posts: 1,595 Karma: 5000236 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G,Huawei Ideos X3,Kobo Mini	Kress is a great short story writer and novella-ist as opposed to novelist and this is a great double. Computer Virus and Saviour are two of my all time favorite stories. So grab this one. I agree with ATD about getting the others, too.

05-08-2012, 12:33 PM	#3
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	corrected link for Sexy in Stilettos by Nana Malone http://www.amazon.com/Sexy-in-Stilet...dp/B007QY4QQM/

05-08-2012, 12:34 PM	#4
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	also, The Texan's Bride by Gerralyn Dawson http://www.amazon.com/The-Texans-Bri...dp/B006ZR9N0K/

05-08-2012, 12:38 PM	#5
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	Simple Simon (An Art Jefferson Thriller) by Ryne Douglas Pearson (name misspelled above) http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Simon-J.../dp/B004ZFUIG2

05-08-2012, 12:42 PM	#6
Synamon Lunatic Posts: 1,691 Karma: 4386372 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Land of the Loonie Device: Kindle Paperwhite and Keyboard, Kobo Aura, iPad mini, iPod Touch	Thanks for the reviews/info on Nancy Kress.

05-09-2012, 01:08 AM	#7
Blue Tyson Blue Captain Posts: 1,595 Karma: 5000236 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G,Huawei Ideos X3,Kobo Mini	"If I had my choice, I would write only short stories and novellas. They are my favorite form. However, novels are what pay the bills -- the facts of life in publishing." http://nancykress.blogspot.com/2012/...ollection.html

05-09-2012, 01:38 AM	#8
GA Russell Montreal wins Grey Cup! Posts: 7,583 Karma: 31484197 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	Thanks ATD! Picked up four.

05-09-2012, 09:03 AM	#9
ballfresno Addict Posts: 245 Karma: 4197114 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: UK Device: Kobo (Sage, Aura One, Aura HD, & Touch); reMarkable tablet.	Thanks for this. Note that The Marriage Machine is free on Amazon UK at the moment as well.

05-09-2012, 09:05 AM	#10
pendragginp Guru Posts: 985 Karma: 4567263 Join Date: May 2009 Location: The End Of The Earth Device: Several	I love Nancy Kress especially when she writes about writing.

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05-10-2012, 12:50 AM	#11
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	A few minor late updates, since there were 4 new backlist things in the slushpile and a few more reasonably prominent established author self-pubs, plus the usual repeats. Julie Schumacher offers a much-published 1995-Soho, 1997-Avon, and 1999-Harper Perennial contemporary litfic/drama: The Body is Water Shirley Kennedy offers her 1999 Signet historical romance: The London Belle Bobby Hutchinson offers a 2000 Harlequin medical thriller/romantic suspense set in Vancouver BC: Bobby Hutchinson Hugh V. Clarke is an Australian writer who seems to have written a number of small-press (different small presses, mind you) history books over the course of several decades, and here is a 1985 International Book Services history of Australians who were: The Broke and the Broken: Life in the Great Depression ISFDBed Locus award-nominee fellow MR member author Kathryn Lance offers a futuristic asteroid mining sfnal drama: The Ptorrigan Lode Carina-published Robert Appleton offers a sci-fi romance: The Eleven Hour Fall (The Eleven Hour Fall Trilogy) Bell Bridge Books-published Donna Ball offers a parents vs serial killer thriller: Shattered She also repeats some of her previous titles. Berkley-published Barbara Bretton offers another contemporary romance: The Edge of Forever Loose ID-published Suzanne Rock offers the self-explanatory: Quick Fix (Ecstasy Spa, Book #1 (m/f Erotic Romance)) And just because this looks cracktastically delicious: 21 Bacon Dessert Recipes That You'll Wish You Would Have Tried Sooner (Diane's Desserts Series) I wonder if it's got the recipe for Bacon Ice Cream I've seen floating around on the internet? Backlist and established author repeats in romance, sf, mystery & crime thrillers, Christian fiction genres from Alicia Rasley, Barry Graham, Ruth Nestvold, Lisa Renee Jones, John Matthews, Martin Roth, Donna Ball, Rick Dewhurst, Gerrie Ferris Finger, L.T. Fawkes. A few new things in terms of horror, historical, and romance from small presses Post Mortem Press and Books We Love/BWLPP. Happy reading, if you manage to pick up something you think you might like that's still free by the time you see it.