Free (Kindle/ePub) Mortal Engines by Stanislaw Lem [Classic Polish Sci-Fi Collection]

ATDrake · 05-22-2016, 10:06 PM

Mortal Engines by the late pioneering Polish author Stanisław Lem (ISFDB, Wikipedia) is the vintage classic English-language collection of his science fiction stories, this set mostly having to do with robots, free courtesy of publisher Penguin UK, who are e-printing it from its original 1977 edition out from Seabury Press, which apparently reprints much of the 1964 Polish collection Bajki Robotów, according to Wikipedia, as translated by Michael Kandel (ISFDB, Wikipedia), an award-nominated science fiction author in his own right.

Currently free to pre-order (slated for Oct 1st) @ Amazon UK (and apparently also other countries in EU/Oceania/Japan/South America, etc. when I spot-check their regional URLs) & Google Play (available to the UK at the very least, and I hope you all appreciate the hoops I had to jump through to find and install a working VPN IP proxy that both supports non-US countries and was sufficiently convincing to get past Google's pickiness on my Mac so that I could check that this even existed, much less verify the price). Price-drop-check link for Sainsbury, which has a catalogue entry for this, but no pre-order capability that I can see from Canada, proxied or not.

Unlikely to cross the pond, as the reprint rights to Lem's estate seem to be held by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in North America.

And this has been the (late!) selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because not only it is always a pleasant treat to receive sfnal freebies and deals, to get a vintage classic collection by one of the major old school international authors in the genre, translated by another notable back in the day author, as an apparently official offering in multiple stores and not as a glitch, is always extra doubleplus good.

Enjoy!

Description
'On one side of the ducats was stamped the radiant profile of Archithorius, on the other - an image of his six hundred arms'

Mortal Engines is a selection of the best of Stanislaw Lem's extraordinary miniature space epics, chosen by his heroic translator Michael Kandel, who has somehow battled through Lem's jokes, parodies, fabricated technological terms and unreliable robots and brilliantly converted them from Polish into English. Encompassing his Fables for Robots and stories from his protagonists Ijon Tichy (from The Star Diaries) and Pirx the Pilot, this is a highly entertaining but also deeply alarming view of the glories and absurdities of Outer Space.

church mouse · 05-23-2016, 04:06 AM

Thank you for this.

Sent from my YOGA Tablet 2-830F using Tapatalk

Froide · 05-23-2016, 05:02 AM

Thank you. I DO appreciate your efforts to "travel" to find us links to this deal!

Dr. Drib · 05-23-2016, 05:58 AM

A literary author who should have won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Thank you for this.

Red Falcon · 05-23-2016, 08:13 PM

Had to take a quick trip to the UK for this one. Thankfully my transporter still works.

kyteflyer · 05-28-2016, 08:30 PM

Thanks, grabbed it from Google Play.

05-22-2016, 10:06 PM	#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/ePub) Mortal Engines by Stanislaw Lem [Classic Polish Sci-Fi Collection] Mortal Engines by the late pioneering Polish author Stanisław Lem (ISFDB, Wikipedia) is the vintage classic English-language collection of his science fiction stories, this set mostly having to do with robots, free courtesy of publisher Penguin UK, who are e-printing it from its original 1977 edition out from Seabury Press, which apparently reprints much of the 1964 Polish collection Bajki Robotów, according to Wikipedia, as translated by Michael Kandel (ISFDB, Wikipedia), an award-nominated science fiction author in his own right. Currently free to pre-order (slated for Oct 1st) @ Amazon UK (and apparently also other countries in EU/Oceania/Japan/South America, etc. when I spot-check their regional URLs) & Google Play (available to the UK at the very least, and I hope you all appreciate the hoops I had to jump through to find and install a working VPN IP proxy that both supports non-US countries and was sufficiently convincing to get past Google's pickiness on my Mac so that I could check that this even existed, much less verify the price). Price-drop-check link for Sainsbury, which has a catalogue entry for this, but no pre-order capability that I can see from Canada, proxied or not. Unlikely to cross the pond, as the reprint rights to Lem's estate seem to be held by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in North America. And this has been the (late!) selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day. Because not only it is always a pleasant treat to receive sfnal freebies and deals, to get a vintage classic collection by one of the major old school international authors in the genre, translated by another notable back in the day author, as an apparently official offering in multiple stores and not as a glitch, is always extra doubleplus good. Enjoy! Description 'On one side of the ducats was stamped the radiant profile of Archithorius, on the other - an image of his six hundred arms' Mortal Engines is a selection of the best of Stanislaw Lem's extraordinary miniature space epics, chosen by his heroic translator Michael Kandel, who has somehow battled through Lem's jokes, parodies, fabricated technological terms and unreliable robots and brilliantly converted them from Polish into English. Encompassing his Fables for Robots and stories from his protagonists Ijon Tichy (from The Star Diaries) and Pirx the Pilot, this is a highly entertaining but also deeply alarming view of the glories and absurdities of Outer Space. Last edited by ATDrake; 05-22-2016 at 10:10 PM.

05-23-2016, 05:58 AM	#4
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 44,748 Karma: 55645321 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: Kindle: Oasis 3, Voyage WiFi; Kobo: Libra 2, Aura One	A literary author who should have won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Thank you for this. Last edited by Dr. Drib; 05-23-2016 at 08:41 PM.

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05-23-2016, 04:06 AM	#2
church mouse Evangelist Posts: 482 Karma: 5277078 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: UK Device: Kindle Voyage, Kobo Clara HD, Kobo H2O, Boox Poke 2	Thank you for this. Sent from my YOGA Tablet 2-830F using Tapatalk

05-23-2016, 05:02 AM	#3
Froide Wizard Posts: 1,898 Karma: 9851695 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Noo Yawk Device: Samsung Galaxy and Windows devices. RIP: Palm & Nook devices.	Thank you. I DO appreciate your efforts to "travel" to find us links to this deal!

05-23-2016, 08:13 PM	#5
Red Falcon Addict Posts: 281 Karma: 1593188 Join Date: May 2012 Device: Kindle Keyboard	Had to take a quick trip to the UK for this one. Thankfully my transporter still works.

05-28-2016, 08:30 PM	#6
kyteflyer Wizard Posts: 1,841 Karma: 9547754 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Newcastle, Australia Device: iPhone SE2020	Thanks, grabbed it from Google Play.

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