Free (DRM-free) The Bloodline Feud by Charles Stross [Sci-Fi Alternate History Trade]

[ATDrake]

The Bloodline Feud by British author Charles Stross (ISFDB, Wikipedia, SFE) comprises the 1st & 2nd novels in his The Merchant Princes series of universe-crossing alternate history science fiction starring traders from competing clans who have the genetic ability to travel between certain parallel versions of Earth and thereby make $$$, this initial storyline centred around a Boston journalist from one parallel discovering her world-hopping relatives and her own ability, setting her on a path that eventually leads to changing all the worlds, free courtesy of publisher Tor Books.

This is their featured eBook Club of the Month offer for February. The first three novels in this series collectively won the 2006 Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and some of the individual volumes have also been nominated for the Locus and Prometheus. This is being made free to promote the newly-released 1st novel in a new trilogy in this setting, Empire Games, which came out just this year.

This is quasi-omnibus of the first two novels in the series, The Family Trade & The Hidden Family, which were originally conceived and written as a single joint story before the author was asked to split it up for easier publication, and now has been able to re-edit them back into their originally intended form. I bought the entire sextet back when the new combined editions were on half-price sale, though I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, but I look forward to it and am glad to see the works of Stross, who is one of my favourite writers, get a publicity boost.

Currently free through February 7th directly @ the eBook Club's special promo page (DRM-free ePub & Mobi in exchange for newsletter signup with your valid email address; officially only available to Canada & the US due to geographic publishing rights restrictions)

You can also follow along with the actual bookclub discussion via the dedicated tag on the Tor.com blog.

Description
The Bloodline Feud: an omnibus edition of the first two novels in Charles Stross's The Merchant Princes series

The six families of the Clan rule the kingdom of Gruinmarkt from behind the scenes. They are a mixture of nobility and criminal conspirators whose power to walk between their world and ours makes them rich in both.

Miriam, a hip tech journalist from Boston, discovers her alternate-world relatives with explosive results that shake three worlds. Now, as the prodigal Countess Helge Thorold-Hjorth, she finds herself ensnared in schemes and plots centuries in the making. She is surrounded by unlikely allies, lethal contraband, and—most dangerous of all—her family.

To avoid a slippery slope down to an unmarked grave, Miriam must build a power base of her own—with unexpected consequences for three different time lines, including the quasi-Victorian one exploited by the hidden family.