FREE/BARGAIN - DRM-Free - 2015

[ATDrake]

New StoryBundle for the next two weeks:

The Literary Fantasy Bundle curated by fellow MR member author/editor Keith Brooke (ISFDB, Wikipedia), who runs the Infinity Press imprint as well as maintaining the website for the old Infinity Plus webzine.

This includes backlist works by BFSA-winner Eric Brown (ISFDB, Wikipedia), a Tiptree Award-nominated novel by Kit Reed (ISFDB, Wikipedia), Australian Aurealis Award-winner Anna Tambour (ISFDB, Wikipedia), Scottish World Fantasy Award-winner John Grant (ISFDB, Wikipedia), and several others.

At the pay-what-you-want basic level (minimum $3), you get 3 backlist novels (one of which was nominated for the Locus Award's Best First Novel category) and 2 novellas (another Locus Award Best Novella nominee).

The $12 top-tier adds 2 more backlist novels (one the Tiptree Award finalist, another which ISFDB says is technically horror/dark fantasy), 1 new-release novel, and 1 World Fantasy Award-winning novella with 2 bonus shorts.

ETA: There's also a write-up by Brooke on why he picked the books he did over on the StoryBundle news page.

Also, the Humble Book Bundle Made with Kickstarter added several more titles to its middle-tier, both comics and text, and now contains a total of 3 short story anthologies, 4 sf/fantasy novels, 2 YA sfnal novels, a choose-your-own-adventure adaptation of Hamlet in it, 9 comic book GNs, and 2 magazine issues in it, if I've counted correctly and you get the $15 top-tier.

[ATDrake]

New Wildside Press freebie for Tuesday:

The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard Volume 1. — Shadow Kingdoms by the late legendary Conan creator and Cthulhu Mythos contributor Robert E. Howard (ISFDB, Wikipedia), a collection of his sword and sorcery pulp tales originally written in the 1920s and published in Weird Tales magazine, with a new introduction by Mark Finn (ISFDB, Wikipedia).

(list of stories contained is in the full blurb)
Shadow Kingdoms is the first volume of the Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, presenting all of Howard's work for the pulp magazine Weird Tales meticulously restored to its original magazine texts.

This volume begins with "Spear and Fang," Howard's first professional fiction sale, and concludes with "Red Thunder," a gripping sword & sorcery tale. Series characters present in this volume include King Kull and Solomon Kane.

Also, they note on the same page that a fixed version of last week's freebie, The Library Fuzz Minipack, is available, having corrected some sort of metadata error.

ETA: also, a reminder that the Humble Book Bundle Made with Kickstarter expires tomorrow, Wednesday at 11 AM Pacific Time.

[ATDrake]

New Humble Bundle is up, and it's for:

Humble Music Book Bundle (♪ ♫ with a little help from our friends ♬), consisting of a mix of music and spoken-word tracks, graphic novels, fiction and non- text titles (including an reprint sfnal anthology and a backlist mystery), etc., throughout all genres from classical to punk.

And there's a freebie 2-song giveaway direct download on the bundle page, as well.

Contributors include Neil Peart (drummer of Canadian band Rush), the late folksinger Pete Seeger, alternative bands They Might Be Giants, and subjects include The Beatles, Tori Amos, and others.

Current better-than-average is under $6 (with more titles added next week), and the top-tier is $15.

Name your price for This Is A Souvenir: The Songs Of Spearmint & Shirley Lee, The Wicked + The Divine Vol 1 , The Mussorgsky Riddle, Black Metal Vol. 1, Clockwork Angels, Clockwork Lives: The Bookseller's Tale, and Pete Seeger: The Storm King.

If you pay more than the average price, you'll also get Rock On: The Greatest Hits of Science Fiction & Fantasy, ed by Paula Guran, Scott Pilgrim Vol. 3, Rubber Soul, Taking Punk To the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind, Phonogram Vol 1, Comic Book Tattoo Tales Inspired by Tori Amos, and Nowhere Men Vol. 1.

If you pay $15 or more, you'll receive all of the above plus The Fifth Beatle, Kids Go! (Book & Song) by They Might Be Giants, Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 1, and Neil Peart: Cultural Repercussions.

Also, for the next 3 weeks, StoryBundle has a new Indie Superhero Bundle consisting of non-comics text novels about Exactly What It Says In The Title, including one by Campbell Award-winner Mur Lafferty (ISFDB, Wikipedia).

Apparently one of the books is already available as a freebie. Please see Dr. Drib's dedicated thread here for linkage and details.

[Little.Egret]

Heads Up all dwellers in South East England !

Water Towers of the South East by Roderick Leyland

a study of water towers, working and redundant, including conversions, in south-east England. As well as an outline of the purpose of the water tower, the book is illustrated with examples from nine counties: East and West Sussex, Surrey, Kent, Essex, Dorset, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Suffolk¯and London. There are towers in brick, concrete, stone and metal¯there's even one that looks like a helter-skelter. There are modern ones from the 20th century, many from the 19th century and even one (in Rye) from the 18th century


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007C1433U/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007C1433U/
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B007C1433U/


By the same author Postboxes Through Six Reigns

[ATDrake]

New Wildside Press freebie for Tuesday:

Draw the Curtain Close by the late Thomas B. Dewey (Thrilling Detective profile), 1st in his "Mac" detective series starring the eponymous PI, a vintage mystery adventure thriller originally published in 1947.

"Call me Mac... I'm just a guy. I go around and get in jams and then try to figure a way out of them. I don't make very much money and most people insult me one way or another... I'm a fairly good shot with small arms, show-thiinking but thorough, and very dirty in a clinch."

Mac gets into a jam this time even when he turns a job down. And all because of a book, an ex-gangster's patrician wife, and a red-headed cabaret doll. When all the blood is washed off and the smoke clears away, Mac has a murderer pinned down—but he doesn't earn much more than a reputation as the most indestrictible man in the business.

For fans of the very popular Warhammer sci-fantasy RPG franchise who also want to load up their Android devices with DRM-free games:

Humble Games Workshop Mobile Bundle is completely centred around various adaptations of the series, with 4 games available at the $1 minimum pay-what-you-want level, and an additional 3 + more to be revealed next week, at the currently-under-$4 top-tier.

Also, a reminder that StoryBundle's Literary Fantasy Bundle ends in 2 days.

[Dr. Drib]

Hi, Mac. Nice to meet you.

Now downloaded.

Thanks!

[ATDrake]

Two new StoryBundles are up, with some fairly quality stuff in them, good for the next 3 weeks:

The Mystery! Masks! Dynamite Pulps! Bundle has a fuller description in the Comics megathread, and consists of graphic novel versions of pulp adventure and mystery/crime noir classics like Doc Savage, the Shadow, the Spider, Zorro, and more.

The Women in Science Fiction Bundle curated by former Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch (ISFDB, Wikipedia), contains Exactly What It Says In The Title, with backlist and new contributions by Baen-published authors Catherine Asaro (ISFDB, Wikipedia) & Jody Lynn Nye (ISFDB, Wikipedia), Nebula winner Linda Nagata (ISFDB, Wikipedia), one of my favourite historical fantasy authors Judith Tarr (ISFDB, Wikipedia), multiple Nebula and Hugo winners Vonda N. McIntyre (ISFDB, Wikipedia) & one of my favourite social consequences of genetic engineering authors Nancy Kress (ISFDB, Wikipedia), and more.

At the $5 minimum basic level, you get 3 backlist novels and 2 story collections (two of them Locus Award nominees).

At the $15 top-tier, there's an extra 2 backlist novels, a newly-written one, a short story anthology, and a collection of backlist novellas. (The McIntyre novel has previously been a promo freebie several years ago that you might already have picked up then.)

Subsubgenres range from MilSF to space opera to alien species interaction to long range exploration, etc.

And if you subscribe to the newsletter, you also get a freebie mp3 song by singer-songwriter Janis Ian (no purchase necessary).

[piperclassique]

Thanks, I got the women writers bundle, some really good stuff there

[Andanzas]

I am not usually interested in book bundles (I mostly read in Spanish these days, and I haven't seen any bundles in Spanish), but this one does look terrific. Too bad I already own more unread books that I'll be able to read in 10 or 15 years. Still, it's very tempting.

By the way, what is the continuation of Crossfire?

ATDrake, do you have several "favourite social consequences of genetic engineering authors"? Wow, that's one of the coolest sentences I've ever read.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Andanzas

By the way, what is the continuation of Crossfire?

The continuation of Crossfire is Crucible, originally out from Tor in 2004 and 13th on the Locus Award's yearly Best SF Novel rankings, according to ISFDB.

Some Nancy Kress stuff has been offered free a couple of months ago from Phoenix Pick Press, if you picked it up then and think you might be interested in giving her a try.

Originally Posted by Andanzas

ATDrake, do you have several "favourite social consequences of genetic engineering authors"?

Yup. My other top favourite is Brian Stableford (ISFDB, Wikipedia), who also does very, very good work exploring how the use of genetic engineering would change societal expectations and expressions in various both superficial and fundamental ways, especially in his Biotech Revolution setting (best as short stories and novellas rather than the novel-length expansions I wasn't too impressed with, and many available DRM-free via Wildside Press).

There are other authors who've done work with similar themes whom I like, but Kress and Stableford are the ones who've practically built a good chunk of their careers on it, and have gotten some well-deserved awards.

[Andanzas]

Thanks, ATDrake!

No, unfortunately I missed those freebies. I also missed the fact that Nancy Kress was in Madrid a few days ago, participating in a convention called Grand Dames of Science Fiction. Anyway, I am too busy these days, so I don't think I could have attended even if I knew in time.

I read an interview by Brian Stableford and it was interesting.

[ATDrake]

New Wildside Press freebie for this Tuesday:

Hue and Cry by the late Thomas B. Dewey (SYKM, Thrilling Detective profile), the 1st in his Singer Batts murder mystery series starring a Shakespearean scholar running an Ohio hotel, originally published in 1944, according to SYKM.

Thomas B. Dewey wrote four novels featuring Singer Batts, bibliophile and hotel owner. Singer prefers the company of his books and an occasional foray into the Lonely Hearts Club world. But he keeps getting embroiled in murders!

The Boston Herald called the first book “well paced and lively,” and The Saturday Review called it, “lively, lurid, and outspoken.” Author Dorothy Hughes said: “It’s murder and mayhem and hold onto your hats. Amusing and amazing.”

A reminder for bundles expiring this week:

Humble Music Book Bundle (♪ ♫ with a little help from our friends ♬) expires this Wednesday at 11 AM Pacific time. They've added 3 more graphic novel titles (a total of 8 new volumes) and a sequel to the Beatles memorabilia murder mystery to the better-than-average level, now just under $9.

Humble Games Workshop Mobile Bundle featuring DRM-free Android versions of tie-in games to the popular Warhammer RPG fantasy series has added another 2 games to its top-tier level under $4, and ends next Monday.

Groupees Dynamite Comic Bundle #3: Swords, Sandals, and Sorcery ends on Friday and has unlocked 4 out of the 6 bonus books.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Andanzas

No, unfortunately I missed those freebies. I also missed the fact that Nancy Kress was in Madrid a few days ago, participating in a convention called Grand Dames of Science Fiction. Anyway, I am too busy these days, so I don't think I could have attended even if I knew in time.

Sorry you missed out. The original Beggars in Spain novella is one of Kress' very best works, and the expanded trilogy isn't bad (even though I didn't particularly like the direction it ended up going in). But Phoenix Pick does tend to repeat their freebies every so often, so it'll probably turn up again at some point, or one of her other excellent reprint works from them.

If you don't mind online reading/podcasts, perhaps you'd like to try some of her works linked via the Free Speculative Fiction Online page?

I especially recommend The Flowers of Aulit Prison (podcast only, unfortunately), which is one of her most lyrical, thoughtful, and thought-provoking pieces on the nature of the perception of reality and the possible biochemical underpinnings of what we think is memory, IMHO. And for a look at the sort of twist-in-the-tail she often likes to put in her stories, Margin of Error is a good illustrative short.

Brian Stableford also has an entry, though it mainly consists of his decadent gothic dark fantasy stuff I don't like nearly as much as his genetic engineering works. But the first two stories listed are much closer to his genetic engineering themes and style, in case you wanted to give him a try.

[ATDrake]

New Wildside Press freebie for this Tuesday:

The Rufus King Minipack™ by the late Rufus King (Wikipedia, comprehensive profile over at someone's personal site) is a collection of his vintage whodunnit stories from the mid-20th century.

Rufus King (1893 – 1966) was an American author of whodunit crime novels. He created four series of detective stories: the first one with Reginald De Puyster, a sophisticated detective similar to Philo Vance; the second one with his more famous character, Lieutenant Valcour; the third with Colin Starr, who appeared in four stories in the Strand Magazine during 1940/41; and the fourth with Chief Bill Dugan, who appeared in three stories in The Saint Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, 1956-1957. Wildside Press is working on reprinting his entire body of work, and this MINIPACK™ is a great sampler for those who have never read him before.

In addition to their still-ongoing Women in Science Fiction and Dynamite Pulps bundles, StoryBundle has added a new offering for:

Devastator Funny Book Bundle 2: Electric Bookalo, consisting of humour writing and comics, some from fairly well-known popular internet presences such as the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and Wondermark cartoonists, good for the next 2 weeks.

$3 minimum gets you 1 graphic novel and 3 prose collections, including a horror-oriented one that has contributions from network comedy show writers and praise from Fangoria magazine, and some sort of behind-the-scenes history of Windows 95, and an Edward Gorey-styled verse satire of children's tales.

$12 top-tier gets you 2 more graphic novels, 1 SMBC webcomic collection, and a mixed-media humorous columns & comics collection.

As a reminder, their Indie Superhero Bundle expires in 2 days, and has a contribution by Campbell Award-nominee Mur Lafferty in it.

[Little.Egret]

Free

Nefertiti's Heart (The Artifact Hunters Book 1) by A. W. Exley

Cara Devon has always suffered curiosity and impetuousness, but tangling with a serial killer might cure that. Permanently.

London, 1861. Impoverished noble Cara has a simple mission after the strange death of her father - sell off his damned collection of priceless artifacts. Her plan goes awry when aristocratic beauties start dying of broken hearts, an eight inch long brass key hammered through their chests. A killer hunts amongst the nobility, searching for a regal beauty and an ancient Egyptian relic rumoured to hold the key to immortality.
Her Majesty's Enforcers are in pursuit of the murderer and they see a connection between the gruesome deaths and Cara. So does she, somewhere in London her father hid Nefertiti's Heart, a fist sized diamond with strange mechanical workings. Adding further complication to her life, notorious crime lord, Viscount Nathaniel Lyons is relentless in his desire to lay his hands on Cara and the priceless artifact. If only she could figure out his motive.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0139OZJYK/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0139OZJYK/
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0139OZJYK/