Free (DRM-free) The Shape of Silence by Stephen Leigh [Sci-Fi Alien First Contact]

[ATDrake]

The Shape of Silence by Stephen Leigh (ISFDB, Wikipedia, SFE) is his standalone science fiction novel, this story an anthropological first contact one where the opening of a rift fuels a generation of speculation and exploration as to what lies behind it, and the discovery of a very different alien culture, free courtesy of publisher Phoenix Pick Press, who are e-printing it from its 2001 edition originally out from HarperCollins' Eos imprint under the title Thunder Rift using his Matthew Farrell pseudonym.

This is their featured Free Book of the Month selection for November. It's also been previously offered free some years ago, but it's nice to be offered a repeat for the benefit of newer Gentle Readers.

Currently free throughout November directly @ the publisher's promo page (DRM-free ePub & Mobi available worldwide in return for your valid email address; follow the instructions to reset the price to $0.00 in the cart before checkout)

There's also a discounted tie-in bundle deal containing reprints of four more of Leigh's previously published novels, for just $5.97. I've previously read and rather enjoyed the two novels in his Mictlan series set on a colony planet dealing with change in sociocultural roles due to mutation of the settlers by the native habitat, originally published by Avon Eos in the late 1990s, of which the first novel was a Spectrum Award winner. The other two novels are standalone.

IIRC, all of the books in the tie-in bundle have previously been offered free over the years, but this is still a very good deal if you happened to have missed out on them earlier.

Description
A UNIQUE FIRST CONTACT NOVEL

First contact was never supposed to be like this.

A sudden rift appears in near-earth space, causing electronic components to permanently fail and cause total chaos. As Earth's fragile technological society disintegrates, no one can answer the obvious question: What is the rift, and who or what has created it?

A new generation comes to age attempting to answer these questions, and Taria Spears, an anthropologist, is selected as part of the crew on the exploratory ship Lightbringer. Lightbringer's mission is to investigate the wormhole-like Rift and, if possible, to pass through it to find out what lies on the other side, and to seek some answers.

But what if all they find is an alien culture where sound, not sight, is the primary sense?

[ATDrake]

Just a reminder that this will probably be the last day to get the freebie and/or purchase the tie-in bundle, if you're interested.

[darryl]

Thanks.