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Phoenix Pick's free book of the month for January is An Elephant for Aristotle by L. Sprague de Camp.

"An amazing narrative vehicle for the display of ... a fairly complete composite of the life and times of which the author writes." —The Chicago Daily Tribune

"By hybridizing a Middle-Eastern travelogue with an Alexandrine comedy of manners, the author has produced a specimen only slightly less rare then [sic] elephants in Westchester—to wit, a historical novel with a sense of humor."—The New York Times

What finer way for Alexander the Great to honor his old tutor Aristotle than to send him an actual Indian elephant?

After capturing a magnificent specimen from an Indian ruler, Alexander tasks Leon of Atrax, a cavalry commander, to deliver the animal to Aristotle in Athens. Leon leads a motley crew of companions (and the elephant) from India to Greece, encountering all sorts of dangers and adventures while attempting the long and arduous journey.

Additionally there are two combo deals. The first one is $10+ and includes the above book along with the other four of de Camp's historicals.

The Bronze God of Rhodes

Spoiler:

The Bronze God of Rhodes is written as the memoirs of Chares of Lindos, a Greek sculptor born on the island of Rhodes. A pupil of Lysippos, Chares eventually built the Colossus of Rhodes, now considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

These memoirs present the trials and tribulations (some of them hilarious) of the sculptor as he undertakes various projects and is forced into a number of adventures, particularly in Ptolemaic Egypt.

This is the second historical novel that L. Sprague de Camp wrote, drawing upon his extensive and detailed historical knowledge of the period.

The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate

Spoiler:

Bessas of Zariaspa is a young officer in the Immortals regiment, sworn to protect and obey his King at all costs. The King wishes immortality and to that end tasks Bessas to find items that make an immortality potion, including the blood of a dragon and the ear of a king.

The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate is a swashbuckling historical novel with larger-than-life characters, set in a detailed historical background that only a scholar such as de Camp can create.

This is the third historical novel L. Sprague de Camp wrote, drawing upon his extensive and detailed historical knowledge of the period.

The Arrows of Hercules

Spoiler:

Set in the time of Dionysios I of Syracuse, at the beginning of the 4th century BC, The Arrows of Hercules tells the tale of Zopyros of Tarentum, an engineer who invents an improved type of catapult.

He is quickly drafted by Dionysios into Syracuse's war efforts against Carthage, which sets him on a series of adventures including a battle against Etruscan pirates and a kidnapping in Carthage.

L. Sprague's meticulous attention to historical accuracy makes this a remarkable read which entertains as much as it teaches us about fascinating events that shaped the course of history.

"Exciting and quite believable adventures." —Classical World

"Rousing piece of fiction ... pace is rapid and unrelenting." —The Arizona Republic

"Highly Recommended ... intriguing novel." —Library Journal

The Golden Wind

Spoiler:

The Golden Wind is the last of the five classic historicals de Camp wrote (both historically and chronologically). The novel tells of the early adventures of Eudoxus of Cyzicus and Hippalus in their original voyages from Egypt to India by sea.

Eudoxus was a Greek navigator who is credited with exploring and mapping the Arabian sea for Egyptian ruler Ptolemy VIII, and Hippalus is, according to legend, the captain of Eudoxus’ ship during these explorations.

Following the successful exploration of the route to India, Eudoxus decides to break the Egyptian monopoly on trade with India by sailing around Africa, and encounters a myriad of different adventures and misfortunes as their ship attempts to circumnavigate the great continent.

"A tale of high adventure, rich in historical lore and erudite in the telling. Of Mr. de Camp's ... novels, this may well be the most ambitious and quite possibly the best." —Publishers Weekly

The second deal is $15+ and includes all of the above novels, plus three more de Camp novels.

The Glory That Was

Spoiler:

A true tour de force for de Camp, The Glory That Was brings together many of the themes the author excelled in writing about, including time travel and alternate history.

Earth in the twenty-seventh century is ruled by a constitutional monarchy, though both the World Emperor and his Prime Minister have plans to assume greater power by neutralizing the other. In the power struggle that follows, the Emperor is ceded total control of Greece for a secret experiment that has Greece cut off from the rest of the world by a force-field and people of Greek descent being kidnapped around the whole world.

When the wife of a prominent classical scholar disappears, he vows to get her back and he and his friend plan a way inside the barrier surrounding Greece. But they are hardly prepared for what they find inside ... a Greece reverted back to ancient times.

Rogue Queen

Spoiler:

Rogue Queen is a ground-breaking novel by L. Sprague de Camp that was one of the first science fiction books to deal with sexual themes, paving the way for more daring works by future authors.

Part of the Viagens Interplanetarias series, the story takes place on a planet circling the star Lalande 21185, also known as Ormazd. When humans arrive on the planet they find a hive-like society with a hyper-fertile queen being serviced by male drones.

All the other females of the species are infertile, or so it is believed. However, when one of the worker females rebels she discovers that the workers' infertility is largely a result of the diet they follow.

Lest Darkness Fall & Related Stories
(Related Stories by Frederik Pohl, David Drake and S.M. Stirling.)

Spoiler:

Rarely do books have such a great influence on a genre as Lest Darkness Fall has had on science fiction. Frequently quoted as one of the “favorite” books of many of the masters of the field, this book by L. Sprague de Camp helped establish time-travel as a solid sub-genre of science fiction.

An indication of the influence and longevity of the book is the number of best-selling writers who have written stories in direct response to, or been influenced by, Lest Darkness Fall. This new volume includes three such stories by Frederik Pohl, David Drake and S. M. Stirling written over a period of forty-three years—a testament to the timelessness of the book.

Similar, thematically, to Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the book tells the tale of Martin Padway who, as he is walking around in modern Rome, is suddenly transported though time to 6th Century Rome.

Once in ancient Rome, Padway (now Martinus Paduei, Quaestor), embarks on an ambitious project of single-handedly changing history.

L. Sprague de Camp was a student of history (and the author of a number of popular works on the subject). In Lest Darkness Fall he combines his extensive knowledge of the workings of ancient Rome with his extraordinary imagination to create one of the best books of time travel ever written.

“Endlessly fascinating. The author knows a lot about Gothic Italy and almost as much about human nature, and he has a real gift for making the people of those days come alive.” —The New York Times

“Lest Darkness Fall [is] one of the best time travel stories ever written …” —A Reader’s Guide to Science Fiction

“Good fun.” —The New Yorker

“A work of real and stimulating imagination.” —Saturday Review of Literature

All the bundles are listed on the same page as the freebie