FREE/BARGAIN — DRM-Free

[ATDrake]

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

Humble Audiobook Bundle Hackers, Gamers, & Geeks presented by Novel Audio, containing a mix of fiction and non-fiction titles about video games and pop cultural phenomenons, and some sfnal works as well.

Fixed tiers of $1, $8, and $15, with contributors including Hugo/Nebula awardee Joe Haldeman, histories of Star Wars and Pixar, and even a topical current events book about the 2016 US elections.

Hackers and gamers and geeks, oh my! This audiobook bundle will deliver nerdiness directly to your earballs. You'll get Novel Audio titles including The Secret History of Star Wars, Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, and Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course of Video Games.

Last week's Humble Manga Bundle Fairy Tail presented by Kodansha, containing some 40+ volumes of the popular manga and assorted tie-ins, is also still available.

[Little.Egret]

Free again, 5 out of 7

Penny Dreadful Multipacks (7 Book Series)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ies_rw_dp_labf

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 1 (Illustrated. Annotated. 'Wagner The Wehr-Wolf,' 'Varney The Vampire,' 'The Mysteries of London Vol. 1' + Bonus Features) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 2 (Illustrated. Annotated. 'The Picture of Dorian Gray,' 'Vileroy or The Horrors of Zindorf Castle,' 'Jack Harkaway in Australia,' ... Bonus Features) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 3 (Illustrated. Annotated. Includes 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,' 'The Mysteries of Paris Vols.1-3' and 'The ... Bonus Features) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 4 (Illustrated. Annotated. Includes 'Frankenstein (1818 Uncensored Version), 'String of Pearls (Sweeney Todd) and 'Lady or the Tiger?') (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 5 - Spring-Heeled Jack, The Hooligan Nights, Carmilla, Selections from The Newgate Calendar, two Jack Harkaway Adventures ... (Illustrated) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...penny+dreadful

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...penny+dreadful

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...penny+dreadful

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Free again, 5 out of 7

Penny Dreadful Multipacks (7 Book Series)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ies_rw_dp_labf

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 1 (Illustrated. Annotated. 'Wagner The Wehr-Wolf,' 'Varney The Vampire,' 'The Mysteries of London Vol. 1' + Bonus Features) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 2 (Illustrated. Annotated. 'The Picture of Dorian Gray,' 'Vileroy or The Horrors of Zindorf Castle,' 'Jack Harkaway in Australia,' ... Bonus Features) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 3 (Illustrated. Annotated. Includes 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,' 'The Mysteries of Paris Vols.1-3' and 'The ... Bonus Features) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 4 (Illustrated. Annotated. Includes 'Frankenstein (1818 Uncensored Version), 'String of Pearls (Sweeney Todd) and 'Lady or the Tiger?') (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)

Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 5 - Spring-Heeled Jack, The Hooligan Nights, Carmilla, Selections from The Newgate Calendar, two Jack Harkaway Adventures ... (Illustrated) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks)


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...penny+dreadful

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...penny+dreadful

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...penny+dreadful

I don't know if they include sound at Kobo, but all of them are currently free there.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I don't know if they include sound at Kobo, but all of them are currently free there.

I have and have read several of these books, either purchased individually through Amazon or downloaded from Gutenberg Press, though I wonder if my version of Frankenstein is the "original uncensored" one and if that actually makes a difference, considering Victorian values. There are a few of interest that I have not read, and a free collection is better than paying $ for audio recordings I know I will never listen to.

In short, thanks for the link!

[ATDrake]

In celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary, for today only on Canada Day, Canadian small press specialty publisher ChiZine Publications is holding a giveaway of all their ebooks from their Canadian authors for free (modest pay-what-you-want donation suggested). Here's the dedicated promo page and their blog announcement for it.

Their catalogue includes many award-nominated and -winning genre authors, both local and international. Although the bulk of it is tilted towards horror, there's also a generous selection of fantasy, science fiction, paranormal mystery, and even some sfnal speculative punk and literary fiction and poetry in the lot.

Overall, the selection is quite high quality (and you shouldn't miss picking up the offered Imaginarium anthology volumes of yearly best-of feature short stories) and anything you pick up will likely be pretty decent (click on the covers to go to the descriptions of the books). Some of the download file sizes (combined ePub/Mobi/PDF in zip) are very large, so be warned. Everything seems to be sorted by publication date and I had to scroll for a while to find stuff I didn't already own.

I especially recommend out of the authors I've previously purchased (for sf/fantasy; I don't really read horror, although their selection for that is supposed to be very good indeed): Quebec author Claude Lalumière (excellent multi-genre short stories), Caitlin Sweet (some traditionally epic fantasy, others mythology-based), Gemma Files (steampunk magical western with LGBT elements, also horror shorts), Nancy Baker (paranormal dark fantasy with legendary creatures), Geoff Ryman (Hugo nominee for science fiction, but he has a fantasy novel in this), Quebec author Yves Meynard (Aurora Award-winner with quite good multi-genre short stories).

Also, French publisher Bragelonne has extended their GrosseOP sale for over 500 books at just €0.99/$1.99 CAD at multiple international retailers (with extra 5x Bonus Points promotion at Kobo CA where they are sold DRM-free) through the end of Sunday, July 2nd (probably European time even in Canada, where Kobo sometimes expires sales early). Their sfnal offerings, which are probably roughly 70% of the whole, read like a who's who list of Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire alumni (Wikipedia), and they've an extensive selection of bestselling translated authors as well. ETA: Chapitre.com's sale listings for the event & Kobo CA dedicated promo page.

[ATDrake]

StoryBundle has a couple of new offerings up:

The Aurora Award Bundle 2 curated by Aurora alumnus Douglas Smith, contains a selection of sfnal titles by assorted finalists and winners of the titular top Canadian speculative fiction prize (Wikipedia).

There's a pretty good selection of backlist and small press, including also Hugo Award-winner and fellow MR member author Robert J. Sawyer's Golden Fleece originally published by Ace, which is an excellent locked-room murder mystery on a spaceship, and one of my personal favourites of his. The full blurb says this includes several series-introductory volumes in several subgenres, including historical fantasy, paranormal mystery, and more.

$5 minimum gets you 5 titles, including Smith's own collection of his award-winning shorts.
$15 top tier adds 5 more titles, including a 2008 DAW backlist, a 1995 Del Rey, a Sydney J. Bounds Award-winning collection from ChiZine, and the RJS novel.

This is a pretty good deal if you're interested in sampling Canadian speculative fiction and of course an auto-buy for me. :

The Heartland Homecoming Universe Bundle is their other new offering, consisting of assorted romance apparently set in a shared universe with various bestselling romance authors contributing their own characters and stories to the setting.

$4 minimum for 4 novels, $12 top tier for all 8.

Also still available for a limited time, their Epic Elves indie fantasy and Dark Crimes for mystery/thriller.

Just a reminder that the Humble Manga Bundle Fairy Tale presented by Kodansha, full of the popular comedic fantasy manga series which is very good value for money at 45 volumes worth, expires later today at 11 AM Pacific Time, if you think you might like to pick it up. And the Humble Audiobook Bundle Hackers, Gamers & Geeks presented by Novel Audio containing a mix of pop culture and technology history-oriented non-fiction and sfnal fiction, is still good for another week.

Bundle of Holding's new RPG gamebook offerings are for: Colonial Gothic, an historical supernatural horror set in the 18th-century American frontier, and Mutant Chronicles, a dieselpunk techno-fantasy set in a solar system being invaded by aliens. The previous offer for King Arthur Pendragon and the Pendragon +2 Estates and Uther supplementary bundle for fantasy Arthuriana by designer Greg Stafford, is still available for a limited time.

[ATDrake]

It seems to be a pretty good day for sfnal readers, since Humble Bundle's new offering is for:

Humble Book Bundle Stranger Creatures supporting The Jane Goodall Institute chock full of excellent speculative fiction works about Exactly What It Says In The Title, and with some non-fiction books about IRL creatures as well.

Fixed tiers of $1, $8, $15, and $20 (no new titles added next week). There's also a $25 option to sponsor an animal via “adopt a chimpanzee” and also get a little plush version (shipping and handling not included), with the extra proceeds of all $25 and up pledges going entirely to the charity.

The books are presented via Brick Tower Press and include excellent backlist reprints from notable authors such as Esther M. Friesner, Tanith Lee, Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Silverberg, Alfred Bester, YA favourite Bruce Coville, and tie-ins for Roger Zelazny and Ray Bradbury, and more.

They have Barb, but we have Jane. Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees and her focus on conservation have changed how we think of the wild world. Now, Humble has partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute and Brick Tower Press to bring you a selection of Goodall's classic children's books, including My Life with the Chimpanzees, paired with some of Brick Tower's best science fiction. You can also adopt a chimpanzee in this bundle (you'll even get a little plush version)! Plus, Humble Bundle and Brick Tower Press will donate all proceeds from purchases $25 and over to the Jane Goodall Institute. Come travel to new worlds and meet strange creatures with us!

[ATDrake]

The Book View Café backlist author consortium is having a sale, ending today at midnight (July 8th), probably Eastern Time, for 50% off all titles regularly priced over $2.99, using coupon code LevineCheers (possibly not multi-use, so you may wish to load up your cart before final checkout).

This is apparently to celebrate their member author David Levine's winning the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

They've a mix of mostly sf/fantasy, but also some mystery and romance and non-fiction geared towards aspiring writers. There's a choice of ePub & Mobi for most books (1 format per purchase), and payment is done via Paypal, no account signup necessary, with your books redownloadable via the receipt link supplied.

[ATDrake]

New Humble Bundle is up, and it's a really nice one for:

Humble Comics Bundle Jack Kirby & Will Eisner Centennial Celebration, chock-full of actual comics as well as behind the scenes tribute and history books and magazine issues, by and about both legendary creators, both superhero work and non-.

Fixed tiers of $1, $8, and $15 (no new titles added next week). This is excellent value for money if you're at all interested in old school comics classics, or the history of the medium in North America.

Our two cents for the centennial. This year, San Diego Comic-Con International is honoring the lives and careers of Jack Kirby and Will Eisner – legendary comics creators who were both born in 1917. We're joining the celebration with this bundle! You'll find classic comics, epic collections, and fascinating history from Dark Horse Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, Image Comics, TwoMorrows Publishing, and Fantagraphics. Cheers to the memory of these two comics greats!

Last week's Humble Book Bundle Stranger Creatures Supporting the Jane Goodall Institute, full of classic and modern sf/fantasy reprints and a selection of non-fiction works about animals (an an option for sponsoring a chimpanzee and receiving a plushie), is still available.

Bundle of Holding has new RPG gamebooks offering, for Flying Buffalo Catalyst, a quirky fantasy supplement that can apparently be applied to a number of different games, and The Great City, a plotty fantasy game where political factions move against an incompetent emperor. Also still available are their previous Colonial Gothic, an historical supernatural horror set in the 18th-century American frontier, and Mutant Chronicles, a dieselpunk techno-fantasy set in a solar system being invaded by aliens.

Just a reminder that expiring soon is StoryBundle's Epic Elves, chock full of indie fantasy. Their other bundles for The Heartland Homecoming Universe Bundle, shared world romance, and The Aurora Award Bundle 2 with sf/fantasy by assorted winners of the top Canadian speculative fiction prize, including an excellent backlist novel from fellow MR member author Robert J. Sawyer, are still available for a limited time.

[ATDrake]

Unusually, Humble Bundle is offering a new Books bundle today, for:

Humble Book Bundle Cybersecurity presented by Wiley full of computer and related books about Exactly What It Says In The Title, from the publisher probably best known for their Dummies series.

Fixed tiers of $1, $8, and $15 (no new titles added next week), and there are a couple of non-technical titles in here, such as the one on social engineering via manipulating people.

Safe and secure bundling. We've secured a new collection of tech ebooks for you, straight from the libraries at Wiley/Sybex. The Cybersecurity Book Bundle includes Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World, Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C, The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security, Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking, and lots more!

Just a reminder than expiring on Wednesday is their Humble Bundle Stranger Creatures supporting the Jane Goodall Institute full of backlist reprint fiction about exotic sf/fantasy creatures, plus some non-fiction about real life wildlife closer to home, with proceeds going to the notable primatologist's animal conservation charity, all from publisher ibooks' Brick Tower Press. And the Humble Comics Bundle Jack Kirby & Will Eisner Celebration, which has a number of quality non-fiction titles about the history of those creators and their medium alongside all the excellent GNs, is still available for the next week.

Also, the current Humble Mobile Bundle Kemco X HyperDevBox, containing Android games by the eponymous Japanese publishers, is offering a freebie sampler of wallpapers and music soundtracks for the games if you scroll down and enter your email address where the offer box says.

[ATDrake]

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

Humble RPG Book Bundle Doctor Who presented by Cubicle 7, who IMHO did a pretty good job on their official Laundry Files game from the Charles Stross novels.

Fixed tiers of $1, $8, and $15 (no new titles added next week), with the gamebooks for several campaigns, supplementary sourcebooks for each of the Doctors (these may also be of interest to regular fans, since apparently they detail each of the canon adventures, and might be useful as a reference or for catching up), and also there's a coupon for 30% off in the Cubicle 7 store, and an included Android game.

Who could you be? Imagine you could go anywhere: this world or countless others, encountering strange alien races, new cultures, or hostile environments. Now imagine you could travel to any era as a Time Lord. The Humble RPG Book Bundle: Doctor Who from Cubicle 7 is here to make it possible!

"All of time and space; everywhere and anywhere; every star that ever was. Where do you want to start?" - The Eleventh Doctor

StoryBundle also has a new offering, for The SF & F Binge Reader Bundle, curated by former Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

This consists of bundles of books by various established sfnal authors including Rusch herself (under her regular and paranormal romance pseudonyms), though for the most part it looks to mainly their newer small press and indie work.

$5 minimum for 4 titles comprising a total of at least 6 books (no idea how many are in the Digital Sea Complete Box Set, and the Faerie Summer Bundle looks to be simply a collection of themed short stories)

$15 top tier for 6 more titles comprising a definite extra 12 novels in 3 series, 4 novellas in 1, and 3 anthologies from the Fiction River series out from Rusch's own WMG Publishing imprint.

Ending soon are their previous bundles for The Heartland Homecoming Universe Bundle, shared world romance, and The Aurora Award Bundle 2 with sf/fantasy by assorted winners of the top Canadian speculative fiction prize.

Bundle of Holding's new RPG gamebook offering is for Rifts, a sci-fi adventure set on an alien-invaded Earth. Still available are previous bundles for Flying Buffalo Catalyst, a quirky fantasy supplement that can apparently be applied to a number of different games, and The Great City, a plotty fantasy game where political factions move against an incompetent emperor.

[ATDrake]

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

Humble Book Bundle Fandom & Philosophy presented by Wiley Blackwell with an interesting mix of pop culture phenomena exploration for Exactly What It Says In The Title, with meta non-fiction looking into the themes and reasoning underlying mostly sfnal and big comics franchises like Star Trek and Watchmen, but also games like Dungeons & Dragons and Bioshock, and rock bands including Metallica and Black Sabbath.

Fixed tiers of $1, $8, and $15 (no new titles added next week).

Bundling and philosophy. Do you often find yourself lost in thought, pondering the philosophical undercurrents of Game of Thrones, Battlestar Galactica, or BioShock? If not, did you at least start to ponder them when you read that last sentence? This book bundle, oh thoughtful fan, is for you.

"Know thy fandom." – Ancient Greek Aphorism

Previous bundles for Humble Book Bundle Cybersecurity presented by Wiley full of topical computer-related books and RPG Book Bundle Doctor Who with the official tie-in gamebooks from the Cubicle 7 adaptation, are still available.

StoryBundle's new offering is for:

The Bump in the Night Thriller Bundle curated by Dune continuation co-novelist Kevin J. Anderson, filled with dark fantasy/horror-leaning sfnal titles from his own WordFire Press imprint and others. There's a bonus freebie for newsletter subscribers.

$5 minimum gets you 6 titles, including a 1996 Dell backlist novel from Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

$15 top tier adds 9 more titles, including a novella in Anderson's own Dan Shamble, Zombie P. I. series regularly published by Kensington (we've previously gotten one or two of the novels free).

Expiring very soon is their The Aurora Award Bundle 2 with sf/fantasy by assorted winners of the top Canadian speculative fiction prize, and there's still another week or so to go on The SF & F Binge Reader Bundle, curated by former Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Bundle of Holding's new RPG gamebook offerings are for Numenera and Numenera +2 Ninth World Discovery, a sci-fantasy exploration game in a world with both nanotechnology and strange creatures. They've also boosted the previous bundle for Rifts, a sci-fi adventure set on an alien-invaded Earth, with an extra graphic novel at the top tier, automatically added to the purchase of anyone who's already boughht.

[ATDrake]

Until 8 PM Eastern Time tonight (July 28th) publisher Verso Books are having a 90% off sale on all e-books in their catalogue. They mainly publish quasi-academic stuff like topical current events/politics and history, arts & culture studies, social issues, etc., and also have a selection of world literature. We've previously received this book from them free: Violent Borders: Refugees and the Right to Move, which seems pretty typical of their catalogue.

The sale takes most of their catalogue down to less than $2 CAD. They sell their files watermarked with your personal info, but otherwise DRM-free, available in both ePub and Mobi. Prices are charged in USD, but can be displayed in a choice of currencies, and payment is via credit card (no Paypal or other option, last I checked, though that may have changed in the meantime). Almost everything is available worldwide, but some titles are geo-restricted due to competing rights. Purchase of a paper book entitles you to a free copy of the ebook, but they have better 50% off sales for those more regularly.

Link to filter for just their ebooks (using the side categories will just take you to the regular catalogue pages), and blogpost announcement.

Some items potentially of interest, which showcase the available diversity: Raymond Chandler: The Detections of Totality (literary theory), The Notebook & The Lives of Things by the late Nobel Prize-winner José Saramago, a short story collection and a memoir of the last year of his life, respectively, Masks of Anarchy: The Story of a Radical Poem, from Percy Shelley to the Triangle Factory Fire, a graphic novel format history, The Art of Asking Your Boss For A Raise by pioneering experimental literary author Georges Perec (the famous story he wrote without any punctuation whatsoever, based on a decision-making flowchart, which is actually pretty nifty), The Verso World History Series which looks to have a nice range of books exploring key turning points in development at various places and points.

[Little.Egret]

Free

Understanding New Zealand: A statistical journey through the demographic diversity of Aotearoa by Dan McGlashan, Vince McLeod (Editor)

The long-awaited demographic analysis of the full breadth of the people of Aotearoa.

Across 57 chapters, this book tells you which Kiwis voted for which parties in the 2014 General Election, exactly which demographics supported those parties and how strongly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ze...election,_2014

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073S8BNRS/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073S8BNRS/

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B073S8BNRS/

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B073S8BNRS/

[ATDrake]

Unusually, Humble Bundle put up another books bundle on Monday, and it's for:

Humble Book Bundle Unreal Engine & Unity 5 presented by Packt, who've been generously giving us free computer books for a while now.

Fixed tiers of $1, $8, and $15 (no new titles added next week). The $1 tier includes a free 1-month subscription to their Mapt service which is like O'Reilly's Safari and allows you to online access all the titles in their catalogue. Both the $8 and $15 tiers include training videos.

This bundle is Packt with information. We've teamed up with Packt Publishing to bring you a collection of resources for game development using Unity and Unreal Engine. Get Unity 5.x By Example, Unity Virtual Reality Projects, Unreal Engine 4 Game Development Essentials, and more!

Also of interest to game programmers is their new:

Humble GameMaker ReBundle, containing a rerun of the game-making applications, source code, and retail versions of the ensuing games made with the titular dev software.

There's a sampler freebie of three Android/Windows games available in return for newsletter signup.

And the Humble Mobile Bundle Puzzles Critical Hits has more items of interest to aspiring programmer/game devs.

The freebie sampler contains a number of bonus goodies for the game Slayaway Camp, including concept art and other behind-the-scenes dev stuff, as well as the soundtrack and wallpapers, and an audiobook reading of some haiku used in the game. There's also a freebie soundtrack for Human Resource Machine, a programming puzzle game included in the bundle which is really very nifty. I bought the Mac version in a previous Humble Bundle, and this was worth the price of the bundle to get the Android one.

Just a reminder that the Humble RPG Book Bundle Doctor Who is expiring later today at 11 AM Pacific Time, and the pop culture-exploring non-fiction Humble Book Bundle Fandom & Philosophy presented by Wiley-Blackwell still has a week to go.

Bundle of Holding's new RPG gamebook offering is for Palladium Fantasy, an old school fantasy adventure game from 1984 (the actual year, not the Orwell novel setting). Still available for a limited time are the previous Numenera and Numenera +2 Ninth World Discovery, a sci-fantasy exploration game in a world with both nanotechnology and strange creatures, and Rifts, a sci-fi adventure set on an alien-invaded Earth.