FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for some new sfnal bundles:

Humble Audiobook Bundle Doctor Who & Torchwood presented by Big Finish contains a selection of their official tie-in episodes for the popular franchise and spin-off, and there's also some bonus content for licensed Android game.

The Lovecraft Bundle from StoryBundle contains sf, fantasy, horror, and just plain weird fiction works based directly on the works of H. P. Lovecraft, including a World Fantasy Award-winning anthology, a few single-author collections of previously-published stories (some award-nominated), and some backlist novels (again, some award-nominated), alongside some more recently-written stuff by established authors.

[maddz]

Some titles in the Amazon.co.uk Countdown deals:

Pamela Belle The Silver City (The Silver City Trilogy Bk 1) at 99p
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silver-City...044736&sr=1-12

Richard Monaco Dead Blossoms: The Third Geisha at 99p (in the SF & Fantasy section but looks more like a historical mystery to me)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Blosso...9044736&sr=1-2

Ken McLeod Jesus Christ, Reanimator + iThink, therefore I am + The Entire Immense Superstructure (3 short stories) at 99p
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jesus-Chris...044776&sr=1-30

REDACTED property of The Mighty Mouse

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by maddz

Some titles in the Amazon.co.uk Countdown deals:

Star Wars Encyclopedia Galactica Bk 1 at 99p (the cover suggests this is an encyclopedia of characters but the blurb suggests this is a Star Wars universe novel so you pays your money and takes your choice)

It's neither one. It's a roleplaying game supplement that would require at least two licensing deals to even approach legality.

[maddz]

Already notified Steve Jackson and am removing the links I posted.

It's the charging money on a commercial site...

UPDATE 1
Heard back from Steve - "Very much appreciate the heads-up" and has been passed to the appropriate person to deal with it.

UPDATE 2
Now removed from Amazon.co.uk but Vol 2 is still available, and both are still available on .com (and presumably all the others). I'm leaving this for Steve and his legal people to deal with, but I suspect it's going to be like all the unauthorised Zelazny digital editions that used to appear every so often. Whether Steve will pass this onto the other rights holder is up to him; I personally wouldn't want the grief of dealing with them, but he may have to cover his own back by doing so (plus they have the resources to keep a watch).

My feeling is that making these items available commercially has taken the project out of the realm of fandom and personal use. However, I am not a lawyer let alone a copyright lawyer, so who I am to say.

[ReadingManiac]

Sharing a good deal on a Steampunk adventure story with airship pirates. .99 through March 15

The Wake of the Dragon

https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Dragon-S.../dp/B0080UVQIW

[Kieran Seymour]

Two of Kevin J Anderson's three original X-Files novels from the 1990s are currently just 66p at Amazon UK. Not spectacular reads, but they might pass the time while they're trying to hammer out a deal for Season 11 of the television series.

Ground Zero

Dr. Gregory, a renowned nuclear weapons researcher, is not only dead--he's been charred to a radioactive cinder.

Since this is a death on Federal property, Mulder and Scully are hastily called in. As FBI agents who specialize in unexplained phenomena, they are the investigators of The X-Files, strange and inexplicable cases which are also mysteries that the FBI doesn't want solved.

When a second victim, completely unrelated to nuclear science or Dr. Gregory is obliterated in the New Mexico desert, and then a third dies the same way in Washington, DC, Mulder and Scully begin to focus on the frightening dimension of their task. The bizarre deaths cannot be a coincidence. And as they work to uncover the secret unifying element that unites these deaths, it becomes clear that this twisted puzzle has fatal consequences for the entire world.

Antibodies

A novel based on the Emmy Award-winning television series created by Chris Carter.

When a disease-ravaged body is found in the smoldering ruins of the federally funded DyMar genetic research lab, Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully fear that a deadly, man-made plague is on the loose. As the FBI agents investigating the "X-Files" -- cases the bureau has deemed unsolvable -- Mulder and Scully pursue the truth wherever it leads, even into the labyrinthine corridors of the FBI... and beyond.

Racing to contain the lethal virus before it can spread, Mulder and Scully make a chilling discovery. Before his death, Dr. David Kennessy, a hotshot cancer researcher at DyMar, had been experimenting with a promising but highly dangerous technology: microscopic bio-machines that can cure any disease, heal any wound. In theory, this research could be a miracle cure, perhaps even a doorway to immortality. It was also the only way Dr. Kennessy could save his leukemia-stricken son.

But when a second corpse turns up, savagely mutilated from within, it's anything but theoretical. Could machines created to cure have learned to kill? Scrambling for answers, Mulder and Scully are opposed at every step by faceless enemies with all the resources of the government -- even perhaps of their own agency -- at their command. Enemies who will stop at nothing to ensure that the secret of immortality falls in the right hands -- their hands.

As sinister forces close in, Scully fights to save the life of an innocent boy while Mulder comes face to face with a crazed and desperate man. A man whose slightest touch brings agonizing death -- and perhaps a resurrection more horrible still

[lkmiller]

Winner of the 2012 Nebula, 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson is $2.99.

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/2312-Kim-Stan.../dp/B004RD8544
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/xDDVYyDkHkK_GPvyq46W0A

[maddz]

Kurt Vonnegut Jailbird at 99p on the Amazon.co.uk Kindle Daily Deal:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jailbird-Ku...9306748&sr=1-3

(I know, technically not SF but may be of interest to Vonnegut fans)

[orangekiwi]

Trading in Danger (Vatta's War book 1) by Elizabeth Moon is currently 99c at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/Trading-Dange.../dp/B000FBJBA4

I enjoyed this book and the rest of the series as fun quick reads and recommend them.

Ky Vatta is a highly promising military cadet with a great future ahead of her, until an apparently insignificant act of kindness makes her the focus of the Academy's wrath. She is forced to resign, her dreams shattered.

For the child of a rich trading family, this should mean disgrace on a grand scale. And yet, to her surprise, Ky is offered the captaincy of a ship headed for scrap with its final cargo.

Her orders are absolutely clear, but Ky quickly sees potential profit in altering the parameters of the journey. Because, whatever the risks, it's in her blood to trade - even if the currency is extreme danger.

[maddz]

A couple of Amazon UK Countdown Deals:

Juanita Coulson: Tomorrow's Heritage (Children of the Stars Bk 1) is 99p (finally! I must have missed it the first time round - I've got the other 3 in the series)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tomorrows-H...353585&sr=1-53

Andrew J Offut: The Iron Lords (War of the Gods on Earth Bk 1) is 99p (another repeat deal)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Iron-Lords-...353585&sr=1-55

[Difflugia]

If you're a fan of Alan Dean Foster's Flinx and Pip series, Orphan Star is $.99. In order of publication, this is the fourth book of the series.

Kobo
eBooks.com
Amazon

If you've never read them, the individual books don't need to be read in order. They were my favorite SF series when I was a teenager and I still enjoy them.

[Ricky D'Angelo]

Fahrenheit 441 by Rad Bradbury.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Ricky D'Angelo

Fahrenheit 451 by Rad Bradbury is free all formats.

I don't think that is a legal copy. Simon & Schuster (US) and HarperCollins (UK) own the rights.

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99 each in Canada and presumably the US from HarperCollins' William Morrow imprint (available at Kobo, should be matched at the usual other retailers):

• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (ISFDB), his standalone contemporary literary fairy tale-ish fantasy.
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (ISFDB), his standalone near-to-far future science fiction novel about the possible extinction of the species and how humanity deals with it. I've read this and thought that while it had rather interesting ideas, the execution was somewhat lacking for my personal tastes, especially with regards to the exploration of some of the things the story had set up. YMMV.
• Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (ISFDB), 1st novel in his Wicked Years series of The Wizard of Oz-based public domain remix fantasy, and basis of the popular musical. We've previously received this as a freebie.

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for the new Humble Bundle, which is an excellent offering, IMHO:

Humble Book Bundle Women of Science Fiction & Fantasy presented by Open Road Media contains their reprints of quality backlist fiction by notable authors including Robin McKinley, Octavia E. Butler, Elizabeth Hand, Pamela Sargent, Katherine Kurtz, and more.

I actually have a decent chunk of this from recent ORM sales, but still consider it well worth it even if I already own maybe a third of it in one form or other. Anyway, I approve of their efforts in bringing backlist books back into affordable e-print and am willing to throw some more money their way if I'm getting a good deal in the bargain.