Tag Archive: mercedes lackey

New on Kindle: Never Say Die Part 1

At this point I’ll just start covering a smaller subset of books that seem extremely interesting to me, because right now things in ebook-land have gotten to the point that “NOT on Kindle” would be more unusual.

It’s hard for me to choose at times.

Dancing on the Head of a Pin: A Remy Chandler Novel by Thomas E. Sniegoski

Buy: Kindle Store

Remy Chandler is really Remiel, an angel of the Christian stripe, and wanders the Earth as a private investigator. One day, in A Kiss Before Apocalypse, Heaven starts hiring him for jobs and life has been… interesting ever since.

Starring a talking dog (but Remy talks to animals, so…).

A Madness of Angels: Or The Resurrection of Matthew Swift by Kate Griffin

Buy: Kindle Store

A young sorcerer in London dies brutally at the hands of a evil mage and is resurrected two years later as… something else. Whatever he is now, he has vengeance on his mind.

Orcs: Bad Blood by Stan Nicholls

Buy: Kindle Store

The second in the Orcs series, where the orcs, usually the monstrous other side in its massive numbers, are trying to find peace away from relentless persecution, ever since thefirst book.

Fall of Thanes by Brian Ruckley

Buy: Kindle Store

The conclusion of the gritty low-fantasy trilogy, Godless World, following Bloodheir and Winterbirth.

Monster by A. Lee Martinez

Buy: Kindle Store

Can’t do a better blurb than what’s already there: “Meet Monster. Meet Judy. Two humans who don’t like each other much, but together must fight dragons, fire-breathing felines, trolls, Inuit walrus dogs, and a crazy cat lady – for the future of the universe.”

I am really quite curious about the walrus dogs.

Orphan’s Triumph by Robert Buettner

Buy: Kindle Store

Part of the Jason Wander series, a troubled teenage orphan in a future where aliens are attacking earth (indeed, they killed his family). A long time ago, he had to choose between the Army or jail. Fortunately he made the choice that resulted in the more interesting series of books.

The series thus far is all accounted for on the Kindle:

  1. Orphanage
  2. Orphan’s Destiny
  3. Orphan’s Journey
  4. Orphan’s Alliance
  5. Orphan’s Triumph

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

Buy: Kindle Store

A new stand-alone book set in the world of his acclaimed First Law series (not yet available for the Kindle), a war-mongering duke decides have his far-too-deadly leading mercenary, Monza Murcatto, murdered, and leaves her for dead. In this awfully genre-blind act, the duke is going to get what’s coming to him.

The Company by K. J. Parker

Buy: Kindle Store

Parker, who penned what can only be defined as a hard low-fantasy war series, turns a new story about four retired soldiers seeking peace on an island with a hidden temptation, into a reflection on what happens to the machinery in people’s heads and their relationships after war.

Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks

Buy: Kindle Store

Library Journal’s description: “On the run from a cult of intergalactic religious fanatics who want her death, the Lady Sharrow emerges from retirement to seek out a powerful artifact that may save her life–the legendary Lady Gun, a weapon that kills by altering the reality around it.”

I’m going to take Banks at his word from the title that this is a book of his which, while I would enjoy reading it, would also leave me emotionally drained at the end.

Black and White by Jackie Kessler, Caitlin Kittredge

Buy: Kindle Store

In the Corporate Owned Future, two superheroes, Jet and Iridium, grew up together, went to superhero academy—and then a tragedy set them apart. One is now the Hero of New Chicago, and the other is a Hero with Bad Publicity. When a reporter disappears and Iridium is suspected, there’s either going to be a throw-down or a reconciliation or even something else.

This particular superhero battle is anything but Black and White.

The Burning Skies by David J. Williams

Buy: Kindle Store

Apparently most people’s reactions to the predecessor in the Autumn Rain series, The Mirrored Heavens, was along the lines of “… waaaoooh.” Featuring a female protagonist in a darker, grittier cyberpunk future, in The Burning Skies Claire Haskell takes more of a back seat compared to The Mirrored Heavens, while the political machinations of the Throne are front and center.

Charmed Destinies by Mercedes Lackey, Rachel Lee, Catherine Asaro

Buy: Kindle Store

Three high fantasy romance novellas in one package. Nice.

Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy

Buy: Kindle Store

A Seattle cop discovers her shamanistic powers. And also that she has to save the world from conquest by the Fae. In, like, three days. No pressure.

The first book in the series, the other two—Thunderbird Falls and Coyote Dreams—are also on the Kindle at the same time, as publishers learn the wisdom of/gain the ability of putting out as many series books as possible out, all at once.

Staying Dead by Laura Gilman

Buy: Kindle Store

An urban fantasy romance series set in Manhattan, featuring Wren, a Retriever (finds dangerous magical things for you) and her lover Sergei, an agent who negotiates the fees involved. Things, you know, get interesting in multiple ways.

The complete Retrievers series is now available in the Kindle store, including:

  1. Staying Dead
  2. Curse the Dark
  3. Bring It On1
  4. Burning Bridges
  5. Free Fall
  6. Blood from Stone

Gloriana by Michael Moorcock

Buy: Kindle Store

Won the World Fantasy Award, although it’s a book I find difficult to like. I mention it in passing partly because of the WFA, and partly because there’s a 2004 flamewar going on in the Amazon reviews, back before Amazon had proper forums to have flamewars in (seriously, with 1-star review replies to each other and everything).

  1. I can only assume the last word was added to bring the title into “respectable” territory. BRING IT would be an excellent book title…. []

Watching the Skies: Update October 2008

A few months ago Tor.com opened a limited time offer of free eBooks, including the Kindle-edible format of Mobipocket, and I noted that I would be watching the skies for new books in the Kindle store by those authors. In particular, the second, third, etc. books of the various series whose first hit book was part of the original offer (now expired).

Well, now is the update, which is a bit late in coming. These are books in addition to what was mentioned in the previous watching the skies series.

Tobias S. Buckell

He brought you Crystal Rain, and now the third book of this loose series is available. Sly Mongoose and Crystal Rain, as well as the second book Ragamuffin, are set in the same world, but are otherwise stand-alone novels.

Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Buckell

Buy: 16.01

Peter David

As previously mentioned, along with other books, also a zillion Star Trek books. Here’s a collection of the highest-rated ones, including the classic Imzadi.

And yes, there is a slight Star Trek nerd hidden inside me, though I’ve been out of touch since season 2 of Deep Space Nine, except for a random look at Voyager and then Enterprise, at which point I lost all hope.

Anyways!…

Imzadi by Peter David

Buy: 3.60

The Next Generation classic.

The Captain’s Daughter by Peter David

Buy: 4.79

Star Trek movies II – VI, Captain Sulu!

The Siege by Peter David

Buy: 3.99

Deep Space Nine.

Dark Allies by Peter David

Buy: 4.74

Part of the hit series of adventures of the U.S.S. Excalibur.

Renaissance by Peter David

Buy: 5.59

Excaliber crew sent across the world; a focus on Dr. Selar, a female Vulcan. Now I want to buy this book to erase Enterprise’s… hm… how shall I describe it… complete and utter violation of Vulcan biology.

David Drake

He brought you Lord of the Isles; another book in the long, long running series are available:

Servant of the Dragon by David Drake

Buy: 6.39

Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

They brought you The Outstretched Shadow, and now book two of the Obsidian trilogy is available, as well as two books of the successive Enduring Flame trilogy (more of the latter are not yet available in any form):

To Light a Candle by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Buy: 7.19

Book 2 of the Obsidian trilogy.

The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Buy: 7.99

Book 1 of the Enduring Flame trilogy.

The Phoenix Endangered by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Buy: 9.99

Book 2 of the Enduring Flame trilogy.

Jane Lindskold

She brought you Through Wolf’s Eyes; books 3, 4, and 5 of that series are now available, with 4 and 5 mentioned before, leaving the third:

Wolf Hunting by Jane Lindskold

Buy: 7.19

L. E. Modesitt

I… do not know where to start with him, since he’s one of the super-prolific writers with several series to his name. He brought you Flash, so let’s begin with that and cover his stand-alone novels. There’s much more available, including entire series, in both fantasy and science fiction.

Archform: Beauty by L.E. Modesitt

Buy: 6.99

The sequel to Flash in the Archform duology.

The Eternity Artifact by L. E. Modesitt

Buy: 7.19

Stand-alone science fiction.

Adiamante by L. E. Modesitt

Buy: 5.59

Stand-alone science fiction.

The Elysium Commission by L. E. Modesitt

Buy: 7.99

Stand-alone science fiction.

Brandon Sanderson

He of Mistborn: The Final Empire fame. Now available is the rest of the trilogy:

The Well of Ascension: Book Two of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Buy: 9.99

The Hero of Ages: Book Three of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Buy: 9.99

John Scalzi

He of Old Man’s War fame. All his books are now in the shop. The latest among them are:

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Buy: 7.99

Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi

Buy: 9.99

Robert Charles Wilson

He brought you Spin (and others). Added to the list is now:

The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson

Buy: 9.99

I’ll try to keep a sharper eye out for updates when possible. There’s no way to sort by “just added” in the Kindle Store, only by publication date, and even so sometimes that’s very, very off.

Possibly messing around with AWS will have better results.

New on Kindle: September 16th

The Phoenix Endangered: Book Two of The Enduring Flame
by Mercedes Lackey

Buy: 9.99

(Book One, The Phoenix Unchanged, is also available on Kindle for $7.19.)

The Wyrmling Horde: The Seventh Book of the Runelords
by David Farland

Buy: 9.99

(You can find the other Runelords books on Kindle as well.)

Nature’s Blueprint by Dan Hooper

Buy: 9.99

Not fiction, but from a science fiction fan’s perspective, intriguing. (I like to channel switch between fiction and non-fiction in the day. I heart my Kindle.)

Watching the Skies: Tor eBook Watch for 7/31, part 1

There’s been some excitement and consternation caused by Tor.com’s free eBook bonanza promotion, now expired. Right now, while deals are in progress, many of the books do not currently have electronic versions of all of the rest of their series.

I’m going to keep watching the skies for all the authors featured in the bonanza and announcing on Spontaneous Derivation when they show up.

In the meantime, here are the currently available Kindle eBooks for the five of the “bonanza” authors (more to follow in parts 2, 3, 4, 5 later), so get reading!

John Scalzi (Old Man’s War)
Robert Charles Wilson (Spin)
Jo Walton (Farthing)
  • The King’s Name – Actually, the second of two books in her alternate universe King Arthur
Mercedes Lackey (The Outstretched Shadow)
Tobias S. Buckell (Crystal Rain)
Multiple short stories at less than $1 a pop:

Fun Facts About Tor’s Free eBooks Authors, Part 1


Photography: tvol

Hopefully you’ve already gone and filled your Kindle with free Mobis from Tor Books’ promotion (expires July 27th, 2008).

Here are some Fun Facts about the writers of 9 of the 24 books available:

Mistborn – Fantasy – Book 1 in a Series
by Brandon Sanderson

In preparation for writing the final book in The Wheel of Time, he re-read the entire series and blogged about the experience.

Old Man’s War – Science Fiction – Book 1 in a Series
by John Scalzi

John Scalzi, besides running the Whatever hangout, is generally hailed as the new Heinlein. I can tell you he’s a less preachy version of Heinlein, if that’s so. His most famous article, across national newspapers and the web alike, is Being Poor.

Spin – Science Fiction – Standalone – Thriller
by Robert Charles Wilson

A fun read from his website: Human Contingency and Finding What You Want at the Bookstore.

Farthing – Alternative History – Book 1 in a Series
by Jo Walton

She currently blogs not just on her LJ, but also on Tor.com, starting off with the kick-ass and hive-kicking entry The Singularity Problem and Non-Problem.

The Outstretched Shadow – Fantasy – Book 1 of the Obsidian Trilogy
by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Look, even more eBooks of her works from Baen! And he wrote the novel adaptation of the Merlin miniseries; first chapter samples here.

Crystal Rain – Science Fiction – Book 1 of a Series
by Tobias S. Buckell

Dude blogs a lot, by which I mean he’s one of those writers who know-know about blogging.

Lord of the Isles – Fantasy – Book 1 of a Series
by David Drake

You know, I honestly think this is the only heroic fantasy series out there that draws inspiration from Sumerian mythology. He talks about that, and writing the book, here.

Through Wolf’s Eyes – Fantasy – Book 1 of a Series
by Jane Lindskold

Unlike quite a few folks in the fantasy magic wolves business, Jane Lindskold knows about wolves.

The Disunited States of America – Alternate History/Science Fiction – In a Series
by Harry Turtledove

Many know his alternative history work, but his YA Crosstime Traffic series has more than a touch of science fiction. And here’s an audio interview with the master of alternative history himself.

More fun facts for books 10 – 17 and books 18 – 24 tomorrow and Saturday.