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Showing posts with label Steampunk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steampunk. Show all posts

Monday, May 27, 2013

Nook Daily Find 5/27

Cold Magic ($6.64 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the first novel in the Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliott [Orbit/Hachette], is the Nook Daily Find. I bought this the last time it was on sale at this price and expect it will drop on Kindle later this morning, for those that missed it, then.
Book Description
The Wild Hunt is stirring - and the dragons are finally waking from their long sleep...

Cat Barahal was the only survivor of the flood that took her parents. Raised by her extended family, she and her cousin, Bee, are unaware of the dangers that threaten them both. Though they are in beginning of the Industrial Age, magic - and the power of the Cold Mages - still hold sway.

Now, betrayed by her family and forced to marry a powerful Cold Mage, Cat will be drawn into a labyrinth of politics. There she will learn the full ruthlessness of the rule of the Cold Mages. What do the Cold Mages want from her? And who will help Cat in her struggle against them?

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Deal of the Day - Brass and Bone (DF)

Brass and Bone ($3.03 Kindle), by Cynthia Gael, is today's Deal of the Day at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $0.70.

Book Description
Being Simon Thorne, friend and collaborator to Lady Abigail Moran, isn't easy. Yes, being a daring thief does have its charms. But I still haven't convinced Abigail that she loves me, and thievery, for all the romantical writers say of it, is not the way to wealth. Especially if Abigail insists we continuously repair the airship with our illgotten gains.

So when an old friend summons us to his estate and offers us a daring job with a hefty paycheck, we're happy to accept. The mission: use our airship to transport secret cargo halfway across the globe. Oh, and we mustn't forget to take along the witch and her sinister keeper. A witch more beguiling than expected and her keeper—or is that companion?—with secrets darker than one could imagine.

Alas. Perhaps I have finally bitten off more than I can chew...
Get the book from Diesel (DRM-Free); be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Bargain Book Roundup

I swear, the fact that I have a terrible cold and feel like one of the walking dead has nothing to do with why I've picked The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, as the first title to highlight today. I love this series (on TV) and hated that Dish blocked it for a while, while they fought with AMC over the broadcast rights. I'm sending this one to my Kindle to be read soon.
Book Description
In the Walking Dead universe, there is no greater villain than The Governor. The despot who runs the walled-off town of Woodbury, he has his own sick sense of justice: whether it’s forcing prisoners to battle zombies in an arena for the townspeople’s amusement, or chopping off the appendages of those who cross him. The Governor was voted “Villain of the Year” by Wizard magazine the year he debuted, and his story arc was the most controversial in the history of the Walking Dead comic book series. Now, for the first time, fans of The Walking Dead will discover how The Governor became the man he is, and what drove him to such extremes.

The Aylesford Skull ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), a new novel in James P. Blaylock's Tale of Langdon St. Ives series, dropped first dropped at B&N, but has now caught up at Amazon. For those new to his work, you are in luck, as Subterranean Press has the omnibus edition, The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives, on sale for $4.99. At over 500 pages, it includes both of the earlier novels and several short stories in the series, along with an introduction by Tim Powers and illustrations by JK Potter.
Book Description
It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives - brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer - is at home in Aylesford with his family. However, a few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay; the crew murdered and pitched overboard. In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of Langdon St. Ives.

When Dr. Narbondo returns to kidnap his four-year-old son Eddie and then vanishes into the night, St. Ives and his factotum Hasbro race to London in pursuit...

The first new steampunk novel in over twenty years from one of the genre's founding fathers!

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), an anthology edited by John Joseph Adams, is worth picking up if you spot even one of your favorite authors below.
Book Description
From Victor Frankenstein to Lex Luthor, from Dr. Moreau to Dr. Doom, readers have long been fascinated by insane plans for world domination and the madmen who devise them. Typically, we see these villains through the eyes of good guys. This anthology, however, explores the world of mad scientists and evil geniuses—from their own wonderfully twisted point of view.

An all-star roster of bestselling authors—including Diana Gabaldon, Daniel Wilson, Austin Grossman, Naomi Novik, and Seanan McGuire…twenty-two great storytellers all told—have produced a fabulous assortment of stories guaranteed to provide readers with hour after hour of high-octane entertainment born of the most megalomaniacal mayhem imaginable.

Everybody loves villains. They’re bad; they always stir the pot; they’re much more fun than the good guys, even if we want to see the good guys win. Their fiendish schemes, maniacal laughter, and limitless ambition are legendary, but what lies behind those crazy eyes and wicked grins? How—and why—do they commit these nefarious deeds? And why are they so set on taking over the world?

If you’ve ever asked yourself any of these questions, you’re in luck: It’s finally time for the madmen’s side of the story.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo) is the first novel in James Runcie's Grantchester Mystery series. Looks like another novel is due out this year for this series, but no pre-order pages are up yet. Instead, you mightconsider his standalone novel, The Colour of Heaven, currently on sale at $3.79, although it doesn't have the same reviews as his more recent work.
Book Description
It is 1953, the coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II . Sidney Chambers, vicar of Grantchester and honorary canon of Ely Cathedral, is a thirty-two-year-old bachelor. Tall, with dark brown hair, eyes the color of hazelnuts, and a reassuringly gentle manner, Sidney is an unconventional clerical detective. He can go where the police cannot.

Together with his roguish friend, inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney inquires into the suspect suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, a scandalous jewelry theft at a New Year’s Eve dinner party, the unexplained death of a jazz promoter’s daughter, and a shocking art forgery that puts a close friend in danger. Sidney discovers that being a detective, like being a clergyman, means that you are never off duty, but he nonetheless manages to find time for a keen interest in cricket, warm beer, and hot jazz—as well as a curious fondness for a German widow three years his junior.

With a whiff of Agatha Christie and a touch of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown, The Grantchester Mysteries introduces a wonderful new hero into the world of detective fiction.

Farside ($1.99 Kindle, B&N) is definitely a must-buy for fans of Six-time Hugo-Award winner Ben Bova, at this price.
Book Description
Farside, the side of the Moon that never faces Earth, is the ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting for a tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder.

Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some thirty light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world, photographs and spectra that will show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth, and if it bears life.

Farside will include the largest optical telescope in the solar system as well as a vast array of radio antennas, the most sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference of Earth’s radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the Moon’s solid body.

Building the Farside observatory is a complex, often dangerous task. On the airless surface of the Moon, under constant bombardment of hard radiation and infalling micrometeoroids, builders must work in cumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns—mechanical and emotional—are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of them fatal.

What they find stuns everyone, and the human race will never be the same.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Saved by the Rancher ($0.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the first novel in The Hunted series by Jennifer Ryan, is for romance fans, so you don't think I've forgotten about you.
Book Description
From the moment rancher Jack Turner rescues Jenna Caldwell Merrick, he is determined to help her. Soon, he is doing more than tend her wounds; he is mending her heart. Jenna is a woman on the run—hunted down by her ex-husband, David Merrick, from the day she left him, taking part of his company with her, to the second she finds herself in the safety of Jack's ranch. More than just a haven, Jack's offering the love, family, and home she thought were out of reach.

Jack's support will give Jenna the strength she needs to reclaim her life. The hunted will become the hunter, while David gets what he deserves, when they have an explosive confrontation in the boardroom of Merrick International. But not before Jack and Jenna enter into a fight … for their lives.

If you are a programmer, you know that computer books can be costly and you always need to keep up-to-date. O'Reilly has a special on their pre-release books right now. Get 50% off using coupon code WKEARSE (expires Mar. 7, 2013) and remember that you'll get all updates to their books, for life, it purchased direct.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Bargain Book Roundup

Amazon has priced matched B&N (finally) on Otherkin, by Nina Berry, for those who wanted to get it on Kindle or to get the discounted companion audiobook.

If you have any of the $1 MP3 promo amounts on your account (from buying an Android App), the can't be combined on a single MP3 purchase (at least, my two didn't), so if you are getting one of the $1.99 MP3 albums on sale today, the other 99 cents will come out of your gift card balance or default payment type. If you want to confirm the payment details before buying (which you can't do with one-click), send the album to yourself as a gift; the confirmation page before your send it has all the payment types that will be used.

Skies of Fire ($0.99), the first novel in the urban fantasy/steampunk Ether Chronicles series by RITA® Award-nominated romance author Zoe Archer [Avon Impulse/HarperCollins]; the publisher is also discounting the second book in the series, Skies of Steel ($2.99), so you might want to pick it up now, too.

Skies of Fire
Captain Christopher Redmond has just one weakness: the alluring spy who loved and left him years before . . . when he was still just a man. Now he's superhuman—a Man O' War, made as part of the British Navy's weapons program—and his responsibility is to protect the skies of Europe. If only he could forget Louisa Shaw.

Louisa, a British Naval Intelligence agent, has never left a job undone. But when her assignment is compromised, the one man who can help her complete her mission is also the only man ever to tempt her body and heart. As burning skies loom and passion ignites, Louisa and Christopher must slip behind enemy lines if they are to deliver a devastating strike against their foe . . . and still get out alive.
Skies of Steel
In the world of The Ether Chronicles, the Mechanical War rages on, and appearances are almost always deceiving . . .

The prim professor
Daphne Carlisle may be a scholar, but she's far more comfort-able out in the field than lost in a stack of books. Still, when her parents are kidnapped by a notorious warlord, she knows she'll need more than quick thinking if she is to reach them in time. Daphne's only hope for getting across enemy territory is an airship powered and navigated by Mikhail Denisov, a rogue Man O' War who is as seductive as he is untrustworthy.

The jaded mercenary
Mikhail will do anything for the right price, and he's certain he has this mission—and Daphne—figured out: a simple job and a beautiful but sheltered Englishwoman. But as they traverse the skies above the Mediterranean and Arabia, Mikhail learns the fight ahead is anything but simple, and his lovely passenger is not entirely what she seems. The only thing Mikhail is certain of is their shared desire—both unexpected and dangerous.

Night of Fire ($0.99), the first novel in the Ether Chronicles series by Nico Rosso [Avon Impulse/HarperCollins]; the publisher is also discounting the second book in the series, Night of Steel ($1.99), so you might want to pick it up now, too. I know what you are thinking ... isn't that the series in the post above? Well, almost. Aren't the titles awfully close to the same? It turns out that Nico is Zoe's husband and both are writing for the same publisher. They each have out two books in the same series, but the two series don't interweave, from what I can tell. His series is a bit more western in flavor, too, from the synopsis, and the second in his series is quite a bit shorter (Zoe went for longer in her second title).

Night of Fire
Night of fire, night of passion

US Army Upland Ranger Tom Knox always knew going home wouldn’t be easy. Three years ago, he skipped town, leaving behind the only woman who ever mattered; now that he’s seen the front lines of war, he’s ready to do what he must to win her back.

Rosa Campos is long past wasting tears on Tom Knox, and now that she’s sheriff of Thornville, she has more than enough to do. Especially when a five-story rock-eating mining machine barrels toward the town she’s sworn to protect.

Tom’s the last person Rosa expects to see riding to her aid on his ether-borne mechanical horse. She may not be ready to forgive, but Rosa can’t deny that having him at her side brings back blissful memories . . . even as it reignites a flame more dangerous than the enemy threatening to destroy them both.

Tom’s the last person Rosa expects to see riding to her aid on his ether-borne mechanical horse. She may not be ready to forgive, but Rosa can’t deny that having him at her side brings back blissful memories . . . even as it reignites a flame more dangerous than the enemy threatening to destroy them both.
Night of Steel
Return to The Ether Chronicles, where the skies above the American West are about to get wilder than ever…

Bounty hunter Anna Blue always finds her fugitive. But her latest mission is filled with mystery: a high price for an eccentric inventor. And her biggest rival, Jack Hawkins—a startlingly handsome, entirely unsettling man whose abilities match her own—is hunting the same bounty. Neither will back down.

When a rogue Man O' War flies his airship into the California skies, guns blazing, Anna and Jack are forced to team up or die. But it isn't the danger that has them ready to flare like gunpowder. They've circled each other for years as competitors only. Fighters and outsiders, they never thought they'd find a kindred soul. As hot passion and raw need draw them together, can they survive this mission long enough to track the most elusive fugitives…their hearts?

I bought my copy of Anathem ($1.99), by Neal Stephenson [HarperCollins], quite some time ago, but those who missed it last summer now get a second chance (and at half the price it was last time). If you like getting a bargain, per page price, you'll love this at over 1,000 pages (and will be more glad you aren't lugging it around, as I did the first time I read it, long ago).

If you pre-ordered The Mongoliad, the third title in The Foreworld Saga, of which Stephenson is one of the co-authors, then you should see it your library today. For those in the UK, check your invoice, as there was apparently a price drop today (to £1.99), but after the initial release at midnight (UK time); you can return it in your MYK page and then buy it again at the lower price, if you were overcharged.
Book Description
Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable -- yet strangely inverted -- world.

Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside -- the Extramuros -- for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates -- at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.

Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros -- a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose -- as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world -- as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.

Hellhole ($2.99), the first (massive) novel in the HellHole Trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson [Macmillan], is another one you'll be glad you aren't lugging around in hardcover. Both are past Nebula Award nominees and Herbert was nominated for a Hugo for his biography of his father (Frank Herbert).
Book Description
Only the most desperate colonists dare to make a new home on Hellhole. Reeling from a recent asteroid impact, tortured with horrific storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and churning volcanic eruptions, the planet is a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits, and charlatans…but also a haven for dreamers and independent pioneers.

Against all odds, an exiled general named Adolphus has turned Hellhole into a place of real opportunity for the desperate colonists who call the planet their home. While the colonists are hard at work developing the planet, General Adolphus secretly builds alliances with the leaders of the other Deep Zone worlds, forming a clandestine coalition against the tyrannical, fossilized government responsible for their exile.

What no one knows is this: the planet Hellhole, though damaged and volatile, hides an amazing secret. Deep beneath its surface lies the remnants of an obliterated alien civilization and the buried memories of its unrecorded past that, when unearthed, could tear the galaxy apart.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

The Devil's Star ($1.99), by Jo Nesbo, translated by Don Bartlett [HarperCollins], is the fifth title in his bestselling Harry Hole series. My mother liked the series so well that we already have them all (well, except The Bat, the first in the series, which will finally be released for the US this summer and The Redeemer, #5 in the series, which I'm now seeing as a pre-order for May, but only in Hardcover so far) This is a good price for those who are catching up. The second and third in the series are also currently discounted under $5.
Book Description
Oslo is sweltering in the summer heat when a young woman is murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a pentagram—a five-pointed star—is found under her eyelid. Detective Harry Hole is assigned the case with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. He believes Tom is behind a gang of arms smugglers—and the murder of his partner. But Harry, an off-the-rails alcoholic, is barely holding on to his job and has little choice but to play nice.

Five days later, another woman is reported missing. When her severed finger is found adorned with a star-shaped red diamond ring, Harry fears a serial killer is on the loose. Determined to find the killer and expose the crooked Tom Waaler, Harry discovers the two investigations melding in unexpected ways. But pursuing the truth comes at a price, and soon Harry finds himself on the run and forced to make difficult decisions about a future he may not live to see.

One of the brightest stars of Scandinavian crime writing, Jo Nesbø has been compared to Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and Henning Mankell. His novels are bestsellers throughout Europe, acclaimed by critics and revered by aficionados of thrillers and mysteries. Brilliantly plotted and paced, The Devil's Star shows Nesbø at his absolute best, combining powerful emotional resonance with truly stunning suspense.

Coyote Blue ($2.99), by Christopher Moore, is a standalone novel that you should have on your TBR list, if you are looking for a light-hearted read (just don't read it someplace where laughing out loud might be embarrassing). I'm pretty sure this is less than I paid, back when Fictionwise was an option (long ago). Another discounted choice from the same author is Lamb ($1.99), although it might be a bit too irreverent for some.

Coyote Blue
From master of subversive humor Christopher Moore comes a quirky, irreverent novel of love, myth, metaphysics, outlaw biking, angst, and outrageous redemption.

As a boy, he was Samson Hunts Alone -- until a deadly misunderstanding with the law forced him to flee the Crow reservation at age fifteen. Today he is Samuel Hunter, a successful Santa Barbara insurance salesman with a Mercedes, a condo, and a hollow, invented life. Then one day, destiny offers him the dangerous gift of love -- in the exquisite form of Calliope Kincaid -- and a curse in the unheralded appearance of an ancient god by the name of Coyote. Coyote, the trickster, has arrived to reawaken the mystical storyteller within Sam...and to seriously screw up his existence in the process.
Lamb
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff, the Messiah's best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work "reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior's pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there's no one who loves Josh more -- except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala -- and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Three Free Books from Nightshade (DF)

Our friends over at Nightshade Books are giving everyone three free books for the holiday. I already have two of them, from past giveaways, but still found one to add to my TBR list. First, the Amazon links (for synopsis and links to read reviews), then the instructions to get the book follow.

Agatha H. and the Airship City ($7.99 Kindle), by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio.
Book Description
The Industrial Revolution has escalated into all-out warfare. It has been eighteen years since the Heterodyne Boys, benevolent adventurers and inventors, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Today, Europe is ruled by the Sparks, dynasties of mad scientists ruling over — and terrorizing — the hapless population with their bizarre inventions and unchecked power, while the downtrodden dream of the Hetrodynes' return.

At Transylvania Polygnostic University, a pretty, young student named Agatha Clay seems to have nothing but bad luck. Incapable of building anything that actually works, but dedicated to her studies, Agatha seems destined for a lackluster career as a minor lab assistant. But when the University is overthrown by the ruthless tyrant Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Agatha finds herself a prisoner aboard his massive airship Castle Wulfenbach — and it begins to look like she might carry a spark of Mad Science after all.

Of Blood and Honey ($7.99 Kindle), by Stina Leicht.
Book Description
Liam never knew who his father was. The town of Derry had always assumed that he was the bastard of a protestant — his mother never spoke of him, and Liam assumed he was dead. But when the war between the fallen and the fey began to heat up, Liam and his family are pulled into a conflict that they didn’t know existed. A centuries old conflict between supernatural forces seems to mirror the political divisions in 1970’s era Ireland, and Liam is thrown headlong into both conflicts! Only the direct intervention of Liam’s real father, and a secret catholic order dedicated to fighting “The Fallen” can save Liam... from the mundane and supernatural forces around him, and from the darkness that lurks within him.

The Emperors Knife ($7.99 Kindle), the first title in the Tower and Knife series by Mazarkis Williams.
Book Description
There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague that marks each victim with a fragment of a greater design. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until the victim dies in agony or becomes a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence.

The lost prince Sarmin, the emperor's only surviving brother, lies locked in a hidden room. As the pattern draws closer to the palace he is at last remembered: now he awaits a bride, Mesema, a Windreader from the northern plains. She is accustomed to riding free across the grasslands and finds the Imperial Court stifling, but she soon realizes the politicking is not a game. It is in deadly earnest.

Eyul, the imperial assassin, is burdened by the atrocities he has committed. As commanded, he bears the emperor's Knife to the desert in search of a cure for the pattern-markings.

As long-planned conspiracies boil over into open violence, the enemy moves towards victory. Now only three people stand in his way: a lost prince, a world-weary killer, and a young girl from the steppes who saw a path in a pattern once, among the waving grasses.

To get your free books, follow these directions:
Email happythanksgiving@nightshadebooks.com and you'll receive an auto response from us with a username, password and link to our download site where you'll be able to download the .epub or .mobi files of some of our most exciting and appropriately scrumptious titles.
You'll get a link back almost immediately via email (they've apparently set up a responder bot, rather than processing by hand, as has happened in the past). Click the link in the email and then on the web page that opens, you'll find both Mobi and EPUB download links for all three books. After you click the first link, you'll be promoted for the username and password in your email message; after that, the books download immediately upon clicking.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Free Book - Farewell Horizontal (K)

Farewell Horizontal (Main/UK), by K. W. Jeter, is free in the Kindle store this weekend. Originally published by St. Martin's/Roc, the author has released it in the Kindle store for a new generation to enjoy.
Book Description
You're either on the inside or the outside -- and either way, you're in trouble...

A hustling young artist finds himself on the run from warring tribes, mysterious conspirators, body-swapping hackers and more, as he tries to both survive and strike it rich on the vertical surface of a skyscraper big enough to be its own world.

Science fiction and fantasy author K. W. Jeter, noted for his cyberpunk and steampunk titles, creates a whole new kind of thriller with this sf classic.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Free Book - The Hunchback Assignments (K) [UK]

The Hunchback Assignments (Main/UK), by Arthur Slade, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store, courtesy of publisher Dava Enterprises. In the US, it's published by Random House and priced at $8.99.
Book Description
A book for fans of James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and Charles Dickens...

This fast-paced adventure is set in the heart of Victorian London. When Mr. Socrates, a member of the shadowy Permanent Association, hears of a hunchbacked infant with the ability to transform his appearance, he decides to take him in. Naming him Modo, he raises the boy in isolation, training him to become a secret agent.

When Modo turns fourteen, his education is complete. He must first survive in London on his own, then, with the help of beautiful Octavia, he uncovers a sinister plot being carried out in the very sewers beneath London.

Will they be able to stop the mad scientist Dr. Hyde and his even more terrifying associates before they unleash their monstrous plans upon unsuspecting Londoners?

*Winner of the $25,000 TD Children's Literature award 2010, Canada
*Winner of Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire 2011, France
*Nominated for fourteen other awards in the U.S., Canada, and France

Grade Level: 7 and up

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Free Book - The Hunter (K/N)

The Hunter, the first title in the steampunk series The Legend Chronicles by Theresa Meyers, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.
Book Description
They're the Chosen—Winchester, Remington and Colt—brothers trained to hunt down supernatural beings using the latest steam-powered gadgetry. It's a hard legacy to shoulder, and it's about to get a lot more dangerous. . .

A Devil Of A Job

Colt Jackson has gotten his name on many a wanted poster with success in the family business: hunting supernaturals across the frontier. Lately, though, there's a sulfur stink in the wind and the Darkin population is exploding. A rift in the worlds is appearing. To close it, Colt will have to do the unthinkable and work with a demon to pass arcane boundaries no human alone can cross.

Except when he summons his demon, he doesn't get some horned monstrosity: he gets a curvy redheaded succubus named Lilly, who's willing to make a bargain to become human again. He also gets Lilly's secret expertise on the machinations on the dark side of the rift. And her charm and cleverness help to get them out of what his silver-loaded pistol and mechanical horse can't. Of course, when all hell breaks loose, he might have to sacrifice his soul. But what's adventure without a little risk?
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Free Book - Agatha H and the Airship City (K)

Agatha H and the Airship City, by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio, is free in the Kindle store.
Book Description
Adventure! Romance! Mad Science!

The Industrial Revolution has escalated into all-out warfare. It has been eighteen years since the Heterodyne Boys, benevolent adventurers and inventors, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Today, Europe is ruled by the Sparks, dynasties of mad scientists ruling over -- and terrorizing - the hapless population with their bizarre inventions and unchecked power, while the downtrodden dream of the Hetrodynes' return.

At Transylvania Polygnostic University, a pretty, young student named Agatha Clay seems to have nothing but bad luck. Incapable of building anything that actually works, but dedicated to her studies, Agatha seems destined for a lackluster career as a minor lab assistant. But when the University is overthrown by the ruthless tyrant Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Agatha finds herself a prisoner aboard his massive airship Castle Wulfenbach -- and it begins to look like she might carry a spark of Mad Science after all.

From Phil and Kaja Foglio, creators of the Hugo, Eagle, and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic Girl Genius, comes Agatha H and the Airship City, a gaslamp fantasy filled to bursting with Adventure! Romance! and Mad Science!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Free Book - Skies of Fire [K-AU]

Skies of Fire: The Ether Chronicles ($1.99 US/ $0.00 AU), a steampunk romance by Zoe Archer, is free to pre-order in the Kindle store for Australia customers only. No cover yet and nothing on her website other than the teaser for the title; no doubt this will go up in Australia before release and from the pricing is probably a novella length title (or incorrectly priced for the US, as well).
Book Description
Man made of metal and flesh

Captain Christopher Redmond has just one weakness: the alluring spy who loved and left him years before…when he was still just a man. Now he's superhuman—a Man O' War, made as part of the British Navy's weapons program—and his responsibility is to protect the skies of Europe. If only he could forget Louisa Shaw.

A most inconvenient desire

Louisa, a British Naval Intelligence agent, has never left a job undone. But when her assignment is compromised, the one man who can help her complete her mission is also the only man ever to tempt her body and heart. As burning skies loom and passion ignites, Louisa and Christopher must slip behind enemy lines if they are to deliver a devastating strike against their foe . . . and still get out alive.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Free Short Story (Kindle) - The Quaint Christmas (UK)

The Quaint Christmas, a part of the Cornelius Quaint Chronicles by Darren Craske, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store. So far, it isn't available for US customers, but both of the titles in the series are there, so it should cross over, eventually. Speaking of the series, it's also on sale - it's a fantastic deal for those in the UK, but a decent markdown for those in the US, as well.
Book Description
A superbly festive short story.

It is Christmas Eve and Cornelius Quaint arrives at a tavern in a most contemptible part of Victorian London. His mission – to procure a Christmas feast for his travelling circus, armed with nothing but a penny, his Eskimo valet Butter, and his own dazzlingly brilliant mind. Can Quaint pull off his con, or will he and Butter find themselves strung up by their gizzards before the night is through?

For readers of The Equivoque Principle and The Eleventh Plague, The Quaint Christmas sees the welcome return of dashing magician and part-time sleuth, Cornelius Quaint. For those yet to be acquainted, prepare to discover a fantastic adventure series inspired by the penny dreadfuls and newspaper serials of the Victorian age.

The Equivoque Principle ($3.99 US; $4.52 CA; £0.49 UK) is the first title in the Cornelius Quaint Chronicles. This one was free on Kindle early last year, so long time readers may already have it.
Book Description
An outrageous Victorian adventure in the spirit of The Vesuvius Club and Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, inspired by the penny dreadfuls and newspaper serials of the Victorian age.

Prometheus the strongman winds up behind bars and it falls to ringmaster and master conjuror Cornelius Quaint, ably assisted by his Eskimo valet Butter, to investigate the killings and to clear his name.

But Quaint, an irresistible mix of Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini, soon finds that these seemingly random killings are actually linked to dark secrets from his own past. Secrets that he may not be prepared to face.

The Eleventh Plague ($3.99 US; $2.25 CA; £0.99 UK) is the second title in the Cornelius Quaint Chronicles.
Book Description
Picking up where The Equivoque Principle left off, The Eleventh Plague sees Cornelius Quaint embark on his most perilous adventure yet.

Bidding an emotional farewell to Dr Marvello’s Travelling Circus, Quaint leaves for Egypt with only fortune-teller Madame Destine by his side. Once in the land of the pyramids they must do battle with desert thieves, unearth long-buried secrets and attempt to foil the villainous Hades Consortium's plans to poison the River Nile.With a whole new cast of characters this is a ripping Victorian adventure story featuring Cornelius Quaint - part Sherlock Holmes, part Indiana Jones, part Harry Houdini.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Free Book (Kindle) - The Dark Deeps [UK]

The Dark Deeps (Main/UK), the second title in The Hunchback Assignments series by Arthur Slade, is free, for UK customers only, in the Kindle store. Those in the US will see this edition from Random House, which is $9.99.
Book Description
A fantastic Steampunk adventure in the deeps

Transforming his appearance and stealing secret documents from the French is all in a day’s work for fourteen-year-old Modo, a British secret agent. But his latest mission—to uncover the underwater mystery of something called the Ictíneo—seems impossible. There are rumors of a sea monster and a fish as big as a ship. French spies are after it, and Mr. Socrates, Modo’s master, wants to find it first. Modo and his fellow secret agent, Octavia, begin their mission in New York City, then take a steamship across the North Atlantic. During the voyage, Modo uncovers an astounding secret.

The Dark Deeps, the second book in Arthur Slade’s Hunchback Assignments series, is set in a fascinating Steampunk Victorian world. Modo’s underwater adventures and his encounters with the young French spy Colette Brunet, the fearless Captain Monturiol, and the dreaded Clockwork Guild guarantee a gripping read filled with danger, suspense, and brilliant inventions.

The Hunchback Assignments, the first title in the series, is also bargain priced for those in the UK, at $2.84, but not for those in the US ($8.99).
Book Description
A gripping new series combines Steampunk, spying, and a fantastic Victorian London.

The mysterious Mr. Socrates rescues Modo, a child in a traveling freak show. Modo is a hunchback with an amazing ability to transform his appearance, and Mr. Socrates raises him in isolation as an agent for the Permanent Association, a spy agency behind Brittania’s efforts to rule the empire. At 14, Modo is left on the streets of London to fend for himself. When he encounters Octavia Milkweed, another Association agent, the two uncover a plot by the Clockword Guild behind the murders of important men. Furthermore, a mad scientist is turning orphan children into automatons to further the goals of the Guild. Modo and Octavia journey deep into the tunnels under London and discover a terrifying plot against the British government. It’s up to them to save their country.

Empire of Ruins, the third title in the series, completes the sweep for those in the UK at $3.18. Those in the US will pay $10.99.
Book Description
Secret agent Modo's next assignment? Find ancient Egyptian ruins hidden deep in the Australian jungle and the mysterious God Face, rumoured to be a powerful weapon--anyone who looks upon it will be driven mad. And he must find the God Face before the evil Clockwork Guild does!