It seems like only a week ago that I discussed Steve Harper's Silent Empire series (oh, wait, it was just last week). Now the third volume in the series, Trickster, is out and it's also a bargain at $1.79. You can also read a few short stories he's written at the Bookview Cafe, although they are more fantasy than SciFi.The Dream has been shattered, and the majority of Silent who telepathically communicated through it have been cast out by the event known as the Despair, unable to reenter. Now the remaining Silent still capable of linking to the Dream have become a valuable commodity to those in power seeing to keep the lines of galactic communication open...
In the midst of the Despair, Father Kendi Weaver and the crew of the Poltergeist have a limited window of opportunity to find the loved ones they have lost--including Kendi's parents and siblings, who were sold into slavery more than fifteen years ago.
But just as Kendi closes in on the whereabouts of his brother and sister, they are taken by a mysterious group intent on using them for their own secret agenda..
The Cloud ($1.99) is a scifi novel by Elmore Hammes, who was featured yesterday with his fantasy novel The Holmes and Watson Mysterious Events and Objects Consortium: The Case of the Witch's Talisman ($1.99).
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(A story of hope, love and redemption set against the stars.
An unstoppable cloud hurtles through the cosmos, annihilating all life in its path, absorbing the energy of living creatures as it passes from system to system.
A lone survivor of an advanced civilization is rocketed from his doomed planet in an attempt to preserve a race, heading towards the solar system and the green-blue orb called Earth. A simple farm girl holds the key to stopping the approaching menace, but she must find her way to love to do so.
With a beginning inspired by Superman and pulp fiction such as Flash Gordon, the story then transitions into modern space opera.
The Cloud is a science fiction romance with action and adventure, appropriate for teenage readers and above.
A Matter of Oaths is available as a free download from the author's website, in several formats. This one was a UK release and difficult to find in the US. UK authors are still blocked from using the Kindle store (that may change by Christmas, as rumors are that the Kindle will be released there this year; or we may find that those of us in the US are the ones that get geographically excluded from the digital books in the UK store at that point).
If you missed Chris Dolley's Resonance back in March, when it was free for Read an E-Book Week, then you are in luck. It's just been added to the Baen Free Library and can now be downloaded in pretty much any format you might want.You can't create a world in seven days without cutting corners . . . and it is very dangerous to notice the flaws in the design
Graham Smith is a 33 year-old office messenger. To the outside world he's an obsessive-compulsive mute -- weird but harmless. But to Graham Smith, it's the world that's weird. And far from harmless. He sees things others can't . . . or won't. He knows that roads can change course, people disappear, office blocks migrate across town. All at night when no one's looking. The world's an unstable place, still growing, sloughing off layers of reality like dead skin. One day you drive by, and it's changed.
Annalise Mercado hears voices, all from girls calling themselves Annalise. Sometimes she thinks they're spirit guides, sometimes she thinks she's crazy. But then they start telling her about Graham Smith and the men who want to kill him. That's when they meet. So begins the story of two people whose lives are fragmented across alternate realities. And how the hold the key to the future of a billion planets. . . .
The second free title added this week to the Baen Free Library is Harald, by David Friedman. This one is actually fantasy, but I forgot to post it yesterday.He Didn't Get the Surrender Memo!
It's the perfect storm for conquest: a dysfunctional kingdom reels under a weak monarch. A powerful order of warrior maidens turns to infighting after suddenly losing its charismatic leader. Worst of all, a disciplined and blooded imperial army stands ready to invade and dominate. If ever a moment called for grit, competence, and an utter lack of wishful thinking it is now. Enter Harald of the Vales. Family man and teller of tales. Warrior's warrior. It's time the Empire got one thing straight: the land of Kaerlia will never be its for the taking.
Free Online Reads
HOMEOSTASIS by Carlos Hernadez is a free near-future scifi short story over at Futurismic.
Homesteading, Nancy Jane Moore, takes place in a near-future, after a apocalyptic war that destroyed worldwide civilization, caused by a misunderstanding and following a series of events that reads a lot like today's news headlines.
Return to Cockaigne, by Paul Di Filippo, originally appeared in Interzone (a UK Scifi/Fantasy magazine).
If you are wondering how to easily get these stories from a web page to your Kindle - check out Instapaper.com. Once you have it installed, you highlight the text you want to read, ciick on a ReadLater icon that gets installed on your toolbar, then either have it automatically sent to your Kindle on a scheduled basis ($0.15/mb Amazon charges apply) or send them manually (or just read them online there). The only thing I don't like about the service is that they will not support your @free.kindle.com address, which is what I would prefer to use (it's the main reason I don't use it nearly as much as I used to, but it is a quick and easy method).
Podcast
Last, check out the podcast of Kelly Link's The Hortlak, read by Frank (Part 1 and Part 2). This story appears in Magic For Beginners, which you can get free HERE, in various formats.
