[Kindle] Daily e-book deals of note

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:22 am

The Kindle Daily Deal at Amazon today (Sunday 10/7/12) is 14 Philip K. Dick novels for $1.99 each.

ChaoZ · Post by **ChaoZ** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 1:34 am

Thanks for this, just picked up five of his books. Can't wait to dig in.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:51 am

Today they have Roadside Picnic as part of the Sci-Fi daily deal ($2.99):

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.

First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years. This authoritative new translation corrects many errors and omissions and has been supplemented with a foreword by Ursula K. Le Guin and a new afterword by Boris Strugatsky explaining the strange history of the novel’s publication in Russia.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:18 pm

Sounds interesting, thanks for the tip.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:21 pm

Boughten.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:04 am

I've tried to find copies of this in the past, sweet that this 'new translation' shows up on the cheap for the Kindle.

First heard about it as the basis for the computer games.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:06 am

Today's $2.99 Sci-Fi Kindle deal is Old Man's War, a book beloved among various OOers (because we're all old):

With his wife dead and buried, and life nearly over at 75, John Perry takes the only logical course of action left him: he joins the army. Now better known as the Colonial Defense Force (CDF), Perry's service-of-choice has extended its reach into interstellar space to pave the way for human colonization of other planets while fending off marauding aliens. The CDF has a trick up its sleeve that makes enlistment especially enticing for seniors: the promise of restoring youth. After bonding with a group of fellow recruits who dub their clique the Old Farts, Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his original DNA and upgraded for battle, including fast-clotting "smartblood" and a brain-implanted personal computer. All too quickly the Old Farts are separated, and Perry fights for his life on various alien-infested battlegrounds.

NOTE: Amazon, your new strategy is working.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:54 am

Yeah, anyone that frequents this board will probably get $2.99 worth of enjoyment out of Old Man's War.

And then get sucked into $20 of sequels...

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:58 am

Almost bought Roadside Picnic, but my backlog is ridiculous right now, with all these Kindle daily deals.

ChaoZ · Post by **ChaoZ** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 8:17 pm

Zaxxon wrote:Yeah, anyone that frequents this board will probably get $2.99 worth of enjoyment out of Old Man's War.

And then get sucked into $20 of sequels...

I quite enjoyed them, though not so much for Zoe's Tale.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 12:12 pm

Stephen King's Under the Dome is the $1.99 deal for today. Figured I'd mention it in case anyone wants to read it before the TV mini-series starts, allegedly in the Summer of 2013.

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:09 pm

Tempted, but wow, that is a long book.

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:37 pm

Under the Dome is also available for the Nook for the same price at B&N

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 5:00 pm

Under the Dome was a return to King's old "Castle Rock" style horror after a few departures (Duma Key, Lisey's Story, From a Buick 8, etc.) In that sense it feels more like one of his books from the early 90s than anything he had written recently (aside from the Dark Tower novels). For that reason alone I enjoyed most of it, though the premise made it tough for him to resolve satisfactorily.

Lassr · Post by **Lassr** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 6:44 pm

YellowKing wrote:Under the Dome was a return to King's old "Castle Rock" style horror after a few departures (Duma Key, Lisey's Story, From a Buick 8, etc.) In that sense it feels more like one of his books from the early 90s than anything he had written recently (aside from the Dark Tower novels). For that reason alone I enjoyed most of it, though the premise made it tough for him to resolve satisfactorily.

I think I read somewhere that he actually wrote most of that book many many years ago, maybe late 80's or early 90's, and then finished it much later. I did enjoy it more than a lot of his recent work.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:04 pm

Today's deal is Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill, aka Joe King.

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 2:07 pm

Good book.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 2:48 pm

Apparently, they've had 100 books for $3.99 or less up for January.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 4:09 pm

Yeah, they've been doing that every month for a while now. Whether or not all 100 are of note...

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:14 pm

Aside from a Gaiman title, nothing pinged my interest.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 1:17 pm

Amazon Local (Amazon's groupon competition) has a deal up where you can get a voucher to buy one of 25 eBooks for $1:

http://local.amazon.com/national/B00B4FZX66" target="_blank
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?i ... 1000773731" target="_blank

I don't know any of the eBooks listed, though - anyone recognize / recommend any of them? I usually read non-fiction and they're all fiction. There are a couple of sci-fi titles though - "Into the Black" by Evan Currie and "Breakdown" by Katherine Amt Hanna - anyone know either of those?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 9:17 am

One of the deals for today is Swan Song by Robert McCammon for $1.99:

Something flashes in nine-year-old Swan’s brain, telling her that trouble is coming. Maybe it’s her mother, fed up with her current boyfriend and ready to abandon their dismal trailer park and seek a new home. But something far worse is on the horizon. Death falls from the sky—nuclear bombs which annihilate American civilization. Though Swan survives the blast, this young psychic’s war is just beginning.

As the survivors try to make new lives in the wasteland, an evil army forms, intent on murdering all those tainted with the diseases brought by fallout. When Swan finds a mysterious amulet that could hold the key to humankind’s salvation, she draws the attention of a man more dangerous than any nuclear bomb. To rescue mankind, this little girl will have to grow up fast.

I actually picked this up back in November for the same price, but haven't been able to get to it (yet). I think the last time I read this book was sometime around 1989.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:39 pm

The SF deal of the day is I am Legend by Richard Matheson. I would highly recommend it for the $1.99 price, going so far as to say it's a must-read classic. Become a fan and then get angry about the 2007 movie. Alternatively, try and find Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and marvel at the film interpretations from yesteryear while still wondering what they hell they were thinking in 2007.

Robert Neville has witnessed the end of the world. The entire population has been obliterated by a vampire virus. Somehow, Neville survived. He must now struggle to make sense of everything that has happened and learn to protect himself against the vampires who hunt him constantly. He must, because perhaps there is nothing else human left.

I Am Legend was a major influence in horror and brought a whole new thematic concept to apocalyptic literature. Several humanistic and emotional themes in this book blend the horror genre with traditional fiction: we see Neville as an emotional person, and observe as he suffers bouts of depression, dips into alcoholism and picks up his strength again to fight the vampiric bacteria that has infected (and killed off) most of humankind. Neville soon meets a woman, Ruth, (after three years alone), who seems to be uninfected and a lone survivor. The two become close and he learns from Ruth that the infected have learned to fight the disease and can spend short amounts of time in the daylight, slowly rebuilding strength and society as it was.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:11 am

Would you still recommend if someone has already seen the movie?

Not a TapAtalk Sig

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 6:22 am

Carpet_pissr wrote:Would you still recommend if someone has already seen the movie?

Or someone who hasn't seen the movie but is spoiled on it?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:28 am

I would, because the book has a different feel. It's absolutely a classic story and every time I think about the 2007, it's infuriating. The idea that they announced a sequel last year is even more mind-boggling.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:02 pm

I would recommend it. I read I am Legend back in high school and was completely enthralled by it. The first half of the movie was “alright” but it completely missed the point of the book and the ending killed it. The book on the other hand has a very powerful ending.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:12 pm

I picked it up. Unfortunately for it, I'm 3.1 books into my 14-book Wheel of Time journey, so I probably won't get to this one until 2014.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:55 pm

Baseball Prospectus 2013 is $9.99 for Kindle pre-order (drops tomorrow). No idea how the kindle version will compare to the paperback but I'll give it a shot.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:08 pm

Smoove_B wrote:I would, because the book has a different feel. It's absolutely a classic story and every time I think about the 2007, it's infuriating. The idea that they announced a sequel last year is even more mind-boggling.

I would actually insist he read it in order to get the taste of that crappy adaptation out of his mouth. I've said it before and I'll say it again...Matheson is one of the greats. I'd put him up there with Bradbury without hesitation.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 11:56 pm

My favorite thing about Matheson is how effortlessly he jumps between genres. I guarantee you there's probably stuff you've seen/read that you never knew he wrote. I hated everything about the I Am Legend movie. It was a travesty.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:08 pm

I Am Legend is a must read and is fairly short, more of a novella. I didn't bother seeing the "movie."

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:43 pm

Freezer-TPF- wrote:I Am Legend is a must read and is fairly short, more of a novella. I didn't bother seeing the "movie."

Heh, I love the scare quotes. I mean, who's to say it's a "movie" just because it was "filmed" with "actors" and a "script".

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:49 pm

Maybe intended as more like a so-called "movie version" of the book when all they do is share a title and a few basic concepts?

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:18 pm

The Body is a novella which turned into Stand By Me
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is a novella which turned into The Shawshank Redemption

So some of the "movies" work out. But I agree on wishing they hadn't done what they did to I Am Legend in the "movie" form.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:28 pm

silverjon wrote:Maybe intended as more like a so-called "movie version" of the book when all they do is share a title and a few basic concepts?

But it wasn't a "movie!" A motion picture with sound is a "talkie," dammit!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:12 pm

I remember my first "movie". It was a train coming right at the camera. I jumped out of my seat I was so scared! On the way home, I had the carriage driver go very slowly as my nerves were shot.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:33 pm

hepcat wrote:I remember my first "movie". It was a train coming right at the camera. I jumped out of my seat I was so scared! On the way home, I had the carriage driver go very slowly as my nerves were shot.

Sorry, but I know dbt and you're no dbt!

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:20 am

I make no judgements (we had a big discussion about the series when we were all watching the TV show), but one of today's $1.99 deals is for Wizard's First Rule.

In a classic fantasy world, young Richard Cypher must go on a perilous quest with the Sword of Truth in order to deal with evils that have a contemporary degree of ambiguity about them. On the way, he acquires the normal collection of wizards, dragons, and human companions as well as an equivalent roster of enemies. Both the characters and their world come to life, and Goodkind's ambitious juxtaposition of modern ambiguities and the classical fantasy setting works more often than not. Although a fairly self-contained story, the book has something of the flavor of the first volume of a saga; neither Goodkind nor his publisher will receive too many complaints if a sequel is in the works. Hardly an aspirant to Tolkien's mantle, Goodkind certainly seems, at any rate, to be working on being mentioned in the same breath as Robert Jordan. Roland Green

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:23 am

Not a daily deal but Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box is $1.99 for the month of March.

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.

I will "sell" my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder. . . .

For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts—of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What's one more?

But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing.

And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang . . . standing outside his window . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting—with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. . . .