Free SF ebooks

[Majuss]

I have finally taken the step and ordered a Kindle. While waiting for it to arrive I thought I would start to build a library for it.

I have looked at the SFF sections at Gutenberg.org and Manybooks.net and come to the conclusion that I need some advise from people more well read than I.

So, give us your good reads, the must haves and you-can't-call-yourself-fan-of-sff-if-you-haven't-read lists of free SFF books.

[Hobbit]

Useful discussion on this matter is also HERE, though the comments there are mainly related to Fantasy and Horror.

Have fun with the Kindle!

LATER EDIT:
I've reopened this thread and stuck it, because it's probably about time.

Please note that this thread is for free SF books.



Mark

[psikeyhackr]

Project Gutenberg is a very mixed bag. It definitely brings to mind Sturgeon's Law:

90% of everything is crud.

When I am in the right peculiar mood I can enjoy stuff by E.E. Doc Smith like Triplanetary and Skylark of Space but my tongue is very firmly in my cheek. Mostly I avoid stuff from before 1945 except a few things by exceptional authors. Mostly going through PG is like trying to pick gems out of the muck. And the fact of the matter is there is so much stuff you will spend a significant amount of time searching and downloading.

All Day September, by Roger Kuykendall
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24161...-h/24161-h.htm

The Brain, by Alexander Blade
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32498...-h/32498-h.htm

The movie GOG was derived from that story.

http://alldaysci-fi.cerizmo.com/

TANSTAAFE

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free E-book

Books take time to read. The question is: "Which are worth the time?"

I don't mind paying $8 for a paperback because even at $5 an hour it will probably cost me $25 worth of time to read it. But when I can't stand it before I reach page 50 I'm pissed off. So many reviews of books today are worthless to me. I don't care what most people think of the WRITING when they don't seem to give the slightest damn about the SCIENCE or the IDEAS in the stories. So I figured I might as well wade through a lot of old stuff that was FREE anyway. It was kind of a LOSE/LOSE situation but one loss didn't involve money.

I bought this book way back when.

The Status Civilization, by Robert Sheckley
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20919...-h/20919-h.htm

psik

[Hobbit]

OK: here's one I got in the email, from Phoenix Pick:

September's Free EBook is Carolyn Ives Gilman's outstanding novella, 'Arkfall.'

'Arkfall' was nominated for the Nebula this year (but lost out to 'The Women of Nell Gwynne's' by Kage Baker).

Carolyn Gilman is a not a prolific (or very well known author), but nearly everything she writes get outstanding reviews. Her novel 'Halfway Human'
is an outstanding study of gender issues and her novellette, 'The Honeycrafters' won the nebula in 1993.

Stephen Leigh, who's book 'Dark Water's Embrace' was our free ebook of the month for August is a fan of her works as well.

The Coupon Code for September is 9991426. Instructions and download link (as usual) at:

www.PPickings.com.

The new book will be available from September 2 (not September 1) through September 30th.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope that's useful! (Actually, might be more SF than Fantasy, but I'll put in both.)

[BEEFY]

I know there is 4 starwars novellas available on the sony ebook website. It's a series that all runs together called lost tribe of the sith sorry for not having a link it might be available from other places as well I read it very good if your into the starwars novels.

[Andols]

do these count?

http://www.baen.com/library/defaulttitles.htm

[DailyRich]

I know there is 4 starwars novellas available on the sony ebook website. It's a series that all runs together called lost tribe of the sith sorry for not having a link it might be available from other places as well I read it very good if your into the starwars novels.

Those are also free from Barnes and Noble for the Nook.

[Hobbit]

Perhaps I should've said that this is one of the few threads where we can actively encourage links. Please put them here, so others can see!

Mark

[psikeyhackr]

I would like to point out something weird about this story.

All Day September, by Roger Kuykendall
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24161...-h/24161-h.htm

It was published in June of 1959.

When I heard the news about NASA bombing the Moon and finding water in October of 2009 I thought, "Wait a minute, I just remember reading something about that."

That SF tale from 1959 has a prospector finding water on the Moon. But then I noticed the title has September and NASA bombed in October but look at the publication date. 10 years and 1 month before the first Moon landing and a story about finding water on the Moon and NASA does it 50 years later in the month after the title.

You may now play the theme from The Twilight Zone.

Maybe this does belong in fantasy.

psik

[raggedyman]

Here is a 1962 Hugo award nominee : http://manybooks.net/titles/garrettgr2233222332-8.html also check out the two sequels , "The Impossibles" and "Supermind". This one is a 1960 Hugo nominee : http://manybooks.net/titles/leinsterm2403524035.html . Have fun.

[psikeyhackr]

The General Series is on-line now:

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/1...rd/Warlord.htm

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/1.../Conqueror.htm

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/1...The_Chosen.htm

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/1...e_Reformer.htm


http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/1...The_Tyrant.htm


psik

[marshal atkins]

I have a few memorable stories that are now freebies.

The first is "Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet" and is available on Project Gueenberg

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20147...h/20147-h.html

The second is the novel "Silent Galaxy" a.k.a. "Battlefields of Silence" by William Tedford.

Info on the author is here as well as a link to where to download a free PDF of this work and others by him.

http://multiversenovels.com/

[expatrie]

Um, aren't all of Cory Doctorow's books and stories online free?

And then there's Warbreaker, or something similar, by the guy who picked up the Wheel of Time series. Now, that's the first draft, but still.

No links. Sorry.

[psikeyhackr]

The Year When Stardust Fell by Raymond F. Jones
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33660...-h/33660-h.htm

Not bad, not atypical 50s. It does present a perspective on the importance of science. May even be somewhat preachy.

This is all in Project Gutenberg

Doctorow, Cory, 1971-

* Craphound (English) (as Author)
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17026/pg17026.html
* Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (English) (as Author)
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/domkg10h.htm
* Eastern Standard Tribe (English) (as Author)
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17028/pg17028.html
* Ebooks: Neither E, Nor Books (English) (as Author)
* Home Again, Home Again (English) (as Author)
* Little Brother (English) (as Author)
* A Place so Foreign (English) (as Author)
* Printcrime (English) (as Author)
* Return to Pleasure Island (English) (as Author)
* Shadow of the Mothaship (English) (as Author)
* Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (English) (as Author)
* Super Man and the Bug Out (English) (as Author)

psik

[Talanic]

Actually, I came to try to spread word about the free ebook that I'm serializing on my site -

http://heroschains.tumblr.com/post/8...loss-chapter-1

The site's pretty spartan because I really don't know much about web design. I will also admit upfront that I'm not published, but I have some reason to believe that I'm not horrible.