November #WhispersyncDeal roundup: A Calculated Life, Off to Be the Wizard, The Broken Sword, I Am Princess X, Ella Enchanted, and more, and! a glance through Audible's "Treat Yourself" sale, and! Downpour.com's Black Friday sale (UPDATED)
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November #WhispersyncDeal roundup: A Calculated Life, Off to Be the Wizard, The Broken Sword, I Am Princess X, Ella Enchanted, and more, and! a glance through Audible's "Treat Yourself" sale, and! Downpour.com's Black Friday sale (UPDATED)
Posted on 2015-11-27 at 05:31 by Sam
As promised, you’ve got more than 48 hours this time! But there’s a lot to look over, as among the 299 Whispersync for Voice-enabled Monthly Deals in Kindle Books
First, though, the usual monthly #WhispersyncDeal roundup, which expire at midnight on November 30:
A Calculated Life by Big business is booming and state institutions are thriving thanks to advances in genetic engineering, which have produced a compliant population free from addictions. Violent crime is now a rarity. Mayhew McCline, a major corporation that analyzes global trends, has hired a genius: Jayna. A brilliant mathematical modeler, she has the ability to produce accurate predictions that are both good for the world and good for the bottom line. Her latest coup: finding a link between northeasterly winds and violent crime. When a string of events contradicts her forecasts - including a multiple homicide on the wrong day - Jayna suspects she needs more data and better intuition. She needs to understand what it means to be “normal,” so she disrupts her strict daily routine and, unknowingly, sets herself on a path that leads to new encounters, new experiences, and - perhaps most dangerous - new emotions.” And! Charnock’s eagerly-anticipated new novel Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind, due out December 1, is available through Kindle First
Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 Book 1), Spell or High Water (Magic 2.0 Book 2), and An Unwelcome Quest (Magic 2.0 Book 3) by Scott Meyer, read by Luke Daniels for $1.99+$1.99 each — If you like humor in your sf/f you’ve come to the right place: “Martin Banks is just a normal guy who has made an abnormal discovery: he can manipulate reality, thanks to reality being nothing more than a computer program. With every use of this ability, though, Martin finds his little “tweaks” have not escaped notice. Rather than face prosecution, he decides instead to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and pose as a wizard. What could possibly go wrong?”
Teen: I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest, read by Mary Robinette Kowal for $2.99+$3.99 — “Libby drew the pictures, May wrote the tales, and their heroine, Princess X, slayed all the dragons and scaled all the mountains their imaginations could conjure. Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across the Ballard Bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X died with her. Once upon a now: May is sixteen and lonely, wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window. Princess X? When May looks around, she sees the Princess everywhere: Stickers. Patches. Graffiti. There’s an entire underground culture, focused around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the webcomic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby’s story and Princess X online. And that means that only one person could have started this phenomenon — her best friend, Libby, who lives.”
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson, read by Bronson Pinchot for $1.99+$3.49 — First published in 1954: “Thor has broken the sword Tyrfing so that it cannot strike at the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree that binds together earth, heaven, and hell. But now the mighty sword is needed again to save the elves in their war against the trolls, and only Skafloc, a human child kidnapped and raised by the elves, can hope to persuade Bölverk the ice-giant to make Tyrfing whole again. But Skafloc must also confront his shadow self, Valgard the changeling, who has taken his place in the world of men.”
Miramont’s Ghost by Miramont Castle, built in 1897 and mysteriously abandoned three years later, is home to many secrets. Only one person knows the truth: Adrienne Beauvier, granddaughter of the Comte de Challembelles and cousin to the man who built the castle. Clairvoyant from the time she could talk, Adrienne’s visions show her the secrets of those around her. When her visions begin to reveal dark mysteries of her own aristocratic French family, Adrienne is confronted by her formidable Aunt Marie, who is determined to keep the young woman silent at any cost. Marie wrenches Adrienne from her home in France and takes her to America, to Miramont Castle, where she keeps the girl isolated and imprisoned. Surrounded by eerie premonitions, Adrienne is locked in a life-or-death struggle to learn the truth and escape her torment.
Starship Grifters (A Rex Nihilo Adventure) by
First Activation (The Activation Series Book 1) and Second Activation (The Activation Series Book 2) by Darren and Marcus Wearmouth, read by James Langton for $1.99+$1.99 each — “Brothers Harry and Jack leave Manchester for New York City for their annual weekend getaway. But upon arrival, they find a silent, deserted JFK, where the few ground crew they can spot have all been slaughtered. Harry and Jack are military veterans, but they’ve never encountered anything like this. As they witness the carnage and stumble across murderous madmen in a postapocalyptic New York City, it becomes clear that escape is the only option—that is if there is anywhere sane to which to escape…”
Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse by As hordes of refugees and looters pour out of the cities, a small group of friends living in the Midwest desperately try to make their way to a safe-haven ranch in northern Idaho. The journey requires all their skill and training since communication, commerce, transportation and law enforcement have all disappeared. Once at the ranch, the group fends off vicious attacks from outsiders and then looks to join other groups that are trying to restore true Constitutional law to the country.
The Thief Taker (The Thief Taker Series Book 1) by The year is 1665. Black Death ravages London. A killer stalks the streets in a plague doctor’s hood and mask… When a girl is gruesomely murdered, thief taker Charlie Tuesday reluctantly agrees to take on the case. But the horrific remains tell him this is no isolated death. The killer’s mad appetites are part of a master plan that could destroy London - and reveal the dark secrets of Charlie’s own past. Now the thief taker must find this murderous mastermind before the plague obliterates the evidence street by street. This terrifying pursuit will take Charlie deep into the black underbelly of old London, where alchemy, witchcraft and blood-spells collide. In a city drowned in darkness, death could be the most powerful magic of all.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and its prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, were both New York Times best sellers, with a combined 1.3 million copies in print. Now the PPZ trilogy comes to a thrilling conclusion with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After. The story opens with our newly married protagonists, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, defending their village from an army of flesh-eating unmentionables. But the honeymoon has barely begun when poor Mr. Darcy is nipped by a rampaging dreadful. Elizabeth knows the proper course of action is to promptly behead her husband (and then burn the corpse, just to be safe). But when she learns of a miracle antidote under development in London, she realizes there may be one last chance to save her true love - and for everyone to live happily ever after.
Midnight Train to Paris (A Paris Time Travel Romance) by
Casino Royale (James Bond - Extended Series Book 1) by Ian Fleming, read by Simon Vance for $2.99+$3.99, as well as Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia with Love, Dr. No, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, and The Man with the Golden Gun. For some reason, Goldfinger and Octopussy and the Living Daylights aren’t Whispersync enabled, but if you need a Bond fix, this is your month.
Fiction: The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by The daughter of a Danish immigrant and a black G.I., Rachel survives a family tragedy only to face new challenges. Sent to live with her strict African-American grandmother in a racially divided Northwest city, she must suppress her grief and reinvent herself in a mostly black community. A beauty with light brown skin and blue eyes, she attracts much attention in her new home. The world wants to see her as either black or white, but that’s not how she sees herself. Meanwhile, a mystery unfolds, revealing the terrible truth about Rachel’s last morning on a Chicago rooftop. Interwoven with her voice are those of Jamie, a neighborhood boy who witnessed the events, and Laronne, a friend of Rachel’s mother.
Fiction: The Child in Time by Ian McEwen, read by Simon Prebble for $2.99+$3.49 — “The Child in Time shows us just how quickly life can change in an instant. Stephen Lewis is a successful author of children’s books. It is a routine Saturday morning and while on a trip to the supermarket, Stephen gets distracted. Within moments, his daughter is kidnapped and his life is forever changed. From that moment, Lewis spirals into bereavement that has effects on his relationship with his wife, his psyche, and with time itself: ‘It was a wonder there could be so much movement, so much purpose, all the time. He himself had none.‘”
Teen: Gates of Thread and Stone (Gates of Thread and Stone Series Book 1) and The Infinite (Gates of Thread and Stone Series Book 2) by In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe. Lori M. Lee’s debut YA fantasy novel, Gates of Thread and Stone, is about a teenage girl who must carefully stay under the radar and keep her ability - to manipulate the threads of time - a secret, until her brother goes missing and she must risk getting caught up in a revolution in order to save him. Kai learns that nothing is as it seems - including her brother’s past, her father’s identity, and her friendship with dark, troubled Avan.”
Teen: House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings Book 1) by Dream house… or bad dream? When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, 15-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films… but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land. Xander, David, and Toria are, however, captivated by the many rooms in the old Victorian fixer-upper they moved into-as well as by the heavy woods that surround it. They soon discover there’s something odd about the house. Sounds come from the wrong direction. Prints of giant, bare feet appear in the dust. And when David tries to hide in the linen closet, he winds up in locker 119 at his new school. Then the really weird stuff kicks in. They find a hidden hallway with portals leading to far-off places-in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen’s dream come true - or his worst nightmare.”
Kids: The Blood Guard (The Blood Guard Series Book 1) and The Glass Gauntlet (The Blood Guard Series Book 2) by When thirteen-year-old Ronan Truelove’s seemingly ordinary mom snatches him from school, then sets off on a high speed car chase, Ronan is shocked. His quiet, nerdy dad has been kidnapped? And the kidnappers are after him, too? His mom, he quickly learns, is anything but ordinary. In fact, she’s a member of an ancient order of knights, the Blood Guard, a sword-wielding secret society sworn to protect the Pure - thirty-six noble souls whose safety is crucial if the world as we know it is to survive.
Kids: Ella Enchanted by So begins this richly entertaining story of Ella of Frell, who wants nothing more than to be free of Lucinda’s gift and feel that she belongs to herself. For how can she truly belong to herself if she knows that at any time, anyone can order her to hop on one foot, cut off her hand, or betray her kingdom, and she’ll have to obey? Against a bold tapestry of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters and fairy godmothers, Ella’s spirited account of her quest to break the curse is a funny, poignant and enchanting tale about an unforgettable heroine who is determined to be herself.”
And there’s quite a few more to check out: The Greenhouse, Old Town, White Tiger on Snow Mountain: Stories, The Ice Cream Man, The War of the Worlds Murder, As Red as Blood (The Snow White Trilogy Book 1), Crossing, The Boy from Reactor 4 (The Nadia Tesla Series Book 1), The Boy Who Stole from the Dead (The Nadia Tesla Series Book 2), and The Boy Who Glowed in the Dark (The Nadia Tesla Series Book 3), The Last Moriarty, The Gemini Effect, Blessed Are Those Who Thirst: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel, House of Bathory by Linda Lafferty, and The Snow Garden and Light Before Day by Christopher Rice.
All right, on to my picks from Audible’s “Treat Yourself” $4.95 sale, which ends December 2, 2015 at 11:59 PM PT:
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Whew! Meanwhile, Downpour.com is also having a “Black Friday” sale of its own, through December 3, with plenty of titles well below credit cost. One I’d recommend, right off the bat?
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany, read by Stefan Rudnicki for Skyboat Media — For $7.63 this is kind of a “no brainer”, people. It’s one of the great all time works of science fiction, read by one of the masters of the audiobook form, with excellent production touches to boot: “Babel-17, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year, is a fascinating tale of a famous poet bent on deciphering a secret language that is the key to the enemy’s deadly force, a task that requires she travel with a splendidly improbable crew to the site of the next attack.” And apparently the “Black Friday” discounts also include rental prices, as Babel-17 rents for $3.48. I reviewed the (quite nice) rental process earlier this year, and can recommend it without hesitation. (Although in this case, I might suggest you buy it; Rudnicki reading Delany may be a pairing for your personal re-listening library.)
The “Black Friday” sale also includes pre-orders, so I’ll go ahead and mention one I’ve already snapped up: Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett, read by Jamye Méri Grant for Skyboat Media. Due out on December 1, it’s on sale for $8.98, and for rent for $3.48. Recipient of a 2015 Philip K. Dick Award Special Citation and a 2014 Locus Recommendation for First Novel, it was also one of my most-missing audiobooks of 2014: “A computer program etched into the atmosphere has a story to tell—the story of two people, of a city lost to chaos, of survival and love. The program’s data, however, has been corrupted. As the novel’s characters struggle to survive the apocalypse, they are sustained and challenged by the demands of love in a shattered world both haunted and dangerous.”
More pre-orders to check out include Heinlein’s The Star Beast for $5.99, and The Long List Anthology for $8.98 pre-order or $3.48 pre-rental. The latter is the Kickstarter-funded, David Steffen-edited, Skyboat Media-produced audiobook of some of the fantastic short fiction which did not quite make the Hugo finalists lists this year.
More Downpour.com deals? Sure. Here’s a link to all of the fantasy audiobooks under $10. A lot of the Tor.com novellas (Kai Ashante Wilson’s Sorcerer of the Wildeeps is fantastic), Jeff VanderMeer’s “Area X” trilogy is $8.95 for the complete audiobook, or Annihilation is $5.09 and the other parts are $5.99, Jonathan Maberry’s “V Wars” anthologies, Aliette de Bodard’s The House of Shattered Wings is $6.89, Scott Hawkins’ The Library at Mount Char, Sandra Newman’s The Country of Ice Cream Star (which is more properly post apocalyptic sf but it’s an amazing book and audiobook), Alex Bledsoe’s Tufa novels (The Hum and the Shiver is under $4 to rent, people), Django Wexler’s “The Shadow of Elysium”, KSR’s The Years of Rice and Salt, JJA’s “Operation Arcana” anthology, Kevin J. Anderson’s The Map of All Things, Peter V. Brett’s Messenger’s Legacy, CL Moore’s Black God’s Kiss, Brian McClellan’s Return to Honor, Jonathan L. Howard’s The Fear Institute, Manly Wade Wellman’s The Old Gods Waken, Patrick Rothfuss’ The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Christopher Buehlman’s The Lesser Dead, Grady Hendrix’s Horrorstor, Catherynne M. Valente’s Six-Gun Snow White (this is a fun one), Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, Todd McCaffery’s Dragonwriter, etc.
Okay, that’s it! Enjoy!
UPDATE 11/30:
There’s a huge “Cyber Monday” Amazon Kindle deal list today, many whispersync enabled, including Octavia Butler, Fritz Leiber, Robert McCammon, Theodore Sturgeon, Cory Doctorow, Walter Mosley, and more in the sf/f section.
And! Tantor.com is having its traditional “Cyber Monday” $4.95 sale as well, including Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora, Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others, William Gibson’s Distrust That Particular Flavor, V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic, Ariel Djanikian’s The Office of Mercy, Ben Aaronovitch’s Midnight Riot, Cherie Priest’s Maplecroft, Robert V.S. Redick’s The Red Wolf Conspiracy, Brent Weeks’ The Way of Shadows, Peter F. Hamilton’s The Abyss Beyond Dreams, Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space, Ursula Vernon’s Castle Hangnail, Wendy Webb’s The Vanishing, and Dexter Palmer’s The Dream of Perpetual Motion, among others.
Enjoy!