[Free eBook] 1 free choose your own Wildside Press book offer [Multiple Fiction Genres]

As a special gift for the US Independence Day on July 4th, publisher Wildside Press are doing a choose-your-own giveaway of 1 title from their catalogue.

• Freebie: coupon code HAPPY4th entered in the cart during checkout (requires account signup with billing address but no payment info) will give you 1 free book valued at 99 cents (or 99 cents off anything in the store). An additional coupon, INDEPENDENCE will give you 20% off any order over $15 for ebooks or print.

This may not seem like much, but Wildside Press has a great many 99 cent discount Megapacks (expand the sidebar categories to see the selection) collecting reprint short stories from in-copyright vintage pulp fiction and modern genre authors, as well as novels and complete works of public domain authors.

The selection includes works from popular fantasy author Lawrence Watt-Evans (creator of the humorous Ethshar universe, one of my personal favourites), the late A. R. Morlan, whose sf/fantasy/horror stories enjoyed a cult following, a collection of Josh Pachter’s Mahboob Chaudri stories originally published in Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine starring a 1980s-era Pakistani detective in Bahrain, and many more. And there are also themed megapacks such as Lady Sleuths and Golden Age Science Fiction if you’d prefer a multi-author sampling experience.

Offer valid just through July 4th Eastern Time, available as DRM-free ePub/Mobi/PDF bundle for all books.

[Free eBook] The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson [Award-Winning Horror Fantasy]

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by British author Tade Thompson is the 1st novella in the Molly Southbourne series of horror with science fiction & fantasy elements, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Macmillan’s Tor Books.

This is their secondary featured free eBook of the Month Club offer for June (previously a bonus collection was given out to celebrate Pride Month). This won the 2018 NOMMO Award for African Speculative Fiction in the Best Novella category, and was also a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award for Horror and the British Fantasy Society Award, and is being offered to help promote the upcoming 2nd novella, The Survival of Molly Southbourne, expected in July.

The story stars a teenaged girl who all her life has been struggling to survive every day against murderous identical clones that are automatically created whenever she bleeds, who are intent on destroying her in turn forcing her to try to destroy them, as she begins to question her very existence and whether or not she is actually the original, or yet another clone pitted against her many duplicate selves.

Offered through June 28th until just before midnight Eastern Time, available DRM-free to Canada & US only directly from the publisher.

[Free eBook] The Green Mandarin Mystery by Denis Hughes [Vintage 1950s Science Fiction Mystery/Technothriller]

The Green Mandarin Mystery by the late British author Denis Hughes is a vintage standalone science fiction mystery/technothriller novel, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 1950 by Curtis Warren using the pseudonym Grant Malcolm.

The story is set in contemporary London (circa the 1950s), centred around the investigation of ongoing mysterious disappearances of expert scientists valued by the British government, all leaving behind a card referencing the “Green Mandarin”, an enigmatic entity or organization which may be using them to fulfill nefarious plans for humanity.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free Audiobooks] An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen & A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bathena [Young Adult SFnal Mystery/Drama Novel & Classic Theatre Play w/ bonus Eco-Disasters Interview]

AudioFile’s SYNC Summer of Listening 2019 promotion for young adults offers 2 free audiobooks per week—1 classic or non-fiction, 1 modern—as free MP3 downloads, usually available worldwide (some titles are subject to geo-restrictions, and you can see the planned release schedule here).

This week’s two selected titles, which have a theme of rumour and reputation and repression in the name of other peoples’ agendas, available until 7am Eastern Time on June 13th, are as follows:

• An Enemy of the People by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, a 2014 live performance of his classic 1882 play about environmental issues and profit versus the public good, wherein a small town dependent on tourist visits may have its public baths shut down by a report of dangerous pollution; this includes a bonus interview about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and other man-made environmental disasters with Joel K. Bourne Jr, a former senior environmental writer at National Geographic; read by a full cast, from L. A. Theatre Works, available worldwide
• A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bathena, a YA contemporary multicultural social issues mystery/drama novel with strong supernatural elements, set in Saudi Arabia, where a group of teens including the ghostly deceased watch the unfolding investigation of a fatal and possibly not accidental car crash involving two of them who were engaged in a forbidden romantic relationship in a strict society; read by Firdous Bamji, Neil Shah, Soneela Nankami, Lameece Issaq, from Recorded Books, available worldwide

Offered as DRM-free MP3s through 7am Eastern Time on June 13th, available in selected countries worldwide (requires installing Overdrive Media console software on your PC, Mac, Android, or iDevice, and you need to finish downloading before the time limit).

[Free eBook] In Our Own Worlds: Four Tor.com Novellas by Margaret Killjoy, Ellen Klages, Kai Ashante Wilson, J. Y. Yang [Award-Nominated LGBT SF & Fantasy Omnibus]

In Our Own Worlds: Four Tor.com Novellas by Margaret Killjoy, Ellen Klages, Kai Ashante Wilson, & J. Y. Yang is an omnibus edition of selected science fiction & fantasy tales, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Macmillan’s Tor Books’ Tor.com Publishing imprint.

This is apparently a special bonus selection to supplement their featured free eBook of the Month Club offer (usually a single novel or novella appearing mid-month) for June. The mostly award-nominated stories in this collection contain elements exploring various aspects of LGBTQ+ experience, from historical closeting and underground subculture, to bisexual relationships, to gender fluidity and more, and have a brief new introduction by Tor.com editor Carl Engle-Laird.

This omnibus edition contains the following four novellas:

• The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy, 1st in the Danielle Cain series of horror-flavoured dark urban fantasy adventures starring a group of traveling anarchists up against various hostile entities including demons and law enforcement officials, this installment set in Iowa and pitting them against rogue protective deer spirits turned deadly
• Passing Strange by Ellen Klages, a standalone f/f historical magical realist urban fantasy tale set in 1940s amidst the lesbian underground of San Francisco; winner of the 2018 Nebula and British Fantasy Awards (I liked this one for the interesting portrayal of how LGBT people were able to express themselves, or not, during a difficult time period)
• A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson, the self-contained 2nd novella in the Sorcerer of the Wildeeps setting of epic sword & sorcery fantasy in a world where the gods roam the earth, this story an alternate history tale with m/m and m/f romantic elements exploring the various life paths the son of a prominent family could have taken starting from a turning point in his youth; a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Awards (I read this back then and really enjoyed it)
• The Black Tides of Heaven by Singaporean author J. Y. Yang, 1st novella in the Asian history-inspired Tensorate science fantasy series mixing budding technology with psionic powers in a world where children grow up genderless until choosing upon adulthood, this installment starring the twin children of the ruthless ruler of the dominant empire as they grow up and take or rebel against their roles in the troubled regime; a finalist for the 2018 Hugo Awards

Offered through June 7th at just before midnight Eastern Time, available DRM-free to Canada & US only directly from the publisher.

[Free Video Game] Obduction [Science Fiction Puzzle Adventure]

As a special treat to help promote their current Summer Sale Festival, GOG.com is giving away copies of a science fiction puzzle adventure game, free for a limited time courtesy of developer Cyan, the indie studio behind the cult classic Myst franchise.

The game stars you as an abductee transported across the universe by a mysterious artifact, exploring an alien landscape sprinkled with parts of Earth from various times and places, uncovering connections and making choices that may or may not bring you home.

To get your free copy of Obduction (available for Mac & Windows, requires account signup with valid email but no payment info), scroll down to the banner just under “Flash Deals” on the GOG.com homepage and click to claim it. You can read more about the game on its dedicated product page

Free through June 1st at 1 PM UTC (approx 6 AM Pacific Time), available DRM-free directly from GOG.com.

[Free eBook] Day of Deliverance by Johnny O’Brien [YA Time Travel Science Fiction]

Day of Deliverance by Scottish author Johnny O’Brien is the 2nd novel in the Jack Christie trilogy of tween/young adult time travel adventure science fiction, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 2010 by Templar Publishing. The series stars two teens who discover that their high school provides a front for a team of scientists a time travel device, and become embroiled between two rival groups—one seeking to make changes to the past to ensure a better present, and the other believing the past too dangerous to be tampered with—and each group determined to sabotage and stop the other’s efforts at any cost.

This installment is set in Elizabethan England, and continues the fallout from the first novel, as sides are chosen and divided loyalties are resolved, with a mission to thwart the other side going wrong as the kids end up stranded on their own in 1587, joining a traveling performance troupe already embroiled in espionage intrigues in the hopes of being able to carry out their task to save their preferred history.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] Autonomous by Annalee Newitz [Award-Winning Science Fiction]

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz, a journalist and founder of the popular io9 science & science fiction blog, is a standalone science fiction novel with LGBT romantic and identity elements, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Macmillan’s Tor Books.

This is their featured free eBook of the Month Club offer for May is being made free to help promote the author’s upcoming new release The Future of Another Timeline, a time travel adventure thriller due in September. The novel won the 2018 Lambda Literary Award in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror category, and was also a finalist for the Nebula and the John W. Campbell Awards, and placed 2nd in the annual Locus Award lists.

The story is a somewhat satirical work exploring notions of servitude and autonomy in a culture where everything and everyone is considered a marketable product, taking place in a near-future mid-21st century Earth recovering from assorted disasters and dominated by corporations who control humans through drugs, centred around a anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate to help the poor with cheap generics who discovers a dangerous new medication which turns people into careless near-robotic workaholics, even as she is being hunted down for her activities by a military agent with an increasingly liberated robot partner exploring its self-expression.

Offered through May 17th at 11:59 PM Eastern Time, available DRM-free to Canada & US only directly from the publisher.

[Free Audiobooks] Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa & The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F. C. Yee [Young Adult Asian Myth-Based Historical & Urban Fantasy]

AudioFile’s SYNC Summer of Listening 2019 promotion for young adults offers 2 free audiobooks per week—1 classic or non-fiction, 1 modern—as free MP3 downloads, usually available worldwide (some titles are subject to geo-restrictions, and you can see the planned release schedule here).

This week’s two selected titles, which have a theme of mythology-based adventure fantasy, available until 7am Eastern Time on May 16th, are as follows:

• Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa, the 1st novel in the eponymous series of YA fantasy with strong f/m romantic elements drawing upon Japanese folklore, set in a loosely historical world where a half-human, half-kitsune raised by monks flees the destruction of her home temple with a piece of a powerful ancient scroll, sought by many hunters including a samurai with whom she forms an uneasy alliance under the impression that she will lead him to it, in order to survive; read by Joy Osmanski, Brian Nishii, Emily Woo Zeller, from HarperAudio, available worldwide
• The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F. C. Yee, a YA urban fantasy drawing upon the Chinese tales of the Monkey King Sun Wukong, starring a girl in San Francisco who discovers her hidden supernatural powers and tries to balance her suburban high school life with a mythological invasion, with the help of an annoying exchange student from China who claims to know far too much about what’s going on; read by Nancy Wu, from Recorded Books, available worldwide

Offered as DRM-free MP3s through 7am Eastern Time on May 16th, available in selected countries worldwide (requires installing Overdrive Media console software on your PC, Mac, Android, or iDevice, and you need to finish downloading before the time limit).

[Free eBook] As Kingfishers Catch Fire and Dragonflies Draw Flame by Philip McCormac [Supernatural Horror Police Procedural]

As Kingfishers Catch Fire and Dragonflies Draw Flame by Ulster-born England resident author Philip McCormac a standalone supernatural horror police procedural crime thriller, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

The story is a hybrid of supernatural horror and police procedural crime thriller, mixing in political tensions in Northern Ireland, when a demon bound during the 17th century finds a way to wreak havoc between Catholics and Protestants in modern Ulster, as detectives investigate the disappearance of local children belonging to a religious youth group amidst threats from the IRA and conflict with the Catholic Church which no longer acknowledges the possibility of demonic influence or the usefulness of exorcism.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.