[Free eBooks] 50 books from Archipelago Press [Award-Winning World Literary, Historical, Poetry, Kids]

As a special treat during the ongoing quarantine, publisher Archipelago Press, who specialize in notable world literature in translation, have been offering 50 ebooks free for a limited time through May 20th.

The selection consists mainly of literary contemporary and historical novels and short story collections from notable authors and works including Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic author Halldór Laxness (with Wayward Heroes, a 1952 satire set in the medieval Viking world) and various nominees for the International Dublin Literary and other awards, but also includes poetry and some children’s picture books. Countries around the world are represented, ranging from Denmark to France to Morocco to Argentina to India and many more, with an assorted selection of older works from the early 20th century as well as more recent 21st century fare, and includes the occasional bilingual edition incorporating the original language alongside its translation.

You can find a full listing and links to obtain the giveaway selection on Archipelago’s dedicated news announcement blogpost (requires account signup with valid email, but no payment info; you may need to put in a convincing US billing and shipping address in order to checkout successfully, otherwise the system might be glitchy and attempt to add a non-existent extra shipping cost for the free ebooks to other countries).

NB: most of the books are available in both DRM-free PDF and ePub format, and I advise grabbing both due to potential formatting/layout issues for the poetry and anything that might depend on special typographic styling. Some books are only available in one format, and the cart doesn’t show which format you selected until you checkout, so I also suggest doing a double pass of getting all the ePubs first, and then the PDFs in a second checkout batch, or vice versa. A few formats for one or two books may be improperly priced, so make sure they say $0.00 when adding to the cart.

Three titles, Seraphin, The Gothamites, and Hiznobyūtī, are from their “Elsewhere Editions” imprint for children’s literature in translation, and will require a separate sign-up for that site. (Selecting the generic “eBook” option from the dropdown will give you PDF versions instead of the dedicated ePub option.) Also, French poet Maurice Scève’s Emblems, seems to be glitched and unavailable in any eBook format.

Offered DRM-free worldwide through Wednesday, May 20th (probably ending Eastern Time), directly from the publisher.

[Free eBooks] 9 books from AmazonCrossing for World Book Day [International Literary & Genre Fiction & Non-Fiction]

As a special treat to celebrate the United Nations’ annual World Book Day event, 9 titles from assorted countries in various genres of fiction and non-fiction from the exclusive Amazon Crossing and Amazon Crossing Kids translation imprints are being given away, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Amazon.

The selection includes a sampling of international goodies for all ages and genres, from kids’ picture books to literary fiction from award-winning authors as well as genre thriller, romance, and historical sagas, and also true crime and memoir.

All the titles are listed with their Kindle store links @ the special World Book Day promotion page (change your local store as applicable from the provided drop-down; selection may vary by country) and include:

Non-Fiction:

• Out of the Silence: After the Crash by Uruguayan rugby player Eduardo Strauch with Uruguayan-Argentinian author Mireya Soriano, a memoir about his experiences as a survivor of the famous 1972 plane crash carrying his rugby team in the snowbound Andes mountain, which left them stranded for months before rescue
• The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson’s Lost Files and the Hunt for an Assassin by Swedish author Jan Stocklassa, a retrospective true crime recounting of the late bestselling Swedish crime novelist of the acclaimed “Millenium” trilogy’s pre-fame journalistic attempt at investigating Swedish prime minister Olof Palme‘s unsolved murder

Fiction:

• Along the Tapajós by Brazilian author Fernando Vilela, a children’s picture book recounting two siblings’ adventures along a river to rescue their pet tortoise
• Life by the late Mao Dun Literature Prize-winning Chinese author Lu Yao, a 1980s-era retro-historical contemporary literary novel about a stubbornly idealistic young man from a rural village trying to make it in the big city
• The Girl in the Tree by Yudus Nadi Literature Award-winning Turkish author Şebnem İşigüzel, a contemporary literary coming of age novel with f/m romantic elements about two young people in Istanbul during a time of violent unrest and political upheaval
• The First Mrs. Rothschild by Israeli author Sara Aharoni, a Steinmatzky Prize-winning epistolary historical biographical novel with f/m romantic elements about young lovers in starting in a Jewish German ghetto in the 1770s, who eventually rise to found the famous banking dynasty over the course of the ensuing decades, told in the form of the titular character’s journals
• The Price of Paradise by Spanish author Susana López Rubio, an historical f/m romantic saga, about the decades-long forbidden love affair between a young Spanish immigant and a local mobster’s wife, starting in 1940s Cuba
• Your Perfect Year by pseudonymous German author Charlotte Lucas, a heartwarming contemporary literary novel about second chances
• Hard Rain by South African author Irma Venter, 1st in the Rogue series of mystery/thrillers with f/m romantic elements starring a journalist and a photographer set throughout Africa, with this installment introducing to each other on an assignment in Tanzania as one of them becomes a suspect in the murder of an IT billionaire

Offered in most countries worldwide through just before midnight Pacific Time on Friday, April 24th, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] The Aztec Skull by Anthea Goddard [Vintage 1970s Kids/YA Suspense Thriller]

The Aztec Skull by Australian author Anthea Goddard is a vintage standalone kids/YA suspense thriller, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press.

This was originally published in 1977 by Walker.

The story, which seems to be at the tween level, stars a young runaway who finds an unoccupied house to live in, which contains the titular mysterious and priceless Aztec skull, a hidden artifact stolen from Mexico and now sought by its angry owners who will stop at nothing to get it back.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBooks] Hundreds of freebies from Simon & Schuster [All Genres]

As a special promotion in conjunction with $0.99 and $1.99 sales on a large chunk of their catalogue, Simon & Schuster (one of the “Big 6” publishers) are giving away literally over a thousand titles from their various imprints.

All genres are represented, both fiction and non, and there are a lot of good titles free and on sale, especially if you happen to like history, politics/current affairs, cookbooks, mystery/thrillers, literary fiction, paranormal romance, and children’s picture books. Also, there are some Spanish-language titles (both translated and original), if you’re interested.

In addition to all the freebies, many worthwhile books are discounted to dirt-cheap, such as British science historian James Burke‘s excellent and highly recommended Connections TV series tie-ins The Knowledge Web and American Connections; children’s novels by award-winning authors Susan Cooper, E. L. Konigsburg, and Zilpha Keatley Snyder; hot Scandinavian mystery/thriller authors Mons Kallentoft, Jo Nesbø, Camilla Grebe & Åsa Träff, and Anders de la Motte, the popular Everything series of DIY books, TV tie-ins for Star Trek, Alias, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI, and much more.

The freebies and deals seem to be valid in the US only, and I’m guessing they’ll only last until Monday, which is when Simon & Schuster usually seems to rotate their sale offerings.

I’m including links for all the imprints I’ve spotted freebies in for Kobo, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, since those stores allow searching by publisher and sorting by price, but they should also be available via Google Play and iTunes if you prefer.