[Free eBook] Red in Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton [Award-Winning Victorian Pastiche Fantasy]

Red in Tooth and Claw by Welsh-born Canadian author Jo Walton, a recipient of the Hugo, Nebula, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, is a standalone fantasy with satirical 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 It won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2004 (and is a fun read and interesting take on both the original human and imitation dragon cultures), and is being made free to help promote Walton’s upcoming book, Or What You Will, expected in July.

The story is a pastiche of a Victorian romantic social drama novel, specifically inspired by 19th century English author Anthony Trollope‘s classic “Chronicles of Barsetshire” series, only set in a Society composed almost entirely of dragons.

Offered through Friday, May 22nd until just before midnight Eastern Time, available DRM-free to Canada & US only directly from the publisher.

[Free eBook REPEAT] Villa Mimosa by Jerrard Tickell [WWII Literary Heist Thriller Satire]

Villa Mimosa by the late Irish author Jerrard Tickell, whose WWII comedy novel Appointment with Venus has been twice adapted to film, is his standalone historical literary fiction heist thriller, free again for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press.

This was originally published in 1960 by Hodder & Stoughton.

The story is a literary novel with satirical elements, framed as a heist thriller, taking place in occupied France during World War II, and is centred around a daring British military operation to rescue a group of eccentric civilians from an area previously thought safely evacuated.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] Contraband by George Foy [Science Fiction Cyberpunk Technothriller]

Contraband by George Foy, a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in literature known for his pseudonymous genre-bending literary-flavoured works, is a standalone science fiction cyberpunk technothriller, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 1998 by Bantam Books.

The story is a satirical heist quest adventure set in a near-future world dominated by megacorporations and government bureaucracy where human freedom is a commodity, starring a smuggler who finds his fellows disappearing as he receives a cryptic message advising him to track down someone who may be able to break a mysterious code linked to it all, embarking on a journey with oddball companions, even as the Feds begin closing in.

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 eBook] An Unholy Crusade by Edmund Glasby [Satirical Quest Fantasy]

An Unholy Crusade by British author Edmund Glasby is the 3rd novel in the The Daemondamned trilogy of satirical grimdark epic fantasy novels, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

The series is an apparently satirical take on “grimdark” epic fantasy, exploring its common tropes in a deadpan comedic way by setting a disillusioned cynical assassin cultist zealot on a quest for a magical McGuffin at the behest of the power-hungry evil god he intends to betray.

This installment wraps up the story, as his scheme is derailed by the attentions of other forces seeking to co-opt his plans to suit their own agenda, pitting evil against evil in the race to get revenge first.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.