[Free eBook] Starfarers by Vonda N. McIntyre [Science Fiction]

Starfarers by Vonda N. McIntyre, thrice winner of the Nebula Award, is the 1st novel in her Starfarers quartet of space exploration science fiction adventures, free for a limited time courtesy of the author via the Book View Café backlist author republishing consortium.

This was originally published in 1989 by Ace Books.

The series is set in a future where a newly-built starship is ready for its first journey of exploration, hoping to make alien contact. This story sees a group of scientists and adventurers come together to hijack the spaceship, when a new government orders the abandonment of the peaceful mission, instead intending to use the ship for waging war.

Offered DRM-free worldwide, apparently through the month of July, directly at the consortium’s webstore.

[Free eBook] Star Quest by Fenton Brockley [Science Fiction]

Star Quest by Fenton Brockley, a pseudonym for British author Donald S. Rowland, is his vintage science fiction space adventure with investigative mystery elements, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 1974 by Robert Hale.

The story involves a space mission to rescue an exploring starship gone unexpectedly incommunicado and disappeared, and a Lieutenant looking for his vanished crewmember brother, trying to find answers to a mystery which may be rooted in sabotage and misdeeds.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] Old Man’s War by John Scalzi [Military Science Fiction]

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, is the 1st novel in his Old Man’s War series of military science fiction space operas, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Tor Books.

This was a finalist for the 2006 Hugo for Best Novel and placed 2nd on the Locus Award list for Best First Novel. The series is set in a far future world at war with aliens, using assorted technology to physically enhance the humans within.

The story uses the premise that the military doesn’t want young people, but instead seasoned and skillful types who’ve lived a lifetime already, starring one man who takes the deal, finding the experience to not quite be what he expected.

Offered through June 21st, available in Canada & the US directly from the publisher as their Free Book of the Month Club selection.

[Free eBook] Star Cluster Seven by Alex Random [Science Fiction]

Star Cluster Seven by Alex Random, a pseudonym for British author Donald S. Rowland, is his vintage standalone science fiction adventure, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 1974 by Robert Hale as part of their Hale SF line. The story stars a former rising Star Fleet Command captain who is suddenly falsely accused of smuggling and exiled, who will do anything to find out who framed him and clear his name.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] Nightmare Planet by Donald S. Rowland [Science Fiction Thriller]

Nightmare Planet by British author Donald S. Rowland is his vintage standalone science fiction adventure thriller, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 1976 by Robert Hale as part of their Hale SF line. The story apparently has horror elements, and features a spaceship crew on an exploratory mission to locate new sources of badly-needed materials is sent into deep space, whereupon it encounters a mysterious hidden planetary system which seems to be inhabited, and investigates, possibly to its detriment.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] Operation Omina by Roland Starr [Science Fiction Thriller]

Operation Omina by Roland Starr, a pseudonym for British author Donald S. Rowland, is the 1st novel in his Omina quartet of science fiction space adventures, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 1970 by Lenox Hill Press.

The quartet is centred around a distant planet named Omina.This installment has suspense elements, and stars a spaceship crew headed there on a long-term mission, which discovers something startling in its staffing which may lead to terrible problems which prevent them from reaching it.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] A Plague in Paradise by Robert E. Vardeman [Science Fiction Adventure]

A Plague in Paradise by Robert E. Vardeman, a 1972 Hugo Award finalist for Best Fan Writer, in addition to being an author in his own right, is the 3rd novel in his Masters of Space trilogy of science fiction space adventure thrillers, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 1987 by Avon. The series is written in the vein of old school pulp space adventures such as by E. E. Smith (creator of the Lensman series which inspired DC Comics’ Green Lantern Corps), and stars a man on the run after having been framed for thwarting a nefarious plan, and the wealthy socialite who aids and abets him.

This finale wraps up the story with previous plot points coming to a head, as a lingering part of the nefarious plan which involves unleashing a devastating virus that could destroy all alien life, and the complication of a robotics master assassin on their trail, need to be thwarted, too.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] Dark Constellation by Alex Random [Science Fiction Adventure Thriller]

Dark Constellation by Alex Random, a pseudonym for British author Donald S. Rowland, is his vintage standalone science fiction space opera adventure thriller, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture imprint.

This was originally published in 1975 by Robert Hale as part of their Hale SF line. The story takes place in the midst of a war between Earth and reptilian alien invaders, starring a spaceship crew on a secret mission to destroy the alien home planet, which might not make it there as mysterious happenings befall them on the way, leading to strange behaviour and sabotage and possible doom.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge [Award-Winning Science Fiction]

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge is the 1st novel in his Zones of Thought sequence of science fiction space opera novels, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Tor Books.

This won the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel in a tie with Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book, and also received the SF Chronicle Award. The series is set in a far future filled with aliens and super-intelligent beings, where people communicate via a Usenet-like network, and a species’ level of technology and mental ability is determined by which space zone it lives in, which has an arbitrary effect upon its development which is not fully understood.

This novel starts the saga with the discovery that the Earth exists in one of the “slow” zones, and humanity’s efforts to get around the effects of that, alongside the unleashed threat of the use of a devastating weapon designed by the beings in the super-intelligence zones and the ensuing galactic power struggle between the other alien species.

Offered through May 15th, available in Canada & the US directly from the publisher as their Free eBook of the Month Club selection.

[Free eBook] Children of the Stars: The Boxset: Books 1-4 by Juanita Coulson [Science Fiction]

Children of the Stars: The Boxset: Books 1-4 by Juanita Coulson, who is also an award-winning filksinger, comprises the entirety of her Children of the Stars quartet of epic star-spanning space opera generational family saga, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press’ Venture Press imprint.

This omnibus edition contains the following novels, originally published between 1981 to 1989 by Ballantine’s Del Rey imprint: Tomorrow’s Heritage, Outward Bound, Legacy of Earth, The Past of Forever.

The series is a generational saga set in a space-exploring near-to-far future where the first contact of an alien species sets off a dispute in Earth’s dominant dynastic family. Each novel follows one of the members of the dynasty over the course of time as they forge their own paths in separate tales of their dealings with both humans and non-humans throughout the ensuing galactic empire, while also dealing with the weight of their family legacy.

Offered worldwide, available at Amazon.