More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download John Gwynne's Malice for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

Young Corban watches enviously as boys become warriors, learning the art of war. He yearns to wield his sword and spear to protect his king’s realm. But that day will come all too soon.

Only when he loses those he loves will he learn the true price of courage. The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, the earth running dark with their heartsblood. Although the giant-clans were broken in ages past, their ruined fortresses still scar the land. But now giants stir anew, the very stones weep blood and there are sightings of giant wyrms.

Those who can still read the signs see a threat far greater than the ancient wars. Sorrow will darken the world, as angels and demons make it their battlefield. Then there will be a war to end all wars. High King Aquilus summons his fellow kings to council, seeking an alliance in this time of need. Prophesy indicates darkness and light will demand two champions, the Black Sun and the Bright Star. They would be wise to seek out both, for if the Black Sun gains ascendancy, mankind’s hopes and dreams will fall to dust.

Carrie

I'm not sure which of Stephen King's novels I read first as a teenager, but I guess it's safe to assume that Carrie was probably among the very first ones. As you know, I've been revisiting some of King's early works to see how well they've aged over the years. I've always debated on rereading Carrie, however. Given that it's the author's debut, understandably it might not be as good as I recalled. But something kept nagging me to give it a shot and I finally did.

Carrie was King's fourth novel, but it was the first one to be published. It was also a book that almost never saw the light. Indeed, working on what was then a short story, the author threw the first couple of pages in the trash. It was his wife Tabitha who fished the material out of the garbage bin and encouraged him to finish the story. The book made little noise when it was released in hardcover format in 1974, yet it made it big in paperback. When the movie adaptation was released in 1976, sales reached four million copies. And the rest, as they say, is history.

I shouldn't have worried, for Carrie remains a powerful story that stays with you long after you've reached the last page. It's far from King's best effort, it goes without saying. But for all that it is a short work of fiction, it's raw and moving and unforgettable.

Here's the blurb:

Stephen King's legendary debut, about a teenage outcast and the revenge she enacts on her classmates.

Carrie White may be picked on by her classmates, but she has a gift. She can move things with her mind. Doors lock. Candles fall. This is her power and her problem. Then, an act of kindness, as spontaneous as the vicious taunts of her classmates, offers Carrie a chance to be a normal...until an unexpected cruelty turns her gift into a weapon of horror and destruction that no one will ever forget.

A great chunk of Carrie is written as an epistolary novel. Letters, extracts from various sources, newspaper clippings, and magazine articles are used to recount how Carrie destroyed vast swaths of the town of Chamberlain, Maine in her quest for revenge against her classmates and her own mother. Some of these epistolary-style sections worked well enough to foreshadow what's coming, but they also broke the momentum of the book more often than not. Hence, though there is a good story to tell, I reckon that some readers might find this unusual structure off-putting.

The book brings you back in time, back to your high school years and all that it entails. For most of us, that means a lot of awkward and painful memories. King doesn't shy away from showing us--and reminding us "older" folks--how cruel teenagers can be. In that regard, though the events take place in 1979 and certain things might seem a bit outdated, there is a certain timelessness to Carrie that survived through the decades since its release. Then as now, adolescents must deal with themes such as ostracization and the visceral need to fit in. Many of the scenes make you cringe and you can't help but feel for the poor girl who's had to deal with this sort of abuse her whole life.

Carrie White is a protagonist that hits rather close to home. Boy or girl, we've all known outcasts like her. And at her age, because we also wanted to fit in, the vast majority of us never stepped up to those who abused them. This is the most troubling and painful reality one must experience as an adult reading or rereading this novel. You can't help but think of the Carrie White analogues of your own past. And of course, there's no way to turn back the clock and do something about it. As such, Carrie just might be the most thought-provoking book I've read in a long time.

Unlike Carrie White, most of those teenage outcasts from our high school days never had a chance to strike back at their oppressors. This is what makes, to a certain extent, Carrie's vengeance so oddly satisfying. When the poor girl finally snaps, as we all know she would, what happens next is somewhat compulsively readable. You know it's bad and lots of innocents are about to get massacred, but you can't put the book down. The ending itself was more touching than I expected/remembered. All in all, this is a solid debut. No wonder it launched Stephen King's illustrious career.

For those wishing to read a classic or to revisit one of King's early works, know that Carrie is nearly as good now as it was upon publication nearly fifty years ago. If you can put up with an epistolary format that doesn't always work best as a narrative structure and don't mind reading a story that will dredge up disturbing memories that were best forgotten, this one's for you.

The final verdict: 7.75/10

For more info about this title, check out these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (April 3rd)

In hardcover:

Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six is up five positions, ending the week at number 8. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Sarah J. Maas's House of Sky and Breath is down two spots, finishing the week at number 11. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Fonda Lee's Jade City, recent winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

In this epic saga of magic and kungfu, four siblings battle rival clans for honor and power in an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis.

* Aurora Award for Best Novel, winner
* Nebula Award for Best Novel, nominee
* Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, finalist
* World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, finalist

Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed for -- and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion.

Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon's bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation.

When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone -- even foreigners -- wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones -- from their grandest patriarch to the lowliest motorcycle runner on the streets -- and of Kekon itself.

Jade City is the first novel in an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download N. K. Jemisin's The City We Became for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.

In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.

In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her.

In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.

And they're not the only ones.

Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can download Evan Winter's The Rage of Dragons for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

Game of Thrones meets Gladiator in this debut epic fantasy about a world caught in an eternal war, and the young man who will become his people's only hope for survival.

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable war for almost two hundred years. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war.

Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He's going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn't get the chance.

Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He'll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.

The Rage of Dragons launches a stunning and powerful debut epic fantasy series that readers are already calling "the best fantasy book in years."

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (March 27th)

In hardcover:

Sarah J. Maas's House of Sky and Breath is down five spots, finishing the week at number 9. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six is down ten positions, ending the week at number 13. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

In paperback:

Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun debuts at number 15. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot for only 4.50$ by following this Amazon Associate link.

Here's the blurb:

Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem’s Lot in hopes that exploring the history of the Marsten House, an old mansion long the subject of rumor and speculation, will help him cast out his personal devils and provide inspiration for his new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods, and only one returns alive, Mears begins to realize that something sinister is at work.

In fact, his hometown is under siege from forces of darkness far beyond his imagination. And only he, with a small group of allies, can hope to contain the evil that is growing within the borders of this small New England town.

With this, his second novel, Stephen King established himself as an indisputable master of American horror, able to transform the old conceits of the genre into something fresh and all the more frightening for taking place in a familiar, idyllic locale.

You can also get your hands on the digital edition of Andy Weir's The Martian for 4.50$ here.

Here's the blurb:

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download James Islington's The Shadow of What Was Lost, first volume in the Licanius trilogy, for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada. It's supposed to be a must for fans of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time.

Here's the blurb:

It has been twenty years since the god-like Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them - the Gifted - are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion's Four Tenets, vastly limiting their powers.

As a Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and others like him are despised. But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden power of the Augurs, he sets into motion a chain of events that will change everything.

To the west, a young man whose fate is intertwined with Davian's wakes up in the forest, covered in blood and with no memory of who he is...

And in the far north, an ancient enemy long thought defeated begins to stir.

The Hidden Palace

In my review of The Golem and the Jinni, I opined that with such a superior debut, Helene Wecker demonstrated that she was an enchanting and skilled storyteller. And if that work was any indication, this could be the beginning of a brilliant new voice in speculative fiction. I said that I was looking forward to whatever came next.

Like most readers, I reckon I wasn't the only one shocked by the fact that we had to wait for eight years for this sequel. Although I remembered it fondly, I gradually forgot most details about The Golem and the Jinni. When The Hidden Palace was announced, I was quite excited. But I realized that I had forgotten almost everything about the plot and the characters. So much so that I wondered if it was a good idea to dive into this novel without rereading the first one.

Thankfully, the author and her editor likely realized that it would be so for a great chunk of Wecker's readership and steps were taken to make sure that we are brought up to speed so as to not feel loss when we revisit Ahmad and Chava and the rest of the supporting cast. So there is no need to reread The Golem and the Jinni per se, though I wish I'd had time to do so. Even if I believe I was able to enjoy the book as much as Wecker wanted to, I get the feeling that I did miss some of the nuances that a reread would have allowed me to appreciate even more.

Here's the blurb:

In this enthralling historical epic, set in New York City and the Middle East in the years leading to World War I-- the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Golem and the Jinni--Helene Wecker revisits her beloved characters Chava and Ahmad as they confront unexpected new challenges in a rapidly changing human world.

Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they'll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human--just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Brought together under calamitous circumstances, their lives are now entwined--but they're not yet certain of what they mean to each other.

Both Chava and Ahmad have changed the lives of the people around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who's been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele--not knowing that she's about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.

Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart--especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?

As was the case with its predecessor, the most wonderful facet of The Hidden Palace is how the author managed to capture the nuances and textures of the turn of the century New York City and the Middle East. Similar to how Carlos Ruiz Zafón did it with Barcelona in The Shadow of the Wind and its sequels, Helene Wecker makes NYC and various Middle Eastern locales come alive in extraordinary fashion. There is a wealth of historical details, some important and others mundane, woven into the story and the minutiae of it all makes for another beautifully atmospheric novel.

In The Golem and the Jinni, it took a while for both Ahmad and Chava to come into their own. It was the supporting cast, as motley a group of men and women as they come, that made both Ahmad and Chava come alive as characters. Their interactions with the world around them forged their personalities and helped make them the endearing duo that they soon become. There are many familiar faces such as Arbeely, Anna, the Radzins, Maryam, and others who appear in this sequel. And though Ahmad and Chava take center stage once more, The Hidden Palace features more protagonists whose lives/storylines will influence those of our unlikely duo. Kreindel, an orphaned Jewish girl, has a particularly touching POV. It took a while for Toby's perspective (Anna's son) to make sense and the same goes for Sophia Winston's, but both play important roles in the resolution of this novel. Once again, it's been a long time since I've encountered such a delightful yet disparate cast of characters.

Though The Hidden Palace takes place more than a decade following the events of The Golem and the Jinni, I loved how Ahmad and Chava's plight remain no different from that of most of the newly arrived immigrants around them. They remain strangers in a strange land, trying to forge a new life for themselves. The fact that she doesn't seem to age forces Chava to change her identity, leaving everything behind to start over once more. Helene Wecker possesses a deft human touch which allows her to charge this novel with rare emotional depth. It's impossible not to feel for those characters, no matter what happens to them.

The pace is slow-moving throughout. The Hidden Palace is a meandering sort of work, one that doesn't seem to have a definite story arc. It follows the lives of Ahmad, Chava, Kreindel, Sophia, Toby, and a number of other characters, seemingly without rhyme or reason. And yet, though the rhythm is slow and nothing much appears to be taking place, the book is never a chore to read. Wecker brings it all together near the end, with an ending that promises more to come.

We can only hope that we won't have to wait for so long for the third installment.

The final verdict: 8/10

For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Octavia E. Butler's Seed to Harvest for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

The complete Patternist series—the acclaimed science fiction epic of a world transformed by a secret race of telepaths and their devastating rise to power.

In the late seventeenth century, two immortals meet in an African forest. Anyanwu is a healer, a three-hundred-year-old woman who uses her wisdom to help those around her. The other is Doro, a malevolent despot who has mastered the power of stealing the bodies of others when his wears out. Together they will change the world.

Over the next three centuries, Doro mounts a colossal selective breeding project, attempting to create a master race of telepaths. He succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, splitting the human race down the middle and establishing a new world order dominated by the most manipulative minds on Earth.

In these four novels, award-winning author Octavia E. Butler tells the classic story that began her legendary career: a mythic tale of the transformation of civilization.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Dan Simmons' excellent The Terror for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

Greeted with excited critical praise, this extraordinary novel-inspired by the true story of two ice ships that disappeared in the Arctic Circle during an 1845 expedition-swells with the heart-stopping suspense and heroic adventure that have won Dan Simmons praise as “a writer who not only makes big promises but keeps them” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). THE TERROR chills readers to the core.

You can also get your hands on the digital edition of Stephen King's Skeleton Crew for only 2.99$ here. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

Includes the stories “Uncle Otto’s Truck” and “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut”—set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine

Features “The Mist” now a TV series event on Spike

The #1 New York Times bestseller and winner of the 1986 Locus Award for Best Collection, Skeleton Crew is “Stephen King at his best” (The Denver Post)—a terrifying, mesmerizing collection of stories from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time.

“Wildly imaginative, delightfully diabolical…King once again proves to be the consummate storyteller” (The Associated Press).

A supermarket becomes the place where humanity makes its last stand against destruction. A trip to the attic becomes a journey to hell. A woman driving a Jaguar finds a scary shortcut to paradise. An idyllic lake harbors a bottomless evil. And a desert island is the scene of the most terrifying struggle for survival ever waged. This “wonderfully gruesome” collection (The New York Times Book Review) includes:

-“The Mist”
-“Here There Be Tygers”
-“The Monkey”
-“Cain Rose Up”
-“Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut”
-“The Jaunt”
-“The Wedding Gig”
-“Paranoid: A Chant”
-“The Raft”- “Word Processor of the Gods”
-“The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands”
-“Beachworld”
-“The Reaper’s Image”
-“Nona”
-“For Owen”
-“Survivor Type”
-“Uncle Otto’s Truck”
-“Morning Deliveries (Milkman No. 1)”
-“Big Wheels: a Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman No. 2)”
-“Gramma”
-“The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet”
-“The Reach”

King is best known for his iconic, immersive long novels, but he is also a master of the short story, and this is a magnificent collection.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Frank Herbert's timeless classic, Dune, for only 4.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

Frank Herbert’s epic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and the bestselling science fiction novel of all time.

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family—and would bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what it undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

Win a copy of Max Gladstone's THE LAST EXIT

I'm giving away my review copy of Max Gladstone's The Last Exit to one lucky winner. For more info about this title, check out these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Here's the blurb:

In Last Exit, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Max Gladstone weaves American myths—the muscle car, the open road, the white-hatted cowboy—into a deeply emotional tale.

When Zelda and her friends first met, in college, they believed they had all the answers. They had figured out a big secret about how the world worked and they thought that meant they could change things.

They failed. One of their own fell, to darkness and rot.

Ten years later, they've drifted apart, building lives for themselves, families, fortunes. All but Zelda. She's still wandering the backroads of the nation. She's still fighting monsters. She knows: the past isn't over. It's not even past.

The road's still there. The rot's still waiting. They can't hide from it any more. Because, at long last, their friend is coming home. And hell is coming with her.

The rules are the same as usual. You need to send an email at reviews@(no-spam)gryphonwood.net with the header "EXIT." Remember to remove the "no spam" thingy.

Second, your email must contain your full mailing address (that's snail mail!), otherwise your message will be deleted.

Lastly, multiple entries will disqualify whoever sends them. And please include your screen name and the message boards that you frequent using it, if you do hang out on a particular MB.

Good luck to all the participants!

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

For a limited time, you can download Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link.

Here's the blurb:

A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction--but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (March 20th)

In hardcover:

Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six debuts at number 3. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Sarah J. Maas's House of Sky and Breath is down two spots, finishing the week at number 4. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of RJ Barker's The Bone Ships for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

A brilliantly imagined saga of honor, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships is the epic launch of a new series from British Fantasy Award winner, RJ Barker.

Two nations at war. One prize beyond compare.

For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war. The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted.

Now, the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favor. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory but the war.

Quote of the Day

We can be changed, sometimes greatly, by people who come only glancingly into our lives and move on, never knowing what they have done to us.

- GUY GAVRIEL KAY, All the Seas of the World (Canada, USA, Europe)

I'm really taking my time, savoring this one. It's another memorable read.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Seanan McGuire's Middlegame for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

A HUGO AWARD FINALIST!

WINNER OF THE LOCUS AWARD FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL, 2020!

A Pick on the 2020 RUSA Reading List!

New York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in the standalone fantasy, Middlegame.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Robert R. McCammon's Boy's Life, winner of the World Fantasy and the Bram Stoker Awards, for only 3.99$ here. There is a price match in Canada.

One of the best books I've read in a long time!

Here's the blurb:

An Alabama boy’s innocence is shaken by murder and madness in the 1960s South in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Swan Song.

It’s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It’s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson. He’s certain he’s sensed spirits whispering in the churchyard. He’s heard of the weird bootleggers who lurk in the dark outside of town. He’s seen a flood leave Main Street crawling with snakes. Cory thrills to all of it as only a young boy can.

Then one morning, while accompanying his father on his milk route, he sees a car careen off the road and slowly sink into fathomless Saxon’s Lake. His father dives into the icy water to rescue the driver, and finds a beaten corpse, naked and handcuffed to the steering wheel—a copper wire tightened around the stranger’s neck. In time, the townsfolk seem to forget all about the unsolved murder. But Cory and his father can’t.

Their search for the truth is a journey into a world where innocence and evil collide. What lies before them is the stuff of fear and awe, magic and madness, fantasy and reality. As Cory wades into the deep end of Zephyr and all its mysteries, he’ll discover that while the pleasures of childish things fade away, growing up can be a strange and beautiful ride.

Quote of the Day

I've only really known this one place to live. My city. Other people, for different reasons, seem to never really have a home, even if they settle somewhere. That becomes a place they live. Not the same thing. They go through their lives as if adrift on all the seas of the world.

Maybe home for some is always the one they lost.

- GUY GAVRIEL KAY, All the Seas of the World (Canada, USA, Europe)

Seriously, you can pre-order this one. Kay's latest is captivating!

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Django Wexler's Ashes of the Sun for only 4.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

Long ago, a magical war destroyed an empire, and a new one was built in its ashes. But still the old grudges simmer, and two siblings will fight on opposite sides to save their world in the start of Django Wexler's new epic fantasy trilogy.

Gyre hasn't seen his beloved sister since their parents sold her to the mysterious Twilight Order. Now, twelve years after her disappearance, Gyre's sole focus is revenge, and he's willing to risk anything and anyone to claim enough power to destroy the Order.

Chasing rumors of a fabled city protecting a powerful artifact, Gyre comes face-to-face with his lost sister. But she isn't who she once was. Trained to be a warrior, Maya wields magic for the Twilight Order's cause. Standing on opposite sides of a looming civil war, the two siblings will learn that not even the ties of blood will keep them from splitting the world in two.

You can also download Iain M. Banks' Transition for 1.99$ here. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?

Among those operatives are Temudjin Oh, of mysterious Mongolian origins, an un-killable assassin who journeys between the peaks of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and the dark palaces of Venice under snow; Adrian Cubbish, a restlessly greedy City trader; and a nameless, faceless state-sponsored torturer known only as the Philosopher, who moves between time zones with sinister ease. Then there are those who question the Concern: the bandit queen Mrs. Mulverhill, roaming the worlds recruiting rebels to her side; and Patient 8262, under sedation and feigning madness in a forgotten hospital ward, in hiding from a dirty past.

There is a world that needs help; but whether it needs the Concern is a different matter.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (March 13th)

In hardcover:

Sarah J. Maas's House of Sky and Breath is down one spot, finishing the week at number 2. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

In paperback:

Sarah J. Maas's House of Earth and Blood is down one position, ending the week at number 14. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.