More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Peter F. Hamilton's Salvation for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link.

Here's the blurb:

Humanity's complex relationship with technology spirals out of control in this first book of an all-new trilogy from "the owner of the most powerful imagination in science fiction" (Ken Follett).

In 2204, humanity is expanding into the wider galaxy in leaps and bounds. A new technology of linked jump gates has rendered most forms of transporation--including starships--virtually obsolete. Every place on earth, every distant planet mankind has settled, is now merely a step away from any other. And all seems wonderful...until a crashed alien spaceship is found on a newly-located world 89 light years from Earth, harboring seventeen human victims. And of the high-powered team dispatched to investigate the mystery, one is an alien spy...

Bursting with tension and big ideas, this standalone series highlights the inventiveness of an author at the top of his game, as the interweaving story lines tell us not only how humanity arrived at this moment, but also the far-future consequences that spin off from it.

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You can now download George R. R. Martin's Fire and Blood for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

With all the fire and fury fans have come to expect from internationally bestselling author George R. R. Martin, this is the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros.

Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.

What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice and Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.

With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire and Blood is the ultimate game of thrones, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (September 21st)

In paperback:

Stephen King's The Institute is up five spots, finishing the week at number 1 (trade paperback).

Margaret Atwood's The Testaments is down four positions, ending the week at number 6 (trade paperback).

Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country is down two positions, ending the week at number 13 (trade paperback).

Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem debuts at number 15 (trade paperback).

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (September 14th)

In hardcover:

Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising debuts at number 9.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic is down two spots, finishing the week at number 14.

In paperback:

Margaret Atwood's The Testaments debuts at number 2 (trade paperback).

Stephen King's The Institute debuts at number 6 (trade paperback).

Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country is up seven positions, ending the week at number 11 (trade paperback).

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


For a limited time only, in Canada you can download every single installment of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, even the Battle Ground pre-order, for only 2.99$ each by following this Amazon Associate link!

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Nicholas Eames' Kings of the Wyld for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

GLORY NEVER GETS OLD.

Clay Cooper and his band were once the best of the best, the most feared and renowned crew of mercenaries this side of the Heartwyld.

Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk, or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay's door with a plea for help--the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for.

It's time to get the band back together.


You can also get your hands on the digital edition of Sylvain Neuvel's excellent Sleeping Giants for only 1.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

A page-turning debut in the tradition of Michael Crichton, World War Z, and The Martian, Sleeping Giants is a thriller fueled by an earthshaking mystery—and a fight to control a gargantuan power.

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?


You can also download Rogues, an anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, for only 1.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

A thrilling collection of twenty-one original stories by an all-star list of contributors—including a new A Game of Thrones story by George R. R. Martin!

If you’re a fan of fiction that is more than just black and white, this latest story collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. Twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R. R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire.

Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis, as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand, in this rogues gallery of stories that will plunder your heart—and yet leave you all the richer for it.


Finally, you can download Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit for only 0.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris's career isn't the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris's best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.

The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao--because she might be his next victim.

Quote of the day

I wonder what it says about me that pizza has been one of the better long-term investments in my career.

- JIM BUTCHER, Battle Ground

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

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (September 7th)

In hardcover:

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic is down two spots, finishing the week at number 12.

Stephen King's If It Bleeds maintains its position at number 15. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

In paperback:

Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country is up one position, ending the week at number 4 (trade paperback).

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is up eight spots, finishing the week at number 7 (trade paperback).

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower debuts at number 14 (trade paperback).

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can download Robert McCammon's Swan Song for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

McCammon’s epic bestselling novel about a girl psychic struggling to survive in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.

Something flashes in nine-year-old Swan’s brain, telling her that trouble is coming. Maybe it’s her mother, fed up with her current boyfriend and ready to abandon their dismal trailer park and seek a new home. But something far worse is on the horizon. Death falls from the sky—nuclear bombs which annihilate American civilization. Though Swan survives the blast, this young psychic’s war is just beginning.

As the survivors try to make new lives in the wasteland, an evil army forms, intent on murdering all those tainted with the diseases brought by fallout. When Swan finds a mysterious amulet that could hold the key to humankind’s salvation, she draws the attention of a man more dangerous than any nuclear bomb. To rescue mankind, this little girl will have to grow up fast.

The year of the coronavirus


Hey guys,

I'm sure you realized that things are not the same thing year on the Hotlist. This pandemic has affected us all in myriad ways, most of them negative.

Confinement did me in and I've been battling depression for the last few months with little success. Which is why my review output has dwindled to less than half of what it used to be. Reading doesn't bring as much pleasure as it used to, I'm afraid. I do have three reviews in the pipeline that I must get to, but I find it harder and harder to do so.

On a more positive note, after a 12-year hiatus, I've resumed writing. The amount of ideas swirling around in my head had become such that I simply couldn't help it anymore. I've known what my next story would be for about a decade, but something always forced me to hold back. Confinement gave me an excuse to sit down and work on it, and on March 15th (3 days following the start of the confinement here in Québec) I finally did.

It was as if a part of me came back to life. Seriously, writing is the only thing that kept me sane these last few months. Moreover, the story is progressing at a pace that is a little frightening. I don't know if it's because I've had these ideas and concepts and characters in my mind for years and years, but in a little over 5 months I wrote 431 manuscript pages which amount to more than 120,000 words! It's absolutely crazy!

Working title was Laman's Folly from the get-go, but it's now The Evil That Men Do.

It's Glen Cook's The Black Company meets Steven Erikson's The Bridgeburners meets GRRM's A Game of Thrones.

If all goes well, maybe you'll get to read it at some point in the future. . . =)

Meanwhile, hang in there and try to focus on anything that brings a bit of sunshine into your life. With the second wave coming, we must hang on to any positive things we can lay our hands on.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (August 31st)

In hardcover:

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic is up one spot, finishing the week at number 10.

Stephen King's If It Bleeds is down one position, ending the week at number 15. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

In paperback:

Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country debuts at number 5 (trade paperback).

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale returns at number 15 (trade paperback).

Quantum Shadows


I was immediately intrigued when I read the blurb for L. E. Modesitt, jr.'s latest science fiction novel. As you know, I'm a big Recluce fan and I relished the opportunity to read a stand-alone work from the author. Given the blurb, I was expecting something more scifi-esque. Quantum Shadows is more of a philosophical and thought-provoking read, and as such it's short on plot and characterization. It's a book that asks readers to consider things from a different perspective, which is always good. Unfortunately, there's not much in terms of a story per se.

Here's the blurb:

Bestselling author of The Mongrel Mage, L. E. Modesitt, Jr's Quantum Shadows blends science fiction, myth, and legend in an adventure that pits old gods and new against one another in a far future world.

On a world called Heaven, the ten major religions of mankind each have its own land governed by a capital city and ruled by a Hegemon. That Hegemon may be a god, or a prophet of a god. Smaller religions have their own towns or villages of belief.

Corvyn, known as the Shadow of the Raven, contains the collective memory of humanity’s Falls from Grace. With this knowledge comes enormous power.

When unknown power burns a mysterious black image into the holy place of each House of the Decalivre, Corvyn must discover what entity could possibly have that much power. The stakes are nothing less than another Fall, and if he doesn't stop it, mankind will not rise from the ashes.


Modesitt is known for his detailed worldbuilding and the backdrop for Quantum Shadows seemed to be fascinating. A planet called Heaven, on which all of mankind's religions are forced to live in relative peace, or else face the wrath of the Pearls of Heaven orbiting around the world, watching and waiting. Alas, the author kept his cards way too close to his chest. I understand that less is more often enough. But in this case, with the novel weighing in at only 300 pages, Modesitt could have provided a lot more information and elaborated on the various cities/states/villages and their respective religions without hampering the momentum of the tale. As things stand, the reader keeps going without understanding much of what is taking place. Even the finale fails to bring much in terms of resolution.

Essentially, Quantum Shadows is little more than a travelogue that depicts Corvyn's journey across the land in search of information about the mysterious tridents that keep appearing in holy places sanctified to various deities. Like George R. R. Martin, Modesitt has always been keen on food and drinks and Corvyn's meals are described at great length. The same goes for his many hotel rooms. Sadly, I would have liked to learn more about the various gods, angels, apostles, prophets, etc, as well as the tenets of their religions. But it wasn't meant to be. It often feels as though this is a new installment in an ongoing series, and that all the groundwork has been laid out in previous volumes. Indeed, the story moves forward as if the reader should be aware of what is occurring and the author wastes little time providing background information to help him along.

There is very little characterization to speak of. Corvyn is so enigmatic that even his POV remains shrouded in mystery. You do get to know a little more about him by the end of the book, but not much. The supporting cast is never truly fleshed out and is more or less forgettable. I have to admit that I was expecting much more of Modesitt in that regard and the end result is really disappointing.

The novel also explores themes such as sexism, freedom (of thought, of speech, or religion), culture, power, control, censorship, and the arts (especially music and poetry). The commentary can be subtle and at other times quite obvious. But with the plot being as thin as it is, I felt that such commentary would have worked better had the tale echoed with more depth.

I particularly enjoyed Corvyn's nightmares, which paint a very grim picture of humanity's various Falls. Through these short vignettes, one realizes that there is so much more to this story. I just wish Modesitt would have given us more. Because when all is said and done, Quantum Shadows doesn't feel like a full novel. So much seems to be missing. And it's a shame, for all the ingredients were there for another brilliant and entertaining read.

The final verdict: 6.5/10

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

Follow this link to read an extract.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download N. K. Jemisin's The City We Became for only 3.99$ 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.