Freebies

First, if you haven't yet registered over at Tor and signed up for the newsletter, may I suggest you do -- if you like receiving free e-books that is.  And if you'd like to read sample chapters of some really great authors, including LJ's own and beloved Jay Lake jaylake, whose novel Mainspring is doing very well.  I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list.  His fight (and may I gladly say, win) with cancer struck close to home with me as I was thinking I might have to do the same, at the same time as he was being diagnosed. 

E-books I have received download links to so far:
Touch of Evil by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp
A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham
Orphans of Chaos by John Wright
Starfish by Peter Watts
Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott

Also gleaned from my flist, if you'd like a free copy of Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, just head over to John Joseph Adams site here.  But hurry, supplies are limited.  In return, you agree to post a review on your blog.  You can also get a free copy of the anthology he edited, Seeds of Change, at the same site here. 

Wow!  That's a lotta free stuff for one day, eh?  Enjoy if you have time.  Which I don't.  But I got them all anyway, blithely optimisting (yeah, I know, that's not a verb.  But I'm a writer, and I can make it one if I wanna!) that  time will appear from another dimension or galaxy or something.

Fourtold by Michael Stone

I have finished Fourtold, a fine collection of  four short stories by my good buddy Mike Stone mylefteye.   I give it a seal of approval.  A thumbs up review!   It's a beautiful hardcover edition.  And the cover photo is worth the price of admission alone.

"San Ferry Ann" takes place in the Ardennes after World War I.  It's a quiet, moving tale of two friends, both battered and scarred by the war as they attempt to help a young girl who may or may not have influenza. 

"The Reconstruction of Kasper Clark" is a fresh take and shows Mike's ability to take a story in very unexpected places.  Kasper's mouth is on his forehead.  After unsuccessfully trying to find a doctor who will give him a normal mouth, he finally finds a place.  But this place is more than a little unusual, as are the other patients and doctors. 

 "The Terracotta Warrior" is my favorite story.  It's an old-fashioned monster chase at a secluded estate, but as always, Mike's flair for characterization makes it an entertaining read and a real nail biter. 

"Lemon Man" is a story of a man's descent into madness interwoven with his visions of Heaven.  But not the Heaven that most people would think of, but one of war and powerful angels and pain.  The story cuts back and forth between the two "worlds" and the reader finds himself gripped by the feeling that all will not end well here.

For ordering information, check out Mike's webpage.  Or order it direct from the publisher, Baysgarth Publications.   (Hey while you're at Baysgarth, you can even pick up a copy of "Surreal Imaginings" which has short stories by Michael Stone, Gerard Brennan, J.J. Beazley, Berrien C. Henderson and Bram Stoker Award-finalist, Gene O'Neill.  And oh yeah, me.  ;-)