Holla folks,
It’s just going to be a quick post tonight, as I have something else to focus on. I’ve put myself on a tight schedule of banging out one chapter of The Obituarist a night, or at least nearly every night, and so far it’s going pretty well. Admittedly each chapter is only around 1200 words, but hey, it still means I’m getting it done. And having fun with it too, which is pretty unusual for me. So fingers crossed, I should have this draft finished pretty soon and a final, publishable version by early-mid April.
But that does kinda preclude making too many long blog posts, just for the moment.
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However, other than blowing my own trumpet about my sudden discovery of a work ethic, I did want to post something else.
As I mentioned on the weekend, I haz a Kindle! And I’m going to New Zealand next week! And it seems to me that I can combine these two facts and end up with plenty to read on flights and long drives without blowing out my luggage allowance.
But finding ebooks is harder than I had originally thought – or, more to the point, finding ones I want to read in the endless ocean of ebooks that gnaws at the shores of the Kindle Store. There’s a blog post percolating in my skull about that, but that’s a topic for another night.
Tonight, instead, I’m hoping you can help a brother out with some recommendations. What are your favourite 2-3 ebooks that come in Kindle format (whether from Amazon or another vendor) that cost 5 dollars or less? (I’m happy to spend more than five bucks on an ebook, but just not this week ‘cos funds are tight.) Tell me what I should buy – and why I should buy it.
Comments! I need comments! Lickety-split! Fill up my Kindlator!
8 replies on “Fill me up, Buttercup”
…You’ve got all of Chuck Wendig’s writing advice books, right? And Shotgun Gravy and Double Dead? Because they’re all gold, which you probably know.
Okay, then, I have a couple of recommendations one degree of separation from Der Wendig –
‘8 Pounds: Eight Tales of Crime, Horror and Suspense’ is a short story collection by Chris F Holm. Good short story vibes that vibes equal parts Dahl, King, Bradbury and Ramsey Campbell. Ridiculously good value at 99 cents on Amazon.
Also, ‘Child of Fire’ by Harry Connolly is hardboiled violent urban fantasy that moves at a nice clip (and again, dirt cheap at taster prices). I liked the mix of mundane fantasy, original weirdness and seriously brutal characters.
I have a whole sub-directory just devoted to Chuck. Any more and I basically have to send him Valentine’s Day cards.
I’ll check out ‘8 Pounds’. The other one… is that Harry Connolly the crime writer? I read a couple of his books and didn’t care for his style, although that was a while ago.
Okay, ignore that last part; I’m obviously thinking of someone else.
Looking on Amazon I’m seeing a lot of comparisons to the Dresden Files books, which I think are pap – but fuck it, it’s 99 cents so why not?
Yeah, the comparisons to Dresden are not completely off the planet – but Connolly’s prose is tighter and the situations are entertainingly dark and fucked up.
And as you say, the price is hard to turn down.
I’m a big fan of Cory Doctorow, and you can download his ebooks for free here: http://craphound.com/?cat=5
In lieu of making a financial/online donation, he asks that you buy printed copies in bookshops, or buy a copy to donate schools/teachers/students, and maintains a list help manage this.
Thanks for that, Damien!
I’ve always meant to check out Doctrow but never have – now is the time!
A friend of mine named John Perich published a crime thriller set in Boston titled Too Close to Miss which I found enjoyable.
Purchased!