Book haul; more Kindle deals

[rachelmanija]

Via telophase, Georgette Heyer's Cotillion is free on Kindle, no doubt for a very limited time. It's one of my favorites of hers, very funny and unusual for its genre. (Please don't spoil in comments.)

Also on Kindle, some nice deals on Marjorie Liu's cracktastic romance series about a detective agency of psychics, shapeshifters, etc. You can read my reviews of individual novels by clicking on the tag for her. I haven't read the latest, In the Dark of Dreams: A Dirk & Steele Novel, yet, but it's on Kindle for $1.99. Shadow Touch: A Dirk & Steele Novel, the one with the angsty psychometrist who meets a sad psychic healer while imprisoned in a laboratory (and then they take a train across Russia with a were-dolphin), is selling for $2.99. Eye of Heaven, the one with the Iranian-American electricity-powered hero and the lioness shapeshifter heroine who investigate an organ-legging ring while she continues her day job as a lion-tamer at a circus, is $4.99.

But I also frequent used bookshops and thrift stores! The latter are especially good sources for completely obscure books. My latest haul:

Beginner's Luck, by Oriel Malet (1952). Looks Noel Streatfeild-ish, about siblings in a pantomime troupe.

Captured, by Beverly Jenkins. African-American historical romance between "the most notorious privateer ever to command the high seas" and the "stunning slave" he rescues from a British frigate.

Under The Southern Cross, by Claire McNab. Lesbian romance.

THE DEADLY AFFAIR aka Call for the Dead, by John Le Carre. Very short George Smiley spy novel.

Tightrope Men, by Desmond Bagley. Suspense novel. I think I vaguely heard of the author? I grabbed it because I like "I woke up with amnesia" novels.



Anyone read or heard of any of these?

Comments

[coffeeandink]

Call for the Dead is more of a mystery novel with a spy protagonist than a spy thriller like the later Smiley books. Definitely early work, but decent.

[boundbooks]

Sweet, thanks for the heads-up regarding Cotillion!

[green_knight]

I love Desmond Bagley, though I like most of his other novels more than this one.

He has a genre writer's sensitivities for weaving stories out of setting, characters, and plot - Dick Francis does this, too - and his science and natural science tends to be spot on, at least for the time of writing. He's written oceanography-, geology- (several), and meteorology-based thrillers; definitely worth checking out as an author.

[susansugarspun.livejournal.com]

The Georgette Heyer is free from bn.com, for people who have Nooks or other non-Amazon e-readers! (And thanks for the tip--I've only read one other Heyer, but I really liked it.)

[estara.livejournal.com]

It was also free at Books on Board - for regular .epub users.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested in hearing about those first two! (By which I mean, Beginner's Luck and Eye of Heaven)

.... and no, never heard of or read any of them.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

You linked Eye of Heaven instead of the Jenkins novel.

*goes to download Cotillion*

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thanks, fixed!

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I read at least one of Bagley's other books--I see this is the Finnish one, which I have always wanted to read because of my fairly inexplicable fascination with Finland.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Oh, and liked it. Very mid-century adventure a la Alastair MacLean or Eric Ambler.

Dear Author has even more links

[estara.livejournal.com]

I just came from there - and found that Books on Board mirror the Avon sale in particular - got myself two missing Liu books. Jane from DA did a link orgy to almost every place and people are adding more links in comments.

http://dearauthor.com/features/industry-news/wednesday-midday-links-the-other-ebook-sales/

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

For a good "I wake up with amnesia" novel, try DISPOSSESSION by Chaz Brenchley. You'll need to look in used book stores or libraries for it, but it has amnesia and an...interesting...angel. More like a mystery novel than urban fantasy, with just a hint of the latter.

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

Oh my! I read the Jenkins a long time ago - as I recall it's a 'bodice ripper' which was very naughty at the time but I bet nowadays it seems mild.

Desmond Bagley is one of my dad's favourite authors, he writes rather gripping, old-fashioned thrillers. If you like him, you might enjoy Anthony Price (I'm an ex-librarian and old habits of recommending authors die hard!)

Used bookstores and thrift shops are pure gold! A sign of civilisation, IMO!

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Schweet! Loved Cotillion, thanks for the tip. :)

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I also found a short story prequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go free on Kindle.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Not terribly good, though, I thought. Did you read it?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Just ordered it last night, when I was trying to figure out if I'd dislike the sequels as much as you had. Figured it might help me make the call.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I can tell you in a non-spoilery (well, no plot spoilers) what it was I disliked about the sequels. It doesn't apply to the short story, though.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

It's a bit depressing to think you have a completely different reason for liking the short story, lol. Sure, won't hurt.

Also: Ben and Cillian were a couple, right? Right?

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I thought they were, yes, but IIRC it's not explicitly stated.

In book two, the moral dilemmas are turned up to 11, but in a kind of unrealistic, extreme way. And the characters' choices - Todd's in particular - felt less genuine and more there to make a point. Because Todd cannot kill OMG, he becomes a thinly veiled metaphoric concentration camp guard. This is, honestly, not exactly a likely choice to have to make! Also I ended up disliking Todd, and I loved him in book one.

In book three, there was so much random violence and random running around shouting "Todd!" "Violet!" "Todd!" "Violet!" that I got bored and skipped to the climax, where I discovered that it involved a trope which I hate very much and which I suspect was exactly as unmotivated with context as it seemed without context. Then I skipped to the very end, and found that it involved ANOTHER trope I dislike.

The shot story I thought was just dull.

Also, it turned out that the dog was the sole source of humor in the universe.

That being said, the people who loved the sequels thought they were profound, no-punches-pulled explorations of genocide, colonialism, and the banality of evil. So if that sounds fun... ;)

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

The rest of the world seems so religious-fundamentalist I kept doubting my perception.

That's pretty much what I was afraid of (though I confess I did not expect 'thinly-veiled concentration camp guard). They really should've waited to kill the dog until book 3. (Some of the women were pretty awesome.)

Ergh. There is so much other good stuff to read, I think I'll skip them, at least until I can't stand wondering any longe.