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Free Stuff

I've made my first novel, Ventus, available as a free download, as well as excerpts from two of the Virga books.  I am looking forward to putting up a number of short stories in the near future.

Complete novel:  Ventus

 

To celebrate the August, 2007 publication of Queen of Candesce, I decided to re-release my first novel as a free eBook. You can download it from this page. Ventus was first published by Tor Books in 2000, and and you can still buy it; to everyone who would just like to sample my work, I hope you enjoy this free version.

I've released this book under a Creative Commons license, which means you can read it and distribute it freely, but not make derivative works or sell it.

Book Excerpts:  Sun of Suns and Pirate Sun

I've made large tracts of these two Virga books available.  If you want to find out what the Virga universe is all about, you can check it out here:

Short Stories

I'll be adding new stories here periodically.  First of all, you can try my Aurora-award nominated short story "Hopscotch."  The year this was nominated, another of my stories was also nominated:  "The Toy Mill," which I wrote with David Nickle.  "The Toy Mill" won the award; but I've always been fond of "Hopscotch."  Here it is, in its entirety excerpted from my collection The Engine of Recall.

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Aug 04, 2008

Ventus downloads continue strong

by karl — last modified Jan 28, 2008 07:52 AM
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I'm delighted that so many readers are getting to know me through this, my first and in some ways, favourite novel

Oh, it's terrible to play favourites.  It's just that I lived with Ventus for so long--it took seven years to write--and it was my first published solo novel.  I've offered it as a free download for nearly a year now, and it's still in high demand: for instance, last month, in July 2008, I recorded 1300 downloads from this site alone.  Since it's also available now from many public ebook sites, I have no idea what the actual numbers are like. 

Thanks to everybody who's enjoying the book, I'm gratified I've been able to share this world and these characters with you.

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Jul 21, 2008

Tor.com is live!

by karl — last modified Jan 28, 2008 07:52 AM
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After all that buildup, the reality doesn't disappoint. This is the definitive publisher's site

It's got short stories and (for a while) free ebooks.  It's got some of the best fantasy/scifi art you can find.  It's got John Scalzi...

The Tor.com website is now live.  

This place is going to become a major hub, and it's not going to take long.  With the kind of talent they've got blogging over there--and with the kind of talent they've got writing original short fiction--this site is gonna be flypaper for every SF and Fantasy fan out there.  And deservedly so:  Tor has lavished a tonne of care and ingenuity on this portal, and more importantly they've invited the readers to come in and play too.  Tor.com isn't some arms-length advertising exercise, it's a social networking site for fans of cyberculture.  Go check it out.

And while you're there, check out the jaw-dropping list of free novels and art you can download for a limited time.

Comments: 0

Apr 18, 2008

Download a free Sun of Suns ebook!

by karl — last modified Jan 28, 2008 07:52 AM
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. . . for a limited time

I've known this was coming for months, but couldn't talk about it.  Now my publisher, Tor, has revealed that Sun of Suns, my rollicking postmodern space-opera, will be next week's free ebook download from Tor.com.  Want a copy?  Then head on over to the new site and register.  It's free, and if you act now, you'll also gain access to a couple of other free ebooks.

Note:  the ebook will become available April 25th.  If you sign up, Tor will automatically send you an email with a link on that date.

Believe me, it'll be worth it to join the new site.  Tor isn't just pasting new art on an old site, here; they're opening up their entire operation.  The new tor.com will be a participatory playground for fans, thoughtful readers, and aspiring writers. It'll also have original art and stories, and stuff I still can't talk about.

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