Kindle* (see note below) books on sale right now but just for a day or two that you may want to know about:
To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876
Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World
And not on sale but still cheap, don’t forget: In Search of Sungudogo
Suddenly, and presumably for just a couple of days, some great SciFi in Kindle form on sale dirt cheap.
Seed to Harvest: The Complete Patternist Series (The Patternist Series)* by Octavia Butler:
The complete Patternist series—the acclaimed science fiction epic of a world transformed by a secret race of telepaths and their devastating rise to power. In the late seventeenth century, two immortals meet in an African forest. Anyanwu is a healer, a three-hundred-year-old woman who uses her wisdom to help those around her. The other is Doro, a malevolent despot who has mastered the power of stealing the bodies of others when his wears out. Together they will change the world. Over the next three centuries, Doro mounts a colossal selective breeding project, attempting to create a master race of telepaths. He succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, splitting the human race down the middle and establishing a new world order dominated by the most manipulative minds on Earth. In these four novels, award-winning author Octavia E. Butler tells the classic story that began her legendary career: a mythic tale of the transformation of civilization. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.
The Lathe of Heaven* by Ursula Le Guin:
In a near-future world beset by war, climate change, and overpopulation, Portland resident George Orr discovers that his dreams have the power to alter reality. Upon waking, the world he knew has become a strange, barely recognizable place, where only George has a clear memory of how it was before. Seeking escape from these “effective dreams,” George eventually turns to behavioral psychologist Dr. William Haber for a cure. But Haber has other ideas in mind.
Seeing the profound power of George’s dreams, Haber believes it must be harnessed for the greater good—no matter the cost. Soon, George is a pawn in Haber’s dangerous game, where the fate of humanity grows more imperiled with every waking hour.
As relevant today as it was when it won the Locus Award in 1971, The Lathe of Heaven is a true classic, at once eerie and prescient, entertaining and intelligent. In short, it does “what science fiction is supposed to do”
Childhood’s End (Arthur C. Clarke Collection) by Arthur C. Clarke:
In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems.
Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems.
In kindle form* The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. Great deal at two bucks.
While we are on the subject of cheap Kindle books, you may want to know that the 7th in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, Make No Bones, is also available cheap.
Ray Bradbury wrote an unknown number of stories, but over 400. Some say 600. Doesn’t matter. Back in 1980, Knopf published 100 of these stories, chosen by Bradbury himself to represent the rest. The Stories of Ray Bradbury is over 900 print pages. The stories date from 1943 to 1980. And now, for a presumably limited time and probably just in the United States, you can get this book* in futuristic electronic Kindle form for three bucks.
It is worth noting that a second book, “Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales“, was produced in 2003, and includes another 100 stories, with no overlap between the two books. As far as I know that book is not on sale at this time.
Suddenly available cheap from Amazon*, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: The inspiration for the films Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 by Philip Dick.
While we are on the subject of cheap books, did you know that the popular, and pretty good, “Longmire” of TV started out as a series of books? The Highwayman: A Longmire Story (Walt Longmire Mysteries) by Craig Johnson is also cheap on Kindle, which is the 11th point five in the series (apparently it is complicated). The first is The Cold Dish: A Longmire Mystery. (Kindle edition of the first in the series here.)
I read The Source: A Novel by James Michener a long time ago, so I might have some of this wrong, but…
It is a fun read, not actually religious as some might suggest. The story starts at the beginning and the end at the same time. The end involves a group of archaeologists digging down in a tel (called Tell Makor in the book, but I’m told it might be closest the the actual Tel Dan.) The beginning involves a family of pre-Neolithic people who invent agriculture and domesticate the dog. (I oversimplify, as does in that are, the author.) The rest of the story is a rough approximation of the Old Testament history.
Anyway, relatively cheap for Kindle* (2.99) right now.
I should also mention* that The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, is still cheap ($4.99).
You already own this but in case you want a Kindle version so you can search the text or whatever, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is now 3 bucks, which is slightly less than half the usual price. This is book one, no wait, book two, no wait, book one, of the Chronicles of Narnia series. Book One, in my opinion. Fight me if you want.
While we’re on the subject of books you already own in meatspace but not yet on Kindle, Bratchett’s Equal Rites: A Novel of Discworld is two bucks, way less than half price. Go for it!
Ironic? Maybe, because we know democracy should not be for sale, and never, on sale. Whatever. I’m here to tell you* that Nancy MacLean’s “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” is on Kindle right now for cheap, at least in the US, where Democracy and books about it are always on sale!
In an unrelated development, this may be of interest to you as well: Chancing It: The Laws of Chance and How They Can Work for You by Robert Matthews with a forward by Larry Gonick is also cheap* on Kinddle at this moment. This is yet another book about how people with calculators are smart compared to you. But, it has a foreword by Larry Gonick!
You may be interested in these two cheap Kindle versions of classic books.
The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
2001: A Space Odyssey 
As long as we are on the subject of cheap Kindle book, 366 Days in Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency: The Private, Political, and Military Decisions of America’s Greatest President
Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel
But time is relative, so you better also check out The Perfect Theory: A Century of Geniuses and the Battle over General Relativity
At this moment, there is a batch of very interesting and generally acclaimed books for sale really cheap in Kindle form in the US, that I suspect readers of this blog will be interested in.
A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599
Creek Mary’s Blood: A Novel
Africa: A History
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election
The chronicles of Narnia, to be read in whatever order you feel is correct (but there is really only One True Order), are now for a short time available for $1.99 each in Kindle form. This probably only applies to US buyers, but I don’t know that for a fact.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia Book 2 BUT REALLY BOOK 1)
The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia Book 1 BUT REALLY BOOK 2)
The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia Book 3)
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia Book 4)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia Book 5)
The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia Book 6)
In addition to this, a very special and engaging biography of LBJ: Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
And this, which I’ve not read, but thought you might like to know is cheap:
For kindle, Dune
Meanwhile, of possible interest: Other Worlds Than These
“We can all imagine such “other worlds”–be they worlds just slightly different than our own or worlds full of magic and wonder–but it is only in fiction that we can travel to them. From The Wizard of Oz to The Dark Tower, from Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass to C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, there is a rich tradition of this kind of fiction, but never before have the best parallel world stories and portal fantasies been collected in a single volume–until now.”
It is an anthology of some kind, I put it here because it looks interesting, but I’ve not read it. Have you?
You know those books that anthologize the best of this and the best of that? A bunch of them are now cheap in Kindle form:
The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 (The Best American Series ®)
The Best American Comics 2018 (The Best American Series ®)
The Best American Travel Writing 2018 (The Best American Series ®)
The Best American Sports Writing 2018 (The Best American Series ®)
And since you are busy looking at books, look at mine! In Search of Sungudogo
There is an interesting set of Kindle books for cheap available right now, including one by Robert Heinlein. Continue reading Heinlein Book Cheap And More
