The pay-what-you-want e-book site Fiction Bundle, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, has gone live with its inaugural “Chapter 1” bundle. All the titles are revealed. They are:
- The Godmakers by Frank Herbert
- Assemblers of Infinity by Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason
- The Golden Queen by David Farland
- Lights in the Deep by Brad R. Torgerson
- Bone Shop by Tim Pratt
- Dust and Kisses by Dean Wesley Smith
- $10-and-up Bonus: The Complete Stories of Tim Pratt (So Far) by Tim Pratt
This bundle has a minimum donation requirement of $6, and it takes $10 to unlock the Tim Pratt short stories book (which was originally made as a reward for a Kickstarter campaign and isn’t available anywhere else). Still, even at $6 for those six books, that’s a pretty good deal.
The charities that this bundle supports are the Red Cross and the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. Sliders allow you to choose how much money to give to the authors, the charities, and the site itself as a tip. (You cannot, however, choose to pay only one charity; it’s either both or nothing.)
Frank Herbert and Kevin Anderson are both authors I’ve seen in one or two other bundles; in fact Mike Stackpole told me Anderson organized the Storybundle bundle. Apparently Herbert’s estate sees a benefit in getting his work out there, too.
Anyway, it looks like an interesting mix of science fiction and fantasy stories. And they’re all DRM-free, so why not?
Dean Wesley Smith is offering his own monthly bundles. http://ebookne.ws/1h4PLCd
For $7 you can get a collection of his stories as well as part of several serialized novels.
http://www.smithsmonthly.com/cover-of-smiths-monthly-1/