The Shining, Misery, Carrie, Firestarter, Dead Zone, Bag of Bones,Needful Things, From a Buick 8, Cell and 11.22.63
That being said if you are a fan then you probably have the above already but if you are going to buy Mercedes anyway, why not.
So if you are interested, go here.
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They also have Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard Series books 1 & 2 for under $10 each, they are the US versions – check out The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies.
And finally it’s a pre-order but Paul Cornell’s London Falling comes out in paperback in a couple of weeks at $11. If you preorder they will still ship it at no extra charge.
The code for free shipping is BIRTHDAY, just apply it at the end of the checkout process.
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I just bought Mary Poppins She Wrote, a biography about PL Travers by another Australian author for Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014, I’d also heartily recommend The Girl With All The Gifts which I have just read and reviewed.
I note also that they have the Wonderbook, which all my writer friends have been on about.
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But I would like to recommend the graphic novel SAGA – Volume 1 which my library got in for me. Mature, witty and some of the best writing I think I have read in this form. So if you have the cash I recommend it oh and SAGA two is just out as well. By them both for less than $31.
Caution though, this is not a tome for the kiddies.
The free shipping code till midnight tomorrow night is FUN
Yesterday I received an email from Goodreads, informing me that I am in their top 1% of reviewers. I must admit that for a brief minute I daydreamed of limousines and red carpets, of a Parkinson style Masterclass TV show interviewing JK Rowling or Stephen King.
Actually, I lie. I thought, Cool but what they hell does that mean? I should also note that with 20 million people on Goodreads that I share the 1% with 19999 other reviewers.
Am I in the top 100 or the bottom 19900’s?
Is it an indication of how many reviews I have posted? How many of them have been viewed?
It is ultimately meaningless. Which brings me to the question. Why? Why Goodreads are you attempting to curry favour with me (and 19999 others)? Is it just a simply scheme to spread your marketing further, to draw more people to the site, through my social networks that I have built up.
You make all the money from the site.
I often wonder if Goodreads and other sites are worth it for reviewers. We generate content and page hits (and ultimately money) for Amazon and I don’t know that being a presence on Goodreads actually grants me anything but another place to post my reviews. Sure it’s a free platform but so’s my blog. Do Publishers check reviewer rankings before deciding on posting out review copy?
Money should flow to the writer no? Should that go for the review writer as well?
And by money I don’t mean being paid for specific reviews, but being cut in on some of the money we are helping generate.
Once upon A time we had newspaper reviewers( you can still find this rapidly vanishing breed) and those reviewers were paid to review, remuneration was indirect, combating conflict of interest. Those times have gone but one thing still hasn’t changed - the corporate entity still makes the money, the real top 1% still make the money.
So I reaffirm my commitment to advertising Booktopia, an Australian company that has an affiliate scheme that has generated five fold what Amazon ever did and that actually sees reviewers as worthy of including in a cut of the pie.
Your thoughts?
Note: I am not really cranky, just casting a sideways glance at a company that’s getting me to do their marketing for them.
Booktopia have another free shipping deal running until Friday midnight so I have trawled through some of the bargains in Science Fiction and Fantasy DVD’s to save you the trouble, though the free shipping deal applies to everything including pre-orders. You might for instance want to check out JK Rowling’s Crime novel for yourself. You can read my review here.
But on to the deals:
There’s also a documentary on the Fantasy Artist Frank Frazetta called Frazetta : Painting With Fire that looks interesting for those of us who discovered fantasy before Harry Potter.
For hardcore fans of science fiction the original Solaris – Solaris (Distinction Series : 2 Disc Set) starring Natalya Bondarchuk and Donatas Banionis is good value at $13.95.
But by all means checkout their books as well. The code you will need for free shipping is GIFTS.
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Booktopia keep tempting me with their no shipping offers and I could almost resist this one except that I read this post by Glenda Larke where she mentioned some versions of her books might be hard to find in the wild.
So I went hunting and was pleasantly surprised to find the Watergivers trilogy available for $15 (no shipping charge). Now for those that suffer from a need to have all versions of the book in the same series of covers you might be disappointed but I can’t miss this opportunity to catch up on some quality Australian Fantasy.
You can click the pictures above to take you to the individual books in the series or click here to go to the view all of Glenda’s books available at Booktopia ( probably easier if you want to buy the whole trilogy.
The coupon code for no shipping is EOFYS and will work until midnight the 28th of June (3 days)
Enjoy!
It’s getting close to the end of the year and the wonderful folks at Booktopia have launched a July preorder catalogue. You can purchase these on preorder and get free shipping when they come in to stock if you use the code below.
I had a glance through and picked out a few books that might be of value to you dear readers.
Neryn thought she had lost everything and could trust no one, not even her mysterious companion, Flint. But when she finds refuge at the rebel base of Shadowfell and discovers her canny gift as a Caller, she feels the first stirrings of hope.
Now she faces a perilous journey with the rebel Tali and the Good Folk, who shadow her steps. She must find the three Guardians who can teach her how to use her unwieldy gift – one that it is rumoured could amass a powerful army.
Can Neryn master her magical power to save Alban from King Keldec's stranglehold?Or will she be too late?
Trouble, treachery, and magic just won't stop plaguing Cat Barahal. The Master of the Wild Hunt has stolen her husband Andevai. The ruler of the Taino kingdom blames her for his mother's murder. The infamous General Camjiata insists she join his army to help defeat the cold mages who rule Europa. An enraged fire mage wants to kill her. And Cat, her cousin Bee, and her half-brother Rory, aren't even back in Europa yet, where revolution is burning up the streets.
Revolutions to plot. Enemies to crush. Handsome men to rescue.
Cat and Bee have their work cut out for them.
War has come to the Long Earth....
Humankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by stepping, which Joshua and Lobsang explored a mere decade ago. Now "civilization" flourishes, and fleets of airships link the multiple Earths through exploration, trade, and culture.
Humankind is shaping the Long Earth, but in turn the Long Earth is shaping humankind. A new America that has christened itself "Valhalla" has emerged more than a million steps from the original Datum Earth. And like the American revolutionaries of old, the Valhallans resent being controlled from afar by the Datum government.
In the intervening years, the song of the trolls--graceful, hive-mind humanoids--has suffused the Long Earth. But in the face of humankind's inexorable advance, they are beginning to fall silent . . . and gradually disappear.
Joshua, now married and a father, is summoned by Lobsang. It seems that he alone can confront the perfect storm of crises that threatens to plunge all of the Long Earth into war.
A war unlike any that has been waged before...
As always though the have a selection of bargain stock for Fantasy and Science Fiction fans.
There are works from Tansy Rayner Roberts, Glenda Larke, Karen Miller, China Mieville, Anne Bishop, Elizabeth and Sean Williams all for around $5.
So check the links out and if you want to get free shipping put WINNER in the coupon code area on checkout.
Just a quick note to let you know that Booktopia currently have Graham Joyce’s The Limits of Enchantment on sale for $2.95.I grew up in the mining village of Keresley, near Coventry. It’s not a place you would find in the tourist guidebooks. A gritty, unlovely place. Salt of the earth people, but if you used words of more than two syllables you were instantly suspected of homosexuality. Mining people tend to be proud and aggressive to defend what little they’ve hacked out for themselves. [Read on]
Booktopia have free shipping until Sunday. Go here and place the word SAVE in the coupon field at the very end of the checkout process. 
Booktopia have a free shipping special running until the 18th of March. So I decided to purchase Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce, mentioned on the Coode Street Podcast in their interview with the author.SOME KIND OF FAIRY TALE is a very English story. A story of woods and clearings, a story of folk tales and family histories. It is as if Neil Gaiman and Joanne Harris had written a fairy tale together. It is Christmas afternoon and Peter Martin gets an unexpected phonecall from his parents, asking him to come round. It pulls him away from his wife and children and into a bewildering mystery. He arrives at his parents' house and discovers that they have a visitor. His sister Tara.
Not so unusual you might think, this is Christmas after all, a time when families get together. But twenty years ago Tara took a walk into the woods and never came back and as the years have gone by with no word from her the family have, unspoken, assumed that she was dead. Now she's back, tired, dirty, dishevelled, but happy and full of stories about twenty years spent travelling the world, an epic odyssey taken on a whim. But her stories don't quite hang together and once she has cleaned herself up and got some sleep it becomes apparent that the intervening years have been very kind to Tara.
She really does look no different from the young women who walked out the door twenty years ago. Peter's parents are just delighted to have their little girl back, but Peter and his best friend Richie, Tara's one time boyfriend, are not so sure. Tara seems happy enough but there is something about her. A haunted, otherworldly quality. Some would say it's as if she's off with the fairies. And as the months go by Peter begins to suspect that the woods around their homes are not finished with Tara and his family...
Ok folks, it’s that time again. Booktopia have free shipping until tomorrow night ( Monday 25th Feb). Scroll to the end of the post to get the 
There’s some bargains to be had along with their already discounted prices:
Joe Abercombie’s Best Served Cold is at an irresistible $4.95 – if only I didn't already own it.
Juliet Marilier’s Wolfskin is at a criminal $ 2.95
For the sci-fi feminists among you Booktopia also seem to be carrying more Joanna Russ than when I last checked.
Free Shipping Code
Simply place an order before midnight Monday the 25th of February (wherever you are in Australia) with the promotion code BIRTHDAY and you will receive free shipping on your order. The promotion code can be used as many times as you, or your family and friends, want on any orders between now and then.
To receive free shipping on any order YOU MUST TYPE the WORD: BIRTHDAY
You can go straight to Booktopia here .
The crew at Booktopia have come up with a solution that allows them to build their own catalogue of eBooks and still enable you to access any Google eBook purchases you made.
Here’s their letter:
Dear Sean,
As a customer who has bought eBooks from Booktopia in the past we want to let you know of changes to the Booktopia eBook offering from January 28th, 2013.
The main messages for you are that from January 28th, 2013:
- You CAN continue to read all Google eBooks you bought from Booktopia before this date
- You CAN continue to buy and read eBooks from Booktopia and keep and read your Booktopia eBooks in your Booktopia account library
- You CAN download the NEW BOOKTOPIA READER APP for both Apple and Android devices to read on your phone or tablet
- You CAN read both Google AND non-Google eBooks you purchased from Booktopia on the App
- Google will no longer be supplying eBooks to retailers worldwide, so we launched a new eBook range AND the Booktopia Reader App for you to use instead of Google Play
Some details...
We are building up a new, exciting eBook range for Booktopia customers. Also, to increase our independence from Google's eBooks, we have launched the free Booktopia Reader app for both iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) devices, and Android - specifically customised for Booktopia customers; you can use your Booktopia login to access your Booktopia eBook library and read all the eBooks that you have bought from us, (Google or otherwise) without having to create a Google account to download and use Google Play. You can also download your eBooks to your eBook device as per normal , via Adobe Digital Editions, but using your Booktopia username and password for authentication; again without needing a Google account.
So on January 28th, we are turning off the Google eBook collection for sale on our website and continuing with the replacement providers who don't require you to create any extra accounts and can be read on your Apple or Android device with the Booktopia Reader, or on your dedicated eReader device.
We hope that you continue to enjoy your eBook experience with Booktopia and continue to look for great bargains and excellent customer service from the Booktopia team.
Buy an eBook, download our free Booktopia Reader app and tell us what you think.
Is there a downside?
The only downside is that because you HAD to use Google Play to read Google eBooks on your iOS or Android device, and Google Play doesn't read eBooks that are not from Google, you therefore will not be able to use Google Play to read any eBooks you buy from Booktopia after this date (because the eBooks are not from Google).
HOWEVER, you can download the Booktopia Reader onto your iOS or Android device and read both your Google eBooks and your new eBooks you purchase from Booktopia. That's why we built the app specifically for Booktopia customers - so you can access your whole library - both previous Google eBooks and new eBooks - at the same time in the same place.
If you have an eReader device, you can still read your old AND new eBooks; as usual you will need to have the Adobe login that you downloaded your old eBooks with in order to read them (because of the account that is attached to every eBook at the time you first downloaded it). However all old and new eBooks will appear in your library, and you can use your Booktopia username and password to read your new eBooks.You do not need your Google login anymore. Adobe Digital Editions prompts you for which ID you need when you download an eBook - your old Adobe ID or your Booktopia ID. As time goes on and you read more eBooks, you will only need to use the one Booktopia ID and not worry about anything else.
A bit of background...
A day before Easter 2012, Google announced that it was going to cease distributing eBooks through all retailers worldwide on January 31, 2013. This came as a surprise to us as you can well imagine, as Booktopia was arguably the most successful eBook reseller for Google worldwide.
We took the announcement in our stride (as we do!) and immediately put plans in place to replace Google as an eBook supplier on our site while continuing to offer a great eBook product to the Australian market with the level of service we are famous for. We announced to our customers the news from Google, and set about sourcing alternative eBook providers, which we integrated and launched quietly just before Christmas 2012. So on Monday we are turning off just the Google eBooks as they won't be able to supply.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us through your Message Centre in your Booktopia account or contact our Customer Service team.
Thanks and Happy Reading!
Steven Traurig
CIO and Co-FounderBooktopia Pty Ltd
