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Novelettes, Unveiled!
Our recent post on where to read the Hugo nominated short stories for free has been by far our most popular post ever (500 clicks from our Twitter feed, and counting). We should have seen that coming. After all, who doesn’t want free award-nominated SF/F? Since it was such a hit, we thought we’d do a follow up on all of the novelettes that were recently nominated for the 2012 Hugos.
Before I show you the list, I should (once more) remind you that a Chicon 7 (Worldcon 70) membership will garner you digital copies of all five novels, six novellas, five novelettes, and five short stories. We highly recommend you attend the con, of course (because then you can visit our booth!), but even if you lack the spare time (and spare change) for that, you can get a supporting membership for only $50… far less than the cost of buying all those stories and books. Plus, you get to vote, which gives you the right to complain about who actually won, Christopher Priest style.
Still, it’s possible that you don’t care to vote, or can’t afford the cash, or (as is the case with me) can’t wait for the Chicon committee to release the reader packets in May. Well, your wait is over. I looked far and wide to find the nominated novelettes, and while they are not all free, most of them are. They are as follows:
- The Copenhagen Interpretation by Paul Cornell (free!)
- Fields of Gold by Rachel Swirsky (free!)
- Ray of Light by Brad Torgersen
This one is interesting, and I expect this to be a phenomenon that will grow in the coming years. You may read the bulk of the story here, but the entire story is for sale on Kindle or Nook at a buck and a half. Not bad.
- Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders (free!)
- What We Found by Geoff Ryman
This is a little more complicated. I haven’t found it anywhere online by itself, but it is part of a collection called The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (Volume 6). The price, $13.59, isn’t bad for a whole collection, but may be a bit hefty if all you want to do is read this one novelette. You could always buy the back issue of its original publication (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2011) for $9.50, but that seems more of a hassle for not much savings. I, personally, am quite surprised that I can’t buy back issues on Kindle or Nook. Does anyone know if that is possible? Some readers might find this novelette worth the price, as it received a nomination for both the Hugo and Nebula awards.
If there are any updates on these novelettes, I will redact this blog post, and I’ll tweet that I have done so (@wwend). Fair enough? Next up: Novellas!
4 Comments
If anybody can tell me where Geoff Ryman’s story can be found for free or next-to-free (like Torgensen’s story for $1.49), let me know.
You can buy Johnathan Strahan’s Best of the Year V6 here… http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1624-the-best-science-fiction-and-fantasy-of-the-year-volume-vi.aspx ,,, Night Shade sells DRM-free ebooks through Baen’s web site. It’s only $6. Maybe not worth the price for just one story, but Strahan always puts together an excellent year’s best.
That beats the $13.49 that Amazon is selling it for. Thanks, Scott!
You can also read it for free through your public library, assuming it subscribes to EBSCOHost: http://pdc-connection.ebscohost.com/c/short-stories/65761422/what-we-found
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