Cheap/Free Kindle Recommendations

**KingOfCups** · 03-21-2012, 11:00 PM

A lot of classic literature is free for the kindle.
Dracula, Frankenstein, Paradise Lost, The Divine Comedy, The Origin of Species, Works of Edgar Allen Poe, Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Faust, War of the Worlds, etc.

A few cheap ones: Brave New World (2.99), Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft (0.99)

It really depends on what you like. If I had to choose my favorite of these, I would say Brave New World (my favorite book of all time). It's a futuristic dystopian novel, and hell I believe it's far more likely to come to pass than 1984.

**Expletive Deleted** · 03-22-2012, 04:59 AM

The one thing with classic material on the Kindle Store is that you've got to make sure it's not just public domain material wrapped up in a new cover.

Especially since Ian's in Australia, and they have a bit more in their public domain than we do.

**KingOfCups** · 03-22-2012, 05:46 AM

Originally Posted by Expletive Deleted

The one thing with classic material on the Kindle Store is that you've got to make sure it's not just public domain material wrapped up in a new cover.

Not trying to derail the thread but what's wrong with repackaged Public Domain? A lot of what I look for is classic literature, and hell if it's free and not abridged, it's all fine by me. I just don't use a Kindle so I do end up paying for physical copies.

Edit: Also not trying to be rude in asking, just curious.

**Matt-M-McElroy** · 03-22-2012, 06:18 AM

Originally Posted by KingOfCups

Not trying to derail the thread but what's wrong with repackaged Public Domain? A lot of what I look for is classic literature, and hell if it's free and not abridged, it's all fine by me. I just don't use a Kindle so I do end up paying for physical copies.

Edit: Also not trying to be rude in asking, just curious.

The point is there is a lot of stuff that some less-than-honest publishers have scraped from free books/sites, slapped a new cover on and are now charging for. Many of them are even stealing the artwork for the "new" covers off artists' galleries and DeviantArt pages and not paying for it. A customer can get taken in by this "new" edition of a book, not realizing that there are better versions out there for less.

Occasionally there are some excellent new editions of older works with new introductions/essays by other authors or experts in the field and sometimes even some awesome new artwork (that is actually contributed by the artist) and those editions are worth the money. I have an illustrated Dracula with some amazing pieces by Jae Lee that is one of my favorite versions of the book.

-Matt

**Expletive Deleted** · 03-22-2012, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by KingOfCups

Not trying to derail the thread but what's wrong with repackaged Public Domain? A lot of what I look for is classic literature, and hell if it's free and not abridged, it's all fine by me. I just don't use a Kindle so I do end up paying for physical copies.

I'm mainly talking about books that are just the .mobi file from Project Gutenberg, with the cover swapped out, being sold for a couple bucks a pop. And like Matt said, the new cover is often swiped from somewhere else.

Amazon's having issues with what's effectively e-book spam at the moment, with people repurposing public domain content, wikipedia articles, blog posts, other e-books and really anything that can be found or stolen. Here's an article on it.

Originally Posted by Matt-M-McElroy

Occasionally there are some excellent new editions of older works with new introductions/essays by other authors or experts in the field and sometimes even some awesome new artwork (that is actually contributed by the artist) and those editions are worth the money. I have an illustrated Dracula with some amazing pieces by Jae Lee that is one of my favorite versions of the book.

Oh, absolutely. I have several Penguin editions of otherwise public domain stuff that are very nice, with enough added value to justify the price.

**RolandJP** · 03-22-2012, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by KingOfCups

Not trying to derail the thread but what's wrong with repackaged Public Domain? A lot of what I look for is classic literature, and hell if it's free and not abridged, it's all fine by me. I just don't use a Kindle so I do end up paying for physical copies.

Edit: Also not trying to be rude in asking, just curious.

Theres nothing wrong with it. Besides its free.

I own a book store and there will always be those who prefer leatherbound this or original that over public domain content. nothing wrong with that.

I'm more of a value over presentation type dude. I remember when a guy got mad at me because I told him his vintage Porsche was basically a dressed up Volkswagen beetle. Oh yeah the ole PT cruisers were basically dodge Neons with hatchbacks.

Dont get me wrong i love customers willing to pay HIGH prices for the prestige.

Hence the success of Starbucks Coffee chain. Funny story. I know a guy who's son works at SB and supplies him with a box of coffee cups so he can walk into work every day and look like he is minted.

Keep up with the joneses.

**mortari** · 03-22-2012, 03:24 PM

Amazon lost my kindle and I have wait until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest before they will do anything for me.
I've been reading this article all week in anticipation of my new Kindle Fire and now I'm just upset.
The shipper Ensenda had to called twice so far, first time they said the delivery person would call them right back, the 2nd time they said I'd have to wait until tomorrow to see if they remember the delivery.
Then I called Amazon and they won't send out a replacement until after that, and then I'd have to cancel the order, wait for them to credit my account and then order again expecting a different result.
If I don't have it tomorrow, I will need a new strategy.

**sHayden** · 03-23-2012, 12:21 AM

While we're discussing books to find, does anyone know an ebook where I can get Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" ?

**MKTerra** · 03-23-2012, 04:43 AM

Not Kindle per se, but if you have/use Kobo, they have the Hunger Games Trilogy for $4.05 with promo code "hungergamesdeal" through March 31. (Or $3.06 total if you buy separately with codes "hungergamesdeal", "hungergamesdeal2", and "hungergamesdeal3".)

Before March 27 it also enters you into a contest.

**Expletive Deleted** · 03-23-2012, 05:36 AM

Amazon's daily Kindle deals are usually pretty decent. For instance, today it's five different YA dystopian SF novels for $2 each.

**Expletive Deleted** · 03-23-2012, 05:41 AM

Originally Posted by sHayden

While we're discussing books to find, does anyone know an ebook where I can get Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" ?

Ellison released e-book versions of a number of his short story collections a couple of years ago.

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Have-Mouth-Mus.../dp/B003XRETGI
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-ha...son/1002078871
Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/-Have...GDQ/page1.html
Sony: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/har...00000000098025
Baen: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-863-i-ha...st-scream.aspx

Personally, I recommend Baen since it's cheaper, DRM-free, and multi-format.

**Marie August** · 04-05-2012, 08:53 PM

I highly recommend Girl vs Ghost. Free to Amazon Prime, and only $0.99 to everyone else. Though I'm a bit biased in how good it is because I wrote it.

As for free, The Strange Case of Finley Jayne is free and pretty good. It's a prequel to the Steampunk Chronicles.