Cover art for the novel Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

With the public libraries closed and my book budget slashed to zero, I was worried I’d be hard strapped for reading material. Then I remembered that some weeks ago, I downloaded a free copy of Annalee Newitz’s science fiction novel Autonomous from Tor.com. So I revisited my kindle device and started consuming the book.

I’m about 60% through, and I can pretty much guarantee that Ms. Newitz is not going to like my review on Amazon. That said, I don’t actually regret reading her book (since it was free), but it again brings to mind how some forms of entertainment are well thought of (in certain prominent circles) and yet cannot seem to tell a good story.

Yesterday, I discovered John Scalzi’s Redshirts novel was also available as a free Tor download, so the MOBI file is now resting comfortably on my kindle. It won both the 2013 Hugo and Lotus awards for best science fiction novel, but given my current experience with “Autonomous,” as well as how I found N.K. Jemisin’s award winning book The Fifth Season, awards don’t always mean what you want them to mean.

Speaking of free digital books, in an email from Bookbub, I found a link to a free copy of David Simpson’s Sub-Human. I gather that Simpson may not be as well known as Scalzi, but his book has impressive reviews. Of course, I’ll still render my own opinion once I read it.

Since so many people are staying home due to the COVID-19 threat, I figure a few of you might want to get in on some free books as well, so I’m sharing the links (no “Autonomous” is no longer free). You only have until March 20th to get the Scalzi novel, and I have no idea how long Simpson’s book will be available at no cost.

In the meantime, I’ve been working today on one of my paid, non-fiction writing projects, while anticipating another coming back for more editing this evening or early tomorrow. I’m also editing a SciFi story for submission to a contest that’s being judged by a few well-known names in SciFi. I don’t know if my writing quality is up for this, but I suppose that should be tested.