We’ve collected a few of our favorite stories from 2011 and put them together in a mini free ebook, free for downloading. Of course, you can always read the stories for free right here, whenever you’d like, but for those on the go; Some of the Best of Tor.com 2011 is available in the US starting today for Kindle and Nook, iBooks and other ebook retailers.
Note: The free ebook download offer has expired as of January 1, 2013.
The Table of Contents
Short Stories:
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“A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel” by Yoon Ha Lee
Among the universe’s civilizations, some conceive of the journey between stars as the sailing of bright ships, and others as tunneling through the crevices of night. Some look upon their far-voyaging as a migratory imperative, and name their vessels after birds or butterflies…. |
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“Hello, Moto” by Nnedi Okorafor
There is witchcraft in science and a science to witchcraft. Both will conspire against you eventually. |
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“Ragnarok,” an epic poem by Paul Park
A tale of post-apocalyptic Iceland, told in the manner of the ancient verse Eddas. After the end of the world, there’s still love. And revenge. |
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“The Dala Horse” by Michael Swanwick
Long after the wars, there are things abroad in the world—things more than human. And they have scores to settle with one another. |
Novelettes:
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“Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders
The man who can see the future has a date with the woman who can see many possible futures. |
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“A Clean Sweep With All the Trimmings” by James Alan Gardner
A Damon Runyon-esque tale of courteous guys, bulletproof dolls, and the fedora-clad spacemen that bring them together. |
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“Beauty Belongs to the Flowers” by Matthew Sanborn Smith
In Miho’s world, nanos, plastic surgery, and robot girlfriends can fix just about anything or break it. |
Novellas:
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“Shtetl Days” by Harry Turtledove
Professional actors Veit Harlan and his wife Kristi are happy citizens of the prosperous, triumphant Reich. It’s been over a century since the War of Retribution cleaned up Europe, long enough that now curious tourists flock to the painstakingly recreated “village” of Wawolnice, where—along with dozens of colleagues—Veit and Kristi re-enact the daily life of the long-exterminated but still frightening “Jews.” Veit and Kristi are true professionals, proud of their craft. They’ve learned all there is to know about this vanished way of life. They know the dead languages, the turns of phrase, the prayers, the manners, the food. But now they’re beginning to learn what happens when you immerse yourself long enough in something real… |
Thank you!
Oops, that’s only a link to the Nook main page, not the book…
That’s here. For some reason, as of writing this, you’re not allowed
to download it yet. B&N’s a little behind…
No Canadian availability? Sad. :(
Look forward to reading! Thanks!
Dear Tor folks, thank you. However, re: distribution for us folks on the go, why don’t you just put it into epub or even .txt format and let us download it? My old iPod can’t install Kindle or iBooks, but Stanza would have worked just fine…
If you are new to using the Barnes & Noble website, note that you will be required to register with them and submit your full credit card information before you can download the free Tor book.
No iBooks link?
iBooks does not allow for easy linking via the web, unfortunately. I imagine it’s not too difficult to search the title once inside the iBooks app.
I’m bummed that this isn’t in the Sony Reader Store as this means I’ll have to get it from Amazon then convert the file with Calibre. Bit of a hassle, but hey, still a free book, so still awesome!
What was wrong with the original idea of using the tor.com servers for handling pdfs? And what’s with this:
on the Barnes & Noble site? Don’t you love us any more?
I’d love to read it, but I’m not seeing it on read.amazon.com.
This isn’t limited to the American market for some crazy reason is it?
This isn’t limited to the American market for some crazy reason is it?
Of course it is. Welcome to the wonderful world of Internet commerce and electronic ‘books’.
I’m in Canada and the B&N site seems like it might be willing to let me have a copy of the book, but it is insisting that I provide a credit card number.
I’m not prepared to give that information away for a free ebook.
Maybe some day I’ll have an hour to spare to download the stories and convert them to ePub.
Sorry, Tor, I know you’re trying to do a nice thing, but I’ve just spent a bunch of time getting nothing and I’m left feeling frustrated.
Why not go the Cory Doctorow crowdsourcing route? Post it as a text file and let US convert it for you. Then just put each new format on the site as it becomes available.
Downloaded OK from the Kindle Store. Thanks, guys!
A little love for your foreign readers would have been nice. Oh, well.
Not available in NZ. Oh yay for lovely region locked content. I’d love to read these on my Kindle for free, or even for PAY – but no.
Sad times.
Agree that B&N asks for too much information for a free book. And since I don’t have a Kindle or a Nook, I’m out of luck. Thanks anyway.