Space Opera Fans discussion

I’m considering replacing the next Limited Nominations post with a Theme of Free eBooks. These would include any book that has a currently free ebook, that you would like to discuss, particularly if you have read and liked it. Space Opera of course.

Some of the books we have discussed before are available this way, including the March Reader Pick Agent of Change. Baen website has a nice list of permafree books. I’m sure there are some classics in Project Gutenberg too.

Do you know of any good space opera that is currently a free ebook? Not a site for pirated books please!

I searched Project Gutenberg for science fiction to see what popped up. There is some, but not a lot of what looks to be space opera. Some of the Tarzan and Oz books have now made their way into their SF collection, not space opera of course but definitely classics.

I've gotten a few books from Baen from their free library in the past. The selection has changed a bit since I last looked.

I mostly get ebooks from my library these days. Or I search BookBub to see what shows up as free, they are legit.

This looks like an excellent suggestion Teresa. I'm looking forward to seeing what sites or nominations come up, as I wouldn't know where to begin to find free books. I'd never heard of BookBub but following Audrey's post I've had a look at what SF showed up as free there - and it was more than I'd expected. (And I've now downloaded one.)

Looking at Baen’s free library, it’s a lot skimpier than it used to be. The books I see listed that I remember liking that are space opera are:
Agent of Change by Lee & Miller
Fledgling by Lee & Miller
Boundary by Flint & Spoor
Star Soldiers by Norton
The Honor of the Queen by Weber
On Basilisk Station by Weber

Found an oldie for free on Amazon
Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith. This is from the Lensman series. The same book is also listed on Amazon in several versions, not for free.

I think it's important to remember that not all free books are permafree. It's possible that someone could suggest a free book, only to find out that it's no longer free the next day.

Amazon free space opera science fiction

https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers...

Thanks for the link LJ! I snagged a couple from that list which looked interesting that I hadn’t tried before.

Linn makes a good point about books not always being permafree. If we do use this as a theme, if the book is no longer free on the 22nd, then it could be removed from the list of seconds. Since any nominees will be free, members could grab copies when they see the nomination too.

We can check BookFunnel promotions too if anyone knows of one. I get notified of several of those for fantasy or romance all the time. Typically getting a book free from BookFunnel requires signing up for the author’s newsletter, but the books are usually free for a specified period of time if they aren’t permafree. And some authors put the first book of a series on a BookFunnel free list every other month.

There are a LOT of free books in the space opera section of Smashwords, from authors I’ve never heard of.

Smashwords is also doing a storewide sale from March 2-8 and there will definitely be free space opera books to be found there. I have a series in the sale which I will post in self-promo once live.

How about including books available from Kindle Unlimited and/or Kobo Plus? That gives us a lot of books that are much less likely to change from free to not free.

If this thread doesn’t get more traction, we will just have the usual Limited nominations.

I'd say it's stretching it a bit to describe Kindle Unlimited or Kobo Plus books as "free".

John wrote: "I'd say it's stretching it a bit to describe Kindle Unlimited or Kobo Plus books as "free"."

I agree.

Guess we just have the usual Limited then, because this thread doesn’t have enough traction.

That's a pity as it was a great suggestion Teresa. I've certainly picked up ideas of places to look for new reads, and downloaded two free books (including Caitlin's), which I wouldn't have done without your proposal.