Bargain Books | The Humble Bundle

You've heard of the Humble Bundles, haven't you?

The first bundle was made available in May 2010, and it featured six indie video games, including Aquaria, World of Goo and Samorost 2. You could pay whatever you could afford in exchange for download codes for the whole lot. It was a tremendous success, raising more than $1m — of which a large part was donated to charity.

In the years since (both of them!) there have been countless other bundles - so very many that I admit I had rather lost track - including a Humble Music Bundle, and as of yesterday, the first Humble eBook Bundle. Thus this post's existence.

It features an astonishing array of novels and short story collections:

• Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
• Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
• Invasion by Mercedes Lackey
• Pump Six & Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link
• Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow

And all of these eBooks could be yours for the grand price of... whatever you have sitting in your PayPal account! Or less!

Or, of course, more. In fact, as an added incentive, if you donate more than the average amount - which is hovering right around $12 as of 2PM today - your bundle will come complete with two other eBooks, namely Old Man's War by John Scalzi and Signal to Noise, the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

Considering how much a copy of that last alone would set you back, the Humble eBook Bundle represents such bang for your buck that this immediately qualifies as the bestest Bargain Books post ever. I've bought the lot for the cost of a new hardcover here in the UK: £20.

Seemed like the least I could do, really.

But you can choose how much you want to pay! You can choose, too, how your money gets divvied up between the authors, the organisers and the three charities the Humble eBook Bundle is supporting: that is to say Child's Play, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the SFWA. You can even gift a bundle to a loved one. Given such a good cause, I'm sorely tempted to do just that.

In 24 hours, the first Humble eBook Bundle has already raised around a quarter of a million dollars, and that's awesome. But I bet we can do better! Do the world a good turn, why don't you — and get some awesome ePUBs for your trouble.

What's not to like?

Bargain True Blood Books

You won't often come across me championing the Sookie Stackhouse series, but I'd be doing good genre literature everywhere a disservice if I didn't tell you about a smoking hot deal I just came across. The first eight of Charlaine Harris' True Blood books are on offer at The Book People at the moment for just £8.99. That's just a quid and change a book!

Now I will never read these novels - not a bloody (har har) chance - and even I'm tempted at that price. Drop another pound on something else from the store and you can have free postage into the bargain too: just use promotional code SUMMER10 when you're checking out.

I promise I don't work for The Book People, in case any of you were wondering. Just thought a couple of you might dig a thing I don't...

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