I hope everyone has either avoided climbing the walls or at least learned to do it with panache.  I’ve got a few more reading selections you might find interesting while we wait for the virus hordes to start roaming the freeways.

Three Ravens Publishing has several books for free right now:

First is Flux Runners, by William Joseph Roberts, which wins todays “Prettiest Cover” award:

What if tomorrow, you tasted freedom for the first time, but that freedom came with a cost… After a government-sanctioned privateering mission goes sideways, the crew of the Betty finds themselves fighting for their lives, light-years from home. Prepare yourself for an adventure with a lovable crew of degenerates and misfits as they dive into the dark unknown….

Next is Making Man, by John Drake.  From the description, it looks like an absolute hoot.

Cobble is a Neanderthal with itchy feet and the mind of an engineer, unlike anyone else in his old-fashioned tribe. Making Man follows his journey as he leaves the village of Boardom behind, taking him through mountains, underground animal lairs and into new landscapes. As with all good prehistoric comedies, there is a mysterious pendant and a healthy dose of talking insects. Fans of Douglas Adams and Sir Terry Pratchett may not enjoy Making Man as much as those esteemed authors, there are fewer elephants and no Vogons after all, but they should enjoy and remember it fondly nonetheless.

Also from John Drake, we have Cheating Death:

Even the Black Death has a lighter side. A street-side conman becomes embroiled in high politics when his scheme to relieve the doge of Genoa of a sizable portion of his wealth backfires. He is conscripted to deliver a message to The Cutler, a mysterious figure in the papal city of Avignon. Two English pilgrims are also making their way to the pope, seeking repentance for their sins. Their journey takes a debauched turn, however, and their arrival is one of a pair of wandering drunkards rather than pious pilgrims. Meanwhile, a Germanic woman leaves her homeland, intent on killing the pope as revenge for the church’s involvement in her brother’s death. There’s just one small problem; she’s not a natural murderer. Their worlds converge on the Palais des Papes amid the ravaging gloom of the plague as the shadows of the doge’s network are brought into the light to save the papacy and the brittle hope of the people.

Now, for something completely different, LoreLai Watson has the first book in her Atwood Legacy romance series, Ain’t Nothing But The Devil, available for free.  The author tells me that this book does have some adult situations in it, but it’s not too much for an adult reader.

Nothing about my life is as it seems. From the inside out it looks perfect, like a real-life fairy tale. But the truth is…it’s not.

Being married to a billionaire is not a one-way ticket to happiness like most people would think. Behind closed doors and away from the limelight he’s not the man he pretends to be.

My marriage is failing. My heart is nothing but broken pieces of pain and disappointment. My mind has become the battlefield of the war between me and the depression threatening to end my life.

I knew this day would come—the day I stood on the ledge, every fiber of my being urging me to jump. To end it all.

But there’s this tiny flicker of hope that’s keeping me from taking that fatal leap. His name is Adrian…and he’s my brother-in-law.

The Black Lily, by Mandy and G.D. Burkhead, looks as twisty and interesting as you could ask for:

Courtesan. Spy. Assassin.

Across the Kingdom of Arestea, the shadowy league of professional killers known simply as the Guild has long since earned its terrifying reputation. And none of its current members are more infamous than the Black Lily. No one knows who the Lily is, but everyone recognizes the efficiency with which he or she brings down even the most guarded targets. There is no one, it is said, who is safe from this fiend once they have caught the assassin’s attention.

Now Lily herself is about to discover if her reputation has been inflated or not, for she has just been assigned the most daunting mission of her career: infiltrate the royal palace and eliminate the entire Arestean line of succession to make room for the Guild’s puppet ruler. It’s a challenging job, but one that will secure her place in the history books should she succeed.

But when unplanned circumstances take the king from his country to help secure the front lines in his latest war of expansion, Lily is left trapped in her assumed persona behind the palace walls and forced to stall for time. And when a particularly bad stroke of luck reveals her cover to the king’s brother, Crown Prince Adrian, Lily finds herself ensnared in her own web, forced to use all her skills of subterfuge and manipulation if she is to stay one step ahead of the naïve but righteous young man and finish her mission — or die trying.

J.F. Holmes has put his post-apocalyptic story of a National Guard unit overrun by the ravening hordes, ZK: Falling, up for free:

When the world ends, where will you stand? Will you hold the center, or fall?

When his National Guard unit is overrun by the victims of the plague sweeping America, Sergeant First Class Nick Agostine struggles to keep his vow to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and keep those he loves safe. Along the way, he discovers just how far he will go to survive, and the price of redemption.

The prequel to the best selling Post Apocalyptic series, Irregular Scout Team One. This is how it all began, and how America fell.

J.F. Posthumus has her novel, The Fae’s Amulet, up for sale starting tomorrow.  I do love a good supernatural detective novel.

In her younger years, Catherine Woulfe was known as the Lady of Death…but those days are long past. Now, at over 300 years old, she is older, wiser…and painfully dull. Instead of using her necromancy skills for things like killing people and taking over governments, she now works as a private investigator, helping people find their lost treasures.

But when a charismatic stranger walks through her door, searching for one of the most powerful artifacts ever created, she is drawn into a case where she must use all of her old powers—including several forbidden ones—if she is to find the missing amulet. When the last person to see the amulet goes missing, she realizes it’s time for the Lady of Death to summon her minions and go on the warpath.

Angels and demons are searching for the amulet, as is a mysterious dark elf about whom little is known. Everyone is stalking her, waiting for her to find it so they can grab it for their own; meanwhile, her client has awoken feelings long suppressed, which is proving to be…distracting. Can Catherine find the trail of the thief and recover the amulet before the thief uses it to summon a deity that will destroy the Earth? More importantly, if she gets it, will she give it back?

Finally, Simple Service, the first book in Laura Montgomery’s Martha’s Sons series, is an excellent read.

A lost starship. A lost colony.

Two factions. One expendable son.

When the colony’s governor requisitions the colonists’ personal weapons, Peter Dawe’s father sets him a simple task. Get their weapon back.

But the Marss have all the technology, and Peter, a second generation colonist, the youngest of ten, the expendable son, must contend with the guard, palace politics, and his biggest problem of all, Simon, his brother.

So, happy reading.  Again, if you have a suggestion for a book or audiobook you think others would enjoy, please leave it in a comment.  I’ll keep doing these as long as I have things to link to and folks need some way to wile away their social distancing hours.