Literary Fiction – Free & Bargain Priced!
Sci Fi stories have a unique place in the world of fiction. They contain all the imaginative elements that all fiction contains, and requires – but they have one element that none others have. And that one element elevates them, in some people’s minds, to a higher status of creativity – to the status of prediction, of prophecy, and of creative theoretical science itself. The best science fiction books do more than simply spin a yarn (although there are very many great story tellers in the sci fi book world) – they stretch, imaginatively, into scientific knowledge as it stands today and imagines where that knowledge may take us tomorrow. And then they make it human – and, therefore, ‘real’.
What will I find in a ‘Literary Fiction’ Book?
Fantasy Novels contain unrealistic settings, or magic, and are often set in a medieval universe, or involve mythical or magical beings as a primary element of the plot, theme, or setting. Magic is a mainstay of fantasy, in the setting or plot, or being practiced by the characters. Fantasy stories are closely related to fairy stories and couldn’t happen in real life.
Some examples of books you’ll find in this category, are: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings; T.H. White’s The Once and Future King; George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones…
Back in 1953, in what was still the early days of the Science Fiction genre, the great sci fi author Isaac Asimov defined it as “that branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings”. It is a branch of literature which has grown exponentially, hand-in-hand with the growth of human advances in science and technology and, by the 1970s its purpose, as evidenced in the new style of writing that had developed, had matured into one which wasn’t only concerned with science, but with consequences of scientific and technological advancement. Sci fi author Pamela Sargent then defined it as “the literature of ideas.”
But even that definition doesn’t go far enough. ‘Ideas’ and ‘consequences of ideas’ are now, almost too-limited a way of looking at what science fiction has become. Not only do authors project the advancement of science into the future and calculate the consequences – they assess, in advance, the moral consequences of these advances. They seek to pre-empt the kind of philosophical, moral and ethical issues that might ensue, and consider how to react. Or how our philosophical reasoning might also advance, along with technologies. As such, the best science fiction books are works of the philosophy of technology, and ethics. As new scientists, studying at university, have their work and theories swayed by the latest sci fi novel they read – so, philosophers may find themselves re-reading the self-same novels to obtain a head-start on the new frontiers of philosophy.
But not all science fiction is heavy with tech and theses on the human condition! There is something for everyone in this wide and deep genre of ideas. For pure action and adventure enthusiasts, thriller aficionados, and those wishing to, simply, be entertained – there are books and authors a plenty to go around. And you can start by looking in our list of books below…
One of the Great Classics of Literary Fiction Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
A Modern Classic of Literary Fiction: Black Swan by David Mitchell
These are our most recent Literary Fiction books, at cut-priced deals – scroll down the page for more…
Our Latest Literary Fiction Book Deals!
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David Mitchell and Neil Gaiman talk books!
Two bestselling contemporary authors, Neil Gaiman and David Mitchell, on stage together For their ever first meeting. Topics from the audience vary from philosophy and politics, to which tree they most identify with. If you like either author, or simply enjoy hearing authors discuss books, buckle in for an hour and a quarter of priceless discussion and readings. (Chaired by Erica Wagner, literary editor of The Times.)
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The Feast of the Goat
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE In The Feast of the Goat, this 'masterpiece of Latin American and world literature, and one of the finest political novels ever written' (Bookforum), Mario Vargas Llosa recounts the end of a regime and the birth of a terrible...
Autumn
A Man Booker Prize Finalist, the first novel in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet is an unforgettable story about aging and time and love—and stories themselves. A Washington Post Notable Book and One of the 10 Best Books of the Year from The New York Times Autumn. Season...
The Return of Kid Cooper
**WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA 2019 SPUR AWARDS WINNER!** "[A] first-rate novel."—True West magazine "Smith has written tight, fast-paced novels his entire career…and reading one is like riding a thoroughbred."--The Chronicle...
This Is Where I Leave You
A riotously funny, emotionally raw New York Times bestselling novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not. The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman clan has...
The Essay
Jimmy Lee Hickam grew up along Red Dog Road, a dead-end strip of gravel and mud buried deep in the bowels of Appalachian Ohio. It is the poorest road, in the poorest county, in the poorest region of the state. To make things worse, the name Hickam is synonymous with...
Changing Planes
“A fantastical travel guide, reminiscent of Gulliver’s Travels,” from a narrator with “the eye of an anthropologist and the humor of a satirist.” —USA Today Hailed by Neil Gaiman as “a master of the craft” and Margaret Atwood as “a quintessentially American writer,”...
Portrait in Sepia
A sequel to Daughter of Fortune, New York Times bestselling author, Isabel Allende, continues her magic with this spellbinding family saga set against war and economic hardship. Aurora del Valle suffers a brutal trauma that erases from her mind all recollection of the...
The Last Kind Words Saloon
New York Times Bestseller Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Seattle Times The Last Kind Words Saloon marks the triumphant return of Larry McMurtry to the nineteenth-century West of his classic Lonesome Dove. In this "comically subversive work of...
The Summer Guest
With a rare combination of emotional insight, narrative power, and lyrical grace, Justin Cronin transforms the simple story of a dying man’s last wish into a rich tapestry of family love. On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright,...
Always Happy Hour
“Sleek, sexy, slyly funny.” —Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter A “bracingly strong” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) collection brimming with savage Southern charm, Always Happy Hour propels Mary Miller to new...
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
Written with a delightfully dry sense of humour and the wisdom of a born storyteller, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand explores the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of family obligation and tradition. When retired Major Pettigrew strikes up an...
Salt Houses
Winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR * Nylon * Kirkus Reviews * Bustle * BookPage “Moving and beautifully written.” — Entertainment Weekly On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma...
The Last Chinese Chef
The bestselling author of Lost in Translation “unlocks the deepest mysteries of legendary Chinese culinary arts to produce a feast for the human heart” (David Henry Hwang, author of M. Butterfly). This alluring novel of friendship, love, and cuisine brings the...
Mosquitoes
“Full of the kind of swift and lusty writing that comes from a healthy, fresh pen.”—Lillian Hellman, New York Herald Tribune A fascinating glimpse of the author as a young artist, Faulkner’s sophomore novel, Mosquitoes (1927), introduces us...
I Know This Much Is True
#1 New York Times Bestseller and Oprah Book Club selection"Thoughtful . . . heart-wrenching . . . . An exercise in soul-baring storytelling—with the soul belonging to 20th-century America itself. It's hard to read and to stop reading, and...
The Salt Eaters
A community of Black faith healers witness an event that will change their lives forever in this "hard-nosed, wise, funny" novel (Los Angeles Times). Set in a fictional city in the American South, the novel also "inhabits the nonlinear,...
Fortune
An audacious, entertaining historical epic spanning continents and centuries, for readers of David Mitchell, Column McCann, Kate Atkinson, and Eleanor Catton. Fortune is a dazzling, endlessly surprising, and gripping historical novel that opens the day Napoleon leads...
The Bastard of Istanbul
A “vivid and entertaining” (Chicago Tribune) tale about the tangled history of two families, from the author of The Forty Rules of Love and The Architect’s Apprentice "Zesty, imaginative . . . a Turkish version of Amy...
God Spare the Girls
"Read it for twists on twists, meditations on faith, and a deeply thoughtful treatment of an evangelical community." — Glamour, Beach Reads That Are Like Summer in a Book“A thoughtful and candid meditation on faith, family, and...
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
In 1955, with this short story collection, Flannery O’Connor firmly laid claim to her place as one of the most original and provocative writers of her generation. Steeped in a Southern Gothic tradition that would become synonymous with her name, these stories...
Sophie’s Choice
This award-winning novel of love, survival, and agonizing regret in post–WWII Brooklyn “belongs on that small shelf reserved for American masterpieces” (The Washington Post Book World). Winner of the National Book Award and a modern classic, Sophie’s Choice centers...
The Rock Blaster
Henning Mankell's first novel, never before released in English, explores the reflections of a working class man who has struggled against the constraints of his station for his entire life. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL. The year is 1911. The young rock blaster Oskar...
Manhattan Beach
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A New York Times Notable Book Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction The daring and magnificent novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author. Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, Esquire,...
Rise & Shine, Benedict Stone
Soon to be a Hallmark Original Movie! “A perfect read for lovers of Antoine Laurain's The Red Notebook, Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, and Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove.” —Library Journal, starred review...
Asymmetry
A TIME and NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK of the YEAR * New York Times Notable Book and Times Critic’s Top Book of 2018 NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018 BY * Elle * Bustle * Kirkus Reviews * Lit Hub* NPR * O, The Oprah Magazine * Shelf Awareness The bestselling...
Slaughterhouse-Five
A special fiftieth anniversary edition of Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, “a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century” (Time), featuring a new introduction by Kevin Powers, author of the National...
The Mere Wife
New York Times bestselling author Maria Dahvana Headley presents a modern retelling of the literary classic Beowulf, set in American suburbia as two mothers—a housewife and a battle-hardened veteran—fight to protect those they love in The Mere Wife. From the...
Notes on a Scandal
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize Now a Major Motion Picture Schoolteacher Barbara Covett has led a solitary life until Sheba Hart, the new art teacher at St. George's, befriends her. But even as their relationship develops, so too does another: Sheba has...
I Always Loved You
A story of Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas, from the New York Times bestselling author of My Name Is Mary Sutter Robin Oliveira’s latest novel, Winter Sisters, will be available in February from Viking The young Mary Cassatt never thought moving to Paris...
A Burning
A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! A New York Times Notable Book For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise—to the middle class, to political power, to...
Among the Lesser Gods
For fans of authors like Barbara Kingsolver and Leif Enger, a stunning new voice in contemporary literary fiction. "Tragedy and blessing. Leave them alone long enough, and it gets real hard to tell them apart." Elena Alvarez is living a cursed life. From the...
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
An unassuming scientist takes an unbelievable adventure in the Middle East in this “extraordinary” novel—the inspiration for the major motion picture starring Ewan McGregor (The Guardian). Dr. Alfred Jones lives a quiet, predictable life....
The Boat People
Globe and Mail bestseller, The Boat People is an extraordinary novel about a group of refugees who survive a perilous ocean voyage only to face the threat of deportation amid accusations of terrorism When a rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred...
Allie and Bea
An Amazon Charts bestseller.Humor and heart move the fast-paced journey of an unlikely pair coming together to form a family of their own in this touching story from New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde.Bea has barely been scraping by since her...
The Skylark’s Secret
Loch Ewe, 1940. When gamekeeper’s daughter Flora’s remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird’s son falls in love with Flora,...
Spill Simmer Falter Wither
This captivating story follows — over the course of four seasons — a misfit man who adopts a misfit dog. It is springtime, and two outcasts — a man ignored, even shunned by his village, and the one-eyed dog he takes into his quiet, tightly...
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