Unlike some of the other companies that sell eBooks, FictionWise books are sold in the standard Doc format so you can read them in your normal Doc reader and do not need to download a special reader. The books and stories are quite reasonably priced, starting as low as $0.50. This is a breakthrough in my mind, since most of the other companies that sell eBooks sell them at paperback prices but restrict the ability to loan out books, thus making the consumer pay the same amount for less functionality. FictionWise also disallows loaning books, but the lower prices make up for this deficiency.
FictionWise currently offering free downloads of the six current Hugo nominees in Science Fiction Short Story to all registered users. The free stories are written by Michael Swanwick, Tom Purdom, Mike Resnick, and James Patrick Kelly and story topics range from colonizing the stars to how technology ages to time travel.
In addition to selling individual stories, FictionWise also sells bundles of stories grouped by theme or author. Some of the themed bundles include Short and Sweet, a collection of stories you can read in 10 minutes or less, SF Awards, a collection of Hugo and Nebula award winning stories, Time Travel, a collection of time travel stories, and First Contact, a collection of stories about our first contact with aliens. Some of the authors with bundles include James Patrick Kelly, Nancy Kress, Mike Resnick, and Robert Silverberg.
Because of the low prices of the books and the fees charges to FictionWise, they charge a $0.50 processing fee on orders under $5.00. However, you can avoid these fees by maintaining a micropay account. Micropay accounts allow you to charge money to your credit card in $5.00 increments and use it at your leisure later without paying fees. If you ever decide to stop buying books from FictionWise, they will send you a check for the balance of your micropay account.
FictionWise has plans to branch out into the Fantasy, Horror, and Mystery genres shortly, and eventually to other genres. In the mean time, I am very happy to see some affordable Science Fiction for the Palm.
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