Monday, August 01, 2011

"The Wee Free Men" free

Terry Pratchett press release:
To coincide with the paperback release of I Shall Wear Midnight, Transworld are making the first Tiffany book The Wee Free Men available to read for free on their website.  You can currently read the first 104 pages here.

I love Terry's books, and I think the young witch Tiffany Aching, who we follow growing up over several books, is one of his best characters.
So that's why I promote this link, even though I think the publisher is being rather stingy by spacing the book out over months. Five years ago, it would have been extraordinary to give away the first book of a series for free, now it's practically standard. Just give it in one full, free file, folks. (Aliteration not intended, but accepted with thanks.)

4 comments:

Bruce W. said...

Or how about free downloads in the various reader formats? Not some clunky interface they designed.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yeah, that too.

I hate when designers get smart about text. Like an otherwise very good subscription-based camera review/article site... in order not to be copied, it's all in flash. And the text is too small and can't be changed, it's 'orrible.

... I looked it up now. Yes, I see what you mean. If they need to retain formatting, just use PDF. But of course they are terrified it'll be "pirated" all over the web.

TC [Girl] said...

Does look funny! :-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

They're very funny.

But they are also, while entertaining, excellent commentaries on things like responsibility. For example, Tiffany at 10 is more responsible and sensible than most adults in her community.
She has a hoe to roe, for she starts very young, and the uneddicated rural community fears their witches as much as they depend upon them for basic healthcare etc.