You’d think, judging by the number of times I’ve blogged about him, that I have a man-crush on JA Konrath. No, no. That distinction belongs to Barry Eisler, a man my wife calls my “literary boyfriend.”
Truth told, I blog about Konrath so much because he’s just gosh darned generous, both to other writers and to fans. Plus, I admire him lots for his seemingly tireless work as CEO of the company he calls “living the dream.” (Okay, I’m trying to be clever here. They can’t all be gems.)
“Umm… that’s great,” you say. “What about the free stuff?”
Fair enough. I’ll get to the point. Konrath previously made a couple of his unpublished early novels (ORIGIN and THE LIST) available for free… a little PDF love for the taking. Yesterday, he made another one (called DISTURB) available, announced a forthcoming self-printed short story antho (called 55 PROOF), and he made them all distributable via Creative Commons licensing.
That said, if you want to download the books (Now: ORIGIN, THE LIST, and DISTURB; Later: 55 PROOF) you can do so from right here at 52 Novels. Or you can get them directly from Konrath. If you prefer, you can also buy signed, printed versions of these books—as well as signed first editions of his Jack Daniels books—at his Web store.
Here are the books:
ORIGIN
1906 — Something is discovered by workers digging the Panama Canal. Something dormant. Sinister. Very much alive.
2006 — Project Samhain. A secret underground government installation begun 100 years ago in New Mexico. The best minds in the world have been recruited to study the most amazing discovery in the history of mankind. But the century of peaceful research is about to end.
BECAUSE IT JUST WOKE UP.
Hell is about to break loose… for real.
In reality, Satan is not a handsome gentleman as portrayed by a Hollywood leading man. Viewing him through the Plexiglas, he’s a frightening beast, massively muscled, with hoofs the size of washtubs and the serrated teeth of a carnivore. The demon can be pleasant, even chatty, and delights in showing off his power of resurrecting the dead sheep he dines upon. To some of the staff studying him at the secret government compound, he’s even likable.
That is, until he breaks out.
ORIGIN is a mainstream thriller combining the techno-science of Jurassic Park with the theological horror of The Exorcist.
Billions around the world fear the concept of the devil.
Now they’ll have a chance to fear him in person.
Click the book’s cover above or the following link to download and read ORIGIN for free. Or save it to your computer by right clicking and selecting SAVE TARGET AS.
This version is a pdf file, 1.98 MB and 301 pages. It can be read on any computer, PDA, or device that uses Adobe Reader, a FREE download. The file can also be printed.
DISTURB
A medical investigator, tormented by secret guilt.
A beautiful doctor, with an illicit desire.
A millionaire businessman, indulging a passion for murder.
And a human guinea pig who hasn’t slept in seven weeks.
You’ll never sleep well again.
It’s the pharmaceutical breakthrough of the millennium. DruTech Industries proudly presents N-SOM, a pill that completely replaces eight hours of sleep. Feel totally refreshed, both physically and mentally, in just fifteen minutes a night.
The profit potential is boundless. Mankind’s productivity will go through the roof. One third of a person’s life could be recovered, for only ten dollars a dose.
The FDA sends CDER agent Dr. Bill May to green light N-SOM for American use. The pressure, both political and monetary, is tremendous. But Bill soon harbors fears that N-SOM may not be as safe as early reports indicate…
After meeting brilliant inventors Dr. Nikos Stefanopolous and his beautiful daughter Theena, Bill stumbles into an insidious cover-up that hinges on Emmanuel Tibbets, a test subject who hasn’t had a wink of sleep in over fifty days.
Bill’s investigation soon unearths a snarled tangle of extortion, conspiracy, taboo sex, hidden secrets, and murderous betrayal.
When N-SOM’S deadly side-effects are revealed, along with the shocking truth of how the drug is produced, Bill and Theena find themselves on the run from hired assassins, three letter government agencies, and a breed of psychopath unlike any ever known.
Billions of dollars, and billions of lives, are at stake. Can Bill and Theena survive long enough to expose the truth? Or will the world succumb to an evil that may bring about the extinction of mankind?
DISTURB is a medical thriller, in the same vein as Robin Cook and Michael Palmer.
Click the book’s cover above or the following link to download and read DISTURB for free. Or save it to your computer by right clicking and selecting SAVE TARGET AS.
This version is a pdf file, 3.02 MB and 240 pages. It can be read on any computer, PDA, or device that uses Adobe Reader, a FREE download. The file can also be printed.
THE LIST
When in the course of human events…
Thomas Jefferson.
Whenever any form of government becomes destructive…
President. Patriot. Freedom fighter.
We mutually pledge to each other our lives…
One of history’s greatest figures.
We hold these truths to be self evident…
Two hundred and fifty years ago, he helped forge a nation.
That all men are created equal…
Now he’s back, to save it from destruction.
History has become a current event.
Thomas Jefferson
Joan of Arc
Attila the Hun
William Shakespeare
Vlad the Impaler
Abraham Lincoln
Albert Einstein
Jack the Ripper
It’s going to be one hell of a fight.
History has given us many exceptional people.
Science just brought ten of them back.
THE LIST is a contemporary technothriller combining the humor of Christopher Moore with the action of Clive Cussler.
Click the book’s cover above or the following link to download and read THE LIST for free. Or save it to your computer by right clicking and selecting SAVE TARGET AS.
This version is a pdf file, 3.38 MB and 320 pages. It can be read on any computer, PDA, or device that uses Adobe Reader, a FREE download. The file can also be printed.
All book descriptions © J.A. Konrath. These works are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution — NonCommercial — NoDerivs 2.5 License. No part of them have been altered by me. Download them freely from 52 Novels or from JA Konrath.
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