@Sheril
And if you don't have independent book shops in your area, you still have other options:
Online, Thriftbooks and Powell's Books are good. You might also check libraries in your general area; most of them sell books at very low prices to raise funds. I've made some great finds at library book sales! For used books, Biblio.com, BetterWorldBooks.com, and Biblio.co.uk are independent book marketplaces that serve independent book shops - NOT Amazon.
As for ebooks, you can borrow MANY ebooks for free from the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/texts
I'm always amazed that Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/nook-books/_/N-8qa) are still in business, but they do have a lot of books available for sale in EPUB format.
Kobo (https://www.kobo.com/) is another large ebook seller. They're based in Canada, but are owned by a Japanese company. They also manufacture their own line of independent ebook readers that are compatible with other formats.
Baen (https://www.baen.com/) specializes mostly in science fiction ebooks (and physical books). They also have a free library of ebooks. I've made some good finds there.
I haven't used epubBooks (https://www.epubbooks.com/) much, but they do seem to have a goodly number of free ebooks. I suspect that many of them are also available via Project Gutenberg, but that's just a guess.
The same applies to Snewd (https://snewd.com/) and FadedPage (https://www.fadedpage.com/index.php). FadedPage has some free ebooks that Project Gutenberg doesn't, apparently due to differences between Canadian and American copyright law.
Project Gutenberg is a treasure trove of free classics available in many formats; most of them are older books, but you can make some surprising finds. https://www.gutenberg.org/
Project Gutenberg Australia (https://gutenberg.net.au/) has some free books that aren't available on Project Gutenberg, since Australia has different copyright laws from the USA.
Standard eBooks (https://standardebooks.org/) hosts free public domain ebooks, many of which are sourced from Project Gutenberg. However, these books have been intensively cleaned up and are generally superior to their Project Gutenberg sources.
And if you're willing to fly the Jolly Roger, you can find virtually ANY ebook on Anna's Archive; look them up on Wikipedia to find their currently-functioning mirrors, as they're frequently attacked by various governments. It's still far more moral to use them than to give money to Jeff Bezos! He's put a lot of great used book shops out of business, treats his workers worse than animals, and is killing off the planet.
Happy reading! 🤓📖
#Books #Ebooks #FreeEbooks #AmazonSucks #AmazonAlternatives #QuasitBookRecs
Ooopsies! #BlueOrigin rocket explosion damages #NewGlenn launchpad in Florida
Everyone working in the area was “accounted for and safe" after the New Glenn explosion, according to Jeff Bezos.
By Emilee Speck, AccuWeather staff writer
Published May 29, 2026
#LowEarthOrbit #Megaconstellations
#RocketPollution #Grounded #AmazonSucks #TechBrosInSpace #SendTechBrosToMars
BOOM! 💥 #BlueOrigin New Glenn rocket explodes on launch pad in Florida
By
Updated on: May 29, 2026
"A powerful New Glenn rocket owned by #JeffBezos' Blue Origin exploded in a spectacular fireball Thursday, sending billowing clouds of fire, smoke and flaming debris into the night sky in a tremendous conflagration visible for miles around.
"The explosion occurred around 9 p.m. EDT as engineers were counting down to a brief test firing of the New Glenn's seven methane-fueled BE-4 first stage engines at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Blue Origin was gearing up for a June launch to put a batch of Amazon #Leo internet #satellites into orbit.
"As the engines appeared to begin firing, something clearly went wrong at the base of the rocket. The 188-foot-tall first stage became enveloped in a rapidly growing fire and moments later, the 86-foot-tall upper stage could be seen tilting and starting to fall as the first stage apparently began collapsing.
"Then the vehicle suddenly exploded as its load of #methane fuel and liquid oxygen ignited in a roiling fireball."
Read more:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blue-origin-new-glenn-rocket-explodes-launchpad-florida/
#LowEarthOrbit #Megaconstellations #RocketPollution #AmazonSucks #TechBrosInSpace #SendTechBrosToMars
Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, had successfully launched its third New Glenn Rocket last month.
California AG stocking it to Amazon after they've been screwing US consumers for years.
New evidence shows Amazon, its vendors, and competing retailers are price fixing, hiking up prices for consumer products and making Amazon richer and richer OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta last night filed a request for a preliminary injunction in California’s existing case against Amazon for price fixing. Attorney General Bonta’s 2022 lawsuit alleged that the company stifled competition and caused increased prices across California through its anticompetitive policies in order to avoid competing on price with other retailers.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rockethub/minocqua
Let’s kill Amazon together.
The Amazon job cuts announced a few hours ago have me really anxious about people's livelihoods. :(
Christ, 16,000 mostly corporate jobs adding to 14,000 in October.
30,000 people. :(
For reference:
https://www.rappler.com/technology/amazon-corporate-job-cuts-january-2026/
Want free Atlas Games stuff because Amazon sucks?
https://atlas-games.com/news/post?s=2026-01-21-free-games-accessories-at-amazons-expense
#TTRPG #BoardGames #AtlasGames #AmazonSucks #CapitalismRuinsEverything
UPDATE: ALL THE AMAZON FREEBIES ARE SPOKEN FOR! SORRY!There are free games at the bottom of this ... stick with me. As everyone knows, Amazon.com is at best a lousy business partner and more often a hostile adversary for small businesses that have to work with it. Without going into the details, I'll just say that their bait and switch on a Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) promotion has cost us a huge bunch of money, and I only get gaslighting and runaround trying to get extra charges refunded. Same on a recent bill for hundreds of dollars of storage/shipping fees, where Amazon claimed products weighing a few ounces were 72 lbs for no apparent reason. Anyhow, I'm sick of it. I'm removing everything of ours from Amazon's FBA program. But the money-grabbing continues on our way out the door. In addition to all the other fees, WE HAVE TO PAY to have our removed FBA inventory sent back to us. We can also ask them to destroy it, but that is THE VERY SAME FEE as having it returned to us. Also, the return fee is based on the weight of each individual item returned; if they charge a fee of $X to return one item, then having 30 returned is $30X. Now here's where my min-maxing heart leaps ... inexplicably, I can CHANGE THE RETURN ADDRESS FOR EACH of the manual returns. That means I can send each individual item wherever I want, and the cost to me is the same as if Amazon just carried it all to their dumpster. SO HERE'S THE FREE GAMES PART: I'd like to send each of those games/accessories to a different gamer somewhere in the USA, in full compliance with Amazon's rules and policies. Free to you! While supplies last. We've got some board games, card games, Replay Workshop accessories like condition markers and movement trays... Amazon will take its sweet time on actually delivering it, but if you e-mail me your mailing address anywhere in the USA, I will send you some free Atlas Games product. Send it by the end of Jan 2026, and feel free to mention the sort of thing you'd be interested in (or, conversely, what of our catalog you already own), but I make no promises. I'd just like to see these things go to gamers rather than be destroyed. And if you feel like giving us a review somewhere, that's great, but no obligation. -John Nephew Disgruntled Atlas Games Co-Owner
Breaking up with Amazon is hard. Ugh!
I bought a popular OB2 code reader from the manufacturer, on their Shopify site. $10 more than Amazon, and it just shipped… from China! 💔
Probs won’t come in time, so @Jillianmarisa bought the same thing from BozoCorp. Comes w/ overnight delivery. We’ll return it if/when the direct-to-consumer one arrives.
Quasit
DoomsdaysCW
Eric Ireland
Snarkle
Church of Jeff
Victor Barreiro Jr.
Calico Jesse
JL Johnson 
Jim