Mastodawn

PSA: The excellent #murderbot series by Martha Wells is available as a Humble Bundle right now, all 7 books in the series + 7 short stories and other novels. DRM-free epub files. Highly recommended.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/martha-wells-murderbot-and-more-tor-books

"Despite being a powerful and lethal security unit, Murderbot is an extreme introvert. Its primary goal is to be left alone so it can spend its time watching hours of its favorite soap operas and other media. It's highly cynical, sarcastic, and finds human interaction to be awkward and tedious. However, it also finds itself unexpectedly forming bonds with the humans it's supposed to protect, which leads to a lot of internal conflict and reluctant heroism."

#SciFi #bookstodon #books

Colin H.Aug 24, 2025

@chris And please, before you purchase, click on "Adjust donation" (beneath the checkout button) and put the charity contribution to its maximum. World Central Kitchen are doing incredible work in Gaza.

araly Aug 24, 2025

@chris oh i'm going to get that for sure. I read the first book of the murderbot diaries, I do want to get more of them physically, but it doesn't hurt to have them digitally too

IrgndSonDepp Aug 24, 2025

@chris got it right away when I saw the mail earlier. I've been meaning to read Murderbot and just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Funny how things work out sometimes. 😅

Scribblemacher Aug 24, 2025

@irgndsondepp @chris I read the first 3 books in this series this year--they are fantastic! They are also pretty should, and very economical in terms of words to plot (which is a plus to me).

@chris I heard about Murderbot during Marc Maron's WTF talk with Alexander Skarsgård (https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1658-alexander-skarsgrd) and was intrigued but don't get apple tv (I think that's the show is on) and am not planning to.

This is a great alternative!

Episode 1658 - Alexander Skarsgård — WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

Alexander Skarsgård decided acting wasn't for him at age 13 and he went in a completely different direction with his life. But after time in the Swedish Navy and a false start at university in England, he couldn't fight the pull of acting. Alexander talks with Marc about his career-making roles in G

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

Marcos Dione Aug 24, 2025

@chris «pay extra to give more to publishers, Humble, and charity» a shame they don't mention authors...

Richard Rathe Aug 24, 2025

The first four novellas and follow-up novel "Network Effect" are right up there with the best #SciFi has to offer. Must read IMO. A real treat for the uninitiated! 👍 💕

Aside re the TV serial based on the books: It's okay, but does not deal with Murderbot's internal dialogs / psychology very well. Plot changes are okay, some probably necessary, but... 👉 Read the books first! 👈

Aside re the audiobook versions: These are really quite good and available free thru many libraries that use overdrive.com.

#Murderbot #Books #Audiobooks

Matt Craig Aug 24, 2025

@nickrauchen @chris agreed. Show is OK but books are awesome.

Jay Hannah Aug 24, 2025

@chris Are they actually DRM free epub files? The last time I Humbebundled ebooks I had to strip out the DRM with Adobe Digital Editions + Calibre, which was a huge pain in the butt and I should have used archive.org instead: https://notes.jays.net/blog/ebooks/#humble-bundle-fiasco-2024

I'm not seeing an archive.org collection this time, I'm just seeing 1 book out there: https://archive.org/details/wells-martha-the-murderbot-diaries-7-system-collapse/mode/2up

Regardless, I'm all for the charity donation aspect. 👍

eBooks

How I book

PossumDark Aug 24, 2025

Thanks! Bought and loaded.

Brodeuse LucileDT Aug 24, 2025

@chris poke @afreytes we were talking about it not so long ago

Michael Gurski Aug 25, 2025

@chris oh, this may be my splurge in the midst of belt tightening!

Kerr Avonsen (she/her)Aug 26, 2025

I just finished reading the first story in the #Murderbot series, thanks to the above Humble Bundle.

I was not expecting to get Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier feels!

@chris #bookstodon #Marvel #BuckyBarnes #WinterSoldier

Charrvein Aug 26, 2025

@kerravonsen @chris i liked this book also, mainly for this character. The others felt á bit flat or not so interesting. Maybe yhat was yhe writers intent?

Kerr Avonsen (she/her)Aug 26, 2025

@apalsson @chris
First book in a series, establishing the main character, I think is most likely to be character-centric.

Mad B Aug 27, 2025

@kerravonsen
Oh, good analogy!
@chris

Kerr Avonsen (she/her)Aug 27, 2025

@Oaktag @chris
Because it fits so well!
The main character:
1. Is a cyborg.
2. Treated like property.
3. Involuntarily became a mass-murderer.
4. Overcomes his programming.
5. Is totally badass.
6. Doesn't know how to be a person.
7. Wants to be left in peace.
8. But keeps on getting involved because he has a protecting-people thing.

Paul Walker Aug 26, 2025

@chris hands up all those who can so relate to much of what Murderbot’s feeling.

(I mean, apart from the whole “lethal killing machine” thing, of course.)

Maurice Aug 27, 2025

@chris Thanks for the heads-up, hooked, ideal holiday reading.