"Freehold" - By Michael Z. Williamson

Just begun reading this book, which I got online for free.

I'm liking it so far, and judging by his style, I'll be buying some books from this author... Might even take advantage of his website, where he offers to sell some of the books for the same price you would get at Amazon.com, but autographed.

I think this is at least the third author I've found about through Baen Books, which usually has one or two free books for each of their authors online in several unrestricted formats (html, RTF...) and usually also makes available the first chapters of some of their author's books for perusal.

I think this is an excellent idea! I've already bought about ten books from David Weber because of this policy. If I didn't happen to read some of his stories for free from Baen's free library, I'd never have become hooked on his tales (I think he has more stories available for free on the site than any of the other authors).

His stories are simple and straightforward, but the characters are really likeable and, more often than not, epic. Besides, I really enjoy his writing style and can't wait to complete my collection of his works.

But, alas, it always seems that I discover a new author before completing my collection of works from the author I've already discovered... I'm still buying books from David Weber and Timothy Zhan and now It seems I'll start buying books from Michael Williamson. My shopping list seems to grow instead of shrinking, despite all the business I bring to Amazon.co.uk.

Check out Baen's Free Library. Who knows, you might find something you like.

Michael Z. Williamson's Webpage

EDIT: Finished the book... I guess I'll be adding another author to my shopping basket at amazon... sigh.