In any case, here are your six free ebook leads for the week. I haven’t kept up on Random House’s free ebook releases so there are a few (I expect many of you are keeping an eye on this publisher’s Scribd channel yourselves):

The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry (PDF download) is also available as a free (for a limited time) Kindle edition:

The Templar Legacy has pretty mixed reviews on Amazon.com (click the cover image to see for yourself). It’s a Da Vinci Code sort of story. No cost to download and check it out for yourself though.

According to the Amazon.com description A Kiss of Shadows is “a supernatural fantasy with detective adventure and hot sex.” Sounds like a good escape to me especially since I’m not waiting for the last of Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series to come out.

Another book with mixed reviews according to the-online-bookseller-I-dare-not-mention (click cover to see reviews). This appears to be a YA science fiction adventure. If you are familiar with this author, the consensus seems to be that this book isn’t up to the same quality compared to her other books. On the other hand, it’s free for you to see for yourself.

A collection of short stories and poetry covering a number of genres including fantasy, humour, science fiction, and love stories (so I hear, I haven’t actually read this one either although people seem to be pretty happy with it over on, er, that site.

A science fiction novel of the military kind. A group of marines are stranded in an alien desert and have to get to safety 85 miles away across uncharted territory bristling with unfriendly locals (Wouldn’t they be using metric in the future, or will the U.S. always hold out on that? Sorry, it’s late as I write this and my mind is wandering.).

A fantasy novel complete with elves, goblins, centaurs, and giants (oh my!). I think this one is YA, but don’t quote me on that.

Subscribe to Random House’s audiobook newsletter (see right side) and they’ll give you three free audiobook downloads: Merrano of the Dry Country by Louis L’Amour, Magic Tree House #1: Dinosaurs Before Dark, and Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades.

Karen Marie Moning has another book out in her Fever series, which means the first book in the series, Darkfever, is free again. Last year it was a free podiobook (still available); this year it’s a free ebook. I’ve enjoyed this series despite some pacing issues (not unusual in a 5-book series). I read the first two books in a single weekend!

Don’t forget to check out the sidebar on that page to see what other full books Random House has put up on Scribd. A quick look shows full copies of Queen of the Orcs: King’s Property by Morgan Howell, The Brass Bed by Jennifer Stevenson, and The Briar King by Greg Keyes as well as some other books I’ve previously mentioned.

Let me know if you read anything good.

When three friends set out on a quest to build a real-life Buck Rogers-style flying machine, their obsession with the Rocketbelt 2000, or ‘Pretty Bird’, shattered their friendship and set in motion an astonishing chain of events involving theft, deception, a bizarre kidnapping, a ten million dollar lawsuit and a horrifically brutal murder.

This book was originally self-published in the UK and then picked up by a UK publisher and now a US publisher. For a limited time (which may have expired by the time you read this), you can get a free paperback copy for the cost of shipping. You can also opt for the free ebook download.

The World Ebook Fair appears to be a yearly event where, for one month only (until August 4th this year) you have free access to the ebooks of participating libraries (normally there is a monthly charge though some libraries included appear to free all the time). They say that there are 2 million books in the combined collection.

The collection includes some sites that are always free and have been featured here before (like the BAEN collection). It looks like there are a lot of older and/or obscure titles included but that doesn’t mean there isn’t interesting reading to be had. If you are a writer (or just the curious type) there are a number of government and academic libraries on the list that look like they have a wealth of information on obscure topics.

Another plus is that you will find books in different languages. I recognized Spanish, Dutch, and French sites, but I didn’t look through the whole list (it looked like there might be some Japanese books as well).

Enjoy and let me know if you come across anything good. With 2 million books to go through it would be great to have some leads to narrow it down!

• Apex Book Company is allowing a free download of Open Your Eyes by Paul Jessup until May 31.
• Hachette Group is allowing a free download of Serial by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch (found this one through The Reading Room).
• Microsoft Press has two books for the computer techies among you but the offer expires May 27: Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Resource Kit by Christa Anderson and Kristin L. Griffin with the Microsoft Presentation Hosted Desktop Virtualization Team and The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention by Marc McDonald, Robert Musson, and Ross Smith.

I know I could do with a book called The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention, but I somehow doubt it covers the defects I need to prevent.

• “Wolf Night” by Martha Wells”
• “Seasonal Work” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• “Janet, Meet Bob” by Gavin J. Grant
• “The Great Conviction of Tia Inez” by M. Thomas
• “Angels of a Desert Heaven” by Marguerite Reed
• “The Disemboweler” by Ekaterina Sedia
• “A Night in Electric Squidland” by Sarah Monette
• “Thread: A Triptych” by Catherynne M. Valente
• “The Frozen One” by Tim Pratt
• “Dragon Hunt” by Sarah Prineas
• “Manuscript Found Written in the Paw Prints of a Stoat” by Samantha Henderson
• “Giant” by Stephanie Burgis
• “When the Rain Comes” by Josh Rountree
• “The Hangman Isn’t Hanging” by Jay Lake
• “The Oracle Opens One Eye” by Patricia Russo

As usual I’m way behind in my reading so leave a comment if you’ve read the stories to help out other readers.

The group Coldplay is giving away a free mp3 album on their site. It’s not a book, but it is a legitimate free download so I thought I’d mention it for those of you who are interested.

• The Babysitter’s Code by Laura Lipman
• Super Goat Man by Jonathan Lethem
• Best New Horror by Joe Hill
• Great Day by Kurt Vonnegut
• Fathers by Alice Munro
• Truth or Dare by Elizabeth Berg
• Yarael by Junot Diaz
• Merrano of the Dry Country by Louis L’Amour
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

There is a little bit of fine print to this offer:

• Prices will appear as $0.01 but you won’t be charged.
• You must have a valid credit card on file with bn.com or enter one during checkout (you will not be charged — I believe they might take PayPal but I don’t know for sure).

You can download the free audiobooks on this page.

In Weapons of Choice a United Nations battle group is sent to Indonesia to stop ethnic cleansing by an Islamist regime. The battle group is sent back in time to Midway in 1942 when an experiment goes horribly wrong on a ship in the battle group that is doing research on wormholes. The WWII carriers and supporting vessels attack a Japanese Self-Defense Force ship, triggering devastating computer-operated defensive fire from the 21st-century fleet. The book depicts the cultural shock that the past and future navies experienceas they are forced to work together. The first in a series, you can download Weapons of Choice by John Birmingham for a limited time.

I’m not too sure what Elric: The Stealer of Souls is about but the phrases “albino sorcerer” and “sentient vampiric sword” are mentioned in the description and that’s good enough for me. Blacklin’s Reading Room has found an article about Moorcock’s Elric that is worth reading if you’re unfamiliar with the series. You can download Elric: The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock for a limited time.

Kiss of Midnight is the first book in The Midnight Breed series. At a dance club one evening, Gabrielle Maxwell witnesses a murder. Suddenly she finds herself thrust into a realm most have no idea exists. A realm of vampires where a blood war is set to ignite. You can download Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian for a limited time.

Have you read any of these books or authors? Give me the scoop in the comments because they’re all new to me.

The books on offer include:

• Sunborn (The Chaos Chronicles, Vol. 4) — this is a limited time download
• Neptune Crossing (The Chaos Chronicles, Vol. 1)
• Strange Attractors (The Chaos Chronicles, Vol. 2)
• The Infinite Sea (The Chaos Chronicles, Vol. 3)
• Battlestar Gallactica mini-series (novelization)

Also, there are some short stories in HTML format available. All downloads can be accessed through Carver’s downloads page. Enjoy!