Science Fiction and Fantasy Books You Can Read for $5 or Less

Following the death of his beloved mother, young Skinner Cade discovers he was adopted. Determined to find his true origins, he travels westward from the Mississippi Delta to the deserts of Arizona. There, Skinner learns of the enigmatic Changing Woman, who may be his biological mother.

When a misunderstanding with the cops lands him behind bars, Skinner discovers a dark and brutal aspect of himself that he believed existed only in his nightmares. He is not truly human. He is a werewolf.

The Stone Mages rule the huge deserts of red sand. The vast coastlines are ruled by Sky Wardens. Magic is everywhere, but not all have the power to control and direct it. Any child found to have magical ability is sent to the Haunted City to be trained in the Change.

Sal and his father are on the run from a mysterious past. But after they arrive at the Fundelry, a small and unfriendly village, Sal meets a mysterious tattooed man who seems to know more about Sal than Sal knows about himself. Sal's father wants to stay, but the Sky Wardens are coming soon. Sal must race against the clock to unlock the power of his cryptic lineage.

In the sequel to Robert Stallman's The Orphan, a shapeshifting beast has taken on the form of Barry Golden, a handsome young man in love. Unfortunately, Barry has fallen for a married woman whose husband isn't about to let her go. Instead, he attempts to take Barry's life, forcing Barry to transform into the beast and flee to the woods for his safety.

The beast must reckon with what it truly means to be free and in love in this captivating dark fantasy title.

After an explosion destroys Detective Russel Wren's office, Wren is forced to accept a strange mission in the tiny country of Saint Sebastian. Saint Sebastian is unlike any place Wren has ever seen. Blond-haired citizens are consigned to the underclass. Rudeness is a capital crime. The Ministry of Clams is the go-to for any problem that can’t be solved by the Ministries of Hoaxes, Disaffection, Irony, or Allergies. 

This oddball novel is as mystifying as it is entertaining as it ramps up to an unforgettable climax.

Mars has been colonized. Entrenched corporate and national interests have footed the bill, but a few visionary people attempt to keep Mars free of the twisted ideologies that turned the Earth into a wasteland.

The colony has barely begun to take root in the Martian soil when all communication with the EUPACUS—as the industrialized nations of Earth are known—is cut off completely. Environmental and economic stresses have finally spun out of control, and civilization as we know it has collapsed. Led by the brave Tom Jefferies, the colonists struggle to build a new way forward—a way of living that overcomes the hatreds and delusions of the past.

In poems and prose of grief and atonement, hope, healing, and lost faith, Springer mines the magic that makes us human.

"The Boy Who Plaited Manes" features a nameless mute at a royal stable who teaches his abusive noble master an unforgettable lesson. In "Bright-Eyed Black Pony," a reclusive sorcerer devises a plan to help a despairing young prince. 

In the two-part title story, the orphaned bastard Chance's job to keep the vast forest of Wirral safe from poachers, spies, and the occasional murderer. But the Denizens also dwell here: tiny, inscrutable creatures who are never spoken of by name. They see and know all, including Chance's forbidden love for the beautiful, unattainable Lady Halimeda and the final, terrible secret of Wirral.

Paul Di Filippo's fiction spans from cyberpunk to alternate history to extravagantly funny tales involving talking beavers. As whimsical as they are intelligent, the 18 stories gathered here find strange characters in even stranger circumstances. The Emperor of Gondwanaland makes clear why its author is one of the most respected science fiction writers around. 

This radically imaginative collection is a fever dream that you won’t want to wake from.

One hundred years ago, Sand’s ancestors made the one-way trip to the Fifth World, ready to work ceaselessly to terraform the planet. Descendants of native peoples like the Hopi and Zuni, they wanted to return to the way of life of their forebears.

Now, though, many of the planet’s inhabitants have begun to resent their grandparents’ decision to strand them in this harsh and forbidding place, and some have turned away from the old customs. Sand has her doubts, but she longs to believe that her people live on beyond the stars. But when Sand's people actually do return, they do not like what they find.