Young Writers Society

In order to learn to write we must read the leaders of the literary fields. Luckily we live in the 21-st century, and the Internet offers free access to some amazing books. Now there is really no excuse to not read, analyze, learn, and grow as a writer.

Legally free bestsellers & classics to read circa 2011

General Address 1 http://www.onread.com/books/writer-A
General Address 2 http://www.readanybook.com/genre/science-fiction-5
General Address 3 http://www.feedbooks.com/publicdomain
General Address 4 http://www.manybooks.net/categories/THR

Examples of stuff to be found for free legally on the web

Dean Koontz
By the Light Of the Moon http://www.onread.com/reader/1414852/
Breathless http://www.onread.com/reader/190978/
One Door Away From Heaven http://www.onread.com/reader/1414853/
Brother Odd http://www.onread.com/reader/1414851/

Stephen King
Full Dark No Stars http://www.onread.com/reader/1414791/

Clive Barker
Books of Blood http://www.onread.com/reader/1414964/

Neil Gaiman
Coraline http://www.onread.com/reader/1414732/

James Patterson
Tick Tock http://www.onread.com/reader/1415069/
Cross Fire http://www.onread.com/reader/1414779/
Along Came A Spider http://www.onread.com/reader/191026/
The Postcard Killer http://www.onread.com/reader/191026/
The Lakehouse http://www.onread.com/reader/191020/
Four Blind Mice http://www.onread.com/reader/191023/
Where the Wind Blows http://www.onread.com/reader/191021/
Hide and Seeks http://www.onread.com/reader/191024/
(and more of his books http://www.onread.com/books/key-james-patterson)

Dan Brown
Angels & Demons http://www.readanybook.com/ebook/angels-demons-32
Da Vinci Code http://www.readanybook.com/ebook/the-davinci-code-33
The Lost Symbol http://www.readanybook.com/ebook/the-lost-symbol-26
Digital Fortress http://www.readanybook.com/ebook/digital-fortress-14370


Charlaine Harris http://www.onread.com/writer/Charlaine-Harris-87497/
Janet Evanovich http://www.onread.com/reader/191231/

Howard Lovecraft http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/fiction/

Robert Howard
Red Nails (Conan adventure) http://www.manybooks.net/titles/howardr ... 759-8.html
The Hour of the Dragon (Conan adventure) http://www.manybooks.net/titles/howardr ... ragon.html

This is awesome.

Amazing, thank you!

You're awesome

A few personal favorites from the feedbooks site:

http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3749/deathworld Deathworld by the mighty Harry Harrison - one of the 2-3 classical science fiction books underpinning Avatar. And another bombastic space pulp adventure by Harrison - http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2395/planet-of-the-damned

Poul Anderson, another legend with a legendary novel http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4791/the-escape

Some Frederic Pohl too http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4705/the- ... -the-world

And of course, what sci-fi geek can resist golden age titles like "The Creature from Beyond Infinity"
by Henry Kuttner http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2316/the- ... d-infinity

Or "Storm Over Warlock" by Andre Norton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/862/storm-over-warlock

Or "Invaders from the Infinite" by the master founder of the golden age himself, the man who told Asimov and Vogt and Heinlein what to cut and what to rewrite - John W. Campbell, Jr.http://www.manybooks.net/titles/campbel ... 154-8.html

And, to wrap up my science fiction classics recommendations - Tom Godwin and his stunning tale of the human colony marooned on the planet Ragnarok - http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1979/space-prison - this little novel sends Heinlein to smoke nervously behind the corner and pretend he's elsewhere.

Goodness, dearest! It is only now that I've opened and read this thread! Time to scour those websites for something worthwhile!

This is like, the awesomeist thread ever. o:

There's a website with all the classics:
http://www.gutenberg.org/

I appreciate the thread but try not to rob the authors's royalty. Download if leagal, only.

If you want to learn to be a good writer, don't read too much Dan Brown :p

This is awesome. I've not read a single novel for a long time, this thread might have just ended that!

Additionally, librivox.org is a great website for listening to free audio books of classics. Listening at 2x speed is how I survived my class on 19th Century British literature.