Chasing Tale (Digital Edition) for February 15th, 2012: Blake Crouch, J.A. Konrath, Scott Nicholson ...

Okay, here's the thing. Remember that giant effin' pile of e-books I blogged about a couple weeks ago? Well, that was only about half of 'em--less actually. The entire list of e-books I downloaded, thanks to all the holiday promotions, is just bonkers. The most prominent authors were Scott Nicholson, Blake Crouch, and J.A. Konrath, who seemed to offer up no less than half their backlist during the holidays, absolutely free.

And honestly, this was overkill, but when you live a life well outside of opulence, you don't turn your nose up at free books. Especially when a good number of them are written by authors whose works you've either read and enjoyed or have had even a mild interest in reading. I may not live long enough to read all these freebies by the time there's another onslaught of Kindle swag, but there's no harm in trying.

Here's what I got:

Blake Crouch: Bad Girl, Birds of Prey (with J.A. Konrath), Break You (novella), Famous, Four Live Rounds (collection), Fully Loaded (collection), Hunting Season (with Selena Kitt), Locked Doors, The Meteorologist, The Pain of Others, Perfect Little Town (novella), Serial Killers: Uncut (with J.A. Konrath)

J.A. Konrath: 65 Proof (collection), Crime Stories (collection), Disturb, Endurance, Exposed (with Ann Voss Peterson), Horror Stories (collection), Jack Daniels Stories (collection), Origin, Planter's Punch (with Tom Schreck), Shapeshifters Anonymous, Shot of Tequila, Suckers (with Jeff Strand), Symbios, Truck Stop, Wild Night Is Calling (short story with Ann Voss Peterson)

Scott Nicholson: As I Die Lying, Bad Blood (with J.R. Rain & H.T. Night), Creative Spirits, Cursed! (with J.R. Rain), Disintegration, The Harvest, Head Cases, October Girls, The Skull Ring, The Vampire Club (with J.R. Rain), Zombie Bits

Dead Mech by Jake Bible - Jake offered up this sci-fi/horror novel for free briefly on the Kindle Store. I caught one of his tweets advertising it, and scooped it up. It's got zombies in mech suits, so c'mon. I heard about this a year or so ago, but one of the many books that falls off the radar. Lucked out by getting it for free.

A Hollow Cube Is a Lonely Place by S.D. Foster - S.D. hit me up to review this collection of bizarro horror stories. Bizarro is one of those niche genres that I've yet to really dive into, but I am curious about it and some online acquaintances seem to really enjoy it, so I'm game.

One Buck Horror Volume 1 (anthology) by Christopher and Kris Hawkins - 99 cents is a bargain basement price for a horror periodical. Free is a steal. One Buck Horror is about six volumes in, or thereabouts, and offered up the first one for free as an enticement. I thought I'd already read it, but I must have gotten it mixed up with another I got, so I snagged it without hesitation.

The Fields (novella) by Ty Schwamberger - I've heard enough praise for Ty's novella, and I've been meaning to buy something of his for a while now. Spending a mere dollar for this unique-sounding zombie novella seemed like a easy choice.

Before Leonora Wakes by Lee Thompson - I've got Lee's Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children on my wish list, but I'm holding off until I can ween down my reading pile. But a free story over the holidays is no trouble to download and have at the ready.

I told ya, the number of e-books I downloaded is just bonkers. For the sake of expediency, here's a bullet point list of the other e-books I downloaded over the last month:

• Beat to a Pulp: Hardboiled (anthology) by David Cranmer & Scott D. Parker
• Double Tap (collection) and The Ass Is a Poor Receptacle for the Head (nonfiction) by Barry Eisler
• Three on a Light (novella) by Victor Gischler
• Dead Space and Top Suspense: Favorite Kills (with various authors) by Lee Goldberg
• A World Torn Asunder (Vamprie Apocalypse #1) by Derek Gunn
• The Nemesis Worm (novella) by Guy Haley
• Legacy (Book One of the Resonance Tetralogy) by Hugo Jackson
• Vampires by Aiden James
• Saying Goodbye to the Sun by David McAfee
• Rain Dogs by Gary McMahon
• Here Be Monsters (anthology) by M.T. Murphy
• Hope Town by Brendan P. Myers
• Rock 'n' Rock Is Undead by Rose Pressey
• Freeze by Daniel Pyle
• Dark Horse (Jim Knighthorse #1) and Elvis Has Not Left the Building (Elvis Mystery Series #1) by J.R. Rain
• Burden Kansas (Vampires of the Plains) by Alan Ryker
• Monstrocity by Jeffrey Thomas
• Abaddon and Grave Instinct by Robert W. Walker
• Walking with Zombies (Zombie Armageddon 2) by Ian Woodhead