Ending Feb 14, Audible.com has unveiled a $4.95 sale for first books in a series. Making things easier on sf/f fans is that this time, the sale does have a dedicated sf/f category. Making things harder is that there are still 85 audiobooks in the category! So, here are the titles which most catch my eye:

• The Name of the Wind: Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1 by Patrick Rothfuss Narrated by Nick Podehl — at $4.95 for nearly 28 hours of richly detailed, wonderful fantasy, if you haven’t jumped into this series now is a really, really good time
• Hounded: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 1 by Kevin Hearne Narrated by Luke Daniels — I’m taking the opportunity to snap up this one myself
• Dragonsong: Harper Hall Trilogy, Volume 1 by Anne McCaffrey Narrated by Sally Darling
• The Way of Shadows: Night Angel Trilogy, Book 1 by Brent Weeks Narrated by Paul Boehmer
• Imager: The First Book of the Imager Portfolio by L. E. Modesitt Narrated by William Dufris
• Storm Front: The Dresden Files, Book 1 by Jim Butcher Narrated by James Marsters
• Hyperion by Dan Simmons Narrated by Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, Jay Snyder, and Victor Bevine
• WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer Narrated by Jessica Almasy, Jennifer Van Dyck, A. C. Fellner, and Marc Vietor
• The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan Narrated by Ron Perlman
• The Colour of Magic: Discworld #1 by Terry Pratchett Narrated by Nigel Planer — this is a really wonderful audiobook, and a short listen at 7 hours, though you really will be buying book #2 immediately following it
• Hidden Empire: The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 1 by Kevin J. Anderson Narrated by George Guidall
• Doomsday Book by Connie Willis Narrated by Jenny Sterlin — Series: Oxford Time Travel, Book 1
• The Dying Earth by Jack Vance Narrated by Arthur Morey
• Coyote: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration by Allen Steele Narrated by Peter Ganim
• Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds Narrated by John Lee
• Boneshaker by Cherie Priest Narrated by Wil Wheaton and Kate Reading — an outstandingly read and outstandingly fun audiobook, one of my all-time favorite audiobooks
• The War with the Mein: Book One of the Acacia Trilogy by David Anthony Durham Narrated by Dick Hill
• The Black Company: Chronicles of The Black Company, Book 1 by Glen Cook Narrated by Marc Vietor
• Shadowmarch: Shadowmarch, Volume I by Tad Williams Narrated by Dick Hill
• The Shadow of the Torturer: The Book of the New Sun, Book 1 by Gene Wolfe Narrated by Jonathan Davis
• Bright of the Sky: The Entire and the Rose, Book 1 by Kay Kenyon Narrated by Christian Rummel

And if your interests can sometimes run into the young reader / young adult category, there’s a pretty good list in there as well:

• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, Narrated by Alan Cumming — Series: Leviathan, Book 1 — “barking spiders!” was this an enjoyable audiobook, as Westerfeld imagines an alternate past of Darwinists, with bio-engineered airships, and the Clankers, with mechanized diesel-powered walking tanks, and introduces us to a young prince in the wake of a certain historical assassination in Sarajevo, and a girl who want’s to join the boys-only royal air corps.
• How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell Narrated by Gerard Doyle
• Magyk: Septimus Heap, Book One by Angie Sage, Narrated by Allan Corduner
• Artemis Fowl: Artemis Fowl, Book 1 by Eoin Colfer, Narrated by Nathaniel Parker