Baen Free Library

1632

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

The Ultimate Y2K Glitch....

1632 In the year 1632 in northern Germany a reasonable person might conclude that things couldn't get much worse. There was no food. Disease was rampant. For over a decade religious war had ravaged the land and the people. Catholic and Protestant armies marched and countermarched across the northern plains, laying waste the cities and slaughtering everywhere. In many rural areas population plummeted toward zero. Only the aristocrats remained relatively unscathed; for the peasants, death was a mercy.

2000 Things are going OK in Grantville, West Virginia. The mines are working, the buck are plentiful (it's deer season) and everybody attending the wedding of Mike Stearn's sister (including the entire membership of the local chapter of the United Mine Workers of America, which Mike leads) is having a good time.

THEN, EVERYTHING CHANGED....

When the dust settles, Mike leads a small group of armed miners to find out what's going on. Out past the edge of town Grantville's asphalt road is cut, as with a sword. On the other side, a scene out of Hell; a man nailed to a farmhouse door, his wife and daughter Iying screaming in muck at the center of a ring of attentive men in steel vests. Faced with this, Mike and his friends don't have to ask who to shoot.

At that moment Freedom and Justice, American style, are introduced to the middle of The Thirty Years War.

1633

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

AMERICAN FREEDOM AND JUSTICE
VS. THE TYRANNIES OF
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

The new government in central Europe, called the Confederated Principalities of Europe, was formed by an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginians led by Mike Stearns who were transplanted into 17^th-century Germany by a mysterious cosmic accident. The new regime is shaky. Outside its borders, the Thirty Years War continues to rage. Within, it is beset by financial crisis as well as the political and social tensions between the democratic ideals of the 20^th-century Americans and the aristocracy which continues to rule the roost in the CPE as everywhere in Europe.

Worst of all, the CPE has aroused the implacable hostility of Cardinal Richelieu, the effective ruler of France. Richelieu has created the League of Ostend in order to strike at the weakest link in the CPE's armor—its dependence on the Baltic as the lifeline between Gustav Adolf's Sweden and the rest of his realm.

The greatest naval war in European history is about to erupt. Like it or not, Gustavus Adolphus will have to rely on Mike Stearns and the technical wizardry of his obstreperous Americans to save the King of Sweden from ruin.

Caught in the conflagration are two American diplomatic missions abroad: Rebecca Stearns' mission to France and Holland, and the embassy which Mike Stearns sent to King Charles of England headed by his sister Rita and Melissa Mailey. Rebecca finds herself trapped in war-torn Amsterdam; Rita and Melissa, imprisoned in the Tower of London.

And much as Mike wants to transport 20^th-century values into war-torn 17th-century Europe by Sweet Reason, still he finds comfort in the fact that Julie, who once trained to be an Olympic marksman, still has her rifle . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

David Weber is best known for his New York Times bestselling Honor Harrington series, arguably the most popular series in science fiction, which has led to reviewers comparing him to C.S. Forester , celebrated creator of Captain Horatio Hornblower. Weber's work ranges from epic fantasy (Oath of Swords, The War God's Own] to breathtaking space opera (Path of the Fury, The Armageddon Inheritance] to military science fiction with in-depth characterization (the Honor Harrington novels). With John Ringo, he inaugurated the Prince Roger series of space adventures with March Upcountrij and has continued it with March to the Sea. Weber and his wife Sharon live in South Carolina.

Eric Flint is a new master of alternate-history science fiction. His 1632, prequel to 1633, received lavish critical praise from all directions and enjoyed high sales. His first novel, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. He has also shown a powerful gift for humorous fantasy adventure with Forward the Mage and The Philosophical Strangler, which Booklist described as "Monty Python let loose in Tolkien's Middle Earth." With David Drake he has collaborated on five novels in the popular Belisarius series, the next of which will be The Dance of Time. A longtime labor union activist with a Master's Degree in history, he currently resides in Indiana with his wife Lucille.

1812: The Rivers of War

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Eric Flint's acclaimed 1634: The Galileo Affair was a national bestseller from one of the most talked-about voices in his field. Now, in this extraordinary new alternate history, Flint begins a dramatic saga of the North American continent at a dire turning point, forging its identity and its future in the face of revolt from within, and attack from without.

In the War of 1812, U.S. troops are battling the British on the Canadian border, even as a fierce fight is being waged against the Creek followers of the Indian leader Tecumseh and his brother, known as The Prophet. In Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte's war has become a losing proposition, and the British are only months away from unleashing a frightening assault on Washington itself. Fateful choices are being made in the corridors of power and on the American frontier. As Andrew Jackson, backed by Cherokee warriors, leads a fierce attack on the Creek tribes, his young republic will soon need every citizen soldier it can find.

What if—at this critical moment—bonds were forged between men of different races and tribes What if the Cherokee clans were able to muster an integrated front, and the U.S. government faced a united Indian nation bolstered by escaping slaves, freed men of color, and even influential white allies

Through the remarkable adventures of men who were really there—men of mixed race, mixed emotions, and a singular purpose—The Rivers of War carries us in this new direction, brilliantly transforming an extraordinary chapter of American history.

With a cast of unforgettable characters—from James Monroe and James Madison to Sam Houston, Francis Scott Key, and Cherokee chiefs John Ross and Major Ridge—The Rivers of War travels from the battle of Horseshoe Bend to the battle of New Orleans, and brings every explosive moment to life. With exquisite attention to detail, an extraordinary grasp of history, and a storyteller's gift for the dramatic, Flint delivers a bold, thought-provoking epic of enemies and allies, traitors and revolutionaries, and illuminates who we are as a nation, how we got here, and how history itself is made—and remade.

About the Author

ERIC FLINT graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA with a degree in African history. His first novel, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. His alternate history novels, 1634: The Galileo Affair, and 1632, received lavish critical praise. He has collaborated with David Drake on five novels in the acclaimed Belisarius series, the next of which will be The Dance of Time. A longtime labor union activist, he currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife, Lucille.

A Hymn Before Battle

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE . . .

With the Earth in the path of the rapacious Posleen, the peaceful and friendly races of the Galactic Federation offer their resources to help the backward Terrans—for a price.

Humanity now has three worlds to defend.

As Earth's armies rush into battle and special operations units scout alien worlds, the humans begin to learn a valuable lesson: You can protect yourself from your enemies, but may the Lord save you from your allies.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Ringo had visited 23 countries and attended 14 schools by the time he graduated high school. This left him with a wonderful appreciation of the oneness of humanity and a permanent aversion to foreign food. He chose to study marine biology and really liked it. Unfortunately the pay was for beans. So now he manages a quality control database and the pay is much better. He hopes to someday upgrade to SQL Server. At that point life will be complete.

With his bachelor years spent in the airborne, cave diving, rock-climbing, rappelling, hunting, spear-fishing, and sailing, the author is now happy to let other people risk their necks. He prefers to read (and of course write) science fiction, raise Arabian horses, dandle his kids and watch the grass grow. Someday he may even cut it. But not today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe he'll just let the horses.

A Logic Named Joe

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

ALTRUISTIC SPACE PIRATES, NUCLEAR-POWERED DJINN, A TIME-TRAVELLING KANGEROO—AND MORE . . .

Three complete novels of humorous adventure, one of them a Hugo Award finalist, plus a trio of witty short stories with the distinctive Leinster touch.

* The Pirates of Zan—When a young man is accused and jailed unjustly, he is given a secret offer—in return for help in escaping, he must shake up the galactic establishment, which is getting dangerously set in its ways. He succeeds beyond anyone's wildest expectations, seemingly becoming a space pirate, but being in reality, the deadliest do-gooder in the galaxy.

* Gateway to Elsewhere—Suppose that somewhere the world of the Arabian Nights is real, including very powerful and dangerous djinns, who are nothing like Aladdin's big blue pal. A man from our world wouldn't have a chance against them . . . or would he

* The Duplicators — A planet where everyone has a machine which can duplicate anything would be the wealthiest world in the galaxy, right Wrong. And unless the hapless voyager who's trapped on the planet can find a solution to its problem, his voyaging will be over—permanently.

Plus three short stories, including "A Logic Named Joe," an uncannily prophetic story of home computers and the internet — written in 1946!

"Murray Leinster was not only a very good writer, he was a pioneer. He invented the field of parallel-universe stories with his "Sidewise in Time," and his "First Contact" set the pattern for all the stories that followed of—well—of first contact with alien civilizations. The wondrous thing about his work is that those great, trend-setting stories read as fresh and timely as they did all those years ago." —Frederik Pohl

". . . good stories, marvelously put together. . . . It's a pleasure to watch such a masterly craftsman at work, producing a couple of hours of diverting reading with unfailing skill." —Robert Silverberg

A Plague of Demons

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

THE SECRET MASTERS OF THE WORLD—
WERE A PACK OF WOLVES

When John Bravais was sent on a secret mission to observe a war in North Africa he found out more than it was safe for him to know—even after he had secretly been surgically transformed so that he was as strong as a Bolo tank, and nearly as tough: Wolf-like aliens, invisible to the ordinary eye, were harvesting the brains of the fallen fighters! Bravais might have become the Ultimate Warrior, but still he was only one man against A Plague of Demons.

An alien probe has randomly selected a human to test to his limits and find how serious an opponent the human race might be. They have picked the wrong man. Test to Destruction.

A ship is lost in action and only one has survived the alien attack. He alone knows the secret that can stop the aliens in their tracks, but his own side is convinced he is a traitor or worse; he is about to face his ignominious end, his End as a Hero.

One officer has kept a lonely vigil on an isolated planet for years, watching for the alien enemy, forgotten by the bureaucracy that sent him there—then the enemy arrived, and the alarm signal had to be sent, in spite of the alien ship looming over the colony. Thunderhead.

Includes one full-length novel, five short novels, and more in an action-packed volume of the very best by the master of interstellar adventure.

Praise for Keith Laumer:

"Spare, clean prose style and muscular storytelling technique . . . when the final word is read, the reader comes away with both a sense of completion and a desire for the tale to go on ... forever, if possible." —David Weber

"You're about to have fun." —David Drake

"Laumer is a master ..." —Seattle Times

"Tautly written and endless suspense . . . excellent. ..." —VOYA

"Keith Laumer is one of science fiction's most adept creators. . ." —Savannah News-Press

Agent of Vega

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Espionage and Intrigue in the
Far Reaches of the Galaxy
from the Creator of Telzey Amberdon
and Trigger Argee

The Galaxy was not a nice neighborhood, and most would have laid bets that the Vegan Confederacy was too small and weak to survive, let along prosper. But prosper it did, to the bewilderment of observers, who didn't know about the Vegans' secret weapon.

Once, the Galactic Empire had spanned the stars and when it crumbled and fell, star systems were isolated, some barely surviving, many becoming tyrannical feifdoms, others turning to piracy, and all of them often at war with each other. The Confederacy didn't have huge space armadas, and millions of troops to protect itself and re-civilize its neighbors, but it did have the Zone agents. Few outside the top echelons of the Confederacy even knew that they existed, and even fewer had an inkling of how the agents time and again could appear on the spot just when a push in the right place could stop a war, topple a despot, or thwart an invasion of unfriendly aliens.

Their numbers were pitifully few, and they had to patrol vast stretches of space. They were helped by their ships, bristling with hidden armament and piloted by robot brains of high intelligence. But their main weapon was that the minds of their opponents were open books to them. Not all of the Agents of Vega were human, but they were the most powerful telepaths the Galaxy had ever known . . .

Publisher's Note: Part of Agent of Vega & Other Stories has previously appeared separately. This is the first expanded, unitary publication.

"Take my advice and buy TWO copies of this book! You'll want to lend it to friends and (trust me on this: I have years of experience to back up the observation) once people get their hands on a Schmitz book, they don't let go!" - Janet Kagan, Hugo-Winner and author of Uhura's Song

"Wonderfully fresh imagination." -The Horn Book

An Oblique Approach

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

ALIEN MINDS BATTLE
FOR BYZANTIUM

In northern India the Malwa have created an empire of unexampled evil. Guided or possessed by an intelligence from beyond time, with new weapons, old treachery, and an implacable will to power, the Malwa will sweep over the whole Earth. Only three things stand between the Malwa and their plan of eternal domination: the empire of Rome in the East, Byzantium; a crystal with vision; and a man named Belisarius, the greatest commander Earth has ever know. . . .

Bedlam Boyz

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Prequel to Bedlam's Bard

When one of her friends is gunned down, Kayla uses her latent healing powers to heal her friend—and the gang member who shot him—and soon the city's gangs are eager to use her powers for evil.

Berserker Throne

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Berserker Throne

For countless millennia the dreadful Berserker® fleets have ranged across the galaxy in a relentless war against all things living. Their equally relentless opponent has been the human race, with its heritage and instinct of battle, facing the enemy of all life.

An exiled prince plans to use a Berserker and return to power—but can a mere human really control a Berserker

Includes the prequel short story "Some Events At The Templar Radiant"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fred Saberhagen is the top-selling author of many popular science fiction and fantasy series. His Berserkers® have menaced the universe for over 40 years. His "Swords" and "Lost Swords" stories have caught the imagination of many fantasy readers. Equally intriguing are Fred's exploits in the area of historical fantasy where figures such as Hitler and Lincoln, Daedalus and the pharaohs, populate his alternate worlds. On the border of history and fantasy Fred has created a unique picture of an old favorite, Dracula. More recent is the "Book of the Gods" series, a new telling of the ancient myths. Many of his works also appear in tape and e-book format. Before abandoning himself to imagination, he served in the US Air Force, worked as a civilian electronics technician, and wrote and edited articles on science and technology for the Encyclopedia Britannica. Born and raised in Chicago, he now lives and works with his wife, Joan Spicci, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Beyond World's End

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

THIS IS YOUR SOUL
ON DRUGS

After the events chronicled in Bedlam's Bard, world-saving bard and magician Eric Banyon moves into his new New York apartment hoping to settle down to the quiet life. No such luck: his building is a safe-house for a group of occultist Guardians protecting the city from supernatural evil. And there's a new evil for them to guard against....

When unethical drug researchers discover that they can induce amazing mental powers using psychotropic drugs, they begin planning to raise a drug-enslaved army of mercenaries and grow very, very rich. But this gets the attention of Aerune mac Audelaine, lord of the dark Unseleighe Sidney, who hopes to use the drugs to break through to the human world and feed on the suffering there. Both plans will bring terror to the world-and both are threatened by the very existence of Eric Banyan.

With his possibly loyal companions-a beautiful elven half-breed and a gargoyleEric heads for a three-way battle of wizardry that will determine Gotham's fate-and his own.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Mercedes Lackey, author of the bestselling Heralds of Valdemar and Bardic Voices series, began life as a child and has been attempting to rectify that error ever since. Named for actress Mercedes McCambridge, she has been trying with no success to get the Benz automobile authorities to recognize the natural link between her name and theirs, and offer her the use of an M100 or some variety of high-end sports car for gratis. This, too, has had a distinct lack of success. Other than writing she can be found at various times prying the talons of the birds of prey she is attempting to nurse back to health out of her hands, endangering her vision by creating various forms of Art Beadwork, and cross-stitching dragons, gryphons, and other semi-mythological fauna. At the moment, her hair is red, her favorite color is green, and she is covered by various members of her flock of pet parrots, cockatoos and macaws, all of which are trying to help her type8shgalal-akejbejks9ife.

Rosemary Edghill, after holding the usual array of Weird Writer Jobs, including freelance graphic designer and vampire killer, settled down to a career as a full-time writer. She has written three books in the Twelve Treasures series, urban fantasies about elves and subways, as well as books in genres ranging from romance to mystery. She has also collaborated with such masters of fantasy as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre Norton. Of this collaboration, Mercedes Lackey writes, "I needed a new partner for our Bedlam Bards series ... Rosemary was the only possible writer who was sharp enough!" Her web page can be found at http://www.sff.net/people/eluki

Black on Black

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Frankly,
He Preferred Humans

Rescued from a slave market by a human trader and raised as his son, one question has haunted Heyoka Blackeagle through the years: who — and what — is he He feels human, indeed he feels like a somewhat alienated member of his father's tribe. So what if he is seven feet tall, furry, and equipped with retractable claws

Human is as human does....Right

Born to Run

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Changer of Worlds

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

WELCOME AGAIN TO THE
MANY WORLDS OF HONOR

Lady Dame Honor Harrington—starship captain, admiral, Steadholder, and Duchess—has spent decades defending the Star Kingdom of Manticore against all comers. Along the way, she has become the legend known as "the Salamander" from her habit of always being where the fire is hottest . . . and also a national bestseller (Ashes of Victory: #7, The Wall Street Journal).

But it's a big universe, and Honor's actions affect a lot of lives, not all of them human. And their actions affect her—a lesson "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington" learns years before rising to command rank when a desperate battle against "pirates" who aren't quite what they seem begins her brilliant career.

Closer to home, in "Changer of Worlds," a secret that the alien treecats have kept from their human friends for hundreds of years is about to come out . . . and completely change the relationship between the two species forever.

Meanwhile, Eric Flint weighs in with "From the Highlands." Honor can't be everywhere, so when the People's Republic of Haven tries to stage a political assassination on Earth, Anton Zilwicki—husband of one of the Star Kingdom's most revered military martyrs, and father of a young woman who is clearly a chip off the old block—steps into the breach . . . and takes the opportunity to settle some old scores along the way.

And finally, Esther McQueen and Oscar Saint-Just square off for their final confrontation in Noveau Paris in "Nightfall."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HOST

Granted, the decade has just begun, but David Weber shows all signs of being the science fiction phenomenon of the decade. Weber is often compared to C.S. Forester (the celebrated creator of Captain Horatio Hornblower), is the recipient of critical praise worthy of Heinlein or Asimov, and has hordes of voracious fans clamoring for more and more Weber. Fortunately for them, Weber keeps steadily producing book after book with first printings that sell out almost immediately, then go back into printing after printing after printing. His novels range from epic fantasy (Oath of Swords, The War God's Own) to breathtaking space opera (Path of the Fury, The Armageddon Inheritance) to military science fiction with in-depth characterization (the celebrated and awesomely popular Honor Harrington novels, the New York Times bestselling Ashes of Victory being the latest). Reviewers call Weber "irresistible . . masterful" (Publishers Weekly), "highly entertaining" (Booklist), "outstanding . . . superb . . . excellent" (Wilson Library Bulletin), "remarkable" (Kliatt), "the best" (Dragon), "worth shouting about" (Philadelphia Weekly Press), "great" (Locus), and "the best writer around today" (FosFax). Readers call Weber similar things, but mostly they call the Baen offices several times a week demanding more from their main man. Weber lives in South Carolina and, in spite of having gotten married a year ago, shows no sign of slowing down. . . .

Crawling Between Heaven and Earth

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

This is a collection of short stories written over the years between 91 and 2000 and published in magazines ranging from the short-lived Dark Regions to such staples of the field as Analog and Weird Tales.

The stories themselves are nothing if not eclectic. In Sarah's worlds, you'll meet people from all walks of life. You'll meet a common whore with no past and a powerful emperor whose past follows him like a shadow. You'll go into battle with an ordinary soldier and have a quiet dinner with the most extraordinary poet that graced the Earth.

A mysterious dragon will soar overhead and a brooding vampire will stalk you in a dark tavern. A handsome alien will seduce you and a marauding band of ruthless Mongols will change the world as you know it. You'll believe in fairies again and you'll find comfort in a ghost. One king will save you, but you'll be powerless to save another.

In these stories you'll meet the magic art of the storyteller.

Cross the Stars

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

THE LONG WAY HOME

Hammer's Slammer Don Slade is coming home to the planet Tethys, to his son and the woman he loves. But the space between is dark and cold. And the stars he must pass shine their light on planets which beckon to the weary traveler, planets which hold hidden dangers.

And if Don Slade should ever reach Tethys ... that is when the real fighting starts.

"-[Drake] has developed a following for his Slammers just short of cult proportions.
-Rave Reviews

the best in military science fiction.

Crown of Slaves

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

A NEW SERIES SET
IN THE "HONORVERSE"OF
HONOR HARRINGTON

The Star Kingdom's ally Erewhon is growing increasingly restive in the alliance because the new High Ridge regime ignores its needs. Added to the longstanding problem of a slave labor planet controlled by hostile Mesans in Erewhon's stellar backyard, which High Ridge refuses to deal with, the recent assassination of the Solarian League's most prominent voice of public conscience indicates the growing danger of political instability in the Solarian League—which is also close to Erewhon.

In desperation, Queen Elizabeth tries to defuse the situation by sending a private mission to Erewhon led by Captain Zilwicki, accompanied by one of her nieces. When they arrive on Erewhon, however, Manticore's envoys find themselves in a mess. Not only do they encounter one of the Republic of Haven's most capable agents—Victor Cachat—but they also discover that the Solarian League's military delegation seems up to its neck in skullduggery.

And, just to put the icing on the cake, the radical freed slave organization, the Audubon Ballroom, is also on the scene—led by its notorious and ruthless assassin, Jeremy X.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

David Weber: New York Times best-selling Honor Harrington series, arguably the most popular series in science fiction, which has led to reviewers comparing him to C.S. Forester, celebrated creator of Captain Horatio Hornblower. Weber's work ranges from epic fantasy (Oath of Swords, The War God's Own) to breathtaking space opera (Path of the Fury, The Apocalypse Troll, Empire from the Ashes) to military science fiction with in-depth characterization (the Honor Harrington novels). With John Ringo, he inaugurated the Prince Roger series of space adventures with March Upcountry and has continued it with March to the Sea and March to the Stars. Weber and his wife Sharon live in South Carolina with their three children.

Eric Flint: is a new master of science fiction. His alternate-history novel 1632 received lavish critical praise from all directions and enjoyed high sales. The sequel, 1633, written in collaboration with David Weber, has also been highly praised and popular. His first novel, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. He has also shown a powerful gift for humorous fantasy adventure with Forward the Mage and The Philosophical Strangler, which Booklist described as "Monty Python let loose in Tolkien's Middle Earth." With David Drake he has collaborated on five novels in the popular "Belisarius" series, and is working on the sixth, The Dance of Time. A longtime labor union activist with a master's degree in history, he currently resides in Indiana with his wife Lucille.

Crusade

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Demon Blade

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Demon Blade

"Let me," Rosivok said. Abruptly he bent down and took up the Blade. He stood there holding it, examining its shimmering steel, the beads of moisture rolling off of it. After a moment he shrugged. "Nothing," he said.

"No," the wizard Frost agreed. "There should not be." He took a very deep breath—deciding he would have to use his right hand, the left simply did not have the strength after the first disastrous try—and reached toward the Subartan warrior. "Let me try once more."

Rosivok held the Blade out. Briefly, Frost closed his eyes. He pushed all thoughts of the Blade's powers, as well as his own ideas about them, out of his mind, then spoke a minor spell to himself, one to keep his magical energies turned inward, turned off, for now. He looked at the Blade again and reached, and touched it. This time, after a moment, he gently smiled.

Destiny's Shield

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME

The Malwa Empire squats like a toad across 6th century India, commanded by ruthless men with depraved appetites. The thing from the distant future that commands them is far worse.

AN ADVISOR WITHOUT A BODY

Those who oppose the purulent Hell the Malwa will make of Earth have sent a crystal, Aide, to halt their advance. Aide holds all human knowledge-but he cannot act by himself.

A CHAMPION FOR ALL TIMES

Count Belisarius, the greatest general of the age and perhaps of all ages, must outwit the evil empire — and then, when there is no longer room to maneuver, to meet it sword-edge to sword-edge, because,

no matter what it costs

EVIL CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO RULE MEN!

"It isn't often you come across a book or series you recommend to everyone. This one is an exception. Buy all the Belisarius books. Read them. No",! After all, miser), loves company, and I shouldn't have to be the only one waiting this hard for number four!"
—David Drake

"The battle scenes and strategies are as expert as expected in a book with Drake's name on it. . . "
— Publishers Weekly

Digital Knight

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Vampires are Real—
but Everything You Thought You
Knew About Them is Wrong!

When freelance information specialist Jason Wood found that a suspected drug kingpin didn't appear on photographs, he decided to investigate, suspecting that the kingpin was actually a vampire. But things wouldn't turn out to be that simple, and he soon found he was in danger from the last person he would have suspected. Trying to survive in a bizarre night world, Jason learns not only that vampires and werewolves really exist, but that they are part of a universe stranger than he ever imagined. . . .

Doc Sidhe

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

Harris came up off his jumping foot and brought the same leg up before him in extension—a flying side kick straight out of tournament demonstrations. The huge man felt like Jell-O, but he still fell over backwards. Harris hit the ground hard, too, but scrambled up instantly. "Gaby "

The bag the man had dropped said, "Harris " and her arm stretched out of it.

The old man said, "Mine." He stepped out of the way. "Phipps, I need this young man removed. Adonis, get up."

"Gaby, get the hell out of here!"

The third man pulled something from under his armpit. Harris felt fear clutching at him, but he charged and side-kicked just as Phipps got his revolver out into the open. The kick connected, knocking the man clean off his feet.

Harris almost grinned. From the opening bell to the knockout, one point five seconds. Not bad for a drunk loser. He bent over, grabbed Phipps' revolver, and swung it around to aim at the others.

The huge man's gloved hand clamped down on the barrel and yanked. The gun fired into nothingness and the huge man flung it off into the darkness. With his free hand, he pulled his hat away from his head and looked down at Harris. Moonlight illuminated his face.

His skin, cinnamon brown, hung in packed layers of wrinkles like earthworms laid lengthwise. No mouth or ears were discernible, but there were eyes, animal's eyes, set deep in. Harris took an involuntary step back, looking for the seam that proved this was a mask.

But the mouth opened. It was too large and too wide to belong to any human. No man or woman possessed a forest of sharklike teeth like those. It twisted into a smile.

The Smile mocked him.

Earthweb

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Doomsday Came About Every Five Years

Someone Out There really hated humans. Twenty years have passed since Shiva I first swept aside Earth's crude defenses and rained down destruction. Now Shiva V has entered the Solar System, more powerful than any of its predecessors.

The Shiva cannot be destroyed by fleets of ships: we tried, and it was the fleets that were destroyed. It cannot be defeated by a clandestinely developed super-weapon based on new principles of physics: no such weapon exists. It cannot be defeated by a forceful American President and his faithful generals: they do not know what to do.

There is only one way to defeat a Shiva: get inside and kill it. Once again, in the personae of five champions, four billion of us are about to do just that.

"A high-voltage adventure story�"and an intriguing look at what the worldwide web may become."
—Vernor Vinge

"A brilliant vision of our future networked intelligence."
—Max More, Ph.D., President of the Extropy Institute and the Extropy Newsletter

"Why read expensive industry newsletters to puzzle out the future of the Web Read Earthweb to pull way ahead of today's Web pundits."
—Christine Peterson, Executive Director, The Foresight Institute

Emerald Sea

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

The Battle Against
Those Determined
to Rule the World—or
Destroy It—Continues

In the future the world was a paradise—and then, in a moment, it ended. The council that controlled the Net fell out and went to war, while people who had never known a moment of want or pain were left wondering how to survive.

Duke Edmund Talbot has been assigned a simple mission: Go to the Southern Isles and make contact with the scattered mer-folk—those who, before the worldwide collapse of technology, had altered their bodies in the shape of mythical sea-dwelling creatures. He must convince them to side with the Freedom Coalition in the battles against the fascist dictators of New Destiny. Just a simple diplomatic mission. That requires the service of a dragon-carrier and Lieutenant Herzer Herrick, the most blooded of the Blood Lords—because New Destiny has plans of its own.

The fast-paced sequel to There Will be Dragons is a rollicking adventure above and below the high seas with dragons, orcas, beautiful mermaids— and the irrepressible Bast the Wood Elf, a cross between Legolas and Mae West.

Fallen Angels

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST

One minute the two space Hab astronauts were scoop-diving the atmosphere, the next they'd been shot down over the North Dakota Glacier and were the object of a massive manhunt by the United States government.

That government, dedicated to saving the environment from the evils of technology, had been voted into power because everybody knew that the Green House Effect had to be controlled, whatever the cost. But who would have thought that the cost of ending pollution would include not only total government control of day-to-day life, but the onset of a new Ice Age

Stranded in the anti-technological heartland of America, paralyzed by Earth's gravity, the "Angels" had no way back to the Space Habs, the last bastions of high technology and intellectual freedom on or over the Earth. But help was on its way, help from the most unlikely sources ....

Join # 1 national bestsellers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and Michael Flynn in a world where civilization is on the ropes, and the environmentalists have created their own worst nightmare: A world of

Fallen Angels

Far Edge of Darkness

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Reader Alert!
by Linda Evans

Far Edge of Darkness is the first half of an unfinished story that was meant to continue in Unholy Trinity. Why isn't the story finished I plead a combination of ill health and financial need. Far Edge was originally written before my first professional sale and became my third published novel, after Sleipnir and Time Scout, plus the anthology Bolos 3: The Triumphant. I was editing Far Edge and writing Wagers of Sin (Time Scout #2) when a major illness shattered my health and left me unable to write for three years, with a contract for a major series unfulfilled. Wagers of Sin limped its way into print during this time as I struggled to finish the last third of the book (which I have no memory of writing). Jim Baen and Toni Weisskopf stood by me as I put my life back together, an act of faith and kindness for which I will bless them forever. My health remains fragile, which limits my production speed, as does the day job I must keep to hold onto utterly necessary health insurance. That is where the situation stands at present. I'm committed to the Hell's Gate "Multi-Verse" series with David Weber, which must be my highest priority.

If you have read Far Edge of Darkness and enjoyed it, thank you and please accept my apologies for its unfinished state. (I, too, want to get my literary children off that cliff they're plunging over!) If you haven't read the book yet, I will say this in warning: the book's action is constructed so that every single chapter ends on a cliffhanger, including the last one. If you want "the rest of the story" to exist before you begin reading a book, you'll probably want to skip Far Edge of Darkness. But if you are willing to overlook the lack of an ending to the overall story (there is closure of some major plot threads), you're welcome to step onto the roller coaster. Just hang on, because that last drop is a real dilly...

Apologies and Best Wishes,
Linda Evans

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

Sibyl Johnson—a graduate student In classical archeology, just this side of her Ph.D., when an anachronism at her dig in Italy causes her career to take a sudden lurch—and suddenly she's a slave in the very society she was studying!

Charlie Flynn—a Miami cop, deep undercover on a Mafia sting operation stumbled onto something he shouldn't have seen, end now he's scheduled for a hit—in the Roman forum. Lagan McKee—once a commando, now a bum, he got caught in a Florida thunderstorm and suddenly he was in Alaska—five years after the storm struck. Now he's slated for a fatal visit to the dark side of Classical Rome.

Three people, all castaways in time, all victims of the same evil hand—all out for vengeance, on the Far Edge of Darkness.

Fiddler Fair

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

A COMMAND PERFORMANCE BY
FANTASY'S GRAND DIVA

Mercedes Lackey has, in a few short years, soared to the peak of the fantasy field, and her thousands of enthusiastic readers clamor for more and more. Now comes a volume demonstrating the wide range of her talent, running the gamut from her beloved Bardic fantasies to urban fantasy set in the modern world; from science fiction adventure to chilling horror. And throughout Fiddler Fair, Lackeys sheer storytelling skill will hold the reader spellbound. Learn what happens when animal rights fanatics try to "liberate" genetically reconstructed dinosaurs. Follow Lawrence of Arabia into the desert to meet a power beyond human comprehension; and be with King Arthur, reborn into the present day, when he again gains possession of the enchanted sword Excalibur. And, in a very weird encounter of the most bizarre kind, learn why an alien from a UFO took an unusual interest in a battered Chevy pickup truck.

Fiddler Fair is a feast for the multitudes of Lackey fans everywhere—and for new readers, a powerful introduction to the most significant new fantasy writer of the decade.

Bouquets from Colleagues and Critics for Mercedes Lackey:

"She'll keep you up long past your bedtime."—Stephen King

A writer whose work I've loved all along."—Marion Zimmer Bradley

. . . with [Lackey], the principal joy is story: she sweeps you along and never lets you go."—Locus

. . . remarkable . . . high-octane adventure and sharp social commentary."—Dragon

"An undoubted mistress of the well-told tale." —Booklist

. . . above all else, Lackey can tell a good story . . . highly, highly recommended . . . ."—Kliatt

Fire in the Mist

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

MAGE IN SHEPHERD'S CLOTHES

The attack was not wolf madness, but wolf boldness. They had come, had taken what they wanted without challenge, and they had grown confident. Now they wanted her sheep.

Now they wanted her.

The pack leader, silver-tipped-black and immense, faced Faia and strode stiff-legged forward; head down, ears flat back, pale, cold eyes gleaming. His lips drew back from yellowed teeth. He rumbled a warning growl as he advanced.

She clutched her staff, and her belly tightened with fear. There was no time to reach for the slingshot and the studded wolfshot. She made a quick thrust at the beast with her walking stick that caught him in the teeth. He danced back, and crouched for a leap, his eyes fixed on her throat.

Lady, help me!

Faia drew the earth's energy, thinking it into her staff, thinking, Give the staff strength!

And somehow, she was outside of herself, and staring down at the massive black wolf and the tall, rangy girl who faced him off with nothing but a brass-tipped walking stick.

At the same instant, she was inside herself, and the strength was there—earth-strength, Lady-strength, confidence. Faia, stilled inside, deadly calm, swung the staff up as the wolf lunged and caught him across the chest; the impact of his great weight flung her backward a staggered step. But light flowed from the staff around the wolf, blazing green fire. The wolf screamed, its voice for a moment disconcertingly human. Then he crumpled to the ground and was still—unmarked, stone dead.

At the scream, the other wolves vanished into the forest, disappearing like the memories of shadows.

Fortune's Stroke

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME
RULES THE GREATEST
EMPIRE ON EARTH!

Link, the supercomputer from a future that should not exist, has used terror and gunpowder weapons to forge the Malwa Empire: harnessing the vast manpower of the Indian subcontinent and using the barbarian races of the periphery to bind the whole together. No power on Earth in the 6th century could stand against Link's evil.

Aide, a human soul embodied in a jewel, has come back to halt evil's progress. Aide has no power but that of truth, but truth is the only power that could move the greatest general of the age, Belisarius.

With his sword, his paladins, and his genius, Belisarius has turned the armies of Byzantium into a weapon capable of blunting the first assault of the Malwa hordes. Now, supported by allies from all the world yet free, Belisarius, with his wife and co-commander Antonia, faces overwhelming Malwa numbers in a ring that tightens about them.

There is no room for maneuver and no safety in defeat. The armies of Good and Evil gathered on the fertile plains of Mesopotamia will decide the fate of the world.

And the fate of all the future!

Forward the Mage

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Even the Philosophical Strangler's
Hands are Tied when the King's Dreams
Became Nightmares ...

The youthful artist-swordsman Benvenuti Sfondrati-Piccolomini arrived in the city of Goimr just in time for disaster to strike. The evil sorcerer Zulkeh had driven the King of the realm insane, then fled from the city!

So much for Benvenuti's plans to become the Royal Artist ....

Injury was added to insult when Benvenuti was immediately arrested by the Secret Police. Then, after barely managing to escape the clutches of the authorities, he found himself embroiled with a revolutionary agitator and a gigantic madman.

Things were not as they seemed. The wizard Zulkeh and his apprentice Shelyid were, in fact, guiltless. Zulkeh had been summoned to interpret the King of Goimr's mysterious dream, which the sorcerer came to realize foretold an impending catastrophe for civilization. Zulkeh and Shelyid had actually left Goimr to discover the really important implications of the dream, beyond the trifle of the dynasty's destruction.

Much to the artist's dismay, his adventures and those of the sorcerer were hopelessly intertwined. Soon, Benvenuti and his two companions were off in pursuit of Zulkeh, trying to save the entire sub-continent of Grotum from conquest by the Ozarean Empire. Benvenuti was swept up in a whirlwind of revolutionary plotting and perilous wizardry as he traveled across the vast sub-continent. The only certainty was that he was on a quest the end of which he could not possibly fathom, accompanying a female revolutionary whose beauty was only outdone by her ferocity.

It didn't help that he'd fallen in love with her, especially since her brother's help would be vital to the success of their enterprise. Gwendolyn's brother Greyboar was the world's greatest professional strangler. And they didn't call him the Thumbs of Eternity for nothing ....

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Eric Flint has already demonstrated his talent as a gifted new star of military and alternate history SF and now shows a masterful skill at fantasy adventure. His first novel for Baen, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. His alternate history novel, 1632, sold out its first printing almost immediately and received lavish critical praise. With David Drake he has collaborated on five novels in the acclaimed Belisarius series, the next of which will be The Dance of Time. A longtime labor union activist with a degree (Phi Beta Kappa) in African history, he currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.

Richard Roach was born in Philadelphia and has lived most of his adult life in southern California. He earned a master's degree in history from UCLA in 1971. He has worked at various times as a boat builder, real estate broker, paralegal and special education teacher, but has been a painting contractor for the past fifteen years. In 1969, he and Eric began working together on what eventually became the Joe's World series some thirty years later. He lives in Ventura, California with his wife Margaret Merryman and three cats.

Freehold

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

The Innocent Run When Everyone Pursueth!

Sergeant Kendra Pacelli is innocent, but that doesn't matter to the repressive government pursuing her. Mistakes might be made, but they are never acknowledged, especially when billions of embezzled dollars earned from illegal weapons sales are at stake. But where does one run when all Earth and most settled planets are under the aegis of one government Answer: The Freehold of Grainne, the only developed system that belongs to neither the UNES nor the Colonial Alliance. There, one may seek asylum and build a new life in a society that doesn't track its residents' every move, which is just what Pacelli has done. But now things are about to go royally to hell. Because Earth's government has found out where she is . . .

A Fast-Paced Novel of an Indomitable Individual Against a Monolithic Tyranny

Future Imperfect

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

The Convulsing Earth had shattered Civilization
—and Something Was Moving In To Pick Up The Pieces

� Mal was heading across an America ravaged by worldwide earthquakes when he ran into a dying stranger who babbled of men who weren't really men. The stranger had an unusual gold coin in his pocket which no expert could identify, and soon, Mal was to discover some things who wanted that coin were on his trail....

� Steve Dravek awoke in a nightmarish city and immediately had to fight for his life against ruthless organ-stealing gangs. His last memories are of a vanished time from over a century ago. And someone is hunting him through the dark city, someone who seems to know him better than he knows himself....

� The commander of the spaceship fleet that just annihilated the enemy armada has decided to become world dictator unless his second in command can stop him....

� A national test condemns a man to a life of unskilled labor, unless he can find a way around the system....

A full-length novel, and a host of short novels and more fill an action-packed volume by the master of science fiction adventure.

Praise for Keith Laumer:

"Spare, clean prose style and muscular storytelling technique , . . when the final word is read, the reader comes away with both a sense of completion and a desire for the tale to go on ... forever, if possible."
—David Weber

"You're about to have fun," —David Drake

"One of the most productive and popular writers of science fiction."
* —Ben Bova

"... adventure tales that are brisk, light and sardonic,.,."
—Publishers Weekly

"Laumer is a master,.," —Seattle Times

"Tautly written and endless suspense ... excellent..,." — VOYA

Genellan: Planetfall

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Genellan—a beautiful, Earthlike world where intelligent cliff dwellers waited in fear for the day the bear people would return, killing them for their fur . . .

Genellan—the only refuge for a ship's crew and a detachment of spacer Marines, abandoned by a fleet fleeing from alien attackers.

Stranded on Genellan, the humans struggled to make a home for themselves until—they hoped against hope—the fleet would return to rescue them. Lt. Sharl Buccari tried desperately to hold on to the threads of command over the spacers and the Marines—to keep her crew together and alive.

Winter was coming. No one knew if the winged natives would be friend or foe. And now the bear people were returning, intent on destroying the humans—but not before stealing the secret of hyperlight drive, the key to interstellar flight . . .

Grantville Gazette Volume I

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Ed Piazza, the Secretary of State of the small United States being forged in war-torn Germany during the Thirty Years War, has a problem on his hands. A religious conference has been called in nearby Rudolstadt which will determine doctrine for all the Lutherans in the nation. The hard-fought principle of religious freedom is at stake, threatened alike by intransigent theologians and students rioting in the streets.

As if that weren't bad enough:

the up-time American Lutherans are themselves divided;
a rambunctious old folk singer is cheerfully pouring gasoline on the flames;
and a Calvinist "facilitator" from Geneva is maneuvering to get the U.S. involved with the developing revolutionary movement in Naples.

Virginia DeMarce's "The Rudolstadt Colloquy" is just one of the stories in the Grantville Gazette. In others:

In Loren Jones' "Anna's Story," a young German girl whose family was ravaged by mercenaries is taken in by an old American curmudgeon living on borrowed time.

"Curio and Relic," written by Tom Van Natta, tells a story about Eddie Cantrell before he wins glory and loses a leg at the Battle of Wismar. Eddie learns some lessons in life as well as marksmanship from a Vietnam war tunnel rat who is himself making a difficult transition to the new world created by the Ring of Fire.

In Gorg Huff's witty "The Sewing Circle," four American teenagers set themselves the goal of launching a new industry, waging an uphill battle against adult skepticism as well as the intrinsic difficulty of the project itself. Just to make their life more complicated, an ambitious seventeenth-century German blacksmith is angling to marry into their budding commercial empire and take it over lock, stock and barrel.

In addition to these stories, the Grantville Gazette contains factual articles written by some of the people who developed the technical background for the novels 1632 and 1633. And Eric Flint has assembled a collection of portraits of prominent figures of the seventeenth century who figure in the 1632 series, along with a commentary explaining who they were and why they were important.

Great Kings' War

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Gust Front

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

The aliens had arrived

With gifts, warnings, and an offer we
couldn't refuse....

Our choice was simple: we could be cannon fodder, or we could be ... fodder. We could send our forces to fight and die (as only humans can) against a ravening horde that was literally feeding on its interstellar conquests—or remain as we were—virtually weaponless and third in line for brunch.

We chose to fight.

Thanks to alien technology and sheer guts, the Terrans on two worlds fought the Posleen to a standstill. Thank God there was a moment to catch our breath, a moment, however brief, of peace—.

Now, for the survivors of the Barwhon and Diess Expeditionary Forces, it was a chance to get some distance from the blood and misery of battle against the Posleen centaurs. A blessed chance to forget the screams of the dying in purple swamps and massacres under searing alien suns.

For Earth it was an opportunity to flesh out their force of raw recruits with combat-seasoned veterans. Political, military and scientific blundering had left the Terran forces in shambles-and with the Posleen Invasion only months away, these shell-shocked survivors might be the only people capable of saving the Earth from devastation.

If the veterans had time to lick their wounds.

Because the Posleen don't read schedules.

Harald

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

He Didn't Get the Surrender Memo!

It's the perfect storm for conquest: a dysfunctional kingdom reels under a weak monarch. A powerful order of warrior maidens turns to infighting after suddenly losing its charismatic leader. Worst of all, a disciplined and blooded imperial army stands ready to invade and dominate. If ever a moment called for grit, competence, and an utter lack of wishful thinking it is now. Enter Harald of the Vales. Family man and teller of tales. Warrior's warrior. It's time the Empire got one thing straight: the land of Kaerlia will never be its for the taking.

An intricate and thrilling debut fantasy novel from libertarian prof (and son of economist Milton Friedman) and Society for Creative Anachronism grandee, David D. Friedman.

Images From the Grantville Gazette

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Because of the large size and number of images used in the Granville Gazette, the images are stored on the Web so they can be downloaded by those with an interest in them

In the Heart of Darkness

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

The Malwa Empire has conquered 6th century India and is forging the subcontinent's vast population into an invincible weapon of tyranny. Belisarius, the finest general of his age, must save the world. Guided by visions from a future that may never be, he and a band of comrades penetrate the Malwa heartland, seeking the core of the enemy's power. And when Belisarius leads the forces of good, only a fool would side with evil.

Inherit the Stars

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

A NOVEL ABOUT MAN'S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

The man on the moon was dead. They called him Charlie. He had big eyes, abundant body hair and fairly long nostrils. His skeletal body was found clad in a bright red spacesuit, hidden in a rocky grave. They didn't know who he was, how he got there, or what had killed him. All they knew was that his corpse was 50,000 years old -- and that meant that this man had somehow lived long before he ever could have existed!

First book in the Giant's Series

Interstellar Patrol

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

A FEW GOOD CON MEN....

The starship crew was stuck on a planet where the well-meaning schemes of ivory tower social engineers had created a nightmare of battling gangs. So they pretended to be the "Royal Legions" from a distant star kingdom in hot pursuit of an unspeakably evil and nearly all-powerful villain who was hiding somewhere on the planet.

Things went even better than they had hoped, and the planet was rapidly becoming civilized . . . and then the real Royal Flagship showed up. They thought they were doomed, but instead the new arrivals (who also weren't quite what they claimed to be) thought the crew had shown just the sort of initiative and ingenuity that the Interstellar Patrol was looking for. So they were inducted into the Patrol.

And that was just the beginning. . . .

Publisher's Note: A short portion of Interstellar Patrol was previously published Strangers in Paradise. This is the first unified publication of t| Interstellar Patrol saga.

"I am delighted that someone is making Christopher Anvil's work available once again. Especially the Interstellar Patrol stories. I've always loved Anvil's . . . peculiar sense of humor."
—David Weber

"[Anvil is] insistently readable!"
—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Legions of Space

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR . . .

Two complete novels, and four shorter works by the master of science fiction adventure.

� A Trace of Memory: A drifter named Legion is hired by a millionaire who claims to be centuries old, but has nearly complete amnesia, able only to remember that something is hunting for him. Legion gets more than he bargained for when he finds himself and his employer on a prehistoric starship hurtling into the unknown.

� Planet Run: Laumer joins forces with SF legend Gordon R. Dickson in a novel of two ancient heroes who are going to risk their lives for the chance to solve the mystery of an unexplored planet.

� Plus four more yarns of exciting interstellar action and adventure

Publisher's Note: A Trace of Memory and Planet Run have previously appeared as separate novels. This is their first publication in one volume.

Praise for Keith Laumer:

"You're about to have fun." —David Drake

"Laumer is a master . . ." —Seattle Times

"Tautly written and endless suspense . . . excellent. . . ." —VOYA

Lt. Leary Commanding

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

Into Harm's Way!

Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy commands the corvette Princess Cecile; his friend Signals Officer Adele Mundy has the latest in spy apparatus and the skill to prowl the most tightly guarded database. All they lack are enemies, and fate is about to supply that need in abundance!

A hostage uses the Princess Cecile to regain his freedom-and his throne!
An ally intrigues with enemies of Cinnabar-knowing the plot can only be safeguarded by destroying the Princess Cecile!
A pirate chief joins in a cutthroat battle with a rival-and the Princess Cecile is a pawn!

Daniel, Adele, and their crack crew must battle bureaucrats and traitors, the winds of a barren desert and the strains of a voyage never before attempted. If they succeed at every stage, their reward will be the chance to fight another enemy: one which can blow them and a hundred ships like theirs to vapor!

DEATH IS ALWAYS AN OPTION

BUT DEFEAT CAN NEVER BE

Action, color and heroics merge with the gritty realities of war and politics in a story that never slows down. Indeed, how could it slow down, with

LT. LEARY, COMMANDING

March to the Sea

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

SOME DAYS IT JUST DOESN'T PAY TO
GET OUT OF YOUR SLEEPING BAG.

The successor to March Upcountry

It wasn't so much that Prince Roger and his surviving remnant of elite bodyguards are marooned on a barbarian planet. Or that they have been on continuous operations for so long they are getting shocky. Or that they still have half a planet to cross. Or that they are basically out of ammunition for their plasma and bead rifles and just about out of cash. Sure, those are all problems, but they're not the real problem.
No, the problem is Roger is in love. With one of his bodyguards. And the romance is not going well. Damnbeast Sure. Vampiric moths Okay. Screaming waves of barbarians No problem. But when you have Nimashet Despreaux and Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock at sword's point, that's real danger.

And it's just the beginning.

To get to the distant port that is their only way off the planet, they'll be forced to battle enraged monsters, displaced mercenaries, religious fanatics and a barbarian horde to shame the Huns. Along the way they'll have to recreate the Reformation, the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. And do it all in a context their four-armed, horned, grizzly-bear sized native allies can handle.

It will strain all their experience and knowledge, as the most elite, the most multitalented and above all the toughest bodyguards in human space. But the really hard part will be keeping Roger and Nimashet from killing each other.

March Upcountry

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

THE ROYAL BRAT IS IN TROUBLE

Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock didn't understand.

He was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man ... so why wouldn't anyone at Court trust him

Why wouldn't even his own mother, the Empress, explain why they didn't trust him Or why the very mention of his father's name was forbidden at Court Or why his mother had decided to pack him off to a backwater planet aboard what was little more than a tramp freighter to represent her at a local political event better suited to a third assistant undersecretary of state

It probably wasn't too surprising that someone in his position should react by becoming spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life

But that was before a saboteur tried to blow up his transport. Then warships of the Empire of Man's worst rivals shot the crippled vessel out of space. Then Roger found himself shipwrecked on the planet Marduk, whose jungles were full of damnbeasts, killerpillars, carnivorous plants, torrential rain, and barbarian hordes with really bad dispositions. Now all Roger has to do is hike halfway around the entire planet, then capture a spaceport from the Bad Guys, somehow commandeer a starship, and then go home to Mother for explanations.

Fortunately, Roger has an ace in the hole: Bravo Company of Bronze Battalion of The Empress� Own Regiment. If anyone can get him off Marduk alive, it's the Bronze Barbarians.

Assuming that Prince Roger manages to grow up before he gets all of them killed.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Granted, the decade has just begun, but David Weber shows all signs of being the science fiction phenomenon of the decade. Weber is often compared to C.S. Forester (celebrated creator of Captain Horatio Hornblower) for his novels of the exploits of starship commander Honor Harrington, the most recent of which was the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon.com bestseller, Ashes of Victory. Weber's work ranges from epic fantasy (Oath of Swords, The War God's Own) to breathtaking space opera (Path of the Fury, The Armageddon Inheritance) to military science fiction with in-depth characterization (the awesomely popular Honor Harrington novels). Weber lives in South Carolina and, in spite of having gotten married a year ago, shows no sign of slowing down. . . .

John Ringo had visited 23 countries and attended 14 schools by the time he graduated high school. This left him with a wonderful appreciation of the oneness of humanity and a permanent aversion to foreign food. A veteran of the 82ndAirborne, he later studied marine biology, but the pay was for beans, so he turned to quality control database management (much higher-paying). Then Fate took a hand, and he now is in the early stages of becoming fabulously wealthy, which his publisher has ASSURED him is the common lot of science fiction writers. With his bachelor years spent in the Airborne, cave diving, rock-climbing, rappelling, hunting, spear-fishing, and sailing, the author is now happy to let other people risk their necks. He prefers to read (and of course write) science fiction, raise Arabian horses, dandle his kids and watch the grass grow.

Med Ship

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

WHO YA GONNA CALL
MED SERVICE!

Scattered through the galaxy are thousands of worlds colonized by humans. Many have native microbes dangerous to the human immigrants. Others have diseases brought to them accidentally—or on purpose—by visiting ships. When millions of lives are threatened, it's a job for the Interstellar Medical Service, and a Med Ship is sent to solve the problem.

Calhoun is the best the Med Service has, and hard experience has taught him that often the major obstacle to curing the sick is ... the sick. And removing that kind of obstacle may take very strong medicine. To find a cure for a disease, Calhoun has the help of his small animal companion Murgatroyd, a formal—a species with the most powerful immune system in the galaxy. But to find a cure for hysteria, prejudice, crime, and even war is much more complicated, requiring considerable ingenuity. Fortunately, ingenuity is something that Calhoun has in good supply...

Publisher's Note: Med Ship has formerly appeared as four books: The Mutant Weapon, Doctor to the Stars, This World is Taboo, and S.O.S. from Three Worlds. This is the first publication in one book of the complete Med Ship saga.

"Murray Leinster was not only a very good writer, he was a pioneer. He invented the field of parallel-universe stories with his "Sidewise in Time," and his "First Contact" set the pattern for all the stories that followed of—well—of first contact with alien civilizations. The wondrous thing about his work is that those great, trend-setting stories read as fresh and timely today as they did all those years ago." —Frederik Pohl

"The Dean of modern science fiction!" —Time

Mother of Demons

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

A mercenary outcast with a perversion no one cared to think about.

A holy leader, who knows her people are on the verge of great upheaval—and who wants to know more about this new tribe of demons.

A battle-mother, possibly the greatest battle-mother who ever lived—if the rules of her tribe don't force her into a battle even she can't win.

A keeper of the secrets of history who would control the tides of fate—if only she could.

A paleobiologist with a terrible sense of humor. T

hey are all revolutionaries, but none of them expected anything like what they're about to experience.

Mutineer's Moon

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

MUTINY

For Lt. Commander Colin Maclntyre, it began as a routine training flight over the Moon. For Dahak, a self-aware Imperial battleship, it began millennia ago when that powerful artificial intelligence underwent a mutiny in the face of the enemy. The mutiny was never resolved-Dahak was forced to maroon not just the mutineers but the entire crew on prehistoric Earth.

Dahak has been helplessly waiting as the descendants of the loyal crew regressed while the mutineers maintained control of technology that kept them alive as the millennia passed. But now Dahak's sensors indicate that the enemy that devastated the Imperium so long ago has returned-and Earth is in their path. For the sake of the planet, Dahak must mobilize its defenses. And that it cannot do until the mutineers are put down. So Dahak has picked Colin Maclntyre to be its new captain. Now Maclntyre must mobilize humanity to destroy the mutineers once and for all-or Earth will become a cinder in the path of galactic conquest.

Neptune Crossing: The Chaos Chronicles I

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

TWO UNLIKELY HEROES

When survey pilot John Bandicutlalis Into a cavern on Triton, his life changes forever . . . and for an alien quarx, one hundred million years of solitude suddenly comes to an end.

The quarx, part of an eons-old interstellar civilization that use advanced chaos theory to predict catastrophic events, cannot by itself prevent the cometary collision that threatens to devastate the Earth. John Bandicut must help this strange disembodied alien, knowing that Humanity's very existence rides on the result. He has to break all the rules and sacrifice everything he has ever known or loved to prevent a cataclysm that neither he nor any human can possibly detect.

Hurtling across our solar system at incredible speed in a stolen ship, Bandicut can only hope that his desperate gamble will save the Earth. Even it he doesn't live to see it again.

"Those that read this one will surely return for a second helping . . . Carver has a fascinating vehicle here, he's going someplace interesting, and there are still seats available. Grab one."
—Thomas A. Easton, Analog

Northworld Trilogy

2009-11-20T21:28:52-05:00

The inhuman Rulers of the galaxy sent three fleets to learn what had happened to the world located by Captain North and the Survey Team he led. Neither a soul nor a message returned. The fourth time, the Rulers sent a single man: Nils Hansen.

Commissioner Hansen had a mind that saw the shortest path to each task's completion and a ruthless determination to do what the task required. The cost - to himself and whoever happened to be in the way - didn't matter. Hanson's Special Units had kept his planet safe from the most sophisticated and violent criminals in the galaxy. Now Hansen was being sent to penetrate a spacetime enigma which had made gods or demons of the first humans to discover it. He would succeed or die.

Northworld: a place of slashing violence and mystic transformation
Northworld: a place of treachery and dazzling beauty
Northworld: a place of honor, of faith, and of love.

Hansen's iron will and strong arm confront godlike power and godlike cunning while a galaxy trembles for the outcome. And if Hansen dies - he will not die alone!

Praise for The Northworld Trilogy:

"Down and dirty . . . this one blazes!" — Los Angeles Daily News

"Fast-paced adventure with convincing depth!"
—Publishers Weekly

"Good military SF . . . the action is fast and the tension is high!"
— Locus

" Northworld is that rare work-a novel that works on more than one level. A stunning tapestry . . . highly recommended!" — The SFRA Newsletter

Baen Free Library

1632

The Ultimate Y2K Glitch....

1633

AMERICAN FREEDOM AND JUSTICE VS. THE TYRANNIES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

1812: The Rivers of War

A Hymn Before Battle

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE . . .

A Logic Named Joe

ALTRUISTIC SPACE PIRATES, NUCLEAR-POWERED DJINN, A TIME-TRAVELLING KANGEROO—AND MORE . . .

A Plague of Demons

THE SECRET MASTERS OF THE WORLD— WERE A PACK OF WOLVES

Agent of Vega

Espionage and Intrigue in the Far Reaches of the Galaxy from the Creator of Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee

An Oblique Approach

ALIEN MINDS BATTLE FOR BYZANTIUM

Bedlam Boyz

Prequel to Bedlam's Bard

Berserker Throne

Berserker Throne

Beyond World's End

THIS IS YOUR SOUL ON DRUGS

Black on Black

Frankly, He Preferred Humans

Born to Run

Changer of Worlds

WELCOME AGAIN TO THE MANY WORLDS OF HONOR

Crawling Between Heaven and Earth

Cross the Stars

THE LONG WAY HOME

Crown of Slaves

A NEW SERIES SET IN THE "HONORVERSE"OF HONOR HARRINGTON

Crusade

Demon Blade

Demon Blade

Destiny's Shield

EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME

AN ADVISOR WITHOUT A BODY

A CHAMPION FOR ALL TIMES

EVIL CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO RULE MEN!

Digital Knight

Vampires are Real— but Everything You Thought You Knew About Them is Wrong!

Doc Sidhe

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

Earthweb

Doomsday Came About Every Five Years

Emerald Sea

The Battle Against Those Determined to Rule the World—or Destroy It—Continues

Fallen Angels

IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST

Fallen Angels

Far Edge of Darkness

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

Fiddler Fair

A COMMAND PERFORMANCE BY FANTASY'S GRAND DIVA

Fire in the Mist

MAGE IN SHEPHERD'S CLOTHES

Fortune's Stroke

EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME RULES THE GREATEST EMPIRE ON EARTH!

Forward the Mage

Even the Philosophical Strangler's Hands are Tied when the King's Dreams Became Nightmares ...

Freehold

The Innocent Run When Everyone Pursueth!

Future Imperfect

The Convulsing Earth had shattered Civilization —and Something Was Moving In To Pick Up The Pieces

Genellan: Planetfall

Grantville Gazette Volume I

Great Kings' War

Gust Front

The aliens had arrived

Harald

He Didn't Get the Surrender Memo!

Images From the Grantville Gazette

In the Heart of Darkness

Inherit the Stars

A NOVEL ABOUT MAN'S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

Interstellar Patrol

A FEW GOOD CON MEN....

Legions of Space

BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR . . .

AMERICAN FREEDOM AND JUSTICE
VS. THE TYRANNIES OF
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

THE SECRET MASTERS OF THE WORLD—
WERE A PACK OF WOLVES

Espionage and Intrigue in the
Far Reaches of the Galaxy
from the Creator of Telzey Amberdon
and Trigger Argee

ALIEN MINDS BATTLE
FOR BYZANTIUM

THIS IS YOUR SOUL
ON DRUGS

Frankly,
He Preferred Humans

WELCOME AGAIN TO THE
MANY WORLDS OF HONOR

A NEW SERIES SET
IN THE "HONORVERSE"OF
HONOR HARRINGTON

Vampires are Real—
but Everything You Thought You
Knew About Them is Wrong!

The Battle Against
Those Determined
to Rule the World—or
Destroy It—Continues

A COMMAND PERFORMANCE BY
FANTASY'S GRAND DIVA

EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME
RULES THE GREATEST
EMPIRE ON EARTH!

Even the Philosophical Strangler's
Hands are Tied when the King's Dreams
Became Nightmares ...

The Convulsing Earth had shattered Civilization
—and Something Was Moving In To Pick Up The Pieces

SOME DAYS IT JUST DOESN'T PAY TO
GET OUT OF YOUR SLEEPING BAG.

WHO YA GONNA CALL
MED SERVICE!