In January of 2011 we started posting free short stories we thought might be of interest to Baen readers. The first stories were "Space Hero" by Patrick Lundrigan, the winner of the 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest, and "Tanya, Princess of Elves," by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International and set in that universe. As new stories are made available, they will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). This is our compilation of short stories for 2023.

As is usual with such copyrighted material from Baen, the contents may be copied and shared but NOT sold. All commercial rights are reserved to Baen Books.

Black Box by Sean CW Korsgaard

The Quail Runs by D.J. Butler

Awakenings by Patrick Chiles

The Last Temptation of the Outsider by Simon R. Green

The Witch, the Woods, and the Elf Queen by Gregory Frost

The Insomniac by Brad Zeiger

A Lesson to Those Who Survive by D.J. Butler

Requiem - An Honor Harrington Story by David Carrico

My Brother’s Keeper

by Tim Powers

1638: The Sovereign States

by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff, and Paula Goodlett

More Than Honor: 25th Anniversary Edition

by David Weber, David Drake, and S.M. Stirling

House of Rough Diamonds

No Game for Knights

edited by Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell

The Blood Is the Life

by David Carrico

Deploying Dragons

by Dan Koboldt

Disciple of the Dead

by Jacob Holo

In January of 2011 we started posting free short stories we thought might be of interest to Baen readers. The first stories were "Space Hero" by Patrick Lundrigan, the winner of the 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest, and "Tanya, Princess of Elves," by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International and set in that universe. As new stories are made available, they will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). This is our compilation of short stories for 2022.

As is usual with such copyrighted material from Baen, the contents may be copied and shared but NOT sold. All commercial rights are reserved to Baen Books.

Flops by Michael Mersault
The Barcadian Wild by Tim Akers
Monsters in Our Midst by Wen Spencer
Window on Samovar by D.J. Butler
See the Fairville Oddity! by David Afsharirad
Man on the Moon by Elaine Midcoh
Trouble Is My Business by Mike Kupari
Dark Angel by David Carrico
On Cultivating a Chosen One by Christopher Baxter
The Bloody Dentist by Jacob Holo
Fire-breathing Dragon by Dan Koboldt
Xmas at ESL1 by Wil McCarthy

7 Ebooks, $18

No Game for Knights

edited by Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell

The Blood Is the Life

by David Carrico

Deploying Dragons

by Dan Koboldt

The Dark Side of the Road

by Simon R. Green

To End in Fire

by David Weber and Eric Flint

1637: Dr. Gribbleflotz and the Soul of Stoner

by Kerryn Offord and Rick Boatright

Sword & Planet

edited by Christopher Ruocchio

A COMING-OF-AGE STORY LIKE NO OTHER: CHAIM CAAN, AN OBSERVANT JEW, FINDS HE MUST MAKE SENSE OF HIS PLACE IN THE WORLD WHEN HE DISCOVERS HE HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A VAMPIRE

Chaim Caan was just out for a night of fun, blowing off some steam the way a young man will. After the better part of a year spent in COVID lockdowns, he was ready to let his hair down at a night club. But the fascinating young woman he encountered that night left him with something to remember her by: she turned Chaim into a vampire.

Soon, Chaim finds himself thrust into a weird underground world of mysticism and enchantment as he navigates life as the newly undead, trying to reconcile his beliefs as an observant Jew with the new reality that has been thrust upon him.

He is forced to deal with a lot of change: to his body, to his mind, to his perceptions, to his relationships, and even to his world. He finds himself in parts of the world he had never dreamed of being in, and he finds himself doing things that he had never envisioned being a part of his life.

And if he can come to terms with these changes, this mild-mannered young man might just find himself a hero.

A COMING-OF-AGE STORY LIKE NO OTHER: CHAIM CAAN, AN OBSERVANT JEW, FINDS HE MUST MAKE SENSE OF HIS PLACE IN THE WORLD WHEN HE DISCOVERS HE HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A VAMPIRE

Chaim Caan was just out for a night of fun, blowing off some steam the way a young man will. After the better part of a year spent in COVID lockdowns, he was ready to let his hair down at a night club. But the fascinating young woman he encountered that night left him with something to remember her by: she turned Chaim into a vampire.

Soon, Chaim finds himself thrust into a weird underground world of mysticism and enchantment as he navigates life as the newly undead, trying to reconcile his beliefs as an observant Jew with the new reality that has been thrust upon him.

He is forced to deal with a lot of change: to his body, to his mind, to his perceptions, to his relationships, and even to his world. He finds himself in parts of the world he had never dreamed of being in, and he finds himself doing things that he had never envisioned being a part of his life.

And if he can come to terms with these changes, this mild-mannered young man might just find himself a hero.

The dragon Rufous reunites with his friend Evann, who is still inexperienced but is now one of the strongest wizards in the world. He is accompanied by his mentor Quinton along with a girl named Solechandra who wants to become a wizard herself in order to help defend their city of Morshton against the goblins, who have their own dragon allies. The most powerful of these is the one Rufous knows only as Il Duvankh, whom he has been searching for since he became the Solon of the dragons.

Returning to Morshton, Evann and his friends see ravens flying toward an ominous cloud advancing toward the city from the north. Elves warn them that the cloud hides a goblin army. All of the wizards take their place atop the city wall facing the oncoming horde, just in time to drive off the first wave of the goblin assault.

At that moment, Il Duvankh rises from where she had been hidden behind the battle mages of the goblins. Rufous stoops on her from the air. But she is older, larger, stronger, and outmaneuvers him and traps him on the ground. Evann comes to his friend’s aid, but the man and the dragon may have finally met a foe they can’t overcome.

Evann, having survived meeting dragons and becoming a wizard, is in a tough situation. He has no idea how to handle the spells he’s learned. So he’s come to the city of Morshton to find a wizard to teach him. He’s taken on by Quinton, reputed to be the best wizard in the city, who tells Evann he's in much deeper trouble than he realizes. He’s not supposed to have these spells at all. They could burn his mind out.

Meanwhile, Evann’s friend Rufous, the new Solon of the dragons, finds himself on the verge of a war with the goblins, who have accused a dragon of stealing some of their magic weapons. In the course of his search for the supposedly guilty dragon, he learns some of the history involved and begins to suspect there's more going on than the goblins had told him.

Evann’s training progresses, despite some frightening episodes, as does Rufous’ search. But when the search finally uncovers the lair of the mysterious dragon, Rufous finds he has come into a trap. Meanwhile, Evann witnesses a triple murder which seems to have been committed by a goblin—and a spell marker painted on a wall in the victims’ blood.

The fate of the dragon and his apprentice are welded together again. They’ll need each other just to survive, much less triumph against their enemies.

Growing up in a small village, Evann is curious about everything, and drives everybody crazy with his endless questions. Eventually, he runs off, seeking answers wherever they might be found.

The first place he finds some of them is when he encounters the dragon Rufous, who is almost as curious as he is. One of the things he discovers is rather appalling—dragons can breathe fire, but only after they’ve consumed human blood. Fortunately, Rufous is not inclined in that direction.

As their friendship deepens, they find trouble together in the form of another dragon, Rufous’ enemy Moriach. At the Dragon Conclave where a new ruler of the dragons is to be selected, Moriach’s fire-breathing prowess makes him the leading candidate. But after Evann lets Rufous drink some of his blood, his dragon emerges from the contest as the winner and new Solon.

Moriach’s resentment leads him to ally with an evil wizard. So Evann and Rufous still have a fight on their hands—and one that will require the boy to develop magic powers to match those of the wizard. Which he thinks he can do, because he’s not just any boy. He’s the dragon’s boy.

New detective and adventure stories laid in the Ring of Fire Universe.

Archibald Gottesfreund, a half-Scot/half-German mercenary, retired from that life after losing both his cousin Rory and part of his own left hand in a skirmish with brigands in northern France. Weary of that life, Archie rode east, looking for a new life, which he found in Jena when he met up with Master Tiberius Claudius Titus Wulff. After doing the master merchant a favor, he found himself enlisted to be Master Titus' chief agent and right hand man, a life he never expected.

Over the years, Master Titus' business affairs and his passion for books alike provide many adventures for Archie. Two of the best are presented in this volume.

Magdeburg, once destroyed by the imperialist army in 1631, has risen from its ruins under the United States of Europe, fueled by rapid industrial growth and an iMagdeburg, the capital of the newly-formed United States of Europe, has a dark and bloody history. Most of the city and its population were destroyed when the imperialist army ran amok after capturing the city in May of 1631. The ancient Gothic cathedral was one of the few structures that survived more-or-less intact.

Once the Swedish king Gustav Adolf drove out the imperialists and established the USE, Magdeburg began to recover—and then grow at an astonishing rate. New industries inspired by the technology of the time-transplanted Americans of Grantville are turning the city into a boom town, with immigrants from all over central Europe pouring in.

A boom town is full of hope and aspiration—but it’s also a place that generates its own darkness and chaos. The city’s fledgling police force is scrambling to get control over the growing crime and violence. Sometimes it succeeds—but often it doesn’t. And such failures bring down the might of the city’s powerful revolutionary Committees of Correspondence, whose leader Gunther Achterhof can match any criminal’s ruthlessness.

Musicians murdered, new and brutal religious cults arising, bombings and arson, spies and informers and those hunting them—these are only some of the ingredients in the reborn city of light and darkness.

What happens when the seventeenth century encounters Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep? What happens when the Elder Gods descend upon Magdeburg? When literary entrepreneur Johann Gronow discovers the stories of H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe in the libraries and book collections of Grantville, he launches a magazine for the purpose of publishing translations of their stories. Der Schwarze Kater—The Black Tomcat—begins attracting attention immediately. From his very first reading of the first issue of the magazine, a young bookkeeper named Philip Fröhlich develops a passion to write those kinds of stories. And so begins the quest of every author—to satisfy the requirements of an editor and make that first elusive sale. As have millions of aspiring authors, Philip discovers it's not as easy as it looks. Time after time his submissions receive a rejection letter from Gronow. But Philip stubbornly keeps submitting, along the way discovering things about himself and the people around him that he never would have learned any other way.

When Italian musician Giacomo Carissimi hears about Up-time music in Grantville he sets off across the Alps to see and hear these wonders. Nothing will keep him from his dream of learning the new music and seeing new instruments, not even warring militias and the threats of plague. He shares the trek and what he finds in a series of heartfelt letters and several short stories.

Whether it was a blessed miracle or a disastrous catastrophe, the arrival of Grantville in Europe in the year 1631 created changes that are long-lasting and spreading wider and wider as time passes. In 1634, Louis DeGeer—statesman, merchant, and player of the game of princes—having extracted as much information and technology as he could out of Grantville, makes his move to establish a new state in the Rhineland, a republic that would draw on much of the political philosophy brought back through the Ring of Fire by Grantville. There are those in the westlands of Germany and the Rhine Valley who aren’t happy about that. Louis’ enemies draw on all the forces of the status quo to oppose his efforts. Louis discovers that it will take strength and determination, coupled with careful preparation and planning, to face them. And the ultimate confrontations will leave things up for grabs until the final moments.

Duncan corNial, an exiled highlands clansman trained in the powers of a mysterious religious order, sets out to restore the rightful heir to the throne of the city of Nika and avenge his murdered brother in the process.

Duncan corNial, the son of Clan Ailane’s warleader, has been exiled because of the enmity of other clans. Leaving the Highlands, he finds refuge in the nearby city of Nika, where he makes a new life for himself as a swordmaster and bounty hunter.

Meanwhile, back in the Highlands, his younger brother Llêw joins the Highland Guard, an elite body of guards assigned to the royal court in Nika. But before Llêw can get to Nika, Duncan kills a lord's son in a bar fight and flees, joining a caravan headed south to the country of Cantredd.

As a guard for the caravan, Duncan has further adventures in company with the caravan merchant, Guthsund. While defending a woman under attack, Duncan is badly wounded—and after help arrives from the Blues, the religious society she belongs to, he will discover that strange things happen around them.

Magdeburg, the capital of the newly-formed United States of Europe, has a dark and bloody history. Most of the city and its population were destroyed when the imperialist army ran amok after capturing the city in May of 1631. The ancient Gothic cathedral was one of the few structures that survived more-or-less intact.

Once the Swedish king Gustav Adolf drove out the imperialists and established the USE, Magdeburg began to recover—and then grow at an astonishing rate. New industries inspired by the technology of the time-transplanted Americans of Grantville are turning the city into a boom town, with immigrants from all over central Europe pouring in.

A boom town is full of hope and aspiration—but it’s also a place that generates its own darkness and chaos. The city’s fledgling police force is scrambling to get control over the growing crime and violence. Sometimes it succeeds—but often it doesn’t. And such failures bring down the might of the city’s powerful revolutionary Committees of Correspondence, whose leader Gunther Achterhof can match any criminal’s ruthlessness.

Musicians murdered, new and brutal religious cults arising, bombings and arson, spies and informers and those hunting them—these are only some of the ingredients in the reborn city of light and darkness.

Caemon, son of Cindras, High Lord of the Alflina, has been studying at a monastery in the nearby kingdom of Luint. He receives an urgent message from his father, calling him home. When he arrives, he finds that a dragon has attacked and destroyed the hold and all of its people have disappeared, including his father and mother.

He searches the hold but finds nothing other than a relic of his father's, which provides Caemon with the Gift of Mal, a form of intuitive magic. He returns to the monastery and consults with the monastery head, Eldest Brother Ifram. The two of them and a few of the monks at the monastery are all that remain of the alflina, an old race who have a history of occasionally producing leaders who wield the Gift of Mal.

Caemon decides that he should go to Luint's king to seek support for his campaign against the dragon. But when he arrives in the capital, he discovers that Baron Hiel has usurped most of Loryn's authority, and Caemon will first have to restore the king’s power before he can hunt the dragon. So now a civil war looks to be in his future as well.

TWO SHORT NOVELS SET IN ERIC FLINT'S BEST-SELLING RING OF FIRE SERIES from David Carrico, coauthor of 1636: The Devil's Opera, and The Span of Empire.

Time waits for no one, but for the residents of 17th century Europe the future comes calling—ahead of time! Due to a temporal disturbance known as the Ring of Fire, the 20th century town of Grantville, West Virginia, finds itself transported through time and space to Central Europe in the year 1632. The turmoil resulting from the event has massive repercussions for the up-time citizens of Grantville, the down-time citizens of Europe—and the world at large. Massive political and social upheavals take place. But change happens on a smaller, human scale, too.

In The Flight of the Nightingale, down-timer Francesca Caccini is inspired by the arrival of Grantville to seek a different destiny from what would have been her lot otherwise. And in Bach to the Future, Johann and his brothers commit themselves to preserve, protect, and promote their family's heritage from the future.

Two short novels, set in Eric Flint's best-selling Ring of Fire series, that shine a light on the overlooked corners of the Ring of Fire universe, where small actions can have life-altering consequences.

The Best of Jerry Pournelle

by Jerry Pournelle
Edited by John F. Carr

Conflict of Honors

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Council of Fire

by Eric Flint and Walter H. Hunt

1636: The Flight of the Nightingale

by David Carrico

The Cunning Man

by D.J. Butler and Aaron Michael Ritchey

The Valley of Shadows

by John Ringo and Mike Massa