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.

When the 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 eventually makes his way to the fabled wonderland of Grantville. Carissimi thinks he's in heaven as he discovers amazing new musical instruments—especially the piano—and meets musicians from the future. He spends hours and days and weeks and months earning the music and the techniques brought back in the Ring of Fire, burning his candle at both ends so hard he almost consumes himself. Along the way the young Italian also makes new and exciting friends.

But just as he is thinking he has it all, Carissimi discovers that both the music and the relationships are harder and more challenging than he'd ever expected. In the end, only his superb talent can sustain him.

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.

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 leave things up for grabs until the final moments.

The Span of Empire

by Eric Flint and David Carrico

A Fistful of Elven Gold

by Alex Stewart

Caine's Mutiny

by Charles E. Gannon

Though Hell Should Bar the Way

by David Drake

Sleepwalker's World

by Gordon R. Dickson

Witchy Winter

by D.J. Butler

A new novel in New York Times best seller Eric Flint's science fiction Jao Empire series.

It has become clear to both the Jao and their human and Lleix partners that if they are going to defeat the Ekhat who have been terrorizing the galaxy for eons, they need more allies. To that end, Preceptor Ronz, guardian of Earth and greatest living strategist of the Jao, has harnessed the energy of Earth's humans to create and send out an exploration fleet under the command of Caitlin Kralik.

But after a long search, all the expedition has found are dead worlds and now‑extinct intelligent species slaughtered by the genocidal Ekhat. Do they continue to search down the galactic arm in which Earth and the Jao worlds lie, or do they make an astounding leap in another direction? With friends like Gabe Tully, Tamt, Wrot and Caewithe Miller supporting her, Caitlin makes her decision.

Meanwhile, the Ekhat, as murderous and destructive as they have always been, have a new generation of leaders growing into power who are even more implacable than those who have gone before them. The Ekhat have not forgotten the Jao, nor the damage they have done over the years to the Ekhat purpose. It's up to the Jao‑human‑Lleix confederation and the new allies they make to survive the onslaught and turn the tables on the Ekhat.

A new novel in New York Times best seller Eric Flint's science fiction Jao Empire series.

It has become clear to both the Jao and their human and Lleix partners that if they are going to defeat the Ekhat who have been terrorizing the galaxy for eons, they need more allies. To that end, Preceptor Ronz, guardian of Earth and greatest living strategist of the Jao, has harnessed the energy of Earth's humans to create and send out an exploration fleet under the command of Caitlin Kralik.

But after a long search, all the expedition has found are dead worlds and now‑extinct intelligent species slaughtered by the genocidal Ekhat. Do they continue to search down the galactic arm in which Earth and the Jao worlds lie, or do they make an astounding leap in another direction? With friends like Gabe Tully, Tamt, Wrot and Caewithe Miller supporting her, Caitlin makes her decision.

Meanwhile, the Ekhat, as murderous and destructive as they have always been, have a new generation of leaders growing into power who are even more implacable than those who have gone before them. The Ekhat have not forgotten the Jao, nor the damage they have done over the years to the Ekhat purpose. It's up to the Jao‑human‑Lleix confederation and the new allies they make to survive the onslaught and turn the tables on the Ekhat.

Project Elfhome

by Wen Spencer

Son of the Black Sword

by Larry Correia

Women of Futures Past

edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Germanica

by Robert Conroy

The Span of Empire

by Eric Flint and David Carrico

Things From Outer Space

edited by Hank Davis

Multiverse: Exploring the Worlds of Poul Anderson

edited by Greg Bear and Gardner Dozois

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 2016.

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.

New Revised Edition With Additional Content

Music . . .
It's been said that musicians live for the next new sound. Well, the musicians of Europe were presented with the biggest new sound ever when the Ring of Fire brought the future back to 1631. What will the court musicians think when they hear Bach, Stravinsky, and the Beatles? What will the street and tavern musicians think when faced with Johnny Cash, Metallica, and Nirvana? Things don't go smoothly for Marla Linder and her friends.

And Murder . . .
The Thirty Years War was an 'interesting' time to be alive, in the proverbial Chinese curse sense of the word. Then Grantville arrived from the future, bringing technology and philosophies that set European civilization on its ear. But that's not all that came back with Grantville. Imagine trying to establish modern police procedures in a time where neither the powers-that-be nor the people underneath them provide much support. Up-timer Byron Chieske and his down-timer partner Gotthilf Hoch walk some mean streets and lonely roads.

Eric Flint and David Carrico serve up the latest entry in the best‑selling alternate history saga of them all, the Ring of Fire!

It is the year 1636. The United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time by a cosmic accident, is on the verge of civil war.  His brain injured in the war with Poland, the USE's emperor Gustavus Adolphus is no longer in command. Enter Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna, a leader of aristocratic reaction against democracy.  His goal:  to assemble the forces of the hidebound ruling class in Berlin and drown the revolution in a bloodbath.

In Magdeburg, the capital of the USE, Mike Stearns' wife Rebecca Abrabanel is organizing popular resistance to Oxenstierna's plot. As part of the resistance, the American musician Marla Linder and her company of down‑time musical partners are staging an opera that will celebrate the struggle against oppression. Princess Kristina, the heir to the USE's throne, is now residing in Magdeburg and is giving them her support and encouragement.

But another plot is underway‑‑this one right in the heart of the capital itself, and with murder as its method. The only people standing in the way are a crippled boy and the boxing champion who befriended him, and an unlikely pair of policemen. Can the American detective Byron Chieske and his down‑timer partner Gotthilf Hoch thwart the killers before they succeed in their goal?

W201310 October 2013 Monthly Baen Bundle (Last date to buy September 15, 2013)

1636: The Devil's Opera

by Eric Flint and David Carrico

Treecat Wars

by David Weber and Jane Lindskold

Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs

by Mike Resnick and Robert T. Garcia

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

edited by Hank Davis

Swords of Exodus

by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari

Phoenix Rising

by Ryk E. Spoor

Eric Flint and David Carrico serve up the latest entry in the best‑selling alternate history saga of them all, the Ring of Fire!

It is the year 1636. The United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time by a cosmic accident, is on the verge of civil war.  His brain injured in the war with Poland, the USE's emperor Gustavus Adolphus is no longer in command. Enter Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna, a leader of aristocratic reaction against democracy.  His goal:  to assemble the forces of the hidebound ruling class in Berlin and drown the revolution in a bloodbath.

In Magdeburg, the capital of the USE, Mike Stearns' wife Rebecca Abrabanel is organizing popular resistance to Oxenstierna's plot. As part of the resistance, the American musician Marla Linder and her company of down‑time musical partners are staging an opera that will celebrate the struggle against oppression. Princess Kristina, the heir to the USE's throne, is now residing in Magdeburg and is giving them her support and encouragement.

But another plot is underway‑‑this one right in the heart of the capital itself, and with murder as its method. The only people standing in the way are a crippled boy and the boxing champion who befriended him, and an unlikely pair of policemen. Can the American detective Byron Chieske and his down‑timer partner Gotthilf Hoch thwart the killers before they succeed in their goal?

Download the Reader’s Group Discussion Guide here.

Listen to the authors discuss the book here on the Baen Free Radio Hour.