The stars were closed to Max Jones. To get into space you either needed connections, a membership in the arcane Guild, or a whole lot more money than Max, the son of a widowed, poor mother, was ever going to have. What Max does have going for him are his uncle's prized astrogation manuals—books on star navigation that Max literally commits to memory word for word, equation for equation. When Max's mother decides to remarry a bullying oaf, Max takes to the road, only to discover that his Uncle Chet's manuals, and Max's near complete memorization of them, is a ticket to the stars. But serving on a spaceship is no easy task. Duty is everything, and a mistake can mean you and all aboard are lost forever. Max loves every minute of his new life, and he steadily grows in the trust of his superior officers, and seems to be on course for a command track position. But then disaster strikes, and it's going to take every trick Max ever learned from his tough life and his uncle's manuals to save himself and the ship from a doom beyond extinction itself.

Download the comprehensive Teacher’s Guide here.

In January of 2011 we started posting free teacher's guides to some of our titles suitable for young adults. The first book covered was The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein. The second 1632 by Eric Flint. We'll be collecting these guides, and future planned guides for reader's groups, in this free e-book at the Baen Free Library. As new guides are made available, they'll be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves).

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.

W201106 June 2011 Monthly Baen Bundle

Exiled: Clan of the Claw

by S. M. Stirling, Harry Turtledove, John Ringo, Jody Lynn Nye and Michael Z. Williamson

Alien Invasion

by Travis S. Taylor and Bob Boan

Farnham's Freehold

by Robert A. Heinlein

Deadly Dreams

by Andre Norton

What Distant Deeps

by David Drake

The Sorceress of Karres

by Eric Flint and Dave Freer

Migration

by James P. Hogan

Tomorrow and Tomorrow

by Charles Sheffield

This is the book in which the Dean of Science Fiction himself, Robert A. Heinlein, and his amazing wife Virginia finally are the main characters. A marvelous travelogue of a year spent traveling around the world by train, foot, taxi and tramp steamer, all filled with Heinlein’s keen observations, political and social wisdom, and, as you would expect, his amazing ear for dialog together with a quick, dry wit. A journey into the past? Hardly. The account provides wave after wave of recognition that proves amazingly relevant for the world of today. Would we expect anything less of the Dean? Yep, it seems the life under the thumb of undemocratic regimes is as insane as ever, and that the ludicrous anti-Americanism spoon-fed a captive populace by tinpot oligarchs is just as pathetic. Heinlein tramped the world with an open mind—but with the spirit of democracy and freedom as his guide. This is travel writing at its best, and is years ahead of its time in judgment and outlook.

If you were ever searching for the lost book Heinlein ought to have produced on the art of writing, this is it! Wonderful discussions of writing methods, overcoming blocks, and writing on spec and to order can be found throughout, as well as expert (and still pertinent) commentary on the business of writing. These are the greatest letters of Robert Heinlein, as edited by his wife and philosophical soul-mate, Virginia. And when you’re done gleaning tips on creation from the master, these letters make for a most excellent “director’s commentary” to the Heinlein science fiction masterpieces we’ve come to love so well!

W201105 May 2011 Monthly Baen Bundle

The Hot Gate

by John Ringo

Extremis

by Steve White and Charles E. Gannon

Hard Magic: Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles

by Larry Correia

Korval's Game

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

The Lotus Eaters

by Tom Kratman

The Green Hills of Earth and The Menace from Earth

by Robert A. Heinlein

Prescription for Chaos

by Christopher Anvil and Eric Flint

W201008 August 2010 Monthly Baen Bundle

Children No More

by Mark L. Van Name

Do Unto Others

by Michael Z. Williamson

The Best of the Bolos: Their Finest Hour

by Keith Laumer

In the Stormy Red Sky

by David Drake

Grantville Gazette, Volume IV

created by Eric Flint

The Puppet Masters

by Robert A. Heinlein

The Death of Sleep

by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye

W201005 May 2010 Monthly Baen Bundle

Much Fall of Blood

by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer

Migration

by James P. Hogan

The Darkling Fields of Arvon

by James G. Anderson and Mark Sebanc

Storm from the Shadows

by David Weber

Grand Central Arena

The Rolling Stones

by Robert A. Heinlein

W201003 March 2010 Monthly Baen Bundle

The Crucible of Empire

by Eric Flint and K. D. Wentworth

The Science Behind the Secret

by Travis S. Taylor

Bound in Blood

by P. C. Hodgell

The Green Hills of Earth and The Menace from Earth

by Robert A. Heinlein

Caliphate

by Tom Kratman

Fledgling

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

David Falkayn: Star Trader

by Poul Anderson

Two of the Grand Master's finest:

The saga of the opening of the space frontier as courageous men and women risked their lives to build the first space station and colonize the Moon and Venus, while praying for one last landing on the globe that gave them birth, to return to The Green Hills of Earth.

From a mysterious region on Earth, where a more advanced lifeform may be studying the interesting creatures called "humans", to the first moon colony, where a young girl's relationship with her boyfriend is endangered by the beautiful Menace from Earth.

Classic Heinlein, in a new Omni-trade format package

W200908 August 2009 Monthly Baen Bundle

Grantville Gazette Volume V

created by Eric Flint

Belisarius III: The Flames of Sunset

by David Drake and Eric Flint

Hank Reinhardt's The Book of Swords

by Hank Reinhardt

The Puppet Masters

by Robert A. Heinlein

Monster Hunter International

by Larry Correia

And Less Than Kind

by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis

The Spider: City of Doom

by Norvell W. Page

First came the news that a flying saucer had landed in Iowa. Then came the announcement that the whole thing was a hoax. End of story. Case closed.

Except that two agents of the most secret intelligence agency in the U.S. government were on the scene and disappeared without reporting in. And four more agents who were sent in also disappeared. So the head of the agency and his two top agents went in and managed to get out with their discovery: an invasion is underway by slug-like aliens who can touch a human and completely control his or her mind. What the humans know, they know. What the slugs want, no matter what, the human will do. And most of Iowa is already under their control.

Sam Cavanaugh was one of the agents who discovered the truth. Unfortunately, that was just before he was taken over by one of the aliens and began working for the invaders, with no will of his own. And he has just learned that a high official in the Treasury Department is now under control of the aliens. Since the Treasury Department includes the Secret Service, which safeguards the President of the United States, control of the entire nation is near at hand . . .

About the Author

Robert A. Heinlein was the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived. His novels have been translated into every literate language on the globe—over 25 million Heinlein books are in print in this country alone.  For five decades, young readers of science fiction discovered Heinlein, then gone on to voraciously devour every Heinlein book they can get their hands on. His now-legendary Stranger in a Strange Land was the first hardcover bestseller by a science fiction writer. From 1975 on, every new Heinlein novel made the New York Times best-seller list and shipped a million copies, including The Number of the Beast, Friday, Job: A Comedy of Justice, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. In a career spanning half a century, he wrote over forty books, and four of his novels won Hugo Awards, an unequalled record for almost four decades. For the last three generations of readers, Heinlein is science fiction.

W200903 March 2009 Monthly Baen Bundle

Storm from the Shadows

by David Weber

Belisarius II: Storm at Noontide

by David Drake and Eric Flint

The Rolling Stones

by Robert A. Heinlein

Bolos IV: The Last Stand

by Keith Laumer

Duainfey

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Better to Beg Forgiveness

by Michael Z. Williamson

One Day on Mars

by Travis S. Taylor

The Stone Family Spree!

Wonder where to dive into Heinlein's justly famous adventure novels   This is the place!  The Stone clan is off to the asteroid belt to educate their brood and find a new life away from stuffy, bureaucratic Lunar City. But, as a great man once said, "There Isn't Any Such Thing As a Free Lunch."  The Stones know that making a living in deep space and facing the dangers of exploration are the pioneer's great challenge—and the only path to a hopeful tomorrow for humankind! 

"Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen."
—Robert A. Heinlein, from The Rolling Stones.

Download the comprehensive Teacher’s Guide here.

W200808 August 2008 Monthly Baen Bundle

The Last Centurion

by John Ringo

Exile-and Glory

by Jerry Pournelle

Between Planets

by Robert A. Heinlein

Other Times Than Peace

by David Drake

We the Underpeople

by Cordwainer Smith

The message had seemed simple, yet it was more complex than Don could have imagined. He was being called from Earth to an alien world for reasons unknown—save only that his life depended on it.

But setting out for Mars and getting there in good shape turned out to be a lot more complicated than Don ever would have guessed possible. It was trouble enough being inexplicably hounded by Earth's secret police.

But when he was hijacked by Venusian rebels, Don suddenly realized that he was trapped in the center of a war between worlds that could change the fate of the Solar System forever!

W200805 May 2008 Monthly Baen Bundle

Time Spike

by Eric Flint and Marilyn Kosmatka

The Tau Ceti Agenda

by Travis S. Taylor

Farmer in the Sky

by Robert A. Heinlein

Hell's Gate

by David Weber and Linda Evans

Blackcollar: The Judas Solution

by Timothy Zahn

The Best of All Possible Wars

by Larry Niven

"There is no such thing as luck.  There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe." —Robert A. Heinlein, from Time Enough for Love.

Bill Lermer travels with his father, stepmother and stepsister to colonize a Jovian moon in the process of being terraformed.  Out here, self-reliance is the key to survival—and Bill finds that his Boy Scout motto isn't merely a pretty saying.  It's a necessary rule for survival!

This is it:  what we think is the best of the classic Robert Heinlein adventure novels that influenced a generation of engineers and space scientists and still set the heart racing and the mind afire! 

Download the comprehensive Teacher’s Guide here.

W200611 November 2006 Monthly Baen Bundle

Hell's Gate

by David Weber and Linda Evans

Farnham's Freehold

by Robert A. Heinlein

Ghost

by John Ringo

Paladins

by Joel Rosenberg

The Lion Returns

by John Dalmas

You Would Have Peace Then Prepare for War!

Hugh Farnham was a practical, self-made man. and when he saw the clouds of nuclear war gathering, he built a bomb shelter under his house, hoping for peace and preparing for war. What he hadn't expected was that when the apocalypse came, a thermonuclear blast would tear apart the fabric of time and hurl his shelter into a world with no sign of other human beings.

But Farnham's small group had barely settled down to the back-breaking business of low-tech survival when they found that they were not alone after all. The same nuclear war that had catapulted Farnham two thousand years into the future had destroyed all civilization in the northern hemisphere. And the world had changed in more ways than one.

In the new world order, Farnham and his family, being members of the race that had nearly destroyed the world, were fit only to be slaves. After surviving a nuclear war, Farnham had no intention of being anybody's slave, but the tyrannical power of the Chosen Race reached throughout the world. Even if he managed to escape. where could he run to...