Endangered Species

by Charles E. Gannon

Lord of a Shattered Land

by Howard Andrew Jones

Very Important Corpses

by Simon R. Green

They're Here!

edited by Hank Davis and Sean CW Korsgaard

The Crossing

by Kevin Ikenberry

Ballistic

8 books, $18

The Crossing

by Kevin Ikenberry

Ballistic

Trouble Walked In

by Mike Kupari

Monster Hunter Bloodlines

by Larry Correia

Saving Proxima

by Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson

World Breakers

Edited by Tony Daniel and Christopher Ruocchio

A Harmony of Enemies

by Marc Stiegler

Warrior Planet

by Don Wismer

A Russian ICBM site is attacked just north of the Ukraine border—now nuclear warheads are missing! A Special Operations and Intelligence Community Task Force is rapidly put together to respond, but where it should deploy is unclear. A fire ravages a cosmonaut training facility in which five spacesuits disappear. And the Task Force finds a cache of detailed schematics of highly complex rocketry systems. The Task Force reaches out to Dr. Amy Sue Harrington of the Missiles and Space Intelligence Center in Huntsville, Alabama. To Dr. Harrington, it all adds up to the unthinkable: someone—someone extremely well funded—is taking aim at the International Space Station.

But Colonel Vladimir Lytokov and his team of mercenaries aren’t planning to bring the ISS crashing to Earth. They’re taking the fight to orbit, boarding the station and hijacking it. As the ISS traces its path across the heavens, Lytokov rains down destruction from above, effectively holding the entire globe hostage.

A Russian ICBM site is attacked just north of the Ukraine border. The nuclear warheads are missing! A Special Operations and Intelligence Community Task Force is rapidly put together to respond, but where it should deploy is unclear. A fire ravages a cosmonaut training facility in which five spacesuits disappear. And the Task Force finds a cache of detailed schematics of highly complex rocketry systems. The Task Force reaches out to Dr. Amy Sue Harrington of the Missiles and Space Intelligence Center in Huntsville, Alabama. To Dr. Harrington, it all adds up to the unthinkable: someone—someone extremely well funded—is taking aim at the International Space Station.

But Colonel Vladimir Lytokov and his team of mercenaries aren’t planning to bring the ISS crashing to Earth. They’re taking the fight to orbit, boarding the station and hijacking it. As the ISS traces its path across the heavens, Lytokov rains down destruction from above, effectively holding the entire globe hostage.

The year is 2072. At the lunar farside radio observatory, an old-school radio broadcast is detected, similar to those broadcast on Earth in the 1940s, but in an unknown language, coming from an impossible source, and originating at an equally impossible location—Proxima Centauri. While the nations of Earth debate making first contact, they learn that the Proximans are facing an extinction-level disaster, forcing a decision: will Earth send a ship on a multiyear trip to provide aid?

Interstellar travel is not easy, and by traveling at the speeds required to arrive before disaster strikes at Proxima, humans will learn firsthand the effects of Einstein’s Special Relativity and be forced to ponder the ultimate of questions: “Are we alone in the universe?” and “What does it mean to be human?”

Monster Hunter Bloodlines

by Larry Correia

Saving Proxima

by Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson

World Breakers

Edited by Tony Daniel and Christopher Ruocchio

Days of Burning, Days of Wrath

by Tom Kratman

In the Palace of Shadow and Joy

by D.J. Butler

Beowulf's Children

by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes

Future Crimes

edited by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann

Governor

by David Weber and Richard Fox

We Shall Rise

Edited by John Ringo and Gary Poole

Frontier

by Patrick Chiles

1636: The Atlantic Encounter

by Eric Flint and Walter H. Hunt

Battle Luna

by Travis S. Taylor, Timothy Zahn, Michael Z. Williamson, Kacey Ezell, and Josh Hayes

The Legacy of Heorot

by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes

Futures Past

edited by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann

The year is 2072. At the lunar farside radio observatory, an old-school radio broadcast is detected, similar to those broadcast on Earth in the 1940s, but in an unknown language, coming from an impossible source, and originating at an equally impossible location—Proxima Centauri. While the nations of Earth debate making first contact, they learn that the Proximans are facing an extinction-level disaster, forcing a decision: will Earth send a ship on a multiyear trip to provide aid

Interstellar travel is not easy, and by traveling at the speeds required to arrive before disaster strikes at Proxima, humans will learn firsthand the effects of Einstein’s Special Relativity and be forced to ponder the ultimate of questions: “Are we alone in the universe?” and “What does it mean to be human?”

Time is running out for the inhabitants of Proxima Centauri. Unsettling discoveries there and at Luyten’s star now threaten both Proxima and Earth, in a new hard science fiction thriller from Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson.

First contact with the seemingly impossible human civilization at Proxima Centauri is not going well. The Earth ships sent to render aid have not been able to reverse the contagion ravaging their population and, worse, many Proximans are now wondering if the humans from Earth are there for other, not so charitable, reasons. Can the extinction-level disaster faced at Proxima be reversed by the combined ingenuity of scientists from both worlds working together?

Unsettling discoveries in the Proxima Centauri planetary system beg the questions: What if the evil gods depicted in Proxima’s ancient mythologies were real and far more powerful than even the humans from Earth with their late 21st century technologies? Worse, what if their ancient oppressors never truly left?

Graveyard of Demons

by Larry Correia

Men of Bretton

by Richard Fox

Crisis at Proxima

by Travis S. Taylor & Les Johnson

Last Train Outta Kepler-283c

edited by David Boop

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners

by Larry Correia and John Ringo

The Icarus Twin

by Timothy Zahn

Time is running out for the inhabitants of Proxima Centauri. Unsettling discoveries there and at Luyten’s star now threaten both Proxima and Earth, in a new hard science fiction thriller from Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson.

First contact with the seemingly impossible human civilization at Proxima Centauri is not going well. The Earth ships sent to render aid have not been able to reverse the contagion ravaging their population and, worse, many Proximans are now wondering if the humans from Earth are there for other, not so charitable, reasons. Can the extinction-level disaster faced at Proxima be reversed by the combined ingenuity of scientists from both worlds working together?

Unsettling discoveries in the Proxima Centauri planetary system beg the questions: What if the evil gods depicted in Proxima’s ancient mythologies were real and far more powerful than even the humans from Earth with their late 21st century technologies? Worse, what if their ancient oppressors never truly left?

AN EPIC FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE ON OUR MOON

Something has been uncovered on the Moon that might have great scientific and economic importance. The Lunar colony is a mining colony with only internal security capabilities. Nobody had even considered that there might someday arise a need to defend the colony from the Earth! But that day has come.

The Lunar colonists made this great discovery and perceive it as their own. Finders keepers and possession being nine tenths of the law is how things are seen on the Moon. But the governments of the Earth don’t quite see eye-to-eye with the Lunarian’s philosophy. As far as the Earth is concerned, they paid for everything on the Moon, so it belongs to them.

There is only one solution: Battle Luna!

At the End of the World

by Charles E. Gannon

1637: The Polish Maelstrom

by Eric Flint

In the Palace of Shadow and Joy

by D.J. Butler

Noir Fatale

edited by Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell

Battle Luna

by Travis S. Taylor, Timothy Zahn, Michael Z. Williamson, Kacey Ezell, and Josh Hayes

The Vanished Seas

by Catherine Asaro

Terra Nova: The Wars of Liberation

by Tom Kratman

AN EPIC FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE ON OUR MOON

Something has been uncovered on the Moon that might have great scientific and economic importance. The Lunar colony is a mining colony with only internal security capabilities. Nobody had even considered that there might someday arise a need to defend the colony from the Earth! But that day has come.

The Lunar colonists made this great discovery and perceive it as their own. Finders keepers and possession being nine tenths of the law is how things are seen on the Moon. But the governments of the Earth don’t quite see eye-to-eye with the Lunarian’s philosophy. As far as the Earth is concerned, they paid for everything on the Moon, so it belongs to them.

There is only one solution: Battle Luna!

Moon Tracks

by Travis S. Taylor and Jody Lynn Nye

1636: The Vatican Sanction

by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon

Today I Am Carey

by Martin L. Shoemaker

Cobra Traitor

by Timothy Zahn

Voices of the Fall

by John Ringo and Gary Poole

Hoka! Hoka! Hoka!

by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson

Mission to Methonē

by Les Johnson

Barbara Winton and the rest of the Bright Sparks, Dr. Keegan Bright’s team of young scientists, find themselves facing a challenge that will test all of their scientific skills and personal courage. They are competing in the first ever race to completely circle the Moon. The Sparks, and twenty-five other teams, have to count on one another as they face thousands of kilometers of unknown dangers, where even a simple accident can have fatal consequences. They form close friendships with racers from all over Earth, but also have to deal with former Spark, Pam, a mysterious and threatening figure whose departure from the Sparks program is shrouded in mystery.

While the Sparks compete in the race, Dr. Bright himself is part of a groundbreaking project to seek out rare minerals underneath a crater. On the far side of the Moon, in the airless, frozen depths beneath the lunar surface, disaster strikes. On the thinly settled Moon only the Bright Sparks may be close enough help him. The young scientists find themselves not only racing for victory, but to save their beloved mentor.

War of Honor

by David Weber

Bringers of Hell

by Travis S. Taylor

ME, Too: Loose in the Network

by Thomas T. Thomas

Man-Kzin Wars XV

created by Larry Niven

Sins of Her Father

by Mike Kupari

House of Assassins

by Larry Correia

Witchy Winter

by D.J. Butler

First Citizen

by Thomas T. Thomas

Barbara Winton and the rest of the Bright Sparks, Dr. Keegan Bright’s team of young scientists, find themselves facing a challenge that will test all of their scientific skills and personal courage. They are competing in the first ever race to completely circle the Moon. The Sparks, and twenty-five other teams, have to count on one another as they face thousands of kilometers of unknown dangers, where even a simple accident can have fatal consequences. They form close friendships with racers from all over Earth, but also have to deal with former Spark, Pam, a mysterious and threatening figure whose departure from the Sparks program is shrouded in mystery.

While the Sparks compete in the race, Dr. Bright himself is part of a groundbreaking project to seek out rare minerals underneath a crater. On the far side of the Moon, in the airless, frozen depths beneath the lunar surface, disaster strikes. On the thinly settled Moon only the Bright Sparks may be close enough to help him. The young scientist find themselves not only racing for victory, but to save their beloved mentor.

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 2018.

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.

Bringers of Hell

by Travis S. Taylor

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners

by Larry Correia and John Ringo

Mission to Methonē

by Les Johnson

Project Elfhome

by Wen Spencer

1637: The Volga Rules

by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett, and Gorg Huff

The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 2

by Poul Anderson