Ten soldiers on convoy in Afghanistan suddenly find themselves lost in time. Somehow, they arrived in Earth's Paleolithic Asia. With no idea how they arrived or how to get back, the shock of the event is severe. They discover groups of the similarly displaced: Imperial Romans, Neolithic Europeans, and a small cadre of East Indian peasants. Despite their technological advantage, the soldiers only have ten people, and know no way home. Then two more time travelers arrive from a future far beyond the present. These time travelers may have the means to get back, but they aren't giving it up. In fact, they may have a treacherous agenda of their own, one that may very well lead to the death of the displaced in a harsh and dangerous era.

In February of 2011 we started posting free nonfiction we at Baen thought might be of interest to our readers. The first article was "The Size of it All" by Les Johnson, a Baen author and space scientist. As new nonfiction is made available, it 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 nonfiction for 2015.

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.

Ten soldiers on convoy in Afghanistan suddenly find themselves lost in time. Somehow, they arrived in Earth's Paleolithic Asia. With no idea how they arrived or how to get back, the shock of the event is severe. They discover groups of the similarly displaced: Imperial Romans, Neolithic Europeans, and a small cadre of East Indian peasants. Despite their technological advantage, the soldiers only have ten people, and know no way home. Then two more time travelers arrive from a future far beyond the present. These time travelers may have the means to get back, but they aren't giving it up. In fact, they may have a treacherous agenda of their own, one that may very well lead to the death of the displaced in a harsh and dangerous era.

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

The Gift of Music
by Sharon Lee The Aristocrat and the Free Man
by Robert Conroy Stealing Arturo
by William Ledbetter Magic and Other Honest Lies
by Robert Buettner Soft Casualty
by Michael Z. Williamson Songs of Waste and Wood
by P.C. Hodgell The Last Secret of Mary Bowser
by Steve White Low Arc
by Sean Monaghan Balance
by Marina J. Lostetter A Thing of Beauty
by Charles E. Gannon An Imperium Pursuit
by Jody Lynn Nye Picket Ship
by Brad R. Torgersen The Golden Knight
by K. D. Julicher Bare Snow Falling on Fairywood
by Wen Spencer Bait and Switch
by Ryk E. Spoor The night don't seem so lonely
by Sharon Lee Long Nights Moon
by David B. Coe

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. 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, and they want her back. Or dead.

This all-new offering contains Michael Z. Williamson’s brilliant novel Freehold plus three new stories along with a complete new novella—each set within the legendary Freehold series universe. Contains these additional stories: "Humans Call It Duty," "The Price,” "Soft Casualty," and novella “The Brute Force Approach."

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

It's a tough universe out there. A hard‑hitting collection of the best fiction of Michael Z. Williamson, creator of the popular Freehold military SF saga, along with a helping of truth‑telling nonfiction by a guy who has been there and done that, both at home and abroad.

Duty in the face of danger on a planetary scale.  Pride and competence in the face of idiotic clients who hate that that they need your services, and an enemy who wants to make your bad day even worse. These are stories of the warriors and civilians who get things done in extreme situations, whether it's rescue from a ship broken in space and leaking air and radiation, hard choices by a brigade of mercenary swords in a world of blood and magic, or scramble and response by troops in the Sandbox doing what it takes to make it through another scorching, rocket‑filled day.

It's a tough universe out there. A hard‑hitting collection of the best fiction of Michael Z. Williamson, creator of the popular Freehold military SF saga, along with a helping of truth‑telling nonfiction by a guy who has been there and done that, both at home and abroad.

Duty in the face of danger on a planetary scale.  Pride and competence in the face of idiotic clients who hate that that they need your services, and an enemy who wants to make your bad day even worse. These are stories of the warriors and civilians who get things done in extreme situations, whether it's rescue from a ship broken in space and leaking air and radiation, hard choices by a brigade of mercenary swords in a world of blood and magic, or scramble and response by troops in the Sandbox doing what it takes to make it through another scorching, rocket‑filled day.

High tech near-future mercenaries Ripple Creek Security must protect an obnoxious world government minister from the scores of enemies who want her dead—and killed in the worst possible way.

Alex Marlow and Ripple Creek Security's best personal security detail return to action. This time, they really don't like their principal, World Bureau Minister Joy Herman Highland—a highly placed bureaucrat with aspirations to elected office. But Highland's would-be assassins are up against the best security in the business—and Ripple Creek has no qualms about seeing their own explosions on galactic news. In fact, they kind of enjoy it.

W201208 August 2012 Monthly Baen Bundle

Queen of Wands

by John Ringo

When Diplomacy Fails

by Michael Z. Williamson

Ice and Shadow

by Andre Norton

Countdown: H Hour

by Tom Kratman

Ghost Ship

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Loose Cannon

by David Drake

Imperium

by Keith Laumer
edited by Eric Flint

High tech near-future mercenaries Ripple Creek Security must protect an obnoxious world government minister from the scores of enemies who want her dead—and killed in the worst possible way.

Alex Marlow and Ripple Creek Security's best personal security detail return to action. This time, they really don't like their principal, World Bureau Minister Joy Herman Highland—a highly placed bureaucrat with aspirations to elected office. But Highland's would-be assassins are up against the best security in the business—and Ripple Creek has no qualms about seeing their own explosions on galactic news. In fact, they kind of enjoy it.

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

W201207 July 2012 Monthly Baen Bundle

Exiled: Clan of the Claw

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

War Maid's Choice

by David Weber

Elfhome

by Wen Spencer

Assignment in Eternity

by Robert A. Heinlein

Rogue

by Michael Z. Williamson

The Wild Side: Urban Fantasy with an Erotic Edge

by Mark L. Van Name

Not For Glory

by Joel Rosenberg

The Drugs of War
by J.R. Dunn Putting the Science in Science Fiction
by Tedd Roberts The Roads to the RCN Series
by David Drake The Menace from Lydia: The Social Spider as Alien Invader
by Robert E. Furey Rediscovering the Solar System
by Les Johnson The Conquest of Planet Baen
by Bob Kruger Indirectly Mistaken Decision Cycles
by Tom Kratman Do Tanks Have a Future?
by J.R. Dunn Getting Guns Right
by Michael Z. Williamson Rediscovering the Universe
by Les Johnson The Neuroscience of Darkships
by Tedd Roberts Stars That Wander, Are You Bright: Are Stars Conscious?
by Dr. Greg Matloff

Kenneth Chinran commanded the elite unit assigned to take out an entire planet in a terrible war. Millions died; billions more perished in the aftermath. One doesn't send a sociopath on such a mission. A sociopath might not stop. Chinran did stop—but in the process nearly lost his sanity and his soul.

But one of Chinran's men was a sociopath going in. Now he's a trained sociopath with the knowledge and firepower to take out entire tactical teams, evaporate security cordons and change identity at will. Who do you send after a killer like that? There's only one answer: the man who trained him. The man who made him.

W201109 September 2011 Monthly Baen Bundle

Into the Hinterlands

by David Drake and John Lambshead

Rogue

by Michael Z. Williamson

The Crystal Variation

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Countdown: M Day

by Tom Kratman

Young Flandry

by Poul Anderson

Ragnarok

by Patrick A. Vanner

The Golden Shield of IBF

by Jerry & Sharon Ahern

Kenneth Chinran commanded the elite unit assigned to take out an entire planet in a terrible war. Millions died; billions more perished in the aftermath. One doesn't send a sociopath on such a mission. A sociopath might not stop. Chinran did stop—but in the process nearly lost his sanity and his soul.

But one of Chinran's men was a sociopath going in. Now he's a trained sociopath with the knowledge and firepower to take out entire tactical teams, evaporate security cordons and change identity at will. Who do you send after a killer like that? There's only one answer: the man who trained him. The man who made him.

W201108 August 2011 Monthly Baen Bundle

Ghost Ship

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

The Wild Side: Urban Fantasy with an Erotic Edge

by Mark L. Van Name

First Command

by A. Bertram Chandler

Monster Hunter Alpha

by Larry Correia

Do Unto Others

by Michael Z. Williamson

Citizens

by John Ringo and Brian M. Thomsen

Tran

by Jerry Pournelle and Roland Green

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

First entry in a new series with three big all new linked novellas from multiple best-sellers S.M. Stirling, John Ringo & Jody Lynn Nye, and Harry Turtledove! After the extinction asteroid DOESN'T strike Earth, the dinosaurs keep evolving—but so do the mammals. We mammals have achieved human-like shapes, but now it's cold-blooded, magic-using reptiles against the hot-blooded, hot-tempered descendants of cats.

In a heroic, bronze-age world similar to 300, the Mrem Clan of the Claw and its sister warbands are expanding their rough-and-tumble territory, but now they face the Lishkash, masters of a cold-blooded empire of slave armies and magic. It's mammalian courage and adaptation against reptile cunning in a clash of steel and will that will determine which line shall inherit the Earth.

The Prescot family were miners. At one time, they were contracted to develop technology for a mineral rich but uninhabitable system. Gradually, all the investors shied away. Then the Prescots broke through with the technology needed to exploit entire planets, and incidentally develop domed playgrounds for the perversely rich, including indoor ski slopes and cable cars over megavolcanos, casinos and rides. This created the economic problem of being the richest people in the universe, having more money than most governments and effectively unlimited resources.

Money is a small blessing when enemies are quite willing to spend billions for the chance at trillions. Bryan Prescot and his daughter might as well have targets painted on their backs for the thugs, kidnappers and assassins their cmpetitors would throw at them. Bodyguards were necessary—Highly trained bodyguards who could be bought once and be utterly loyal no matter the circumstances.

The altercation comes to a head inside the domes and mines of Govannon, with their enemy desperate to do anything to save their own lives, now that the gloves are off. Caron Prescot has only six bodyguards against an army, but she has two aces in the hole: The miners are on her side, and Elke, Ripple Creek's psychotic demolition expert, has a nuke.

The problem with Elke having a nuke is that Elke WILL use it.

W201007PC July 2010 Monthly Baen Bundle

Mission of Honor

by David Weber

Jump Gate Twist

by Mark L. Van Name

Contact with Chaos

by Michael Z. Williamson

Diamond Star

by Catherine Asaro

Fires of Freedom

by Jerry Pournelle

Knight of Ghosts and Shadows

by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon