Captain Alexandra "Alex" McLaughlin is not a woman to be underestimated. Under her petite exterior is a spine of solid steel and a disposition to laugh in the face of impending death. A former member of the Terran Navy's elite force, the Dead Jokers, electronic-warfare pilots with a mortality rate to match that of old Japan's Kamikazes, Alex is a born survivor. But sometimes survival can be a curse.

Humanity is locked in a war of survival with the Xan-Sskarn, an alien race that refuses to acknowledge the rights of "weaker" creatures to live. It is a war that will not end with a peace treaty, but only the complete subjugation of one species to the other. And right now, the alien side is winning.

However, the enemy on the outside is not the only one to be faced. As the battles take on an eerily familiar pattern of no-win scenarios, Alex realized the horrifying truth; humanity has a traitor, and it's somebody close. As each battle brings more death, Alex's ghosts grow and so does her desire for vengeance. There is only one way for this to end, and Alex is just the human to take it there—to Ragnarok.

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.

NO REST FOR THE WEARY

Captain Daniel Leary and his friend, the spy Adele Mundy, have been in the front lines of Cinnabar's struggle against the totalitarian Alliance. Now these galactic superpowers have signed a peace of mutual exhaustion--

But the jackals are moving in!

The Republic of Cinnabar was on the verge of collapse under the weight of taxes, casualties, and war's disruption of trade. That the Alliance of Free Stars was in even worse condition helped only because it has made peace possible.

Years of war have been hard on Daniel and harder still on Adele, whose life outside information-gathering is a tightrope between despair and deadly violence. Their masters in the RCN and the Republic's intelligence service have sent them to the fringes of human space to relax away from danger.

But the barbarians of the outer reaches have their own plans, plans which will bring down both Cinnabar and the Alliance. The enemies of peace include traitors, giant reptiles, and barbarian pirates whose ships can outsail even Daniel Leary's splendid corvette, the Princess Cecile.

Unless Daniel, Adele, and their unlikely allies succeed, galactic civilization will disintegrate into blood and chaos.

So they will succeed—or they'll die trying!

About the Author

David Drake was attending Duke University Law School when he was drafted. He served the next two years in the Army, spending 1970 as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th armored Cavalry in Viet Nam and Cambodia. Upon return he completed his law degree at Duke and was for eight years Assistant Town Attorney for Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He has been a full-time freelance writer since 1981. Besides the bestselling Hammer's Slammers series, his books for Baen include Ranks of Bronze, All the Way to the Gallows, Redliners, and many more. His "Lord of the Isles" fantasy novels for Tor are genre best sellers. What Distant Deeps is the eighth in the popular RCN series. The previous titles are: With the Lightnings; Lt. Leary, Commanding; The Far Side of the Stars; The Way to Glory; Some Golden Harbor, When the Tide Rises and In the Stormy Red Sky.

A collection of side-splitting science fiction shorts includes tales of paratrooper goblins, space cops and their politically correct alien supervisor, a band of mercenary elves, and a collaboration with Larry Niven.

When the colony worlds Adirondack and Silvern fell to the Troft forces almost without a struggle. Outnumbered and on the defensive, Earth made a desperate decision. It would attack the aliens not from space, but on the ground—with forces the Trofts did not even suspect. Thus were created the Cobras, a guerilla force whose weapons were surgically implanted, invisible to the unsuspecting eye, yet undeniably deadly. And the Moreau family were the most famous of the Cobra warriors. Long after victory over the Troft was achieved, the Cobras made common cause against their former adversaries against a new enemy. Their reward was three planets that would be a home for the Cobras, who deadly powers made them too dangerous to feel at home on Earth.

Now, years had passed and not everyone on the Cobra worlds thought that the Cobras were worth the cost of maintaining their existing built-in weaponry, let alone supporting research to improve the Cobra weapons, and possibly even put an end to the negative effects of that built-in weaponry, which caused Cobras to die much too young. Many who had never known interplanetary war were convinced that the Cobras were not needed at all.

That was a grave miscalculation, because a Troft faction has decided to invade the Cobra planets in force, using a new strategy that even the formidable Cobra warriors may not be able to defeat . . .

Of all the hosts of Eurotas the Troias were the most fell. For they were born of Winter.

Between the Solar Array Pumped Laser and Troy, the two trillion ton nickel-iron battlestation created by eccentric billionaire Tyler Vernon, Earth has managed to recapture the Sol system from their Horvath conquerors and begin entering the galactic millieu.

But when the Rangora Empire rapidly crushes humanity's only ally it becomes clear the war is just beginning. At the heart of nickel iron and starlight are the people, Marines, Navy and civilians, who make Troy a living, breathing, engine of war. Survivors of apocalypse, they know the cost of failure.

If this Troy falls, no one will be left to write the epic.

Citadel continues the saga begun in Live Free or Die, following the paths of several characters during the first years of The Spiral Arm Wars culminating in the First Battle of E Eridani.

THE SECOND TIME AROUND—IS HARDER . . .

Decades after the last footprints were left on the Moon, the U.S. was preparing to return to the Lunar surface in a new class of rockets, when the mission suddenly became much more urgent. It would have to be a rescue mission.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world China had sent its own Lunar expedition. A manned expedition. Until a distress call was received, no human outside of China even knew that the mission was manned—or that their ship had crash-landed and couldn’t take off again.

Time was running out, and if the four Chinese astronauts were to be rescued, the American lunar mission would have to launch immediately, with only a skeleton crew. Once the heroic U.S. astronauts were underway the army of engineers and scientists back home had the daunting task of deciding what equipment could be left on the Moon to permit the Lunar lander vehicle vehicle to lift safely from the Moon with the two U.S. astronauts and the four stranded Chinese taikonauts! Could the U.S. mount such a mission successfully—and would thousands of years of instilled honor “allow” the Chinese astronauts to accept a rescue?

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Travis S. Taylor—“Doc” Taylor to his friends—has earned his soubriquet the hard way: He has a doctorate in optical science and engineering, a master's degree in physics, a master's degree in aerospace engineering, a master's degree in astronomy, and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. Dr. Taylor has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past sixteen years. He's currently working on several advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space-based beamed energy systems, and next generation space launch concepts. He has appeared in several episodes of the History Channel’s Universe series. He lives in Auburn, AL with his wife Karen and their daughter.

Les Johnson is a NASA physicist, manager, author, husband and father. By day, he serves as the Deputy Manager for the Advanced Concepts Office at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, one of the coolest jobs in the universe. In the early 2000s, he was NASA’s Manager for Interstellar Propulsion Research and later managed the In-Space Propulsion Technology Project. He was technical consultant for the movie Lost in Space and has appeared on the Discovery Channel series, “Physics of the Impossible” in the “How to Build a Starship” episode. He has also appeared in three episodes of the Science Channel series, Exodus Earth. In his spare time he writes popular science books and articles, including Solar Sails: A Novel approach to Interplanetary Travel, Living Off the Land in Space: Green Roads to the Cosmos and Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth.

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

Here they come, and they’re out for blood. For too long, they say, have hot blooded babes in brass bras and chain link bikinis been held up to scorn as the embodiment of male fantasy wish-fulfillment and non-fictionality. You think their swords won’t cut, their clubs won’t crush? You think they look cute?

It’s time to take sword-swinging amazons more seriously. Well, maybe not too seriously. After all, the popular Chicks in Chainmail series wasn’t known for stark drama and solemn think-pieces. In fact, they made a lot of people laugh. And now the first three books in the series are combined in one volume.

· Chicks in Chainmail (The look at the lighter side of amazons that started it all.)

· Did You Say Chicks? (Smile when you say that, you wimpy noncombatant!)

· Chicks ‘n Chained Males (Those men just can’t take care of themselves, so send in the amazons!)

It’s all right to have a laugh or two. The swordswomen like a good laugh as much as the next amazon. Just don’t let them get the idea that you’re laughing at them, instead of with them—if you know what’s good for you . . .

Stories of fierce female fighters by Harry Turtledove, Roger Zelazny, Elizabeth Moon, Jan and S.M. Stirling, K. D. Wentworth, Lawrence Watt-Evans and more—including Esther Friesner herself.

About the Author

Esther Friesner is winner twice over of the coveted Nebula Award (for the Year’s Best short Story, 1995 and 1996) and is the author of over thirty novels, including the USA Today best-seller Warchild, and more than one hundred short stories. For Baen she edited the five popular “Chicks in Chainmail” anthologies. Her works have been published in the UK, Japan, Germany, Russia, France and Italy. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, and two rambunctious cats.

A KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR IN A SAVAGE GALAXY

Captain Dominic Flandry has been knighted for his many services to the Terran Empire—an Empire which is old, jaded, and corrupt, as Flandry well knows—but he also knows that the Empire is better than anything that is likely to take its place. And while that “Sir” before his name may be an added attraction to comely ladies (not that he has ever lacked for the pleasant company of the same), he expects that it will also bring him less welcome attention from envious “colleagues” within the empire.

What it is not likely to do is make him more of an object of interest to the alien Merseians, whose plots against the Empire he has repeatedly foiled. They already are as aware as they can be of how much simpler their plans to rule the galaxy would be if their most dangerous adversary were the late Sir Dominic Flandry.

This is the sixth volume in the first complete edition of Poul Anderson’s Technic Civilization saga.

Praise for Poul Anderson:

“These are stories of the classic science fiction tradition: hard science and tough characters in logically well integrated action stories.” —Jerry Pournelle

“One of science fiction’s authentic geniuses.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“The winner of seven Hugos and three Nebulas . . . one of the towering figures of modern SF and fantasy.” —Publishers Weekly

“Anderson fuses elegiac prose and a sweeping vision of man’s technological future as only he can. . . .” —Booklist

W201011 November 2010 Monthly Baen Bundle

Cryoburn

by Lois McMaster Bujold

Carousel Tides

by Sharon Lee

The Complete Hammer's Slammers: Volume 3

by David Drake

Written in Time

by Jerry and Sharon Ahern

Live Free or Die

by John Ringo

One Good Soldier

by Travis S. Taylor

As a freelance writer, Jack Naile was used to getting an occasional letter from one of his readers, but when one of those readers sent him a clipping from a magazine, it would not only change his life, but could alter the course of history as well. The clipping had a photo, taken in Nevada in 1903, of a street scene, including a story with a sign, “Jack Naile—General Merchandise.”

Intrigued, Jack phoned the Nevada town’s historian and asked for more information. When the historian sent him a photo of the 19th century Jack Naile, what had seemed like an interesting coincidence immediately became much more bizarre. The four people in the photo, dressed in the style of the time, were unmistakably Jack, his wife, their grown son and teenage daughter. Jack decided he would have to take a trip to that town to investigate further. And if he and his family were somehow going to travel back in time, he was going to be prepared—and be well-armed.

About the Author

Jerry and Sharon Ahern have published over 80 novels in the categories of general fiction, science fiction, horror and adventure, with sales figures in excess of ten million copies. Their series “The Survivalist,” a post-holocaust science fiction adventure series, has continued for nearly three decades and is currently enjoying high sales in audio versions. Their story “Silent Pace” was nominated for a Horror Writers of America award. Jerry is a leading expert on holsters and concealed weapons and a frequent contributor to Guns & Ammo magazine. Sharon is also a magazine photographer, with her b&w and color photos internationally published.

Miles Vorkosigan is back!

Kibou-daini is a planet obsessed with cheating death. Barrayaran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan can hardly disapprove—he’s been cheating death his whole life, on the theory that turnabout is fair play. But when a Kibou-daini cryocorp—an immortal company whose job it is to shepherd its all-too-mortal frozen patrons into an unknown future—attempts to expand its franchise into the Barrayaran Empire, Emperor Gregor dispatches his top troubleshooter Miles to check it out.

On Kibou-daini, Miles discovers generational conflict over money and resources is heating up, even as refugees displaced in time skew the meaning of generation past repair. Here he finds a young boy with a passion for pets and a dangerous secret, a Snow White trapped in an icy coffin who burns to re-write her own tale, and a mysterious crone who is the very embodiment of the warning Don’t mess with the secretary. Bribery, corruption, conspiracy, kidnapping—something is rotten on Kibou-daini, and it isn’t due to power outages in the Cryocombs. And Miles is in the middle—of trouble!

“Fresh, intriguing, and, as always with Lois McMaster Bujold, superb.” —Robert Jordan

“It is such a delight to read something by such a good writer, who now seems to be writing at the height of her powers. . . . I really have seldom enjoyed a book so much . . . I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.” —Diana Wynne Jones

“Living breathing characters who inhabit unusual yet believable worlds.” —Jean Auel

“Bujold successfully mixes quirky humor with just enough action, a dab of feminist social commentary and her usual superb character development . . . enormously satisfying.” —Publishers Weekly

“One of sf’s outstanding talents . . . an outstanding series.” —Booklist

“Excellently done . . . Bujold has always excelled at creating forceful characters and she does it here again.” —Denver Post

“. . . an intelligent, well-crafted and thoroughly satisfying blend of adventure, sociopolitical commentary, scientific experiments, and occasional perils . . . with that extra spicing of romance. . . .” —Locus

About the Author

Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most honored writers in the fields of science fiction and fantasy and has won five Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards, including a Nebula Award for Falling Free, included in Miles, Mutants and Microbes. She immediately attracted attention with her first novel, Shards of Honor, which began her popular Vorkosigan series, and quickly followed it up with The Warrior’s Apprentice, which introduced young Miles Vorkosigan, one of the most popular characters ever in science fiction. Her two recent fantasy series for Harper-Collins have been top sellers, from which Paladin of Souls took home her latest Hugo Award. The mother of two, Ms. Bujold lives in Minneapolis, MN.

This three volume set presents for the first time the genre-defining Slammers series in a uniform hardcover set. This volume features the final two Slammers novels, The Sharp End and Paying the Piper, as well as an original novelette, The Darkness. This volume will feature an introduction by Barry Malzberg.

About Carousel Tides:

Kate Archer left home years ago, swearing that she would die before she returned to Maine. As plans go, it was a pretty good one — simple and straightforward.
Not quite fast enough, though.
Before she can quite manage the dying part, Kate gets notice that her grandmother is missing, leaving the carousel that is the family business untended.
And in Archers Beach, that means ‘way more trouble than just a foreclosure.

Advanced Praise for Carousel Tides:

“Carousel Tides pulls you into the chill foggy reality of peeling-paint sand-grit coastal Maine outside of tourist season and then hands you something else — the hidden world lurking in shadows or under the land’s surface or just offshore, where Black Dogs hunt the night and selkies toss unpleasant truths over their shoulders before diving into the next wave. In the center of this, Kate Archer tends and guards one of the spookiest carousels this side of Ray Bradbury and wonders what has happened to her grandmother. The old woman sent her a letter, left papers deeding over the carousel and old house and the Land (meaning much more than property), and vanished, telling the spirits of the land and sea that she expected to be back before the turning of the year.

“Now March has come and gone and Kate must return from self-exile to take up powers and responsibilities she has renounced, or dying will be the least of her problems...
“Sharon Lee weaves fantasy into reality so deftly that you scarcely notice when you slip across the edge. And once you’re there, the story’s own magic won’t let you turn back from the strong characters, deep mysteries, and even deeper danger.” —James A. Hetley, author of Dragon’s Eye, Dragon’s Teeth, and Dragon’s Bones * * * “Proof that contemporary fantasy is alive and well and living beyond the big city limits — Carousel Tides is a worthy inheritor to Charles DeLint’s Newford series, and magical in its own right. Delightful.” — Laura Anne Gilman, author of Hard Magic * * * “Sharon Lee is one of my all-time favorite authors, a gifted storyteller whose work never fails to enchant. With Carousel Tides she gives her fans another opportunity to spend time with fascinating characters, bringing them to life in a place that becomes so real you can smell the salt air around you. Her fine hand with detail never lets the suspense falter, as mystery, folklore, and magic are artfully interwoven into a thoroughly engaging tale. Carousel Tides will leave you eagerly awaiting the next novel by this master.” —Jan Burke, author of The Messenger, Bones, and Bloodlines * * * “Sharon Lee’s finely observed detail evokes magic in Maine and gives conviction to six alternate, richly-inhabited universes.” — Rob Weisbrot, author of Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules, the Legendary Journeys: The Official Companion * * * “Carousel Tides is a gripping, enthralling read that I didn’t want to put down for any reason. From its beautifully detailed small-town Maine setting to a cosmology that manages to be unique and familiar at the same time, this book demonstrates the best of what urban fantasy can be. It’s rare that I find a book I can recommend without any reservations; Carousel Tides is one of those books.” — Seanan McGuire, author of Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, and An Artificial Night

W201010 October 2010 Monthly Baen Bundle

1635: The Eastern Front

by Eric Flint

MYTH-Interpretations: The Worlds of Robert Asprin

by Robert Asprin

The Power of Illusion

by Christopher Anvil
edited by Eric Flint

Monster Hunter Vendetta

by Larry Correia

Fangs for the Mammaries

by Esther Friesner

Of Berserkers, Swords and Vampires

by Fred Saberhagen

Accountant turned professional monster hunter, Owen Zastava Pitt, managed to stop the nefarious Old One’s invasion plans last year, but as a result made an enemy out of one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Now an evil death cult known as the Church of the Temporary Mortal Condition wants to capture Owen in order to gain the favor of the great Old Ones.

The Condition is led by a fanatical necromancer known as the Shadow Man. The government wants to capture the Shadow Man and has assigned the enigmatic Agent Franks to be Owen’s full time bodyguard, which is a polite way of saying that Owen is monster bait.

With supernatural assassins targeting his family, a spy in their midst, and horrific beasties lurking around every corner, Owen and the staff of Monster Hunter International don’t need to go hunting, because this time the monsters are hunting them. Fortunately, this bait is armed and very dangerous...

Lexile Score: 700

Having inflicted the smug homes of suburbia with witches and werewolves. Esther Friesner now unleashes the undead to tap a vein of blood and humor, and drain the suburbs dry of both.

Vampires and the suburbs are a match made in heaven, or maybe Levittown. Remember Dracula? He didn't run into any real problems until he took his act on the road and traveled to the Big City. But in the suburbs, everyone is polite and respectful of their neighbors' right to privacy. And if your neighbors happen to have kids selling gift-wrap, magazine subscriptions, cookies, or other school fundraising ploys, and little Emily or Jason happen to come peddling their wares after sundown . . .  Who says you have to stay in the city if you want good take-out meals delivered right to your door? There's no one quite like a vampire for saying, “All of you kids get off of my lawn!” and putting some teeth  into it.

The stories in these pages—by Sarah A. Hoyt, K.D. Wentworth, Dave Freer and more, including Esther Friesner herself—will convince the reader that vampires and suburbs go together like wine and cheese, gin and tonic, desperation and housewives, marriage and pre-nups. Enter freely and of your own will...

A new collection of stories by the master of humorous science fiction adventure, including: The full-length novel, The Day the Machines Stopped—and what happens, not just to civilization, but to humanity and its chances of survival when all the machines stop working at once?

A man is captured by aliens who are investigating the Earth as a possible target for colonization. The aliens have science and technology far in advance of humans—but, unfortunately for them, they have never developed the human art of bluffing.

For the first time in book form, Anvil's stories of Richard Verner, who is called in to solve apparently insoluble problems, such as explaining why experimental missiles keep failing for no apparent reason, or locating a kidnapped judge, or even solving an inexplicable murder that's interrupting his vacation.

And much more, in a generous volume of sardonically humorous science fiction.

About the Author

For two decades, Christopher Anvil had numerous stories in the leading science fiction magazines, and was a frequent and popular contributor to the leading magazine, Analog, where he consistently ranked high in the reader's polls, and had several stories nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards. Like Keith Laumer, he has a rare ability to combine fast-moving adventure with wry humor. His previous books for Baen were Pandora's Legions, Interstellar Patrol, Interstellar Patrol II: The Federation of Humanity, The Trouble with Aliens, The Trouble with Humans, War Games and Rx for Chaos.

Presenting a collection of short novels and stories set in the many worlds of Robert Asprin. One of his most popular creations was the “Myth” series, chronicling the misadventures of Skeeve and Aahz, a magician who has lost his power and his hapless human apprentice as they travel through strange and varied worlds in pursuit of wealth and glory, but mostly getting into one Myth-ical mess after another. Collected in this volume for the first time are all the Myth stories of less-than-novel length, and even avid fans of the series will find new and enjoyable reading here.

Also included are other short works by Asprin, including his award-winning novelette “Cold Cash War,” and several unpublished stories discovered after the writer's death. Asprin's many fans, as well as all readers who enjoy humorous fantasy and science fiction, will find a treasure trove of enjoyable reading. As editor Bill Fawcett puts it, “His stories are always fun, but never predictable.”

About the Author

Robert Asprin was the New York Times best-selling author of the long-running Myth series, in which he demonstrated a rare talent for combining fantasy adventure with hilarious comedy, as well as the Phule's Company series, which took a similarly irreverent look at military science fiction. With Lynn Abbey, he created the popular Thieves' World series of novels and story collections, one of the earliest shared-universe franchises. Many of his novels were adapted into graphic novel form. He was active in science fiction fandom and in the Society for Creative Anachronism, where he was known as Yang the Nauseating. He passed away in May 2008 at his home in New Orleans.