The World

Albion Series, Book 2
by John Grant

Weird World War III

edited by Sean Patrick Hazlett

Target Rich Environment, Volume 2

by Larry Correia

Earthdoom!

by John Grant and David Langford

Sassinak

by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon

The Cunning Man

by D.J. Butler and Aaron Michael Ritchey

1636: The China Venture

by Eric Flint and Iver P. Cooper

The Valkyrie Protocol

by David Weber and Jacob Holo

John Abbott is all in.

He’s up to his eyeballs in debt to pay for school, and he’s just moved his small family forty light-years from Earth for a plum job with the wealthy interstellar corporation, The Sarovar Company. John’s first assignment is to discreetly investigate possible corruption at the remote Arrowhawk Station, where Company traders buy the famous Sarovari Weave from the three-sided, crablike Weavers.

John finds evidence of theft and worse, but when the guilty parties realize he’s getting close, they come after him and his family. Can John catch the thieves and end their corrupt trade? Can he head off a war between the Company and the Weavers? Can he make a life for his family in this remote wilderness without corrupting himself?

With no way back to Earth, the only direction for John Abbott and his family to go is forward—into danger.

THE EVENTS OF EARTH'S PAST MAY HOLD THE KEY TO EARTH'S SALVATION IN THE FUTURE

Marty Cohen was a gifted linguist and student of ancient military strategy who stepped away from academic Egyptology and opened a woodworking shop. Away from the bitter politics and petty rivalries, he’s happy to take care of his people, play the occasional war game, and try to make a good life.

Then mysterious visions begin to rob him of sleep. Soon after they start, he gets summoned back to Egypt: an off-the-grid dig funded by an eccentric financier has discovered texts that may be the earliest Egypt has produced, and they’ll pay Marty silly amounts of cash just to fly out and take one little look.

Marty turned his back on the academia game, but he’s a small business owner who has to make payroll, and he can’t say no to the money.

But the texts open doors to more visions and to an astonishing journey: his ragtag team of archaeologists finds itself in protohistoric North Africa, a drying land dominated by monsters, where humanity is badly in need of champions.

And behind the war against the monster overlords lies a greater struggle: Marty and his team have been chosen to be champions of all Earth and to run a gauntlet on humanity’s behalf.

Failure will mean extinction.

A STUNNING BAEN BOOKS DEBUT. A brilliant Americana flintlock fantasy novel set in a world of Appalachian magic that works.

Sarah Calhoun is the fifteen‑year‑old daughter of the Elector Andrew Calhoun, one of Appalachee’s military heroes and one of the electors who gets to decide who will next ascend as the Emperor of the New World. None of that matters to Sarah. She has a natural talent for hexing and one bad eye, and all she wants is to be left alone—especially by outsiders.

But Sarah’s world gets turned on its head at the Nashville Tobacco Fair when a Yankee wizard‑priest tries to kidnap her. Sarah fights back with the aid of a mysterious monk named Thalanes, who is one of the not‑quite‑human Firstborn, the Moundbuilders of the Ohio. It is Thalanes who reveals to Sarah a secret heritage she never dreamed could be hers.

Now on a desperate quest with Thalanes to claim this heritage, she is hunted by the Emperor’s bodyguard of elite dragoons, as well as by darker things—shapeshifting Mockers and undead Lazars, and behind them a power more sinister still. If Sarah cannot claim her heritage, it may mean the end to her, her family—and to the world where she is just beginning to find her place.

HIGH STAKES ADVENTURE AS TWO FRIENDS FIGHT THEIR WAY ACROSS A STRANGE WORLD IN A FAR-FLUNG FUTURE

Sometimes, the real enemies are the friends we make along the way.

An encounter with an old friend becomes tragically fatal, and Indrajit and Fix set out on a high-stakes, high-adrenaline quest across the ancient city of Kish to bring their friend back to life. At each step, the complications and the enemies alike pile up. The mysterious necromancers, the Vin Dalu priests, bind the heroes on an errand that sends them shuttling from one thieves’ guild to the next, pitting Indrajit and Fix against the deadly House of Knives and embroiling them in a plot by the giant, wasplike Kattak to take dire revenge on Kish and all its great houses.

Can the heroes save their friend? Can Indrajit and Fix survive? Will Kish itself fall?

Book two in the Ice Trials LitRPG series from best-selling author M.A. Rothman and D.J. Butler.

Marty Cohen and his team embarked on a cross-continental journey across North Africa with the goal of returning to their starting point. However, after passing through a mysterious portal, they find themselves in a place and time that is completely unexpected.

They end up on an isolated island nation where strangers are viewed as ominous figures sent by a higher power. The people of this nation hold a prophecy that involves a team of strangers as harbingers of either death or salvation.

When a massive flood threatens the island, chaos ensues, and the team faces a series of unexpected challenges. Conflicting information from various team members only adds to the confusion.

As the reluctant leader of the group, Marty must make a difficult choice between saving the lives of an ancient nation and those of his team members.

Ultimately, the fate of the world rests on his decision.

The Icarus Needle

by Timothy Zahn

Ice Trials

by M.A. Rothman and D.J. Butler

1919: The Romanov Rising

by Tom Kratman, Justin Watson & Kacey Ezell

Depth Charge

edited by Hank Davis & Jamie Ibson

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints

by Larry Correia and John Ringo

Through the Storm

by John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer

Book two in the Ice Trials LitRPG series from best-selling author M.A. Rothman and D.J. Butler.

Marty Cohen and his team embarked on a cross-continental journey across North Africa with the goal of returning to their starting point. However, after passing through a mysterious portal, they find themselves in a place and time that is completely unexpected.

They end up on an isolated island nation where strangers are viewed as ominous figures sent by a higher power. The people of this nation hold a prophecy that involves a team of strangers as harbingers of either death or salvation.

When a massive flood threatens the island, chaos ensues, and the team faces a series of unexpected challenges. Conflicting information from various team members only adds to the confusion.

As the reluctant leader of the group, Marty must make a difficult choice between saving the lives of an ancient nation and those of his team members.

Ultimately, the fate of the world rests on his decision.

DRAGON AWARD–NOMINATED SERIES. New entry in the Witchy War series, blending alternate history, Appalachian Folklore, and epic fantasy.

Sarah Calhoun has taken her father’s throne and ascended into her goddess’s presence in Unfallen Eden as her father never did.

And Sarah Calhoun is dying.

Her uncle Thomas Penn isn’t done with her. Armed with new powers conferred upon him by the Necromancer and with new allies won via his impending marriage, Penn aims to remove Sarah from her throne—and from the world of the living. In the meantime, Sarah has fallen out with one of her best allies. Against Sarah’s advice, her brother Nathaniel heads into Imperial Philadelphia with the reckless and likely impossible aim of healing the Emperor Thomas.

On the shores of the northern seas, agents of Franklin’s Conventicle with an unlikely connection to the Emperor struggle to win allies among the pole-dwelling giants, who are torn between seizing land covertly from the Firstborn of the Ohio and entering the war openly on the side of Simon Sword. In the west, the Heron King rides an explosive storm into war, crushing the mortal kingdoms in his path and bearing down on Sarah’s Cahokia.

To survive—and to gain the strength she needs to fight this impossible war—Sarah must unite the Moundbuilder kings to enact an ancient rite that will propel her beyond mortality. To do so, she must not only win over doubters among the Firstborn kings, but she must also beat back a rebellion among the Handmaids of her goddess—for there are some of the goddess’s priestesses who long for the dark days of human sacrifice, and who are willing to throw Sarah herself upon the altar.

NEW FAR-FUTURE PLANETARY ADVENTURE

"BARD DESPERATE FOR APPRENTICE AND ROGUE WITH SIDELINE IN INSURANCE SEEK WORK. PREFERABLY AS GOOD GUYS."

Indrajit Twang is the four hundred twenty-seventh epic poet of his people, the only person alive to carry their entire epic history and mythology in his head. His people are dwindling in number, and if he can’t find a successor in the great city of Kish, their story will disappear with them.

Fix grew up a foundling on the ancient streets of Kish and is making his living as a mercenary. The woman he loves married someone else, and Fix has turned to buying and selling risk on the black market—but is he trying to impress her, or prove something to himself?

Indrajit and Fix have been hired by a powerful risk-merchant to protect the life of opera star Ilsa without Peer for the duration of a risk contract he’s taken on. When an attempt is made on Ilsa’s life, Indrajit and Fix find themselves hunted by multiple mercenary squads and targeted by some of the most powerful men in Kish. Will they be able to save themselves, not to mention protect Ilsa, in the Palace of Shadow and Joy?

Terra Nova: The Wars of Liberation

by Tom Kratman

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

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 2020.

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.

The Red Sea by Mercedes Lackey and Cody Martin
Adrift by Frank Chadwick
The Policeman's Daughter by Wil McCarthy
Peregoy's Wolves by Nancy Kress
Chasing Your Tail by Peter J. Wacks
Bagala Devi Objective by M.T. Reiten
Sacrifices by D.J. Butler
Humanslayer by G. Scott Huggins
The Hero Business by Tim Akers
At the Seams by Jacob Holo
The Red Ship by Marc Miller
Preferred Seating by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Freedom

by Hal Colebatch and Jessica Q. Fox

Caller of Lightning

by Peter J. Wacks and Eytan Kollin

Witchy Kingdom

by D.J. Butler

Give Me Libertycon

edited by Christopher Woods and T.K.F. Weisskopf

Marque of Caine

by Charles E. Gannon

Mamelukes

by Jerry Pournelle
with contributions from David Weber and Phillip Pournelle

To Clear Away the Shadows

by David Drake

NEW FAR-FUTURE PLANETARY ADVENTURE

"BARD DESPERATE FOR APPRENTICE AND ROGUE WITH SIDELINE IN INSURANCE SEEK WORK. PREFERABLY AS GOOD GUYS."

Indrajit Twang is the four hundred twenty-seventh epic poet of his people, the only person alive to carry their entire epic history and mythology in his head. His people are dwindling in number, and if he can’t find a successor in the great city of Kish, their story will disappear with them.

Fix grew up a foundling on the ancient streets of Kish and is making his living as a mercenary. The woman he loves married someone else, and Fix has turned to buying and selling risk on the black market—but is he trying to impress her, or prove something to himself?

Indrajit and Fix have been hired by a powerful risk-merchant to protect the life of opera star Ilsa without Peer for the duration of a risk contract he’s taken on. When an attempt is made on Ilsa’s life, Indrajit and Fix find themselves hunted by multiple mercenary squads and targeted by some of the most powerful men in Kish. Will they be able to save themselves, not to mention protect Ilsa, in the Palace of Shadow and Joy?

The demons of the Great Depression are real. The cunning man is here to fight them.

Hiram Woolley is a cunning man.

A witch is someone whose craft is malevolent, someone who curses you. A cunning man is the person who is master of the lore necessary to defend you against witches, and against other evil powers.

Hiram is also a widower and a beet farmer, who learned his occult lore from his Grandma Hettie. Grandma Hettie raised Hiram on her farm; she said her prayers in German, sang the Psalms to secret melodies, and knew the special properties of stones. In the 1930s, with the western United States sunk in deep depression, Hiram and his adopted son try to help the poor—delivering food, helping the unemployed find jobs, digging out collapsed wells, and settling family disputes.

Behind the played-out farms and failed businesses, Hiram finds demons, curses, sorcerers, and unatoned wrongs. Bags of groceries and carpentry won’t be enough—to truly help the poor, Hiram will have to turn to Grandma Hettie’s magic.

Council of Fire

by Eric Flint and Walter H. Hunt

1636: The Flight of the Nightingale

by David Carrico

The Cunning Man

by D.J. Butler and Aaron Michael Ritchey

The Valley of Shadows

by John Ringo and Mike Massa

The Best of Jerry Pournelle

by Jerry Pournelle
Edited by John F. Carr

Conflict of Honors

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

On Being a Dictator

by Kevin J. Anderson and Martin L. Shoemaker

Strife's Cost

by Steve Rzasa

Rock Band Fights Evil Boxed Set

by D.J. Butler

Shadow Warriors: Retaliation

by Nathan B. Dodge

Most rock concerts don't begin with infernal monsters attacking the band, and most don't end at the gates of Hell. It's just par for the course with Earth's most damned rock band, though, featuring Adrian, organist turned sorcerer; Mike, unwittingly saved from suicide by a chance gig with the band; the lead singer, Jim, Lucifer's own son; and Eddie, make-do guitarist, ex-Marine, and the world's best ever tambourine player.

The adventures of the band take them through small town cults, Mab's Mirror Queendom, and the gates of Hell themselves. How will they survive with body and soul intact? Will the band bend or break? And where will they fall between Heaven and Hell?

This boxed set includes the first six installments of D. J. Butler’s pulp fiction serial Rock Band Fights Evil: Hellhound on My Trail, Snake Handlin’ Man, Crow Jane, Devil Sent the Rain, This World Is Not My Home, and The Good Son. Read more about D. J. Butler's books at http://davidjohnbutler.com.

DRAGON AWARD NOMINATED SERIES. Both previous entries in the Witchy War series, Witchy Eye and Witchy Winter, were nominated for best alternate history novel at the Dragon Awards.

An encounter with her father’s goddess has not turned out to be the end for Sarah Elytharias Penn. Now, with the Imperial fist tightened around her city of Cahokia and the beastkind of the Heron King ravaging across the river, she must find a way to access the power of the Serpent Throne itself—a feat, she has learned, that her father never accomplished. To complicate her efforts, Cahokia’s Metropolitan, a beloved and charismatic priest who despises the goddess as a demon, returns from a long pilgrimage and attempts to finalize the Wisdom-eradicating reform that dogged Sarah’s father when he was king.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s brother Nathaniel and her brilliant but erratic servant Jacob Hop find their steps dogged by the Emperor’s Machiavel, Temple Franklin, as they hunt in New Amsterdam for the third Elytharias sibling. Isaiah Wilkes, having failed to awaken the Emperor by reminding him of his esoteric obligations, now travels north in disguise to seek other allies to stand against the destroying storm of the reign of Simon Sword. Chigozie Ukwu, the Shepherd of the Still Waters, finds his peaceful flock threatened and pressed into a dangerous mission in the service of Cahokia’s wild sister city Zomas, while his brother, the Vodun houngan Etienne Ukwu, pushes toward a final showdown with the mameluke assassins of the Chevalier of New Orleans.

It’s the depths of the Depression, and a mining town in Utah is shut down. Something has awakened underground, and now a monster roams the tunnels. Along comes Hiram Woolley. Hiram is a man with mystical abilities derived from the commonsense application of Scot-Irish folk wisdom and German Braucher magic. He possesses an arcane Bloodstone that allows him to see a lie the moment it is spoken. Behind the played-out farms and failed businesses are demons, curses, sorcerers, and unatoned wrongs. Bags of groceries and carpentry won’t be enough this time.The job will take a man who has known sorrow. A man who has known war. A man of wisdom. A man of magic. The job will take a Cunning Man.