ENTRY #2 IN CITIZEN SERIES, SEQUEL TO INTO THE HINTERLANDS.
THE RIGHT MAN FOR A VERY BAD JOB
The Cutter Stream colonies were at peace. If everybody behaved reasonably, that peace could last a thousand years.
Allen Allenson had known war; it had made him peaceful and reasonable. He was far too experienced to believe the
same was true of all his fellow colonists, however, let alone the government of the distant homeworld across the Bight.
War was coming, a war that the colonies had to win if they were ever to be more than prison camps and a dumping
ground for incompetent noblemen. The experience that had caused Allenson to hate war made him the only man who
could lead the colonial army.
Allenson knew that he wasn't really a general, but he understood his fellow colonists better than any homeworld
general could. He would free the Cutter Stream, or he would die trying.
What Allen Allenson would not do, what he would never do, was quit.
Listen to the author discuss the book here on the Baen Free Radio Hour.
In the realms of fantasy, the battlefield is where heroism comes alive, magic is unleashed, and legends are made and unmade. From the War of the Ring, Tolkien’s epic battle of good versus evil, to The Battle of the Blackwater, George R.R. Martin’s grim portrait of the horror and futility of war, these fantastical conflicts reflect our highest hopes and darkest fears, bringing us mesmerizing visions of silver spears shining in the sun and vast hordes of savage beasts who threaten to destroy all that we hold dear.
Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams is sounding the battle cry and sixteen of today’s top authors are reporting for duty, spinning never-before-published, spellbinding tales of military fantasy, including a Black Company story from Glen Cook, a Paksenarrion story from Elizabeth Moon, and a Shadow Ops story by Myke Cole. Within these pages you’ll also find World War I trenches cloaked in poison gas and sorcery, modern day elite special forces battling hosts of the damned, and steampunk soldiers fighting for their lives in a world torn apart by powers that defy imagination.
Featuring both grizzled veterans and fresh young recruits alike, including Tanya Huff, Simon R. Green, Carrie Vaughn, Jonathan Maberry, and Seanan McGuire, Operation Arcana is a must for any military buff or fantasy fan. You’ll never look at war the same way again.
CONTRIBUTORS: Elizabeth Moon Tobias Buckell & David Klecha Myke Cole Jonathan Maberry Genevieve Valentine Django Wexler Yoon Ha Lee Weston Ochse Myke Cole Ari Marmell Tanya Huff Carrie Vaughn TC McCarthy Glen Cook Simon R. Green Seanan McGuire Linda Nagata
Listen to the author discuss the book here on the Baen Free Radio Hour.
How do you get to the Red Planet? Not via a benighted government program trapped in red tape and bound by budget constrictions, that’s for sure. No, what it will take is a helping of adventure, science, corporate powerplays, a generous dollop of seduction—both in and out of the boardroom—and money, money, money!
Art Thrasher knows this. He is a man with a driving vision: send humans to Mars. The government has utterly failed, but Thrasher has got the plan to accomplish such a feat: form a “club” or billionaires to chip in one billion a year until the dream is accomplished. But these are men and women who are tough cookies, addicted to a profitable bottom-line, and disdainful of pie-in-the-sky dreamers who want to use their cash to make somebody else’s dreams come true.
But Thrasher is different from the other dreamers in an important regard: he’s a billionaire himself, and the president of a successful company. But it’s going to take all his wiles as a captain of industry and master manipulator of business and capital to overcome setbacks and sabotage—and get a rocket full of scientist, engineers, visionaries, and dreamers on their way to the Red Planet.
The man for the job has arrived. Art Thrasher is prepared to do whatever it takes to humans on Mars—or die trying!
About Mars, Inc.: “. . .perfectly enjoyable as an SF book (could Bova write anything that wasn’t enjoyable?), Mars, Inc. has that torn-from-the-headline vibe that’s obviously intended for a larger audience. . . . the bottom line? Mars, Inc. has inspiration, excitement, thrills, romance, a dash of satir—and is a good, fun read . . . .”—Analog
"The Hugo winner returns to his most popular subject: the quest for Mars."—Publishers Weekly
Listen to the author discuss the book here on the Baen Free Radio Hour.
Agent Franks of the U.S. Monster Control Bureau is a man of many parts—parts from other people, that is. Franks is six foot five and all muscle. He’s nearly indestructible. Plus he’s animated by a powerful alchemical substance and inhabited by a super‑intelligent spirit more ancient than humanity itself.
Good thing he’s on our side. More or less.
Sworn to serve and protect the United States of America from all monsters by one of the country’s founding fathers, Franks has only one condition to the agreement: no matter what the government learns of him, no matter what is discovered concerning his odd physiology or the alchemy behind the elixir that made him, the government is never, ever allowed to try and make more like him. Such is absolutely forbidden and should the powers‑that‑be do so, then the agreement is null and void.
Project Nemesis: in a secret location, using sophisticated technology and advanced genetic engineering, the director of the very agency Franks works for is making more like him. And the director is not content with making one. Nope, he’s making thirteen.
Now all bets are off, and Hell hath no fury like a monster betrayed. Particularly if that monster happens to be an undying killing machine capable of taking out vampires and werewolves with one hand tied behind his back.
Listen to the author (here) and cover artist (here) discuss the book on the Baen Free Radio Hour.
He looked like a cross between a dragon and a catfish, and he could bend iron bars into pretzels with a flick of his hand. But what Zdim the mild-mannered demon really was, was a scholar of logic and philosophy. That's why when Zdim was drafted for a year's servitude on the mortal plane he felt that a monumental administrative error had been made.
And even though Zdim resolved to be absolutely obedient and to do exactly what he was told, the wizard who employed him soon agreed…
Rollin Hobart thought he was a logical, sensible man--until he was transported to a world that was perfectly logical but not sensible in the least.
A reluctant hero using his modern knowledge but finding that things don't work quite the way he’s used to. But he’s got to try, because nobody else can save the world--and unless Hobart succeeds, he and his new friends are going to be horribly and realistically dead.
