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Archive for the ‘Baen Books’ Category

Monday Book Pick: The Disinherited

Monday, February 1st, 2016

The Disinherited by Steve White
This is Steve White’s first solo novel. My first printing of this book has a 1993 copyright. It’s a straight up space opera, and fans of the classic SciFi RPG Traveller, and the closely related 2300AD game will some familiar concepts. It is also a first contact story. A group of Terrans, a mix of Americans and Russians working in the Asteroid Belt are contacted by beings from another star, with advanced technology. Both sides are more than a bit freaked out to find out they are both human. The alien humans have a problem, namely a very aggressive species of actual alien that makes up for a slightly lower tech base with a fracking lot of resources. The space faring Earth humans go to assist the other humans. They might as well, since the Earth had been poisoned by what Mr. White had correctly identified 23 years ago as the toxic ravings of the so called “social justice” movement, which has a more dangerous level of Antisemitism than it does today. Heroic stuff happens, and there is even a surprise twist at the end. Just to top this tale of adventure in deep space off, there is a mad scientist and his beautiful daughter.

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Monday Book Pick: A Call to Duty

Monday, March 30th, 2015

A Call to Duty by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

This is the first book in the Manticore Ascendant series, which is a prequel series to the Honor Harrington series. It takes place in the early days of the Manticoran Star Kingdom, when the Manticoran Navy was not so powerful or well funded. It took a couple of chapters to get me hooked, but one it picked up, I didn’t want to put it down.

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Monday Book Pick: Pirates of the Timestream

Monday, December 8th, 2014

Pirates of the Timestream by Steve White

Jason Thanou is back (26 Aug 2013 Book Pick) for round three. This time is it in the golden age of Pirates. His team links up with Captain Henry Morgan while they battle it out with time traveling Transhumanists! Even worse, he has to deal the uncaring bureaucracy of his own government.

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Monday Book Pick: The Many Deaths of Joe Buckley

Monday, November 24th, 2014

The Many Deaths of Joe Buckley by Assorted Baen Authors & Barflies

This is raw meat for Baen fans. The complete collection of all the ways Baen authors have killed long time Barfly Joe Buckley.

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Monday Book Pick: Spellbound

Monday, October 13th, 2014

SpellBound by Larry Correia

Larry Coreia makes the book pick again. This time with the second book in his hard-boiled noir series complete with more than a bit of magic thrown in. It’s the 1930’s and magic has been around for about a hundred years. It started with just a few people, but it’s been growing pretty steady, so by the time this story takes place it’s pretty mainstream. Things pick up where the last book left off.
The good guys have managed to defeat what they thought was their greatest enemy, but they were mistaken. Not about killing the bad guy, just about him being their greatest enemy. The hard part is convincing even their allies about the oncoming evil. Before they can face that evil, they have to deal with a plot to register and round up all the magically active people in America. Hitler was put in front of a firing squad early in this reality, but there are still “good progressives” that want to put people in camps and eliminate the trouble makers. Lots of action. new bad guys, plot twists, and did I mention lots of action. Oh, and remember, don’t get on Faye’s bad side.

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Monday Book Pick: Kildar

Monday, September 15th, 2014

Kildar by John Ringo

The sequel to John Ringo’s military thriller Ghost, which also won an award as a romance novel. At the end of the first novel, our (anti) hero has been touring Eastern Europe and sampling its pleasures. Kildar starts with him lost in a snow storm in Georgia (the country, not the state). A series of events result in him buying a farm, complete with a manor house and tenant farmers. The “tenant farmers” turn out to be the descendants of a long lost band of famous warriors. This book tells how Ghost, now known as “The Kildar”, trains up a company of commandos (with plenty of expensive help), and breaks them in by killing a lot of bad guys trying to sneak into their valley in order to kill, pillage, rape, etc. It also tells how the Kildar just happens to obtain an harem of teenage girls, and is forced into hiring an older (26), and incredibly beautiful harem manager. So Ringo is continuing the themes that won the previous novel that romance award. Additional books in the series pick up the pace, with more killing of bad guys, and rescuing of young women, some of which just happen to be submissive enough to warm the cold, hard heart of a Dom like the Kildar.

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Monday Book Pick: Sunset of the Gods

Monday, July 21st, 2014

Sunset of the Gods by Steve White

Jason Thanou is back (26 Aug 2013 Book Pick) and things are getting even weirder in his trips to the past. He finds out that there are worse things than finding that the anicent Greek Gods were aliens mucking with human development. At least they were slowing dying out. One a mission to observe, from a lot closer viewpoint than he planned, the battle of Marathon, things go pear shaped right quick when he runs into Pan!

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Monday Book Pick: Monster Hunter International

Monday, May 5th, 2014

Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia

Larry Coreia makes the book pick again. This is the first book in his first series. He had self-published this book, after getting turned down by multiple publishers, and it was selling pretty well. Then Baen contacted him and Correia followed up his first hit with string of others, including three more Monster Hunter books and two other series with five books between them. In this book we meet Owen Z. Pitt, who has a soul sucking accounting job in Dallas that only gets worse, when his already bad boss gets bitten by a werewolf and attacks Pitt on the next full moon. It is close, but Pitt manages to kill his boss and get threatened by some Feds who tell him to keep his mouth shut or they will put a bullet in his head. Enter Monster Hunter International. A private company that hunts monsters and collects the federal bounty on them. Yes, Pitt finds his true calling. Hunting monsters. Zombies, werewolves, Vampires, and all that stuff. Stir in some Lovecraftian horror and an old Jewish monster hunter spirit guide and you have one fun read! It has monsters. It has romance. It has detailed and accurate firearm discriptions. Fun for the whole family!

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Monday Book Pick: Hard Magic

Monday, April 28th, 2014

Hard Magic by Larry Correia

Larry Coreia makes the book pick again. This time with the first book in his hard-boiled noir series complete with more than a bit of magic thrown in. It’s the 1930’s and magic has been around for about a hundred years. It started with just a few people, but it’s been growing pretty steady, so by the time this story takes place it’s pretty mainstream. Magic takes different forms in different people. Some can move objects with their mind, others can heal people, others can change the effect (more or less) the effect of gravity, others can teleport, and so on. Then there are the Cogs. They are just really, really smart in specific areas. Einstein was a Cog, as was Count Von Zeppelin, and John Moses Browning. Larry Correia is a former firearms instructor, so of course John Moses Browning in the book, and he is hero. I enjoyed this book a lot. Good characters, both good guys and bad guys, and those who are really a bit of both. An interesting setting, and lots of action. I’m glad there are two sequels to this already in print.

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Monday Book Pick: Big Boys Don’t Cry

Monday, March 17th, 2014

Big Boys Don’t Cry by Tom Kratman

Tom Kratman writes a Bolo Novella. OK, they aren’t called “Bolos”, but Parthas. They are just huge, tank like, war machines with an AI core, that are pretty damn smart by the time they reach revs in the late thirties. Let’s just say that in this morality play, the Partha’s human masters do things to them that no Bolo (or Partha) should have to live through. I know a few things about the military, military history, and training. Subjects that Kratman is an expert on, and all three play a part in this story. An interesting read, with a happier ending than you would expect.

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