Category Archives: Baen Books

The Ebb and Flow of Empire: David Falkayn: Star Trader

Leave a reply

David Falkayn: Star Trader
Baen Books
ebook $6.99
Mass market paperback $7.99

This is volume 2 of the Technic Civilization Saga. The first four stories in the book are novellas: “Territory”, “The Trouble Twisters”, “Day of Burning”, and “The Master Key”. The first and fourth stories concern Nicholas van Rijn, but the middle two involve David Falkayn and his crew Chee Lan and Adzel. Chee Lan resembles a furry primate, while Adzel is a pacifist who looks like a dragon.

In “Territory”, van Rijn has to survive on an alien world when the aliens turn decidedly unfriendly.  In “The Master Key”, he solves a problem on an alien world without getting out of his chair. Falkayn and company find themselves in the middle of a power struggle when he rescues a damsel in distress.

“Day of Burning” is of particular interest here. Falkayn and his crew are trying to save as many inhabitants of a planet that will soon be victim of a nearby supernova. That planet is Merseia. Centuries later, Dominic Flandry will wish Falkayn hadn’t done such a good deed. The Merseians will become humanity’s greatest enemies.

Other than “Day of Burning”, there aren’t any standout stories in terms of long term historical impact in Anderson’s future history. Things are fairly stable as far as galactic government goes. That’s okay, though. All four stories are good, old-fashioned space adventures with well-constructed societies and alien cultures. They are a lot of fun and worth reading.

The rest of the book contains the novel Satan’s World and two shorter pieces. I’ll take a look at those soon.

Piracy on the High Skies

Leave a reply

Cosmic Corsairs
Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio, eds.
Baen
Trade Paper $16.00
Ebook $8.99

When Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio said, “Cosmic Corsairs”, I said, “I’m there.”

Aside from the fact that space pirates are among my favorite things to read about, the anthologies these two gentlemen have put together in the past have been well-worth the investment, which meant I bought this book as soon as I could get my grubby little hands on it and started it immediately.

I am a satisfied customer.  Continue reading →

Keith Laumer Sends a Message

1 Reply

There are some writers who are superstars and whose names and works live long after they have entered the long night. There are others who do consistently good work, have their cadres of fans, and are forgotten within a few years or decades of their passing.

Keith Laumer

One such author was Keith Laumer (1925-1993), who was born on this day, June 9. Laumer died nearly three decades ago. In the early 2000’s Baen published a number of omnibuses of his work. Since then, he’s fallen into neglect.

Laumer is best remembered for his tales of the diplomat Retief or perhaps the Bolo series of intelligent tanks. But he wrote a number of other things, all of them enjoyable. He could do action and adventure, space opera, and time travel. He knew how to tell an entertaining story, and he could hide a moral lesson in it without detracting from the entertainment or beating you over the head with his message. Continue reading →

Remembering Charles Sheffield

1 Reply

Charles Sheffield was born in England on this day, June 25, in 1935.  He passed away in 2002.  Sheffield was one of my favorite writers when I was in high school, college, and graduate school.  A scientist, Sheffield wrote science fiction of the “hard science” variety, but with characters who were living, breathing human beings.  They weren’t from Central Casting.  He began his writing career after the death of his first wife in the late 70’s.  By this time he was laready living in the United States.

Sheffield was adept at both long and short forms.  He wrote several series, as well as stand-alone novels, such as Godspeed, which has been described as the book we would have gotten had Robert Heinlein written Treasure Island.  Most of his novels are still in print through Baen.

I wish someone would put together a retrospective of his work.  Today is going to be hectic, but I’ll try to read a short piece by him and raise a glass to memory this evening.

A Look at Poul Anderson’s “To Outlive Eternity”

Leave a reply

anderson-to-outlive-eternityTo Outlive Eternity
Poul Anderson
Baen
mass market paperback $7.99
ebook $6.99

This post isn’t about the entire collection, but the title story.  “To Outlive Eternity” was serialized in Galaxy in 1967.  An expanded version was published in 1970 as the novel Tau Zero.  I read the novel approximately 25 years ago.  Today being Anderson’s birthday, I wanted to read something of his that was longer than a short story, but not too long.  “To Outlive Eternity” was perfect.

Anderson was a master at many forms of science fiction and fantasy.  He had a degree in physics; not surprisingly, much of his hard science stories revolve around physics and astronomy concepts, one of the many reasons I like his work.  “To Outlive Eternity” falls into this category. Continue reading →

Alex Stewart Shoots the Rift

Leave a reply

shooting-the-rift-9781476781181_hrShooting the Rift
Alex Stewart
Baen Books
Trade Paper $16.00
Ebook $8.99

It’s spring, when a middle-aged man’s thoughts lightly turn to…space opera!

Alex Stewart has been writing the Caiphas Cain novels and stories under the name Sandy Mitchell for the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.

Now he’s branched out and writing another series.  This is grand old space opera in the grand old tradition.  Or to put it another way, it’s a heckuva lot of fun. Continue reading →

Unforgettable is, Well, Unforgettable

2 Replies

UnforgettableUnforgettable
Eric James Stone
Baen Books
trade paper $15
ebook $7.55

So here’s an interesting little novel (by “little” I mean a reasonable length, not a doorstopper, IOW, a compliment) that plays with some scientific ideas in a new way.

Nat Morgan is literally forgettable.  One minute after you leave his presence, you will completely forget having met him.  No computer has any record of him.  He doesn’t show up on camera.  The only way he can leave a permanent record is by writing something down.  That’s the only method he has of being recalled.

So naturally, he works for the CIA.  There’s an entire prototcol he uses to get his handler to accept that what he says is true.  There’s also a file in his handler’s desk with enough information about Nat that the guy will trust him.

Nat is on an assignment to steal a quantum chip prototype when he and a beautiful Russian spy  (Are there any other kinds?  Only a few.) who is also trying to steal the chip are captured.  Things get interesting when she remembers him after they part ways. Continue reading →