[ozron]

and more Baen freebies... from ereaderiq.com...

The Philosophical Strangler (Joe's World) by Eric Flint free @ Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Philosophical-.../dp/B00ARPEGKI

PHILOSOPHY: THE HANDS ON APPROACH

Mighty Greyboar, the world's greatest professional strangler, is dissatisfied with his lot in life. The work is steady and the pay is good, but what, he wonders, is the point of it all

But when he learns that there is a Supreme Philosophy of Life*, Greyboar the Strangler is Born Again! Still, just how can a professional man in good standing pay the bills with all this philosophical exploration getting in the way

That's what his hard-headed agent and manager Ignace wants to know! And Ignace's skepticism turns quickly into outright horror when Greyboar's philosophical preoccupation leads to one disaster after another . . .

—simple choke jobs turn into ethical quandaries . . .

—a bizarre artist and a deadly arms-master turn up to complicate their life . . .

—as if their new girlfriends haven't complicated it enough!

Before you know it, Greyboar the strangler and his disgruntled manager find themselves embroiled with an abbess at odds with her deity, heretics on the run, dwarves needing to be rescued, and then—worst of all!

Greyboar's long-estranged sister Gwendolyn, political activist and revolutionary, comes back to town asking Greyboar's help in an insane mission to the underworld. It's purely a noble cause, one which no self-respecting assassin would touch for a moment. But in the pursuit of Enlightenment, anything can happen. . . .

*What You want the details Hint: Entropy. For more on the secret, buy this book!

Star Soldiers by Andre Norton free @ Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Soldiers-ebook/dp/B00ARPJA7W

Andre Norton-Grand Mistress of science fiction-presents a grand tapestry of the far-flung interstellar future, in which the first starships from Earth have burst out into the universe . . . only to run straight into the restraining grasp of the stagnant alien federation known as Central Control.

Only as interstellar mercenaries can humans go to the stars; the aliens who already dominate the galaxy allow no other recourse. But when Swordsman Third Class Kana Karr and his comrades-in-arms are betrayed and abandoned on a hostile world by their alien masters, the warriors from Earth begin a desperate but glorious march across a planet whose every sword is against them. Their actions may doom humanity's future . . . or lead the way to an empire of their own!

Four thousand years later, galactic civilization is collapsing, and the underfunded crew of an exploration starship is forced to set down on an uncharted planet: a mysterious, abandoned world that is achingly beautiful-and hauntingly familiar. Ranger Sergeant Kartr, telepath and stellar Patrolman, searches with his crewmates for the source of a beacon which may mean escape for them all. What he finds is far stranger: the first clue to what may become the greatest revelation in galactic history!

The defining events of future historyas only Andre Norton could tell them!

The Creatures of Man by Howard L. Myers free @ Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/The-Creatures-.../dp/B00ARPJ8ZQ

NOT ONLY STRANGER THAN YOU IMAGINE, STRANGER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE

In a distant future when humans no longer need spaceships, but hurtle between the stars faster than light, propelled and protected by implants in their bodies, the galaxy has been divided between two battling factions who contend for dominance by economic maneuvering. Each side is determined to overwhelm the other, and is likely to abandon the "Econo-War" for a genuine shooting war if it thinks that defeat is imminent. Only one thing can avert the looming disaster: a talisman of great, almost supernatural power which has been lost for millennia on a minor world called Earth.

Here, The Econo-War is collected in one continuous novel-length narrative for the first time, along with other dazzling visions of future worlds: A planet where well-meaning busybodies from Earth try to "cure" the inhabitants of their craving for the exotic drug chocolate ... another planet where insects dimly recall myths of the humans who gave them intelligence before departing for the stars, and wonder if the strange creatures will ever return ... a brilliant concert pianist whose twin is the target of an inexplicable assassination plot which he must foil—because he and his "twin" share the same brain ... an intelligent weapon which was instructed billions of years ago to obliterate a race, but whose mission was frustrated by a slight malfunction—until now . . . and much more by a unique and original master of science fiction adventure.

"In the 1960s, Myers' stories came pouring out—almost every one of them excellent, ranging from the chilling to some of the wittiest science fiction stones ever written." —Eric Flint and Guy Gordon

Caliphate by Tom Kratman free @ Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Caliphate-ebook/dp/B00ARPJDLA

"Slavery is a part of Islam . . . Slavery is part of jihad, and jihad will remain as long there is Islam." —Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, author of the religious textbook At-Tawhid ("Monotheism") and senior Saudi cleric.

Demography is destiny. In the 22nd century European deathbed demographics have turned the continent over to the more fertile Moslems. Atheism in Europe has been exterminated. Homosexuals are hanged, stoned or crucified. Such Christians as remain are relegated to dhimmitude, a form of second class citizenship. They are denied arms, denied civil rights, denied a voice, and specially taxed via the Koranic yizya. Their sons are taken as conscripted soldiers while their daughters are subject to the depredations of the continent's new masters.

In that world, Petra, a German girl sold into prostitution as a slave at the age of nine to pay her family's yizya, dreams of escape. Unlike most girls of the day, Petra can read. And in her only real possession, her grandmother's diary, a diary detailing the fall of European civilization, Petra has learned of a magic place across the sea: America.

But it will take more than magic to free Petra and Europe from their bonds; it will take guns, superior technology, and a reborn spirit of freedom.

The Warslayer by Rosemary Edghill free @ Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/The-Warslayer-ebook/dp/B00ARPJ9D2

LIVE THE LEGEND!

Gloria "Glory" McArdle plays Vixen the Slayer in a straight-to-syndication TV show where even the fans say the villain is the better actress. The wizards of Erchanen have been searching all the worlds to find a hero, and Vixen the Slayer is the last name on their list.

The Warmother, imprisoned a thousand years before by Ginnas the Warkiller, has broken free of her ancient chains. If a hero can't be found somewhere in all the universes to fight for them, the people of Erchanen are toast. But is it Glory they're looking for... or Vixen

It all seemed to be a perfectly straightforward misunderstanding when Belegir was explaining it in Glory's dressing room. The reality—if you could call it that—isn't just fighting for her life. Faced with a challenge like that, what can a girl do but pick up her magic sword and her stuffed elephant and give her trademark battle cry:

"Hi-yi-yi-yi! Come, Camrado! Evil wakes!"

The Course of Empire by K.D. Wentworth & Eric Flint free @ Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/The-Course-of-.../dp/B00ARPEJC8

WOULD THEY DESTROY EARTH IN ORDER TO SAVE IT

Conquered by the Jao twenty years ago, the Earth is shackled under alien tyranny—and threatened by the even more dangerous Ekhat, who are sending a genocidal extermination fleet to the solar system. Humanity's only chance rests with an unusual pair of allies: a young Jao prince, newly arrived to Terra to assume his duties, and a young human woman brought up amongst the Jao occupiers.

But both are under pressure from the opposing forces—a cruel Jao viceroy on one side, determined to drown all opposition in blood; a reckless human resistance on the other, perfectly prepared to shed it. Added to the mix is the fact that only by adopting some portions of human technology and using human sepoy troops can the haughty Jao hope to defeat the oncoming Ekhat attack—and then only by fighting the battle within the Sun itself.