Which free Baen book would you start with?

[GatorDeb]

Originally Posted by recycledelectron

1632 --> 1633 (time travel)

A Hymn Before Battle --> Gust Front (alien invasion)

Fallen Angels (President Obama / Gore)

Mutineer's Moon

Andy

Fallen Angels is seriously about an Obama / Gore ticket ?!

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by NatCh

On Basilisk Station would be my recommendation.

I'm about half way through this one and very much enjoying it so far. I'll probably polish it off this weekend.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Time Traders while good has a problem. The series jumped ship (different publisher) and not all of it is available in eBook form. I think it went to Tor.

There are four books in the series:
The Time Traders
Galactic Derelict
The Defiant Agents
Key Out of Time

All are available in free ebook form.

Baen has _The Time Traders_ and _Galactic Derelict_ packaged together in a Free Library edition, here.

Manybooks has _The Time Traders_, _The Defiant Agents_, and _Key Out of Time_, here.
______
Dennis

[Eagleeye]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I'm about half way through this one and very much enjoying it so far. I'll probably polish it off this weekend.

If you want to read all of the books in this series (Honor Harrington), look at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com for the AtallCosts-CD or the HellhathnoFury-CD. Enjoy!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

There are four books in the series:
The Time Traders
Galactic Derelict
The Defiant Agents
Key Out of Time

All are available in free ebook form.

Baen has _The Time Traders_ and _Galactic Derelict_ packaged together in a Free Library edition, here.

Manybooks has _The Time Traders_, _The Defiant Agents_, and _Key Out of Time_, here.
______
Dennis

There are two other books you've missed....
Firehand by Andre Norton and Pauline M Griffin
Echoes in Time by Andre Norton and Sherwood Smith

The last two are not available as eBooks.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There are two other books you've missed....
Firehand by Andre Norton and Pauline M Griffin
Echoes in Time by Andre Norton and Sherwood Smith

The last two are not available as eBooks.

I was only concerned with Andre's solo efforts. She did an assortment of books in her last years as collaborations with younger authors, where I believe she provided an outline and her co-author wrote the actual book. Andre did a fair bit of that sort of mentoring.

As mentioned, all of the one Andre wrote alone are available. It would be nice if the collaborations also became available in ebook editions.
______
Dennis

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by Eagleeye

If you want to read all of the books in this series (Honor Harrington), look at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com for the AtallCosts-CD or the HellhathnoFury-CD. Enjoy!

Thanks Eagleeye! I actually got the series from that site, DMcCunney linked me to it. I'm glad you posted the link so anyone else interested can download the series as well.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Thanks Eagleeye! I actually got the series from that site, DMcCunney linked me to it. I'm glad you posted the link so anyone else interested can download the series as well.

The problem with the Free Library is that a number of the books in it aren't available on Baen's website, and only appeared on one or more promotional CDs bound in to selected Baen hardcovers.

I have a background project to compile a list of all Free Library titles, with references as to just where each can be obtained. The first step is making sure I have the complete list. I have all of the CDs...
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

http://www.webscription.net/c-1-free-library.aspx

Downloaded all the books, and was wondering which one to start with. Time Traders sounded interesting, good first choice?

Depends on what sort of work you like. Baen specializes in mid-level action adventure SF and Fantasy, and most of the stuff in the Library fits that mold.

One good starting point is _On Basilisk Station_, the first of the Honor Harrington books. The series traces Honor's career from yeoman daughter of two physicians to Fleet Admiral and peer of the realm in two star nations.

Honor is a citizen of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, a constitutional monarchy governing the planets of the Manticore system. Manticore is small but wealthy, due to a large active merchant marine trading across known space, with a crack navy to protect it. Manticore's next door neighbor is the Republic of Haven. Haven has a problem. The founders of Haven told the colonists "You let us run things, and we'll take care of you.". A couple of centuries later, Haven is a hereditary oligarchy whose capital planet has a population of several billion Dolists, who live on government subsidies and expect an ever increasing standard of living. Haven is going broke paying the upkeep, and has taken to conquering and looting smaller neighboring star nations to pay the bills. Manticore is next on the list. The Royal Manticoran Navy is better than Haven's, but Haven is much larger with a lot more ships.

And Manticore has a fractious polity with an opposition doing its best to pretend war isn't coming. Honor's may just have more trouble dealing with political opposition elements at home than she does with enemy ships in space.

Honor's career is based on both the fictional Horatio Hornblower, and the real Admiral Lord Nelson, and Manticore and Haven strongly resemble Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars. Weber has fun with the physics underlying the FTL travel used, to let him have ships of the line drawn up in the wall of battle and whaling away at each other with lasers, grasers, and missiles in three dimensional versions of Napoleonic War naval tactics.

Another nice set is the Belisarius series by Eric Flint and David Drake.

A far future religious faction called the New Gods has decided to try to alter history to make the future come out more to their liking. They send a cyborg called Link back in time to the 6th century, where it becomes the power behind the throne of the rising Malwa empire in India, teaches them to make gunpowder and primitive gunpowder weapons, and sets them to conquering the world.

Another future branch of humanity called the Great Ones counter by sending back Aide, a sentient crystal. Aide comes into the hands of the Roman general Belisarius, who must create a gunpowder and weapons manufacturing industry, and raise an army capable of defeating the Malwa, while keeping the paranoid Emperor Justinian from finding out what he's really doing. Justinian wants him to conquer the western half of the former Holy Roman Empire and reunite the sundered halves of Christianity, and will have Belisarius's head if he discovers what Belisarius is up to.

Start with _An Oblique Approach_

For a light-hearted fantasy, try _The Wizardry Compiled_ by Rick Cook.

"Wiz" Zumwalt, a California programmer, is translated by magic to another world where magic works. He has a problem. The master mage who did the spell that brought him over is killed doing it. He didn't tell anyone else what he was doing or why. Wiz finds himself in the keeping of the beautiful hedge witch, Moira, who loved the master mage like a father, and considers Wiz responsible for his demise. And the land to which Wiz has been brought is menaced by the Dark League of the North, which is bigger and more powerful, and is slowly conquering all of that world.

Wiz must figure out what he is doing there and how he can help, starting with magic which is purely empirical. Magicians have learned through trial and (often fatal) error, that if you hold your body just so, and say certain words exactly like this, that a spell will be cast that can perform a (hopefully) desired action. Get anything the least bit wrong...

There is no underlying theory or structure, and fixing that may be Wiz's challenge. Start with _Wizard's Bane_.

Baen has also been returning a fair amount of classic SF to print and ebook editions. The Andre Norton Time Trader books are an example. Baen has the first two, packaged as an anthology. The other two Andre wrote in that series are available at Manybooks.net. There are two more don in collaboration with other authors that are not available as ebooks.

Another set along that line is the James H. Schmitz "Federation of the Hub" stories. Many Hub stories feature Telzey Amberdon, the teenage daughter of a couple of Federation Overgovernment officials. Telzey is a powerful xeno-telepath, capable of making mental contact with alien beings. This brings her to the unwanted attention of the Federation's Psychology Service, which keeps tabs on psis as part of what they do.

Another set features "Trigger" Argee, a Federation troubleshooter with an interesting past. Various alien races live adjacent to Federation space, and not all are happy with their human neighbors. Sometimes Trigger must help keep a lid on the pot.

Start with _Telzey Amberdon_
______
Dennis

[GatorDeb]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions so far. I'm going to start with The Basilisk Station (although every time I hear that name I think Harry Potter (which I love, BTW). The description made it sound like there was some backstory that came from another series but since so many are recommending it as a first book, it seems to be a standalone.

Thanks again!

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

Thanks everybody for the suggestions so far. I'm going to start with The Basilisk Station (although every time I hear that name I think Harry Potter (which I love, BTW). The description made it sound like there was some backstory that came from another series but since so many are recommending it as a first book, it seems to be a standalone.

Thanks again!

That's an awsome book! It hooked me on Honor Harrington and Weber altogether!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Start with _Telzey Amberdon_

I agree. And this is top level compared to a lot of other things that Baen publishes.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

Thanks everybody for the suggestions so far. I'm going to start with The Basilisk Station (although every time I hear that name I think Harry Potter (which I love, BTW). The description made it sound like there was some backstory that came from another series but since so many are recommending it as a first book, it seems to be a standalone.

Thanks again!

Er it's On Balilisk Station. And there is substantial backstory, but not from another series. Weber created a complex universe, and parts of the backstory are revealed over the course of the series. _On Basilisk Station is the first book in the series.

In order,thus far, the series is:

On Basliisk Station
The Honor of the Queen
The Short Victorious War
Field of Dishonor
Flag In Exile
Honor Among Enemies
In Enemy Hands
Echoes of Honor
Ashes of Victory
War of Honor
At All Costs

There are also some collaborations with other authors and stories set in the Honorverse:

The Service of the Sword
Crown of Slaves
Shadow of Saganami
More Then Honor
Worlds of Honor
Changer of Worlds

All are in the Baen Free Library, either on the website or on one of the promotional CDs which available as ISO images, big Zip files, or individual books, at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com

TheFifthImperium also maintains a database of all things Weber, at http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/

If On Basilisk Station doesn't hook you on the series, Weber is probably not for you.
______
Dennis

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

For a light-hearted fantasy, try _The Wizardry Compiled_ by Rick Cook.

Is the complete Wizardry series available in eBook form?

[GatorDeb]

DMcCunney I meant backstory as I had to read such and such in order to even start that book. So it doesn't seem I need to have read anything else to read that book.