Baen Authors

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Apache

A great series. I keep hoping he will write a sequel to The Peshwar Lancers.
Apace

Me too

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Amen on that. Pournelle is one of my favored authors. His Codominium books have a very different feel than those he co-authored with Larry Niven. His Tran series is pretty interesting as well.

Well, just remember that The Mote in God's Eye (perhaps their best joint work and one of the best sci-fi novels period) and the The Gripping Hand are both part of the Codominium future history.

--
Bill

[Apache]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Well, just remember that The Mote in God's Eye (perhaps their best joint work and one of the best sci-fi novels period) and the The Gripping Hand are both part of the Codominium future history.

--
Bill

Other great books by the two are Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall, Inferno and Escape from Hell.
The first is about a comet striking the Earth
The second is about an invasion by aliens with a herd mentality.
Three is about a science fiction write who wakes up in Dante's Hell and his journey to escape.
Four is a sequel to three.
Apache

[radius]

Originally Posted by gbm

Also the Council Wars by John Ringo the first two ebooks in the series are in the free library.

Well guys, I have read both of those and I am still not a John Ringo apologist I'm glad you found something you like to read though.

For the Empire of Man, IIRC it was competently written, but coming from a former colony, I'm not a fan of books where the heroes just blow away the wogs without any kind of nuance.

Council Wars to me was just boring. For the level of technology that was supposedly available, the uses it was put to was banal and uninteresting. I also didn't buy the characters. In fact, I have no idea why Ringo ever tries to write about back-stabbing schemers. He's probably such a straight forward, charge-up-the-middle kind of stud that he just doesn't have the sympathy and introspection to truly understand someone like that.

[jehane]

Originally Posted by Waylander

I do not like Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books, as I just could not get into them.

You might still want to try her Serrano/Suiza or Vatta books. I have never been able to get into the Paks books but really enjoyed the others. My sister is the opposite. Also, I started with Once a Hero, the first Suiza book but the 4th overall in the series, which kept me reading it. I'm not sure I would have stuck with it if I had started with the first book. I never got into the Serrano section as much as the Suiza books. Or just start with the Vatta series.

[jehane]

Originally Posted by Apache

If you do not read The Empire of Man by John Ringo and David Weber you are missing a great series.
Apache

I liked the first one though there were some aspects that disturbed me [1] but couldn't sustain the interest beyond the second. I skimmed the third and fourth for the plot.

[1] The overwhelming colonialist attitude was a big one, as was the required level of suspension of disbelief that this guy had somehow managed to grow up in a complete bubble of ignorance of his own personal history that everyone else in the empire knew.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by radius

Well guys, I have read both of those and I am still not a John Ringo apologist I'm glad you found something you like to read though.

For the Empire of Man, IIRC it was competently written, but coming from a former colony, I'm not a fan of books where the heroes just blow away the wogs without any kind of nuance.

Unfortunately most of human history is and has been like that. Even the Indians of North America displaced and killed the people who already inhabited the areas that they moved into. And most of them moved into those areas because they were forced from their previous lands by other invaders. Until humans grow up I do not see an end to this type of behavior.
Apache

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Waylander

Any other suggestion? I do like military sf, and fantasy.

Any of David Drake's stuff. His Lt Leary novels I really like as Mil SF, and his Lord of the Isles fantasy series was also good.

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by Apache

If you do not read The Empire of Man by John Ringo and David Weber you are missing a great series.
Apache

Ringo/Taylor: "looking glass" series (one of my favourites)
Both "warp speed" books from Taylor

Both: "Rats, bats, vats" from the free library
Ryk Spoor's "Digital Knight"

Rick Cooks "Wiz biz" books

Seconding the recommendation of vorkosigan books and E. Moon's Paksenarrion. Should you like the latter, please keep in mind that new and forthcoming books in the "Paksverse" as the author calls it are not published by Baen.

[jscarbo]

The Baen Free Library has been severely reduced but still has some great books. At present, the best source for free Baen ebooks is the free CDs from Fifth Imperium: http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ . They are legal downloads, not illegal fileshares.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by radius

Well guys, I have read both of those and I am still not a John Ringo apologist I'm glad you found something you like to read though.

For the Empire of Man, IIRC it was competently written, but coming from a former colony, I'm not a fan of books where the heroes just blow away the wogs without any kind of nuance.

Well, I come from the original colonies that broke away and I found that the repeated examples of how the New Model Army is superior to barbarians got rather tedious, and is a series that I couldn't read straight through. I skipped the third book entirely, which is probably just as well, because from the details about it included in the fourth book about the evil Saints (who want to return planets colonized by man back to nature through Holocaust style slave labor and commando operatives named Greenpeace, gee, bludgeon us with your right wing views please Ringo & Weber), I probably would have hated it. The fourth book was mildly more interesting because it's set on Earth, but I still found it to be mostly just skim worthy.

I started out liking Weber's Honor Harrington series, although I sometimes felt like I was reading an info dump about the French Revolution and the evils stemming from it and communism, but it's another series which gets tedious if you try to just read through. There's actually a SF fan organization based on this series, they like to wear Royal Manticorean Navy uniforms and throw parties at SF conventions.

Bujold's Vorkosigan series, on the other hand runs the gamut from SF military/romance (yes, really), murder mystery, straight war stories, comedy of manners, revenge and more. I think I could read it all again straight through.

In many ways, the Miller & Lee Liaden stories have a lot in common with Bujold, but I'd say they're a bit heavier on the romance.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I started out liking Weber's Honor Harrington series, although I sometimes felt like I was reading an info dump about the French Revolution and the evils stemming from it and communism, but it's another series which gets tedious if you try to just read through. There's actually a SF fan organization based on this series, they like to wear Royal Manticorean Navy uniforms and through parties at SF conventions.

The later books in the series are positively tedious with armament details, and WAY too long. I think it was number 10 in the series that prompted me to post a review saying that there was a decent 400 page book hiding inside that 1200 page manuscript. But doing a rather too good a job of hiding.

Bujold's Vorkosigan series, on the other hand runs the gamut from SF military/romance (yes, really), murder mystery, straight war stories, comedy of manners, revenge and more. I think I could read it all again straight through.

In many ways, the Miller & Lee Liaden stories have a lot in common with Bujold, but I'd say they're a bit heavier on the romance.

I'm not sure I'd have characterized the difference as heavier on romance, though I can see why you might say that. Certainly, I find that the Lee, and Lee&Miller, books stand up to multiple re-readings over time, whereas the Bujold ones are good for maybe one re-read. Though I enjoy all three authors.

[Freeshadow]

I have already 3 rereads of vorkosigan behind me.
Two of them even before ivan's was out. Although I admit I skipped cryoburn last time. My favourites are the 1st omnibus and Memory

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm not sure I'd have characterized the difference as heavier on romance, though I can see why you might say that. Certainly, I find that the Lee, and Lee&Miller, books stand up to multiple re-readings over time, whereas the Bujold ones are good for maybe one re-read. Though I enjoy all three authors.

Well.... My first readings of Liaden and Vorkosigan had Liaden heavier in romance. After a partial rereading of both series, I'd still say that the Liaden Universe is still *slightly* heavier. Both have tons of action, but Lee & Miller seem to put more emphasis on the relationships.

And Jo Walton has an interesting series of blog posts (scroll down. First post is March 31, 2009) on her rereading of the Vorkosigan saga in publication date order. Ms. Walton has been blogging about SF/F on Tor for ages and has some interesting things to say.

[Xanthe]

Let me just throw Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire series into the mix. It's one of my favorites.

The first book in the series is "Primary Inversion": http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/0...0812550234.htm

She's an interesting person in her own right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Asaro