41 Comments on “Baenapalooza! (New Books/ARCs, 8/7/14)”

1. I’ll take one from column A–A is for Anne McCaffrey. She may be getting a little older, but she still comes out swinging. That’s what I like in a old broad!

2. That’s a lot of Baens!

   “Eight Million Gods” sounds interesting.

3. I am sad that Baen has joined the movement to trade paperbacks. I confess to a petty dislike of the format–nonstandard sizes make for an uglier bookshelf than either hardcover novels or mass market paperbacks.

4. I don’t get it. The Anne McCaffrey one (sorry Kirizar, she has been dead since 2011) was originally published in 1990. Why did they send this out as a new book? Or have I been trolled and they are all old releases? (Didn’t do research on any of the other books, too lazy sorry.)

5. @ Kirzar. Alas, Anne McCaffrey passed away a while back :( Death of sleep is an older book that’s being reissued (I assume).

   I do love this feature of your Blog, JS. It’s gotten so hard to visually browse for new (or new old) books that are coming out. This is a bit like going to an old-fashioned brick and mortar store and scanning the new releases rack each week.

6. Teszla:

   Baen appears to have as a foundation of its business an aggressive reprint strategy. Nothing wrong with that.

7. Presumably Treecat Wars is a sequel to the internet published Lolcat Wars?

8. Also, Jody Lynn Nye, co-author of Death of Sleep, is very much alive.

9. Anything by John Ringo is golden

10. I just ordered “Trial By Fire” and the first in that series “Fire by Fire” for my library. I’m looking forward to reading them. I also read “Eight Million Gods” a year or so ago, and it was pretty good.

11. The Weber & Ringo is also old stuff, the 3rd and 4th books in the Empire of Man series: March to the Stars and We Few.
    I will probably buy Treecat Wars, I was a little disappointed with Fire season but I generally like Jane Lindskold’s work.

12. The Weber, Ringo, Spencer and Flint books were so good that I have already read them months ago.

    I love eARCs. And some of these are paperback reissues I think.

13. NameNor said: “Anything by John Ringo is golden”

    I was browsing Amazon recently for a reprint of an old Philip Jose Farmer title; the people-who-bought-this-item-also-bought lineup lower on the page included a lot of old pulp heroes, both famous (Doc Savage) and obscure (Jim Anthony, Super-Detective) and, right in the middle of all these vintage offerings, the latest in Ringo’s zombie-fighters-at-sea series.

    Which, when I thought about it, makes a lot of sense. Constant action, hyper-capable characters, and no moral ambiguity at all. Yeah, I can see why Ringo’s writing would appeal to fans of the old pulps.

14. Slow Train to Arcturus gets my attention on the title alone. I’m usually only so-so on Flint, but I’ll want to at least check out the back cover on this one and see if it interests me.

15. “Which, when I thought about it, makes a lot of sense. Constant action, hyper-capable characters, and no moral ambiguity at all. Yeah, I can see why Ringo’s writing would appeal to fans of the old pulps.”

    I think you’ve finally figured out what I liked about his stuff which leaves me kind of sad that I can’t really read it anymore due to some combination of problematic attitudes, particularly where it feels like he’s insulting people like me. If I want to read stories about hypercapable characters, the last thing I’d be interested in is being insulted by the author. (When I stopped reading his stuff, he had a massive hate-on for people who think we should look beyond nationalism. From what I hear, he’s only gotten worse on that count.)

    Gannon’s recent stuff, Fire with Fire and what I’ve seen of Trial By Fire are similar, and a good time. I’m still waffling about getting the second one, though, because unplanned children (especially plural) as a source of dramatic tension in a story set in the future and written now destroys my suspension of disbelief very quickly. Honestly, they come recommended, but with that caveat.

16. Wen Spencer for the win!

17. Anne McCaffery and David Webber are already on my go to list.

18. Ringo’s “Islands of Rage & Hope” is due out in a few days, I think. The first two in the series were fun to read and I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.

19. Charles Gannon’s new book and the second omnibus from Ringo and Weber are two books I’m definitely adding to my buy when I’m no longer a poor college student list.

20. Throne of Stars?!!

21. Man, I was so excited by that Throne of Stars, but it is just an ombibus. I would love to see more of their Empire of Man series, two of my favorite military SF authors working together is pretty great.

22. Death of Sleep – a good book, but I liked other books of the set more.

    To Get:
    Eight Million Gods
    Throne of Stars
    Treecat Wars

    Slow Train To Arcturus sounds interesting…

23. Odd; didn’t have Throne of Stars in my bag this week, and it’s the one I wanted the most of that batch.

24. Belay that about Throne; I had it cross-matched with another. Richard H.: I think you’re dead on with Ringo, but feel you are underestimating Gannon.

25. Slow Train is a good one. I’ll take Throne of Stars. Stay hydrated

26. Slow Train To Arcturus looks the most interesting because it’s the thinnest. Sometimes that counts for me.

27. Eight Million Gods is a hoot. Look for the “game of life difficulty setting” reference.

    Trial by Fire is a solid sequel in what looks to be a long series. Space opera with a reasonable balance of character development, alien species, military SF, and interpersonal relations. Gannon is doing pretty well.

28. I loved The Death of Sleep and all the Sassinak books when I was younger. May need to pick this up again. Also I remember them having less-silly-than-usual covers for Baen books.

    Also, the title “8 million Gods” just sounds interesting, even though I have no idea what it’s about.

29. (sigh) Yet another pile of Baen, and nary a new “Jon and Lobo” title amongst them.

30. Those curious about Slow Train: definitely a new take on an old science fiction theme (generation ships), with the novel feature that I couldn’t spot anything in it that’s in serious disagreement with known physics.

    If there’s a weakness I would say it’s that much of the book is from the POV of a nonhuman who’s not especially alien.

31. Trial by Fire, I think.

32. I *really* enjoyed Trial By Fire and its predecessor, Fire With Fire. The story arc so far has been pretty intricately plotted, and numerous “seeds” sown early on keep sprouting up into trees here and there as the narrative progresses. There are a couple of bits I found problematic — but overall, it’s very intelligent, astute political and military analysis involving humans and several beautifully-detailed alien races, seasoned with lots of great action scenes.

33. I am particularly interested in Death of Sleep because in a somewhat sci-fi way something that doesn’t seem to be my meds has crept in, taken over my body, and is sleeping 12-14 hours a day. No, not a little one, pod or otherwise. Seeing specialist in October, so as you can see they’re taking the threat of alien invasion very seriously. LOL. I just thought of that now. I should ask for an ultrasound so we can count number of tentacles to see what world it’s from, while at the same time checking on my kidneys. May as well kill two birds with one stone…

    D.C. Sessions, that is quite the lovely feline. Shifter or Ocicat, by chance?

    Thank you for your generosity, O Wise Scalzi One.

34. I, too, am very saddened by the move toward trade paperback. They take up more room on my shelves! These shevles were specifically chosen for their optimal mmpb-containing ability. Now they contain a scattering of trade pb and my choice is to change shelf height (and lose at least an entire shelf of space) or have them on their sides, which makes them impossible to identify because the spine isn’t out, and is unsightly to boot.

    On the plus side, I got my box of used books from Better World Books’ recent sale. Fourteen books for $30 plus shipping, and one is an out of print I’ve been looking for for years. Party time!

35. I’m intrigued by Treecat Wars.

36. Wow, for the first time I can remember I’ve actually read five out of seven and am expecting the sixth to arrive today and will probably have read it within the week. Only exception is the solo Ringo, and I dislike his solo work so have no interest in it, though I’ve read several of his books. Don’t know his personal politics, but all of his books I’ve read are from a wingnut POV that offends me.

37. I’m a woman and I don’t hate myself so I don’t read Ringo anymore. The Wen Spencer looks interesting.

38. Trial By Fire was a great read.

39. I hadn’t realized a new treecat book was coming out. Can’t wait to get my hands on that one!

40. Something else strikes me – SF/F covers and fonts are starting to look all alike again. Boring!

41. Wen Spencer’s Eight Million Gods is the bomb! I hope she writes a sequel set in Hawaii.