The Best of Jim Baen's Universe II

Astounding Tales! (Also Amazing and Astonishing!)

Tell the truth:  you flat-out love science fiction and fantasy.  Time travel.  Space opera.  Alternate history.  Doesn't matter. What you love is the story.  The great idea.  The adventure and action.  That good old-fashioned science fiction staple, the Sense of Wonder.  

We know exactly how you feel.  Here's the best of the best: new science fiction tales told by the likes of David Drake, Gregory Benford, Gene Wolfe, Esther Friesner, Mike Resnick, John Barnes, and L. E. Modesitt, Jr.  The list of award-winning story-tellers and brilliant new talent goes on and on.  More important:  here are stories that grip you. Transport you.  Expand your universe.  Make you late for important appointments like bedtime and supper!

Edited by New York Times best-seller and creator of the hugely-popular "Ring of Fire" series, Eric Flint, a master story-teller in his own right, these tales are all taken from the e-pages of Jim Baen's Universe, the new standard in science fiction storytelling created and inspired by publisher and editor Jim Baen, whose nose for a great story made him a science fiction legend!

"[T]he story comes first and foremost."—Eric Flint, Jim Baen's Universe Editor-in-Chief

Cover Art by David Mattingly

Hardcover
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, June 2008

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The best of Jim Baen's universe II / edited by Eric Flint & Mike Resnick.
       p. cm.
  ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5570-4 (trade pbk.)
  ISBN-10: 1-4165-5570-6 (trade pbk.)
1.  Science fiction, American. 2.  Fantasy fiction, American.  I. Flint, Eric. II. Resnick, Michael D. III. Jim Baen's universe (Online)
  PS648.S3B498 2008
  813'.0876208--dc22
                                                            2008013441

Pages by Joy Freeman (www.pagesbyjoy.com)
Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5570-4
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5570-6

Copyright© 2008 by edited by Eric Flint & Mike Resnick

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original
Baen publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
https://www.baen.com

Electronic version by Baen Books
https://www.baen.com

BAEN BOOKS by ERIC FLINT

Ring of Fire series:

1632
1633 with David Weber
1634: The Baltic War with David Weber
Ring of Fire ed. • Ring of Fire II ed.
1634: The Galileo Affair with Andrew Dennis
1634: The Ram Rebellion with Virginia DeMarce et al.
1634: The Bavarian Crisis with Virginia DeMarce
1635: The Cannon Law with Andrew Dennis
Grantville Gazette ed. • Grantville Gazette II ed.
Grantville Gazette III ed. • Grantville Gazette IV ed.
 
Time Spike with Marilyn Kosmatka
 

Joe's World series:

The Philosophical Strangler • Forward the Mage with Richard Roach

Standalone titles:

Mother of Demons • Crown of Slaves with David Weber
The Course of Empire with K.D. Wentworth
Mountain Magic with Ryk E. Spoor, David Drake & Henry Kuttner
Boundary with Ryk E. Spoor
 
With David Drake: The Tyrant
 

The Belisarius Series with David Drake:

An Oblique Approach • In the Heart of Darkness
Thunder at Dawn (omnibus)
Destiny's Shield • Fortune's Stroke
The Tide of Victory • The Dance of Time
 

With Dave Freer:

Rats, Bats & Vats • The Rats, The Bats & The Ugly
 
Pyramid Scheme • Pyramid Power
 

With Mercedes Lackey & Dave Freer:

The Shadow of the Lion • This Rough Magic
 

Edited by Eric Flint:

The World Turned Upside Down with David Drake & Jim Baen
The Best of Jim Baen's Universe
The Best of Jim Baen's Universe II with Mike Resnick
The Dragon Done It with Mike Resnick