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This story takes place in the world of January 2021 debut science fiction novel Domesticating Dragons by Dan Koboldt. As a genetics researcher, Dan Koboldt has coauthored more than 80 publications in Nature, Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, and other scientific journals. He is the editor of Putting the Science in Fiction from Writer’s Digest Books. Koboldt is an avid deer hunter and outdoorsman. He lives with his wife and children in Ohio, where the deer take their revenge by eating the flowers in his backyard. On his blog he runs the popular “Science in Sci-fi / Fact in Fantasy” series, where experts in various fields contribute articles about how to write more realistic fiction. He has written general science articles for Clarkesworld, Apex Magazine, and Baen.com.

Every day I did my level best not to break any dragon eggs on the way into work. Build-A-Dragon's headquarters were in downtown Phoenix, a slab of volcanic glass amid the grays and browns of the Sonoran desert. I usually rode the elevator up to the seventh floor and took a shortcut through the Hatchery. Warm air spilled out when I pulled open the door, carrying with it the buzz of activity. Dozens of white-garbed staffers crowded the hallway between the pods. Aluminum egg carts glided back and forth with their precious cargo. I took a breath and plunged into the obstacle course.

The hatchers didn't make it easy. When they had an egg in their possession, other humans might as well not exist. I had to skirt and dodge around three pairs to reach the door to the design lab.

Entering the cooler, darker space always relaxed me from the chaotic hatchery crossing. The hum and whine of the God Machine—our biological egg-printer—provided its own sort of white noise. Like the sound of crickets in the desert at night. I knew right away something was different today. My boss Evelyn stood by Wong's workstation; the two of them spoke in hushed voices. It sounded like the lilting rise and fall of Mandarin, though they didn't usually speak it at work unless they were humoring my attempts to learn.

This is a three-part series on the world-building behind the Tom Kratman’s Carreraverse, presented with Kratman’s inimitable, deadpan style. Days of Burning, Days of Wrath is now out from Baen Books and chronicles a climactic storyline finale within Kratman’s best-selling Carrera military science fiction series.

It may not be as obvious as the techno-innovations, but there is a good deal of nation building going on in the series. Part of it is, yes, strictly military. Part is also political, as in the Timocratic system set up. A good deal of it, however, is much more personal. As much is infrastructure building. Still more is industrial. It is, in fact, a fairly holistic program to make a fine country out of one hovering between what we would call the first world and the third. The garment factories that provide clothing to the legions also make clothes for civilians and for export. The furniture factories that make furniture for the legions also impart the skills to make furniture for export. The solar chimneys that provide power to supplement hydro-electric also provide electricity to sell to neighbors.

More important, though, is this: We in the liberal west talk skills and spend vast sums, plow massive personal effort, into providing skill training to whoever will sign up for it. (Yes, it’s more complicated than that.) Maybe this is okay in a universe of unconstrained resources. In a universe of constrained resources, as Balboa has, the better question is, “Who can reliably be expected to make good use of the skill training? We’ll spend what we have on him and her. We’ll identify who they are through character testing…and use the military to do so.”

I’d suggest to you, dear reader, that even if we can afford the more hopeful and idealistic approach, we ought not indulge in it. Character first, and then skills, is a lot more likely to give you a useful product than skills and a groundless assumption of character.

Baen Books announces the top ten finalists for the 2020 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award for best original fantasy short story.

Join David Weber, Eric Flint and More in Livestream Showcasing New and Upcoming Books

M.T. Reiten of Los Alamos, New Mexico, has won the grand prize in the 2020 Jim Baen Memorial Award competition for his short story “Bagala Devi Objective.”

Innovative Independent Publisher to Bring Author Readings, Q&As, and Convention-Style Programming to Facebook LIVE

A list of all novels, short stories, and nonfiction pieces published by Baen Books in 2019, which are thereby eligible for most major awards

Over 170 titles from Baen Books to be published as audiobooks over the next three years