Inspired by real science. Gritty. Realistic. That’s hard science fiction. To celebrate the awe-inspiring, wonder-producing hard science fiction of great Baen authors such as Patrick Chiles, Travis S. Taylor, and—of course—Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes, here are amazing ebook discount selections for June!

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To all of those who expressed interest and support for Baen's Bar in recent weeks, we are happy to announce it is back on-line, though with some changes. Baen is handing the Bar over to its users, and will henceforth be run by SFF Forums, LLC, and may be found at https://www.baensbar.net. Returning users will be able to use the Bar as usual, but new members will have to make a purchase at baen.com before they can log in. (Note: New users will not have to buy a book; there is a Bar tipjar option so they may contribute to the maintenance of the forum).

—Toni Weisskopf for SFF Forums

Since 2007, The National Space Society and Baen Books have honored the role that science fiction plays in advancing real science by teaming up to sponsor the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award. The prize is given out at the annual International Space Development Conference banquet. “Salvage Judgment” is the winner of this year’s Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award. And, for the first time in over a decade, we have a double winner of both the JBM and the Baen Fantasy Adventure awards. “Humanslayer,” by G. Scott Huggins was the 2020 grand prize winner of the sixth annual Baen Fantasy Adventure Award. As a testament to the author’s ability, we would like to stress that both contests are judged blind, and the judges had no idea who the authors were while adjudicating both contests! G. Scott Huggins the author of new novel Responsibility of the Crown, and can be found blogging at his web site, here.

“Theo!”

Theo’s Ectoderm tightened, darkening reflexively. It was the eighth day on the Honeymoonlet, and that tone was dangerous. He turned.

Molly drifted into the flight deck like a descending angel of death.

“What have you been doing in the shop?” She was a beautiful sight, mostly, clad in her bridal Layer, an intricate lace-pattern of black and white that wrapped her long form in shifting, tantalizingly curved shadows and turned her eyes into deep pools of night. In the center of the ice-cave that served as their flight deck, she looked like a fairy queen.

Not one of the good ones.

Jim Beall (BS-Math, MBA, PE) has been a nuclear engineer for over forty years, a war gamer for over fifty, and an avid reader of science fiction for even longer. His experience in nuclear engineering and power systems began as a naval officer. Experience after the USN includes design, construction, inspection, enforcement, and assessment with a nuclear utility, an architect engineering firm, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC).

Stars recycle and so must we if we are to travel between them.

Stars have practiced recycling from near the beginning

The ordinary matter of the early universe was mostly hydrogen with some helium. Population III stars formed out of that primordial mix (with trace amounts of lithium and beryllium) and fused more hydrogen into helium. Those stars had comparatively short lifespans ending in supernovas (or other stellar events such as becoming black holes) and spreading heavier elements into space where they—along with hydrogen—became part of Population II stars.

Contest Jointly Sponsored by Baen Books and The National Space Society Honors Positive Fictional Takes on Space Exploration