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Steve Miller, best known for the long-running Liaden Universe® series of space opera stories and novels, coauthored with his beloved wife and partner Sharon Lee, died February 20, 2024, in their home in Waterville, Maine. He was 73.

Steve had been fighting heart trouble for several years and, old newspaperman that he was, had prepped his obituary for the trade months before. Steve had worked many jobs before becoming a full time writer, including managing early BBS systems, acting as an internet librarian, owning and managing a science fiction themed used bookstore and art gallery with his wife, and acting as a freelance reporter for many Baltimore area and national publications.

Steve leaves behind a legacy that has profoundly shaped the landscape of science fiction and inspired a generation of new writers. Last year saw the publication of their 100th collaboration together, the national best-selling science fiction novel Salvage Right; Ribbon Dance, also a Liaden novel, is scheduled for release in June 2024, and Sharon intends to continue the series as they had planned.

Steve’s interest in chess was lifelong. He was a member of the University of Maryland Baltimore County Chess League, a U.S. Chess Federation Tournament Director, President of the Owings Mills Chess Club, President of the Waterville Chess Club, and ran numerous tournaments in many venues. He was part of Waterville’s Main Chess League championship team in 1998.

We at Baen honor not only his remarkable literary achievements but also the warmth, kindness, and boundless imagination that defined him as both an author and a friend. “He was one of the good guys,” said his publisher Toni Weisskopf. “A true light shining in the science fiction community.” In this time of sorrow, our thoughts and condolences are with Sharon Lee, and the countless fans whose lives have been touched by Steve’s legacy.

Steve was predeceased by his father, Donald Miller of Madeira Beach, FL, his stepfather, Ronald L. Moore, Sr., and his mother, Helen Moore. Survived by his wife, Sharon Lee, and siblings Donald George Miller (Kim), Craig Edward Miller (Brenda), Cindy Rex (Ron Prietz Sr.), Roland L. Moore, Jr. (Kay) and numerous nieces and nephews.

Finalists exemplify the best of near-future, forward-thinking science fiction. Annual contest marks 16 years of highlighting bright futures and rising talent.

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For the month of March, to celebrate the release of two new novels from two of our rising stars here at Baen Books, we’re offering discounts on all Tim Akers and Patrick Chiles backlist ebooks.


Details here

Christopher Ruocchio is the internationally award-winning author of the Sun Eater, a series blending elements of both science fiction and fantasy, as well as more than twenty works of short fiction. “The Fangs of Oannos” takes place before his upcoming novel, Disquiet Gods.


The Fangs of Oannos

Christopher Ruocchio

“What do you know of our guests, mi sadji?” asked the High Prince of Jadd, seated in his float-chair to my right. “These men of Oannos?”

I looked up at the flight of starships descending—like a phalanx of birds black against the eggshell sky. “Only that they are a strange people. Stranger than you men of Jadd.”

My friend—my host, my patron, and my jailer—laughed softly in his way, so near to coughing. The High Prince was not a young man. His face, concealed in that moment behind the enameled cobalt mask of state, was like a dried olive, so withered was that noble brow, those hollow cheeks. It was said throughout the city and across the planet that Aldia du Otranto was nearly one thousand years old. Not that he was born a thousand years prior—that fact is true of many a sailor of the waterless ways between the stars—but that he had lived one thousand years. If that were so, he was the oldest man in the galaxy. The oldest man who was yet all-man, at least. For in Jadd they did not augment the flesh as among the Extrasolarians, who traded their blood and organs for metal and glass.

In Jadd, they wrote poetry in the blood, composed sonnets in the four-lettered language of God. The princes of that far realm live long lives, longer than the palatine lords of the Imperium. But a thousand years? I shuddered then—who am older now—and felt every second of my near six-hundred years.

Why should time make itself most felt through pain?

Through pain, and . . . 

“Arman says they’re all wizards!” said the girl on the stand in front of me. “He says they do blood magic. Do they do blood magic, Uncle?”

The plates of the mask that covered Prince Aldia’s face arranged themselves into a smile, “Non, child. What they do is little different than what we do here—what we did when we made you for your Abba here.” He nodded at me. “Save that they do it less well. But they are a strange country, Lord Marlowe—you are right.”

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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).

The term “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) was coined by mathematician and computer scientist John McCarthy at a 1956 Dartmouth conference now deemed to be the birthplace of AI as a field of science, but the idea goes back nearly three millennia!

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Baen Books has signed a contract with author Christopher Ruocchio to publish the final two books in his internationally award-winning Sun Eater series, as well as for a first look deal for Ruocchio’s next series.

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We’re happy to announce an easier way to deliver our Ebooks directly from Baen.com to your favorite Ereader. You can now email EPUB files directly to your device from our site—no download necessary!

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Baen to publish new science fiction novels from authors Monalisa Foster and Marisa Wolf

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Lucille Robbins, Eric Flint’s widow and heir, in conjunction with Baen Books would like to announce the forthcoming titles from Eric Flint.

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Baen to publish sword and sorcery series The Chronicles of Hanuvar, with first book in August 2023

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Baen Books formally announced this year’s finalists for the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award earlier this month.

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It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Eric Flint has passed away. We were proud to publish Eric’s first novel, Mother of Demons, in 1997, and to continue publishing his many worlds, including the best-selling Ring of Fire series that started with 1632.

There are several of Eric’s works already delivered and on the schedule. Eric was a tireless collaborator, and readers can also expect more of his works to be released with Eric’s designated collaborators in the future.

We will be celebrating Eric and his works on the Baen Free Radio Hour this week and the following week and encourage all to tune in.

—Toni Weisskopf
Publisher, Baen Books

Lakewood, Colorado author Wil McCarthy has been named the winner of the 2022 Prometheus Award for Best Novel, for his novel Rich Man’s Sky.

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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

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

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

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