Halley’s Comet, 1759. The comet veers and strikes the Earth with nature-altering force. The New World splits from the Old. A chain of mountains rises in the Mid-Atlantic. No ship from the New World can find a passage to the Old. Those who try . . . simply disappear. But the greatest change the comet has wrought is the dawn of real magic—and very real monsters. In this transformed land of magic, royal blood brings unexpected powers. Yet if a young English prince cannot master those powers, they may lead to his own destruction—and to a New World ruled by monsters.

Get Council of Fire eARC here.

It’s the depths of the Depression, and a mining town in Utah is shut down. Something has awakened underground, and now a monster roams the tunnels. Along comes Hiram Woolley. Hiram is a man with mystical abilities derived from the commonsense application of Scot-Irish folk wisdom and German Braucher magic. Hiram must confront the monster below, as well as the family of mine owners who would rather watch children starve than compromise with each other. The job will take a man who has known sorrow. A man who has known war. A man of wisdom. A man of magic. A Cunning Man.

Get The Cunning Man eARC here.

For half a century, Jerry Pournelle's name has been synonymous with hard-hitting, idea-driven, wonder-inducing science fiction. Now, for the first time, Pournelle's best short work is collected together in a single volume. Here are over a dozen short stories, each with a new introduction by editor and long-time Pournelle assistant John F. Carr. There is also a cornucopia of Pournelle’s rampantly imaginative and compelling essays as well as great remembrances by Pournelle collaborators Larry Niven, S.M. Stirling, and more!

Get The Best of Jerry Pournelle eARC here.

Two novels set in Eric Flint's best-selling Ring of Fire series shine a light on the overlooked corners of the Ring of Fire universe, where small actions can have life-altering consequences. In The Flight of the Nightingale, down-timer Francesca Caccini is inspired by the arrival of Grantville to seek a different destiny from what would have been her lot in a future without the up-timer intrusion—that is, to die with a reputation as a brilliant composer and performer, but to later be essentially forgotten by all but the cognoscenti. And in Bach to the Future, Johann and his brothers commit themselves to preserve, protect, and promote their family's heritage from the future, even if in this future there will be no Johann Sebastian Bach!

Get 1636: The Flight of the Nightingale eARC here.

“Treason Properly” by J.J. Cragun is the grand prize winner of the sixth annual Baen Fantasy Adventure Award. The award recognizes the best original adventure fantasy short story in the style of fantasy greats like Larry Correia, Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth Moon, Andre Norton, J.R.R. Tolkien, and David Weber.

Read “Treason Properly” here.

Though we’ve been gazing up at the sky since the dawn of mankind, only recently (relatively speaking) have our tools for doing so become sophisticated enough to help us learn about our universe in detail. But our atmosphere blocks a huge amount of radiation (both for good and ill), which prevents us from greater understanding of the cosmos. In this month’s nonfiction essay, Kerry Hensley explains why this is—and how we may be on the brink of solving this problem and gazing out into the universe like never before.

Read “The Universe Beyond the Plasma Frequency” by Kerry Hensley here.

Editior Tom Kratman and story authors participate in a roundtable discussion of new Carerra military science fiction series anthology Terra Nova. Larry Correia and Sarah A. Hoyt discuss Monster Hunter Guardian. And D.J. Butler talks about new fantasy novel Witchy Kingdom.

Listen to the Baen Free Radio Hour now.

Don’t forget to check out the Baen new book releases here. Enter the August Contest here. And for upcoming appearances by Baen authors and editors, check here.