Reviews and Comments

One thing I look for in the Baen Free Stories collections are teasers for promising book series.

Teasers for worlds I would like to read more about.

That's often what you find in the monthly free story on baen.com: teasers for upcoming releases.

To catch people like me who are looking for exactly that is probably why they put out the free stories in the first place...? There are no free lunches after all. Bills have to be paid.

Anyway: found two promising stores in this collection:

The Witch, the Woods, and the Elf Queen by Gregory Frost. I don't normally go for regular fantasy but this one had promise. I like a touch of celtic or norse mythology (and is familiar with both).

The Hitchhiker on Souls’ Road by A. A. Nour, possibly not the start of a series but a touching story

I have followed Hadrian Marlowe through first one free short story on Baen.com and then through 6 novels.

Now it is time for the seventh and final "Sun Eater" story.

I just put it in my bookshelf waiting to be read.

Another installment of Frontlines finished... and I'll be waiting, and will be picking up, the next one.

I likes these books. It feels like they are unusual in the military SF flora. I don't know if it's the author's background as a cold war, Western European, conscript soldier rather than the US military, that causes the difference? (I myself was a Western European cold war era conscript a looong time ago).

And I'm still curious about the lankies: how can they be so big and function? Where does their energy come from? Especially since they don't show up on infrared?

Well... I admit to being curious to see if we will learn more about the lankies.

Starting book 2 of "Frontline Evolution" now.

I had already read "Centers of Gravity" so I knew how this book would end.

But still: it was a book that was easier to pick up than it was to put down, which means that I genuinely liked it. And it was a quick read (only 3 days I see here. I bet it took a bit longer than that to write...).

This book doesn't take the form of a novel. The book is in the form of diary entries tracking the time between book 7 and 8 of frontlines as seen from the one left behind.

This is a novella that describes the time between Frontline books 7 "Orders of Battle" and 8 "Centers of Gravity" as seen from the people left behind in the solar system.

Looking forward to reading it.

This was an enjoyable return to the "Old Man's War" universe, with a Henleinesque heroine. Recommended!

"Old Man's War" was my introduction to the writing of @scalzi@mastodon.social and the universe of that book is still my favourite Scalzi story universe, and I will pick up and read anything that appear in that universe.

Jeg fikk denne boka for mange år sia, (bursdagsgave i 2021) men den havnet dessverre i glemmeboka og dukket opp under rydding i kjelleren i høst.

Dessverre, fordi det er en interessant bok.

Språk og språkenes historie er en av mine store interesser.

Grunntesen i boka er at det ikke finnes bevis for at det var noen "kognitiv revolusjon" for fra 70000 år sia (Harari i "Sapiens") til 40000 år sia (diverse science fiction-forfattere) og at det som finnes av bevis tyder på at mennesker har hatt språk og evne til tanke og kunst og musikk mye lengre tilbake enn det. Iallefall lengre enn 300000 år (basert på at San-folket som har vært adskilt fra resten så lenge har alt det) og kanskje så mye som 1 million år (basert på hastigheten til evolusjon og naturlig utvalg) og mindre enn 6 million år (basert på vår felles forfar med sjimpanser og bonoboer som ikke har disse tingene).

Så: interessant bok. Anbefales!