Baen has added two new entries to their Free Library, both by Tom Kratman. Even if neither of these selections grabs you, you may want to see if there is something else you've missed there (perhaps Selections from Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories, edited by John Joseph Adams, to go with the yesterday's Kindle Deal?). If you've never checked out the new entries to their Free Library, then you are in for a treat (and a groaning Kindle when you are done!).A Desert Called Peace
HE RAISED AN ARMY AGAINST THOSE WHO TOOK EVERYTHING FROM HIM
They should have picked their enemies more carefully.
Five centuries from now, on a remarkably Earthlike planet that is mankind's sole colony in space, religious fanatics called the "Salafi Ikhwan" have murdered the uncle of former colonel Patrick Hennessey. That was their first mistake, because uncle was rich and Hennessey was rather a good colonel. But they also murdered Hennessey's wife, Linda, and their three small children, and that was their worst mistake for she was the only restraint Hennessey had ever accepted.
From the pile of rubble and the pillar of fire that mark the last resting place of Linda Hennessey and her children arises a new warrior—Carrera, scourge of the Salafis. He will forge an army of ruthless fanatics from the decrepit remains of failed state's military. He will wage war across half a world. He will find those who killed his family. He will destroy them, and those who support them, utterly, completely, without restraint or remorse.
Only when he is finished will there be peace: the peace of an empty wind as it blows across a desert strewn with the bones of Carrera's enemies.
Caliphate
"Slavery is a part of Islam . . . Slavery is part of jihad, and jihad will remain as long there is Islam." —Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, author of the religious textbook At-Tawhid ("Monotheism") and senior Saudi cleric.
Demography is destiny. In the 22nd century European deathbed demographics have turned the continent over to the more fertile Moslems. Atheism in Europe has been exterminated. Homosexuals are hanged, stoned or crucified. Such Christians as remain are relegated to dhimmitude, a form of second class citizenship. They are denied arms, denied civil rights, denied a voice, and specially taxed via the Koranic yizya. Their sons are taken as conscripted soldiers while their daughters are subject to the depredations of the continent's new masters.
In that world, Petra, a German girl sold into prostitution as a slave at the age of nine to pay her family's yizya, dreams of escape. Unlike most girls of the day, Petra can read. And in her only real possession, her grandmother's diary, a diary detailing the fall of European civilization, Petra has learned of a magic place across the sea: America.
But it will take more than magic to free Petra and Europe from their bonds; it will take guns, superior technology, and a reborn spirit of freedom.
Tor has several stories for Halloween free to read on their website, an event they are calling Monster Mash 2011 (they'll probably be on Kindle, eventually, at 99 cents each, or so).These are the stories and links:
- Trading Hearts at the Half Kaffe Café, by Charles de Lint
Reprinted from horror romance anthology Single White Vampire Seeks Same edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittiany A. Koren.- Monster Cops, by Chip Zdarsky
“Monster Cops” follows the adventures of a law-abiding Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolf-Man as they bust perps, dead or alive. In “The End of Your Arms,” Frankenstein suffers an existential crisis.- Wishbones, by Cherie Priest
Reprinted from Prime Books' horror anthology Creatures. A horrific composite creature with a long-lived past spooks some locals....- The Dead, by Michael Swanwick
Reprinted from SciFi anthology Starlight. “The Dead” presents a future world where zombies take center stage not as a threat, but as a commodity....- Apologue, by James Morrow
Written in response to 9/11, “Apologue,” reacts to the events through the perspective of three classic movie monsters. The results are perhaps not what one would expect from such earth-shaking creatures.
