In January of 2011 we started posting free short stories we thought might be

of interest to Baen readers. The first stories were "Space Hero" by Patrick

Lundrigan, the winner of the 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest, and

"Tanya, Princess of Elves," by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter

International and set in that universe. As new stories are made available,

they will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the

Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). This is our compilation of

short stories for 2018.

In January of 2011 we started posting free short stories we thought might be

of interest to Baen readers. The first stories were "Space Hero" by Patrick

Lundrigan, the winner of the 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest, and

"Tanya, Princess of Elves," by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter

International and set in that universe. As new stories are made available,

they will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the

Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). This is our compilation of

short stories for 2018.

THE UNIVERSE MAY NOT BE A NICE NEIGHBORHOOD . . .

“The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown,” the grand master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft, once wrote. And the greatest unknown is the vast universe, shrouded in eternal cosmic night. What things might be on other planets—or in the dark gulfs between the stars?

Giving very unsettling answers to that question are such writers as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Sheckley, Philip K. Dick, James. H. Schmitz, Clark Ashton Smith, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher, Sarah A. Hoyt, and more, all equally masters of science fiction and of terror.

One might hope that in the void beyond the earth will be found friendly aliens, benevolent and possibly wiser than humanity, but don’t be surprised if other worlds have unpleasant surprises in store for future visitors. And in vacuum, no one will be able to hear your screams—as if it would do any good if they could . . .