Good day to all. I'm a long time member of Baen Publishing's Webscription eBook service. This is where they make electronics versions available of some (all?) of the books being published that month. Each month's webscription contains anywhere from 4 to 7 complete books. I'm bringing this up because Baen has a "buy one, give one" policy that allows me to give a coupon to anyone who is not currently a member of the service. In other words, for every month's book package that I purchase, I get to have a coupon sent to any email address that I specify so that person can receive any 1 month book package they choose. If you haven't heard of the Baen Webscription service, you can check it out at the following URLs: Overview: Free books: Choose months to preview or purchase: Couple of things: 1) I get to have one of these coupons sent each time I order from them. Only 1 coupon each time, only when I feel like ordering something. That means that the number of these coupons is limited and that it might be weeks or months before I have another one. 2) It also means that I have to send that person's email address to Baen. Baen seems pretty honorable - they say they won't spam anyone and that they don't release that info to third parties. But: full disclosure. I have to send Baen whatever email address you tell me so that you can get that coupon. 3) The website has just been completely rebuilt. There may be bugs (I've already found a couple) - if you do come across something that doesn't work properly, please be nice and let them know about it. The top of each page has a "Contact us" link - just fill in the really simple form and let then know about any problems. Be gentle if you have to write them - these seem like honorable and hardworking people who don't need to be abused. The following relates to actually using Baen's website. 1) When looking at each month's list, mouse over each title. If you see something that you might like to read, simply click that title. A new page will open with the first portion of the book. This often can be up to half of the book - Baen is pretty generous. Fir example, "The World Turned Upside Down" (Jan 2005) consists of short stories. You get to read the first 7 of the 29 short stories contained within that one book. Jan 2005 contains 6 complete books. 2) All books are DRM free. No copy protection whatsoever. 3) Any month that you acquire (either as a purchase or by using a coupon like I mentioned above) is yours forever. Read it on-line or download in HTML or one of the other formats. I used to download a ZIP containing the entire month as one package but the new version of the website doesn't offer that option yet. But you can download each of the books for that month individually. 4) The Baen Free Library contains complete books by several authors - for free. Best to download your copies because authors are free to withdraw any titles at any time. Again - all titles are DRM-free. The free library is presented with 2 different interfaces: the old one that I'm used to and a completely different one. The old interface is at The new interface is at Try both interfaces out - maybe let Baen know if you strongly like or dislike one or the other. Me - I prefer the old interface. 5) Baen often pads out each month with more titles than the 4 they guarantee. Those extra titles are often from the Free Library or may have been previously released. Just letting you know - they aren't cheating! 6) The titles run pretty much the full range of SF and Fantasy. I'm a SF nut - not so much Fantasy. For example, if you like Tom Clancy, check out John Ringo's "Ghost" (Oct 2005). Barely qualifies as SF but downright excellent . I'm also partial to much of Leo Frankowski's work. Hell - I like most of what Baen's authors publish. Anyway: enough rambling. If you read SF and would like a pick any month that Baen offers for free, let me know with a PRIVATE email response to me directly. Do NOT send your email addresses to the list! Be sure to let me know the email address you want me to have the coupon sent to if its different from the address from which you write me. dwayne -- Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax Celebrating 22 years of Engineering Innovation (1984 - 2006) .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .- `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' Do NOT send unsolicited commercial email to this email address. This message neither grants consent to receive unsolicited commercial email nor is intended to solicit commercial email. -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist