Orientation

If you've got Microsoft Word or Wordpad installed, click RTF format. Other formats will probably work also, but this one I guarantee. (If I can do it, you can do it. Trust me.)

If you know absolutely nothing and don't have Microsoft Word or Wordpad installed, HTML—browser format—will work, unless maybe you're trying to use it on your PDA. If you do want to use your PDA, I can't help you.

But a lot of other people can. If you have any sort of problems with this CD, talk to a buddy who knows what she's doing. Alternatively, you can log on to the Bar at Baen.com, go to the topic CD ROMs, and ask. Many geeks will probably reply. (Myself, I ask my webmaster, who is remarkably patient. A 5th Grade teacher I know has a student in her class providing similar tech support. There is someone for you, at least in this arena.)

The files on this CD are not encrypted. Jim doesn't understand the logic of making his books hard for people to read. Neither do I, though we seem to be in the minority among publishers and authors. Read them. Copy them. Give them to your friends. Dive into them like a porpoise, throw them up in the air and let them fall down on your—no, that was something different.

You're not supposed to sell the files. "Who'd be stupid enough to buy something they could have for free?" you may well ask yourself. If you do sell them, you are a Bad Person and may later exhibit signs of wanting to run for political office; but between you and me, I'm not going to come hunt you down.

As with the text, the pictures ought to come up for any of the standard image-display software options. Apparently this includes Internet Explorer, which your machine almost certainly has even if you don't choose to use it. (Me, I've got Kodak software which is just peachy keen for my purposes.)

Besides lots and lots of electronic texts, the CD has a time slice of my website which (in the Bibliography section) includes my comments on a considerable number of my books. Browse it at leisure, or visit the live version at david-drake.com. My webmaster and I update it at irregular but fairly frequent intervals.

There's also the background text of a miniature wargaming book which friends of mine in England are putting together, along with pictures of some of the model vehicles and figures. For the game rules and the final pictures you'll have to wait for the printed book, maybe around Christmas, 2003—but this is publishing, and I make no promises.

There's an eight-minute video recorded at the 40 mm gun station of an AC-130 in action over Afghanistan. I have no idea who the original source of this file is (and I certainly wouldn't tell anybody if I did), but it's a first-hand look at high-tech combat from the top of the technological pyramid.

And finally, taking up most of the room on the CD, there's a complete audio version THE FAR SIDE OF THE STARS read by Jim's sales manager, Corinda Carford. (I read the introductory note myself, if you feel a desperate need to know what I sound like when I'm doing something that makes me very uncomfortable.) The audio files are in MP3 format. If you don't know what to do to listen to them on the equipment of your choice, talk to somebody who does. (It worked for me, so it can't be that hard.)

When you've run through everything on this CD, come to the Baen Free Library at http://www.baen.com/library/ and find a slew of other free, downloadable books. Eric Flint, my co-author on a lot of the books herein (and a delight to work with) is Librarian, and additional titles are added frequently.

Have fun!
Dave Drake
david-drake.com
 

PS When you grow tired of this disk come visit WebScriptions.net where there are hundreds more eBooks from your favorite Baen authors