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A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME—BACK TO BOSTON! 1462: an alien who feasts on the suffering of sentient beings dines off the agonies of Vlad the Impaler’s twenty-thousand victims near Targoviste, Romania. 1688: a woman is framed for witchcraft and hanged by the neck in Boston. 1965: a toy store that never seems to run out of special toys is suspected of being the location of a temporal portal, the same one used by the agony-feeding alien. 2022: a grandfather, showing his young grandchildren what remains of the Boston of his youth, is shown that portal by his granddaughters. And they’re off! Off through the gate that grants wishes, off to deal with time travel, off to break and enter, off to endure the pain of seeing afresh loved ones long since departed in their own time. They’re off to deal with hardened, murderous criminals and with equally murderous aliens. And all of that is set around the time of Christmas joy, in old, fine hotels, with presents, fresh loves, Handel’s Messiah, a department store’s enchanted village, old delicacies, modern weapons, lasers . . . and a very special calico cat. At the publisher’s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Praise for The Romanov Rescue: “This alternate history employs vibrant steampunk vibes and aptly captures the uncertainties of the tumultuous era, as well as the courageous desperation of the world-weary men and women involved. Fans of detailed and technical military fiction will enjoy this, as well as those who appreciate real historical figures as characters.” — Library Journal Praise for the Carrera series: “Kratman raises disquieting questions on what it might take to win the war on terror . . . realistic action sequences, strong characterizations, and thoughts on the philosophy of war.” — Publishers Weekly “[I]nterplanetary warfare with . . . [a] visceral story of bravery and sacrifice . . . fans of the military SF of John Ringo and David Weber should enjoy this SF action adventure.” — Library Journal “Kratman’s dystopia is a brisk page turner full of startling twists . . . [Kratman is] a professional military man . . . up to speed on military and geopolitical conceits.” —Mark Steyn, best-selling author of America Alone on Caliphate Praise for Tom Kratman: “[Baen publisher] Toni [Weisskopf] and I disagree about everything except about how good his books are.” —John Birmingham Tom Kratman is a retired Army lieutenant colonel, former lawyer, and full-time author of science fiction. Kratman’s novels include the Desert Called Peace series which has been praised for its action sequences and attention to philosophy of war. With John Ringo, he has written the Legacy of Aldenata novels. Also for Baen, he has written three volumes of the modern-day military fiction series Countdown. With Justin Watson and Kacey Ezell he is the author of alternate history novel The Romanov Rescue . Dirty Water is set in Kratman’s native Massachusetts. About the Author In 1974, at age seventeen, Tom Kratman became a political refugee and defector from the PRM (People’s Republic of Massachusetts) by virtue of joining the Regular Army. He stayed a Regular Army infantryman most of his adult life, returning to Massachusetts as an unofficial dissident while attending Boston College after his first hitch. Back in the Army, he managed to do just about everything there was to do at one time or another. After the Gulf War, with the bottom dropping completely out of the anti-communist market, Tom decided to become a lawyer. Every now and again, when the frustrations of legal life and having to deal with other lawyers got to be too much, Tom would rejoin the Army (or a somewhat similar group, say) for fun and frolic in other climes. His family, muttering darkly, put up with this for years . He no longer practices law, instead writing full-time for Baen. His novels for Baen include A State of Disobedience, Caliphate , and the series consisting of A Desert Called Peace, Carnifex, The Lotus Eaters, The Amazon Legion, Come and Take Them , The Rods and the Axe , and A Pillar of Fire by Night. With John Ringo, he has written the novels Watch on the Rhine, Yellow Eyes , and The Tuloriad. Also for Baen, he has written the first three volumes of the modern-day military fiction series Countdown. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.