Forward the
Forward the Mage
by Eric Flint & Richard Roach
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2002 by Eric Flint & Richard Roach
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN: 0-7434-3524-9
Cover art by Larry Elmore
First printing, March 2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flint, Eric.
Forward the mage / Eric Flint, Richard Roach.
p. cm.
“A Baen Books original”—T.p. verso.
ISBN 0-7434-3524-9
1. Artists—Fiction. 2. Women soldiers—Fiction. I. Roach, Richard. II. Title.
PS3556.L548 F67 2002
813’.54—dc21 2001056468
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to our wives and
mothers, who always believed;
and to those great pioneers who first aroused our enthusiasm for fantasy:
Francois Rabelais, Miguel Cervantes, Voltaire, and Jonathan Swift;
and, of course, to the world’s Sancho Panzas.
Baen Books by Eric Flint
Joe’s World series
The Philosophical Strangler
Forward the Mage (with Richard Roach)
1632
Mother of Demons
Rats, Bats, and Vats (with Dave Freer)
Pyramid Scheme (with Dave Freer)
The Shadow of the Lion (with Mercedes Lackey & Dave Freer)
The Belisarius series, with David Drake:
An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny’s Shield
Fortune’s Stroke
The Tide of Victory
By James H. Schmitz, edited by Eric Flint:
Telzey Amberdon
T ’n T: Telzey & Trigger
Trigger & Friends
The Hub: Dangerous Territory
Agent of Vega & Other Stories
By Keith Laumer, edited by Eric Flint:
Retief!
Odyssey
Wisely hath it been written that those great upheavals which so enflame the passions of society that they excite the masses to rebellion and enmity against all lawful custom and sovereignty, wherefore the common herd is led to commit many profane mischiefs against
by Eric Flint & Richard Roach
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2002 by Eric Flint & Richard Roach
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN: 0-7434-3524-9
Cover art by Larry Elmore
First printing, March 2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flint, Eric.
Forward the mage / Eric Flint, Richard Roach.
p. cm.
“A Baen Books original”—T.p. verso.
ISBN 0-7434-3524-9
1. Artists—Fiction. 2. Women soldiers—Fiction. I. Roach, Richard. II. Title.
PS3556.L548 F67 2002
813’.54—dc21 2001056468
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to our wives and
mothers, who always believed;
and to those great pioneers who first aroused our enthusiasm for fantasy:
Francois Rabelais, Miguel Cervantes, Voltaire, and Jonathan Swift;
and, of course, to the world’s Sancho Panzas.
Baen Books by Eric Flint
Joe’s World series
The Philosophical Strangler
Forward the Mage (with Richard Roach)
1632
Mother of Demons
Rats, Bats, and Vats (with Dave Freer)
Pyramid Scheme (with Dave Freer)
The Shadow of the Lion (with Mercedes Lackey & Dave Freer)
The Belisarius series, with David Drake:
An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny’s Shield
Fortune’s Stroke
The Tide of Victory
By James H. Schmitz, edited by Eric Flint:
Telzey Amberdon
T ’n T: Telzey & Trigger
Trigger & Friends
The Hub: Dangerous Territory
Agent of Vega & Other Stories
By Keith Laumer, edited by Eric Flint:
Retief!
Odyssey
Wisely hath it been written that those great upheavals which so enflame the passions of society that they excite the masses to rebellion and enmity against all lawful custom and sovereignty, wherefore the common herd is led to commit many profane mischiefs against