Jim Baen
James Patrick "Jim" Baen (
October 22,
1943 -
June 28,
2006) was a noted
U.S. science fiction publisher and
editor. In 1983 he started a
publishing house,
Baen Books, which publishes books by many authors, mostly in the
fantasy and
science fiction genres. In 1990s Baen started an active
web forum,
Baen's Bar and later, an experimental
web publishing business called
webscription.net, accompanied by the
Baen Free Library, considered to be the first non-
encrypted and profitable
ebooks-for-money service.
Jim Baen left his stepfather's home at the age of 17 and lived on the streets for several months before joining the army.
He started his publishing career, appropriately enough, in the complaints department of
Ace Books after stints in the
Army, at
CCNY, and in
Greenwich Village in the
1960s working as the manager of a
folk music coffee shop (a "basket house").
Baen was
Judy-Lynn del Rey's replacement as assistant editor at
Galaxy Science Fiction. He later succeeded
Ejler Jakobsson as editor of
Galaxy and
If in
1974, after a brief trip back to Ace to be assistant
Gothics editor. While at
Galaxy he published such authors as
Jerry Pournelle,
Charles Sheffield,
Joanna Russ,
Spider Robinson,
Algis Budrys, and
John Varley, and was nominated for several
Hugo Awards. He returned to Ace to head their science fiction line, working with publisher
Tom Doherty.
When Doherty left to start
Tor, Baen shortly followed and started the SF line there.
In
1983 he had the opportunity to start his own independent company,
Baen Books, distributed then and now by
Pocket Books/
Simon & Schuster, and being enabled in part by release from a long-term contract by his long-term friend Doherty. Baen Books has established a large readership, publishing books by authors such as
David Weber,
John Ringo,
Eric Flint,
David Drake,
Lois McMaster Bujold,
Elizabeth Moon,
Mercedes Lackey,
Larry Niven and many more.
Baen frequently edited
anthology series, trying to combine the feeling of an anthology and a magazine. Among these efforts were
Destinies (Ace, 1978-81),
Far Futures (Baen, 1985-6), and
New Destinies (Baen, 1987-90).
Baen was very active on the baen.com website, "
Baen's Bar," where his interests in
evolutionary biology,
space technology,
politics,
military history, and bad
puns are discussed along with science fiction.
Baen started an experimental
web publishing business called
webscription.net and also the
Baen Free Library. These innovations earned him a certain amount of respect in the technological community. Webscriptions is generally considered to be the first
ebooks-for-money service whose product completely lacks
encryption and in fact is available in a wide range of formats, and one of the first e-book publishing services that was profitable.
In late
2005 Baen announced a new online
magazine for science-fiction short stories, which was originally named
Baen's Astounding Stories. After concerns over trademark infringement with Dell Magazines (publisher of
Analog Science Fiction and Fact, which was originally titled
Astounding Stories), he announced it would be renamed
Baen's Universe. The magazine, edited by
Eric Flint, published its first issue in June
2006, with a number of prestigious authors (including
David Drake and
Timothy Zahn) slated to write stories for it.
In
2000, he was the editor guest of honor at
Chicon 2000, that year's
Worldcon.
Baen suffered a massive bilateral
thalamus stroke on
June 12,
2006, and died on
June 28,
2006.
[http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007658.html#130932][http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/004289.html][http://david-drake.com/baen.html]*
Baen Books Homepage*
Baen Free Library*
Baen Webscriptions*
Baens Bar - The Official Forum*
Jim Baen's UNIVERSE web site*
Jim Baen @ Baen.com*
Obituary (written by David Drake)*
Statement by
Lois McMaster Bujold on the passing of Jim Baen
