Jim Baen: Difference between revisions
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*[http://www.webscription.net/ Baen Webscriptions] |
*[http://www.webscription.net/ Baen Webscriptions] |
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*[http://bar.baen.com/ Baens Bar - The Official Forum] |
*[http://bar.baen.com/ Baens Bar - The Official Forum] |
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*[http://www.baens-universe.com/ Jim Baen's ''UNIVERSE'' web site] |
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*[http://www.baen.com/FAQS.htm#About%20Jim%20Baen/ Jim Baen @ Baen.com] |
*[http://www.baen.com/FAQS.htm#About%20Jim%20Baen/ Jim Baen @ Baen.com] |
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Revision as of 17:46, 8 April 2006
James Patrick "Jim" Baen (b. 1943) is a noted science fiction publisher and editor. 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 soon moved to take Judy-Lynn del Rey's place at Galaxy Science Fiction and 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 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. However, Lackey, Moon and other authors have since acrimoniously left his company, citing complaints such as delayed payments and unprofessional treatment. Others of the forenamed authors vociferously dispute this version of events.
Baen has frequently edited anthology series, trying to create a 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 is 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.
Jim Baen has also started an experimental web publishing business called webscription.net and also the Baen Free Library, and these innovations have 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.
In late 2005 he announced a new online magazine for science-fiction short stories, which was originally named Baen's Astounding Stories, to be edited by Eric Flint. 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 is slated to publish 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.