Jim Baen, Rest in Peace

Jim Baen October 22, 1943 - June 28, 2006

Follow the link to author David Drake's Obituary for Jim Baen. I don't think that anyone will be able to say it better than that.

Every once in a while, someone you have never actually met has a profound, personal impact on your life... Jim was such a person for me.

I started reading science fiction way back when I was about 13 years old, and have remained hooked to the genre ever since. Over time, more and more of the books that I found myself buying were Baen books... novels that had plot, action, story and depth.

I was in Austin, Texas back in '97, when I typed in a link that I had found in the back of a Baen book (I forget now which one it was), and came across Baen's Bar, the online message board / web board that Jim had started up and was an extension of the www.baen.com. It was a small thing, only a few conferences, but the quality of the people there was something else. I had found my spiritual / intellectual home. These were smart people who could argue and debate using logic and reason.

I remember being the lone-Canuck... and finding myself explaining the love/hate relationship that Quebec has with the rest of Canada.

I remember one of Jim's comments on a discussion we were having about the War of the Traitorous Colonies (ie, American revolution)... I didn't know a single other person at the time that could use the words " base canard" in it's proper context. :-)

Jim's legacy will around for years and decades to come. From the friendship that he enabled to the stand that he took with e-Publishing (and which I have yet to see him properly acknowledged for)... indeed some have even met and married on Baen's Bar.

Jim will be missed; he was a man of vision who had the rare ability to execute that vision.

My condolences to his family, his friends, and the extended family. My prayers are with you.

Regards,

Mark