The Jim Baen Memorial Award: The First Decade

by William Ledbetter (Editor)

CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF THE JIM BAEN MEMORIAL SHORT STORY AWARD

A DECADE OF SCIENCE FICTION EXCELLENCE

Since 2007, Baen Books and The National Space Society have sponsored The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, to honor the legacy of Jim Baen and to promote the ideals of forward-thinking, positive science fiction. Here gathered together for the first time are the best of the best of the first decade of the Jim Baen Memorial Award. Winners and runners-up whose stories dared imagine a bright future in which humankind has shaken off the shackles of gravity and moved into that limitless realm known as “outer space.” Each tale is set in a plausible, near-future setting, and yet the variations are as limitless as the imaginations of the array of authors represented. Stories that ask, “What if?” Stories that dare to say, “Why not?” Stories that continue the grand science fiction tradition, looking to the future with a positive outlook on humanity's place in the universe.


"Fans of hopeful space stories will be very satisfied by those on offer here."— Publishers Weekly

"The universe is limitless in this optimistic collection of near-future sf stories. Fans of the genre will be clamoring for a copy."— Library Journal

“. . . truly wonderful. . . . This collection is a must read for those who dream of space colonization in our lifetimes. It encapsulates the challenges, risks, and sacrifices that will be integral to pushing the human race into the solar system. . . . delivers exactly what it promised.”— Tangent

“One of the great things about [the book] is how much variety there is in the included stories. We have tales set against backgrounds of space exploration, colonization missions, space industrialization, orbital dynamics. Stories are set on Earth, in space, on the Moon, on Mars, and various other destinations. There are problem stories, inspirational tales, conspiracies, political machinations, family stories, alternate histories, and even a few love stories.”— Analog

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2016

About the author

William Ledbetter is a Nebula Award winning author with three novels and more than seventy speculative fiction short stories and non-fiction articles published in five languages, in publications such as Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog, Escape Pod and the SFWA blog.

"Level Five," "Level Six" and, "Level Seven" novels of his Killday Series are available from Audible Originals and soon in paper and e-book from Interstellar Flight Press.

Reviews

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't simply an anthology for writers who want to enter the Baen memorial contest themselves, so that they might know the expected range and quality. This is an anthology for readers who love science fiction, period. Every single near-future-set story features poignant emotion paired with action. That makes this a quick read, but not in a fluffy way (and there certainly is a time for such easy reads). No, these are stories that make you think, ones that resonate long after a bookmark is reluctantly placed for the night. This is the kind of sci-fi that makes sci-fi great: survival against the odds in extraordinary circumstances, as characters rely on math and a breath of hope to keep themselves alive.

I won't single out favorite stories. That's too difficult. Read the book, and you'll see what I mean.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories pack a punch. At least the good ones do.

"The National Space Society and Baen Books applaud the role that science fiction plays in advancing real science..." by cosponsoring an annual Jim Baen Memorial Short Story contest.

Here are the rules: "Write a short story of no more than 8,000 words, that shows the near future (no more than about 50-60 years out) of manned space exploration."

Here are the last three words of the "What We Want To See" section: "heroics, sacrifice, adventure".

I was struck with some of the fresh perspectives: When was the last time you read a story about senior citizens manning a space station or an alternate history with an American astronaut & Russian cosmonaut rescuing each other in space during the Cold War or an astronaut who thinks he's Macguyver getting his wounded spacecraft to safety against all odds, etc., just to describe three of these terrific stories?

Nebula-Award-winning editor William Ledbetter has assembled this "collection of the best stories from [the] first ten years" of the contest. Nine stories struck me as glorious/terrific/wow!/totally cool while three were certainly good and three were not quite my cup of tea (but, of course, were well written just the same).

Your mileage will likely vary but I can wholeheartedly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys good hard science fiction short stories, especially stories about the possible near future of space exploration!

Disclaimer: I was lucky enough to be given an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) by the editor in exchange for an honest review.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

About half the stories can be described as "something is wrong with our rocket ship/habitat and we need to fix it. These are OK, but because they are short you don't get much character action going. A few of these are really old school, i.e. sexist. The rest are a mixed bag that take place in space in the near future for the most part. A couple of good short in this collection, but nothing that knocked my socks off.

[Wilson Goodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are all 21st century short stories. The contest requires that they take place in universe where humanity has established a permanent presence in space. Like any long time science fiction reader I automatically see humankind living in space as a good thing so despite the occasional tragedy to the individuals in the story so these stories strikes me as basically optimistic. .

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What better place to read great Science Fiction short stories than in a book filled with award winning authors and their stories. Each tells a complete story and each left me feeling very satisfied with the story and world they are set in. I enjoyed every one and look forward to the next book having a collection of award winning stories. A good book for fans of Science Fiction.