Sad News in Science Fiction

Jim Baen, founder and publisher of Baen Books, has had a stroke. There are unconfirmed rumors that he may also be in a coma.

Jim Baen single-handedly pulled SF back from the brink of Lit-er-a-choor and back into the gutter where it belonged. By the early 1980’s SF was little more than utopianistic, leftist drivel. By not very good leftists. He has earned the enmity of the SF literati for doing so, but he has dragged the genre kicking and screaming back to a place where Story and Plot still live and have meaning.

Jim is also near single-handedly battling the evil that is DRM. He has sponsored the Baen Free Library and was working with several authors to go to the next step. He has the best e-book business in the genre, perhaps in the entire industry. He has just launched a new SF e-magazine that has the best writers in the business contributing.

While not as well represented on my bookshelf as Del Rey or TOR, I've given Baen Books a lot of money over the years. I did this largely by purchasing every Honor Harrington related product David Weber has ever turned out.

Fortunately for Baen Books lovers, Jim had contingency plans in place to keep the company running if he was ever incapacitated. The company is running fine even if Jim Baen isn't. But I'll be praying for him nevertheless.

Via Instapundit.