INTRODUCTION
The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award Contest started because, like so many of you, I wanted to be an astronaut. The imaginations of my generation were primed for such dreams by daring science fiction programs like Star Trek and Lost in Space, brought right into our living rooms by the technological magic of network TV. Only fiction of course, until that day when it became real. All around the world, people stared in wonder at tiny black and white televisions like mine as Apollo 11 astronauts walked on the moon. That moment changed us, individually and as a civilization. We believed anything was possible and we had just opened a door that would eventually lead to our destiny among the stars.
Fast forward to the twenty-first century where we still didn’t have moon or Mars colonies and even though I had “mostly” given up my dreams of walking on another world, I had adopted the space-travel analogs of a long career in the aerospace industry and writing science fiction. In 2006 my local National Space Society chapter won our bid to host the 2007 International Space Development Conference in Dallas, and we were discussing ways to make our ISDC the best ever. Being a science fiction reader and writer, I naturally suggested a short story contest, with the focus being humanity’s future in space. The idea was well received by my chapter and the NSS national headquarters. Of course since it was my idea, it was also my project. At that point the contest was supposed to have been a one-time effort, but even for that single event I wanted the best entries I could get. So what was the most effective bait to attract quality writers? A huge cash prize would have been great, but since NSS is a nonprofit organization, money is always tight. The next best thing was professional publication, in a respected magazine. It couldn’t hurt to ask, right?
Considering Baen’s reputation for hard science fiction, and the fact that I’d recently sold a story to Jim Baen’s Universe, they were my logical first choice. I sent the idea to Walt Boyes, who had been one of the editors I worked with previously and he sent it up the chain. Much to my surprise I received a reply rather quickly, with approval coming from Jim Baen himself. Sadly, Jim passed away before that first award could be handed out, but since the contest had gone so well and generated a lot of interest, Baen Books asked if NSS and I would be interested in making it an annual effort in his honor. The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award Contest was born.
The Grand Prize award is presented by top Baen Books editors like Tony Danial and Jim Minz, or publisher Toni Weisskopf at the International Space Development Conference, which is hosted every year by the National Space Society in cities like Los Angeles, Toronto, San Juan, and Washington, DC. During the years covered by the contest ISDC guests have included commercial space industry luminaries like Elon Musk, Burt Rutan, Richard Branson and Robert Bigelow, and various NASA Directors and astronauts. One year at our award presentation luncheon we even sat with Buzz Aldrin, who is an ISDC regular and a member of the NSS Board of Governors.
The National Space Society’s vision is to have “people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.” And our mission is “to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity.” The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award contest and this anthology are just small ways we can help achieve those goals.
Though the contest has changed some over the years, with adjustments in the guidelines, the name and even a new award trophy design, our goal to showcase fiction about mankind’s exciting future in space has never wavered. Since the contest’s inception, I have read well in excess of a thousand stories and while I’m sure all of those stories were not written specifically for the contest, I know that many of them actually have been. We obviously couldn’t publish them all, but those stories are still out there, many appearing in other magazines and anthologies, still spreading our hopeful vision.
Just before writing this, I sent another ten finalist stories off to the judges. It’s so hard to believe the contest has been running for eleven years already. The entries come from countries all around the world, from men and women, from seasoned pros and beginners, and they all continue to amaze, educate, excite and entertain. I hope you enjoy this collection of the best stories from those first ten years as much as we did. As for me, the judges, the folks at NSS and Baen, if these stories inspire one boy or girl to become an engineer, or one lawmaker to support a larger space budget, or one entrepreneur to build rockets, or one dreamer to become an astronaut and walk on another world, then this whole endeavor has been worth every minute.
Ad astra!
—Bill Ledbetter