The Jim Baen Memorial Award: The First Decade

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.

Cover Art by Bob Eggleton

Paperback

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, November 2017

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-4814-8281-3
eISBN: 978-1-62579-617-2

Copyright © 2017 by William Ledbetter
“Introduction” copyright 2017 by William Ledbetter.
“A Better Sense of Direction” copyright 2007 by Mjke Wood. First appeared Jim Baen’s Universe, October 2007.
“Letting Go” copyright 2008 by David Walton. First appeared in Jim Baen’s Universe, August 2008.
“Cathedral” copyright 2009 by Michael Barretta. First appeared in Jim Baen’s Universe, August 2009.
“Space Hero” copyright 2010 by Patrick Lundrigan. First appeared in Baen.com, 2010.
“That Undiscovered Country” copyright 2011 by Nancy Fulda. First appeared in Baen.com, 2011.
“Taking the High Road” copyright 2012 by R.P.L. Johnson. First appeared in Baen.com, 2012.
“The Lamplighter Legacy” copyright 2013 by Patrick O’Sullivan. First appeared in Baen.com, 2013.
“Low Arc” copyright 2014 by Sean Monaghan. First appeared in Baen.com, 2014.
“We Fly” copyright 2015 by K.B. Rylander. First appeared in Baen.com, 2015.
“Dear Ammi” copyright 2016 by Aimee Ogden. First appeared in Baen.com, 2016.
“Citizen-Astronaut” copyright 2011 by David D. Levine. First appeared in Analog, June 2011.
“Gemini XVII” copyright 2013 by Brad R. Torgersen. First appeared in Lights in the Deep, August 2013.
“Scramble” copyright 2015 by Martin L. Shoemaker. First appeared in Digital Science Fiction, September 2015.
“Balance” copyright 2014 by Little Lost Stories. First appeared in Baen.com, June 2014.
“To Lose the Stars” copyright 2017 by Jennifer Brozek.
“Cylinders” copyright 2017 by Ronald D. Ferguson.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

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Electronic version by Baen Books
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