''Jim Baen's Universe'' (''JBU'') was a bimonthly

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

and

science fiction magazine A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard-copy periodical format or on the Internet. Science fiction magazines traditionally featured speculative fiction in short story, novelette, nov ...

created by Jim Baen (founder and long-time publisher of

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

). It was recognized by the SFWA as a Qualifying Short Fiction Venue. ''JBU'' began soliciting materials in January 2006 and launched in June 2006. The magazine contained around 120,000 to 150,000 words per issue. It closed in 2010. Jim Baen died of a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

on June 11, 2006, and did not see the magazine's full success. The first and only editor-in-chief was

Eric Flint Eric Flint (February 6, 1947 – July 17, 2022) was an American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his works are alternate history science fiction, but he also wrote humorous fantasy adventures. His works have been listed on ' ...

, an author and

anthologist In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and ge ...

. The executive editor was

Mike Resnick Michael Diamond Resnick (; March 5, 1942 – January 9, 2020) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He won five Hugo awards and a Nebula award, and was the guest of honor at Chicon 7. He was the executive editor of the defunct mag ...

, a science fiction author, editor and anthologist. ''JBU'' had featured stories from a number of notable authors, including

Alan Dean Foster Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts. Career ''Star Wars'' Foster was the ghost ...

, Gregory Benford, Esther Friesner, and

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...

. Regular columnists included

, Barry N. Malzberg, and Stephen Euin Cobb. Part of the magazine's philosophy was to nurture new authors, slots were reserved in each issue for new writers. Amateur writers were encouraged to submit their work via an online forum, referred to as " e-slush." Stories submitted to e-slush were reviewed by peers and associate

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

s. The theory was that this process may turn stories that were not quite publishable into publishable ones. Editor Eric Flint announced in August 2009 that the magazine would close after its April 2010 issue due to insufficient subscriber income. The magazine still exists as the "Universe Annex" section of '' The Grantville Gazettes''.

Awards and recognition

's "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" won the

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. Originally a poll ...

for best novelette of 2006. * ''Locus'' cites four novelettes from ''Jim Baen's Universe'' in its 2006 Recommended Reading List. *

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

–winning editor

Gardner Dozois Gardner Raymond Dozois ( ; July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of '' The Year's Best Science Fiction'' anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of '' Asimov's Science Fict ...

selected three stories from ''Universe'' to include in his 2007 anthology. *

's "All the Things You Are" was nominated for (but did not win) the 2007

Hugo Award for Best Novelette The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of ...

Reviews

Magazine reviewer Debbie Moorhouse, in '' Greatest Uncommon Denominator,'' says:

Electronic distribution

''JBU'' is electronic only, and is not available in print (although a hardcover "Best of" collection has been published). It is distributed without

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

(DRM).Boing Boing: Baen's Universe - new sf e-zine with no DRM and top writers
/ref> The first half of each story can be read for free, but only subscribers can read the second half. Individual issues can be purchased via Baen Ebooks. Subsequent to the announcement of the closing, subscriptions were modified to provide one year of access to all back issues.

References

{{Reflist
The Editor's Page @JBU
and the "Salvo's Against Big Brother Columns (Baen's/Flints column dedicated to fighting DRM)
News and announcements
from the editor-in-chief's home page. Q&A pages and information hold much about genesis of this e-zine.

External links

Archive image of ''Jim Baen's Universe''
(in 2007)
JBU Columns
��many ''JBU'' columns are available to non-subscribers, those that are not can be read in part (about half) Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Online magazines published in the United States Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 2006 Magazines disestablished in 2010 Science fiction webzines Baen Books