Are Baen books really that bad?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by cromag

They were published by Ace when I was reading them in the early-to-mid 60s. And A. Bertram Chandler's stuff was more often than not packaged in "Ace Double" two-fers.

And I managed to catch a few of Chandler's short stories in their original appearances in If and Worlds of Tomorrow. One thing I really think is a shame is that the stories are reprinted without the illustrations that went along with them. I can't believe it would be that expensive to track down and buy the rights to B&W illustrations. And they should show up properly in any ereader.

Ah, well. Off to the Vent and Rant thread.

Well, DAW had them in the 80's.

https://openlibrary.org/search?sort=...sher_facet=DAW

I have a few ACE doubles (most notably Mack Reynolds' North Africa novels, Walt & Leigh Richmon, a few others) but I got them used. They had stopped doing them by the time I got started. I did get the ERB books with the Frazetta Covers from ACE, though.

[cromag]

Fortunately, I have a (reasonably) local used book store and, when I don't mind opening a dead-tree book I stop by. They have a several "shelf-feet" of Ace doubles -- including some Westerns, which I never saw new. It's a nice walk down memory lane.

According to Wikipedia, the doubles ran into the late 70s or early 80s, but I can't remember seeing any after about 1968.


*Justification for inclusion in this topic: Jim Baen started his publishing career at Ace Books in the early 70s.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Parse the sentence again.
Note the comma.

Eh, did you nit say it was not an accident that they published Schmitz? I remember it like an accident or like a coincident.

And Flint isn't the only one liking Schmitz.
Even if he hadn't written anything beyond WITCHES OF KARRES, he'd still be a must read for any student of the genre. But what he did with the Hub, *when* he did it, is remarkable.
Way ahead of his time.

Of course not and I did not imply he was the only one. I really love Schmitz books but strangely enough it is the Hub books i like best. Among the great mass of people that have read Schmitz it seems to be The Witches of Karres that are most popular.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

Of course not and I did not imply he was the only one. I really love Schmitz books but strangely enought it is the Hub books i like best. Among the great mass of people that have read Schmitz it seems to be The Witches of Karres that are most popular.

I think the "Hub Federation" books are excellent, too.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Just as it is no accident that they've been scooping up the works of the unappreciated 50's/60's masters like Laumer, Schmitz, Chandler, etc, as well as Heinkein and Anderson. I'm hoping they get ahold of the rest of the Anderson catalog, especially THERE WILL BE TIME and TAU ZERO.

Note that, for people outside the US, "Tau Zero" is available from SF Gateway. Unfortunately they don't have US rights.

[mgbino]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Note that, for people outside the US, "Tau Zero" is available from SF Gateway. Unfortunately they don't have US rights.

Rossetta Books released a decent US version of Tau Zero. Great book book by a great author.

[jcsalomon]

Originally Posted by tompe

This might interest people:

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/03/1...h-of-heinlein/

It is about Baen.

It’s also as blatant a misreading of Toni Weisskopf’s essay as could be, and probably the source of the Guardian calumnist’s misreading.

The form of argument she’s using goes something like this: “You might believe hypothesis A to be true, but reject it for reasons B and C; instead accept statement D for ‹list of reasons›.” In this case, the hypothesis she’s explicitly rejecting is “We (SF fans) shouldn’t associate with pseudo-fans who don’t even read Heinlein,” and she rejects it in favor of a broad view of the genre.

Scalzi’s response is an attack on the hypothesis Toni rejected. It’s a straw man argument, made more insidious by the fact that skimming Toni Weisskopf’s essay will turn up sentences which—when taken out of context—sound like she is in fact advocating what he accuses her of. This post of his is vile and dishonest.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think the "Hub Federation" books are excellent, too.

One of my favourites by Schmitz was his "Agent of Vega" short story collection. I'd suspect a purist would call it militaristic and/or imperialistic. The Confederacy of Vega conquering Cushgar in "The Truth About Cushgar". Genocide in "The Second Night of Summer".