Actually thinking of it, there’s even a T-Rex in the corner beside the U… maybe Flint used his cover wheel, but instead of letting it stop on anything he just selected EVERYTHING!
I’m not sure but this cover is almost there.
Its like a fractal image of awesomeness, if you zoom in on something that looks blank you find a delightfull little troll or an evil wizard, and whats beyond that? more awesomeness, awesomeness into infinity.
Each hair on Jims head is actually a tiny carefully detailed chinese dragon.
May god have mercy on our souls when we find Jim Baens UNIVERSE II
Both this cover and the one CSA linked have this weird thing going on where the J in Jim’s name is the same color as the image in the background so it’s really hard to see. It’s like the name is fading into view while simultaneously changing color. Possibly expressing Jim’s complex inner life, or something.
Finally, a cover where the Baen loud multiple border fonts would really help and they don’t use it. That rainbow font. It’s just so… confusing. It reminds me of Lisa Frank notebooks.
His name, at least, was on the cover even in his previous job; there are a fair few Tor SF paperbacks from the early ’80s with “JAMES BAEN PRESENTS A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK” over the title.
It’s like putting oneself on the cover of MEIN KAMPF and calling it MY UNIVERSE — it may give you recognition, but maybe not the kind of recognition you want.
Jim was a friend and colleague for decades, and believe me, this cover is TOTALLY Jim. 🙂
On a side note, at DragonCon this year I was laughing with a bunch of Baen writers that I’d put together an anthology called IT’S SO VIOLENT. Objective? Single-viewpoint, personal-level stories in which there is as much violence as possible yet still hold up as a cohesive story.
And you know what?
EVERYBODY wanted to be in it. I may actually pitch it.
It would be a.. a.. Baensplosion.
I’ve told Toni Weisskopf at Baen (and a 1200-person audience) that I need to paint the perfect Baen cover: Lots of swooping military spaceships and missiles amidst two huge breasts MADE OF EXPLOSIONS.
@Larry Dixon: I am delighted to encounter people in The Industry with a sense of humor. 🙂 I do hope that at least one of those spaceships will be piloted by a dragon with a wildly improbable gun clenched in one of its mouths.
I know this is already massively tagged, but it’s missing “dude”. And you got a dude right there in the middle, with smaller ones around the outside. Gah. We might be tagging this for another 5 years.
Also, why isn’t this in the top ten? It’s the platonic expression of Good Show, Sir! with said sir even on the cover.
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May 15th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Sweet mother of Sci-fi…..
The only thing they don’t have on this cover is space nazi….
May 15th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Doesn’t Jim Baen count as a space nazi? just without being in space or being a nazi. He kinda looks like an evil politician though
Since its a compilation, its kinda probably justified in having all that crap on the cover… but still, surely there’s a limit?
I notice The Flint got his grubby paws on this one too
May 15th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Yea noticed that…. wonder where the large Leopard Man in space armour comes into the edit 😉
May 15th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Actually thinking of it, there’s even a T-Rex in the corner beside the U… maybe Flint used his cover wheel, but instead of letting it stop on anything he just selected EVERYTHING!
May 15th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
CTRL+A, that’s Jim’s favourite keyboard shortcut. Someone send him the Ctrl and A keys for his birthday!
May 15th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
How many times does something have to go round the So Bad It’s Good infinite-loop scale before it hits the Thing Of BEAUTY bonus multiplier?
May 15th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I’m not sure but this cover is almost there.
Its like a fractal image of awesomeness, if you zoom in on something that looks blank you find a delightfull little troll or an evil wizard, and whats beyond that? more awesomeness, awesomeness into infinity.
Each hair on Jims head is actually a tiny carefully detailed chinese dragon.
May god have mercy on our souls when we find Jim Baens UNIVERSE II
May 15th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
If I ever write a book and get it published… I want this artist to draw my cover……
September 29th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xVAplSeXL._SS500_.jpg
Jim seems to think he’s Hawking radiation. Boy would that mess up our understanding of the universe!
September 30th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Wow……..
That cover is simply…. amazing
January 29th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Clutter + idiotic smirk + shiny font = boffo box office. I think my eye-balls are bleeding.
February 1st, 2010 at 10:53 am
Prepare yourself.. there’s a second one out there somewhere we’re trying to get our hands on. 😉
Wow, CSA actually has it a few comments back. Wow… just wow…
May 4th, 2010 at 4:01 am
Both this cover and the one CSA linked have this weird thing going on where the J in Jim’s name is the same color as the image in the background so it’s really hard to see. It’s like the name is fading into view while simultaneously changing color. Possibly expressing Jim’s complex inner life, or something.
Finally, a cover where the Baen loud multiple border fonts would really help and they don’t use it. That rainbow font. It’s just so… confusing. It reminds me of Lisa Frank notebooks.
May 4th, 2010 at 4:02 am
Oh, and dig the space station halo. More book covers should have that.
August 6th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Ohhh… every time I go back to this I shiver with delight.
We need to search out the second book and get a picture!
October 5th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Kinda reminds me of some of Stephen King’s best moments in the Dark Tower.
December 16th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
If this type of cover art gets popular, we’re going to see a LOT of pictures of smiling editors presiding, God-like, over their universes.
But maybe readers will be put off. It might not work outside Baen Books. Just a guess.
December 17th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
I think it’s kind of cool to have the publisher on the cover.
December 18th, 2010 at 1:26 am
His name, at least, was on the cover even in his previous job; there are a fair few Tor SF paperbacks from the early ’80s with “JAMES BAEN PRESENTS A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK” over the title.
November 1st, 2013 at 10:28 pm
Best of the Baen-verse part 1! Wonder if the rest of the Verse looks so cluttered?
November 2nd, 2013 at 12:02 am
In the tag-gasm under this are two rather conspicuous absences – Font Problems and BEHIND YOU!
If ever a cover has needed either of those it’s this cornucopia of wrong.
November 4th, 2013 at 11:47 am
Merci àvous, M. Wood.
November 4th, 2013 at 2:40 pm
It’s like putting oneself on the cover of MEIN KAMPF and calling it MY UNIVERSE — it may give you recognition, but maybe not the kind of recognition you want.
November 20th, 2013 at 1:36 pm
Jim was a friend and colleague for decades, and believe me, this cover is TOTALLY Jim. 🙂
On a side note, at DragonCon this year I was laughing with a bunch of Baen writers that I’d put together an anthology called IT’S SO VIOLENT. Objective? Single-viewpoint, personal-level stories in which there is as much violence as possible yet still hold up as a cohesive story.
And you know what?
EVERYBODY wanted to be in it. I may actually pitch it.
It would be a.. a.. Baensplosion.
I’ve told Toni Weisskopf at Baen (and a 1200-person audience) that I need to paint the perfect Baen cover: Lots of swooping military spaceships and missiles amidst two huge breasts MADE OF EXPLOSIONS.
November 20th, 2013 at 2:21 pm
@Larry Dixon — A boob explosion?! C.S. Lewis would NOT approve.
Think of how many modesty space sheep would perish!
November 20th, 2013 at 7:17 pm
@Larry Dixon: I am delighted to encounter people in The Industry with a sense of humor. 🙂 I do hope that at least one of those spaceships will be piloted by a dragon with a wildly improbable gun clenched in one of its mouths.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:21 am
Dead Stuff…if this comes to pass, I’ll put that in just for you.
It might be exactly what it needs to, you know, “pull the room together” like that rug from Big Lebowski.
August 27th, 2015 at 3:13 am
Every time I look at this cover, I feel compelled to laugh at how busy it is. It kind of hurts the eyes.
On the plus side, I now know from exactly where Baen Books gets their reputation for “interesting” covers.
January 22nd, 2017 at 5:54 am
The BAEN!-iest cover of them all.
I know this is already massively tagged, but it’s missing “dude”. And you got a dude right there in the middle, with smaller ones around the outside. Gah. We might be tagging this for another 5 years.
Also, why isn’t this in the top ten? It’s the platonic expression of Good Show, Sir! with said sir even on the cover.