David Mattingly

For “Flag in Exile” by David Weber, I had Honor Harrington fighting in the Steadholders hall, and I needed lots of different people to fill the background. I put a posting on the Baen web site, saying that anyone who sent me a picture of themselves with the appropriate lighting would be used in the painting. I asked Jim to do it also, but since Baen had relocated to North Carolina, I couldn’t go down and photograph him myself. As I was finishing the painting, I still hadn’t gotten a picture of Jim, so I went ahead and painted his likeness from scratch—the only person in the scene I did that for. But it was impossible to envision that cover without him as part of the gathering. Now I look at it and think that’s the way Jim would enjoy spending eternity—looking at a beautiful woman, surrounded by Baen book readers.