Author | Eric Flint |
---|---|
Cover artist | Larry Elmore |
Language | English |
Series | 1632 series |
Genre | Alternate History, Novel |
Publisher | Baen Books |
Publication date | February 1, 2000 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) & ebook |
Pages | 512 pp (first edition, hardback) |
ISBN | 0-671-57849-9 (first edition, hardback) |
OCLC | 42786188 |
813/.54 21 | |
LC Class | PS3556.L548 A616 2000 |
Followed by | 1633 |
1632 (2000) is an alternate history novel by American author Eric Flint, the initial novel in the best-selling [1] series of the same name. [2]
The flagship novel kicked off a collaborative writing effort that has involved hundreds of contributors and dozens of authors. The premise involves a small American town of three thousand, sent back to May 1631, in Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
In the fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia (modeled on the real West Virginia town of Mannington), Mike Stearns, former boxer and president of the local chapter of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), attends the wedding of Mike's sister when a large "ring of fire" transports a hemispherical section of land about three miles in radius measured from the town center from April 2000 to May 1631, from North America to the central Holy Roman Empire. The town is thrust into the middle of the Thirty Years' War, in the German province of Thuringia in the Thuringian Forest, near the fictional German village of Badenburg. Once the Ring of Fire dissipates, Mike Stearns and several UMWA members arm themselves and travel to the outskirts of town to investigate, where they rescue a farmer's family from being raped and killed by mercenaries. Shortly afterward, they rescue Jewish nobleman Balthazar Abrabanel and his daughter, Rebecca, from marauding soldiers who are part of Count Tilly's army.
Having to confront the surrounding raging war, language barriers, and numerous social and political issues, the people of Grantville elect Mike their temporary leader and elect a provisional council, including Rebecca, to create policies to promote farming, increase energy output, and restart the mining of natural resources in the town in preparation for winter. A battalion of Scottish mercenaries sent by Sweden to find the Abrabanels discover Grantville and quickly align themselves with the Americans, hoping to defend the village of Badenburg from an approaching division of Tilly's soldiers. The Americans and Scots devastate the Catholic soldiers with their modern weaponry and take the survivors prisoner, bringing them and other German refugees into Grantville to act as farmers and manual labor, exposing them to modern culture and democracy in the process, which they celebrate with the marriage of Jeff Higgins, a young American soldier, to Gretchen, a villager rescued from Brandenburg.
Three months later, as Grantville prepares for winter with their new Scot and German allies, King Gustavus Adolphus leads the Swedish army to victory over Tilly's forces in the Battle of Breitenfeld outside of Leipzig, rapidly moving the war theater to Franconia and Bavaria, just south of Grantville. Mike leads the new U.S army to the nearby village of Jena, where they quickly defeat a legion of soldiers who broke off from Tilly's retreat and enticed the city into joining the new United States of Europe. Mike and the council draft a new constitution and hold elections in Grantville, where Mike and the other council members are elected to their current roles. Rebecca, now Mike's wife, is elected Grantville's senator and chief diplomat. Winter passes by quickly for Grantville, as trade with nearby towns and increased food production prevent any starvation, and the immigration of German merchants and Rebecca's wealthy relatives to the town increased Thuringia's population and wealth substantially.
By April of 1632, the United States has grown to incorporate several neighboring cities as new states, catching the attention of King Gustavus. Rebecca leads a delegation to meet with Gustavus at the Lech river, who, upon realizing the U.S.'s wealth and power, happily accepts an alliance and trade deal with the new nation. Using micrometers provided by the Americans for improving his artillery, Gustavus is able to defeat Tilly's army on the other side of the Lech, killing him and routing his army.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Richelieu of France, upon hearing of the U.S.E., becomes greatly disturbed at the prospect of a Swedish power base in central Europe. To fight this, Richelieu works with Albrecht von Wallenstein, head of the Holy Roman Empire's imperial army, to destroy Grantville, removing Sweden's main financial and logistical base in the continent. Wallenstein sends a mediocre imperial division and directs a Spanish brigade to the towns of Suhl and Eisenach to distract the American army while a Croat mercenary force enters Grantville and massacres the population. Mike leads the U.S army in a siege against the Spanish army, while Rebecca and Jeff narrowly survive a Croat scout force, allowing them to warn the town. The heavily armed townspeople massacre a Croat force sent into the town and several Americans are killed when the main Croat force storms the barricaded high school, though they are saved by the townspeople and a Swedish brigade led by Gustavus under the guise of the soldier "Captain Gars".
Mike and Rebecca sit down with Gustavus and decide to unite Sweden's German territories into the Confederated Principalities of Europe (CPoE) under the Swedish throne, though the U.S.E at its center is allowed to maintain its autonomy. A month later, after a joint U.S.-Swedish force storm Burgstall and successfully kill Wallenstein, the CPoE is formed as Rebecca gives birth to her and Mike's daughter.
F&SF reviewer Charles de Lint received the novel favorably, describing it as "a fine, thoroughly engaging story about real people in an extraordinary situation." [3]
Kirkus Reviews called the book a "[s]inewy shoot-'em-up, with pikes and muzzle-loaders squared off against modern automatics and 20th-century tactics: a rollicking, good-natured, fact-based flight of fancy that should appeal to alternate-history buffs as well as military-fantasy fans." [4]
A reviewer for the Tech Republic called the book "relentlessly positive, celebrating honest, hardworking folk of two eras who come together to make a better world" and should "appeal to fans of many subgenres". [5] The reviewer also wrote that "Flint succeeds at making the whole adventure palatable by populating his tale with thoughtful, likeable, fallible characters with well drawn motivations."
RT Book Reviews called the novel "an outstanding, positive reading experience for those who appreciate living history, indomitable courage and the unsung gallantry of the everyday man." [6]
Library Journal praised the author, saying he "convincingly re-creates the military and political tenor of the times in this imaginative and unabashedly positive approach to alternative history." [7]
A reviewer for SFRevu wrote "1632 is a fun read and marks Flint as an author to watch for". [8]
In contrast to the other reviews, the reviewer for The New York Review of Science Fiction criticized the book for being "almost pure mind candy" by appearing to be a comedy at times and later appearing to be very serious work by "seriously explore anachronism shock by injecting highly dramatic, life-altering decisions filled with much introspection" at other times. [9]
1632 was listed on the Locus Hardcovers Bestsellers List for two months in a row during 2000, topping at number 4, [10] [11] and also later on the Paperbacks Bestsellers List for a single month in 2001 at number 3. [12]
As of February 2020, twenty years after it was first released, the book has remained in print while still generating small annual royalty payments to the author for print copies sold even though free electronic copies have also been available directly from the publisher for most of that time. [13]
The book generated an unusual amount of fan involvement. When first contemplating a sequel, Flint decided to throw open the universe—perhaps instigated by reception of fan-fiction on 1632 Tech Manual—and invited other authors to help shape the series milieu and fictional canon and began putting together the anthology Ring of Fire.
The market for anthologies in fiction is but a small percentage of the market for novels, and the alternate history genre is a smallish niche to begin with—leading publisher Jim Baen to "hold up" the Ring of Fire collection to see if the series would get a boost from New York Times best selling author David Weber, who had just contracted to do five novels with Flint. Flint had to set aside several planned projects (the Assiti Shards novels were in outline form at the time) and do some additional co-writing with Weber as Ring of Fire gestated.
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 and editor Jim Baen. After his death in 2006, he was succeeded as publisher by long-time executive editor Toni Weisskopf.
Eric Flint 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 The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Locus magazine best-seller lists. He was a co-founder and editor of the Baen Free Library.
The 1632 series, also known as the 1632-verse or Ring of Fire series, is an alternate history book series and sub-series created, primarily co-written, and coordinated by American author Eric Flint and published by Baen Books.
Ring of Fire is the third published book by editor-author-historian Eric Flint of the 1632 series, an alternate history series begun in the novel 1632. The Ring of Fire is both descriptive of the cosmic event as experienced by the series' characters, but also is at times used as the name for the series itself. The series is set in war-torn Europe during the middle of the Thirty Years' War.
1633 is an alternate history novel co-written by American authors Eric Flint and David Weber published in 2002, and sequel to 1632 in the 1632 series. 1633 is the second major novel in the series and together with the anthology Ring of Fire, the two sequels begin the series hallmarks of being a shared universe with collaborative writing being very common, as well as one that, far more unusually, mixes many canonical anthologies with its works of novel length. That is because Flint wrote 1632 as a stand-alone novel, though with enough "story hooks" for an eventual sequel, and because Flint feels "history is messy" and the books reflect that real life is not a smooth, polished linear narrative flow from the pen of some historian but is instead clumps of semi-related or unrelated happenings that somehow sum up how different people act in their own self-interests.
1634: The Ram Rebellion is the seventh published work in the 1632 alternate history book series, and is the third work to establish what is best considered as a "main plot line or thread" of historical speculative focus that are loosely organized and classified geographically. The initial main thread is called the "Western and North-Central Europe thread" ; the second plot line, encompassing events in Italy, Spain, the Mediterranean region, and France, the "South European thread", and this book can be considered the starting novel of the "South-Central/South-East thread" being set in southern Germany, Austria, Bavaria, and Bohemia. This geographically organized plot thread actually began in Ring of Fire in Flint's novelette "The Wallenstein Gambit" which is set in Bohemia, Austria, and Germany, which tied into stories in various Grantville Gazettes.
The Grantville Gazettes were a series of anthologies of short stories set in the 1632 universe introduced in Eric Flint's novel 1632 that was published as a bi-monthly electronic magazine from 2003 until shortly after Flint's death in 2022.
Grantville Gazette II is the third collaborative anthology published in print set in the 1632-verse shared universe in what is best regarded as a canonical sub-series of the popular alternate history that began with the February 2000 publication of the hardcover novel 1632 by author-historian Eric Flint. Baen Books and Flint decline the distinction, counting this book as the sixth published work. Overall it is also the third anthology in printed publication in the atypical series, which consists of a mish-mash of main novels and anthologies produced under popular demand after publication of the initial novel, which was written as a stand-alone work.
1635: The Cannon Law is the sixth book and fifth novel published in the 1632 series by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis. It is the second novel in the French-Italian plot thread, which began with 1634: The Galileo Affair and was published by Baen Books in 2006. The book explores the reactions of the Roman Catholic hardliners to Pope Urban VIII's actions in tolerating the new freedom of religion taking root in Central Europe during the climax of The Galileo Affair.
1634: The Baltic War is a sequel to both the first-of-type sequels, Ring of Fire and 1633, co-written by American authors Eric Flint and David Weber published in 2007. It had to await schedule co-ordination by the two authors, which proved difficult and delayed the work by nearly two years. It continues theMain or Central European thread centered on the newly organized United States of Europe birthed in Central Germany under the protection-by-arms of Emperor Gustavus Adolphus and in particular, the role of the citizens of Grantville, now of Thuringia, and the capital city of Magdeburg have to play on the world stage. With the stability imposed by the protection of Gustavus's armies, up-timers began migrating to other locales in the "neohistories" world as the year 1633 closed.
1634: The Bavarian Crisis is a novel in the alternate history 1632 series, written by Virginia DeMarce and Eric Flint as sequel to Flint's novella "The Wallenstein Gambit"; several short stories by DeMarce in The Grantville Gazettes; 1634: The Ram Rebellion; and 1634: The Baltic War. The novel's first draft was completed in 2005, before work on The Baltic War began. Many chapters of that "early draft version" were available on line, but the final production reached print on October 1, 2007.
Virginia Easley DeMarce is an American historian who specializes in early modern European history, as well as a New York Times Best Selling author in the 1632 series collaborative fiction project. She has done genealogical work on the origins of the Melungeon peoples.
Ring of Fire II is a 2008 anthology created by editor-author-historian Eric Flint. It is the second anthology in the 1632 series following after Ring of Fire (2004).
The Assiti Shards series is a fictional universe invented by American author Eric Flint. It is a shared universe concerning several alternate history worlds, related to a prime timeline. The defining characteristic of the fictional universe is the existence of the "Assiti Shards effect", and the impact that strikes by Assiti Shards have on characters in the stories. The series is rather large and expansive, having started publication in 2000, and as of 2008, consisting of 15 print books, and 21 e-magazine anthologies, in two different published timelines of the same multiverse.
1635: The Dreeson Incident (2008) is a novel in the alternate history 1632 series, written by Virginia DeMarce and Eric Flint, as a sequel to Flint's novella 1634: The Bavarian Crisis.
1635: The Tangled Web is a novel in the alternate history 1632 series, written by Virginia DeMarce.
1636: The Saxon Uprising is an alternate history novel by Eric Flint in the 1632 series, first published in hardcover by Baen Books on March 29, 2011, with a paperback edition following from the same publisher in March 2012. It is a direct continuation of 1635: The Eastern Front. The threads mentioned in this novel are taken up in 1637: The Polish Maelstrom.
1635: The Eastern Front is an alternate history novel by Eric Flint in the 1632 series, first published in hardcover by Baen Books on October 5, 2010, with a paperback edition following from the same publisher in November 2011. It is a sequel to 1635: The Tangled Web and is directly continued by 1636: The Saxon Uprising.
1636: The Kremlin Games is a novel in the 1632 series written by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett along with Eric Flint. It is the fourth book in the series to be listed on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction. This book reached number 30 on the NY Times list during a single week in June 2012. Besides being listed on the NY Times Best Seller list, 1636: The Kremlin Games was also listed on the Locus Hardcovers Bestsellers List for the month of September in 2012 at number 6.
This is complete list of works by American science fiction and historical fiction author Eric Flint (1947–2022).