1635: The Dreeson Incident

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1635: The Dreeson Incident
1635 The Dreeson Incident-Eric Flint.jpg
Author Virginia DeMarce and
Eric Flint
(Series creator and editor)
Cover artist Tom Kidd
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series 1632 series
Genre Alternate History
/Science fiction
Publisher Baen Books
Publication date
December 16, 2008
Media typePrint (hardback)
ISBN 1-4165-5589-7
OCLC 209699884
813/.54 22
LC Class PS3556.L548 A61865 2008
Preceded by 1634: The Bavarian Crisis
The Anaconda Project
Ring of Fire II  
Followed by 1635: The Tangled Web  

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 . [1]

Contents

Plot summary

The novel takes place after the events of 1634: The Galileo Affair, and 1635: The Cannon Law in which French Huguenot extremist Michel Ducos came close to assassinating Pope Urban VIII and forced to flee with his followers from Rome. The leaders of the French Huguenot group under Ducos settled in Scotland making plans to embarrass Cardinal Richelieu. Michel also has left strict instructions for several of his followers, led by Guillaume Locquifier, in Frankfurt to do nothing until he gives them new orders.

Meanwhile, Duke Henri de Rohan, the highest ranking Huguenot, has his own group of agents monitoring events throughout Europe. He also would like to see Richelieu removed from office, but he views the radical actions of Ducos as self-defeating. After having learning the events in Rome, Henri writes letters to his agents in Grantville, Frankfurt and elsewhere warning of the escape of Ducos and ordering them to notify him if Ducos appears. Rohan has two double agents working within the Ducos operation. Jacques-Pierre Dumais is one of the double agents working for the Duke, who works in Grantville as a garbage collector while secretly examining 20th century knowledge discarded by the American residents. Spymaster Francisco Nasi has also been trying to track down Ducos. His agents and others have been sending reports on activities in Grantville and elsewhere within the State of Thuringia-Franconia.

In the midst of this, the United States of Europe elections are taking place. Incumbent Prime Minister Mike Stearns is sure that his political party will lose, but figures that his opponent William Wettin will overextend himself and his respective Crown Loyalists party. Ducos' Huguenots in Frankfurt plan a demonstration and action in Grantville to vilify Richelieu by plotting assassinations on Grantville's powerful figures: Mayor Henry Dreeson and Presbyterian minister Enoch Wiley (as attempts on individuals such as Mike Stearns and Gustavus Adolphus remain impossible to do). The assassinations are successfully carried out during several manipulated demonstrations against vaccination and autopsies through down-timers and an anti-Semitic incident at Grantville's synagogue as covers for the assassination. In the aftermath, the results do not come out as the Huguenots had planned: Nasi, Stearns, and several others figure out the cause for the assassinations. They and other like-minded individuals are shocked by the provocative actions of the anti-Semites and decide to use the incident to justify the total eradication of all antisemitic forces in the area controlled by Grantville's allies.

Literary significance and reception

The book receives mixed to low reviews from readers. [2]

A reviewer for SFRevu liked the book but wrote that "it is easy to get drawn in by these characters, although sometimes it is hard to keep track of all the subplots that have developed". [3] The Library Journal gave a more positive review by saying that the authors "keeps the action moving and the history honest as ordinary citizens of the 20th century bring their skills and their hopes to a dark time in European history." [4] The reviewer for Booklist wrote that this book is a "solid addition to the Ring of Fire alternate history saga." [5]

1635: The Dreeson Incident was listed on the Locus (magazine) Hardcovers Bestsellers List for a single month in 2009 at number 5. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>1632</i> (novel) Alternate history novel by Eric Flint; first in the 1632 series

1632 is the initial novel in the best-selling alternate history book series, "1632", written by American historian, writer, and editor Eric Flint.

<i>1632</i> series Novel series

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.

<i>1633</i> (novel)

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.

<i>1634: The Ram Rebellion</i>

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 are anthologies of short stories set in the 1632 universe introduced in Eric Flint's novel 1632 that is primarily published as a bi-monthly electronic magazine.

<i>Grantville Gazette II</i>

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.

<i>1634: The Galileo Affair</i>

1634: The Galileo Affair is the fourth book and third novel published in the 1632 series. It is co-written by American authors Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis and was published in 2004. It follows the activities of an embassy party sent from the United States of Europe (Grantville) to Venice, Italy, where the three young Stone brothers become involved with the local Committees of Correspondence and the Inquisition's trial of Galileo Galilei.

<i>1635: The Cannon Law</i> Book by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis

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.

<i>1634: The Baltic War</i>

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 threadcentered 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.

<i>Grantville Gazette III</i>

The Grantville Gazette III is the third collaborative and the fourth anthology in the 1632 series edited by the series creator, Eric Flint. It was published as an e-book by Baen Books in October 2004. It was released as a hardcover in January 2007, and trade paperback in June 2008 with both editions containing Flint's story "Postage Due".

<i>1634: The Bavarian Crisis</i>

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 a 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.

<i>Ring of Fire II</i>

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).

<i>1635: The Tangled Web</i>

1635: The Tangled Web is a novel in the alternate history 1632 series, written by Virginia DeMarce.

<i>1636: The Saxon Uprising</i>

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.

<i>1635: The Eastern Front</i>

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.

<i>1636: The Kremlin Games</i>

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.

<i>1635: The Papal Stakes</i>

1635: The Papal Stakes is novel in the 1632 series written by Charles Gannon and Eric Flint. It was published in 2012 and is the direct sequel to 1635: The Cannon Law published in 2006. This book is the third in the South European fork to the main 1632 series storyline. The story follows the exploits of younger members of the Stone family in Italy and describes the impact of Grantville on the Roman Catholic church and on the patchwork of independent countries in the Italian peninsula.

<i>1636: The Devils Opera</i>

1636: The Devil's Opera is a stand-alone novel in the alternative history 1632 series with minor character overlaps. Published on October 1, 2013 the book is written by David Carrico and Eric Flint. It is a semi-detective novel set in a growing industrial city that is a continuation of two series of stories that David Carrico had originally written in the electronic versions of the Grantville Gazette that were serialized over several issues and later compiled into the compilation 1635: Music and Murder, one series involving criminal investigation and crime fighting and other series involving music and social revolution.

References

  1. "Uchronia: The Assiti Shards (1632) Series". www.uchronia.net.
  2. Leigh Kimmel (February 18, 2009). "1635: The Dreeson Incident". The Billion Light-Year Bookshelf.
  3. Bill, Lawhorn (December 2, 2008). "1635: The Dreeson Incident (The Ring of Fire) by Eric Flint". SFRevu.
  4. Cassada, Jackie (December 1, 2008). "1635: The Dreeson Incident". Library Journal . Vol. 133, no. 20. p. 116. ISSN   0363-0277. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Alternate Link via EBSCO (institutional library access).
  5. Green, Roland (October 1, 2008). "1635: The Dreeson Incident". Booklist . Vol. 105, no. 3. p. 32. ISSN   0006-7385. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Alternate Link via EBSCO (institutional library access).
  6. "Locus Bestsellers, March 2009". Locus . March 2009.