Multiverse
Ring of Fire
The first literary work in this fictional universe was 1632 (pub. 2000) by Eric Flint. This work led to a series of works that branched off this, into the Ring of Fire series (aka 1632 series). Most of the works in this fictional universe fall within this particular timeline. This timeline involves the displacement and exchange of the late 1990s mining town of Grantville, West Virginia with a piece of 1630s early modern southern Germany (in Thuringia).
Although 1632 was written as a stand-alone novel in 2000, Flint had planned several other universes using the Assiti Shards story premise. However, the sensation and interest engendered by the 1632 novel's publication subsequently caused the other works to be delayed while the 1632 series was developed.
This timeline was opened up to third-party authors, and open submissions. These are collected and published as the Grantville Gazettes , an online anthology magazine, focused solely on the Ring of Fire timeline. It is similar to Analog Science Fiction Science Fact , in that it publishes fiction and nonfiction. In this case, the nonfiction relates to the Ring of Fire timeline. The best stories, some commissioned, are collected into the Ring of Fire print anthology series. [3]
Many of the major novels in the series are collaborations between Eric Flint and other authors. The series is considered broad and expansive. [4]
Time Spike series
A second timeline was introduced by Eric Flint when he released the novel Time Spike with co-author Marilyn Kosmatka in 2008. This timeline involves several different periods in the history of Middle America, starting with a maximum security prison in the 2000s, along with Amerinds on the Trail of Tears, Spanish Conquistadors, a city of the Mound Builders, and some Paleoindians—all displaced into the Cretaceous period age of dinosaurs. The Assiti Shard in this universe took pieces from different geologic time periods from the Devonian period through the present and jumble them together in an affected area while placing this mixture on a Cretaceous earth.
Time Spike novel
The first work in the series, the 2008 novel Time Spike ( ISBN 978-1-4391-3312-5), was written by Eric Flint and Marilyn Kosmatka. [5] The main thread of the novel is about state maximum-security prison located in economically depressed downstate Illinois from the first decade of the 21st century being transported to a Cretaceous Earth during the middle of an evening shift change so that the prison would (theoretically be) twice the normal number of prison staff available at the prison at any given time but before regular administrators, such as the warden and other section heads, show up. A secondary thread covers 19th century Cherokees being forcible escorted by U.S. Army troops from their homes in Georgia to their exile in would later become Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears. A tertiary thread is about the scientists who were left behind on the original 21st century Earth who are analyzing the cause behind the Assiti Shards displacements and their fight against an American government who is trying to keep the event at the prison (and the previous displacement at Grantville) secret from the general public for unknown purposes. [6]
Time Spike: The Mysterious Mesa
For over a decade from volume 39 in 2012 to volume 99 in 2022 of The Grantville Gazette, Garrett W. Vance had been writing an ongoing serial in the Time Spike universe that included Time Spike: The Good Samaritan and the Hanged Man, Time Spike: Evening in Cahokia, Time Spike: The Mysterious Mesa, and Time Spike: First Cavalry of the Cretaceous. Vance's stories were reissued as a single volume novel titled Time Spike: The Mysterious Mesa in 2018 ( ISBN 978-1-948818-17-9), and was followed by a second volume titled Time Spike: The First Cavalry of the Cretaceous in 2022 ( ISBN 978-1-956015-85-0), both published by Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press. To date, these two books are the only other major works that is written in the Time Spike universe.
The story concerns the adventures of cavalry scout Nate Tucker of the newly formed Republic of Texas serving as a soldier in the United States Army Cavalry who was escorting the Cherokee during the Trail of Tears incident. Tucker befriends a Spaniard formerly serving in Hernando de Soto's 16th century expedition across North America. The two men encounter pre-Columbian Native Americans from different time periods ranging from the Neolithic to the Mississippian culture period. [7]
It is not clear if Vance will be able to continue this series after the immediate closure of both The Grantville Gazette and the Ring of Fire Press that had occurred after Eric Flint's death in 2022.
Dove's Time Spike short stories
From 2012 to 2017, author David W. Dove wrote three unrelated short stories in the Time Spike universe that were published in volumes 39, [8] 41, [9] and 74 [10] of the Grantville Gazette.
Queen of the Seas series
This book series involved the transport of the 21st century cruise ship Queen of the Seas to the 4th century BCE Mediterranean and how 21st century technology affects the successors to Alexander the Great's vast empire.
The Alexander Inheritance
This novel by Eric Flint with Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff was released by Baen in July 2017 ( ISBN 978-1-4814-8348-3). [11] The cause of the displacement was described as "An Assiti Shard transposes a modern cruise liner into the Mediterranean just after the death of Alexander the Great." [12] The passengers and crew include a historian, a Norwegian cruise ship captain, a French first officer for navigation who was a competitive pistol marksman while previously serving in the French Navy, and an American congressman, who are thrown back in time during the period of the Diadochi, when one of world's largest empires was being split apart by civil war. [13] [14]
The Macedonian Hazard
The Macedonian Hazard, the second novel in the Queen of the Seas series was released in January 2021 ( ISBN 978-1-9821-2586-8). [15] The book picks up where The Alexander Inheritance had left off with when Olympias, Alexander's mother, shows up at the ship. [16]
The Sicilian Coil
The Sicilian Coil is the third novel set in the Queen of The Seas series that was released in September 2021 ( ISBN 978-1-956015-13-3) by Ring of Fire Press. [17] This side-line novel, which does not directly involve the main characters, is published by Ring of Fire Press. This novel covers events in the region of Sicily and the Italian Peninsula that coincide with the events in the novel The Macedonian Hazard, from the viewpoints of characters who have left the Queen of the Seas to work with Rome and other cities in the region providing technical knowledge and radio communication links.
After the sudden demise of Ring of Fire Press in August 2022, the authors regained the copyrights to their books and they made arrangements to have this title be privately re-released on Amazon in September 2022 ( ISBN 979-8354924882).
The Carthaginian Crisis
The Carthaginian Crisis is the fourth novel set in the Queen of The Seas series that was released in June 2024 ( ISBN 979-8328591003) and was published independently by the Huff and Goodlett via Amazon. This book is a continuation of The Sicilian Coil and The Macedonian Hazard and starts with the war in Babylon against Antingonus One-eye that was mentioned toward the end of The Macedonian Hazard.
Cooper's Queen of the Seas short stories
Starting with the first issue of 1632 & Beyond , Iver Cooper began to write several unrelated short stories in the Queen of the Seas universe. In the first issue (September 2023; ISBN 978-1962398008), Cooper wrote Into the Dark, a short story that could be the start of a possible serial concerning a Queen of the Seas's crew member who was recruited to lead an group of ship peoples to search remote tropical island caves for sources of bat guano that could be used in the manufacturer of gun powder. In the fourth issue (March 2024; ISBN 978-1962398077), Cooper wrote The Birds of the Muses about a 21st century bee keeper.
Other time threads
The Crossing
The Crossing ( ISBN 978-1-9821-9201-3) is a 2022 novel by Kevin Ikenberry set in the Assiti Shards milieu about a time displaced 2008 ROTC squad sent back to the 1776 Battle of Trenton. In a secondary thread, the scientists who were fighting the American governmental cover-up that was introduced in Time Spike continue on with their work analyzing and predicting the time displacements while the government continue to spread more mis-information to the general public. [18] [19] [20] [21]
An Angel Called Peterbilt
In July 2023, Baen Books and Simon & Schuster announced the February 2024 release of the new novel by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett called An Angel Called Peterbilt ( ISBN 978-1982193195) [22] [23] that is an expansion of the unfinished novella that Flint was working on called An Angel Named Peterbilt at the time of his death in July 2022. [24] [25]
See also
Related Research Articles
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.
1632 (2000) is an alternate history novel by American author Eric Flint, the initial novel in the best-selling series of the same name.
The Grantville Gazette is the first of a series of professionally selected and edited paid fan fiction anthologies set within the 1632 series inspired by Eric Flint's novel 1632. The electronically published the Grantville Gazettes, which are reaching long novel length with regularity, now make up the majority of the series in terms of words in print. Flint as series owner and editor accounts all as canonical. The Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) recognizes published stories within the Gazettes as qualified credentials for membership—which membership requires a writer to have three published works as prerequisites.
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.
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.
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.
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).
1635: The Tangled Web is a novel in the alternate history 1632 series, written by Virginia DeMarce.
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.
Ring of Fire III is an anthology created by editor-author-historian Eric Flint, first published in hardcover by Baen Books in July 2011. It is the third anthology in the 1632 series following after Ring of Fire II (2008).
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.
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.
This is complete list of works by American science fiction and historical fiction author Eric Flint (1947–2022).
References
- ↑ "Uchronia: The Assiti Shards (1632) Series". www.uchronia.net.
- ↑ Lardas, Mark (June 8, 2008). "'1632' fans will enjoy Flint's latest sequel". Galveston County Daily News . Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
- ↑ Barker, Dan (May 30, 2008). "Barker on books - 'Ring of Fire II' shows depth of human experience". Fort Morgan Times . Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
- ↑ Blankenhorn, Dana (July 19, 2007). 小説にも映画にも――広がるオープンソースの世界. ZDnet Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
- ↑ Eric Flint; Marilyn Kosmaatka (2008). Time Spike. Baen. ISBN 978-1-4391-3312-5.
- ↑ "Time Spike (sample)". Baen Books.
- ↑ "Time Spike: The Mysterious Mesa (sample)". Ring of Fire Press. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020.
- ↑ Dove, David W. (2012). "Time Spike: The Dragon Slayer". Grantville Gazette. Vol. 39. ISBN 978-1-4516-3830-1. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021.
- ↑ Dove, David W. (2012). "Time Spike: The Swarm". Grantville Gazette. Vol. 41. ISBN 978-1-61824-852-7. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020.
- ↑ Dove, David W. (2017). "Time Spike: Old Habits". Grantville Gazette. Vol. 74. ISBN 978-1-62579-592-2. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020.
- ↑ "Publishing Schedule". Baen Books. Archived from the original on January 28, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
- ↑ "Forthcoming". EricFlint.net. March 14, 2006. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
- ↑ The Alexander Inheritance - Official Publisher Page. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4814-8248-6.
- ↑ "The Alexander Inheritance (sample)". Baen Books.
- ↑ "Events Calendar". Baen Books. Archived from the original on September 4, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
- ↑ "The Macedonian Hazard (sample)". Baen Books.
- ↑ "The Sicilian Coil (sample)". Ring of Fire Press. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022.
- ↑ The Crossing. Simon and Schuster. 2022. ISBN 978-1-9821-9201-3.
- ↑ Ikenberry, Kevin (2022). "The Crossing".
- ↑ The Crossing (sample). Baen Books. August 2, 2022.
- ↑ "Forthcoming". Eric Flint. 2021. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020.
- ↑ "An Angel Called Peterbilt (sample)". Baen Books. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- ↑ "An Angel Called Peterbilt (Simon & Schuster)". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- ↑ Flint, Eric. "Forthcoming Books". Eric Flint's website. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022.
- ↑ "Sounds like Time Spike (snippet)". North Alabama Science Fiction Association (NASFA). November 29, 2021 – via Facebook.