1633 (novel)

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1633
DavidWebberEricFlint 1633.jpg
First edition cover
Author David Weber & Eric Flint
Cover artistDru Blair
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series 1632 series
Genre Alternate History, Novel
Publisher Baen Books
Publication date
August 2002
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback) & ebook
Pages608 pp (1st ed, HC)
673 pp (1st ed, PB)
ISBN 0-7434-3542-7 (1st ed, HC)
ISBN   0-7434-7155-5 (1st ed, PB)
OCLC 49525790
813/.5 21
LC Class PS3573.E217 A615 2002
Preceded by 1632  
Followed by Ring of Fire (anthology) and
1634: The Galileo Affair
In the Central European thread: (direct sequel)
1634: The Baltic 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. [1] 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.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Premise

The series begins in the Modern era on May 31, 2000, during a small town wedding when the small West Virginia town of Grantville trades places in both time and geographic location with a nearly unpopulated countryside region within the Holy Roman Empire during the convulsions of the Thirty Years' War.

Flint's goal was to explore the short- and long-term effects of placing a single American town, complete with modern culture, technology and modes of thought, in certain periods of history.

The town elects the charismatic former pro-boxer Mike Stearns as president, and he quickly decides to provide refuge for those displaced as a result of the constant fighting, to branch out and grow as quickly as possible—to launch the American Revolution "150 years early", and found a "New United States". The Grantvillers undertake to defend south central Thuringia with the aid of a cavalry detachment from king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden's Green Regiment, and fights several battles which convince various polities to join the NUS.

By early 1632, their informal alliance with Gustavus and with Jews, their manufacturing capabilities, and their defeats of Catholic armies draws serious and well-designed concerted efforts to attack the "republican cancer" growing in Thuringia, and Grantville itself is attacked, teaching Stearns that he needs a protector to "buy time", even as the "up-timers" have determined that to retain as much technology as possible they need to "gear down" to a late nineteenth-century technology base while their modern equipment is still operable.

Plot summary

1633 continues where 1632 left off. Most of the novel details various political machinations of the new "United States" and the attempts of Cardinal Richelieu to nullify the threat posed by the technological advantage the up-timers have given to Gustavus Adolphus and his "Confederated Principalities of Europe". Richelieu completely changes France's foreign policy and forms an alliance aimed squarely at the NUS and Gustavus called the League of Ostend. Mike Stearns sends emissaries looking for allies, some of whom end up behind enemy lines as they already belong to the secret League of Ostend, which announces its presence in the Battle of Four Fleets. The Dutch Republic nearly falls and Stearns' emissary voluntarily stays behind, becoming trapped in the Siege of Amsterdam.

At this point, the newly created timeline start to diverge greatly from the actual history of the 17th Century, in no small part because the news of a town from the future brought spies and emissaries, and a fair number of encyclopedias and history textbooks found their way into European courts. One theme of the series is of down-timer leaders trying to change, hasten or head off their histories while the acts of ordinary citizens going about their day-to-day affairs and of the leaders of Grantville effect more fundamental societal and political changes.

A mix of methodology

In the series the major novels carry the majority of internationally significant events, but the characters who perform the action are all too likely to have been introduced in one of the ground-eye view short stories which build deep background and form a backdrop for the overarching story lines. Flint is on record of stating "history is messy" but is not the stuff of the linear narrative cleaned up, categorized and written into a history book—and that he wanted to capture some sense of how individual actions on the behalf of one's own self-interest actually form the essence of history, not some idealized superman controlling the throttle and steering wheel at the heart of changing events.

To a great extent, the short stories are fundamental to the main novels in the series, introducing characters and development which play again later in the longer works. Much of writing in Ring of Fire (ROF) antedated this work, and events in this novel were correlated with the stories in that which in many cases, cover events and personalities referenced in this at the least, moreover, there is not a single story in the anthology which happens after the start of this book, they all take place ahead of its exposition.

One ROF story, "In the Navy", by Weber is a direct prequel to a main plot element in this book and its plot threads' direct sequel 1634: The Baltic War.

Characters in "1633"

List of 1632 characters (fictional)

Reception

Publishers Weekly gives a positive review and praised the authors, Flint "for at showing how the new converts can make even the 'old Americans' uncomfortable in their zeal to achieve the blessings of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,'" while Weber "helps smooth out characters who were stereotypes in the first book." [2]

Booklist gave a mostly positive review saying that "if it takes too many pages for some, others will turn every one and cry for more, which the authors intend to provide." [3]

The reviewer for the School Library Journal wrote that the book is "cleanly written, with an enormous cast of interesting characters...with constant action and the hint of danger." [4]

Library Journal gave a positive review saying that the authors "take historic speculation to a new level in a tale that combines accurate historical research with bold leaps of the imagination." [5]

1633 was listed on the Locus (magazine) Hardcovers Bestsellers List for three months in a row during 2002, topping at number 2, [6] [7] [8] and also later on the Paperbacks Bestsellers List for a single month in 2003 at number 1. [9]

Release details

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Flint</span> American author and editor (1947–2022)

Eric Flint was an American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his main 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.

<i>1632</i> (novel) 2000 novel by Eric Flint

1632 is the initial novel in the best-selling alternate history book series, "1632", written by American historian, writer, and editor Eric Flint and published in February 2000.

<i>The Grantville Gazette</i> 2004 anthology of fan fiction stories

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.

<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>Ring of Fire</i> (anthology)

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.

<i>1634: The Ram Rebellion</i> 2006 novel by Eric Flint

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.

<i>Grantville Gazette II</i> 2006 anthology of fan fiction stories

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> 2004 novel by Eric Flint

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> 2006 novel 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> 2007 novel by David Weber and Eric Flint

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> 2004 anthology of fan fiction stories

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> 2007 novel by Virginia DeMarce and Eric Flint

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia DeMarce</span> American historian and science fiction author

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 Dreeson Incident</i> 2008 novel by Eric Flint

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.

<i>1635: The Eastern Front</i> 2010 novel by Eric Flint

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> 2012 alternative history novel

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>1636: The Devils Opera</i> 2013 novel by David Carrico and Eric Flint

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.

This is complete list of works by American science fiction and historical fiction author Eric Flint.

References

  1. "Uchronia: The Assiti Shards (1632) Series". www.uchronia.net.
  2. "1633". Publishers Weekly . Vol. 249, no. 31. August 5, 2007. p. 57. ISSN   0000-0019.
  3. Green, Roland (August 1, 2002). "1633 (Book)". Booklist . Vol. 98, no. 22. p. 1937. ISSN   0006-7385. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Alternate Link via EBSCO (institutional library access).
  4. Brink, Paul (December 2002). "1633 (Book)". School Library Journal . Vol. 48, no. 12. p. 173. ISSN   0362-8930. Archived from the original on April 14, 2014. Alternate Link via EBSCO (institutional library access).
  5. Cassada, Jackie (August 15, 2002). "1633 (Book)". Library Journal . Vol. 127, no. 13. p. 151. ISSN   0363-0277. Archived from the original on April 14, 2014. Alternate Link via EBSCO (institutional library access).
  6. "Locus Bestsellers, October 2002". Locus . October 2002.
  7. "Locus Bestsellers, November 2002". Locus . November 2002.
  8. "Locus Bestsellers, December 2002". Locus (magazine), December 2002.
  9. "Locus Bestsellers, October 2003". Locus . October 2003.