GRANTVILLE GAZETTE [Mass Market Paperback]

What would happen if a West Virginia mining town were translated into the middle of the Thirty Years War? _1632_ by Eric Flint is an unusual time travel novel based on that premise. Further books in the series (Ring of Fire, 1633, and 1634: The Galileo Affair) deepen the premise.

The Grantville Gazette doesn't just deepen the fun - it widens the fun. Although most of the stories were first printed in Baen's electronic edition, "Portraits" (by Eric Flint) is new to the paper edition. The stories moved me to laughter ("Rudolstadt Colloquy") and tears ("Anna's Story".) The non-fiction articles on technology transfer possible with a realistic assessment of what could be done with a mish-mash of twentieth-century and seventeenth-century technology.

I'm hard put to decide which my favorite story was. For me, a good story is one with characters that will stick around in my head for years.

Benny will fiddle away in Rudolstadt, as a missionary for old-time music to the seventeenth century. Sarah will forever be exasperated as her father discusses fiscal policy in terms of Federal Reserve Fairies that only work if people believe. Pete Santee will be showing yet another crop of dam'fool kids that a gun only does what it's supposed to when....

The non-fiction is a wonderful bonus. It adds a depth to the fiction, as you realize what constraints the fiction authors were operating under.

Eric Flint's experience as an editor of short story collections shows. The whole of this book is greater than the sum of the parts. If you enjoy alternate history, this is a book to pick up. But beware. Don't pick it up in the evening, as it will be hard to put down in time to get a good night's sleep.

An anthology, the dead tree version of the electronic edition of the Grantville Gazette brought out by Baen about a year ago.

First, don't be off put by Amazon's poor copy of the cover, they've promised to fix it eventually.

Second, for any 1632 fans, this is a must-have.

Virginia DeMarce's "Rudolstadt Collequy" alone is worth the price of the book.

Loren Jones' "Anna's Story" is a romance that equals Eric Flints handling of adult romance.

Gorg Huff's "The Sewing Circle" was the introduction of major characters in the 1632 universe which are finding their way not only into other stories, but the next novels.

All in all, a good example of the cooperative world building that Eric Flint has been attempting to use the 1632 universe as an example of. Eric pointed out in his comments on the "Ring of Fire" anthology that the real world is messy and complex, and that one of the problems with much alternate history is, the single creator of the universe misses out on a lot of that messiness and complexity that flavor the real world. By allowing both professional writers and fans to actually contribute to the development of characters and background for the 1632 universe, Flint has attempted to overcome that and produce an alternate history with the flavor of real history.

But don't be deceived, these are fully professional stories, not a "fan fiction" collection. The Grantville Gazette is not to be missed, except for those people who think that alternate history is battle scene after battle scene, gunshot after gunshot.

Includes:

Portraits - Eric Flint's vingette of Rubens interaction with uptimers.

Anna's Story - Loren Jones romance for grown ups.

Curio and Relic - Tom Van Natta gives the firearms fans something to be happy about

The Sewing Circle - Gorg Huff introduces some of the most interesting characters in the 1632 universe.

The Rudolstadt Collequy - Virginia De Marce intrigues around the intersection of politics, religion, and folk music.

And Non Fiction pieces by the 1632 tech crew:

Radio in the 1632 Universe - Rick Boatright

They've got bread mold - why can't they make penicillin? - Robert Gotlieb

Horse Power - Karen Bergstralh

In the interest of full disclosure, the radio article is mine. But that did not change my evaluation of the other pieces.

Get it.

Grantville, West Virginia, is thrown back into Germany during the 100 Years War and the Americans need to figure out how to survive one of the most destructive conflicts of all time--and spread the wisdom of American democracy as well. GRANTVILLE GAZETTE collects several stories and articles about this alternate history universe, adding detail to the main novels written by Eric Flint.

The first of the stories, 'Portraits,' by Eric Flint, deals with the Grantville decision to smuggle a drug-making formula to the Catholic enemies of the new U.S. of Europe as well as the interesting historical figure of Pieter Paul Rubens--the famous artist. This story inspired the somewhat odd cover and deals with an intriguing social and ethical issue--the responsibility of the Americans to share some of their knowledge with the entire world, rather than merely with their allies.

The second story, 'Anna's Story' by Loren Jones is a simple tale of an aging American as he deals with the changes, including creation of a new family based on local 'downtime' Germans. It's a pleasant enough story with a bit of emotion but doesn't really deal with the alternate history or larger social issues Flint touches upon.

The third story, 'Curio and Relic' by Tom Van Natta, suggests that the transportation of Grantville to the medieval past might have been a lifesaver to a Viet Nam veteran who was disaffected and displaced in an America that neither understood nor respected his work. Paul Santee's dilemma seems real and convincing.

The fourth, and longest story, 'The Sewing Circle' by Gorg Huff, is also the most rewarding. Recognizing Grantville's need to create rather than merely sell it's capital, a group of high-school students (high school students play a key role in 1632 as well) decide to create pedal-driven sewing machines. The discussions of economics, sourcing, and trade, as well as the family and social dynamics are solid alternate history.

The fifth story, 'The Rudolsadt Colloquy' by Virginia De Marce tells of a religious gathering. Not much happens. We don't care about the characters involved. Students of religious history might find some value in this but although I'm interested in just about everything, I just couldn't find any reason why this needed to be here.

After the stories, three articles, 'Radio in the 1632 Universe' by Rick Boatright, 'They've Got Bread Mold, So Why Can't They Make Penicillin?' by Robert Gottlief, and 'Horse Power' by Karen Bergstralh deal with the obvious topics. Anyone interested in writing alternate history will do well to read these as examples of the type of questions that can come up and that can be dealt with.

A common problem with anthologies connected with novel-series is that the primary series author doesn't want too much to happen that will confuse the readers of the main track. Unfortunately, GRANTVILLE GAZETTE definitely falls into this category--and as a result, not much happens. 'The Sewing Circle' works because it shows really critical but possibly below the radar-scope activities happening. The other fiction is just pleasant stories that don't do much to deepen our understanding of the 1632 universe or anything else. The articles are interesting (did you know that there was a low in sunspot activity during this era) but really relevant only to people who are so in love with the 1632 Universe that they probably already attend the on-line discussions on www.Baen.com.

If you love this series as much as I do, you'll definitely want to read this book--but don't expect too much. Everything is well written and nothing is really bad, but it only adds a bit.

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