Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond: Alternate History Stories

Volume 11 #15: Adventures in Transportation

Previous Adventures in Transportation: An Examination of Drags, Carts, Wagons and Carriages Available in the 17th centuryWritten by Karen BergstralhThe intention of this piece is to acquaint the 1632 aficionados with the types of wheeled and non-wheeled land transport available for moving heavy and bulky items. Considering that the up-timers will have a variety of […]

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Volume 11 #14: Steam: Taming the Demon

Previous / Next Steam: Taming the DemonWritten by Kevin H. EvansDISCLAIMERThis article is not intended to provide all the information needed to design and build actual boilers. Many skills and cross checks are needed to ensure the safe design and construction of pressure vessels. This article is to promote the understanding of steam technology, and […]

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Volume 11 #12: Butterflies in the Kremlin Part Four

Previous / Next Butterflies in the Kremlin, Part FourWritten by Gorg Huff and Paula GoodlettYaroslavich Dacha, outside of MoscowA Dissertation on the Valueof Freedom and Security“Those that give up their freedom for a little temporary security deserve neither freedom or security and ultimately will lose both.” So goes an up-time quote. This humble writer doesn’t […]

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Volume 11 #11: Stretching Out, Part One: Second Starts

Previous / Next Stretching Out, Part One: Second StartsWritten by Iver P. CooperGrantville, May 2, 1632“Race time ten minutes,” blared the speaker. The murmur of the fairground crowd rose, and then subsided.“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Maria Vorst said. Maria had come to Grantville with her brother Adolph, the curator of the […]

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Volume 11 #10: Trommler Records

Previous / Next Trommler RecordsWritten by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett“Just sign right there.” The blond man, Contz Beckenbauer, indicated the space for her signature and handed her the pen. “Right there, as I said. Then we’ll talk about what you will sing for the record.”Els hesitated a moment. She was just about to move […]

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Volume 11 #10: Wish Book

Previous / Next Wish BookWritten by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett“Gary Jordan!”Gary Jordan Burke flinched. He almost always flinched when Joyce got to screeching. It was an automatic response to her high-pitched, overly-loud voice. You’d think the woman thought everyone was deaf.“Gary Jordan!”“Yes, dear?”“Go downtown and get some more paper scrap. We’re nearly out.”“Yes, dear.” Gary […]

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Volume 11 #9: Bootstrapping

Previous / NextBootstrappingWritten by Kerryn OffordWinter 1631-32, JenaCatherine Mutschler made her way carefully through the winter mud. She was tired and listless after being kept up most of the night by Maria, her three-year-old daughter. She’d finally managed to settle Maria only by feeding her the last of the bread mixed with thin soup, but […]

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Volume 11 #8: Bathing with Coal

Previous / Next Bathing With CoalWritten by Russ RittgersFall, 1633“Barnabas Kitchner! Wake up! It’s Tuesday morning and you have to buy wood for the bathhouse fire.”The thirty-eight year-old man rolled over in bed and opened one eye. His wife, Margarete Lutsch, was already dressed and standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.Tuesday. […]

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Volume 11 #7: O For a Muse of Fire

Previous / Next O For a Muse of FireWritten by Jay RobisonO for a muse of fire, that would ascendThe brightest heaven of invention!—Shakespeare, Henry VAndreas Gryphius, born Greif, waited outside the door to Amber Higham’s office. He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, knew that that was not why the high school’s drama teacher wanted […]

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Volume 11 #6: The Treasure Hunters

Previous / Next The Treasure HuntersWritten by Karen BergstralhMarch, 2000The librarian stamped the book and handed it across the desk. “This is a grown-up book, Mikey. It came all the way from a library in Richmond and you can only have one renewal on it. It must be back by April sixteenth.”Michael Arthur Tyler grabbed the book […]

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Volume 11 #5: A Gift of Blankets

Previous / NextA Gift of BlanketsWritten by Kerryn Offord and Vincent ColjeeQuarantine House Alpha, Grantville, 1632“How do we feel today?” Katharina Anna Schrey asked Quarantine House Alpha’s most important patient.John Thompson Sims looked up from his sick bed. “Lousy!”Katharina smiled down at the elderly doctor. He’d been her friend and mentor since she started the […]

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Volume 11 #3: Azrael’s Bargain

Previous / Next Azrael’s BargainWritten by Terry HowardDownload this Podcast Episodehttp://www.grantvillegazette.com/img/pod/bargain.mp3“Hey, Jimmy. Why don’t I ever see you down at the rail yard anymore?” It was a cold winter night and Club 250 had its every-night regulars and as many more folks who weren’t. The young man talking to Jimmy Dick was one of the latter.Jimmy […]

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Volume 11 #2: Lessons in Astronomy

Previous / Next Lessons in AstronomyWritten by Peter Hobson“Your Eminence, I’m fluent in Latin, German and Italian. My French is passable. My Greek is a little weak and I’ve forgotten most of the smattering of Hebrew the seminary inflicted on me.” Father Scheiner knew he shouldn’t be taking that tone with a prince of the […]

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Volume 11 #1: Pilgrimage of Grace

Previous / NextPilgrimage of GraceWritten by Virginia DeMarce“They’re not taking what happened in Suhl last January out on Johnny Lee’s family because they can’t. His dad’s been dead for thirty years. His mother wasn’t from around here to start with and she moved back to Ohio after a while. Mary Fern–that’s his sister, you probably […]

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Volume 10 #19: The Feast

Previous THE FEASTby Anette PedersenGuildmaster B in a fair-sized northern European town is giving a party to celebrate his second son’s engagement to the daughter of another guildmaster. Come and let me show you what’s going on.The StreetThe street leading past the house is not one of the main streets through the town, so it’s […]

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Volume 10 #18: All Roads Lead to…

Previous / Next ALL ROADS LEAD. . . .By Iver P. CooperA seventeenth-century visitor might well think that all roads lead to Grantville, not Rome, because down-time roads pale by comparison. “Captain Gars,” riding on Route 250, noted its “perfect flatness,” and considered it to be “the finest road he had ever seen in his life.” (1632, Chap. […]

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Volume 10 #17: Herd Immunity

Previous / Next Herd ImmunityBy Vincent W. ColjeeLife, disease and death in the 1630sImagining life in a small town in Germany in the 1630s is difficult for the average twenty-first century dweller. Picture awaking from an interrupted night’s sleep, courtesy of the local swine brawling in the alley below your bedroom window. Extracting yourself carefully […]

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Volume 10 #16: Crude Peniccilin

Previous / Next Crude Penicillin: Potential and LimitationsBy Kim Mackey“That which we know frequently impedes us in acquiring new knowledge.” Claude Bernard (1813-1878), French physiologist.Background and Early History of PenicillinThe Age of Disinfection began with the work of Pasteur and Lister in the 1860s and 1870s. While this initial work focused on external disinfection, doctors and […]

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Volume 10 #15: Butterflies in the Kremlin, Part 3

Previous / Next Butterflies in the Kremlin, Part 3:Boris, Natasha . . . But Where’s BullwinkleBy Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett“Order Kameroff to take his battalion to the west.” The barely bearded Russian wearing two stars on his collar moved his finger along the map, over a set of hills then northwest along a river. “He is to take […]

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Volume 10 #14: The Doctor Phil Chronicles: Doctor Phil’s Family

Previous / NextThe Doctor Phil Chronicles:Doctor Phil’s FamilyBy Kerryn OffordDr. Gribbleflotz’ office, HDG Enterprizes, JenaPhillip took the next letter from his inbox. It was marked personal, and checking the back, he could see it was from his American friend, Jonathan Fortney. He broke the seal and started reading. He had to smile. Jonathan could be […]

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Volume 10 #13: Franconia! Part 1

Previous / NextFranconia! Part 1by Virginia DeMarceGrantville,February 1634“No, no, no, no, no, no, n-o-o-o-o.” Amber Higham threw both of her hands up in the air.The class came to a stop.“This unit worked last year. It worked like a charm. Why isn’t it working this year?” She glared at her students. “So, tell me! We’re using […]

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Volume 10 #12: Little Angel

Previous / NextLittle AngelBy Kerryn OffordGrantville,January 1634Maria Helena Kolb slowly searched the line of trees. Somewhere, hidden in the shadows, she was sure Benji Matheny was hiding in ambush. Time to send in the cannon fodder. “Daisy, Regina, when I give you the word, I want you to run around that tree over there and, if you […]

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Volume 10 #11: The Prepared Mind

Previous / NextThe Prepared MindBy Kim Mackey“Chance favors the prepared mind.” —Louis PasteurGrantville, May 1632When Amy Kubiak walked into the biology classroom, Lori Fleming had her head on her desk. Amy smiled. Pete Farmer had been a good biology teacher when Amy had had him in high school. But now that she was working to […]

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Volume 10 #8: Fiddling Stranger

Previous / Next Fiddling StrangerBy Russ RittgersAugust 1633Dolf was the first in his farming village to notice the stranger. Not that strangers walking or riding past on their way to or from Aschersleben were unusual. He was ten, old enough to have finished his formal schooling, or so his father said. “Got your letters and […]

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Volume 10 #6: The Salon

Previous / NextThe SalonBy Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff“Ah . . .”The sound of a throat clearing drew Heather’s attention away from the paperwork on her desk at Trommler Records. “Hey, Jacob. What’s up?”“It is Thursday, Heather. I wanted to leave about three so I can attend the salon.”“Salon?”“The salon at Rachel Hill’s house. Surely you’ve heard of […]

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Volume 10 #4: NCIS: Lies, Truths and Consequences

Previous / Next NCIS: Lies, Truths and ConsequencesBy Jose J. Clavell“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”John 8:32Naval HeadquartersMagdeburg Navy YardMagdeburg, USE 0900 Hours LocalIn the charming vernacular of his time, the admiral was ready to have kittens. The tension in his office was thick enough to cut with a […]

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Volume 10 #3: Star Crossed

Previous / NextStar CrossedBy Terry Howard“Yoo hoo! Manuel!”When Emmanuel Onofrio heard Verlinda Fritz yoohooing down the hall, his mind yelled, “Run!” He was looking forward to a quiet, restful lunch in the teacher’s lounge. Keeping the rowdy kids in line so the others could learn seemed to get harder year by year and week by […]

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Volume 10 #2: A Filthy Story

Previous / NextA Filthy Story by Aamund BreivikDaniel Pedersson cursed, and swung the entrenching tool again. It went splat instead of crack, again, and he cursed some more. Not that swearing helped; he was already covered in filthy sewage slush beyond all imagination. The supply depot’s jury-rigged sewer system had worked fine all summer, but now the outlet […]

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Volume 10 #1: On The Matter of D’Artagnan

Previous / Next On The Matter of D’Artagnanby Bradley H. Sinor“Charlton Heston or Tim Curry?” mused Cardinal Richelieu.Since there was no one else in the room, the chief minister to His Majesty Louis XIII of France was speaking for his own benefit.Richelieu sat in a large chair behind the huge desk that dominated the room […]

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Writing Reed & Kathy Sue Burroughs

By Bjorn HasselerThe one hard and fast rule about a story is “don’t bore the reader.” The rest are recommendations—because you can find exceptions to all the other “rules.” But if you’re just starting out, please follow the recommendations until you have developed the skill to break them.But we can talk about characterization, plot, background, […]

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Volume 9 #31: The Daily Beer

Previous / NextThe Daily Beerby Anette PedersenThe Importance of BeerBeer was food. Before the potato arrived in Northern and Central Europe, barley, rye and oats were the main sources of nutrients. Of these, barley was the easiest and most robust crop. Barley isn’t that good as bread or porridge, so almost the entire harvest was […]

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Volume 9 #30: A Tempest In a Baptistry

Previous / Next A Tempest In a Baptistryby Terry HowardThe question of re-baptism and the distress it caused in the sixteen hundreds, including what has at times been described as bloody murder, is still with us.In 1965, President Johnson’s daughter Luci was re-baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. While most of the world took no […]

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Volume 9 #28: Radio in 1632, Part 3

Previous / Next Radio in 1632, Part 3by Rick BoatrightIn our two previous discussions of telecommunications in the 1632 series, we focused on radio communications uniquely available to up-timers (“Radio in the 1632 Universe,” Grantville Gazette, Volume One) , and to wired communications (“So You Want to do Telecommunications in 1633,” Grantville Gazette, Volume Two). In this article we […]

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