non-fiction Archives - Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond

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 #13: Transportation Modes

Previous / Next Hither and Yon: Transportation Modes, Costs and Infrastructure in 1632 and afterWritten by Iver P. Cooper“If a man . . . make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.” If Emerson really said that, well, […]

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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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Issue 9 #7: Available Now and Coming Soon

Issue 9 #6: X-Rays!

Previous / NextX-Rays! Iver CooperX-rays may be used for medical imaging and treatment, metallurgical examination, and chemical characterization. How soon will this be possible in the 1632 Universe?X-RaysX-rays are a high-energy form of electromagnetic radiation. On the electromagnetic spectrum, they lie in between ultraviolet and gamma rays. Surprisingly, there isn’t an exact definition of X-rays, […]

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The Frontier Culture Museum

September 18, 2024 1632 & Beyond, 1632verse, Blog, non-fiction by Bethanne Kim

I have driven past signs for “this “The Frontier Culture Museum” off Interstate 81 in Virginia many times and have often thought about stopping there, but we were always in a rush to get somewhere. Finally, on the way home from DragonDon 2024, we had the time. As an added bonus, we had perfect weather.The […]

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1632 & Beyond Issue 6 #6: Inside Baseball

PreviousInside BaseballBjorn HasselerSince Robert finished his Cassini cycle of baseball stories in this issue, I decided on a baseball name for this column. It’s the inside scoop, the nuts and bolts, perhaps a little of how the sausage is made.Most of the staff of Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond just got home from Libertycon. While […]

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1632 & Beyond Issue 6 #5: Buzz! Beekeeping in the 1632 Universe Part 2

Previous / NextBuzz! Beekeeping in the 1632 Universe, Part 2Iver P. CooperTransplanting BeesThe European honey bee has been deliberately transported to regions outside its native range, notably North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, and Japan. There are obvious problems with shipping bees overseas on sailing ships. The voyages are long and there are […]

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Volume 2 #12: The Secret Book of Zink

PreviousThe Secret Book Of ZinkAndrew Clark [We present to you for the first time translated into English, the remarkable and exciting news from Doctor Erasmus Faustus, as originally printed in the Fraenkische Wochenzeitung.] By vows to God and from pious reflection, this humble man offers to mankind the secret story of the princely metal of […]

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Volume 2 #11: Mente Et Malleo: Practical Mineralogy And Minerals Exploration In 1632

Previous / NextMente Et Malleo: Practical Mineralogy And Minerals Exploration In 1632 (non-fiction)Laura RunkleOne of the advantages that the people of Grantville have in the novels 1632 and 1633 is their technology. With their tools, the people of Grantville can turn out cannon, rifles, and steam engines. With their chemical knowledge, they can create antibiotics, […]

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Volume 2 #10: So You Want To Do Telecommunications In 1633?

Previous / NextSo You Want To Do Telecommunications In 1633? (non-fiction)Rick BoatrightIntroductionDavid Freer’s story, “Lineman for the Country” in the Ring of Fire anthology, described the beginnings of wired telecommunications in the 1632 universe and the founding of AT&L. Like any good story, much of the technology was mentioned, but not described in detail. This […]

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Volume 2 #9: A Quick and Dirty Treatise on Historical Fencing

Previous / NextA quick and dirty treatise on historical fencing (non-fiction)Enrico M. Toro“Et l’oggetto di questa scienza altro non è che il riparare et il ferire . . . le quali non potrà alcuno sapere se prima non havrà la cognitione dè tempi e delle misure . . .”[ . . . and the goal of this science is nothing else […]

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Volume 102 #8: Hot Off Ring of Fire Press!

Previous New ReleasesRussian Amerikaby Stoney ComptonCategory: Alternate HistoryAlaska, 1987. In a world where Alaska is still a Russian possession, charter captain Grigoriy Grigorievich has a stained past–as a major in the Czar’s Troika Guard he was cashiered for disobeying a direct order.Now, ten years later, Grisha charters out to a Cossack and discovers his past has […]

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Volume 102 #7: Notes from The Buffer Zone: Peering at the Future

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschThis morning, as I write this, news broke of another mega-bestselling writer complaining that publishing is being ruined by diversity. I’m sure his book sales are down, because every traditionally published writer’s book sales are down. I’m sure some of his friends can’t sell books into traditional publishing because right […]

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Volume 102 #6: Time May Change Me, Part 4

Previous / NextBy Charles E. Gannon, Ph.D. and David CarricoSo by 1636, it’s been obvious for some time now that the SRG flintlock is approaching the end of its utility phase. It won’t be long before it’s more of a liability than an asset.The French have already produced a clone of the Sharps rifle. The […]

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1632 & Beyond Issue 3 #5: Something Old, Something New: A Materials of Construction Survey

Previous Iver P. CooperWhat we can construct—whether it be a building, a boiler, or a toaster—and how well it performs its function depends on the materials incorporated into it. One of the effects of the Ring of Fire will be an ever-expanding palette of materials of construction for the engineer. Depending on their properties and […]

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Volume 101 #9: Notes from the Buffer Zone: Luck

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschYears ago, I read Jack Williamson’s autobiography, Wonder’s Child. I was missing Jack, and I wanted a bit of his wisdom. There’s a lot of wisdom in that book, and a lot of stories I never heard Jack tell. I guess when you live into your nineties, you have even […]

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Volume 100 #15: Notes from the Buffer Zone: 100

Previous by Kristine Kathryn RuschI’m currently working on a project that I started in the early 1990s. In creative time—the time marked by my muse—that project is older, but not old. I can remember writing it. I might not know all the details, but I’ll be honest: I don’t know all the details of something […]

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Volume 100 #14: Hot Off Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press!

Previous / Nextby Walt BoyesNew ReleasesPhoenix Risingby Ryk E. SpoorCategory: FantasyImpossible Betrayal . . .First it had been her parents, slain by unknown assassins in their own home; then Kyri Vantage’s brother, Rion, was murdered, body and soul rent asunder. And then her flight to supposed safety reveals that the killers are people she trusted […]

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Volume 100 #13: The Beginnings of the 1632 Story and the Grantville Gazette

Previous / Nextby Walt Boyes I am the third editor of the Grantville Gazette. But, I was there at the beginning, when Eric posted on Baen’s Bar that he needed help with some issues he had in writing Fire in the Hole which was the original title (thank God, Jim Baen changed it). I wrote […]

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Volume 99 #4: Notes from the Buffer Zone: Foreshadowing

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschI just canceled out of my second concert of the fall. A favorite artist, a concert I was looking forward to, and I still couldn’t pull the trigger. Not because of the artist. Not even because of a lack of Covid protocols. Both concerts required either full vaccination or a […]

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Volume 98 #7: Notes From the Buffer Zone: Technological Change

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschI have finally lived in Las Vegas long enough to qualify for resident status at the university. I wanted that because I wanted to finish my Spanish major from forty years ago. I have taken Spanish online, and I’ve also taken some classes at those places designed for tourists, and […]

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Volume 98 #6: Industrial Alchemy, Part 6: Rare Earths and More

Previous / Nextby Iver P. CooperIn “Industrial Alchemy, Part 2: Inorganic Chemical Bestiary” (Grantville Gazette 25), I surveyed the sources and uses of most of the elements of the Periodic Table. However, there were some exceptions:Lanthanides: 15 elements (these, together with scandium, yttrium, and lutetium, are called “rare earth” elements).Actinides: 15 radioactive elements.Non-Metals: The noble gas […]

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Volume 95 #6: Notes from The Buffer Zone: Science Will Save Us

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschExactly one year ago, in April of 2020, I wrote in this column:Science will save us. And volunteers will (are) risking their lives to test these drugs and vaccines. And some of these folks will be unnamed in the history books, and that’s too bad. Because they’re on the front […]

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Volume 95 #5: Tethered Balloons and Kites in the 1632 Universe, Part 1

Previous / Next by Iver P. CooperBalloons and kites may be used for observation (visual and meteorological) and communication (antenna-lifting) purposes. For these purposes, it may be necessary for the vehicle to stay in one place.Unlike a sailing ship, a free balloon cannot sail in any direction other than directly downwind (sailing ships take advantage […]

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Volume 94 #8: New From Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press!

Previous / Nextby Walt BoyesThe Ring of Fire Press has been publishing a book a week since January, so we have lots of stuff to tell you about:David Brin has joined Ring of Fire Press with a new YA series, and Steven M Stirling is bringing us his new Black Chamber trilogy, the first of […]

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Volume 94 #7: Notes from The Buffer Zone: Old SF Roadshow

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschThis past month, I wrote a novel in my Spade/Paladin universe. The stories are mysteries, set at science fiction conventions. As the conventions became more acrimonious, ‘long about 2015, my willingness to write more Spade/Paladin slowed down. I hated getting criticized by people of every political persuasion for something I […]

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Volume 94 #6: Propane, Butane, and Natural Gas in the 1632 Universe

Previous / Nextby Iver P. CooperIntroductionNatural gas and its components are important fuels in post-Ring of Fire Grantville. They also have other utilities. In this article, we will try to better characterize Grantville’s natural gas resource and the means by which propane and butane might be extracted from it and put to use.PropanePropane’s most glamorous […]

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Volume 96 #5: Notes from The Buffer Zone: Stepping Into an Uncertain Future

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschI’m tempted to buy a book on the aftermath of the 1918 flu pandemic. I’ve been tempted to buy this (as yet unknown) book for some time now.Because of my interest in history, I know how pandemics end. Slowly and with great unevenness. I truly did not expect the U.S.’s […]

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Volume 96 #4: Tethered Balloons and Kites in the 1632 Universe, Part 2

Previous / Nextby Iver P. CooperIn part 1, we considered a variety of operational issues for tethered balloons and kites. Here, we will consider the strength and weight of tether materials available in the 1632 universe, possible tethering systems, and how to size the tethers for a particular balloon type and size. We will also […]

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Volume 93 #7: Notes from The Buffer Zone: Heroic Lazy Sods

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschThe German government has produced a series of amusing Public Service Announcements about Covid-19. (Yes, you saw that. I used “amusing” and “Covid-19” in the same sentence.)The videos resemble those videos that documentarians put together with interviews from survivors of some great tragedy. The older person reminisces, and some actor […]

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Volume 92 #7: Notes from the Buffer Zone, Mummies and Fleas

Previous / Nextby Kristine Kathryn RuschI get it: People are panicked—and justifiably so. Everything—everything— is in turmoil. We don’t know exactly how this will all end, and we’re tired. It’s been a long century, these past six months.I have my panic moments, and I find I’m getting superstitious. I find myself unwilling to say things like, […]

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Volume 92 #6: Flags of the World: The USE, Part 2

Flags of the World: The USE, Part 2Previous / Nextby Mike NagleOther Flags of the United States of EuropeAt the end of 1636, the United States of Europe is composed of 16 provinces and states, 8 free imperial cities, and 2 districts. Additionally, 8 former free imperial cities (of the Holy Roman Empire) in Swabia […]

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Farm Equipment That Came Through the Ring of Fire