“16 tons and what do you get. . . ?” In the new universe created by the cosmic accident that sent the West Virginia town of Grantville back in time and across continents to Europe in 1631, what you get is a steam engine powering a gantry crane, doing work that would have needed a dozen men and many more days in time. That’s from Kevin and Karen Evans’ “Engines of Change: Niels the Builder” in this issue of the Grantville Gazette.

Grantville’s existence has had many effects, both large and small. In Andy Rogers’ “A Pirate Made,” a young Dutch woman has the opportunity to become much more—or much less, and she takes it.

Meanwhile, in “The People You Know,” by Georgios Iconomou, a ne’er-do-well up-timer finally finds his niche in a coffee urn. Not all up-timers are heroes, you know.

Nick Lorance continues his stories of Sergeant Whatsisname in “Birthday Blues.”

Terry Howard and Jack Carroll tell the story of a self-important customs agent who interrupts what he thinks is a pagan sacrifice. Oops.

Eric S. Brown and Robert Waters continue the story of the Grantville Monster Society in “The Thing in the Up-time Attic.”

Virginia DeMarce gives us a look at the inside of the court of Burgundy, and the ubiquitous Rohans in “Les Futuriens, Part One.” And Charles E. Gannon continues his behind-the-scenes look at what didn’t make it into the book in “Papal Stakes: Faces from the Cutting Room Floor, Part 3.”

Iver Cooper continues his article on “Life at Sea, Part Two,” and Garrett Vance adds another chapter to the Time Spike serial, “First Cavalry of the Cretaceous 2: Lovebirds.”

In her column, “Notes from the Buffer Zone,” Kristine Katherine Rusch talks about collections and collectibles. One of the things that appears to be true of science fiction and fantasy is that fans collect books . . . and other things.