Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond: Alternate History Stories

Special Issue 2 #11: The View from Nakatomi Tower

Previous The View from Nakatomi TowerWalt Boyes and Bjorn Hasseler December 24, 1635The last strains of the soundtrack played, and the credits rolled. The very old, squeaky VHS tape cassette managed to make it through another showing. Out in the auditorium, first the up-timers in the audience started to cheer, then the slightly more reserved […]

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Special Issue 2 #10: Sad Spectacles of Deceitful Iniquity at Christmastime

Previous / Next Sad Spectacles of Deceitful Iniquity at ChristmastimeEric Flint and Lucille RobbinsNuremberg Nadler’s Apothecary November 21, 1637Hearing the bell on the door of his apothecary ring, Ulrich Nadler came out of the workroom to see who had entered. He was still working the pestle in the mortar because the concoction he was making […]

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Special Issue 2 #9: One Night Only

Previous / Next One Night OnlyMichael LockwoodMagdeburg Opera House December 24, 1635Gunther Wagner nervously popped his knuckles as he paced behind a dropped curtain. On the other side of the curtain, a mindless buzz droned from the audience as they made their way to their seats. He pulled the curtain open just enough to catch […]

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Special Issue 2 #8: A Christmas Stollen

Previous / NextA Christmas StollenEdith WildGrantville High School 1636The bell rang as Amalia skidded into the locker room. She rushed over to her assigned locker. She quickly undid her padlock, opened her locker, pulled out her PE uniform and sneakers. Amalia placed them on the bench that ran between the rows of lockers. It amused […]

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Special Issue 2 #5: No Proper Carol

Previous / Next No Proper Carol Sarah HaysNovember 29, 1638“Mama,” Marty Haag Ballantine said. “Have you ever heard the song about the herd of haunted cattle?”Alyse Ballantine, surprised at the breakfast table, asked, ” ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’?”He nodded.“Sure,” Alyse said. “I like Roy Clark’s instrumental best, but my favorite singer for that song […]

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Special Issue 2 #4: Christmas at the Schickelmans

Previous / Next Christmas at the SchickelmansJohn Deakins1637The misplaced Pequot/Englishman Eliezer St. Clair had homesteaded as a blacksmith on a creek short of West Point. The Dutch patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer had given his family more than a dozen acres on the river’s north side.Gerhard Schickelman and his wife Anke Janssen had acquired trade goods […]

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Special Issue 2 #3: At Christmas Time

Previous / Next At Christmas TimeMark HustonBased on the Anton Chekov story“What shall I write, old woman?”“A letter to my daughter. And her husband,” replied Hilde. They were sitting in the smoky common room of the village inn. “For Christmas,” she added with a stiff nod to the young man who sat across from her. […]

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Special Issue 2 #2: The Gift

Previous / Next The GiftChuck ThompsonGrantville December, 1636Most mornings, before rising, Inez Wiley liked to warm her brain by going over her plans for the next few days. She had gotten halfway through tomorrow when a sound interrupted her thoughts. Skritch skritch. Skritch skritch. “Better be that tabby alley cat scratching at my door and […]

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Special Issue 2 #1: Grantville’s Secret Santa

Previous / NextGrantville’s Secret SantaJackie Britton Lopatin“Oh, I remember my first Grantville Christmas.” The elderly woman spoke to her large audience from the podium. “It was amazing.”“I had recently started working part-time at the newspaper office so I was able to earn some rent money while learning more about journalism. The year was 1634, and […]

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1632 & Beyond Special Issue 002

Welcome to our Special Issue #2, Christmas 2024. We hope you enjoy it!NextIntroduction and Table of ContentsBjorn HasselerIntroductionMagdeburg Messenger (1632 Fiction)1. Grantville’s Secret Santa Jackie Britton Lopatin2. The Gift Chuck Thompson3. At Christmas Time Mark Huston4. Christmas at the Schickelmans John Deakins5. No Proper Carol Sarah Hays6. Santa’s Lapp George Haberberger7. Natala Iver P. Cooper8. […]

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Special Issue 1 #8: Nobody’s Going Home

Previous / Next Nobody’s Going HomeVirginia DeMarceAmberg, Upper Palatinate December, 1636“I didn’t expect that I wouldn’t be able to go home for Christmas this year.” Madeline Clinter pouted, half-serious and half-not-so-serious. “The way things have turned out, we’d have been better off if they’d left the normal school in Grantville.”“Nope.” Lizzy Reardon leaned back and […]

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Special Issue 1 #6: The Glad Game

Previous / Next The Glad GameBethanne KimCroat Raid, Grantville August, 1632Adam Holst fought to keep his horse under control. At twenty-four, Adam fancied himself hardened to battles and their aftermath, but his horse was a different story. Storm just didn’t have the instincts, or personality, of a war horse in spite of his impressive strength […]

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Special Issue 1 #4: A Weimaraner Christmas

Previous / NextA Weimaraner ChrismasWalt BoyesWeimar End of November, 1638Adolph Graube, jagdmeister to Duke Albrecht of Weimar, looked up as someone came into his tiny office in the stables. It was his former boss, Gerhard Schmidt. There was barely enough space in the office for a table and a chair, so Adolph rose, grasped Gerhard’s […]

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Special Issue 1 #3: The Gift of the Puppet

Previous / NextThe Gift of the PuppetTracy S. MorrisDenis paused mid-step as he walked through the door of the apartment that he shared with Betsy above her mother’s garage.It looked like the North Pole exploded across their tiny home. Bits of tinsel, wrapping paper, and ornaments lay scattered across the floor like fallen leaves.On the […]

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Special Issue 1 #2: It’s Tradition

Previous / Next It’s TraditionAnne KeenerGrantville December, 1633Joseph Kantor sank into his chair as his homeroom teacher started talking about holiday traditions, presentations, and a class party. She means a Christmas party, he thought. I wonder if I can leave school early that day. Otherwise, I’ll have to decide if it is better to participate […]

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Special Issue 1 #1: A Christmas in the Wonderland Isles

Previous / NextA Christmas in the Wonderland IslesGarrett W. VancePort Looking Glass, Dodo Island Early December, 1637Pers watched the sunrise over the Indian Ocean. Sol’s bloated red orb glistened as if wet from crawling out of the tepid waters. Port Looking Glass’ sprawl of diverse structures, nearly all painted in rich falu red, took on […]

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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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Issue 9 #5: Rose-Hip & Red Velvet

Previous / Next Rose-Hip & Red VelvetTim SayeauGrantville August, 1637Adina Daoud surveyed her family sitting around the kitchen table. Joe Russo, her husband, still in his EMT uniform, sat next to their adopted son, Lorenz Buechner Russo. Seated catty-corner from the guys were the two Daoud-Russo daughters still at home, Elizabeth Suzanne Russo and Sophia […]

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Issue 9 #4: The Rice Farmer’s Daughter And The Samurai

Previous / Next The Rice Farmer’s Daughter And The SamuraiGarrett W. VanceNishioka House, Nihonmachi, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Khmer, Indochina 1635The stoic people of Nihonmachi worked mostly in silence as they went about the grim task of cleaning up after a brief, brutal pitched battle. A relatively small number of Ishida’s samurai had eradicated a […]

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Issue 9 #3: Family Matters

Previous / NextFamily MattersMarc TyrrellChapman House, Grantville Friday, June 4, 1632, 6:15 p.m.“Do you know what that idiot brother of mine just did?!?” Gerald Chapman’s voice was loud enough that everyone in the house, and probably most of the neighbors, could hear him. His wife, Leah, rolled her eyes as she stirred that night’s dinner, […]

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Issue 9 #2: Bremen or Bust

Previous / NextBremen or BustTerry HowardGrantville Friday evening, December 23, 1634On Christmas Eve, white-haired, skinny as a rail Asa, and gray-haired, frail, and nearly emaciated Dory, dressed in their pajamas, were ready for bed. Wrapped in bathrobes, they sat on the French Provincial couch in front of the fireplace with its glazed Italian tiles and […]

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Issue 9 #1: Unintended Consequences

Previous / NextUnintended Consequences George GrantBoston May 1635Mr. Roger Ludlow looked around his new office with satisfaction. While cruder than anything he would have inhabited in England, as far as he was concerned it was the best there was in the New World. He had achieved his highest ambition. Last year he had been elected […]

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Issue 8 #6: Stilettos, Part 2

Previous / NextStilettos, Part 2Bethanne KimIn up-time West Virginia, a stiletto was a type of women’s shoe with an exceptionally high, exceedingly thin heel. By 2000, most people had forgotten the 1950s origins of the name. Stiletto high heels were named for a specific type of Italian knife with an unusually long, thin blade and […]

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Issue 8 #5: Emancipation and Education

Previous / Next Emancipation and EducationTerry HowardGrantville September 1636Reverend Mary Ellen Jones had a dilemma. It was Wednesday evening after the midweek service and choir practice, early in September 1636. A nervous young man named William Schmid was waiting until he could speak to her alone.“Reverend Jones, I need your assistance. I have been told […]

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Issue 8 #4: The Diablo is in the Details

Previous / Next The Diablo is in the DetailsAaron Jameison GresoVenice Late May 1634Zuan, the pilot boat’s oarsman, kept smiling as he bobbed his head. “They were standing in a line outside the door of the new CPE embassy. I’d swear to it.”“Why would anyone stand in line to buy a compass?” The Portuguese merchant-captain, […]

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Issue 8 #3: A Week Together

Previous / Next A Week TogetherBjorn HasselerThis story follows “Reed and Kathy Sue” (Grantville Gazette 64 and IX). Kathy Sue and Reed wrote letters to each other while Reed was deployed in support of Third Division from June 1635 to March 1636. Reed just returned home the previous evening after the events of “The Aftermath” […]

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Issue 8 #2: Rites of Passage

Previous / Next Rites of PassageEdith WildAmalia von Herbert and Maggie Vogel have appeared in three previous stories:“A Christmas Stollen” in A 1632 Christmas“Leftovers” in Grantville Gazette 100“A Knight’s Tale – Therapies” in 1632 & Beyond Issue 4Herr Johannes Esslie’s Math Classroom, Grantville High SchoolAfter School, February 2, 1637Johannes Esslie did not want to leave […]

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Volume 8 #1: How Lovely Are Thy Branches

Previous / NextHow Lovely Are Thy BranchesGarrett W. VanceDodo Island, The Wonderland Isles Colonies December 21, 1637It was just before sunrise as Pers finished up his simple breakfast of bread, cheese, and a thin slice of dried beef. Having grown up at sea, he had never developed a taste for what he thought of as […]

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Writing a Profiler

Bjorn HasselerIn 2017, I slushed a story called “Sunshine.” Susan Diana “Sunshine” Moritz appeared in some early Gazette stories and was mostly known for being Willow Moritz’s younger sister and a much less sympathetic character. She’s very different from the Bible Society girls who are frequent characters in my stories.The story is about Sunshine’s summer […]

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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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1632 & Beyond Issue 7 #5: Mail From Up-Time, Episode 2: Atlantic Giant

Previous Mail From Up-Time, Episode 2: Atlantic GiantBy George GrantEditor’s Note:            “Mail From Up-Time” appeared in Issue 5.  The stories are connected by the discovered mail but do not share any characters. In “Mail From Up-Time”, the author established that some mail for people left up-time was set aside for later delivery on the day […]

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1632 & Beyond Issue 7 #4: Summer’s Kitchen

Previous / NextSummer’s KitchenMarc TyrrellEditor’s Note:sVarious combinations of Sandy, Summer, Bob, Paul, and Helmut previously appeared in:“Schrödinger’s Spouse,” Grantville Gazette 102“A Meeting at Midsummer, Part 1,” Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond, Issue 2“A Meeting at Midsummer, Part 2,” Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond, Issue 3“Making Hay While the Sun Shines,” Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond, […]

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