Previous / Next Arsenic and Old Italians Written by Iver P. Cooper The liquid in the shallow dish ignited, releasing a burst of yellow-green fire. The audience, a curious mix of Tuscan scholars and glitterati, applauded. Lewis Philip Bartolli acknowledged the applause with a briefly lifted hand. “This lovely green reveals the presence of the […]

Previous / Next Stretching Out, Part Four:Beyond the Line Written by Iver P. Cooper Trinidad, April, 1634 It was a lake, but one unlike any other they had seen. This was the famous Pitch Lake of Trinidad. A hundred acres of tar. David Pieterszoon de Vries, captain of the fluyt Walvis, studied it for a few […]

Previous / Next A Pirate’s Ken Written by Iver P. Cooper The lookout squinted. In the east, a horizon-hugging bank of clouds glowed red, heralding the imminent sunrise. In the west, the sky was a deep azure, with only a few stars still glimmering. Below his perch was a dark skeleton of masts and spars. […]

Previous / Next Stretching Out, Part Three: Maria’s Mission Written by Iver P. Cooper Grantville, September 1633 “You’ve heard the news, Mevrouw Vorst?” David de Vries brandished a folded copy of the Grantville Times. Maria Vorst turned to face him. “Who hasn’t, Captain? Is it really as bad as the papers say?” “Probably worse. Over sixty […]

Previous / Next The Doodlebugger Written by Iver P. Cooper Wietze Oil Field, near Celle, in the Duchy of CalenbergEarly, 1634 “Hans, dammit! Where’s the report on the new mine cars?” “In a moment, sir.” Hans started rummaging through the files, at first calmly, then more frantically. “I am sure it’s here somewhere.” “Perhaps it’ll […]

Previous / Next Out of a Job? Written by Iver P. Cooper I am no ordinary assassin. As one of the foreign agents of the Most Serene Republic, it is my task to bring our wayward glassmakers back into the fold. I prefer the carrot to the stick, and the stick to the dagger. But […]

Previous / Next Grand Tour By Iver P. Cooper My name is Mister Thomas Hobbes. If you are one of the Americans from the future, you know me as a political philosopher, the praised and reviled author of Leviathan. If you are a fellow down-timer, in this Year of Our Lord 1633, then you probably don’t […]

Previous / Next The Sound of Mica by Iver P. Cooper It is the year 1634, and the Voice of America is on the air. Since the VOA is an AM (amplitude modulation) radio station, speech and music are encoded as fluctuations in the amplitude (intensity) of a radio-frequency carrier wave. The radio waves, emanating […]

Previous / Next At the Cliff’s Edge by Iver P. Cooper Friedrich Adelsohn, Captain of the Third Company of the Mounted Constabulary of the State of Thuringia-Franconia, stared at the ox. The ox stared right back. After a moment, it lowered its gaze, and resumed its attempts to convert the roadside into a nicely trimmed […]

Previous / Next Under the Tuscan Son by Iver CooperNovember, 1633 Curzio Inghirami had learned a great deal during his visit to Grantville, but he now was back home at Villa Scornello, the family seat. It was a few miles outside of Volterra, a town in the grand duchy of Tuscany. He beckoned to one […]

Previous Aluminum: Will O’ the Wisp? by Iver P. Cooper There is no doubt that aluminum is a wonder metal. Pure aluminum has a density only about one-third of iron, it is as reflective as silver, and a good conductor of heat and electricity. When exposed to air, it quickly acquires a protective coating of […]

Previous / Next The Painter’s Gambit by Iver P. Cooper Birgit’s mother had warned her not to take any food or drink from boys, not to answer any of their questions, and, most especially, not to smile at them. Birgit had dutifully agreed. Unfortunately, she broke all three rules the same day. Birgit and her […]

Previous / Next Bouncing Back: Bringing Rubber to GrantvilleIver P. Cooper Chemistry Professor Joe Schwarcz writes, “It’s hard to fight an effective war without rubber. Fan belts, gaskets, gas masks, and tires are critical to the war effort.” While he had modern warfare in mind, Grantville’s war machines—modified cars and trucks—need rubber to remain functional. […]

Previous / Next In Vitro Veritas:Glassmaking After The Ring Of Fire Iver P. Cooper In the early seventeenth century, there was already a vigorous international trade in glassware. The world center for glassmaking was in Venice, and the Venetians were most famous for tableware and glass mirrors made of the colorless cristallo. Germany and Bohemia were […]

Previous / Next Drillers In Doublets Iver P. Cooper I don’t want to be critical of coal mining, especially not where Mike Stearns can hear me. But the fact remains that coal has some serious disadvantages, both as a fossil fuel and as a source of organic chemicals. Extracting coal is labor-intensive; you have to […]