nonfiction Archives - Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond

Volume 27 #11: Stallions vs. Geldings as War and Riding Horses

Previous Stallions vs. Geldings as War and Riding Horses Written by Karen Bergstralh Recently I had an email exchange about the use of stallions vs. geldings as warhorses and riding horses. In hopes that some of this might be useful for other writers, I put together the following compilation of my responses. As always, my […]

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Volume 27 #9: Industrial Alchemy, Part 4: Organic Chemical Feedstocks and Product Timeline

Previous / Next Industrial Alchemy, Part 4: Organic Chemical Feedstocks and Product Timeline Written by Iver P. Cooper Here, I expand upon the introduction to natural feedstocks which appeared in part 3, and then discuss some products which might be made, and when they might be available. Coal Feedstocks Coal Pyrolysis and Coal Tar Distillation […]

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Volume 26 #11: Industrial Alchemy: Part 3

Previous Industrial Alchemy: Part 3, Organic Chemistry Methods and Canonical Appearances Written by Iver P. Cooper Organic Chemistry is both a new discipline, and an old one. New, in that the first artificial synthesis of an organic compound didn’t occur until 1828. Old, in that organic compounds, in dilute form, have been produced for centuries: […]

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Volume 26 #10: The Ox is Slow but the Earth is Patient

Previous / Next The Ox is Slow but the Earth is Patient: A very basic guide to the use of oxen Written by Karen Bergstralh From time to time we have had people drop in to 1632 Tech and ask, “What about oxen?” It is a fair question and we’ve suggested that someone familiar with […]

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Volume 26 #9: A Night with Venus: STIs and Their Treatment in the 1630s, Part One

Previous / Next A Night with Venus: STIs and Their Treatment in the 1630s, Part One Written by Gus Kritikos Sexually transmitted infections (formerly called venereal diseases) caused a surprising amount of discomfort, loss of fertility, madness and even death in the early modern era. There was a lack of understanding of the diseases, of […]

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Volume 25 #9: Binding the Land With Steel

Previous Binding the Land With Steel Written by Kevin H. Evans It came to pass in the days of Gustav Adolphus, messengers came forth from another time, and the people all did clamor, “Our children are starving and we are cold.”And behold, the messengers did create Granges and Factories, and plenty from there came forth. […]

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Volume 25 #8: Industrial Alchemy, Part 2: Inorganic Chemical Bestiary

Previous / Next Industrial Alchemy, Part 2: Inorganic Chemical Bestiary Written by Iver P. Cooper Within a few weeks of the Ring of Fire (RoF), Greg Ferrara tells the “Emergency Committee” that “Sulfuric acid is about as basic for modern industry as steel.” The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (EB11) and the modern Encyclopedia Americana (EA) agree […]

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Volume 24 #7: Industrial Alchemy, Part 1: The New Philosopher’s Stone

Previous / Next Industrial Alchemy, Part 1: The New Philosopher’s Stone Written by Iver P. Cooper In alchemical thought, the Philosopher’s Stone is a fantastical artifact which is capable of transmuting base metals into gold. The new Philosopher’s Stone is not an artifact, but knowledge—the teachings of twentieth century chemistry as transmitted by the up-timers […]

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1632 & Beyond Issue 17 #7: Bang Versus Twang In North America

Previous Bang Versus Twang In North America John Deakins Throughout the seventeenth century, many personal missile weapons were in use. A particular problem with those occurred in North America. A French expedition had conquered the English settlements at Boston and Plymouth. English King Charles I had signed away his New World possessions to the French, […]

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Volume 23 #8: The Oil Mines at Wietze and Pechelbronn

Previous / Next The Oil Mines at Wietze and Pechelbronn Written by Jeff Corwith Introduction After collection of oil from surface outcrops and seeps, mining of oil is arguably the oldest means of exploiting hydrocarbon resources. Heavy oils, used to caulk ships, were hand dug from shallow pits in the Middle East several hundred years […]

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Volume 22 #9: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

Previous / Next Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: Gardening and Growing Food in 1632 Written by Anette PedersenIntroduction The benefits of growing usable plants near your sleeping place—as opposed to having to search for them whenever you need them—are so obvious that people must have started the first gardens as soon as they discovered that […]

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Volume 21 #13: The Wind is Free: Sailing Ship Design, Part 1: Propulsion

Previous The Wind is Free: Sailing Ship Design, Part 1: Propulsion Written by Iver P. Cooper An early seventeenth-century explorer, Captain David Pieterszoon De Vries, told the Duc de Guise, “My ambition is to travel and see the whole world in all its four quarters.” Three-fourths of the world is ocean, so it’s not surprising […]

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1632 & Beyond Issue 15 #8: Historic Gems Restorations

1632 & Beyond Issue 15 #7: The Mannington Minute

Previous / Next The Mannington MinuteJackie Britton Lopatin Small town and rural life is unsurprisingly different from life in bigger cities. It has a different rhythm to it. Not that the people have different likes or dislikes, but events have to be cognizant of all the other events going on around them and how well […]

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Volume 20 #11: Better Foundations, Part 2: Putting Concrete to Work

Previous / Next Better Foundations, Part 2: Putting Concrete to Work Written by Iver P. Cooper In the world the up-timers left behind, the most widely consumed substance on Earth was water. What came second? Concrete. Indeed, concrete can be said to be, quite literally, the foundation of modern society. We depend upon it for […]

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Volume 18 #12: Safety First: Industrial Safety in 1632, Part Two

Previous Safety First: Industrial Safety in 1632,Part Two, Technical Aspects Written by Iver P. Cooper Ambrose Bierce, in The Devil’s Dictionary, defined an “accident” as “an inevitable occurrence due to the action of immutable natural laws.” But some industrial accidents are avoidable, and the secret to minimizing them is to know what the hazards of the […]

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Volume 18 #11: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Previous / Next Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Mathematics After the Ring of Fire Written by William Truderung The Ring of Fire was an event that shook the world of 1631 to its foundations. One of the disciplines destined to be revolutionized is mathematics, which was still in its infancy at the time. This […]

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Volume 16 #9: Tell Me What You Eat, and I’ll Tell You Who You Are

Previous / Next Tell Me What You Eat, and I’ll Tell You Who You Are Written by Anette Pedersen Food and Cooking According to Class in 1632 Introduction In the Germany of 1632 the difference between the food available to the rich and to the poor was immensely bigger than it is today. Not so […]

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Volume 15 #15: Tennis: The Game of Kings

Previous Tennis: The Game of Kings Written by Iver P. Cooper Many of the stories of the 1632 Universe relate to the flow of ideas—technological and social—from the up-timers to the down-timers. But the flow can be in the other direction, too. My story “The Chase” (Ring of Fire 2) relates how the up-timers learn […]

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Volume 15 #13: The Geared Locomotive or What Wood You Shay To?

Previous / Next The Geared Locomotive or What Wood You Shay To? Written by Kevin H. Evans Geared locomotives were developed to handle rough track industrial applications. Most notable were logging short lines, and mining short lines. The traditional steam locomotive has cylinders parallel to the ground with the effort of those cylinders transferred to […]

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Volume 15 #12: Soundings and Sextants,Part Two

Previous / Next Soundings and Sextants,Part Two, Celestial Navigation Methods Written by Iver P. Cooper According to Marx’s book on the Spanish flota, ship’s navigators were regarded with scorn and, on many occasions, the denouement to the stranding of a ship’s crew was the assassination or execution of the navigator (71). Up-time celestial navigation methods may […]

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1632 & Beyond Issue 12 #1: What is Redbird?

Previous / Next What is Redbird? Bethanne Kim Why is this in nonfiction when Redbird is fictional? It’s not a story. It’s the story behind the story. Most of what is written in this universe is solidly built on the foundation of what is real. Grantville isn’t real, but Mannington (the town Grantville is based […]

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1632 & Beyond Issue 11 #7: Economics Are Not Abstract

Previous / Next Economics Are Not Abstract Gorg Huff We act like they are. We assume that they are. But they are not. The economics of Grantville are not the economics of Amsterdam. The principles are the same, but the details are different, and the devil, the weather, and economics are in the details. In […]

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Volume 10 #19: The Feast

Previous THE FEAST by Anette Pedersen Guildmaster 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 Street The street leading past the house is not one of the main streets through […]

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Volume 10 #18: All Roads Lead to…

Previous / Next ALL ROADS LEAD. . . . By Iver P. Cooper A 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.” […]

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Volume 10 #17: Herd Immunity

Previous / Next Herd Immunity By Vincent W. Coljee Life, disease and death in the 1630s Imagining 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. […]

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Volume 10 #16: Crude Peniccilin

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

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Issue 9 #6: X-Rays!

Previous / Next X-Rays! Iver Cooper X-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-Rays X-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 […]

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