Table of Contents
Assistant Editor’s Preface
FICTION:
1. Joseph Hanauer: Into the Very Pit of Hell Douglas W. Jones
2. Not a Princess Bride Terry Howard
3. The Painter’s Gambit Iver Cooper
4. Dear Sir Chris Racciato
5. The Sons of St. John Jay Robison
6. Prince and Abbot Virginia DeMarce
7. A Question of Faith Anette Pederson
8. I Got My Buck Barry C. Swift
9. Capacity For Harm Richard Evans
10. Flight 19 to Magdeburg Jose J. Clavell
11. Rolling On Karen Bergstrahl
12. Three Innocuous Words Russ Rittgers
CONTINUING SERIALS:
13. The Doctor Gribbleflotz Chronicles, Part 3 – Doctor Phil’s Distraction Kerryn Offord
14. The Essen Steel Chronicles, Part 2 Louis de Geer Kim Mackey
15. Butterflies in the Kremlin: Part 1 A Russian Noble Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett
NON-FICTION:
16. Refrigeration and the 1632 World: Opportunities and Challenges Mark Huston
17. New France in 1634 and the Fate of North America Michael Varhola
18. Aluminum: Will O’ the Wisp? Iver P. Cooper
IMAGES
SUBMISSIONS TO THE MAGAZINE
Assistant Editor’s Preface
And here we go—on time, just as promised. Grantville Gazette Volume 8 is ready for our discerning readers.
Just what is going on in Europe these days of 1632 – 1635 or thereabouts?
Did you ever wonder where some of the old pick-up lines came from? Iver P. Cooper gives us a possible answer for one of them in “The Painter’s Gambit.” Tsk, tsk. Artists and their etchings . . .
Industrial magnate Louis De Geer finally gives in to curiosity and comes to visit in Kim Mackey’s “Essen Steel Chronicles, Part 2.” Of course, he does have his own motives. Not that Josh and Colette don’t have theirs, for that matter.
Terry Howard’s cracker barrel philosopher, Jimmy Dick Shaver, is at it again in “Not a Princess Bride,” and you do have to wonder “who was that up-timer” after you read Barry C. Swift’s “Got My Buck.”
Virginia DeMarce shows us just how complicated things could be in “Prince and Abbot.” Fulda will never be the same after that election. Anette Pedersen addresses “A Question of Faith.” Has Father Johannes struggled with his conscience for long enough? That’s a question only he can answer.
Richard Evans gives us a slightly darker view of things in “Capacity for Harm,” but Russ Rittgers’ Chad Jenkins accomplishes a parent’s perfect revenge in “Three Innocuous Words.”
The rest of the world isn’t sleeping during all the changes that are taking place in Germany. Gorg Huff and I figure that something must be going on in Russia, so we told you about it in “Butterflies in the Kremlin,” part one of a series. As well, a repressed sect of Christianity finds a new home in Jay Robison’s “The Sons of St. John.”
Faith in God comes in many flavors. Douglas W. Jones gives us another view of it in “Joseph Hanauer: Into the Very Pit of Hell.”
Karen Bergstralh’s new-made master blacksmith continues to build his business in “Rolling On,” while Dr. Phil falls in love—wonder of wonders, not with himself—in Kerryn Offord’s “Dr. Phil’s Distraction.” And Chris Racciato proves that there’s not a new con game under the sun with “Dear Sir.”
Our non-fiction in this volume covers a lot of territory, as usual. From “New France in 1634 and the Fate of North America” by Michael Varhola, to the real reason air conditioning was developed in Mark Huston’s “Refrigeration and the 1632 World: Opportunities and Challenges.” Last, but certainly not least, considering the reception from the Barflies, Iver P. Cooper gives us the rundown on the magic metal aluminum in “Aluminum: Will ‘O the Wisp.”
Fire up the coffee pot, stock up on the chocolate and settle in for a nice, long read. We hope you’ll enjoy our latest offerings.
Preface
Like sands through the hourglass—these are . . .Oops. Wrong soap opera.
Grantville, West Virginia got transported to 1632 Germany and boy, has that ever caused a ruckus in Europe.
And it just keeps causing one ruckus after another.Not only has the town become a haven for every known faith under the sun, some of the lesser known sects are infiltrating. Along with new con games—although it does turn out that there’s nothing new under the sun in that regard.
Elections? In Fulda! Well, the knights didn’t like that idea at all. On the other hand, those new blacksmithing techniques are spreading and all sorts of new technology is traveling the world. Rumors abound, both in the military and without.
Beer is important? How? Why? And just what is going on back in North America these days? Questions of faith, questions of philosophy . . . what all is going on?
Bet you’ll find out in this issue. Come join us in the continuing stories of what happens when West Virginia democracy meets Old World (really old world) nobility.Grantville Gazette Volume Eight – right here, right now.
Images
There are various images, mostly portraits from the time, which illustrate different aspects of the 1632 universe. In the first issue of the Grantville Gazette, I included those with the volume itself. Since that created downloading problems for some people, however, I’ve separated all the images and they will be maintained and expanded on their own schedule.
If you’re interested, you can look at the images and my accompanying commentary at no extra cost. They are set up in the Baen Free Library. You can find them as follows:
- Go to www.baen.com
- Select “Free Library” from the blue menu at the top.
- Once in the Library, select “The Authors” from the yellow menu on the left.
- Once in “The Authors,” select “Eric Flint.”
- Then select “Images from the Grantville Gazette.”
Submissions To the Magazine
If anyone is interested in submitting stories or articles for future issues of the Grantville Gazette, you are welcome to do so. But you must follow a certain procedure:
1) All stories and articles must first be posted in a conference in Baen’s Bar set aside for the purpose, called “1632 Slush.” Do not send them to me directly, because I won’t read them. It’s good idea to submit a sketch of your story to the conference first, since people there will likely spot any major problems that you overlooked. That can wind up saving you a lot of wasted work.
You can get to that conference by going to Baen Books’ web site www.baen.com. Then select “Baen’s Bar.” If it’s your first visit, you will need to register. (That’s quick and easy.) Once you’re in the Bar, the three conferences devoted to the 1632 universe are “1632 Slush,” “1632 Slush Comments,” and “1632 Tech Manual.” You should post your sketch, outline or story in “1632 Slush.” Any discussion of it should take place in “1632 Slush Comments.” The “1632 Tech Manual” is for any general discussion not specifically related to a specific story.
2) Your story/article will then be subjected to discussion and commentary by participants in the 1632 discussion. In essence, it will get chewed on by what amounts to a very large, virtual writers’ group.
You do not need to wait until you’ve finished the story to start posting it in “1632 Slush.” In fact, it’s a good idea not to wait, because you will often find that problems can be spotted early in the game, before you’ve put all the work into completing the piece.
3) While this is happening, the assistant editor of the Grantville Gazette, Paula Goodlett, will be keeping an eye on the discussion. She will alert me whenever a story or article seems to be gaining general approval from the participants in the discussion. There’s also an editorial board to which Paula and I belong, which does much the same thing. The other members of the board are Karen Bergstralh, Rick Boatright, and Laura Runkle. In addition, authors who publish regularly in the 1632 setting participate on the board as ex officio members. My point is that plenty of people will be looking over the various stories being submitted, so you needn’t worry that your story will just get lost in the shuffle.
4) At that point—and only at that point—do I take a look at a story or article.
I insist that people follow this procedure, for two reasons:
First, as I said, I’m very busy and I just don’t have time to read everything submitted until I have some reason to think it’s gotten past a certain preliminary screening.
Secondly, and even more importantly, the setting and “established canon” in this series is quite extensive by now. If anyone tries to write a story without first taking the time to become familiar with the setting, they will almost invariably write something which—even if it’s otherwise well written—I simply can’t accept.
In short, the procedure outlined above will save you a lot of wasted time and effort also.
One point in particular: I have gotten extremely hardnosed about the way in which people use American characters in their stories (so-called “up-timers”). That’s because I began discovering that my small and realistically portrayed coal mining town of 3500 people was being willy-nilly transformed into a “town” with a population of something like 20,000 people—half of whom were Navy SEALs who just happened to be in town at the Ring of Fire, half of whom were rocket scientists (ibid), half of whom were brain surgeons (ibid), half of whom had a personal library the size of the Library of Congress, half of whom . . .
Not to mention the F-16s which “just happened” to be flying through the area, the Army convoys (ibid), the trains full of vital industrial supplies (ibid), the FBI agents in hot pursuit of master criminals (ibid), the . . .
NOT A CHANCE. If you want to use an up-time character, you must use one of the “authorized” characters. Those are the characters created by Virginia DeMarce using genealogical software and embodied in what is called “the grid.”
You can obtain a copy of the grid from the web site which collects and presents the by-now voluminous material concerning the series, www.1632.org. Look on the right for the link to “Virginia’s Up-timer Grid.” While you’re at it, you should also look further down at the links under the title “Authors’ Manual.”
You will be paid for any story or factual article which is published. The rates that I can afford for the magazine at the moment fall into the category of “semi-pro.” I hope to be able to raise those rates in the future to make them fall clearly within professional rates, but . . . That will obviously depend on whether the magazine starts selling enough copies to generate the needed income. In the meantime, the rates and terms which I can offer are posted below in the standard letter of agreement accepted by all the contributors to this issue.
Below are the terms for the purchase of a story or factual article (hereafter “the work”) to be included in an issue of the online magazine Grantville Gazette, edited by Eric Flint and published by Baen Books.
Payment will be sent upon acceptance of the work at the following rates:
1) a rate of 2.5 cents per word for any story or article up to 15,000 words;
2) a rate of 2 cents a word for any story or article after 15,000 words but before 30,000 words;
3) a rate of 1.5 cents a word for any story or article after 30,000 words.
The rates are cumulative, not retroactive to the beginning of the story or article. (E.g., a story 40,000 words long would earn the higher rates for the first 30,000 words.) Word counts will be rounded to the nearest hundred and calculated by Word for Windows XP.
In the event a story has a payment that exceeds $200, the money will be paid in two installments: half on acceptance, and the remaining half two months after publication of the story.
You agree to sell exclusive first world rights for the story, including exclusive first electronic rights for five years following publication, and subsequent nonexclusive world rights. Should Baen Books select your story for a paper edition, you will not receive a second advance but will be paid whatever the differential might be between what you originally received and the advance for different length stories established for the paper edition. You will also be entitled to a proportionate share of any royalties earned by the authors of a paper edition. If the work is reissued in a paper edition, then the standard reversion rights as stipulated in the Baen contract would supercede the reversion rights contained here.
Eric Flint retains the rights to the 1632 universe setting, as well as the characters in it, so you will need to obtain his permission if you wish to publish the story or use the setting and characters through anyone other than Baen Books even after the rights have reverted to you. You, the author, will retain copyright and all other rights except as listed above. Baen will copyright the story on first publication.
You warrant and represent that you have the right to grant the rights above; that these rights are free and clear; that your story will not violate any copyright or any other right of a third party, nor be contrary to law. You agree to indemnify Baen for any loss, damage, or expense arising out of any claim inconsistent with any of the above warranties and representations.
THE END
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