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Table of Contents

The Story So Far . . . 1

1. One to a Customer by Virginia DeMarce

2. Letting Grace by Natalie Silk

3. The Heights of Beverwijk: The Miller’s Daughter by Kerryn Offord

4. Mrs. Flannery’s Flowers, Part 1: Acceptance by Bethanne Kim

5. Tethered Balloons and Kites in the 1632 Universe, Part 1 by Iver P. Cooper

6. Notes from The Buffer Zone: Science Will Save Us by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

7. Hot Off Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press!

8. Nominate the Best of 2020 by Bjorn Hasseler

9. This Issue’s Cover- 95 by Garrett W. Vance

10. The Reformation of Castle Deltle by Zachary Robbins

11. Ill-Met in Space-Time, Part 1 by Edward M. Lerner

Introduction

In Grantville Gazette 95, we find out that many things aren’t what they seem. Virginia DeMarce brings us “One To A Customer,” in which Massinger’s Men deal with everything from the political implications of their plays to the fact that proclaiming an Anglican bishop for Grantville doesn’t automatically get the work done. In Natalie Silk’s “Letting Grace,” it seems like Deborah has made an invisible friend. Or has she? In “The Heights of Beverwijk: The Miller’s Daughter,” by Kerryn Offord, Egon has a job near Amsterdam. An unexpected reason lies behind the job, Egon has his own motivations, and a local family’s situation is quite a bit more complicated than it appears.

Kim takes us back to the Ring of Fire, with “Mrs. Flannery’s Flowers, Part 1: Acceptance.” Krystal Reed is hoping things aren’t what they seem, and Irene Flannery turns out to be a much more complicated character.

Iver Cooper begins a series with “Tethered Balloons and Kites in the 1632 Universe, Part 1.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch asserts that “Science Will Save Us.”

“Hot Off Ring of Fire Press” features recent releases and upcoming books from Ring of Fire Press.

You get to vote: “Nominate the Best of 2020.”

In “The Reformation of Castle Deltle,” by Zachary Robbins, things are really not what they seem. The same is true in Edward M. Lerner’s “Ill-Met In Space-Time, Part 1.” Various problems aboard ship hide a much more serious issue.

The Story So Far . . .

by Walt Boyes

This is usually a very upbeat column, talking about the great stories in the magazine this issue. And we will get to that. But before we do, I want to take the time to remember two of the Gazette’s favorite authors. In December, right before Christmas, Kevin Evans passed away suddenly. Then, shortly after that, his wife and writing partner, Karen Carnahan Evans, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and she passed away in April. We have lost two of the finest authors in the Gazette, but more than that, we have lost two very good friends.

Kevin and Karen lived outside Albuquerque, NM, and they participated in the Balloon Festival every year. This gave them a unique skill set for when the 1632verse decided that balloons and dirigibles were the way to go for flight. Kevin was a steam-head and spent many years working on getting a vintage steam locomotive ready to run again. He was a fantastic artificer, and over time, became the 1632verse’s Master Armorer. He created the designs for the rifles and shotguns used by up-timers and down-timers in the stories. He got pushback over the designs, so he built working models and brought them to RingOfFireCons to show them at the Weird Tech panel, which Rick Boatright, myself, and Kevin presided over for years. He proved that you could power a dirigible with a steam engine. He and Rick made the smallest functioning steam engine I’ve ever seen to prove it.

Karen was a great writer, and a gastronome. She delighted the 1632verse with bringing modern chocolate back to the seventeenth century. Not only did she produce recipes, but at RingofFireCons, she brought samples of real Grantville chocolate.”

Kevin and Karen were members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), Kevin was knighted as Sir Thorgeirr and Karen served as his squire and shieldmaiden, Lady Tyrca.

They were great people, a wonderful couple, actually bigger than life, and the world is significantly smaller and darker with them gone. I am going to miss them dreadfully, and I will miss the novels and stories they never got to finish.

In Fiction, this issue, we start with Virginia DeMarce’s “One to a Customer.” The play’s the thing, especially if it skewers the pretensions and predilections of religion.

Then we have “Letting Grace” by Natalie Silk. Dora’s daughter Deborah has an invisible friend. She says it is her Abuelita, her Little Grandmother. But Abuelita is far away. Or is she?

Kerryn Offord gives us “The Heights of Beverwijk” about the collision between up-timer planning and down-timer goals. And who gets the girl.

In the start of a new serial, Bethanne Kim gives us “Mrs. Flannery’s Flowers, Part 1: Acceptance.” Mrs. Flannery was a mean old lady. But not really.

In Non-Fiction, Iver Cooper gives us the first part of “Tethered Balloons,” Grantville style.

In her column this issue, Kristine Katherine Rusch avers, “Science Will Save Us.”

In the Annex this issue, we are pleased to present the first published story by Eric Flint’s grandson, Zachary Robbins. It is a delightfully off-kilter fantasy that reminds us a lot of his Grandpop’s “Forward the Mage.”

We also bring you the next part of Edward M. Lerner’s “Ill-Met in Space-Time” about some totally innocent aliens who by misadventure fall into human hands.

So, as always, keep your arms and legs inside the car, and hang on. This rollercoaster is leaving!

****

Cover Art by Garrett W. Vance

The Sky Lit Up With Fire

Inspired by Bethanne Kim’s deeply moving story Mrs. Flannery’s Flower, Part 1: Acceptance.

The depiction of Grantville is adapted from a photo by Iris Barimen, 2005.

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