User:Fabartus/1632series rework

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The 1632 series, also known as the 1632-verse or Ring of Fire series, is an alternate history book series, primarily written by Eric Flint. The story began with Flint's novel 1632, describing the effect of transporting the small town of Grantville, West Virginia from the United States in the year 2000 to central Germany in the year 1631, the middle of the Thirty Years' War. Despite the fact that the shift puts Grantville in 1631 initially, the bulk of the book's action takes place in 1632, hence the name. The series has been continued with novels 1633 and 1634: The Galileo Affair, several issues of the Grantville Gazette, and an anthology called Ring of Fire, with several more novels and anthologies planned. As well, the basic premise behind the series, known as Assiti Shards, is planned to be continued in other as-yet-unwritten works set in different eras.

The 1632 series is relatively unique in that fans are actively encouraged to contribute to the series though an online message board known as Baen's Bar. In fact, the entire Grantville Gazette and large portions of the Ring of Fire anthology, both of which are considered canonical, are fan-written (albeit edited by Flint), and have in fact directly contributed materiel to the main novels.

1632 was first published in New York by Baen Books in 2000 with ISBN 0671319728. The full text of the novel is available from the Baen Free Library (see below).

Works in the series[edit]

Published works[edit]

  • Novel: 1632 (2000)
  • Novel: 1633 (2002) with David Weber
    • includes material initiating the British Isles spinoff
  • Anthology: Ring of Fire (Jan. 2004)
    • includes the "The Wallenstein Gambit" with Mike Spehar which begins the Eastern Europe spinoff
    • Unlike most anthologies, this one is considered to be part of the official canon of the 1632 universe. Events which occur in the anthology have a direct impact on future books. Skipping the anthology creates gaps in the story line. The is particularly true in understanding the origins of the Navy in the second novel 1633.
  • Novel: 1634: The Galileo Affair (April 2004) with Andrew Dennis, begins the Italian-French spinoff.

The Grantville Gazette[edit]

The Gazette is a semi-pro SF magazine featuring fan fiction and non-fiction edited by Eric Flint and a volunteer editorial board. It is also published by Baen. Initial publication is in electronic form at Webscription.net, but a mass market paper edition of the first issue was published as an experiment in November of 2004. The first printing sold out, and early results were good enough that the second issue is also slated for a paper edition in March 2006.

  • Grantville Gazette Issue 1 (Electronic edition Nov. 2003, paper edition November 2004)
  • Grantville Gazette Issue 2 (Electronic edition Mar. 2004, hardcover paper edition March 2006 )
  • Grantville Gazette Issue 3 (Electronic edition October 2004, hardcover paper edition December 2006 )
  • Grantville Gazette Issue 4 (Electronic edition mid-April 2005 )
  • Grantville Gazette Issue 5 (Electronic edition June/July 2005)
  • Grantville Gazette Issue 6 (Electronic edition March 2006 )
  • Grantville Gazette Issue 7 (Electronic edition April 2006 )

Planned works[edit]

As of March 31st, 2006, the following books are projected to be published:

  • Anthology: Ring of Fire II
  • Various Grantville Gazettes, the serialized eMagazines which are later published as eBooks and later yet (conditionally) released into standard print as anthologies. These stories are considered canon for the development of all later works in the series as soon as they are published in any form: Grantville Gazette (publication guaranteed at least through issue 10, as of Issue 7, the serialized eMagazine format will be abandoned, and editorship is being assumed by assistant editor Paula Goodlett. eBook releases for Grantville Gazette III and Grantville Gazette IV are in production, and Grantville Gazette II was released in March 2006 as a hardcover.)
  • Undisclosed titles with Mike Spehar and Andrew Dennis
  • Main narrative thread
    • Novel: 1634: The Baltic War with David Weber (the direct sequel to 1633), will likely include material once conceived for the (abandoned) 1634: Escape from the Tower.
    • Novel: 1635: The Eastern Front (the direct sequel to 1634: The Baltic War)
  • British Isles thread
    • Cancelled novel: 1634: Escape from the Tower will likely be merged into main narrative thread novel 1634: The Baltic War
    • Novel: 1635: Julie's Curse, extends the 'British Isles' spinoff from material in 1633
  • Central Europe thread
    • Novel: 1634: The Bavarian Crisis with Virginia DeMarce (formerly intended name had been Austrian princess), begins the 'Central Europe' thread
    • Novel: 1635: The Dreeson Incident (working title, with Virginia DeMarce)
    • Anthology: 1634: The Ram Rebellion with Virginia DeMarce, Paula Goodlett and a number of Grantville Gazette authors.
    • Anthology: 1635: The Torturer of Fulda
  • French-Italian thread
  • Eastern Europe thread
    • Novel: 1635: The King of Bohemia with Mike Spehar, continuation of the "Wallenstein Gambit" 'Eastern Europe' thread
    • A Hillbilly in Czar Mikhail’s Court (working title)

The story[edit]

{{spoiler}}

History connections[edit]

Historical characters[edit]

Alphabetical list (by surname) of real historical characters that appeared in the 1632verse. Pictures and Authors annoted comments can be reached by this link.

Historical places[edit]

Alphabetical list of real historical places that appeared in the 1632 verse.

Historical events and organizations[edit]

Alphabetical list of real historical events that are mentioned in the 1632 verse.

  • Catholic League was a confederation of Catholic German states formed in order to counteract the Protestant Union. Tension between these two groups would eventually ignite into the first phase of the Thirty Years War.
  • Edict of Restitution from 1629 was Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor’s attempt to restore the religious and territorial settlement after the Peace of Augsburg (1555). The "Ecclesiastical Reservation" forbade the secularization of Catholic land (i.e. being converted to some form of Protestant belief) after 1555. However, during the decades of weak emperors, princes had secularized Catholic land simply because it was so valuable and they had got away with it as no emperor was powerful enough to enforce the "Ecclesiastical Reservation".
  • Protestant Union or Evangelical Union was a coalition of Protestant German states that formed in the 1600s. Tensions between Protestants and Catholics in Germany escalated, leading to the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War.
  • Thirty Years' War was a conflict fought between the years 1618 and 1648, principally in the Central European territory of the Holy Roman Empire, but also involving most of the major continental powers. It occurred for a number of reasons. Although it was from its outset a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the self-preservation of the Habsburg dynasty was also a central motive. 163x: the TYW is changed by the arrival of uptimers and strengthening of Sweden.

Fiction[edit]

Fictional characters[edit]

Alphabetical list (by surname) of fictional historical characters that appeared in the 1632 verse.

Fictional places[edit]

Alphabetical list of fictional places that appeared in the 1632 verse.

  • Grantville,
The key setting, a small town that travelled in time within a circular region about 6–7 miles in diameter within which are a coal mine, some railways, and a coal fired power plant. Based on real city of Mannington, West Virginia and it's nearby power station. Flint sets the power station and Grantville near a tributary river feeding the Saale.
  • Badenburg,
A nearby walled town near the East Bank of the Thuringian Saale river. It was defended by Grantville's population during the 'second military encounter', but first major war action. Badenburg is located at center in the triangle formed by the actual municipalities of Arnstadt, Saalfeld, and Jena, and became the second town to enter the new (fictional) USE, the United States of Europe.

Fictional events[edit]

Neohistorical in this and related Wikipedia documents is term for the altered history from the Ring of Fire Event (RoFE) as it unfolds after the Assiti shards caused the Ring of Fire, and Grantville arrived in the year 1631.


Acronyms for 1632-verse politics:

  • CPE — Confederated Principalities of Europe (1632-November 1633) 1
  • USE — United States of Europe (November 1633-indefinite future)
  • NUS — New United States (1631-January 1634)
  • SoT — State of Thuringia (January-April 1634)
  • SoTF — State of Thuringia-Franconia (April 1634-indefinite future)
  • RoF — politically, the circle of territory transferred down-time from West Virginia
  • GV — Grantville, within the RoF and early un

Terminology[edit]

The 163x-verse has evolved some specific terminology.

  • downtimer : Character born in the 16th or 17th century prior to the point of divergence.
  • grid : See "Virginia's grid" below.
  • uptimer : Characters from the 20th century.
  • Virginia's Grid : List of all uptimers who came through the Ring of Fire. If an author wishes to use an uptimer in any story they must select an uptimer from the grid and claim that character to ensure exclusive use by the author.

See also[edit]

External links[edit]


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