Science fiction & fantasy has conventions where fans gather to meet their favorite authors. 1632 minicons began with Eric Flint guiding other writers around Mannington, West Virginia, the model for Grantville. After a few years, the 1632 minicon became a track within another convention, moving from convention to convention to provide opportunities to fans in different geographic areas. Please follow either this link or the QR code and answer these questions to help us plan. We want to bring 1632 to you. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeSlSG8gaq2w_U4_jkPaNf9J84_9BBICYg5_GJ8SCBh-woong/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=113551832623582709704 Thank you so much for your participtation! Here are some examples of the questions: Would you attend a science fiction/fantasy convention with a 1632 track (“minicon”)? How far are you willing to travel for this? How important is easy site access via plane, train, or bus? May we have your ZIP code for convention planning purposes? Which 1632 Baen plotlines or threads would you like to see more of? From which 1632 Baen authors would you like to read more books? Which 1632 & Beyond plotlines or threads would you like to see more of? From which 1632 & Beyond authors would you like to read more books?
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It’s no secret that Grantville is based on the real town of Mannington. Eric explains how the name came about. – Bethanne (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine) [I didn’t copy the date and time on the first posts I copied, which are generally the most recent] Grantville is a composite of the names of two towns in the area: Grant Town and Barrackville. I had originally planned to model my fictional town on Grant Town, because that’s where the power plant in the area was located. (I needed both a power plant and a high school to make the plot work, and I knew I’d have to move one of them. Moving a high school seemed a lot simpler.) But when I came to the area in 1999 to do the research, I discovered that in the 20 years since I’d lived there in the late 70s, a lot had changed. A couple of big malls had opened up on I-79 between Morgantown and Fairmont, not far east of the various small towns along US 250. They’d sucked the life out of the downtowns and turned them into bedroom communities, which is not what I needed. So I drove west to see what might still work. Barrackville had suffered the same fate, but Mannington (which is the westernmost of that little string of towns) was far enough from the malls to have remaining a fully rounded town. The high school is located just outside of Mannington so I switched my plans and moved the power plant. Voila. Such were the origins of “Grantville.” It had nothing to do with Ulysses Grant or any other person named Grant so far as I know. (Don’t ask me who Grant Town is named after. I don’t have a clue.)
The British Isles remain a few years behind everything else in the main line in terms of politics and Baen novels. It’s just how things have ended up. The current most recent novel in the British Isles is the Dragon Award Finalist 1635: The Weaver’s Code by Eric Flint and Jody Lynn Nye. More than nine years after Eric’s post below, the British Isles are STILL in 1635. As a result, authors are still fairly constrained in what we can write in the British Isles. With that said, constrained doesn’t mean we can’t write anything. Tim Sayeau wrote the charming story “A Guest At The New Year” (Issue 6) and the sequel “Rose-Hip And Red Velvet” (Issue 9), which are set in England. (Personally, I’m hoping to read more of the story – hint, hint, Tim if you are reading this!) The story itself works without any reference to politics, but even within it, there were a few references that had to be removed because the political situation is still fluid. The basic rule is that the short stories in the magazines can’t muck about in anything that hits on high politics, as Eric explains in more detail below. Because everything is canon, all the writers have to be careful if we write anything that uses. – Bethanne (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine) 13 January 2016 12:33 The problem mostly involves people trying to write stories that take place in the British Isles, if those stories either impinge upon so-called High Politics — or, and this is the trickier issue, presuppose that something already established is going to stay that way. This same issue exists everywhere in the series, of course, but most things happening on the continent are taking place within the context of story lines that are established through early/mid 1636. The problem with the British Isles is that that story line is lagging behind most…
Canon is really important to us here in the 1632 universe because even if you “just” look at the writers who are currently actively writing or planning stories and novels, that is still generally coordinating at least a couple of dozen authors with different backgrounds, knowledge bases, and goals for their story. Everyone wants the best for the universe, to be clear. But their character and story goals may vary wildly, as may their real-world knowledge and their knowledge of the 1632verse. So, canon matters, and defining what is canon matters. Our basic stance is that everything is canon, but to varying degreees. Primary, essentially unchangeable canon belongs to things published by Baen, with hardbacks having precedence over paperbacks which have precedence over ebook-only. Then Ring of Fire Press books, which at this point are mostly either being republished by Baen as ebook only publications or are no longer available. A small number have been self-published on Amazon. Magazine stories (Grantville Gazette and 1632 & Beyond) have been considered provisionally canon, meaning mainline Baen novels can contradict them. In reality, great effort has been made to ensure the two streams don’t cross in any meaningful way. With all of that said about how everything is canon, this is fiction, people are human, and sometimes mistakes happen or things are overlooked. Sometimes it’s a detail, like one Virginia notes below about a person being somewhere they shouldn’t be. Sometimes it provides an opportunity for a story. One of the driving forces for my novel Mrs. Flannery’s Flowers is my extreme irritation that in over 20 years of writing, not a single writer had mentioned stashes of crafting supplies! In West Virginia! Impossible! When I mentioned it to them, they all looked a bit sheepish and admitted they did remember seeing such things around. So, I wrote a whole novel to establish they existed and exactly why it was no one talked…
In this comment from BaensBar.net in 2015, Eric notes that because he is the author (sometimes overseer) of the 1632 alternate history, hegets to make the final decision on what is or isn’t plausible, and a big part of that is what makes the best, most interesting, most entertaining story. Since Eric has died, that mantle has passed. There are now a few who carry that mantle, but it starts with Bjorn Hasseler, editor-in-chief for Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond. If you disagree with Bjorn’s canon call, you can appeal above him – but I strongly suggest you have a really good reason if you do. You may know some specific subject matter area better than Bjorn, but you don’t know the 1632 universe better than he does. Seriously. You just don’t. And now, for Eric’s thoughts, which are what you are really interested in anyway. – Bethanne (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine) 06 April 2015 12:39 There’s a lot of overlap between this discussion and the one under the thread title “Military guns in 1636 (the Ottomans)” and I’ve already made a couple of posts in that thread. I’m pressed for time because I’m trying to get a novel finished — well, most if it, anyway — before Lucille and I leave for a ten-day trip to the eastern Mediterranean in two and half weeks. And I have to go to LA for the Writers of the Future event this weekend, which will eat up a big chunk of that time. So I’ll keep this as brief as possible. I want to start by making a general comment. I am bemused by the ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY I KNOW WHAT’S POSSIBLE AND WHAT ISN’T!!!! attitude that’s being taken by some people in this discussion. My response is blunt: Bullshit. I am 68 years old. I have personally observed a number of wars and have a very good knowledge of…
Unfortunately I didn’t copy the date Eric wrote this, but he hadn’t published 1634: The Baltic War yet, so it’s been a while. With our writers looking toward Issue 15 of Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond, which has romance as a theme, and our next Salon call focused on romance, it’s timely content to share. In the many years since he wrote this, romance in all it’s glorious varieties has continued to be a strong part of 1632. Marla and Franz’ relationship is one of the most thoroughly fleshed out romances, but it’s far from the only one. In my own writing, my personal favorite relationship is between two octogenarians in my forthcoming Baen e-book release Red Shield. But I am looking forward to hearing more about Andrew Mackey and Julie Sims and their romance. And Eddie Cantrell and his bride. And… Well, you get the idea. The 1632verse isn’t just about battles and technological developments. It’s about people, and people have romances. Enjoy some insights from Eric! – Bethanne Romance RULE NUMBER ONE. What really keeps readers alert and on the qui vive, romance wise, are NEW romances. Old familiar ones are fine, of course, and you want to keep them simmering nicely on the pot or your fans will get grumpy. But you need a new romance to really liven things up. This can get tricky, mind you, in a long series, because after a while how many damn romances can you keep piling up? Still, while it’s a challenge, it can usually be done. One gimmick, of course, is to draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwww out the romance across several books. I used this gimmick shamelessly in the Belisarius series, starting the Rao-Shakuntala romance in the first novel and not concluding it until the fourth. There are lots of ways to draw it out. Two excellent staples are: a) The simplest is an age problem, created by the fact that one…
Eric asked the Bar a question in July 2010 (“Medical Advice Wanted”). No one knew who was going to be injured when he asked the question, but when you’ve read up to a certain point in the series, there is no doubt who he’s talking about, and reading this was fun for me. Then I realized that I was reading it on the third anniversary of Eric’s death. I didn’t know him but many others who are part of this universe did. Eric created something unprecedented with 1632. Originally conceived as a stand-alone novel, there were over 14 million words in the universe when he died and the words just continue to flow – and be published. In addition to dozens of novels, there are two separate magazines. The Grantville Gazette is no longer producing new volumes (but is available to purchase) and ended with 102 volumes. The new magazine Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond has 12 issues, plus two special issues, so far, and the next two issues are largely set. Over 200 authors have been published between the two magazines and Baen 1632verse novels. And it’s all canon (albeit some a bit provisionally). That’s astounding. Inconceivable, really. (I do hope you heard that in Vizzini’s voice.) This only happened because Eric opened his world in such a unique and generous way. There are a string of new draft blog posts “from Eric” waiting to be published. Like this one, they are comments Eric made on Baen’s Bar, so they have been publicly available (for anyone who wanted to dig for them) for years. Topics including writing, being a writer, and a ton of different aspects of the 1632verse and how it has developed. Together, they shed an interesting light on the man who created this incredible universe This post is different from those. This is Eric asking the “bar flies” on BaensBar.net (current url, not the one from…
Garrett W. Vance, Staff: Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine Hail Friends, I will begin with a little reminiscing, then share some news with you. I became the Art Director of the Grantville Gazette back in 2008 with Volume 15 after my dear friend Paula Goodlett saw a photo of me that I had doctored up in Photoshop to be wearing ‘Paula Goodlett, Editor’ swag that the Gazette was selling through an online store, it was all really just for fun! I told her I was her “biggest fan”! She laughed and said “You’re pretty good with Photoshop, how would you like to be the Art Director?” I happily played that role for the following 87 issues to the final one, 102. I had a great time, what a pleasure it was! Thanks, Paula! I was terribly sad to see it end. We all mourn Eric, and I am sure you who are reading this are, like me, grateful to him for creating such a wonderful fictional world and inviting all of us to come play in it! I have a lot of fond memories, but I have already gone on too long! So, onto the news. When the new magazine’s owners asked me to join them to help get it started, I was pleased and proud to do so. I am so glad that they were able to get the Grantville’s Gazette’s successor up and running, it is wonderful to see Eric’s world growing and changing, I think it’s safe to say he would have been delighted by all of this! I humbly thank Bethanne, Bjorn, and Chuck for the opportunity to get back in that saddle for a time, it was a pleasure. But, with all new things, change comes, too. And so, I am writing to you today to let you know that I will no longer be the Art Director of Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond…
Getting Started Writing Bjorn Hasseler, Editor-in-Chief: Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond Magazine I don’t remember where the idea for Neustatter’s European Security Service came from. I remember going to the library—the New Carrollton branch of the Prince Georges County, Maryland library system—looking for Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars trilogy. I read the first two, but The Last Command was never on the shelf. A couple shelves up or down, though, was a set of eight matching books that were clearly a science fiction series. About the third time the Zahn book wasn’t there, I grabbed David Weber’s first Honor Harrington book, On Basilisk Station. Then I came back got the next two, and the next two, until I’d read up to Echoes of Honor, which was the most recent one on the shelf. (Ashes of Victory wasn’t staying on the shelf any more than The Last Command was.) And then I was out of things to read again. I walked down the aisle, and I saw this book whose cover has three guys in a pickup facing off against a couple guys in armor. It had the same rocket ship publisher logo the Honor Harrington books had. I figured it would be a fun read. 1632 turned out to be awesome. This was sometime between when 1632 was published (February, 2000) and when I moved (December, 2003). At that time, lots of people had websites dedicated to their favorite series, organized into “webrings.” They drove traffic to each other. At some point (it took a while), I found Baen’s Bar. 1632 had three chat boards: Slush, Slush Comments, and Tech. They weren’t just talking about the book; they were working on actual stories in the 1632 universe—that were going to count. And anybody could play. I think by then 1633 had come out, and if Ring of Fire wasn’t out yet, it was certainly a done…
Eric Flint Bibliography (Chronological) NOTE: For those of you who prefer your bibliographies chronologically, here it is. This page does not include the classic SF series I’ve edited. — Eric Flint. 1970Trade and Politics in Barotseland During the Kololo Period, 1970 Journal of African History (Volume XI:1) 1993Entropy and the Strangler, (short story), in Writers of the Future Volume IX 1997Mother of Demons, September 1997 (pb) 1998An Oblique Approach, March 1998 (pb) with David DrakeIn the Heart of Darkness, August 1998 (pb) with David Drake 1999Destiny’s Shield, July 1999 (HC) with David Drake 20001632, February 2000 (HC)Destiny’s Shield, June 2000 (pb)Fortune’s Stroke, June 2000 (HC) with David DrakeRats, Bats & Vats, September 2000 (HC) with Dave FreerThe Thief and the Roller Derby Queen, (short story), in The Chick is in the Mail, edited by Ester Friesner, October 2000, (pb) 20011632 February 2001 (pb) From the Highlands, (short novel), in More than Honor #3: Changer of Worlds with David Weber March 2001 (HC)The Philosophical Strangler, May 2001 (HC)Carthago Delenda Est, (novella), in Foreign Legions, edited by David Drake, June 2001, (HC)Fortune’s Stroke, July 2001 (pb)The Tide of Victory, July 2001 (HC), October 2002 (pb) with David DrakeRats, Bats & Vats, September 2001 (pb)Pyramid Scheme, October 2001 (HC), with David Freer 2002From the Highlands, (short novel), in More than Honor #3: Changer of Worlds February 2002 (pb)The Philosophical Strangler, March 2002, (pb)Forward the Mage, March 2002 (HC) with Richard RoachThe Shadow of the Lion, March 2002 (HC) with Mercedes Lackey & Dave FreerThe Tyrant, April 2002 (HC) with David DrakeThe Islands in Warmasters, an anthology, May 2002 (HC) with David Drake and David Weber1633, August 2002 (HC), with David Weber“Carthago Delenda Est,” (novella), in Foreign Legions, September 2002 (pb)The Tide of Victory, October 2002 (pb) with David Drake 2003Pyramid Scheme, February 2003 (pb), with David Freerâ–ª “Fanatic,” (novella) in The Service of the Sword, the fourth Harrington anthology, April 2003 (HC), compiled by David Weber1633, July 2003 (pb)Forward the Mage, August 2003, (pb)The Course…
Bethanne Kim, Publisher: Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine Book clubs are fantastic! We would love to hear about any book clubs reading and discussing 1632 and any books or magazines in the 1632verse. To answer one common question: The book was originally expected to be a stand-alone book, not a series. Jim Baen, of Baen Books, said that books with even numbers sell better than ones with odd numbers. Thus, it was named for the year the story ends instead of the year it starts. And so that is why all the names for “mainline” Baen books in the 1632verse start with the year the book ends and not the year it starts. General Questions: How realistic do you think 1632 is? What elements make it more, or less , realistic? Is there anything you would change to make it more realistic? Do you think Grantville and the up-timers are a good reflection of a real small town in West Virginia in 2000? 1632 was published in 2000. Over 50 novels, 104 magazine issues, and multiple anthologies in the 1632verse have been written by approximately 200 authors in nearly 25 years. When it was first written, everything was contemporary. Twenty-five years later, technology, pop culture, and a lot of other background things have changed. What challenges do you think this presents to the writers? How do you think readers will respond to this story when the series is 50 years old? How do you think Eric Flint’s life and beliefs are reflected in this novel? What do books and libraries contribute to the plot and to the 1632verse? How much power do Grantville and its residents have to change their world? How do the up-timers comfort themselves when they are sent back in time? How do the down-timers comfort themselves with all the war-related trauma in their lives? How do you think you would cope if you were in…
We are thrilled to announce that we are having the first 1632Con since 2021 in less than three months as part of FantaSci in Raleigh-Durham, NC! We hope you are as excited about this as we are! As of late January, the hotel block still has rooms and there are still tickets available. Please join us! We would love to meet you in person. Eric Flint was scheduled to attend two cons in the winter of 2022 (listed below), but he became too ill and didn’t make either one. How perfect, then that the first 1632Con after his passing is at FantaSci 2024! SUPERSTARS WRITING CONFERENCE 2022February 9-12, 2022, Colorado Springs, Colorado FANTASCI 2022March 25-27, 2022, Durham, North Carolina (And yes, we will try to give more notice in future years.)
Bethanne Kim, Publisher Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine aka: Mannington in 1630s Germany (alternate history series) What does that mean? In 2000, Baen Published Eric Flint’s alternate history novel 1632. Eric lived in Granville, West Virginia when he was working for the unions in the 60s and loved it, so he wanted to show small-town West Virginians making the world better. By 2000, Granville had changed (lots of big box stores), so he looked for a small town closer to his memories and chose Mannington, renamed Grantville in the novel, as his model. In 1632, Grantville is sent back from April 2000 to May 1631 and lands in Thuringia, Germany during the Thirty Years War. They quickly realize they need to make the tools to make the tools to make the things we take for granted in the 21st century, such as light bulbs and toilet paper. Some things, like drugs including penicillin, are simply too far beyond their resources, including their knowledge. For those living in the 17th century, even simple (to us) things like basic sanitation have profound impacts. Grantville is very much a boomtown. Is Grantville identical to Mannington? No, but you have to look close to find differences (other than names). The biggest is that Grantville has a power plant but no oil. Buildings that are demolished in the real world still exist in the 1632verse, particularly near the interchange of Water and Market Streets. The more time passes, the more the two diverge, of course. The massive size of the universe requires extensive coordination. Keeping buildings and geography fairly tightly tied to Mannington makes this easier. For characters, we have something called “the Grid” that lists everyone who came back through the Ring of Fire (the up-timers). Down-timers are people who were already there when Grantville arrived in 1632 or who were born after that. The jobs, birth dates, death dates, family trees, education,…
Bjorn Hasseller, Editor-in-Chief: Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine Eric Flint studied African history; worked as a machinist; drove trucks; wrote, edited, and published books and short stories; and was a union organizer. He was married to Lucille Robbins and had a daughter, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren. He once posted a picture of himself wearing a shirt that said “Grumpa.” I think Eric liked to come across as grouchy. You could quickly see how much time he spent helping others out, though. That might be when he was risking his personal safety helping the unions or something as simple as taking a couple hours to make sure you understood where he wanted to go when he offered you a co-writing opportunity. Eric’s first novel was published when he was fifty years old. I count at least 69 novels as well as numerous anthologies, collections, novellas, and short stories. He wrote in several genres but was probably best known for alternate history. He didn’t just write; he worked with others, especially helping new authors get started. Between the 1632 series and The Grantville Gazette, he helped over 200 authors be published. For about three-quarters of us, it was our first professional sale. That’s aside from everything he did at Writers of the Future and the Superstars Writing Seminars. As he often pointed out himself, the 1632 universe was less than half of Eric’s writing. Of his many alternate history, science fiction, and fantasy universes, it’s the one he opened to anyone who wanted to write in it. Sometimes he’d look bemused at the directions people took with it, but he’d let them do it, as long as it wasn’t interfering with his own plans. We are excited to help carry that legacy forward. * * *
Bjorn Hasseller, Editor-in-Chief: Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine Jose Clavell served in the US Army, was a nurse at Walter Reed, and served in the Puerto Rico Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. He passed away in March, 2023. In the 1632 universe, Jose developed the USE Marine Corps and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. These are moving stories, and they’re influential on other authors. We’d like to keep Jose in the series. FROM: CPT. L. KLINGL, USEN TO: CDRE E. CANTRELL, USEN —MESSAGE BEGINS— RE: RETURN VOYAGE FOLLOWING OPERATION “ISLAND HOPPERS” AND HURRICANE, CAPTURED PIRATE SHIPS LOW ON FRESH WATER. TWO VESSELS DIVERTED TO PUERTO RICO AND HOVE TO OFF LOCATION LABELED MAYAGUEZ ON UP-TIME MAP. REFILLED WATER. NO ENEMY CONTACT. STOP COMMEND USEMC SGT. J. CLAVELL FOR INITIATIVE LOCATING FRESH WATER AND ESTABLISHING CACHES AND DEFENSIVE POSITIONS FOR FUTURE OPERATIONS. STOP HOWEVER SGT. CLAVELL LEFT USE FLAG. CLAIMS WE OWN ISLAND. STOP —MESSAGE ENDS— “I dunno, Clavell.” Hans Ludolf squinted. His nose was scrunched up, and his lips pursed, all signs that the Marine was very skeptical about something. “I think the captain is pissed.” “Hard to tell, from how he was trying not to laugh the whole time,” Clavell countered. “What if the Spanish find that flag? They will search the area. They might find the caches and fighting positions.” “Then they will think there are patrols on the island and waste a lot of time and many more resources than we left in the caches,” Clavell returned. “And if one of our ships passes between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola and needs food and water . . . It is what the up-timers call a win-win. And who knows? We could find ourselves back there someday.”
Bethanne Kim, Publisher: Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine As a small town, up-time Grantville didn’t have a lot of claims to fame. Down-time? It’s the most famous place on the planet, reputed to be a magical place filled wealth and wonders untold. It’s a bustling city whose size is primarily constrained by the local geography. This local geography is one constraint that ensures it will remain smaller than many other cities for the foreseeable future, and that real estate will remain quite valuable. Up-time, the round “Red Barn” run by the historical society and the County Fair were probably the two biggest attractions. They also had Oktoberfest (relatively new in 2000) and the Great Buffalo Canoe Race. Interestingly, down-time Germany did not have Oktoberfest, which didn’t start until the nineteenth century. They did, however, have tons of local fairs, festivals, and other events, both secular and religious in nature, which are not included in this list. Attractions and Annual Events: Breitenfeld Day (September) This is a new down-time holiday to celebrate the victory at Breitenfeld. Canoe Race (May) The Great Buffalo Canoe Race was normally scheduled in May (up-time), but the exact date was based on water flow rates and other weather-related factors. It may need to be scheduled down-time. It also may need to be moved since Fairmont is gone and the new down-stream route may not work for a canoe/kayak race. Description: A canoe race on the Buffalo Creek between Mannington and Fairmont, WV. Saturday, May 6th, 2000. Rain date is May 13th, 2000. Sponsored by The West Virginia Police Reserves. Registration begins at 8:00am at the Hough (pronounced “Huff”) Park Community Building in Hough Park, Mannington. The race starts at 10:00am. Racers may drop over the falls at their own risk, but it is not recommended. The DNR and West Virginia Police Reserves are not responsible for any injuries or accidents. On Sunday, May 7th at 2:00pm there will…
If you’ve ever built a WordPress site, you’ll have seen that new sites are set up so the first post is “Hello world!” Sitting here, about to delete this post, I decided what the heck – I’ll go with it! Welcome to Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond. This is our first post. Read it or skip it, then start reading! You may notice that while this is “our first post,” there are dozens and dozens of older posts. The explanation for that is simple: Those are blog posts, magazine forewords, and other things written primarily by Eric Flint himself but also by other people working for and with him. In fact, one of the two sticky posts at the top of this blog is something Eric wrote in 2005! Hopefully you enjoy reading them! Even if you don’t read any of the rest, please read the one pinned to the top of the blog. It’s Eric’s view on what the 1632verse magazine was all about, and it’s worth the short time it takes to read. All joking aside, we are very proud to be sharing this all new venture. We announced the existence of a new short-story venue for Eric Flint’s 1632 Universe, the magazine “Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond”, at LibertyCon on June 23, 2023. The first issue will be published on 1 August, 2023, with new issues every two months after that. So, look for new issues on the 1st of every odd numbered month! To be assured of not missing a month, please click here to subscribe now. Updated January 26, 2024
Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond Short fiction is back in the 1632 Universe! Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond will publish six issues per year, on the first day of odd-numbered months. Is this from Ring of Fire Press or 1632 Inc.? It’s from a new company, Flint’s Shards Inc. Do you have permission? Yes, we have a contract with Lucille Robbins, Eric Flint’s widow and heir. We will also coordinate closely with Baen Books to maintain the canon continuity for which the 1632 series is known. I missed some Grantville Gazettes. Can I get those? Yes. Grantville Gazette issues are available here individually and in groups of six. What about Gazette issues I paid for but didn’t download? While we are making the back issues of the Grantville Gazette available for sale, we have an obligation to pay the owner of those issues for every issue sold. We do not have permission to give them away for free. I had three issues left on my Grantville Gazette subscription. 1632, Inc. (the company that sold those subscriptions) is no longer in business. Is this going to be just like the Grantville Gazette? Not exactly, but close. We will publish primarily 1632 stories with some stories in the other Assiti Shards universes (Time Spike and Alexander Inheritance). What about 1632 serials? Yes, with caveats: The editors may decide to split a story up into multiple parts. The editors need to see the full serial. Our upper limit is going to be 17,500 words total. That is a hard limit. We can publish novelettes, but not novellas. The same group of characters can go on to have another self-contained adventure. We are strongly in favor of this. But we’re not publishing novels with the serial numbers filed off, either. (Pun fully intended.) What about the other Assiti Shards? Yes, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond will publish stories in the Time Spike and Alexander…
Griffin Barber, 1632 writer Friends, We have been talking about how we need to act on the 1632 forums of Baen’s Bar for years. You can’t have a working idea factory if the first answer is always “No!”. Griffin Barber has written a very important piece that we would really like everybody involved with the 1632 Universe to read, and think about. And maybe agree with. Walt BoyesBjorn Hasseler I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Like, ALWAYS. Funny, that, who would think a dyslexic kid with ADD would have any success at all in sitting down to write a story, let alone several lengthy novels and a bunch of short stories? Funnier still, for that same dyslexic1 kid with ADD to grow up and eventually become assistant publisher at a small press like Ring Of Fire Press.2 All I can say is that a red-hot desire to succeed can overcome a great many roadblocks, especially if that desire finds a community that shares not only that desire to succeed, but actively encourages it. I found such a community early on, in the electronic halls of Baen’s Bar, the forum created and hosted by Baen Books. I haunted those halls for a while, posting an occasional opinion or even a snippet of some story I was tinkering with for others to look at. I didn’t get much feedback, but what I did get was both commensurate with my (small) contributions and helpful in a general sense, allowing me to think I might have some chance at writing stories someone might read. I went with that small encouragement and wrote my first novel. (No one will ever see it.) I then set out to try and sell it to a publisher. I started attending conventions and meeting people. Good people. Fun people. Some were even famous, and not just ‘in-genre famous,’ either. I had various advice from those who were kind enough to dispense it.…
by Walt Boyes It is my unwelcome duty to tell you that we have lost another member of the 1632 family. This time, it was Head Geek Rick Boatright. Rick passed away on July 22 from pancreatic cancer. He was 66 years old. Rick was a polymath. He knew something about nearly everything and his ability to research little squirrelly facts was astonishing. He and I came up with the Aqualator at a con, and he wrote it into the series. He was the lead presenter, along with Kevin Evans and me, doing Weird Tech at Minicons. (The fact that we lost both Rick and Kevin within eight months, leaving me the Last Amigo, worries me.) He said he wasn’t really a writer, but he had a respectable body of work, and his latest novel (with Kerryn Offord) was published in August. But above all, Rick was a teacher. He gave up teaching because he wasn’t politically correct enough for the Topeka Board of Education, but never stopped being a teacher. He taught everyone he met. The world is much poorer without him in it.
by Jeff | Jun 28, 2021 | Podcasts https://youtu.be/jcHg6ZDPhs4 Eric Flint and Griffin Barber discuss 1637: The Peacock Throne, a Ring of Fire alternate history novel set in India during the time of the Mughal dynasties; And David Weber’s Uncompromising Honor Part 64. Originally aired: 30 April 2021 Get the book here: https://www.baen.com/1637-the-peacock-throne.html To download this and all other Baen podcasts, check out: http://www.baen.com/podcast
by Jeff | Jun 9, 2021 | Information https://youtu.be/p3_A-JX9FlU Part two of the interview featuring Eric Flint and Chuck Gannon discussing their novel 1637: No Peace Beyond the Line.
by Jeff | Jun 8, 2021 | Podcasts https://youtu.be/KjZ0f-0FbWQ
by Jeff | Jun 8, 2021 | Interviews https://youtu.be/stKjEC1CZ2k JMW: Hello, this is Jean Marie Ward for BuzzyMag.com. With me today is Eric Flint, the New York Times bestselling author of over 50 novels and the creator of the ever expanding 1632 Universe. Welcome, Eric. When you sat down to write the proposal for 1632, what made you think it would be a good idea to transplant West Virginia miners into the Germany of the Thirty Years War? Eric Flint: Well, what I wanted to use the novel for…novels should work on several levels. One of them is just entertainment. And I write action-adventure novels. So I wanted something in a setting that would allow me to do that which the Thirty Years War was certainly good for. Thirty Years War was kind of sheer chaos that was probably, most historians would agree, the most destructive war Europe ever went through, worse than any of the two world wars, especially in terms of its impact on Central Europe, which is centered on Germany but involves other countries around what’s today the Czech Republic, other parts. At the time, that was really the center of Europe. And that was true politically, as well as culturally. Through a mysterious ancient alien civilization the residents of Grantville, West Virginia are thrown back in time to 1631 Germany in the middle of the 30 Years War. On top of coping with the shock of being displaced in time and location, the people of Grantville must overcome the surrounding raging war, language barriers, and numerous social and political issues, including class conflict, witchcraft, feminism, the reformation and the counter-reformation, among many other factors. The image people have of Germany is a Germany that was created out of the Thirty Years War and the outcome of it. But the Germany prior to the early years of the Thirty Years War is a very, very different place. It was very dynamic. It was quite…
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 Ring Of Fire Cons 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…
Eric Flint on Writing Note: The original post wasn’t dated, so we don’t have any real idea when this was written and posted beyond Eric was still alive. The assigned date is fairly random, but before his final illness. – Bethanne (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine) How long does it take to write a book? ERIC: That basically depends on three factors: The length of the book.2. The type of book it is.3. Whether I’m writing it solo or with a collaborator (or collaborators). Length is the most obvious. Novels are made up of words, and the more words in a given novel the longer it’s going to take to write it. My novels, thus far, have ranged in length from about 110,000 to 180,000 words. The shortest being The Philosophical Strangler and Rats, Bats & Vats; the longest, 1632. Although that’s about to change — The Shadow of the Lion, now nearing completion, is going to be well over 200,000 words long; probably closer to 250,000. (I might mention here that writers gauge the length of a book in a different way than readers. Readers think of length in terms of pages, but for an author that’s almost meaningless. The number of pages which a given number of words translates into varies wildly, depending on many factors determined by the publisher, not the writer — fonts, leads, margins, etc. So writers talk in terms of words, because that’s the only fixed absolute quantity.) How many words do I write a day? Well, that varies a lot, depending on the type of book it is, as I’ll explain in a moment. But I don’t write every day of the year, anyway. Not even close. Writing, for me, is “burst work.” When I dig into a novel, I will write just about every day until the book is finished. Never less than 1,000 words. Once or twice — as many as 10,000 words. My average per…
by Jeff | Mar 1, 2021 | Interviews https://youtu.be/eqfS_7ykw_s
by Eric Flint | Feb 17, 2021 | Information I was going to stay out of the latest inside-the-SF-Beltway kertuffle, but it seems to keep chasing after me. At least, I keep running into it on Facebook. So, especially since my name got dragged into it, I finally decided to put in my two cents. The kertuffle I’m talking about started with the publication on his Patreon site by an author named Jason Sanford of a hit piece on my publisher, Baen Books. I’m deliberately calling it a “hit piece” because everything about it stinks to me. I will explain why in the course of this post, but let me start with the fact that Sanford’s essay was followed in very quick succession by people piling on elsewhere including in File 770, a demand being placed on Baen Books’ service provider that they cancel the publisher’s online access, and loud demands that the upcoming 79th World Science Fiction Convention (Discon III) remove Baen’s publisher Toni Weisskopf as their Editor Guest of Honor. Maybe all this is just coincidence, but I doubt it. And before anyone accuses me of suggesting there’s an elaborate conspiracy involved, I don’t think that for a minute. What I do think is likely is that a handful of jerks got together and thought starting something like this was a bright idea. Let me begin by quoting the thesis of Sanford’s essay: This is an investigative report about how Baen’s Bar, the private forum run by the science fiction and fantasy publishing company Baen Books, is being used to advocate for extremist political violence. Evidence will be presented. Comments by a number of the forum’s users will be shared.[See Note 1 below] I believe it’s vitally important for the SF/F genre to know what is going on in Baen’s Bar. As the world has discovered in recent years, disinformation and online threats of violence do not remain in one place and this applies equally…
by Jeff | Jun 9, 2021 | Information https://youtu.be/p3_A-JX9FlU Part two of the interview featuring Eric Flint and Chuck Gannon discussing their novel 1637: No Peace Beyond the Line.
How long does it take to write a book? ERIC: That basically depends on three factors: The length of the book.2. The type of book it is.3. Whether I’m writing it solo or with a collaborator (or collaborators). Length is the most obvious. Novels are made up of words, and the more words in a given novel the longer it’s going to take to write it. My novels, thus far, have ranged in length from about 110,000 to 180,000 words. The shortest being The Philosophical Strangler and Rats, Bats & Vats; the longest, 1632. Although that’s about to change — The Shadow of the Lion, now nearing completion, is going to be well over 200,000 words long; probably closer to 250,000. (I might mention here that writers gauge the length of a book in a different way than readers. Readers think of length in terms of pages, but for an author that’s almost meaningless. The number of pages which a given number of words translates into varies wildly, depending on many factors determined by the publisher, not the writer — fonts, leads, margins, etc. So writers talk in terms of words, because that’s the only fixed absolute quantity.) How many words do I write a day? Well, that varies a lot, depending on the type of book it is, as I’ll explain in a moment. But I don’t write every day of the year, anyway. Not even close. Writing, for me, is “burst work.” When I dig into a novel, I will write just about every day until the book is finished. Never less than 1,000 words. Once or twice — as many as 10,000 words. My average per day runs somewhere in the 1,500 to 3,500 range. Once a novel is finished, I will then take a break of anywhere from two weeks to two months, basically in order to “recharge my batteries.” During that time I occupy myself with editing work, writing short stuff, rewriting…
by Eric Flint | May 12, 2020 | Blog | 1 comment As many of you already know, I have a publishing house of my own called Ring of Fire Press. I launched the house back in 2013 as a way to publish stories in the Ring of Fire series that were too long to include in one of the anthologies published by Baen Books. For the first few years, I operated the house on a pretty hit-or-miss basis. I had no regular publishing schedule and didn’t put a lot of money or effort into it. I was really doing it just as a service to some of our long-standing authors. A little over two years ago, however, I decided to take it more seriously. The first thing I did was engage a professional artist (Laura Givens) to do the covers. That instantly made a huge difference—by which I mean increasing our sales by almost an order of magnitude. Once I saw that we had a much bigger income, I took on Walt Boyes and Joy Ward as a combination of managers and editors of the house, so that it would no longer be something I was trying to do on the side. And we decided to establish a regular publication schedule. Initially that was one book a month, but we soon expanded that to two books a month. For a time, our focus remained on publishing Ring of Fire series books. But it didn’t take us long to realize that we’d built a real publishing house—so why not use it to publish any sort of fantasy and science fiction? We’ve been doing that now for some time, and reached the point where Ring of Fire series books are only about one-third of what we publish. In fact, we’ve expanded our output so much that beginning in July we’re going to shift to a three-book-a-month schedule. One of the things that has enabled us to do is…
by Eric Flint | Apr 14, 2020 | Interviews https://youtu.be/uaQHmiqkS6I
by Eric Flint | Feb 19, 2020 | Blog | 23 comments “Tempus fugit” is a Latin phrase that officially translates as “time flies.” What it really is, though, is a hoity-toity way of saying “old farts forget stuff.” The old fart in this instance being me—and what I forgot was that my novel 1632 was published exactly twenty years ago. Well… Using the term “exactly” with some poetic license. The book was indeed published in February of 2000, but I’m pretty sure it was published earlier than the 18th day of the month. So I’m fudging a little. By any reasonable measure of the term “success,” 1632 was a successful novel. To begin with, it was successful on its own terms. It sold—this is taken directly from my royalty reports so there’s no fudging at all—7,458 copies in hardcover, which was very good at the time for hardcover sales. Better still, it also had a 69% sell-through. For those of you not familiar with publishing lingo, “sell-through” means the percentage of books printed and shipped that are actually sold. The industry average is around 50%, so 69% is very good, That was the initial hardcover print run. Since then, Baen Books has done a special edition leather-bound hardcover edition ($36.00 a copy BUT CHEAP AT THE PRICE) that has sold 765 copies at a 77% sell-through. Furthermore, the novel is still in print after twenty years, and has sold over 140,000 copies in paperback with a 88% sell-through, which is like incredibly, spectacularly good. A publishing house which has a book that maintains an 88% sell-through over two decades has essentially been able to legally print money for all that time. And—I love this fact because I sneer at so-called “electronic piracy”—keep in mind that 1632 has been available electronically FOR FREE for about the last eighteen years and… still just keeps selling and selling. Every year I get royalty payments for the book somewhere between $4,000 and $5,000. But the novel doesn’t stand on…
Hi, I’m Eric Flint, a writer of science fiction and fantasy. My writing career began with the publication in 1993 of a short story entitled “Entropy, and the Strangler.” That story won first place in the Winter 1992 Writers of the Future contest, which was founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The coordinator of the contest in 1992 was Dave Wolverton, and the panel of judges consisted of Anne McCaffrey, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Algys Budrys. The story was published in the 1993 anthology, which the contest puts out on an annual basis. I’ve been writing fiction off and on most of my life, starting when I was fourteen years old. But this was my first sale, and led me to the point where I am now a full-time author. “Entropy, and the Strangler” was a small piece of a major fantasy series which I’ve been working on since 1969, some of the books in collaboration with a friend of mine by the name of Richard Roach. I didn’t really buckle down and start writing seriously, however, until 1992. By then I was 45 years old, and realized that if I was ever going to get published, I’d better get cracking. By early 1993, Richard and I had finished one volume in this fantasy series, a novel entitled Forward the Mage, and I’d written a large part of the novel which would eventually become titled The Philosophical Strangler (which was published by Baen Books in May, 2001). A rewritten version of “Entropy, and the Strangler” now serves as the Prologue to that novel. The universe in which The Philosophical Strangler and Forward the Mage are set is something which Richard and I simply call “Joe’s World.” For better or worse, the novels (of which there are at least five either written or partially written) don’t fit all that neatly within the normal parameters of the fantasy genre. As I soon discovered when I started piling up…
by Eric Flint | Jan 24, 2020 | Information | 4 comments As those of you who regularly visit this web site or my Facebook page know, I don’t often post political statements. There are two reasons I don’t. The first is because most people who visit the sites are either family or personal friends of mine who are already well aware of my political views, or people who are mostly interested in me as an author. The second reason is even simpler. If there is a more monumental waste of time than arguing politics on the internet—especially Facebook—I have yet to find it. (Watching paint dry comes a distant second.) That said, occasionally I get annoyed enough to break my usual rule, and after some months of the campaigning that’s been going on for next year’s presidential election, I have reached that point with respect to one subject. THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE, about which historical ignorance, incapacity to reason, blindness to reality driven by ideology and just plain stupidity have produced an ocean of twaddle. It should be blindingly obvious by now that the Electoral College is at best an antiquated institution which never matched the vision of it held by the Founding Fathers and has become an impediment to modern government. In times past, the reason most people shrugged off its grotesque features was because in practice it didn’t seem to make much difference. In the first two centuries of the nation’s existence, a candidate won the Electoral College while losing the so-called “popular vote” only three times (in 1824, 1876 and 1888). But it has happened twice in the past five elections (2000 and 2016), so now it has become a major topic of debate. [NOTA BENE: I put the phrase “popular vote” in quotation marks because the term is a silly redundancy. By definition, the “vote” is the will of the majority, i.e., the “populi” There is no other kind of vote EXCEPT a…
(aka the Ring of Fire series)by Eric Flint Whenever someone asks me “what’s the right 1632 series reading order?”, I’m always tempted to respond: “I have no idea. What’s the right order for studying the Thirty Years War? If you find it, apply that same method to the 1632 series.” However, that would be a bit churlish—and when it comes down to it, authors depend upon the goodwill of their readers. So, as best I can, here goes. The first book in the series, obviously, is 1632. That is the foundation novel for the entire series and the only one whose place in the sequence is definitely fixed. The digital eBook edition of 1632 is available as a free download at Baen.com. Click here to get your free copy! Thereafter, you should read either the anthology titled Ring of Fire or the novel 1633, which I co-authored with David Weber. It really doesn’t matter that much which of these two volumes you read first, so long as you read them both before proceeding onward. That said, if I’m pinned against the wall and threatened with bodily harm, I’d recommend that you read Ring of Fire before you read 1633. That’s because 1633 has a sequel which is so closely tied to it that the two volumes almost constitute one single huge novel. So, I suppose you’d do well to read them back to back. That sequel is 1634: The Baltic War, which I also co-authored with David Weber. Once you’ve read those four books—to recapitulate, the three novels (1632, 1633 and 1634: The Baltic War) and the Ring of Fire anthology—you can now choose one of two major alternatives for the 1632 series reading order. The first way, which I’ll call “spinal,” is to begin by reading all of the novels in what I will call the main line of the series. As of now, the main line consists of these seven novels: 16321633 (with David Weber)1634: The Baltic War (with David Weber)1635: The Eastern Front1636: The Saxon…
(last updated on 27 January 2019) STAND ALONE NOVELSMother of Demons, September 1997Slow Train to Arcturus, October 2008 with Dave FreerMountain Magic, January 2006, an anthology including a new short novel,- “Diamonds Are Forever” , with Ryk Spoor; a reissue of Old Nathan, by David Drake; and a reissue of Henry Kuttner’s four “Hogben” stories.The Gods of Sagittarius, May 2017, with Mike ResnickThe Alexander Inheritance, July 2017, with Gorg Huff and Paula GoodlettIron Angels, September 2017, with Alistair KimbleCouncil of Fire, November 2019, with Walter H. Hunt THE ASSITI SHARDS (which includes the 1632 Series)1632, February 20001633, August 2002, with David Weber1634: The Galileo Affair, April 2004, with Andrew Dennis1634: The Ram Rebellion, May 2006, with Virginia DeMarce and others1634: The Baltic War, May 2007, with David Weber1634: The Bavarian Crisis, October 2007, with Virginia DeMarce1635: A Parcel of Rogues, January 2016, with Andrew Dennis1635: The Cannon Law, October 2006, with Andrew Dennis1635: The Dreeson Incident, December 2008, with Virginia DeMarce1635: The Eastern Front, October 20101635:The Papal Stakes, August 20131636: The Saxon Uprising, April 20111636: The Kremlin Games, June 2012, with Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett1636: The Devil’s Opera, October 2013, with David Carrico1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies, June 2014, with Charles Gannon1636: The Viennese Waltz, November 2014, with Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huf1636: The Cardinal Virtues, July 2015, with Walter H. Hunt1636: The Ottoman Onslaught, January, 20171636: Mission to the Mughals, April 2017, with Griffin Barber1636: The Vatican Sanction, December 2017, with Charles E. Gannon1637: The Volga Rules, February 2018, with Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett1637: The Polish Maelstrom, April 20191636: The China Venture, September 2019Ring of Fire, an anthology of stories set in the 1632 universe, January 2004Ring of Fire II, an anthology of stories set in the 1632 universe, January 2008Ring of Fire III, an anthology of stories set in the 1632 universe, July 2011Ring of Fire IV, an anthology of stories set in the 1632 universe, May 2016 Grantville Gazette. There are so far eight volumes of the Gazette in paper editions. There are also 87 volumes in electronic edition. These are…
NOTE: For those of you who prefer your bibliographies chronologically, here it is. This page does not include the classic SF series I’ve edited. — Eric Flint. (last updated on 27 January 2019) 1970Trade and Politics in Barotseland During the Kololo Period, 1970 Journal of African History (Volume XI:1) 1993Entropy and the Strangler, (short story), in Writers of the Future Volume IX 1997Mother of Demons, September 1997 (pb) 1998An Oblique Approach, March 1998 (pb) with David DrakeIn the Heart of Darkness, August 1998 (pb) with David Drake 1999Destiny’s Shield, July 1999 (HC) with David Drake 20001632, February 2000 (HC)Destiny’s Shield, June 2000 (pb)Fortune’s Stroke, June 2000 (HC) with David DrakeRats, Bats & Vats, September 2000 (HC) with Dave FreerThe Thief and the Roller Derby Queen, (short story), in The Chick is in the Mail, edited by Ester Friesner, October 2000, (pb) 20011632 February 2001 (pb) From the Highlands, (short novel), in More than Honor #3: Changer of Worlds with David Weber March 2001 (HC)The Philosophical Strangler, May 2001 (HC)Carthago Delenda Est, (novella), in Foreign Legions, edited by David Drake, June 2001, (HC)Fortune’s Stroke, July 2001 (pb)The Tide of Victory, July 2001 (HC), October 2002 (pb) with David DrakeRats, Bats & Vats, September 2001 (pb)Pyramid Scheme, October 2001 (HC), with David Freer 2002From the Highlands, (short novel), in More than Honor #3: Changer of Worlds February 2002 (pb)The Philosophical Strangler, March 2002, (pb)Forward the Mage, March 2002 (HC) with Richard RoachThe Shadow of the Lion, March 2002 (HC) with Mercedes Lackey & Dave FreerThe Tyrant, April 2002 (HC) with David DrakeThe Islands in Warmasters, an anthology, May 2002 (HC) with David Drake and David Weber1633, August 2002 (HC), with David Weber“Carthago Delenda Est,” (novella), in Foreign Legions, September 2002 (pb)The Tide of Victory, October 2002 (pb) with David Drake 2003Pyramid Scheme, February 2003 (pb), with David Freerâ–ª “Fanatic,” (novella) in The Service of the Sword, the fourth Harrington anthology, April 2003 (HC), compiled by David Weber1633, July 2003 (pb)Forward the Mage, August 2003,…
by Eric Flint | Jun 14, 2018 | Information | 3 comments June 14, 2018 I have the following titles that qualify for nomination for the Dragon Award to be handed out at DragonCon this year. (For more information on DragonCon, see: http://www.dragoncon.org/) BEST FANTASY NOVEL: The Demons of Paris, by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff. BEST HORROR NOVEL: Iron Angels, by Eric Flint and Alistair Kimble. BEST ALTERNATE HISTORY NOVEL. I have several novels that qualify in this category: The Alexander Inheritance, by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff. 1636: The Vatican Sanction, by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon. 1637: The Volga Rules, by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff. If you’ve read any of these novels and liked them enough, please nominate them for their respective awards. Nominations will be closed on July 20, 2018. Voting will take place shortly thereafter. 3 Comments Jim on June 27, 2018 at 2:08 AMWhy would a socialist want to win awards so much? Is it because your a capitalist? Hypocrite. Drak Bibliophile on June 28, 2018 at 7:52 AMAh, but he is a capitalist and makes no bones about it. Mike on October 2, 2018 at 7:53 PMI’m confused by the whole idea that a socialist would not want to win awards. I think maybe you don’t understand what socialism is.
by Gorg Huff | Apr 14, 2018 | Information The 2019 Ring of Fire series minicon will be hosted by Westercon inLayton, Utah (just north of Salt Lake City). The dates are July 4-7.Here’s their URL: https://www.westercon72.org/ And here’s the press release they just issued: 04/14/18 Announced 2:00 pm Utah Time – League of Utah Writers Spring ConferenceTime & Location: Apr 14, 2018 at 10:30am – 6:00pmSalt Lake Community College Student Ctr, 4600 South Redwood Road, SLC,UT 84123, USA About The Event: The annual Spring Conference presented byLeague of Utah Writers includes a full day of workshops andpresentations focused on improving your skills as a writer. 2018 Spring Conference Schedule9:00 – 10:30 Registration / Check-in10:30 – 11:00 Opening Kick-off – all attendees11:00 – 2:00Â Â Â Morning sessions2:00 – 3:00Â Â Â Break for lunch Utah Horror Writers Announcement andWestercon 72Announcement3:00 – 6:00 Afternoon sessions Westercon 72 is pleased to announce Eric Flint as a Special Guest.Eric Flint’s writing career began with the science fiction novel Motherof Demons. His alternate history novel 1632 has led to a long-runningseries with over thirty novels and anthologies in print. He’s alsowritten many other science fiction and fantasy novels. He resides innorthwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.Along with Mr. Flint, we are also pleased to announce the 2019 1632Minicon will be held in conjunction with Westercon 72. The minicon isthe annual event that allows the 1632 fans and authors to get together.(Of course, in the case of 1632, fans and authors overlapsubstantially.) Each year the minicon is held “inside” a science fictionconvention in a different part of the country. Many cons have agreed tohost the minicon over the years. (Wording courtesy ofhttps://1632.org/2018-minicon/ ) Thank you for your time. Kate Hatcher (Chair)Westercon 72Utah’s Bid for NASFiC 2019Â Utah Fandom Organization (UFO)info@utahfor2019.comchair@westercon72.org Westercon is a registered service mark of the Los Angeles ScienceFantasy Society, Inc. and is used with permission. Utah for 2019 issupported by Utah Fandom Organization, a nonprofit 501(c)(3). “WorldScience Fiction Society”, “WSFS”,…