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.)
From BaensBar
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…