Eric wasn’t perfect, and he would have been the first one to say so. Below is his comment on the bar regarding why there are 8 stars on the USE flag. But after that is what Mike Nagle wrote in the Grantville Gazette.
The reason was given in the original novel 1632, something Eric wrote more than 20 years before his Bar post. It’s easy to think that an author will remember everything they’ve written, but that simply isn’t the case. It especially isn’t the case when it’s been decades with many books in that series and multiple totally unrelated series having been written in the interrim.
Personally, I think it’s pretty amazing that we have so many writers and fans who can help us keep track of all these details even when we forget them.
– Bethanne Kim (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine)
Baens Bar
20 February 2020 00:59
I’m guessing, because BALTIC WAR was written so long ago that my memory is fuzzy, but I suspect the reason there are eight stars on the cross of the USE flag is simply because that’s how many our artist Tom Kidd put on it and it didn’t occur to me at the time to think about the logic behind it.
There’s no logic at all to having it based on the original cities in the New United States. What would make sense would be to do it the way the USA’s flag works, which is to add a star every time a new province is formed. Then — oh, joy! — we can have endless wrangles because the imperial cities start clamoring that they damn well ought to be represented on the flag as well as the provinces, and grouchier members of the CoCs would insist that provinces under imperial administration shouldn’t be given the same august status as self-governing provinces.
Mike Nagle (excerpted from 1632 and Flags of the World: USE Part 1)
From the end of Chapter 39 of 1632:
As they left town, one of Jena’s now-fawning notables made so bold as to ask Mike a question. Heinrich interpreted again.
Mike looked up at the banner flying from the APC. It was a modification of the U.S. flag. The same thirteen red-and-white stripes. But the blue field in the corner contained only a single star. A small one, for the space, nestled in the upper left.
“We call ourselves the United States,” he explained.
The notable conferred with Heinrich, making sure that he hadn’t misunderstood the plural. Again, he asked a question.
“Oh, there’s just one state. At the moment.” Mike pointed to the single star. “That’s Grantville, and the surrounding area.”
He beamed down at the notable. “We expect to add others. I think Badenburg and its countryside will be joining us soon. Certainly hope so!” Again, he pointed to the flag.
“Then there will be two stars.”
Again, the beaming smile. “You grasp the logic?”
And there he left the notable. Staring at the flag, as it passed slowly out of sight.
* * *
The New United States extended an open invitation to other surrounding German states to join, and as the New United States’ victories mounted, many of the surrounding states decided that it would be advantageous to join the New United States. As each new State joined the New United States, another star was added to the flag. By December, 1632, at least eight new states had been accepted into the New United States, and there were nine stars on the flag. (See “Motherhood and Apple Pie, While You’re at It” in 1634: The Ram Rebellion.) Between December, 1632, and November, 1633, more states were admitted to the NUS, and for each new State, another star was added to the flag.
