Newcastle's Call
I am a patent attorney by profession, but I have been writing both fiction and nonfiction for the 1632 universe created by Eric Flint. I will be blogging occasionally both here and on my facebook author page, "Iver P. Cooper, Author"
https://www.facebook.com/ivercooperau...
(I invite you to like that page.)
Recently, my wife and I saw the new movie "Stan and Ollie" (which we highly recommend). So what does that have to do with the 1632 universe? Be patient....
The movie focuses on the comic duo's tour of the United Kingdom in 1952-53. One of their stops is in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Newcastle has some interesting medieval and early modern architecture, but all that we saw of it in the film was a rather unprepossessing hotel and a second-tier theater.
After the movie, I discovered that Stan Laurel was born in the UK, and spent part of his childhood in North Shields (a town eight miles downstream from Newcastle),.
My most recent story for the Grantville Gazette was "Newcastle's Call." You can see a preview here....
https://grantvillegazette.com/wp/arti...
and the current issue of the gazette, which includes that story, is on sale at the Baen ebook site:
https://www.baen.com/grantville-gazet...
In 1636, Newcastle-upon-Tyne lost an estimated 5600 people -- 47% of its population -- to the plague. I first contemplated writing a story about how this might play out in the 1632 univers back in 2013. However, after writing a few scenes, I got a bit too engrossed in the science and ended up writing a two part nonfiction piece (“Infectious Pestilence: Part 1: Coping with Plague in Early Modern Europe,” Grantville Gazette 50, “Infectious Pestilence Part 2: Fighting the Plague After the Ring of Fire,” Grantville Gazette 51.)
In October, 2018, while my wife was off in Orlando enjoying Universal's Halloween Horror Nights with our daughter, I took the story off the back burner and completed it. It views the plague, and the effect of the Ring of Fire upon Newcastle's response to it, primarily through the eyes of Ralph Tailor, a young scrivener taking down the wills of plague victims. As a 1632 story, there must be some sort of connection to the Ring of Fire, and in "Newcastle's Call," it is that a young physician in Newcastle has become aware of what the medical books in Grantville say about the causes and treatment of bubonic plague, and is fighting with the skeptical town physician. All three of them are historical characters.
I comment more on what happened in the "old time line" in the Author's Note to "Newcastle's Call." The title, by the way, is taken from pastor Robert Henison's 1637 polemic, "Newcastle's Call to her Neighbours and sister Townes and Cities throughout the Land, to take Warning by her Sins and Sorrows lest this overflowing Scourge of Pestilence reach even to them also."
And after re-reading that daunting title, I think I will go find a Laurel and Hardy movie to cheer me up ....
https://www.facebook.com/ivercooperau...
(I invite you to like that page.)
Recently, my wife and I saw the new movie "Stan and Ollie" (which we highly recommend). So what does that have to do with the 1632 universe? Be patient....
The movie focuses on the comic duo's tour of the United Kingdom in 1952-53. One of their stops is in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Newcastle has some interesting medieval and early modern architecture, but all that we saw of it in the film was a rather unprepossessing hotel and a second-tier theater.
After the movie, I discovered that Stan Laurel was born in the UK, and spent part of his childhood in North Shields (a town eight miles downstream from Newcastle),.
My most recent story for the Grantville Gazette was "Newcastle's Call." You can see a preview here....
https://grantvillegazette.com/wp/arti...
and the current issue of the gazette, which includes that story, is on sale at the Baen ebook site:
https://www.baen.com/grantville-gazet...
In 1636, Newcastle-upon-Tyne lost an estimated 5600 people -- 47% of its population -- to the plague. I first contemplated writing a story about how this might play out in the 1632 univers back in 2013. However, after writing a few scenes, I got a bit too engrossed in the science and ended up writing a two part nonfiction piece (“Infectious Pestilence: Part 1: Coping with Plague in Early Modern Europe,” Grantville Gazette 50, “Infectious Pestilence Part 2: Fighting the Plague After the Ring of Fire,” Grantville Gazette 51.)
In October, 2018, while my wife was off in Orlando enjoying Universal's Halloween Horror Nights with our daughter, I took the story off the back burner and completed it. It views the plague, and the effect of the Ring of Fire upon Newcastle's response to it, primarily through the eyes of Ralph Tailor, a young scrivener taking down the wills of plague victims. As a 1632 story, there must be some sort of connection to the Ring of Fire, and in "Newcastle's Call," it is that a young physician in Newcastle has become aware of what the medical books in Grantville say about the causes and treatment of bubonic plague, and is fighting with the skeptical town physician. All three of them are historical characters.
I comment more on what happened in the "old time line" in the Author's Note to "Newcastle's Call." The title, by the way, is taken from pastor Robert Henison's 1637 polemic, "Newcastle's Call to her Neighbours and sister Townes and Cities throughout the Land, to take Warning by her Sins and Sorrows lest this overflowing Scourge of Pestilence reach even to them also."
And after re-reading that daunting title, I think I will go find a Laurel and Hardy movie to cheer me up ....
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