Grantville Gazette, Volume IV

Grantville Gazette: Print Version #4

by Eric Flint (Editor)

In Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff's "Poor Little Rich Girls," we follow the continuing adventures of the teenage tycoons begun by Huff in "The Sewing Circle" (Gazette #1) and "Other People's Money" (Gazette #3). The focus in this story, however, is on the younger siblings—the so-called Barbie Consortium—and their down-timer associates and enemies.

Jose Clavell's "Magdeburg Marines" and Ernest Lutz and John Zeek's "Elizabeth" depict the early days of two military units after the Ring of Fire: a reborn U.S. Marine Corps trying to adapt to new circumstances, and the First Railway Company, formed to provide logistics using a combination of up-time and down-time methods and technology.

David Carrico's "Heavy Metal Music" continues the story of the interaction between up-time and down-time musicians that he began in last issue's "The Sound of Music."

In other stories:
—A German craftsman blackballed by guild masters gets a new start in Karen Bergstralh's "One Man's Junk."
—Grantville has to deal with the tragic accidental deaths of several high school graduates in Kerryn Offord's "The Class of '34."
—In Virginia DeMarce's "'Til We Meet Again," a widowed up-timer responds to her husband's death by joining the faculty in the newly-established women's college in Quedlinburg.
—Julie Sims' ex-boyfriend finds a new romance in Russ Rittgers' "Chip's Christmas Gift."
—in Dan Robinson's "Dice's Drawings," an American retiree finds a new life and maybe a new love in seventeenth century Germany.
The fourth volume of the Gazette also contains factual articles dealing with the development of an oil industry, advances in textile and garment manufacture, possible uses of biodiesel technology, and differing views on the prospects of creating a machine gun using the resources and technology available after the Ring of Fire.

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Eric Flint is the author of the New York Times best seller 1634: The Galileo Affair (with Andrew Dennis)—a novel in his top-selling "Ring of  Fire" alternate  history series. His first novel for Baen, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. His 1632, which launched the Ring of Fire series, won widespread critical praise, as from Publishers Weekly, which called him "an SF author of particular note, one who can entertain and edify in equal, and major measure." A longtime labor union activist with a master's degree in history, he currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.

Genres: Alternate History, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Fantasy, Anthologies, Historical Fiction

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 2004

About the author

Eric Flint was a New York Times bestselling American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his main works were alternate history science fiction, but he also wrote humorous fantasy adventures.

Reviews

[Lancelot Schaubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review will be short and sweet. I ordered Granville Gazette IV at the prompting of Kerryn and Bjorn Hasseler because of a story I was working on spec for the new 1632 magazine. I think the thing I want to say is that sometimes anthologies like this never quite find their true audience because they're marketed towards science fiction conventions. But on actually READING some of the stories, they would be better marketed — at least for a large audience — towards the alt history literary crowd.

I really enjoyed what I read of them. Quiet and loud stories both, but equally at place in the large historical fiction segment of the bookstore.

I'll be shelving this volume of Granville Gazette accordingly.

https://lanceschaubert.org/2023/12/01...

[Debrac2014 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of the stories, especially One Man's Junk, Magdeburg Marines: The Few and the Proud, Elizabeth and Heavy Metal Music, which I've read before!

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gazettes being a collection of short stories and articles explaining how modern technology could work in seventeenth century Europe are always going to be a mixed bag. I know for myself, the short stories this time around were mostly good, though a couple felt a little forced. Like, they are there as slightly more interesting ways to explain why say, trains can be a thing. I suppose I can sort of applaud that though, since I personally find the articles in these books extremely boring and tend to skim through them very quickly. That didn't totally save that particular short story though. Others were pretty good, or carried on with characters I really liked from previous short stories, like the one about the Barbie Consortium. That's how a book like this is going to be though, so I'm not disappointed or upset. It is what it is and anyone really into this series is probably going to get at least a little bit out of reading this.

[Topher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A town in west virginia, based upon a real WV town as it existed on a specific date (4/2/2000 I think) is transported back in time to the middle of the 30 years war.

Excellent research, wide open universe (think there are over 50 authors at this point, and at least 10 full length books). Lots of thoughts on what the impact would be in science, econ, military, etc.

Mostly very well written (some unevenness in the gazette series as many of the authors are first time published, but all are at least readable).

Definitely recommend series.

[Brandt Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always love the Gazettes. Contributes greatly to the overall 1632 universe and best of all the fans submit stories than can be accepted and edited to enhance the main series.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a quick read.
Great, great work.

Try it now.

[Luci · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were entertaining and the articles were informative. It's always nice to see what the other characters are up to. The Gazette really links the larger novels together.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been making my way through the Ring of Fire series. In general, I like the short story collections better than the novels with a few exceptions. The short stories show the promise of the series and the creativity of the larger community of authors constructing a complex, messy world. But "Grantville Gazette IV" was the first short story collection I was really disappointed in. I just didn't really like most of the short stories in this collection. This volume more than any of them felt like set up for the next round of novels and stories. None of the stories really stuck with me at all. The only one's I really liked were "The Anatomy Lesson" by Eric Flint and "Heavy Metal Music" by David Carrisco. I liked the technical essays but they were quite long in this volume. Maybe I will re-read this collection at a different point as I get further along in the series or perhaps I will be surprised that the hidden seeds planted in this volume that blossom in later works. My advice is to get through it and move onto the next ones.

[BJ Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 4th in the Grantville Gazette series that are meant to be short story companions to the main story of the Ring of Fire series. As usual, these stories vary in length and quality and are authored some by fans and others by professional authors who are taking a hand at this phenomenon that is the open sourced Ring of Fire universe. Anatomy Lesson is Eric Flint's opening story once again takes place in Amsterdam and is its usual delight. My personal favorites this time around are One Man's Junk and Chip's Christmas Gift which reintroduces Silent Night to its German birthplace. Honestly, I am half tempted to skip over the usual "Barbie Consortium" offering. They are always so annoying but I know I can't because there is always tie-ins to other stories and characters. But I would love for some tragic event to wind up with all these girls dead so that we no longer have to put up with them. In all, it is a decent contribution to the world, but not recommended to anyone who hasn't already read plenty from the Ring of Fire Universe.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of short stories and factual articles regarding the problems of building up a 1990s technological base in the 1630s. The short stories fill out the 1632/Ring of Fire universe. The factual essays would be helpful to any survivalist concerned with establishing civilization after the zombie apocalypse, EMP strike, or nuclear devastation. Specifically, the essays talk in detail about the problems (in the 1630s) regarding drilling for oil, keeping your tractor and other engines running with biodiesel, how to build a machine gun (like a Gatling gun although this is not practical as the article will suggest), and the practical problems with creating cloth using a powered loom and the various problems presented by different types of wool.

Any modesty issues? The F-word is used once in the short story "The Anatomy Lesson".

I'd read this book again.

[Robert Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1632 series is great reading if you are into science fiction/fantasy. This is the fourth book on paper that is full of stories and facts contributed by readers and fans of the series. There are some continuing stories, some stand alone stories and as stated researches reported as facts.

[Freyja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly cohesive short story collection that's hard to put down.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthwhile collection of short stories and fact articles set in or related to the _1632_ universe.

[Daniel Shellenbarger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shockingly, Grantville Gazette IV is the fourth in the print editions of the Grantville Gazette e-zine set in the Ring of Fire (or Assiti Shards, or 1632, whichever you like) universe. As with the other editions, apart from the preface and the first short story, the stories aren't written by Eric Flint but by various contributors. Frankly, these are basically B-Sides short story compilations compared to the larger Ring of Fire anthologies, though unlike those anthologies, these are split between fiction short stories and non-fiction essays (which theorize how various modern technologies or practices could be adapted to the 17th century (full disclosure, I didn't actually read the essays, though I skimmed the ones on machine guns in this volume)). Given the nature of these anthologies, most of their stories are fairly domestic slice of life incidents. Eric Flint's Anatomy Lesson has the exiled heirs of the Oberpfalz coming to Amsterdam where the Princess wishes to study with an American nurse and the Prince (in another universe, famed Cavalier commander Prince Rupert of the Rhine in the English Civil War) meets up with Thomas Wentworth (exiled first minister of King Charles, who Rupert sort of condemned to execution in our universe). Poor Little Rich Girls continues Goodlett and Huff's Barbie Consortium/Other Peoples' Money series as the teenage entrepreneurs come face to face with a vengeful victim of one of their stock schemes. 'Til We Meet Again by Virginia Marce tells of an industrial accident and how the wife of one of the victims moves on. One Man's Junk by Karen Bergstralh is the story of a journeyman blacksmith who was ostracized by a syndicate of downtime Masters for standing up to their monopoly on work in Grantville and is given a second chance by an entrepreneuring house-renovator. Chip's Christmas Gift by Russ Rittgers involves Julie Sims' ex-boyfriend/football jock Chip (he of brief mention in 1632) who has moved on and befriended the Von Thierbachs (also in 1632) and shares a bit of future music with them for Christmas. Dice's Drawings by Dan Robinson is about an embittered lonely retiree who finds new purpose thanks to meeting a younger German widow and her family. Strangely, three of the last four stories (The Class of '34, Magdeburg Marines: The Few and the Proud, and Elizabeth) kind of cross-reference to each other, though they are all written by different authors. Class of '34 by Kerryn Offord relates a tragedy that costs the lives of three high school seniors and of the simple heroism by a would-be Marine that prevents far worse. Magdeburg Marines by Jose J. Clavell describes how Admiral Simpson rounds up a handful of retired jarheads and re-establishes the U.S. Marine Corps. Elizabeth by Ernest Lutz and John Zeek relates the development of tactical railroads by a small (and very unorthodox) experimental unit led by a paratrooper who was in Grantville for a wedding when the Ring of Fire happened. Finally, the fiction section ends with Heavy Metal Music by David Carrico, which continues his Franz/Marla series of stories of downtime musicians learning the wonders of uptime instruments and musical knowledge. Sadly, we don't have Euterpe part 3 in this book (more's the pity, though with Carrico's story, it would've seemed kind of redundant as his story is largely about pianos, also the focus of Euterpe, but I digress). As seems to always be the case, David Carrico's story was my favorite, though Eric Flint's contribution was a bit more weighty and interesting than his additions to the previous Grantville Gazette volumes. Otherwise, the collection is generally entertaining but not terribly exciting. The Magdeburg Marines and Elizabeth do have some relevance to events in the main books (if you wondered where the Marines and tactical railroads they talk about in the later books came from), and Carrico and Huff/Goodlett's stories both are the basis (well, background) for their standalone novels. Other than that, nothing really stood out (though nothing was awful either).

Anyway, if you really enjoy Ring of Fire stories, then this is a worthwhile addition to the series, but as with previous Grantville Gazette volumes, it's not in any way necessary.

[Leelan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good book in the Ring of Fire series but not a great book. There are only a few short stories in this edition and they are read all too quickly. The last portion of the book are essays on technology etc that have some bearing on where the Ring of Fire might take the inhabitants of this alternate Earth.

There is rather bad news given at the very end of the book. There will be no further printed editions of the Gazette. If you want any more you will have to buy the downloads. This is a great loss. I generally read when I am away from home, at work on break or some such. I am not in favor of e-books. I like the feel of paper in my hands and gentle music in my ear. I just can't get excited about staring at a computer screen for hours and hours the way I can about a good hardback book. :(

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just got this book to be picked up at my friend Joie's bookstore so I can't give a review yet, but I know I'll like it. It's a continuation of the "1632" alternate-history series, where a very small West Virginia mining town is transported intact to central Germany in the midst of the Thirty Years' War. Many authors have worked on this series, and the editors are very strict about keeping the logical consequences of their "one impossible thing" consistent and realistic. The Gazette began as an on-line project (now up to volume 18 or so, I think) but proved popular enough that they are selling them in hardcover editions now.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The edition I read is actually the paper edition published on line. In this edition, we progress the Barbie Consortium’s story; there is Billy and Iona Nelson’s story; Martin Schmidt, journeyman blacksmith; Chip (Julie’s former boyfriend) gets a lovely Christmas story;Dysarthria Clifford’s printing press story; a high school story; the forming of a Marine Corps by Charles “Duke” Hudson (Willy Ray’s brother); the building of a light railway to transport supplies and equipment for the army; and the continuing story of Franz and Marla and music. The stories help flesh out Grantvilleand it’s people as well as moving the 1632/Ring of Fire saga forward.

[Thomas Forsythe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1632 series is a fun alternate history story that follows a "what if" situation where a small Virginia town is transplanted back in time to the 30 years war in Germany. Eric Flint writes the series with several other well known authors. This book collects a series of short stories from various authors.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent collection of short stories, but too few in number for someone more interested in the characters and stories of the Ring of Fire universe than of essays on technological redevelopment. "Fact" section is too lengthy for my tastes here, but the writing on the short stories is quite good and lends nice flavor around the edge from the main novels overall.

[Lynn Calvin]

Baen ebook

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice group of short stories in the 1632 series. While these might not serve to advance the primary plots much, seeing the ingenuity and adaptability of the series and the characters is always fun.

[Mitzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

BE SURE TO READ "1632" before reading any others in this series, it will set the scene. Most was good, I skipped the parts on how to build a machine gun and how to drill for oil.~

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay tired of anthologies

[Ari]

a,r,i