Bartley's Man

by Paula Goodlett, Gorg Huff

Bartley's Man is about love, respect and honor, and becoming wealthy in the service of David Bartley, an up-timer teenager with a brilliant mind. It is the journey of Johan Kipper, a reluctant soldier in illy's tercio as he collides with the fact of Grantville's existence. Johan decides he doesn't want to be a soldier anymore. So he becomes what he thinks is a swrvant to entrepreneur David Bartley and the Higgins family. They actually treat him like a person, in stark contrast to how he has been treated all his life by the royalty and nobility of his own time. Johan returns this genuine caring with love and loyalty as he watches David grow into manhood and he grows as a man.

Genres: Alternate History, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction

261 pages, ebook

First published August 14, 2016

Reviews

[Michael Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ring of Fire tales cover so many aspects of this alternate history concept. Many of the articles in the Grantville Gazette provided specific data on medicine, religion, specific regions of central Europe, real time personalities and short stories that filled gaps in the main novels. Some of these short stories have been expanded into full novels. Barley's man is a combination of the published stories from the Gazette and additional material to give a better feel to certain characters that are only mentioned in passing in the main novels.
Johan is a career foot soldier, captured when Tilly was routed from a battle where Grantville troops and their 20th century weapons destroyed his army. He is sent to Grantville and after some problems is assigned to work for the Higgins family. There he helps them better adjust to 1600 Germany but also comes to assign the Higgins the role of Nobility. To him they come to be the way Nobles should be - fair and protective of their servants and willing to let the servants share in their ways. The main concept of this story is that Johan becomes like an up-timer in wealth, knowledge and responsibility while the up-timers he works with become better down-timers. I hope there will be a follow up book with these characters as the story ends at a crucial point in their lives and that of the whole Grantville community.

[Henrietta Koffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd read the initial story of David Bartley and his servant in one of the Grantville Gazettes, and was happy to read more of the story. What made me like the story so much was just the idea of David telling Johan that "I am not afraid of you, so you don't have to be afraid of me." Just resonated with me - it's similar to what I would tell my students at the job readiness center I retired from. Do your best work, be respectful but respect yourself enough notice when someone tries to act like they are better than you. (Be careful, but don't take any crap - you are good enough). Enjoyed it and hope to read more about David and Johan. I'm relatively new to Grantville, only up to book 11 with just 2 of the Grantville Gazettes, and haven't spent any time on the website yet, but I'm pretty much hooked.

[Allen McDonnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good collection

This novel is mostly the result of taking a series of short stories published over a decade long period and working them together into a smooth novel length book. Considerable skill was used in reworking the short stories into chapter format rather than just collecting them anthology fashion. Some background details and alternate viewpoints were added to flesh out the periods in between the original short story segments making this truly an independent novel with additional value over just collecting the earlier works.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johan Kipper, a reluctant soldier in Tilly's tercio, collides with the fact of Grantville's existence. Johan decides he doesn't want to be a soldier anymore, so he becomes what he thinks is a servant to entrepreneur David Bartley, an up-timer teenager with a brilliant mind, and the Higgins family. They actually treat him like a person, in stark contrast to how he has been treated all his life by the royalty and nobility of his own time. Johan returns this genuine caring with love and loyalty as he watches David grow into manhood, and he grows as a man.

[Leo E Sands · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uptimers managed by their servant

The same way all the best downtime servants did in the original timeline. Pleasantly surprised and more than a little scandalized at how uptimers consider their workers rights and benefits, they do their best to keep this new strata of what they consider nobility from being taken advantage of. A different sort of comedy of manners, well played and executed.

[J F MCCABE · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another reasonably interesting story arc in the ‘Ring of Fire’ series.
Interesting three dimensional characters and some more gap filling around the main authors work.
I hope there will be a sequel as that would be the only possible explanation for the atrocious editing of the end of the book. It’s possibly one of the worst and most brutally abrupt endings to a story that I have seen.

[Steven Oliver_Author · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this very much, and it ended too soon for me. If you aren't into this series, then this book won't work. It fits its actions into the background of major events in the Ring of Fire. Mike Stern, for example, is mentioned but rarely seen. It is a fun read. My cover was different than the one shown in GoodReads.

[John Slack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read

The author got me interested in the people such that I was reading their story whenever I had a moment. I do think there would have been more stubborn resistance than they faced, but I am a cynic in that regard

[Randy Pursley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story follows the same events that occurred in a couple of other books but from a different point of view. I enjoyed the characters but the plot was not as interesting as some of the other stories in this series. Good thing it isn't too long of a book.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, although I had read a couple of segments in the Grantville Gazette online. It was too short, but a lot of these "quickies" are shorter than the average novel. Entertaining however.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

Well written, very interesting, intelligent story. I enjoyed reading this story as it fleshed out many of the characters in the 1632 universe.

[Henrik · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of the book had been in other novels. The end was very abrupt and the whole novel felt like, I assume, it is - a collection of short-stories.

[David L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

very enjoyable

The Ring of Fire has another good book to enjoy. I wish they had added more of the Sewing Circle. The ending calls for a sequel though.

[Royce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Master Bartley's Man

Mostly centered around the economic aspects of Grantville and the USE and wartime. A bit tedious at times with all the financial discussion but still a good short read

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid collection

Great collection of stories,tinged with trouble due to editorial markings on the Kindle edition. I am a fan of the series so it may not be your cup of tea.

[Arnie Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

The name sets the tone of the story.

I really like how the relationships between uptimers and down timers are explained and I enjoyed the interactions between the characters.

[Stephen Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of twice told stories here: known content from a different viewpoint. It expands on some of the characters...