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Grantville Gazette #3
Grantville Gazette III
Stories include:
* Postage Due by Eric Flint
* Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge by Virginia DeMarce
* The Sound of Music by David Carrico
* Other People's Money by Gorg Huff
* If the Demons Will Sleep by Eva Musch
* Hobson's Choice by Francis Turner
* Hell Fighters by Wood Hughes
* Euterpe, Episode 2 by Enrico M. Toro
* Iron by Rick Boatright
* The Impact of Mechanization on German Farms by Karen Bergstralh
* Firearms in the 1632 Universe by Leonard Hollar, Bob Hollingsworth, Tom Van Natta, and John Zeek
* Alchemical Distillation by Andrew Clark
* Postage Due by Eric Flint
* Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge by Virginia DeMarce
* The Sound of Music by David Carrico
* Other People's Money by Gorg Huff
* If the Demons Will Sleep by Eva Musch
* Hobson's Choice by Francis Turner
* Hell Fighters by Wood Hughes
* Euterpe, Episode 2 by Enrico M. Toro
* Iron by Rick Boatright
* The Impact of Mechanization on German Farms by Karen Bergstralh
* Firearms in the 1632 Universe by Leonard Hollar, Bob Hollingsworth, Tom Van Natta, and John Zeek
* Alchemical Distillation by Andrew Clark
320 pages, Hardcover
First published December 26, 2006
30 people are currently reading
299 people want to read
About the author
Eric Flint
250 books874 followersEric 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.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 28, 2019
Man, I really hate to rag on this book. I mean, I've loved the series so far. This collection of short stories just didn't live up to the last couple collections though. I mean, they aren't bad. They just feel a bit more bland overall compared to the previous two collections. Like, nothing amazing happens, the characters aren't always as interesting, and there's just something off about the whole experience. Let's break it down by story a bit.
Postage Due: This is a clever little story, but it feels very redundant after the author's previous short story about a character modeling for a painting. We've been here already.
Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge: Okay, this is barely a story. We just get these brief vignettes of women from this Pastor's congregation landing a husband through some weird plan that makes no sense so he can build up his flock. It had cute moments but didn't really go anywhere.
The Sound of Music: This is one of the better stories of the whole book, and it's just an outsider experiencing modern music for the first time and telling a colleague about it through a letter.
Other People's Money: This is a sequel to a story in a previous collection, but one that drags on for far too long, blowing past two logical stopping points to get to an ending that isn't satisfying at all.
If Demons Will Sleep: I had a hard time making any sense of this story until the last page. It was clever, yes. But also kinda frustrating. It may be one of the better stories, but I didn't enjoy it myself.
Hobson's Choice: This one's good, and possibly the best story here. My qualm is that it is barely relevant to the world of the series. It would be really easy to tweak this one to just be a historical story set at a University in 1630's England.
Hell Fighters: This could have been a good story, but I was really put off during a sequence in the middle. Like, I get why it's there, but the level of detail for it is just too much for me to want to read ever again. And this is not an attack on being gruesome because that has it's place. I'm just not used to this level of it in the series so far. The sequence felt out of place given the tone the series usually takes. I dunno, I'm probably being unfair here. The rest of this story is decent.
And then there's the next installment of Euterpe, which, after enjoying the initial portion, was a major disappointment. It's is literally 25 pages of describing the most mundane journey from Italy to Germany I could ever imagine. I mean, it's well written, but it's so boring and so little happens that I feel like it could have been condensed a lot.
I guess that's my whole assessment of the book. It's a whole lot of nothing happening for the most part. I mean, I won't even get into the non-fiction portion of the books at this point. That stuff is a great way to cure insomnia, it's so bland. But the stories just don't feel like they add anything worthwhile to the series' universe this time around. Hell, I feel a little more hesitant to pick up the next Gazette when I get to where it's recommended to read it.
And that's another thing. I have to wonder about that suggested reading order chart since this book's recommended place and where the stories actually fit don't seem to match at all. Nearly all of the stories here can be read way earlier. Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge and Postage Due are probably the only ones that even hint at the time period they recommend, and not enough to hurt the reader really.
So yeah, that's my review/rant. I'm glad my next book in the series is a main book again. I couldn't do another of these right now.
Postage Due: This is a clever little story, but it feels very redundant after the author's previous short story about a character modeling for a painting. We've been here already.
Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge: Okay, this is barely a story. We just get these brief vignettes of women from this Pastor's congregation landing a husband through some weird plan that makes no sense so he can build up his flock. It had cute moments but didn't really go anywhere.
The Sound of Music: This is one of the better stories of the whole book, and it's just an outsider experiencing modern music for the first time and telling a colleague about it through a letter.
Other People's Money: This is a sequel to a story in a previous collection, but one that drags on for far too long, blowing past two logical stopping points to get to an ending that isn't satisfying at all.
If Demons Will Sleep: I had a hard time making any sense of this story until the last page. It was clever, yes. But also kinda frustrating. It may be one of the better stories, but I didn't enjoy it myself.
Hobson's Choice: This one's good, and possibly the best story here. My qualm is that it is barely relevant to the world of the series. It would be really easy to tweak this one to just be a historical story set at a University in 1630's England.
Hell Fighters: This could have been a good story, but I was really put off during a sequence in the middle. Like, I get why it's there, but the level of detail for it is just too much for me to want to read ever again. And this is not an attack on being gruesome because that has it's place. I'm just not used to this level of it in the series so far. The sequence felt out of place given the tone the series usually takes. I dunno, I'm probably being unfair here. The rest of this story is decent.
And then there's the next installment of Euterpe, which, after enjoying the initial portion, was a major disappointment. It's is literally 25 pages of describing the most mundane journey from Italy to Germany I could ever imagine. I mean, it's well written, but it's so boring and so little happens that I feel like it could have been condensed a lot.
I guess that's my whole assessment of the book. It's a whole lot of nothing happening for the most part. I mean, I won't even get into the non-fiction portion of the books at this point. That stuff is a great way to cure insomnia, it's so bland. But the stories just don't feel like they add anything worthwhile to the series' universe this time around. Hell, I feel a little more hesitant to pick up the next Gazette when I get to where it's recommended to read it.
And that's another thing. I have to wonder about that suggested reading order chart since this book's recommended place and where the stories actually fit don't seem to match at all. Nearly all of the stories here can be read way earlier. Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge and Postage Due are probably the only ones that even hint at the time period they recommend, and not enough to hurt the reader really.
So yeah, that's my review/rant. I'm glad my next book in the series is a main book again. I couldn't do another of these right now.
February 7, 2017
As you'd guess from the title, this is the third volume of the Grantville Gazette compilations; it's a decent read if you've already invested the time in reading the novels and the Ring of Fire anthologies, but frankly this volume is largely unnecessary, even if you're a fan of the series. The stories in this volume are much more... domestic than the previous volume, with very little action and rarely touching on the major events of the Ring of Fire universe. That isn't to say that they're bad, it's just not terribly exciting compared to your average RoF book. That said, "The Sound of Music" (a crippled German violinist stumbles into Grantville and has his love of music reawakened through an encounter with an up-time female singer) by David Carrico and "Other People's Money" (detailing the near-accidental creation of the Other People's Money mutual fund by the Sewing Circle) by Gorg Huff are useful reads if you're interested in their respective main series books (1636: The Devil's Opera (which is by far the best non-Eric Flint written book in the Ring of Fire to date) and 1636: The Viennese Waltz) since both introduce characters and institutions that are central to those stories. I will also say that while the stories in this volume weren't as entertaining in general as those in the previous volume, the quality of the stories is more reliable, and I found almost all of the stories interesting (Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge is a bit slow and rather dry, telling the stories of how down-time Lutheran immigrants conspire to marry off seven of their daughters to up-timers after the pastor's daughter marries a catholic boy, but that's pretty standard for Virginia DeMarce's stories) but I found "If the Demons will Sleep" (a Presbyterian pastor's wife and an Dutch nurse (both up-timers) help out an ex-mercenary immigrant and his pregnant woman who has some bizarre PTSD issues) by Eva Musch and "Hell Fighters" (a Benedictine monk comes to Grantville looking for a way for his order to find a useful role in the new world and escape its historical slide into oblivion) by Wood Hughes to be particularly evocative and "Hobson's Choice" (about a young Cambridge student tutoring a bar maid, inspired by the example of Grantville that women can learn as well as men) by Francis Turner and the second volume of Enrico N. Toro's Euterpe story (about an Italian instrument maker traveling to Grantville to learn to make Pianos, see Grantville Gazette II for part 1) to be nearly as good (though the latter felt very similar to David Carrico's story, which I liked better). Eric Flint's contribution "Postage Due" is another Anne Jefferson/Amsterdam/Dutch Artists story, which seems to be a trend in these books (and as in Grantville Gazette II, it's related to the cover artwork) and while it's amusing, it's also really short. I must note that (as with the previous volume) I didn't read the non-fiction essays, but would you read "The Impact of Mechanization on German Farms" for entertainment? I didn't think so.
May 10, 2025
Fiction
Postage Due, Eric Flint
4-star short story
In the world of 1632, making the first postage stamps using the art of Rembrandt and Rubens makes sense. The fact that they were created as a part of a money-making scheme by Harry Lefferts is just an extra detail. Entertaining.
Pastor Kastenmeyer's Revenge, Virginia DeMarce
4-star novellette
In 17th century Germany, young women without dowries have limited opportunities. It is one of the jobs of a pastor to see to the well-being of his flock, which here involves arranging marriages. But of course, a Lutheran woman can only marry a Lutheran man, so recruitment and conversion are both necessary. This is seven vignettes of what that might look like. The characters are nicely drawn, the situations are believable and varied, and several of the vignettes are affecting.
The Sound of Music, David Carrico
5-star short story
When a crippled violinist arrives in Grantville, he is exposed to types of music entirely unknown to the 17th century. This story displays the author's understanding of musicians and a love for music of all types that makes the story special.
Other People's Money, Gorg Huff
5-star novelette
The Sewing Circle and the Barbie Consortium are among the best things in the Grantville Gazette stories. Here, we see the creation of Other People's Money, which is almost as entertaining. Who knew leveraged corporate financing could be so much fun?
If the Demons Will Sleep, Eva Musch
3-star short story
A somewhat contrived story about a mercenary and his woman and children who are to be married by the Presbyterian minister of Grantville. The woman has an extreme form of PTSD that must be managed during the marriage and the birth of her child. This seems mostly a vehicle for presenting a bit of Hungarian history.
Hobson's Choice, Francis Turner
2-star short novella
The conceit of this story is that the son of a wealthy merchant enrolled at Magdelene College of Cambridge University begins to teach the daughter of a local innkeeper in defiance of tradition. Eventually, his father gives the scholar some artifacts from Grantville (notably a ball-point pen and a copy of National Geographic). After various shenanigans, the college and the town decide to send a group of observers to the Lutheran Colloquy near Grantville, in part to investigate the strange travelers from the future. The story here is mostly a vehicle for presenting historical information about Cambridge and Magdelene College, as well as explaining for the slow of thinking that women can learn, too. Mildly interesting, but extraordinarily heavy-handed.
Hell Fighters, Wood Hughes
3-star short novelette
The leaders of the Order of St. Benedict come across a history that indicates that their order will be devastated by the results of the Thirty Years War and decide to send a monk to investigate Grantville. He has been a librarian and finds himself enchanted and amazed by both the library in Grantville and its use of the Dewey Decimal system. While the beginning of the story flows well and has memorable characters, there is a sudden shift near the end that makes some sense historically, but that interrupts the narrative flow significantly, to the detriment of the story.
Euterpe, Episode 2, Enrico Toro
3-star short story
The second episode in a serial story about Giacomo Carissimi, a historical Italian musician. This story covers his journey from Rome over the Apennines to Rimini, north through the Alps, and across southern Germany to Grantville. It is told in the form of a letter home. The protagonist is decently drawn, but this is largely a travelogue. Entertaining enough, but not especially compelling.
Fact Articles
Iron, Rick Boatright
4 stars
A solid article on the techniques and challenges of producing steel at industrial levels starting from 17th century technology. While much of the information here is available elsewhere, the focus on integrating modern techniques into that low-tech world is new.
The Impact of Mechanization on German Farms, Karen Bergstrahl
5 stars
After centuries of plagues and more than a decade of total war, central Germany does not have an excess of labor. Further, the industrial society that Grantville is trying to build is also very labor intensive. To solve the problems of food production with minimal labor, mechanization of agriculture is important, but economically and technologically challenging. Bergstrahl's article does a very good job of explaining the historical process of mechanization by small steps and the costs to individual farmers.
Flint's Lock, Leonard Hollar, et al.
4 stars
An essay on the choice of firearms for the Swedish/Grantville army. The argument for a muzzle-loading, flintlock rifle using a Minie bullet seems a strong one.
Alchemical Distillation, Andrew Clark
2 stars
This article is written in the terminology of the period, to its detriment. A more standard writing style would have made a better article.
Postage Due, Eric Flint
4-star short story
In the world of 1632, making the first postage stamps using the art of Rembrandt and Rubens makes sense. The fact that they were created as a part of a money-making scheme by Harry Lefferts is just an extra detail. Entertaining.
Pastor Kastenmeyer's Revenge, Virginia DeMarce
4-star novellette
In 17th century Germany, young women without dowries have limited opportunities. It is one of the jobs of a pastor to see to the well-being of his flock, which here involves arranging marriages. But of course, a Lutheran woman can only marry a Lutheran man, so recruitment and conversion are both necessary. This is seven vignettes of what that might look like. The characters are nicely drawn, the situations are believable and varied, and several of the vignettes are affecting.
The Sound of Music, David Carrico
5-star short story
When a crippled violinist arrives in Grantville, he is exposed to types of music entirely unknown to the 17th century. This story displays the author's understanding of musicians and a love for music of all types that makes the story special.
Other People's Money, Gorg Huff
5-star novelette
The Sewing Circle and the Barbie Consortium are among the best things in the Grantville Gazette stories. Here, we see the creation of Other People's Money, which is almost as entertaining. Who knew leveraged corporate financing could be so much fun?
If the Demons Will Sleep, Eva Musch
3-star short story
A somewhat contrived story about a mercenary and his woman and children who are to be married by the Presbyterian minister of Grantville. The woman has an extreme form of PTSD that must be managed during the marriage and the birth of her child. This seems mostly a vehicle for presenting a bit of Hungarian history.
Hobson's Choice, Francis Turner
2-star short novella
The conceit of this story is that the son of a wealthy merchant enrolled at Magdelene College of Cambridge University begins to teach the daughter of a local innkeeper in defiance of tradition. Eventually, his father gives the scholar some artifacts from Grantville (notably a ball-point pen and a copy of National Geographic). After various shenanigans, the college and the town decide to send a group of observers to the Lutheran Colloquy near Grantville, in part to investigate the strange travelers from the future. The story here is mostly a vehicle for presenting historical information about Cambridge and Magdelene College, as well as explaining for the slow of thinking that women can learn, too. Mildly interesting, but extraordinarily heavy-handed.
Hell Fighters, Wood Hughes
3-star short novelette
The leaders of the Order of St. Benedict come across a history that indicates that their order will be devastated by the results of the Thirty Years War and decide to send a monk to investigate Grantville. He has been a librarian and finds himself enchanted and amazed by both the library in Grantville and its use of the Dewey Decimal system. While the beginning of the story flows well and has memorable characters, there is a sudden shift near the end that makes some sense historically, but that interrupts the narrative flow significantly, to the detriment of the story.
Euterpe, Episode 2, Enrico Toro
3-star short story
The second episode in a serial story about Giacomo Carissimi, a historical Italian musician. This story covers his journey from Rome over the Apennines to Rimini, north through the Alps, and across southern Germany to Grantville. It is told in the form of a letter home. The protagonist is decently drawn, but this is largely a travelogue. Entertaining enough, but not especially compelling.
Fact Articles
Iron, Rick Boatright
4 stars
A solid article on the techniques and challenges of producing steel at industrial levels starting from 17th century technology. While much of the information here is available elsewhere, the focus on integrating modern techniques into that low-tech world is new.
The Impact of Mechanization on German Farms, Karen Bergstrahl
5 stars
After centuries of plagues and more than a decade of total war, central Germany does not have an excess of labor. Further, the industrial society that Grantville is trying to build is also very labor intensive. To solve the problems of food production with minimal labor, mechanization of agriculture is important, but economically and technologically challenging. Bergstrahl's article does a very good job of explaining the historical process of mechanization by small steps and the costs to individual farmers.
Flint's Lock, Leonard Hollar, et al.
4 stars
An essay on the choice of firearms for the Swedish/Grantville army. The argument for a muzzle-loading, flintlock rifle using a Minie bullet seems a strong one.
Alchemical Distillation, Andrew Clark
2 stars
This article is written in the terminology of the period, to its detriment. A more standard writing style would have made a better article.
May 14, 2023
This is the third in a collection of short stories that take place in Eric Flint's Ring of Fire (or 1632, or Assiti Shards) universe. Actually, the Grantville Gazette is an online platform for fan fiction that was good enough to be added to the universe. To date, there are literally hundreds of such stories on the site. The paperback versions of the Gazette are supposed to be the stories that will somehow possibly impact the main stories. I don't think I am quite explaining that right, but the Grantville universe is large and messy and complicated... just like the real world... just like Eric Flint, may he rest in peace, wanted it.
The GG3 collection starts out with another "Art" story taking place in Amsterdam. Anne Jefferson, who has already been painted by Reubens, is now painted simultaneously by four different artists. Each of these paintings is duplicated to be used as postage stamps for four different countries. Just one more up-time (20th century) idea that has taken hold in the down-time 1600's.
The second story is by author Virginia Demarce and follows a number of devout young down-time Lutheran girls who start missionary dating young nonreligious up-time single guys. These guys all find themselves in the same Lutheran Catechism class. If you don't know what missionary dating is... good for you.
The Sound of Music introduces a few down-time musicians who are exposed to the abundance of music from "future" composers like Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, etc.
Other People's Money reintroduces us to the four up-time kids who invented a way to mass produce down-time sewing machines and became millionaires as a result. This time around, they are overheard talking about mutual funds. As this conversation snippet starts traveling around, some people claim to have already invested in it, and these poor rich kids end up having to actually create a mutual fund to save face.
If the Demons Will sleep deals with a pregnant down-time woman who suffers from a severe case of PTSD thanks to the terrors of the 30 years war that Grantville interrupted.
Hobson's choice is about a young down-time student at a college in Cambridge (Magdalena, I think) who gets in trouble for teaching a barmaid how to read. Turns out the young lady is just as smart and capable of learning as all the male students at the university. Women had brains? Who knew?!?! It also has to do with what happens when a bunch of university intellectuals from the 17th century get their hands on a 20th-century issue of National Geographic magazine.
In Hell Fighters, a Benedictine Librarian comes to Grantville and falls in love with the Dewey Decimal system. At the end, he sends out a call for Benedictine monks from all across Europe to come be volunteer firemen in Grantville.
The GG3 collection starts out with another "Art" story taking place in Amsterdam. Anne Jefferson, who has already been painted by Reubens, is now painted simultaneously by four different artists. Each of these paintings is duplicated to be used as postage stamps for four different countries. Just one more up-time (20th century) idea that has taken hold in the down-time 1600's.
The second story is by author Virginia Demarce and follows a number of devout young down-time Lutheran girls who start missionary dating young nonreligious up-time single guys. These guys all find themselves in the same Lutheran Catechism class. If you don't know what missionary dating is... good for you.
The Sound of Music introduces a few down-time musicians who are exposed to the abundance of music from "future" composers like Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, etc.
Other People's Money reintroduces us to the four up-time kids who invented a way to mass produce down-time sewing machines and became millionaires as a result. This time around, they are overheard talking about mutual funds. As this conversation snippet starts traveling around, some people claim to have already invested in it, and these poor rich kids end up having to actually create a mutual fund to save face.
If the Demons Will sleep deals with a pregnant down-time woman who suffers from a severe case of PTSD thanks to the terrors of the 30 years war that Grantville interrupted.
Hobson's choice is about a young down-time student at a college in Cambridge (Magdalena, I think) who gets in trouble for teaching a barmaid how to read. Turns out the young lady is just as smart and capable of learning as all the male students at the university. Women had brains? Who knew?!?! It also has to do with what happens when a bunch of university intellectuals from the 17th century get their hands on a 20th-century issue of National Geographic magazine.
In Hell Fighters, a Benedictine Librarian comes to Grantville and falls in love with the Dewey Decimal system. At the end, he sends out a call for Benedictine monks from all across Europe to come be volunteer firemen in Grantville.
May 13, 2022
I have been making my way though the Ring of Fire series and have been having a blast. It a lot of fun and seriously thought provoking in many places. On the whole, I find the short stories in the series are stronger than that novels because I think that they can get more focused on singular aspects of the world-building, and deal with single aspects of political, economic, cultural, and social change. There are some great stories in this volume. I especially liked the following:
"Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge" by Virgina DeMarce - A funny examination of one Lutheran pastors "conspiracy" to grow his congregation by marrying down-time German women with up-time American men. What I liked about it is that it showed as series of personal relationships between down-timers and up-timers and how they navigated the various personal and social expectations.
"Other People's Money" by George Huff - it continues the story of four teenagers from "The Sewing Circle" in Grantville conquering the world of economics. Here the group decides to start a venture capital firm to invest money in burgeoning industries around the USE. Like the previous short story, I genuinely learned a lot about how modern economy works. And I've come to really like the characters in this series.
"Hobson's Choice" by Francis Turner - what I love about this story that takes place in Cambridge, England is that there are no up-timers in the story. Instead, we see the effect of an idea on down-time students (in this case, the idea that women are equally capable of learning as men). Beyond all the technical wizardry of the series, it is the spread of ideas which is the most important.
All of the stories share interesting and through provoking ideas that show the richness of the series. A few worth noting:
- The need to preserve up-time music that is currently on CDs and Audio Cassettes (and which will eventually degrade with time)
- The mental health effects of war that cannot be solved with up-time medicine, no matter how good.
"Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge" by Virgina DeMarce - A funny examination of one Lutheran pastors "conspiracy" to grow his congregation by marrying down-time German women with up-time American men. What I liked about it is that it showed as series of personal relationships between down-timers and up-timers and how they navigated the various personal and social expectations.
"Other People's Money" by George Huff - it continues the story of four teenagers from "The Sewing Circle" in Grantville conquering the world of economics. Here the group decides to start a venture capital firm to invest money in burgeoning industries around the USE. Like the previous short story, I genuinely learned a lot about how modern economy works. And I've come to really like the characters in this series.
"Hobson's Choice" by Francis Turner - what I love about this story that takes place in Cambridge, England is that there are no up-timers in the story. Instead, we see the effect of an idea on down-time students (in this case, the idea that women are equally capable of learning as men). Beyond all the technical wizardry of the series, it is the spread of ideas which is the most important.
All of the stories share interesting and through provoking ideas that show the richness of the series. A few worth noting:
- The need to preserve up-time music that is currently on CDs and Audio Cassettes (and which will eventually degrade with time)
- The mental health effects of war that cannot be solved with up-time medicine, no matter how good.
July 7, 2019
++I love these Grantville Gazette anthologies. They offer a chance for readers of the 1632 series to write their own stories in that setting. Some are good, some are superb and all are informative. They are divided into fiction and non fiction and the non fiction part is historically educational. Postage Due is a tongue in cheek humorous story about standardizing postage rates in Europe. Other People's Money is educational about financing. Hobson's Choice takes place at Cambridge in England and promotes the fact that females are as smart as males, whatever the rules or laws say. Hell Fighters tells about a spate of volunteers for the fire department. And the serial Enterpe, episode 2 is an interesting 17th century travelogue in addition to the traveler's assigned mission. The Fact section deals with the importance and limitations of iron, agriculture, firearms & chemistry.++
November 10, 2022
This is an entertaining collection of shorts set in the Ring of Fire universe. However, fully two hours of the audiobook are devoted to nonfiction, deep-dive nerdery on the technical challenges posed by the fictional Ring of Fire. I’m sure all that content is someone’s bag, but it doesn’t happen to be mine. Four stars for the stories, two for the nerdery = three stars total.
May 19, 2017
Fun read.
A little of everything.
Guns, Americans, Music, Germans and all sorts of others in-between.
A little of everything.
Guns, Americans, Music, Germans and all sorts of others in-between.
October 1, 2020
Like most collections, a mixed bag.
May 23, 2024
This is a nice, cohesive short story collection. It is not a quick read.
April 10, 2025
This one was pretty decent, enjoyed the fact portion at the end as well as Other people's money and pastor kastenmeyer's revenge stories.
December 22, 2007
I love the idea behind the ring of fire - a town in modern West Virginia is lopped off from our universe and tossed back into Germany at the time of the 30 years war. What happens after?
The gazettes are collections of short stories and essays by various authors - and I love that other people get to play in the universe - that explore concepts peripheral (at least for now) to the main storylines (I think there are at least 3 going right now). In this particular one, there's an exploration of how german religions would deal with non-religious americans, creation the world's "first" mutual fund....by children, and an explanation of why a particular type of gun was chosen to be the main weapon for the new american army. There's even a good short story about music, and the effect of the changing history; for instance, will Bach be Bach....or will the change leave him as some music-less businessman. How do you preserve, say, Elton John, once all of the CDs are worn out?
The series is great because of the constraints imposed upon it. There didn't "happen" to be an Army parade in town the day of the event, there didn't "happen" to be a gathering a high energy physicists that day. There isn't an infinite population in the town. The town has been detailed based upon a real town in West Viginia, the population has been defined, and limitations have been set. For that matter, neither is Germany portrayed as some backwards illiterate region, with knights in platemail riding off to who knows what. This was the start of an industrial period, and people were just as clever then as they are now. The interaction between the two periods is phenomenal. Because so many people are interested in the series, and because it is open, all sorts of ideas have been opened up. Religion is a great example. If you had a jewish couple that owned the town's only jewelry store, and knew about the modern cuts for gems, could they use the wealth they can create to prevent the pogroms in eastern Europe? How will the local protestant churches deal with the hymnals, missives, etc, brought back from their 21st century counterparts? Politics is equally convoluted. If you're Cardinal Richlieu (an important person historically, and a major player in the series), how do you reconsile their future 'history' textbooks with whats going on around you now? People are being promoted to positions of great important while still very young, others are being locked away even though they're loyal....and how will those changes alter the future?
I really like this series. If you haven't done it yet, its really worth checking out 1632 by Eric Flint (the first book).
The gazettes are collections of short stories and essays by various authors - and I love that other people get to play in the universe - that explore concepts peripheral (at least for now) to the main storylines (I think there are at least 3 going right now). In this particular one, there's an exploration of how german religions would deal with non-religious americans, creation the world's "first" mutual fund....by children, and an explanation of why a particular type of gun was chosen to be the main weapon for the new american army. There's even a good short story about music, and the effect of the changing history; for instance, will Bach be Bach....or will the change leave him as some music-less businessman. How do you preserve, say, Elton John, once all of the CDs are worn out?
The series is great because of the constraints imposed upon it. There didn't "happen" to be an Army parade in town the day of the event, there didn't "happen" to be a gathering a high energy physicists that day. There isn't an infinite population in the town. The town has been detailed based upon a real town in West Viginia, the population has been defined, and limitations have been set. For that matter, neither is Germany portrayed as some backwards illiterate region, with knights in platemail riding off to who knows what. This was the start of an industrial period, and people were just as clever then as they are now. The interaction between the two periods is phenomenal. Because so many people are interested in the series, and because it is open, all sorts of ideas have been opened up. Religion is a great example. If you had a jewish couple that owned the town's only jewelry store, and knew about the modern cuts for gems, could they use the wealth they can create to prevent the pogroms in eastern Europe? How will the local protestant churches deal with the hymnals, missives, etc, brought back from their 21st century counterparts? Politics is equally convoluted. If you're Cardinal Richlieu (an important person historically, and a major player in the series), how do you reconsile their future 'history' textbooks with whats going on around you now? People are being promoted to positions of great important while still very young, others are being locked away even though they're loyal....and how will those changes alter the future?
I really like this series. If you haven't done it yet, its really worth checking out 1632 by Eric Flint (the first book).
June 14, 2023
This volume introduces Pastor Kastenmayer and his determination to convert uptimers to Lutheranism. There are a group of sisters/cousins/half- and step-sisters, who need husbands and as they find them, the husbands are confirmed in Pastor Kastenmayer’s Lutheran Church. Several of the stories are inter-related to Pastor Kastenmayer’s conversion scheme and the girls finding husbands. Franz Sylvester and Marla Linder and the uptimers’ various music genres. There is a continuation of the Sewing Circle and their development of the mutual fund, OPM (Other People’s Money). There is a story of a woman from Bohemia and what caused her demons; also, more is learned about Inez Wiley and hillbillies. A story is set in Cambridge with students learning of Grantville, the education of women and the debates on those two subjects as well as religion. Brother Johan, a librarian from the Order of St. Benedict, is sent on a mission to discover Grantville’s purpose (he discovers the uptimer library to his endless delight). The second installment of Giacometti Carissimi’s journey to Grantville; he ends up being accompanied by Girolamo Zenti, maker of harpsichords, and Johannes Fichtold, who makes guitars and lutes. Then the conclusion of the story to merge the Leahy Medical Center and its medical educational program with the Jena University. Plus more technical explanation stories.
June 22, 2023
The Ring of Fire/1632 series is a series of novels and short story collections that explore the effect of a turn-of-the-century (late 1990s) West Virginia coal-mining town getting transported to 1630s Germany during the Thirty Years War. The Grantville Gazettes were originally eBooks that were then put into print and audio. They are made of a fiction section and a nonfiction section.
I listened to audiobook of the Grantville Gazette III. The narrator did a good job for the most part (my biggest complaint is that the transitions from one story to the next were poorly realized with no difference in voice, any pause, or even a chime of some sort). We get a story about postage and portraits, one about marrying American men to German women, one about music and rock-and-roll, a continuation of the Sewing Circle and others. I didn't make it through the nonfiction because I got bored of it. It was interesting, but it wasn't the fiction which I enjoyed so much more. Still, an enjoyable addition to the series and a decent audiobook to boot.
I listened to audiobook of the Grantville Gazette III. The narrator did a good job for the most part (my biggest complaint is that the transitions from one story to the next were poorly realized with no difference in voice, any pause, or even a chime of some sort). We get a story about postage and portraits, one about marrying American men to German women, one about music and rock-and-roll, a continuation of the Sewing Circle and others. I didn't make it through the nonfiction because I got bored of it. It was interesting, but it wasn't the fiction which I enjoyed so much more. Still, an enjoyable addition to the series and a decent audiobook to boot.
December 24, 2019
"Grantville Gazette III" is maintaining the quality of the previous gazettes. It is building out the worlds of 1632 and the Ring of Fire series. Great work and nice analysis of how iron is made and various types of guns that could be made by the folks of Grantville.
Regarding modesty issues, all the warnings from previous works in this series apply here as well. Just viewing the cover ought to make that clear. As a means of diplomacy, the artist Peter Paul Reubens, would meet with various people through painting their portraits as well as carrying diplomatic messages back and forth. (Note that painting a portrait takes several sessions and thus plenty of time to pass notes back and forth.)
I'd read this book again.
Regarding modesty issues, all the warnings from previous works in this series apply here as well. Just viewing the cover ought to make that clear. As a means of diplomacy, the artist Peter Paul Reubens, would meet with various people through painting their portraits as well as carrying diplomatic messages back and forth. (Note that painting a portrait takes several sessions and thus plenty of time to pass notes back and forth.)
I'd read this book again.
Read
January 9, 2010baen ebook
July 25, 2012
Good collection of stories in the Grantville alt history series. Also a few "non-fiction" articles on agriculture and firearms relevant to the on-going series. Interesting, but hardly riveting.
November 14, 2018
More stories in the 1632 universe; these cover music, the creation of the first mutual fund, Cambridge University in England learning of Grantville and a visit from a Benedictine monk to Grantville.
June 2, 2014
Great addition to the Gazette's. There was one story where I wish they explained more or went more in depth.
Read
July 19, 2014enjoyed tremendously
May 27, 2020
Another partial re-read. Like the other earlier Gazette volumes I just read the basic stories. Have now finished with all of the supplemental info entries.
December 18, 2015
Review to come! :D
May 2, 2016
A few really good stories in this collection.
April 23, 2013
A bit ponderous, but enjoyed it~
May 4, 2017
Ah, all the lovely stories.
What a big, fun playground.
If you get a chance, take it..Enjoy.
What a big, fun playground.
If you get a chance, take it..Enjoy.
May 1, 2015
Ok book of the series
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