1632 series

Series overview

The 1632 series began with Flint's stand alone novel 1632 (released February 2000). It is, excepting the lead novel and the serialized e-novel The Anaconda Project (2007), virtually all collaboratively written, including some "main works" with multiple co-authors. However, Flint has mentioned contracts with the publisher for at least two additional solo novels he has in planning on his website. Flint, whose bibliography is dominated by collaborative work, claims that this approach encourages the cross-fertilization of ideas and styles, stimulating the creative process and preventing stale, formulaic works.

As stated in the first Grantville Gazette and on his site, Flint's novel 1632 was an experiment wherein he explores the effect of transporting a mass of people through time.

1632 occurs in the midst of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). The plot situation allows pragmatic, American, union-oriented, political thought to grind against the authoritarian, religion-driven societies of an unconsolidated Holy Roman Empire barely out of the Middle Ages. Flint explores examples of suffering due to the petty politics of self-aggrandizement and self-interest on the one hand, and the irreconcilable differences of the schism in Christianity such as the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation on the other. Despite the fact that the shift puts Grantville in May 1631 initially, because of the ongoing war and the primitive transportation networks of the day Grantville's arrival has something of a delayed impact, so the bulk of the book's action takes place in 1632, hence the name.

The series was initially continued with two collaborative works that were more or less written concurrently: 1633 (with best selling novelist David Weber) and an anthology called Ring of Fire (with other established science-fiction writers, including long, "deep background" stories by both Weber and Flint).

Overall, the narratives are not oriented on one group of protagonists with a strong lead character, but instead are carried by an ensemble cast—though most books or short stories do have several strong characters who carry the action and plot forward. Flint had intended from the outset that the whole town would be the collective protagonist; a reflection of his philosophy that historic forces are not centered in the main on the actions of one or two key individuals, but on the many small independent actions of the many going about their daily lives and coping as best they can.

By late in 1632, the New United States-led coalition of the Confederated Principalities of Europe had become the arsenal and financier (through Jewish connections of real historical interest) for Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus. This leads the scheming Cardinal Richelieu, who'd been previously financing him to spite and weaken the Habsburgs, to turn on the Swedes. Various books from up-time Grantville, especially history books, had found avid readers amongst Europe's ruling elites, changing the plans and strategies of major players of the time. The readers, not understanding the chaotic nature of events (i.e., trivial-seeming changes can have large effects, and vice versa), often believe that these histories give them a strong idea of how they can guide events in a different direction. The "players" sent back through time have no intention of strongly guiding events, but understand how key forces (democracy, sanitation, medicine, egalitarianism, etc.) affect things in the long run to the betterment of mankind, and intend to promote and spread those even if they themselves are not "in control" of what results.

Richelieu forms a four-way alliance, the League of Ostend, to oppose the New United States, Gustavus' expeditionary army, and allied princes of the German states. After the first book, the series begins multiple plot lines or story threads reflecting this independence of action by a multitude of characters. The sequel 1633 spreads the Americans out geographically over Central Europe. Next, the novel 1634: The Galileo Affair, and the first of the anthologies called the Grantville Gazettes introduced new strong characters. The former begins what is called the South European thread, and some of the stories in the latter and Ring of Fire began the Eastern European thread (Austria-Hungary northwards to Poland).

Co-author of 1633 New York Times best-selling author David Weber was contracted for no less than five books in the series in what is called the Central European thread or Main thread of the series, but there was a delay before the two authors synchronized their schedules to write that next mainline sequel, 1634: The Baltic War, released in May 2007.

Without waiting for Weber, other sequels such as 1634: The Ram Rebellion, 1635: The Cannon Law, and the Grantville Gazettes continue in one thread or another with in-depth looks at societal ramifications from technology, religion, and social unrest as Europe deals with the outlandish ideas of Grantville's influential presence, to machinations of Europe's elites trying to maintain their hold on power, or leverage off of Grantville-triggered events or knowledge for reasons of self-interest.

1632 plot threads

1632 plot threads refers to the overall story arcs or sequences within the 1632 series. Flint has pointed out that he thinks in terms of plot threads, not of major protagonists. But most web chatter revolves around geographical "spheres of influence", locations, or where protagonists have a general effect. As a series focused on displaying a believable neohistory given the series beginning—of being as realistic as possible given the initial series premises—the two approaches both fail equally in covering all the cases by any strict measure, because the character set who is starring in one thread will almost invariably appear in one or more other story lines as a personal departure point for that character's personal biographical history, or as a supporting role for events depicted in a book mainly covering events in another thread.

"Real history is messy," Flint has written in the foreword to Ring of Fire in explaining why he took the unusual step of opening a universe consisting of a single novel at the time into a shared universe. A former union organizer and a socialist, Flint disdains the Great Man theory of history, where big figures of heroic scope define events, but instead lays claim throughout the entirety of works in the series, that history is the small actions of common men acting in their own self-interest who in the aggregate determine historical forces and force events and responses from those in power, who might lay some claim to being a giant of history—the statesmen and power brokers who dot the Is and cross the Ts and add occasional curlicues to the historic march of events—riding the torrent far more often than leading it in Churchillian or Rooseveltian fashion. That some persons of that mold have existed is not disputed, but that the narrative report that makes up historical reporting tends to overstate their impact and role, is Flint's theme.

No matter what approach one takes to classifying a plot sequence in the series—be it geographical or character-based—the key element of the series to comprehend is that the events depicted in its now voluminous works are not taking place in a vacuum, but in most cases are concurrent with developments in other parts of the European center.

Main/North-Central and Western European thread

The Central European thread or more correctly, the Central and Southwest Central European thread, is the main plot thread of the series. It concerns events in the region from west to east of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland, Northern France, the Spanish Netherlands, French Netherlands, and the Dutch Republic, and the whole of western Germany eastwards to Brandenburg and the Electorate of Saxony, and southerly to the northern reaches of Bavaria. Bavaria proper, Switzerland, Austria, Bohemia, and points easterly and north are properly geographically part of the Eastern European thread.

South European thread

The Southern European thread, or Western South Europe and South Central European thread, or perhaps more appropriately, the South-Central and Southwestern European thread, involves characters introduced in the short story "To Dye For" by Mercedes Lackey but the thread plot action proper continued in the second published novel sequel of the series, the best-selling 1634: The Galileo Affair and its direct sequel, 1635: The Cannon Law, both co-written by Flint and Andrew Dennis. The main characters are, in part, Lackey's The Stone Family, combined with Flint's Sharon Nichols and Larry Mazzare.

Eastern European thread

The Eastern European thread is taken to be east of the East Central European thread, the latter of which may be understood as the baseline through eastern parts of modern-day Germany, Austria, and western Hungary. The first fiction written within this thread was the novelette "The Wallenstein Gambit" and the prequel short stories leading up to it, all published in Ring of Fire, but subsequent long fiction planned in the setting had to await authors' scheduling issues.

Naval thread

David Weber and Eric Flint in 2002 (writing 1633 and Ring of Fire) originally contracted together and with Baen's Books to co-write five "main series" books—the first two and perhaps some as yet unrevealed others being known as the naval thread. When working on the long-delayed 1634: The Baltic War novel and with the prolonged and ongoing demand for the series sequels, and considering the already-experienced delays imposed by the difficulty of getting schedules between themselves synchronized (it took three planned "windows of opportunity" before one worked in The Baltic War) well enough for the two to have the three to six months or so needed to collaborate successfully, the two decided to alter their original planning and spin off a new thread—one based on the United States of Europe as a naval power.

The Americas and Asia thread

This agreement for Weber to leave aside European threads likely will follow up foreshadowings of overt dislike evinced by various Grantville natives for both the African slave trade and the Amerindian encounters with colonizing Europeans—and Flint has already written a very sympathetic, two-volume alternate history from the American Native's viewpoint in his Arkansas Wars series—and he'd written similar foreshadowings into the series' earlier works that were spun into pro-democracy and anti-anti-Semitic social themes now manifesting in the series in the Eastern Europe thread in particular, as well as an overall, muted sub-theme. This revised author's decision released a logjam of backup of other novels in the series, so that since rehashing their arrangement, 1632 series books have been released regularly every 4–6 months.

Stories in 1632 Slushpile regarding obtaining strategically important materials and some which have reached publication in regard to the Essen Steel Corporation and Essen Chemical are foreshadowing activities (mining chromium for one) in North America, and others are pursuing latex rubber in South America. In addition, the three books contracted between Flint and David Weber will in part involve expeditions sent by Gustavus and Mike Stearns to American shores.

Two novels focused on the Americas were initially serialized in The Grantville Gazette magazine:

The first full novel in the America and Asia thread was published in 2013: 1636: Seas of Fortune (December 2013) by Iver Cooper.

Collective collaborative effort

Fans are encouraged to contribute to the series though an online message board known as Baen's Bar. The entire Grantville Gazette and large portions of the Ring of Fire anthology, both of which are considered canonical, are paid, fan-written (albeit edited by Flint) works, and have directly contributed material to the main novels. The author also worked with other established authors to develop new stories and plot lines for further novels which are also published in the two Ring of Fire anthologies.

Ring of Fire has several levels of meaning: First it is the eponymous reference to what the townfolk themselves (and the few outside German witnesses) have come to call the observed phenomenon of their time-space juxtaposition. Secondly, it is a disparaging reference to the effects on the population of Germany at large, suffering under the war's environment outside American-controlled territory, used by Mike Stearns addressing a town meeting:

1632 is the first novel in the alternate history 1632 series. It is a science fiction novel originally released in November 2000, but atypically, continues to actually increase in quarterly sales, as do most of the sequels. Originally a single stand-alone story, the novel is now the first of an open-ended series with over twenty-six works of all kinds including e-published only works (e-books) of which twelve are standard trade printed books. Three (of eighteen of the bi-monthly Gazettes, and counting) are the printed canonical Grantville Gazettes (I, II, and III, the first of which is almost entirely longer fiction Flint couldn't put in the already lengthy Ring of Fire shared universe collection, the de facto first sequel antedating collaborative work on 1633, and of which two have been best sellers), published in print, and an additional, rapidly growing number of related Grantville Gazettes e-books or e-zines (not in print).

In writing 1632, Flint's web forum Mutter of Demons at Baen's Bar was soon taken over by exploratory posts as captivated readers commented on the E-ARC released book, creating a ground swell of interest ("Internet buzz") in the months before its hardcover release. So strong was the response, especially after the release of the printed work, that a new 1632 Tech Manual sub-forum was created for discussions about it in early 2000, for the discussions had also spilled over into Weber's Bu-ships tech forum, and Weber joined the bandwagon by suggesting a sequel was in order. In the event, the two co-wrote 1633 and collaborated further on integrating the short fiction (much of it unsolicited) into the de facto Ring of Fire sequel. It was followed by two other related forums: 1632 Slush and 1632 Comments, within the next two years.

The Grantville Gazettes are a series of short stories in the collaborative fiction experiment, which started life as an online serialized magazine with an inconsistent and sporadic publication history. After the death of Jim Baen and with the publication of Grantville Gazette X by Baen Books, the last under contract with Baen, the Gazettes were again reconstituted as a subscription e-zine, now published regularly at six per year (bi-monthly) and paying above standard rates for submissions. They are a "boiler room" powering the collaborative synergy by the people involved with the 1632 Tech Manual and have developed into a repository for new ideas and themes in the series, although most explore the personal experiences of minor characters in the series or examine in depth some aspect (e.g. a multi-part serial explores and details Grantville's impact on public health in general, and the establishment of twin teaching hospitals as a joint project of the University of Jena and Grantville's new hospital, the Lahey Clinic). In general, the anthologies in the series depict deep background canonical to future tales, but which are not in the mainstream "action" of the novels focus. A group of stories have on several occasions produced a new plot thread. As of the end of 2012, there are now 42 volumes of the Grantville Gazettes, most of them available in Amazon Kindle editions as well as some other electronic formats.

The Gazettes began as an experimental, semi-professional, online magazine featuring fan fiction and nonfiction edited by Flint and (eventually) a volunteer editorial board. At the time of Jim Baen's death in the summer of 2006 ten Grantville Gazettes were under contract and they had (with some fits and starts) settled into a new version roughly and irregularly three times a year. Baen's production staff was somewhat overworked by the deadline and the serialized magazine gave way to an e-book release from the sixth volume onward—though this was explained by Flint as primarily being due to Flint's other commitments, such as editing the new science fiction magazine Jim Baen's Universe. Earlier on, he'd explained the production delays in terms of overworked proofreaders, executive editors, and so forth. Issues VI through X, after being released as e-books, seem unlikely to see print; whereas Jim Baen has been releasing (all but the first) issues some months later as hardcover books, the last he bought has yet to appear. Flint has explained that the market for anthologies is always very soft, no matter the genre, and it seems likely that any new print version from the Gazettes will be a Best of The Grantville Gazettes.

In the meanwhile, Grantville Gazette X was jointly published as an e-book by Baen, but also as the first foray of Eric Flint Enterprises at grantvillegazette.com, which looks to be a joint venture of Baen Books and Flint, where the new incarnation of the e-zine also pays SFWA rates and maintains a bi-monthly (six per year) publishing schedule. It is modeled very much on the same lines as Jim Baen's Universe, which is edited by Flint.

Beginning in early 2007, the Gazette's publishers added an online, web-based edition published quarterly and moved the paper series to an annual "best of" volume. Additionally, the publishers moved to paying full professional rates instead of the semi-pro rates that had been paid. The Gazette is an SFWA-qualifying market.

Short fiction in the series

When the novel 1632 was written in 1999, it was conceived as an experiment in the literary genre alternate history by Flint, without intentions of writing any immediate sequel. He had, in fact, several other years of writing projects planned, which subsequent developments were to delay as late as publication in 2006–2007. Flint—as a relatively new writer at the time, following the popular demand for a sequel, elected to invite other established authors in the Baen's stable of writers to share the universe in order to rapidly develop its potential—in this he traded on his experience as an editor. This went on concurrently with a great deal of reader input in what became the 1632 Tech sub-forum on Baen's Bar. In this initiative, he became the editor (he was already a Baen editor for the Baen Free Library) and together with fan input on Baen's Bar, and collaboration with established best-selling author David Weber on the first long sequel, 1633, concurrently put together the Ring of Fire anthology to inaugurate the short fiction in the series.

The novel and anthology shaped one another, all filtered through and also shaped by the discussions on Baen's website. This process continues to this day, primarily in the form of The Grantville Gazettes. Initially an experimental e-magazine of fan fiction, the first volume was successful enough to be released as a paperback. Subsequent Gazettes have also been released in print form.

Flint, as editor of all the short fiction, also maintains the series canon (co-ordinated by the 1632.org website) and all copyrights to the alternate history universe per se, and with Flint as the controlling editor, the consequence is, semi-pro or professional payment rates aside, Baen doesn't publish anything in the series which is not canonical.

In point of fact, the short fiction in the series frequently provides a more in-depth background and foreshadows larger events that are the meat of the long fiction in the series. The longer works are replete with mentions to events covered in the shorter works, and with characters and the history and events unfolded in such materials. Flint always publishes one of his own stories within the short fiction collections, or in the case of 1634: The Ram Rebellion, considerably more, as it introduces several important background factors that are central to further series developments as the altered history is to unfold to the reader.

The Ring of Fire Press

In June 2013, the Ring of Fire Press was created, which will be reissuing certain materials originally published online in the Grantville Gazette. First, it will be publishing certain stories that were serialized across several issues of the Gazette, so they can be read without hunting through the various Gazette issues. Second, it will be publishing several themed collections of fact articles. Five Ring of Fire Press volumes are presently available through Amazon as Kindle editions.

Literary significance and reception

As of 2014, four books in the series had significantly large number of sales of hardcover editions to become eligible for the New York Times Best Seller list. 1634: The Galileo Affair was on the best seller list for hardcover fiction for two weeks during April 2004 while reaching number 27. 1634: The Baltic War was on the same list for two weeks during May 2007, peaking at number 19. 1634: The Bavarian Crisis was on this list for a week in October 2007 at number 29. The most recent book, 1636: The Kremlin Games was on the NY Times list for a week during June 2012 at number 30.

Almost all of the books in the series sold well enough to get listed on the various the Locus (magazine) Bestsellers Lists with some titles listed multiple times and a few even reached the top spot for the month.

1635: The Papal Stakes is the first book in the series to get listed on the Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Books list.