Grantville Gazette V

infobox Book | |infoboxwidth=220px|imagewidth=200px
name = Grantville Gazette V
author = Eric Flint, "et al."


image_caption =
cover_artist = Louis le Nain
country = United States
language = English
series = 1632 series
genre = Alternate history
publisher = Baen Books
release_date = September, 2005
media_type = E-book
pages =
preceded_by = Grantville Gazette IV
followed_by = Grantville Gazette VI

::Note: "The two main articles covering this large rapidly growing book series and this specific sub-series are kept up to date before publication as new titles are added to this rapidly growing milieu oriented body of works."

"Grantville Gazette II" is the third collaborative anthology published in print set in the"' "'1632-verse'" shared universe "in what is best regarded as a canonical sub-series of the popular alternate history that began with the February 2000 publication of the hardcover novel 1632 (novel) by author-historian Eric Flint. Baen Books and Flint decline the distinction, counting this book as the sixth published work. Overall it is also the third anthology in printed publication* in the atypical series which consists of a mish-mash of main novels and anthologies produced under "popular demand" after publication of the initial novel which was written as a stand-alone work.

The internet forum Baen's Bar figures large in the history of the series overall where 1632 Tech Manual discussions not only convinced Flint to do a sequel, but helped formulate potential story lines in the period early-2000–mid-2001. In the Eric Flint oriented sub-forums 1632 Tech Manual and both 1632 Slush and 1632 Slush Comments all determine the "acceptable" content of these Gazettes, as is covered in depth the "The Grantville Gazettes" and 1632 Editorial Board articles. Both the shared universe main series and this sub-series are an example of the internet-age Collaborative writing in the literary field.

About the Gazettes

::Note: "The two main articles covering this large rapidly growing book series and this specific sub-series are kept up to date before publication as new titles are added to this rapidly growing milieu oriented body of works."

The "Grantville Gazette V" ("Main article:" The Grantville Gazettes) is the fifth collaborative mixed-work set in the "'1632verse'" in what is best regarded as a canonical sub-series of the popular Alternate history that began with the February 2000 publication of the hardcover novel 1632 (novel) by author-historian Eric Flint. Overall it is the sixth anthology in the atypical series which consists of a mish-mash of main novels and anthologies produced under "popular demand" after publication of the initial novel which was written as a stand-alone work.

;plot factors courtesy of 1632 Tech ManualThis particular sub-series, the various "Grantville Gazettes" include near encyclopedia grade fact articles with discussions of 17th century limitations by members of the 1632 research committee which cover the technological issues faced in fitting 21st century knowledge and base technology to the 17th century setting of the Milieu. The internet forum Baen's Bar hosts the "1632verse" oriented sub-forums 1632 Tech Manual and 1632 Slush and both forums figure prominently in the background of these works as is covered in the "The Grantville Gazettes" main article. The series as a whole, and this sub-series in particular are an example of "internet-age" Collaborative writing in the literary field.

The illustration on the e-book cover is the painting "Smokers in an interior", 1643, Louis le Nain

E-book Table of Contents

Note: In the earliest three Grantville Gazettes, there were differences between the print published version and the original serialized eMagazine, and then again the intermediate e-book as the 'kinks' were worked out of the experiment. Should additional published works differ, it will be noted in the pertinent article.

ynopses

Editor's Preface

By the time of issue 5 of the Gazette, the online experiment had taken on a life of its own, and matured into a modest financial success—suggesting to Jim Baen, that an online science fiction magazine could perhaps be a viable means of increasing market share. In this year (2005), the plans for Jim Baen's Universe and a revised differently organized more professional Grantville Gazette were formulated, financed, and announced—and it is probably no surprise, but the common editor of both was Flint, who also hired 16writ|Paula|Goodlett to help unkink the production problems "the old way" tried" by Baen's to put out the Gazettes. With her hiring during the building of the fourth Gazette, things began to go much smoother, and soon the short fiction in the series overtook and surpassed the quantity of long fiction—an characteristic that with the issuance of six Gazettes a year now (twice the modest target ennumerated below by Flint) looks to be a permanent feature of the Ring of Fire series. Yet another publishing surprise delivered by the black sheep Gazettes.

The market for both e-zines was a pleasant surprise to Baen's, not withstanding Jim Baen's co-hopes with Eric Flint that the increased internet visibility can in some way recoup the loss of their boyhood booksellers—the thousands of corner drug stores and "five and dimes" that used to stock copious quantities both of pulp fiction magazines and the despised lowly back-pocket paperback—the heartbeat of a publishing house's growth, as the pulp magazines were the seed stock of new interesting writers and a publishing houses means of expanding audiences.

The fan orientation is obvious in the following preface, but so is the shared sense of fun between the editor and readers. It is quoted in toto as it being legally both outside the work proper, and being prose which gives a sense of its own about the gazettes, which have in recent issues taken up the phrase "the continuing adventure that is the Grantville Gazettes". This preface says something about the kind and fun of the adventure, and might well be the real beginning of the streak:cquote|I5Well—hallelujah—we managed to get Volume 5 of the Gazette out pretty much on schedule, about four months after the publication of Volume 4. As I said in my preface to that issue, I'm hoping to be able to maintain a triannual publication schedule for the magazine. I5We should be able to do the same, I think, with Volumes 6 and 7. We've already got all the stories and articles assembled for Vol. 6, and most of the ones we'll need for Vol. 7. That said, most of the time involved in producing such a magazine is required by the editing and copy-editing process, which takes some time. Still, we should be able to get volume 6 out before the end of the year.I5Some remarks on the contents of this volume:I5As always, parsing the distinction between "regular stories" and "continuing serials" probably falls somewhere in the category of secularized medieval scholasticism. Just to name one example, Karen Bergstralh's "Of Masters and Men" is essentially a sequel to her "One Man's Junk," published in the last volume. But since there is—yet, anyway—no indication that she's going to be continuing this story, I chose not to put it in the category of continuing sequels. I5Yes, you can argue the point. The fact remains that I'm the editor of the magazine and if say the number of angels who can dance on the head of a pin is 15,468,622, then—here, at least—15,468,622 it is. I5Ultimately, this is probably a hopeless battle on my part for Literary Clarity. Hopeless, because as time goes on, it's becoming clearer and clearer to me that the assessment I made of the Grantville Gazette in my preface to Volume 4 is indeed correct. The Gazette is, indubitably, that most lowly and despised of all literary sub-genres.To wit, a soap opera. I5Look, let's face it. In the 1632 novels, you get—more or less—The Big Picture featuring the Stars of the Story. In the 1632 anthologies, you get basically more of the same, simply with a narrower and tighter focus and (often but not always) featuring a worthy character actor who gets his or her day to strut on the stage. What do you get in the Gazette? All the shenanigans of everybody else, that's what. The damn spear-carriers, run amok. Slice of life story piled onto family sagas—functional and dysfunctional alike—and all of it ladled over with a heavy scoop of personal melodrama.I5I mean, honestly. I5Who cares—just to name one example—if Karen Bergstralh's woebegone blacksmith gets around the oppression of the guild-masters and starts setting up his own successful business? Who cares—to name another example—if the pimply-faced American teenager in Jay Robinson's "Breaking News" wins the heart of the (hopefully not acne-ridden) teenage daughter of a downtime artist who is only remember by art connoisseurs? I5(The mother, not the daughter—nobody except scholars remembers the daughter, for Pete's sake, until Jay dragged her out of historical obscurity.)I5Shall I go on? Who cares if Velma Hardesty's daughters escape from the Horrible Mother's clutches, in Goodlett and Huff's "Susan Story"? Just to make it worse, from what I can tell about a dozen other writers seem to have become infatuated with Wicked Velma, and it looks like we'll be getting a small cottage industry cropping up of "Velma Gets Her Just Desserts" stories.I5Sigh. Not one of these stories deals with Ye Big Picture. Not one of them fails to wallow in the petty details of Joe or Dieter or Helen or Ursula's angst-ridden existence.I5Pure, unalloyed, soap opera, what it is.I5Fortunately, before I start tearing my hair out over the Lit'rary Disgrace involved, my commercial instincts rally to the rescue. Because, while it is indeed true that soap opera gets no respect from the Illuminati, it's...I5Well.I5Wildly popular. I5So, I brace myself. No, more. I find a peculiar sort of glee in contemplating the fact that a universe I originally created in order to explore some of the alternate possibilities for The Big Issues—democracy, religious tolerance, that stuff—has expanded to include a veritable spaghetti bowl of personal stories that have absolutely no function or purpose than to examine the multitude of ways in which the unwashed masses get about their lives under the changing circumstances. I5It's a fitting full circle, I think. Let us not forget that, in the end, democracy is just a form of government—and the only purpose of government (legitimate one, anyway) is to enable the unwashed masses to get about their lives with a minimum of grief and anxiety. That way they can invent, discover, explore and wallow in their own hassles, instead of being saddled with somebody else's.I5So, again, we venture into the 1632 soap opera. Hankies can be found on the coffee table, I believe. Yes, I know the guys won't need them. Shirt-sleeves will always do, in a pinch.I5 Eric FlintAugust, 2005

hort Fiction

"Breaking News"

32FC| Reporter 16char|Joe |Buckley October 8th...Pete McDougal and Stearns in Magdeburg, Stearns comes up with idea of video tribute talking with McDougal:...By now, it had been officially acknowledged that Eddie, Larry, Hans, and Swedish sailor Bjorn Svedberg had been killed in action at Wismar, but the situation in Magdeburg had not left time for the release of a detailed statement. Until now....

32FC

"Breaking News" by 16writ|Jay|Robison opens with Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1653), the most prominent female artist of the period seeking advice of sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini and agonizing whether to send her teenage daughter 16CHAR|Prudentia|Gentileschi|p=Prudentia to Grantville, which has captivated her imagination both because of its advanced technologies but also socially and politically as rumors have reached Italy of the equality between the sexes there. [Cite GG05|q="No. I want to send Prudentia there. Facts about Grantville are hard to come by, but it seems that women are not barred from advancement merely because they are women. It will be good for her development as a painter and as a person."|St="Breaking News"|last=Robison|first=Jay|pp=e-book] Politically, such a move could be risky for her patron is His Most Christian Majesty Philip IV of Spain. Gentileschi is referred to again in the novel "", but her appearance in this tale is earliest in the overall series timeline.

Prudentia becomes something of a celebrity on a small scale while attending 16inst|Grantville High School, and becomes active about town, including joining a ad-hoc film appraisal group that advises the television station. 16char|Jabe|McDougalas, a former student video producer with 16inst|Voice of America Television|p=WVOA-TV, now in the NUS'32 Army—a self-taught video documentarian —but still active as an advisor to the station is one of the regular attendees to the "16inst|Dinner and a Movie" group and is somewhat smitten by the Italian student. When the news of the 16batl|Battle of Wismar reaches Grantville, on October 7 1633 during a film meeting the storyline reveals Jabe has quite a crush on her and is lost and awkward about how to communicate his interest —trying to figure out how to cross the cultural divide between him and Prudentia who distracts him strongly "in the age old way" of young love— when he walks her home "so she'll be safe".

Two days later she accompanies Private James Byron "Jabe" McDougalas when he is given special orders to prepare a film tribute to the fallen heroes (Stearns' idea) transmitted by Vice-president and General 16char|Frank |Jackson personally on 10 October as he mines video footage from his digital "oral history project" records he'd begun after the ROF as a personal hobby project. cquote|Jabe knew that the rule of thumb for editing footage was that one hour's work yielded one minute of usable footage. Cutting hours of footage down to sixty minutes in less than a day? IInsane. IFor this, though, Jabe couldn't say no. "You'll have it, sir, Ms. Ambler. It'll be ready." Jabe makes a heroic overnight effort to put together a video tribute to the fallen heroes in time for the next days scheduled address by Vice President 16char|Frank|Jackson about the battle, and the formation of the USE in consequence. "Would you mind if I observe you?" Prudentia had been so quiet her presence had been forgotten.IJabe crimsoned. "Sure, Prudentia. I wouldn't mind."

The two stay together, sleepless delivering a VHS tape at the very last minute that brings tears to the eyes of many. Prudentia considers it a masterpiece in a new art form, and does a painting modeled on sketching she'd done as Jabe worked frantically to get done, but shows it to no one.

Momma Gentileschi herself visits Grantville some months later and is shown the painting done by her daughter as a result of that night's vigil, one which depicts the videographer intently at work behind computer workstations and monitors and decides the girl is continuing the family tradition in the arts, being the first artist in the third generation.

"Ounces Of Prevention"

::Setting: Late 1633 or early 1634This story by 1632 Research Committee member 16writ|Kim|Mackay is set in northwestern Europe after USE Prime Minister 16char|Mike|Stearns has deliberately leaked "How-To" plans and instructions to the Spanish 16batl|Siege of Amsterdam|p=investing Amsterdam on how to make the antibiotic 16inst|Chloramphenicol in Eric Flint's print edition purpose-written added "Bonus story" GG01|IN="Portraits". Chloramphenicol becomes central to the overall backplot of the developing neohistory and recurs by reference and as motivator in many stories, since any antibiotic is miraculous to the civilizations of the disease infested 1630s.

"Burmashave"

This vignette by writer 16writ|Chris|Racciato is a cloak and daggerish celebration of the famous decades long billboard advertising campaign for the Burmashave brand shaving toiletries. Killed off by a combination of declining sales, legislation in the sixties to "beautify" highways by minimizing and regulating billboard advertising in the United States—as well as the increasing numbers of superhighways moving motor traffic off the older historic national roads and progressively higher travel speeds— the Burmashave billboards were designed to entice attention by presenting only one line or so of cleverly rhymed Advertisement Slogans, normally written in couplets, offering riders and drivers an opportunity to anticipate and guess what might be on the next sign, and the one following there-after, as the small billboards were set up some distance after the preceding. The slogans were generally quite clever and added a interesting diversion to an otherwise boring ride, and so were quite successful for a long while spanning the era of the early motor roads of the 1920s into the 1960s, with quite a few local copycat ads cropping up as well as the decades rolled by. Thus, in a typical short ad of four couplets, a slogan or poem of four lines would be revealed one line at a time per sign, a few moments apart as one traveled, with the last almost always being the company name "Burma Shave". Some as shown above were written as motorists warnings, frequently reminding drivers that high speeds were dangerous.

In the short story, a Grantviller arranges for a secret but co-operative production line to "copy" his grandfathers old safety razor (given as being nearly ninety years old), and surprise the 1632-verse world with a suddenly available "relatively modern" solution to facial hair. The down-timers he enlists in his scheme are all sworn to secrecy and located well outside of Grantville, with one producing the safety razor blades, another the handle, a third shaving consumables such as the shaving mugs, scented shaving soap, and others things such as shaving brushs, colonge, after-shave and similar toiletries. The story also introduces modern advertising and the technology of electro-plating to the emerging modern Europe of the neohistory, for the safety razor produced is gold plated (Chrome being hard to come by as it hasn't yet been isolated as an element or ore).

"Schwarza Falls"

-| :"Setting:" At the edge of the Ring of Fire at Schwarzburg along the Schwarza river.:"Timeframe:" May 1631, and during the days immediately after the event and preceding the contact with 16char|Alexander|Mackay's cavalry patrol. [Cite GG05|author=16writ|Douglas W.|Jones|St="Schwarza Falls"|q=Date: May 30, 1631? fifth day after the disaster]

This is a first contact and "local geography" story by 16writ|Douglas W.|Jones, where the "space aliens" are the Americans who have just been stranded in 1631 by the Ring of Fire event. The locals are Germans occupying the castle and village of Schwarzburg (part of the County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt), which is by far the closest down-time polity to the Ring of Fire (ROF) transported terrain—since a few houses of the village were sundered by the ring and presumably sent to the future West Virginia in 2000 AD —these by fictional canon would have been unoccupied (or contained corpses) as is reported in the prologue to the novel 1632. Most of the village is far "upslope" along the edge of the cliff-like ROF formed "wall" nearly three hundred feet above the displaced West Virginian terrain relocated by the ring and consequently, a part of the remaining village now perched precariously atop the new and unstable cliff-face subsequently soon after slides into "The Pit" as the local Schwarzburgers initially begin calling Grantville's lower terrain, as they are looking down onto the ominous "depression". The village and castle (See photo at right) are sited high above the corresponding section of Grantville and overlook the 16inst|Marion County power plant which is described as being within cannon shot. Not knowing whether the sudden terrain shift is the devil's work, or Gods, and cautious of the imposing "fortress-like" power plant and strange noises and goings-on about the plant, the local Germans respond very cautiously to the Ring of Fire, undergoing their own version of a crises, which includes deaths and casualties. A day passes before one grief stricken husband leads the way down into the pit, and in sight of the power company which had been preoccupied with preventing disaster, restoring operations, and further cautioned by the reports (ROF-1|in="Power to the People") of the gunning down of Police-Chief 16char|Dan|Frost and the soon-after 16batl|Battle of the Farm House involving the UMWA posse led by 16char|Mike|Stearns.

Part of the storyline handles miscommunication as no one in the initial contacting parties speaks the other's languages, though the Americans had sent along a letter written in German by Becky Abrabanel. The Americans then send a second party with one character able to speak in up-timer high German, so while the communications bottle-neck is breached, it is far from broken as the local low German dialect is sufficiently different to impede easy communications, and even the impressive English-German dictionary is only partially helpful as the American team helps conduct recovery operations of the ten or so residents of Schwarzburg whose homes slide down the sudden cliff into the pit. Meanwhile, the Swarza River/new Bufallo Creek is threatening to wash out a road and the Ringwall has definitely isolated the castle and village from the rest of Thuringia to the north and east, and the Americans offer to build a road and free passage rights to the small hamlets inhabitants. The military commander in the castle begins getting reports back from his infiltrated scouting parties who have been slipped into "the pit" serendipitously but these dovetail and reinforce what the Americans have been able to communicate. Additional dispatch riders are sent with follow-up messages to the Graf (count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt) 16CHAR|Ludwig Guenther of|Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, who is away from the family seat in Rudolstadt trying to guard his lands from the predations of both the Catholic and Swedish armies. Later in the timeline of the works he becomes a major repeating historical character (See for example: GG01|in="The Rudolstadt Colloquy", an event which is central to the religious questions sub-themes of the series as a whole and widely referred to in other main works and gazettes plots in the series) and is a staunch ally of both Grantville and Gustavus, but the tension in this work is due to the unpredictable and sudden nature of the geographic situation and culture clash as experienced first hand by those living through the neohistorical narrative.

"Susan's Story"

:"Setting: "Grantville, ca. latter half of 1632. [Cite timeframe ss|gg15] Susan's Story marks the second story by what has become a writing team of 16writ|Paula|Goodlett and 16writ|Gorg|Huff, who have since mainly appeared on a byline together. The story is entertaining drama without being particularly important to series canon, belonging to the group of tales referred to in the Grantville Gazettes as "Soap Operas"—tales which involve the big picture not at all, but which are redeemed by their human focus. In this story, two teenage girls 16chrm|p=Tina|Tina|Hardesty (16) and her younger sister 16chrm|Susan|Hardesty (14) have come to the end of their hopes trying to cope with a dysfunctional mother, 16chrm|Velma|Hardesty (44), without the social services support network of the up-time State of West Virginia. The mother is sleeping in nearly every night with a different man, and generally drinking her way through the day before going out cruising the night. More than one male visitor has intruded on the girls privacy establishing a decision point needing action and reconciliation.

Their father's dad, 16chrm|Fred |Logsden, has a partial answer, and the tale plays out against the backdrop of the fact that Susan has investment monies as one of the teen opportunists known as the (self-styled) 16inst|Barbie Consortium, who are advised by down-timer business woman 16chrm|Helene |Gundelfinger. When Velma finds out about her wealth, things come to a head. Grantville social worker 16char|Maureen |Grady isn't much immediate help, but ventures the position that Tina, having a job and being old enough, can petition the courts for emancipation (essentially divorcing her mother as legal guardian). Judge 16char|Maurice |Tito is a family oriented jurist, and getting past the often public scenes caused by the mother's flamboyant behavior and convincing Judge Tito to take Susan from the mother's custody offer dual challenges, both of which are daunting in and of themselves.

"Of Masters And Men"

----16writ|Karen|Bergstralh returns to chronicling the relationship between the canny Master Carpenter 16chrm|Herman |Glauber and his rescued journeyman blacksmith 16chrm|Martin |Schmidt (See prequel: GG04|in="One Man's Junk")

"Murphy's Law"

Continuing Serials

"Suite For Four Hands"

16writ|David|Carrico's "Suite For Four Hands" is the third tale starring the characters "Franz and Marla", the direct sequel to GG03|in="Heavy Metal Music" (or "Revolution in Three Flats"), and continues a serial-like tale (collectively known as the "Franz and Marla tales") begun in GG03|in="The Sound of Music" concerning a cripple maestro ex-violinist (Franz) who finds his way to Grantville and is befriended by the talented but disillusioned up-timer musician 16char|Marla|Linder. Intriguingly this tale overlaps and intersects in one scene with 16writ|Enrico|Toro's "Euterpe serial", which is published in this books GG05|s="Euterpe, episode 3", where Marla Linder proves herself to the characters of the Euterpe tales, as she wowed the down-timer German musician's in "Heavy Metal Music". The Euterpe stories are true continuing serials, which read much better from start to finish, whereas the "Franz and Marla" tales are arguably individually stand-alone, though improved somewhat read sequentially.

"Euterpe, Episode 3"

16writ|Enrico|Toro's "Euterpe serial", a down-timer view point story of Italian musicians traveling and reaching out to learn the Grantvillers musical capabilities and especially about the marvelous piano. In this tale, the protagonists finally reach Grantville and meet up with surprises and challenges in equal measure, for they discover they aren't the only down-timers seeking the secrets of up-timer musical theory and construction of more modern instruments. Intriguingly this tale overlaps and intersects in one scene with 16writ|David|Carrico's GG05|s="Suite For Four Hands" (in this same collection) which is the third tale starring the characters 16char|s="Franz and Marla", where 16char|Marla |Linder proves herself to the (mainly) Italian protagonists of the Euterpe tales, as she wowed the down-timer German musician's in GG04|IN="Heavy Metal Music". The Euterpe stories are true continuing serials, which read much better from start to finish.

Non-Fiction

;Fact Essays from 1632 Research Committee members:

"In Vitro Veritas: Glassmaking After The Ring Of Fire"

"Dyes And Mordants"

"What Replaces the SRG?"

"The Grantville Brickmaker's Primer"

Publishing history

First electronic printing, September 2005, in the United States of America DOI: 1011250009

Copyright 2005 by Eric Flint

Electronic version by webwrights

References