Eric Flint - Grantville Gazette.Volume XIX

About the Grantville Gazette

Written by Grantville Gazette Staff

The Grantville Gazette originated as a by-product of the ongoing and very active discussions which take place concerning the 1632 universe Eric Flint created in the novels 1632, 1633 and 1634: The Galileo Affair (the latter two books co-authored by David Weber and Andrew Dennis, respectively). This discussion is centered in three of the conferences in Baen's Bar, the discussion area of Baen Books' web site. The conferences are entitled "1632 Slush," "1632 Slush Comments" and "1632 Tech Manual." They have been in operation for almost seven years now, during which time nearly two hundred thousand posts have been made by hundreds of participants.

Soon enough, the discussion began generating so-called "fanfic," stories written in the setting by fans of the series. A number of those were good enough to be published professionally. And, indeed, a number of them were-as part of the anthology Ring of Fire, which was published by Baen Books in January, 2004. (Ring of Fire also includes stories written by established authors such as Eric Flint himself, as well as David Weber, Mercedes Lackey, Dave Freer, K.D. Wentworth and S.L. Viehl.)

The decision to publish the Ring of Fire anthology triggered the writing of still more fanfic, even after submissions to the anthology were closed. Ring of Fire has been selling quite well since it came out, and a second anthology similar to it is scheduled to be published late in 2007. It will also contain stories written by new writers, as well as professionals. But, in the meantime the fanfic kept getting written, and people kept nudging Eric-well, pestering Eric-to give them feedback on their stories.

Hence the Grantville Gazette. Once he realized how many stories were being written-a number of them of publishable quality-he raised with Jim Baen the idea of producing an online magazine which would pay for fiction and nonfiction articles set in the 1632 universe and would be sold through Baen Books' Webscriptions service. Jim was willing to try it, to see what happened.

As it turned out, the first issue of the electronic magazine sold well enough to make continuing the magazine a financially self-sustaining operation. Since then, nine more volumes have been electronically published through the Baen Webscriptions site. As well, Grantville Gazette, Volume One was published in paperback in November of 2004. That has since been followed by hardcover editions of Grantville Gazette, Volumes Two and Three.

Then, two big steps:

First: The magazine had been paying semi-pro rates for the electronic edition, increasing to pro rates upon transition to paper, but one of Eric's goals had long been to increase payments to the authors. Grantville Gazette, Volume Eleven is the first volume to pay the authors professional rates.

Second: This on-line version you're reading. The site here at http://www. grantvillegazette. com is the electronic version of an ARC, an advance readers copy where you can read the issues as we assemble them. There are stories posted here which won't be coming out in the magazine for more than a year.

How will it work out? Will we be able to continue at this rate? Well, we don't know. That's up to the readers. But we'll be here, continuing the saga, the soap opera, the drama and the comedy just as long as people are willing to read them.

The Grantville Gazette Staff

As I mentioned back in Grantville Gazette, Volume 17, a lot of the 1632 crew are going to be at Albacon, in Albany, New York, October 10 12. And I'm mentioning it again, since we want as many of the fans of the series as possible to attend.

So far the panels we have planned are:

Time Passed in the Past-Knights in Shining Armor Are Passe:presenter Virginia DeMarce

What Didn't Happen: Who Didn't Do What to Whom: presenters Virginia DeMarce and Eric Flint

How to Get Published in the Gazette: presenters, the whole crew (since we'll probably ask new authors to tell their stories)

Weird Tech What Can We Do and When Can We Do It: presenter Rick Boatright

Renaissance Boogie-Court Dances of the Seventeenth Century: presenter and demonstrator, Iver Cooper

The Economics of 1632-It Costs What!: presenter Gorg Huff

Snerking the Plots: presenter Eric Flint

And we're likely to come up with more, now that I think about it.

Here's the url for Albacon: http://www. albacon. org/hotel. html

And I'm reminded by the folks running Albacon to ask you to make your reservations right now. They're 2/3 full on their block of rooms, so you really need to get in there soon, please.

I'll keep you updated. Come see us. It'll be fun

Paula Goodlett

The Anaconda Project, Episode Seven

Written by Eric Flint

"So, what you think?" asked Piccolomini. The Italian general from Florence who was now in Austrian service raised his cup.

The man sitting across from him at the round little table in the small but very crowded restaurant frowned down at the cup in front of him. He'd only had a few sips of the dark liquid contained therein. He still didn't know what he thought of the stuff-and he certainly would never have ordered it himself, as expensive as the concoction was.

His name was Franz von Mercy. He came from a noble family in Lorraine, not Italy, as did his table companion. But in other respects, they were quite similar. Like Piccolomini, von Mercy was a general. They were long-acquainted, as well, almost if not quite friends.

There was one critical difference between them, however, which explained part of von Mercy's skepticism toward the black substance in his cup. Octavio Piccolomini was gainfully employed-very gainfully, by the Habsburg ruler of Austria-and von Mercy was not.

In fact, he was not employed by anybody. Just a short time earlier, he'd been in the service of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. But after the traitor Cratz von Scharffenstein surrendered the fortress of Ingolstadt to the Swedes, von Mercy had taken his cavalrymen and fled Bavaria. He'd known full well that, despite his own complete innocence in the affair, the murderous duke of Bavaria would blame him for the disaster and have him executed.

So, he'd come to Vienna, hoping to find employment with the Habsburgs. But he'd been turned down, with only this bizarre new hot drink offered by way of compensation.

He looked up from the cup to the window. He'd wondered, when they came into the restaurant, why the owners had defaced perfectly good window panes by painting a sign across them. And he'd also wondered why they chose to call their establishment a cafe instead of a restaurant.

Now he knew the answer to both questions.

"God damned Americans," he muttered.

Piccolomini winced at the blasphemy, even though he was known to commit the sin himself. Perhaps he felt obliged to put on that public display of disapproval, since he was now quite prominent in the Austrian ranks. They were, after all, right in the heart of Vienna-not more than a few minutes walk from either the Stephensdom cathedral or the emperor's palace.

"Damned they may well be," said Piccolomini. Again, he lifted his cup. "But I enjoy this new beverage of theirs."

"Coffee," said von Mercy, still muttering more than talking aloud. "We already had coffee, Octavio."

His companion shrugged. "True. But it was the Americans who made it popular. As they have done with so many other things."

He set the cup down. "And stop blaming them for your misfortunes. It's silly and you know it. They had nothing to do with Scharffenstein's treason-they certainly can't be blamed for Maximilian's madness!-and it's not because of them that the emperor decided not to hire you. That, he did for the same sort of reasons of state that have led rulers to make similar decisions for centuries. About the only connection the Americans have to the affair is that they've provided us with a rather delicious new expression for it.