Eric Flint: Grantville Gazette. Volume 21

What is this? 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 was published late in 2007. Another, Ring of Fire III, is forthcoming. 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, even 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, Three and Four.

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

For those of you who are interested and live in the vicinity, Eric Flint is going to be the Guest of Honor at SoonerCon, in Oklahoma City, OK. The con begins on June 5 and ends on June 7, 2009. Their website is: http://www. soonercon. info/dnn/.

Rick Boatright, Paula Goodlett, Gorg Huff and possibly a few other regulars will also be attending SoonerCon.

In July, we'll be having our annual 1632 mini-con at Fiestacon/Westercon in Tempe, Arizona. That's Fourth of July weekend-which is only appropriate for an author who invented the Fourth of July Party, isn't it? The website is: http://www. fiestacon. org/.

The series got a very nice review, url here: http://wy. lcms. org/LHP/QBR/2008ChristmasQBR0301. pdf. We certainly appreciate the very thoughtful consideration we received.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. And here's hoping that 2009 is a really great year!

The Grantville Gazette Editorial Board

"I have news," Lukasz Opalinski announced, as soon as his friend Jozef Wojtowicz entered the room which served Opalinski as a combination library and small salon.

Jozef closed the door behind him. "What could be so urgent that I had to drop everything and come here all the way from Poznan? Two days it took me, in this horrid weather."

"Oh, that's nonsense. Spring has arrived, you sissy."

"There is snow on the ground, Lukasz. And it's cold. Especially spending two days on horseback. More than two, in fact. I couldn't make it here by nightfall yesterday and had to spent the night at an inn a few miles away. A very wretched inn. Even the hogs at the place were miserable."

"Well, of course it's cold and there's snow on the ground. We're still in March- but! The equinox was four days ago. So we are well into spring."

"And you haven't even offered me a drink yet."

Opalinski waved at a nearby side table, quite heavily laden with bottles of various kinds of liquor. "Help yourself. But when did you start drinking in the morning?"

Wojtowicz took a seat on a chair not far from the divan where Opalinski was lounging. He did so without giving the side table so much as a glance.

"I fear for my chances at beatification," he explained, "should I add excessive drunkenness to my other vices."

"I'd say those chances are so close to non-existent it hardly matters."

"You never know. And I repeat, what is so urgent?" Wojtowicz gave Opalinski's hands a flamboyantly intense scrutiny. Which was perhaps peculiar, since the hands held nothing by a few sheets of paper. "So urgent, I now notice, that apparently you haven't been drinking this morning. Despite the fact that your own chances for beatification rank somewhere below Attila the Hun's-albeit, yes, I'll give you this much, higher than that of the average Polish magnate."

His wealthy friend chuckled. "That last witticism is closer to the mark than you realize." He gave the sheets of paper in his hand a little jiggle. "I just got a report from one of the spies I hired at your recommendation-at a frightful cost, I might add."

Wojtowicz shrugged. "Good spies are expensive. There are plenty of cheap spies, of course. If you ever find one who isn't completely useless-and usually a double agent-please let me know. And what does your costly but effective spy tell you?"

"He found out who assassinated Bohdan Chmielnicki. As well as who gave the order."

"As to the last… Samuel Laszcz, would be my guess. Failing that, one of those headstrong Radziwills."

"Mine, too-but we'd both have been wrong. No, it was Janusz Tyszkiewicz."

Wojtowicz's eyes widened. "The voivode of Kiev? But…"

"Yes, I know. But that suggests involvement by the crown. Given the king's favor to the Catholic church and the fact that Tyszkiewicz is a Catholic partisan."

"Say better, a Catholic fanatic."

Opalinski looked down at the papers in his hand. "But there's more. According to the spy, the plot was the product of a cabal between Tyszkiewicz, Samuel Osinsky-he's the Seneschal of Lithuania, no less-and none other than Jeremy Wisniowiecki."

"Wisniowiecki? He can't be more than twenty-three or twenty-four years old."