Ring of Fire

January 5, 2004
Readers who enjoyed editor Flint's novels (1632
; 1633
) of a West Virginia town transported by a black hole back in time to Germany during the Thirty Years War will appreciate how neatly the other authors' tales in this strong anthology dovetail with Flint's series. For instance, the aging hippie of Mercedes Lackey's "To Dye For" has already played an important role in 1633
. Other stories lead into Flint's forthcoming novel, The Galileo Affair
, while still others provide major plot threads for this volume's concluding novella, Flint's "The Wallenstein Gambit." Following their editor's lead, individual contributors concentrate less on the impact that the displaced Americans' technology makes than on how their ideas—and ideals—inspire those newly exposed to them. Thus we see a young priest embracing the ideas of a Vatican Council over 300 years in his future as a solution to the sectarian violence of his era (Andrew Dennis's "Between the Armies"), while young Germans take to baseball as a means of pushing themselves beyond themselves (Deann Allen and Mike Turner's "American Past Time"). Flint and his followers never forget that history is more than just kings and heroes.

January 1, 2004
In David Weber's "In the Navy," Eddie Cantrell, a teenaged war-gaming aficionado, lays the groundwork for the U.S. Navy to augment the defenses of Grantville, a town transported in time from modern-day America to 17th-century Europe. Meanwhile, in Virginia Easley's "Biting Time," Grandma Richter, an elderly German woman, proves that "modern" education can benefit from some old-fashioned techniques. Flint (1632; coauthor of 1633) shares his alternate history saga with a select group of fantasy and sf authors, including Mercedes Lackey, Dave Freer, Greg Donahue, and K.D. Wentworth. These 15 stories contribute directly to the main plot lines of the series and illustrate the complex and multifaceted nature of historical fiction. A topnotch choice for alternate history fans and essential for libraries owning 1632 and 1633.

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