Nonfiction
Editor's Preface
As you can perhaps deduce from the simple existence of a second issue of the Grantville Gazette, the first issue—which we did as an experiment, to see if there would be enough interest in such an online magazine—proved to be successful.
A Quick and Dirty Treatise on Historical Fencing
It's easy today to have a very distorted view of what fencing was at the time of the Ring of Fire. Real fencing is not Errol Flynn or the Three Musketeers. Hollywood swashbuckling movies set in the early modern era feature unrealistic flamboyant fencing. The only other fencing moderns see is lightning-fast Olympic fencing. Both of these are far different from the fencing taught in the 1630s in hundreds of academies throughout Europe.
So You Want To Do Telecommunications In 1633?
David Freer's story in the Ring of Fire anthology "Lineman for the Country" described the beginnings of wired telecommunications in the 1632 universe and the founding of AT&L. Like any good story, much of the technology was mentioned, but not described in detail. This article seeks to fill in the gaps in that story, and provide a glimpse into the development of non-radio telecommunications in the USE. This article will not attempt to go into the details of the history of various types of telecom. Please see the references at the end for such history.
Mente et Malleo: Practical Mineralogy and Minerals Exploration in 1632
One of the advantages that the people of Grantville have in the novels 1632 and 1633 is their technology. With their tools, the people of Grantville can turn out cannon, rifles, and steam engines. With their chemical knowledge, they can create antibiotics, aspirin, and DDT. With their electronics, they can create diplomatic and broadcast radios. Everything's a piece of cake, right?
The Secret Book Of Zink
We present to you for the first time translated into English, the remarkable and exciting news from Doctor Erasmus Faustus, as originally printed in the Fraenkische Wochenzeitung.