Nonfiction Archives
The Wind is Free: Sailing Ship Design, Part 1: Propulsion
Finding Your Way in Another Plane
Hyperinflation: Who Is Going To Do It?
Home On the Grange
An Analysis of the Effect of Evangelical Missions on the 1632verse
Hm . . . The Ring of Fire might bring more changes than you'd expect . . .
Better Foundations, Part 2: Putting Concrete to Work
More on concrete . . . a very useful material . . .
Better Foundations, Part 1: An Introduction to Concrete
Lots to do with concrete. Lots and lots . . .
Safety First: Industrial Safety in 1632, Part Two, Technical Aspects
Taking care of the workers . . .
Fire Breathing Hogs
Steam, steam and more steam . . .
Safety First: Industrial Safety in 1632, Part One, Legal and Social Aspects
How to stay healthy in an unhealthy working environment . . .
Unintended Consequences: Dealing with the Population Density Explosion
Where did all those people come from? And what are we going to do with them?
Wingless Wonders
Up, up and away . . .
Seeing the Heavens
We'll see Pluto yet!
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Mathematics After the Ring of Fire
No, it's not the New Math.
Plausibility Denial or Truth is Stranger Than Fiction
Truth? Which one?
Scraps of Fashion
The little black dress really is a classic . . .
Soundings and Sextants, Part Two, Celestial Navigation Methods
Getting around the world isn't so easy without GPS . . .
The Importance of Having a Pig: Food and Preservation in 1632
Getting set for winter . . .
What's For Dinner: Typical Dishes From 1632.
You can't know you don't like it unless you try it . . .
Tell Me What You Eat, and I'll Tell You Who You Are
More on food and diet in Early Modern Europe.
Soundings and Sextants, Part One, Navigational Instruments Old and New
Getting from Point A to Point B is harder than you think . . .
The Steam Car
Well, a car is a car . . .
The High-Stepping Beauties
Trains and more trains . . .
The Theobroma Shell Game
Ummmm . . . chocolate . . .
Second Hand Help
More on protecting our heroes from disease . . .
The Geared Locomotive or What Wood You Shay To?
Trains, trains, trains . . . are going to make a comeback . . .
Metallic Fusion: Putting it Together in 1632
Just what does welding take?
Guilds 101
Rules, rules, rules . . . everywhere you go . . .
Aircraft in the 1632 Universe
The economics of airlines in the 1632 universe. What might they be?
Radio Killed the Video Star: Mass Communication Development in the 1632 Universe
What's next? Only the Shadow knows . . .
Tennis: The Game of Kings
A popular sport for centuries . . .
The Wooden Wonders of Grantville
What all can you do with wood? Just about everything.
My Name is Legion: Copying the Books of Grantville
Just what would it take to copy every book in Grantville?
The Music of the Spheres . . . er, Ring
You don't really call that music, do you?
So You Want to Build the Internet: IP Communicatons in 1633
None of us wants to live without the net, do we?
Grantville Police Department
How many officers, and what do they do?
Flying the Virtual Skies: A Brief History and 1632 Perspective on Flight Simulation
A simulated ride is better than no ride at all.
Grantville Gazette 11
What's new in this issue? Read all about it.
Adventures in Transportation:An Examination of Drags, Carts, Wagons and Carriages Available in the 17th century
Who knew there were so many parts to a wagon?
Steam: Taming the Demon
The steam revolution and what it will take to get it.
Hither and Yon: Transportation Modes, Costs and Infrastructure in 1632 and after
There and Back Again. How, how long, and how expensive?
Assistant Editor's Preface
Wow! Who knew? Way back in 1999, when people started writing fan fiction for 1632, who'd have thought it would grow like this? This is our tenth volume—and the fifth in 2006. And there's no lack of material for the next volume, either.
The Feast
Guildmaster B in a fair-sized northern European town is giving a party to celebrate his second son's engagement to the daughter of another guildmaster. Come and let me show you what's going on.
All Roads Lead. . . .
A seventeenth-century visitor might well think that all roads lead to Grantville, not Rome, because down-time roads pale by comparison. "Captain Gars," riding on Route 250, noted its "perfect flatness," and considered it to be "the finest road he had ever seen in his life." (1632, Chap. 57). Rebecca Abrabanel likewise was amazed by the "incredible perfection" of the first up-time road she saw (1632, Chap. 5).
Herd Immunity
Imagining life in a small town in Germany in the 1630s is difficult for the average twenty-first century dweller. Picture awaking from an interrupted night's sleep, courtesy of the local swine brawling in the alley below your bedroom window. Extracting yourself carefully from between the siblings sharing the bed with you, you arise and count your bedbug bites.
Crude Penicillin: Potential and Limitations
The Age of Disinfection began with the work of Pasteur and Lister in the 1860s and 1870s. While this initial work focused on external disinfection, doctors and scientists were soon looking for ways to use substances for "internal disinfection," that is, to rid the human body of disease-causing organisms. Unfortunately, these initial efforts were limited.
Assistant Editor's Preface
Wow. Here we go again. Grantville Gazette, Volume Nine. Who knew, back a few years ago, just how many people would be interested in the continuing soap opera of Grantville, WV, United States of Europe? I certainly didn't, but I spend part of every single day being happy that I picked up that book with the pickup truck and hillbillies on the cover.
White Gold
As the gentle winds blow, you look out from the veranda of your plantation house over the acres of sugar cane. What you see isn't fields of cane. What you see is fields of gold. The white gold called sugar, slowly growing to maturity.
The Daily Beer
Beer was food. Before the potato arrived in Northern and Central Europe, barley, rye and oats were the main sources of nutrients. Of these, barley was the easiest and most robust crop. Barley isn't that good as bread or porridge, so almost the entire harvest was brewed into beer.
A Tempest In a Baptistry
The question of re-baptism and the distress it caused in the sixteen hundreds, including what has at times been described as bloody murder, is still with us.
The Sound of Mica
Capacitors (also called "condensers") are one of the most basic of electronic components. Their most fundamental electrical characteristic is their capacitance (ability to store electrical energy). So how do you make a capacitor? The simplest one consists of two parallel conductive plates, and an intervening "dielectric." You can actually use a stack of plates, not just two, but the conductive and dielectric layers will alternate. One wire will be connected to the "odd-numbered" plates, and a second wire to the "even-numbered" ones.
Radio in 1632, Part 3
In our two previous discussions of telecommunications in the 1632 series, we focused on radio communications uniquely available to up-timers ("Radio in the 1632 Universe," Grantville Gazette, Volume One) , and to wired communications ("So You Want to do Telecommunications in 1633," Grantville Gazette, Volume Two). In this article we will discuss radio options available to down-timers both for transmitters and receivers. This will require a brief discussion of radio theory, which we will restrict to no more than one equation.
Assistant Editor's Preface
And here we go—on time, just as promised. Grantville Gazette Volume 8 is ready for our discerning readers. Just what is going on in Europe these days of 1632 – 1635 or thereabouts?
Aluminum: Will O' the Wisp?
There is no doubt that aluminum is a wonder metal. Pure aluminum has a density only about one-third of iron, it is as reflective as silver, and a good conductor of heat and electricity. When exposed to air, it quickly acquires a protective coating of aluminum oxide, which shields it from further corrosion. Alloys of aluminum are extensively used as structural materials in the construction of buildings and vehicles.
New France in 1634 and the Fate of North America
1634 was a pivotal year for the indigenous peoples of North America. It was in that year that the French Jesuit missionaries, in spite of their highest motives, set in motion a series of events that led ultimately to the destruction of those whom they came to both civilize and save for the greater glory of God.
Refrigeration and the 1632 World: Opportunities and Challenges
While putting this article together, I have learned more than just the basic history of refrigeration, which by itself is fascinating. (In fact, I knew quite a bit to start before I started this, but that is another story.) I have learned much more about how truly complex life really is.
Assistant Editor's Preface
Eric said, in the preface to Grantville Gazette Volume Five: "Sigh. 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. Pure, unalloyed, soap opera, what it is." And we continue in our grand soap operatic tradition with Grantville Gazette (count 'em) Volume Seven.
Harnessing The Iron Horse: Railroad Locomotion In The 1632 Universe
The principal focus of this article will be on how the USE will design its first locomotives, but first I will explain what Canon (the entire set of 1632 series novels and anthologies) tells us about railroading after the Ring of Fire (RoF).
Railroading In Germany
The railroads will be the steel backbone of the inter-modal rail/water transportation system of the United States of Europe (USE). The first rail line will provide a link for Grantville into the existing road-and-river transportation network and to the capitol in Magdeburg.
Mass Media In The 1632 Universe
This article is to run in conjunction with Chris Penycate's discussion of the material technology required to produce down-time records and record players. In addition to Chris' hardware, this article discusses the software of the media industry down-time, the challenges and the requirements to create a "mass media" in early modern Europe.
The Mechanical Reproduction Of Sound: Developing A Recorded Music Distribution Industry
Sound, no matter how complex, is just waves like the ripples in a pond. It can be considered as the displacement of molecules from their place of rest. A more technical definition would be: Sound is a series of compression and rarefaction waves in a substance, solid, liquid or generally in our experience, gas. Our aim in recording is to precisely reproduce these waves in another place and/or at a different time.
Editor's Preface
Volume 6 of the Gazette is coming out three months later than we'd projected. There are three reasons for that, which are closely connected. The first reason is that our copy editor fell behind, for various reasons including some health problems. The second reason is that she's also one of the copy editors for Baen Books, with many other assignment. And the final reason is that the launch of the new online magazine, Jim Baen's UNIVERSE, further complicated the situation because the Gazette's copy editor is now also one of JBU's copy editors.
The Jews of 1632
With Jewish characters occupying such a prominent place in the 1632 story universe, it is important to accurately recreate the Jews of that era. What I have written in the following is intended as a handy resource for anyone contemplating using Jewish characters in fiction they set in this world.
On the Design, Construction and Maintenance of Wooden Aircraft
This essay started out to be about what it takes to build an airplane using wood, wire, dope and fabric. It's still about that, but it's also about why there shouldn't be a down-time aerospace industry, nor much of an air force, in the first decade or so post Ring of Fire. I say "shouldn't" because what actually happens is up to the fiction authors and, in my experience, when works of fiction are created, plot and drama trump the details of reality every time. Still, if you're going to break the rules, you should at least know what they are.
Bouncing Back: Bringing Rubber to Grantville
Chemistry Professor Joe Schwarcz writes, "It's hard to fight an effective war without rubber. Fan belts, gaskets, gas masks, and tires are critical to the war effort." While he had modern warfare in mind, Grantville's war machines—modified cars and trucks—need rubber to remain functional. In 1633, Quentin Underwood insisted that "developing a rubber industry should be a top priority."
Exegesis and Interpretation of Up-timer Printed Matter
Derived from my Hobson's Choice story, this article is about a subject that I think people frequently think is simpler than it actually is. It is my belief that down-timers who get their hands on purloined up-time books will generally have a hard time figuring out what is being talked about.
The Grantville Brickmaker's Primer
Making bricks is easy you say. Mankind has been making them for millennia. You dig up some clay, mold it to the desired shape, and then fire it until it is hard. Easy, straightforward, anybody could do it. Right?
What Replaces the SRG?
The SRG is the standard muzzle-loading rifle of forces allied with USE. SRG stands for "Struve-Reardon Gevar," named after the manufacturer and designer of the weapon. "Gevar" is the German term for rifle.
In Vitro Veritas: Glassmaking After The Ring Of Fire
In the early seventeenth century, there was already a vigorous international trade in glassware. The world center for glassmaking was in Venice, and the Venetians were most famous for tableware and glass mirrors made of the colorless cristallo.
Editor's Preface
Well—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.
A Looming Challenge
Grantville needs people to work in the munitions factories. And the steel mill. And the brick factories. Where will they come from? Why, all those poor women who have to spin and weave all the time can be emancipated right away—just build a spinning jenny and power up those looms! Grantville needs more cloth, to make uniforms and to provide everyone with a change of clothing. What can be done? Why, build a spinning jenny and power up those looms! Now, wait just a doggone minute—it is not that easy!
How To Keep Your Old John Deere Plowing: Diesel Fuel Alternatives For Grantville 1631-1639
The Ring of Fire has left many of the farms around Grantville scrambling to train enough horses for the fall harvest. About half of the tractors that came through the Ring Of Fire were designed to burn gasoline and with the help of the agriculture department they will be converted to use pressurized natural gas in its place in 1631.
Drillers In Doublets
I don't want to be critical of coal mining, especially not where Mike Stearns can hear me. But the fact remains that coal has some serious disadvantages, both as a fossil fuel and as a source of organic chemicals.
How to build a Machine gun in 1634 with available technology: Two alternate views
The firearms round table that produces these articles on firearms doesn't always reach agreement on a specific issue. They didn't on this one, and asked me how to proceed. Since I don't see any reason the fictitious universe of the 1632 series should be any less contentious than the real one, I told them to produce both views and we'd run them simultaneously in the magazine. So. The question now raised is: which of these alternatives will be chosen in the series?
Editor's Preface
Once again, alas, I need to apologize for the delay in producing this volume of the magazine. In my preface to Volume 3, I confidently predicted that we'd be able to publish the next volume in late January or February. Instead. . .
Horse Power
The people of Grantville have been plunged into a world where horsepower literally means horse power.
They've Got Bread Mold, So Why Can't They Make Penicillin?
The above is one of the more common questions asked by readers following the 1632 series, especially those who are interested in the subject of disease and medicine. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to the question.
Radio in the 1632 Universe
The military and diplomatic radio situation in Europe at the end of the novel 1633 is a result of a unique combination of the authors' needs in the story line, the limitations imposed by the authors' choice of town to base Grantville on, and other historical accidents which left us with a wealth of some technologies and a dearth of others.
Editor's Preface
First, I need to apologize for the long delay between the publication of Volumes 2 and 3 of the magazine. That was due to several factors, only one of which—my own heavy writing schedule this past summer and early fall—was predictable. The others involved illnesses to two key people involved in the work, and the recent decision by Baen Books to issue a paper anthology which will contain about one-third of the material that had originally been planned for this volume.
Flint's Lock
In 1633 Eric Flint and David Weber give us our first glimpse at the type of firearm Grantville introduced to arm its allies. Many fans of the series were surprised that more advanced weaponry was not produced. To better understand why a muzzle loading flintlock rifle was chosen, rather than the pet design of every fan, requires a look at many problems faced by the Grantvillers and their understanding of those problems.
The Impact Of Mechanization On German Farms
What will happen when Grantville introduces nineteenth century farm equipment to seventeenth-century farmers? Will there be a rapid adaptation of the new machines followed by a similarly rapid increase in productivity?
Iron
The most dangerous mammal in North America kills over one hundred thirty people each year, and seriously injures another twenty nine thousand. The most recycled material in North America was dumped in landfills until the late 1970s, but now, nearly 100 percent of that material contains recycled content.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.