Cover Story
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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.
Featured Stories
This is only a selection of the stories in this issue. There are lots more!
To see additional stories click on a department in the menu to the left
Canst Thou Send Lightnings?
To: The Provincial of the Society of Jesus in Rome From: Adolph Wise S.J., University of Eichstaett. Enclosed with this letter you will find an example of the 'Crystal Radio' that is being distributed throughout Thuringia. I enclose also instructions for the construction of more of these Radios as distributed by the American government.
Mule 'Round The World
It was well done of you, Henry. It really was." Enoch Wiley looked rather doubtfully at a pile of yellowish mush on the cracker in his hand. "What is this stuff?" "Cora makes it out of mashed chickpeas. Some kind of a substitute for chip dip. Not bad—there's onion in it, I think. Anyhow, it has some zip." Henry Dreeson took a bite
Von Grantville
Chad sat on the front porch swing staring blankly ahead. He held a tumbler of Kentucky's smoothest bourbon and water. It was like a cruel joke. I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is, those thirty-five new cars you have on your lot? You won't have to pay for them. The bad news? They're going to sit there and rot until you take them apart and sell them piece by piece.
Burgers, Fries, And Beer
Julio sat with Odetta and Fenton. The Club was empty. None of the regulars were in and, as usual, Fenton was opening. It was early yet—just past two in the afternoon—and the three had nothing to do.
Grantville's Greatest Philosopher?
Ken looked up when the door opened. When he saw the men who were entering, he moved down to the cash register. Once there, he put his hand on the sawed-off shotgun that hung in a rack on the underside of the bar. "Julio," he called. "Yeah?" Julio Mora replied. "Nine one one, now!"
The Misadventures of T & V: Mama Mia, That's A Good Pizza Pie!
They'd been the city four times since they arrived. By now, they considered themselves old hands at finding their way around, even though they'd only been a mile or less from the villa. The town seemed very busy, and at times dangerous. Still, they were starting to get a little bored with the uptight people and the lack of good food. "Good" food, of course, meaning junk food.
Seasons
The old Buick slowly made its way through the dark countryside, headed away from the high school. The couple inside was elderly, cautious, and tentative on the road. It had been daylight when the meeting at the high school started, now it was well after eleven PM. John's eyes were not what they used to be. He'd had cataract surgery a couple of years ago. It had helped, but seventy-eight-year-old eyes were still seventy-eight-year-old eyes.
Not At All The Type
"That was the year I broke my nose at the demolition derby." Tina Marie Hollister pointed to the knot. She'd never bothered to have it repaired. Never had the money, to tell the truth. Probably wouldn't have bothered even if she'd been rich.
Trommler Records
"Just sign right there." The blond man, Contz Beckenbauer, indicated the space for her signature and handed her the pen. "Right there, as I said. Then we'll talk about what you will sing for the record."
The Dr. Gribbleflotz Chronicles, Part 2: Dr. Phil's Amazing Essence Of Fire Tablets
Dr. Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz took another look at the bill. He was spending that much on candles? Surely not. "Frau Mittelhausen. This bill for candles. Who has been using wax candles so wastefully?" Frau Mittelhausen sighed heavily before looking Dr. Gribbleflotz straight in the eye. "You have been, Herr Doctor. You use the good wax candles to heat your beakers. Why you can't use that alcohol burner the up-timers provided, I don't know."
Dr. Phil Zinkens A Bundle
The new chemical "battery" was most interesting. Just by adding two electrodes of different metal into a glass container of weak oil of vitriol one could generate enough of the new electricity to light the small light bulb.
Essen Steel, Part 1: Crucibellus
By early morning they had passed beyond the siege lines and lay hidden in a copse of woods four miles from the Magdeburg gates. "We will travel only at night for the first few days," Henri said, "and hide during the day. Best not to tempt fate."
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.
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.
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.
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).