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1633 (novel)
Encyclopedia
1633 is an alternate history novel co-written by Eric Flint
and David Weber
, and sequel to 1632
in the 1632 series
. 1633 is the second major novel in the series and together with the anthology Ring of Fire
, the two sequels begin the series hallmarks of being a shared universe
with collaborative writing
being very common, as well as one—far more unusual— which mixes many canonical
anthologies with its works of novel length. This in part is because Flint wrote 1632 as a stand-alone novel, though with enough "story hooks" for an eventual sequel, and because Flint feels "history is messy", and the books reflect that real life is not a smooth polished linear narrative flow from the pen of some historian, but is instead clumps of semi-related or unrelated happenings that somehow sum together where different people act in their own self-interests.
town of Grantville trades places in both time and geographic location with a nearly unpopulated countryside region within the Holy Roman Empire
during the convulsions of the Thirty Years' War
.
Flint's goal was to explore the short and long term effects of placing a single American town, complete with modern culture, technology and modes of thought, in certain periods of history.
The town elects the charismatic former pro-boxer Mike Stearns as President, and he quickly decides to provide refuge for those displaced as a result of the constant fighting, to branch out and grow as quickly as possible—to launch the American Revolution "150 years early", and found a "New United States". The Grantvillers undertake to defend south central Thuringia with the aid of a cavalry detachment from king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
's Green Regiment, and fights several battles which convince various polities to join the NUS.
By early 1632, their informal alliance with Gustavus and with Jews, their manufacturing capabilities, and their defeats of Catholic armies draws serious and well designed concerted efforts to attack the "republican cancer
" growing in Thuringia, and Grantville itself is attacked teaching Stearns that he needs a protector to "buy time", even as the "up-timers" have determined that to retain as much technology as possible they need to "gear down" to a late nineteenth century technology base while their modern equipment is still operable.
nearly falls and Stearns' emissary voluntarily stays behind, becoming trapped in the Siege of Amsterdam.
At this point, the newly created timeline start to diverge greatly from the actual history of the 17th Century, in no small part because the news of a town from the future brought spies and emissaries, and a fair number of encyclopedias and history textbooks found their way into European courts. One theme of the series is of down-timer leaders trying to change, hasten or head off their histories while the acts of ordinary citizens going about their day to day affairs and of the leaders of Grantville effect more fundamental societal and political changes.
the major novels carry the majority of internationally significant events, but the characters who perform the action are all too likely to have been introduced in one of the ground-eye view short stories which build deep background and form a backdrop for the overarching story lines. Flint is on record of stating "history is messy" but is not the stuff of the linear narrative cleaned up, categorized and written into a history book— and that he wanted to capture some sense of how individual actions on the behalf of one's own self-interest actually form the essence of history, not some idealized superman controlling the throttle and steering wheel at the heart of changing events.
To a great extent, the short stories are fundamental to the main novels in the series, introducing characters and development which play again later in the longer works. Much of writing in Ring of Fire
(ROF) annedated this work, and events in this novel were correlated with the stories in that which in many cases, cover events and personalities referenced in this at the least, moreover, there is not a single story in the anthology which happens after the start of this book, they all take place ahead of its exposition.
One ROF story, "In the Navy", by Weber is a direct prequel to a main plot element in this book and its plot threads' direct sequel 1634: The Baltic War
.
gives a positive review and praised the authors, Flint "for at showing how the new converts can make even the 'old Americans' uncomfortable in their zeal to achieve the blessings of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,'" while Weber "helps smooth out characters who were stereotypes in the first book."
Eric Flint
Eric Flint is an American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his main works are alternate history science fiction, but he also writes humorous fantasy adventures.- Career :...
and David Weber
David Weber
David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Weber and his wife Sharon live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and "a passel of dogs"....
, and sequel to 1632
1632 (novel)
1632 is the initial novel in the best-selling alternate history 1632 book series written by historian, writer and editor Eric Flint. The flagship novel kicked off a collaborative writing effort that has involved hundreds of contributors and dozens of authors...
in the 1632 series
1632 series
The 1632 series, also known as the 1632-verse or Ring of Fire series, is an alternate history book series and sub-series created, primarily co-written, and coordinated by Eric Flint and published by Baen Books...
. 1633 is the second major novel in the series and together with the anthology Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire (anthology)
Ring of Fire is the third published book by editor-author-historian Eric Flint of the 1632 series, an alternate history series begun in the novel 1632 . The Ring of Fire is both descriptive of the cosmic event as experienced by the series' characters, but also is at times used as the name for the...
, the two sequels begin the series hallmarks of being a shared universe
Shared universe
A shared universe is a fictional universe to which more than one writer contributes. Work set in a shared universe share characters and other elements with varying degrees of consistency. Shared universes are contrasted with collaborative writing, in which multiple authors work on a single story....
with collaborative writing
Collaborative fiction
Collaborative fiction is a form of writing by a group of authors who share creative control of a story.Collaborative fiction can occur for commercial gain, as part of education, or recreationally - many collaboratively written works have been the subject of a large degree of academic research.-...
being very common, as well as one—far more unusual— which mixes many canonical
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
anthologies with its works of novel length. This in part is because Flint wrote 1632 as a stand-alone novel, though with enough "story hooks" for an eventual sequel, and because Flint feels "history is messy", and the books reflect that real life is not a smooth polished linear narrative flow from the pen of some historian, but is instead clumps of semi-related or unrelated happenings that somehow sum together where different people act in their own self-interests.
Premise
The series begins in the Modern era on May 31, 2000 during a small town wedding when the small West VirginiaWest Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
town of Grantville trades places in both time and geographic location with a nearly unpopulated countryside region within the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
during the convulsions of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
.
Flint's goal was to explore the short and long term effects of placing a single American town, complete with modern culture, technology and modes of thought, in certain periods of history.
The town elects the charismatic former pro-boxer Mike Stearns as President, and he quickly decides to provide refuge for those displaced as a result of the constant fighting, to branch out and grow as quickly as possible—to launch the American Revolution "150 years early", and found a "New United States". The Grantvillers undertake to defend south central Thuringia with the aid of a cavalry detachment from king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
's Green Regiment, and fights several battles which convince various polities to join the NUS.
By early 1632, their informal alliance with Gustavus and with Jews, their manufacturing capabilities, and their defeats of Catholic armies draws serious and well designed concerted efforts to attack the "republican cancer
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
" growing in Thuringia, and Grantville itself is attacked teaching Stearns that he needs a protector to "buy time", even as the "up-timers" have determined that to retain as much technology as possible they need to "gear down" to a late nineteenth century technology base while their modern equipment is still operable.
Plot summary
1633 continues where 1632 left off. Most of the novel details various political machinations of the new "United States" and the attempts of Cardinal Richelieu to nullify the threat posed by the technological advantage the up-timers have given to Gustavus Adolphus and his "Confederated Principalities of Europe". Richelieu completely changes France's foreign policy and forms an alliance aimed squarely at the NUS and Gustavus called the League of Ostend. Mike Stearns sends emissaries looking for allies, some of whom end up behind enemy lines as they already belong to the secret League of Ostend, which announces its presence in the Battle of Four Fleets. The Dutch RepublicDutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
nearly falls and Stearns' emissary voluntarily stays behind, becoming trapped in the Siege of Amsterdam.
At this point, the newly created timeline start to diverge greatly from the actual history of the 17th Century, in no small part because the news of a town from the future brought spies and emissaries, and a fair number of encyclopedias and history textbooks found their way into European courts. One theme of the series is of down-timer leaders trying to change, hasten or head off their histories while the acts of ordinary citizens going about their day to day affairs and of the leaders of Grantville effect more fundamental societal and political changes.
A mix of methodology
In the series1632 series
The 1632 series, also known as the 1632-verse or Ring of Fire series, is an alternate history book series and sub-series created, primarily co-written, and coordinated by Eric Flint and published by Baen Books...
the major novels carry the majority of internationally significant events, but the characters who perform the action are all too likely to have been introduced in one of the ground-eye view short stories which build deep background and form a backdrop for the overarching story lines. Flint is on record of stating "history is messy" but is not the stuff of the linear narrative cleaned up, categorized and written into a history book— and that he wanted to capture some sense of how individual actions on the behalf of one's own self-interest actually form the essence of history, not some idealized superman controlling the throttle and steering wheel at the heart of changing events.
To a great extent, the short stories are fundamental to the main novels in the series, introducing characters and development which play again later in the longer works. Much of writing in Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire (anthology)
Ring of Fire is the third published book by editor-author-historian Eric Flint of the 1632 series, an alternate history series begun in the novel 1632 . The Ring of Fire is both descriptive of the cosmic event as experienced by the series' characters, but also is at times used as the name for the...
(ROF) annedated this work, and events in this novel were correlated with the stories in that which in many cases, cover events and personalities referenced in this at the least, moreover, there is not a single story in the anthology which happens after the start of this book, they all take place ahead of its exposition.
One ROF story, "In the Navy", by Weber is a direct prequel to a main plot element in this book and its plot threads' direct sequel 1634: The Baltic War
1634: The Baltic War
1634: The Baltic War is the direct novel sequel to 1633 in the collaboratively written alternate history shared universe 1632 series by David Weber and Eric Flint...
.
Literary significance and reception
Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
gives a positive review and praised the authors, Flint "for at showing how the new converts can make even the 'old Americans' uncomfortable in their zeal to achieve the blessings of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,'" while Weber "helps smooth out characters who were stereotypes in the first book."
Release details
- eBook/CDROM version (June 2002) Baen DOI: 0743435427
- 2002, USA, Baen Books (ISBN 0-7434-3542-7), Pub date August 2002, hardcover (First edition)
- 2003, USA, Baen Books (ISBN 0-7434-7155-5), July 2003, paperback
External links
- An excerpt of 1633 (novel) is available for download or reading online at the Baen Free LibraryBaen Free LibraryThe Baen Free Library is a digital library of the science fiction and fantasy publishing house Baen Books where 112 full books can be downloaded free in a number of formats, without copy protection...
here. The whole novel can be found here.